Chapter 1
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: The Catastrophe-Level Demon Slayer Has Returned
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I had no idea how much time had passed since I fell into this place.
At this point, keeping track of it felt utterly pointless after so many endless years.
But I never gave up.
Humans always find a way to cling to hope, after all.
From the moment I reincarnated into this world as a child, I swung a sword.
As a teenager, I joined a knight order and rampaged across battlefields.
And as an adult, growing older with each passing day, I became a killing machine that butchered the demons of this other world.
Yet in the end, the world I called home fell to ruin.
I could have survived on my own just fine, but protecting others while doing so? My abilities fell far short.
With each passing day, the demons' assaults grew fiercer, but the more I repelled them, the stronger I felt myself becoming.
On the day the last empire remaining in this world met its destruction...
And after an unimaginably long time from that moment...
The time had finally come to bring this tale to its conclusion.
"Y-You monster...!!!"
"Monsters? That's you lot. I'm just the one who hunts monsters like you."
A half-destroyed demon stronghold crumbling around him.
A lone man strode through the audience chamber of the Ten Thousand Demons Palace.
He had once been a knight who harbored hope, but that hope had been shattered long ago.
Now, all that drove him was executing the demons who had doomed his world.
That alone was the final bastion keeping him human.
"No matter how many times you kill us, it's pointless...! We are eternal and immortal!!!"
"Then I'll just have to kill you eternally."
He raised his greatsword, fused as one with his body, and plunged the blade into the heart of the fallen demon.
Puuk!
"Guh... h-hek...!"
With that, the creature met its end.
It was the death of the demon lord who had invaded the world and at last achieved its goal.
As the corpse dissolved into dust, the man—Silberion—found a spot amid the debris and sat down on the floor.
'Even my memories of Earth are growing hazy now.'
He couldn't even remember his original name.
Other memories would probably come back if he tried hard enough, but nothing as vividly as that first day he fell into this world.
Was it because he'd spent so long here, endlessly slaying demons?
But it didn't matter anymore.
With every last demon eradicated, surely Silberion could finally rest.
Just as he was about to close his eyes...
"...?"
A portal opened before him.
Thinking some demons might still linger, Silberion rose and approached it.
But the portal shimmered with a refreshing blue hue, its interior reflecting the long-forgotten sight of his homeland.
'...No way.'
Could crossing this take him back?
Or was it some trap laid by surviving demons?
A whirlwind of thoughts swirled in his mind, but his feet were already carrying him toward the gate.
In the end, he stepped through—and the gate sealed shut behind him.
Wheeeeeeen!!!
Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea.
In the heart of the city's sole intact district, sirens blared deafeningly.
A siren meant a gate had appeared.
The Republic of Korea Hunter Association sprang into full alert.
"Hoo... So, what's the gate's rating?"
"I-It... it's unmeasurable rank... A Black Gate..."
Hunter Association President Shin Ayoung scowled deeply as she heard her secretary's report.
'Haven't even been in office long, and already this crap...'
It had been just a month since she took over as president, and she'd been making the rounds to show her face.
For her, who had always aimed high, it was a dream come true.
But now, like a bucket of cold water, a Black Gate had appeared.
Not in some low-priority rural area or up north in North Korea, but right in Seoul, the capital.
"...What S-Rank Hunters do we have available right now?"
"Only the Massacre Guild from the Nine Major Guilds has mobilized. The rest are rushing back from overseas schedules."
"Hoo... If they can just buy us some time..."
It had been only a month since her inauguration.
All she could do was pray nothing went wrong.
That was it.
"Haa... Why does this have to happen right before my vacation?"
A red-haired woman grumbled irritably as she stepped out of the car.
Before her loomed a Black Gate, emitting dark light and slightly larger than a person.
Kwang!
Arang slammed her red gauntlets together and scanned the surroundings.
"Of all the rotten timing, our guild draws the short straw."
She and the elite guild members began preparations in front of the Black Gate.
Black Gates hadn't appeared since the Great Cataclysm—and never reappeared after.
But the aftermath had left the entire African continent overrun by monsters.
