Recovered Memories
"...Just how far down do these stairs go?"
After passing through the dimensional gate in the demon realm and returning to Earth, I'd ended up somewhere completely different from where I'd expected.
A deep, pitch-black tower devoid of light.
There were no windows here—just endless stairs spiraling up and down.
In my 998 loops, the dimensional gate always deposited me in the study of Yeji-cheong's top priest, Choi Joo-bong.
'Has this loop changed so much? Things I never knew about or that didn't exist before are popping up one after another.'
At least this mysterious tower offered only two choices: up or down. And the quest info that completed upon arriving on Earth had changed too.
Humanity Salvation Quest (Unique Grade) - Chapter 1: Invisible Threat (Part 5)
📍 Time Remaining: Within 4 days
🎯 Clear Condition: Complete the fragments of 'Fragment of the Invisible Truth' (S-Grade)
> Part 1: Recruit the Red Wolf King and confront Baldr. (Complete)
> Part 2: Converse with Baldr. (Complete)
> Part 3: Prevent Balpador's seizure of the Demon King title. (Complete)
> Part 4: Thwart Barbatoss's ambush and return to Earth. (Complete)
> Part 5: Complete the fragments of 'Fragment of the Invisible Truth' (S-Grade). (In Progress)
⚔ Clear Attempts: Unlimited
🎁 Rewards: (True) Humanity Salvation Quest (Unique Grade) - Chapter 2 (Unique Grade) / Eternal Deadly Door (Unique Grade) Binding
The updated quest info confirmed this was Earth, at least.
'So the clear condition—completing the Fragment of the Invisible Truth—happens on Earth.'
I'd met Baldr, stopped Balpador from usurping the Demon King, seized the key from Barbatoss, and made it back.
Was there something new I was supposed to learn in all that?
Baldr had said he came to the human world because Balpador egged him on...
Balpador. First Legion Commander of the demon realm, a fallen god whose might rivaled only the previous Demon King.
The biggest change from past loops was facing him directly.
Without Barbatoss—who'd been devouring both him and me in previous loops—to keep him in check, Balpador was now the greatest threat to Earth and me.
Before falling to the demon realm, he'd been the god of agriculture, known for his gentle, thoughtful nature above all.
I didn't know why he'd fallen. Probably only the previous Demon King did.
Was some truth he'd hidden tied to me?
Mulling that over as I descended the stairs, a vast corridor appeared.
'This corridor looks familiar...'
If humans on Earth built wide corridors like this for religious activities, there was only one group.
This was a building of the Black Sheep Salvation Church.
Looks like the dimensional gate hadn't connected to some random place after all.
"Ugh..."
Humans really were creatures of adaptation. I'd grown used to a clean life without corruption.
To feel disgusted by this faint stench of rotten blood... Hating filth and ugliness was for ordinary people. Not for a Demon King like me.
Suppressing the urge to pinch my nose, I scanned the surroundings. Something set this corridor apart from others.
Apart from the stairs, the walls weren't walls—they were massive tree trunks up close.
Definitely trunks, but veined like an animal's, pulsing with vivid red blood.
Grrrr...
They looked like plant stems, but the flowing veins and subtle movements made it eerie, like a giant beast slumbering.
'I've seen something like this before...'
Yes. I couldn't recall clearly, but I'd definitely been here once. And something horrific had happened... but the memory was fuzzy.
Was it because my mind was corrupted back then? Even so, memories rarely vanished.
All the sins I'd committed in 998 loops with a corrupted mind remained etched in me.
Yet this place felt familiar, but had no record in my memories.
'Did someone deliberately erase my memory?'
But I was a regressor. A mere memory wipe or two wouldn't make me forget events from the next loop.
I wasn't some idiot who'd forget near-identical repeated events across 998 loops, barring a few exceptions.
If it was too long ago to recall clearly, and absent from post-regression loops...
This memory predated my regression point—my awakening!
A chill raced across my skin.
The Black Sheep Church finding and taking me happened five years after awakening in past loops.
So having a memory of coming here before that was impossible.
Yet if I remembered coming here, and that memory was erased...
It was highly likely tied to the curse that doomed me!
My breathing quickened from the surge of adrenaline.
Finally, I'd grasped a lead on the curse I'd hunted for so long.
Lost memories could be restored. I knew plenty of ways, once I found clues on who erased them or why.
I summoned all my focus and scanned the corridor meticulously once more.
Faint demonic power mingled with dark energy permeated it.
Drawing on the mana the Demon King granted me, I pulled forth the hidden magic. A magic circle glowed blue into view.
Several circles etched in the corridor's center—teleportation or summoning arrays, by their shape.
