Chapter 70 – Day 70

Day 70

Tartarus, the worst prison on Earth.
However, what happened there was not made known anywhere.

Since Tartarus had already allowed the attack of the proxy along with Cheon Seoa’s escape once before, if this incident were to be revealed as well, an irreversible situation might occur.

Meanwhile, Cheon Seoa, who had attacked Tartarus under the pretext of procuring materials.

“This is…?”

“It’s a gift.”

The Heart Devourer showed a touched expression at Cheon Seoa’s words, spoken with a smile.

Even though it had done nothing for her, was it alright to keep receiving things from Cheon Seoa like this?

For a moment, such a thought flashed through the Heart Devourer’s mind.

But.

“You don’t need to think like that.”

Cheon Seoa said with a gentle smile.
At that, a hot tear rolled down from each of the Heart Devourer’s eyes.

What Cheon Seoa handed to the Heart Devourer was a spirit core.

The main ingredient was the heart of an ability user they had met a few days ago, who had the power to devour the abilities of others by eating their hearts.

For supplementary ingredients, a few hearts from cultivators collected on Earth, and one hundred hearts of ‘evil people’.

The effect of the spirit pill made from these ingredients was simple.

The Heart-Eating Soul-Extracting Great Power Technique learned by the Heart Devourer.

It was to enhance its effects even further.

While it might not seem very useful at first glance, now that the Heart Devourer’s realm advancement was blocked by a wall.

If he took the spirit pill that Cheon Seoa gave him, perhaps the Heart Devourer might be able to break through that wall and move forward.

Just then, while the Heart Devourer was looking at the spirit pill in his hand with moved eyes.

“Oh…?”

Suddenly, Cheon Seoa tilted her head while looking in a certain direction.

This is….

“What could it be?”

Cheon Seoa muttered such words.

Simultaneously, the moment gloomy darkness flowed from Cheon Seoa’s eyes, her vision peeked at a certain place thousands of kilometers away.

The place where Cheon Seoa’s gaze reached was a desert made of sand.

In the middle of a desert that was nothing but sand no matter where or how you looked.
Suddenly there….

Kwagagang-!

As a huge lightning bolt struck down, a man revealed himself within that lightning.

The man who appeared within the lightning bolt that struck from clear skies was wearing attire completely different from modern clothing.

The man was wearing armor that seemed like something knights in fantasy novels would wear, and on his back was strapped a huge greatsword made from the bones of ‘something’.

Huh-!

The man who was looking around suddenly shuddered, then glared sharply into the empty space.

At that moment, Cheon Seoa realized.

“What could that child be?”

The man who appeared in a bolt of lightning within her field of vision.

That man wasn’t glaring at empty space.
The man was glaring at Cheon Seoa, who was observing him.

The fact that the other person noticed her gaze.
Was it because she had only experienced this a few times in the Cultivation World? As if she didn’t expect to have such an experience on Earth, Cheon Seoa smiled as if finding it interesting.

At that sudden smile, the Heart Predator looked at Cheon Seoa with puzzled eyes.

“Oh?”

Cheon Seoa muttered like that and tilted her head.

The man who had been glaring at her suddenly mumbled something.
And then, that presence disappeared without a trace.

Even as she moved her gaze around, scanning every corner of the desert, she couldn’t find the man who had been dressed like a knight straight out of a fantasy novel.

Could it be…

“I didn’t expect him to slip out of my sight.”

Cheon Seoa muttered, smiling with such an innocent and naive expression, like a child who had found an interesting toy.

* * *

Boom-!

A massive lightning bolt struck the middle of the desert.

A man appeared at the spot where lightning suddenly struck, turning the sand into glass.

Like a knight straight out of a fantasy novel, clad in pure white armor.
On his back, he carried a massive greatsword made from some creature’s bones.

The man looked around for a while, breathing heavily, then.

“I-I’m back!”

He soon let out a joyful shout.

Where had this man returned to Earth from?
If anyone else had seen him, they would have looked at the man jumping around in joy as if he were a madman.