'What were they summoning?'
The size suggested small living creatures, not large ones.
As I examined them, piecing together fragments of memory—
As if answering my question, a summoning circle activated.
Vwoooong—
Fwosh! Fwosh...!
The azure magic flared, revealing summoned figures one by one.
Five or six years old, maybe.
Boys and girls, black, white, Asian—no discrimination. All dragged to this deep underground corridor.
Some were bigger, but none seemed over thirteen.
The kids stirred, looked around, and started sniffling in fear.
"Wh-where's this? Where's Mom?"
'Where... am I? Where's my brother?'
Suddenly, memories flooded my mind, churning it.
The same events in the same space overlapped like illusions before my eyes.
The crying children's faces merged with my own childhood.
At the end of 999 grueling regressions, the nightmare buried deep in my consciousness welled up like a corpse.
Rumble—
The kids' voices made the trunks react, spewing red bloodlust.
"Wh-what's that? Scary!"
'The tree... it's scary!'
Branches extended like tentacles, probing toward the children.
Instinct drove the kids to flee away from the trunks.
"Mister, save us!"
'Big brother, help!'
The children rushing toward me felt slowed, as if time had frozen.
Because my lost childhood memories had returned in this instant.
Forgetting to breathe, I clenched my trembling hands, absorbing the fragments with eyes and ears alone.
A boy too slow to flee, just crying— a tendril plunged into his mouth.
"Guh! Mmph! Grah!"
A black seed the size of a child's fist wriggled down the tendril into him.
Forced in, his face smeared with tears and snot.
The trunk finished and slithered toward the next target.
"Aaaah! What's this? My stomach hurts, Mom!"
'Urgh! Stomach hurts! Brother!'
Yes. Back then, a tendril had stuffed a black seed into me too.
"Urgh... Uwaaaaaah!"
The boy's belly erupted black liquid with a pop.
The other kids shrieked, hiding behind me.
"Kyaaaaah!"
The next tendril flew toward me, seeking fresh prey.
"Save us!"
"Please save us!"
"......"
"Hero!"
"!!"
The kids' cries calling for the hero snapped me from confusing illusion and reality in the memory's wake.
Dimension of Evil Extermination (Active)
⪡ Hero Kwon Mu-hyuk creates a massive sphere of light within 500m, assaulting enemies inside with mental attacks while gaining a Critical Chance bonus. Forms a divine barrier on himself and allied forces, blocking dark energy damage for 10 minutes. - Consumes 2000 Divine Power ⪢
The moment awareness returned, I drew my holy sword and erected a powerful barrier around the kids and me.
Kieeeee!
The divine power-infused shield expanded, incinerating the tendrils to red ash.
The probing trunks shriveled like squid legs.
"Wooow! You really are a hero, mister!"
The kids clapped and cheered.
"Tch! You brats! Don't call me mister! I'm 18!"
"Oh... big bro then. You don't look it."
"Wait... then you're Hero Bro?"
These kids needed some manners training, but I couldn't let them die.
"You lot stay put right here! Got it?"
"Yeah!"
I huddled them together like veggie tempura inside the barrier, then stepped out to finish the trunks.
Wrath of Evil Extermination (Active)
⪡ Hero Kwon Mu-hyuk deals 3000% divine damage to a designated enemy using Divine Power, gaining 900% Critical bonus. Divine damage from allied forces also locks onto the target. - Consumes 15000 Divine Power ⪢
Firing off my newly upgraded Wrath of Evil Extermination half a dozen times, the trunks exploded unable to withstand it.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Dust from the blasts filled the vast underground corridor.
"Ah! Mister! Help!"
"...These damn kids!"
Turning to teach them manners, I saw the magic circle pulling them back in.
Probably returning them at summoning end-time.
If it sent them home, great—but Black Sheep followers meant back here.
"Nooo...!"
Before their screams faded, the summoning ended.
'Magic traces linger.'
Placing a hand on the circle, I cast Death Terraforming.
Nothing beat it for tracking tiny mana amounts.
I defied space and time, flooding dark energy across dimensions.
And soon—
'Found you bastards!'
Following the connected mana, I unleashed massive Death Terraforming, then activated the circle with mana to reverse-summon to the kids' location.
KABOOM!
Arriving on the other side, I preemptively unleashed Wrath of Evil Extermination with Divine Power.
'That should've minced them...'
Hm? A familiar woman trembled like a leaf.
"What are you doing here, Shin Yu-ra?"
"Ha... Kwon Mu-hyuk. You're back..."
No Black Sheep followers or kids on the other side—just pale-as-death Shin Yu-ra.