Meanwhile, the man who had been jumping around in ecstasy suddenly shuddered.

From somewhere, he felt the gaze of ‘someone’ looking down at him.
As the man scanned his surroundings with sharp eyes, he could sense the gaze of a being ‘looking down’ on him.

A gaze with an overwhelming presence.
The moment he met that gaze, the man wondered for a moment, ‘Did I really return to Earth?’

That overwhelming presence was so powerful that it couldn’t be found even in the ‘world’ where the man had been active.

How long had the man been facing that gaze looking down on him?

Soon, the man realized that the owner of that gaze was simply ‘looking’ at him.
Furthermore….

“Kargel.”

[Why are you calling?]

“Please.”

[Tsk.]

Inside the man’s head, the clicking sound of an unidentified being called Kargel echoed.

At the same time, with a “woong!” sound, a wave of power spread in all directions.

The man realized he had escaped from the gaze of ‘someone’ looking down on him.

Although it wasn’t by his own power, but by the power of the being he had contracted with.
Nevertheless, the man was momentarily relieved that he could use that power to escape from the other’s gaze.

At least, he could tell that the other didn’t possess power and abilities as great as the presence he had felt.

Meanwhile, having escaped from ‘someone’s’ gaze, the man.

“Now I should go home.”

He muttered, thinking of home.

Although he wasn’t sure if this place was really ‘Earth’.
That was something he could figure out gradually from now on.

Having experienced several ‘crash landings’ before, the man was fine even if this wasn’t Earth.

No, he thought he was fine.

With that, as the man swung the giant greatsword on his back in the air, space split open, revealing a glimpse of Seoul’s scenery beyond.

The man shuddered at the familiar sight of Seoul visible through the split space, then without hesitation, he moved as if throwing himself through the split space.

A few minutes after the man who had appeared in the middle of the desert moved by splitting space.

Cheon Seoa appeared over the desert where the man had been.

“Hmm, he’s already moved.”

Cheon Seoa, who appeared in the desert, muttered while looking around.

The mysterious man disappeared from his sight.
He had come all the way to the desert to find out the man’s identity, but he was already too late.

In Cheon Seoa’s eyes, there was a glimpse of space being split and then restored.

It was similar to how Cheon Seoa ‘tore’ through space to move, yet quite different.

While Cheon Seoa literally tore through space to move.
That trace was as if it had been cleanly ‘cut’ with a sharp blade.

At the same time.

“Seoul… huh.”

Cheon Seoa showed a strange smile as soon as he figured out where the other person had moved to by splitting space.

The unidentified man who walked out of a lightning bolt that struck the dry sky.
Doesn’t he look just like a protagonist from a novel who fell into another world and returned to Earth?

Moreover, seeing that he moved to Seoul, it was obvious that he must be Korean.

Then, could it really be.

“A returnee?”

If the other person was really a returnee, what should be done?

And the Ascension Gate’s Repairers, who must have noticed the existence of such a returnee.

“What kind of move will they make?”

Cheon Seoa muttered this and soon tore through space with an intrigued expression.

With a ripping sound, the space where the unidentified man.
The man who could be called a returnee without sounding strange, had once left a cut trace, was torn apart.

Beyond that, along with the scenery of Seoul….

“Found him.”

Cheon Seoa muttered as she spotted a man walking down the street, dressed in modern attire.

Did the man also notice Cheon Seoa’s gaze?

“Tch-.”

The man clicked his tongue softly, then kicked off the ground and moved.

The man ran at an overwhelming speed that human eyes couldn’t follow.

Cheon Seoa looked at the man precisely and moved in the same way.
A chase of pursuit and evasion occurred in an instant.
However, neither the man being chased.
Nor Cheon Seoa who was chasing.
Showed any tension in their expressions.
The man being chased was full of confidence that he could ‘handle’ whoever was chasing him.
And the expression of Cheon Seoa chasing the man showed only ‘pure enjoyment’.
The chase that continued for a long time ended when the man stopped after arriving at a hill where no trace of human presence could be found.