Now, all that could be seen via satellite was a blackened Africa.
It had become a perfect demon realm.
As they hastily formed a defensive line, the gate's opening drew perilously close.
"Ten seconds until gate opens!"
A staff member measured the remaining time with a device and hurriedly fell back.
Even watching that, the Massacre Guild members couldn't retreat.
If they backed off or showed fear here, who would admire or trust hunters anymore?
"Fine. Worst case, we die. Everyone, get ready!!!"
A faint red glow enveloped her gauntlets as she assumed position.
Whoooong!!!
A storm raged as the Black Gate yawned open.
.....
...
.
"...?"
Nothing happened.
"What the hell? Why isn't anything coming out?"
Even after waiting ages, the Black Gate remained still.
No monsters emerged or anything.
Suspicious, Arang approached the gate.
Just as she reached it...
Chijijik...
Something slowly emerged from beyond.
"...Everyone, battle ready!!!"
Startled, Arang leaped back into position.
Soon, noise crackled across the gate itself, and something truly began to emerge.
Chik. Chijijijik...
The gate destabilizing with static was a sight none of them had ever witnessed.
And what finally stepped out...
"...A person?"
It was a man in armor.
The armor was filthy with bloodstains, claw marks, scorch traces—every sign of brutal combat.
Like a knight returning from a desperate battlefield.
Once fully out, the knight slowly raised his head and looked around.
The gate vanished right after he emerged.
"This place..."
Surveying his surroundings, his body trembled violently, and he dropped to his knees.
"Finally... finally... I'm back."
He wept openly, voice thick with emotion.
"...Looks like a Returnee."
Arang pieced it together and issued orders to her guildmates.
"Contact the president. Black Gate's cleared—no incidents. One Returnee found."
Right after the Black Gate vanished without harm, Arang and some guild members stayed with him until Association staff arrived.
"...What year is it now?"
"2035. How many times is this you've asked?"
Arang sighed at the Returnee—Silberion—asking about the year for the fifth time.
He acted oddly, like someone who hadn't spoken to anyone in tens of thousands of years: awkward in conversation, repeating himself.
But Silberion could hardly believe it.
'2035... After all the time I spent reincarnated in that world.'
The day the empire fell, leaving him as the world's sole survivor, was his 120th year there.
After that, he'd slain demons for an uncountable eternity—yet only 10 years had passed here?
'...In a way, that's a relief?'
If tens of thousands of years had flown by here, adapting would be impossible.
Even now, it was tough.
'Great Cataclysm... So the world's turned into some hunter webnovel cliche?'
It was a tired trope.
After the Cataclysm, monsters poured from gates; people awakened powers to fight back.
Predictably cliched.
Yet Korea, knowing it well, had defended its capital and major cities.
Impressive, compared to larger developed nations.
Association staff handled the handover, escorting him to an interview room for details.
"Do you understand?"
"...More or less."
From the short-haired greenette staffer, he absorbed the state of modern Korea and the world.
Basically, Earth had shifted to a hunter-world setup.
No need for more explanation.
"We provide full support for Returnees like you, Mr. Silberion. We couldn't recover your original identity—it vanished somehow... But we'll help however we can."
Apparently, during the Cataclysm, all nations' Returnee data was erased.
Some Returnees remembered their names, and efforts were made to recover info... but nothing. Only traces of deletion via special hunter abilities.
The US acknowledged it first; it remained a mystery.
Now, Returnees got new identities upon return.
"Support for Returnees... No strings attached?"
"Helping fellow humans reintegrate into society is the right thing to do, isn't it?"
"......"
The staffer smiled innocently, insisting pure intentions.
But she couldn't fool Silberion's razor-sharp senses, honed in extremity.
"You want something from me."
"...Want something? We're just acting out of goodwill—"
Kwaaang!!!
Silberion slammed his fist on the desk as she protested.
A massive shockwave erupted; warm blood trickled from her ear.
Yet the table remained unscratched.
"Tell me the truth."
Their mistake: not grasping the hellish world he'd survived.
They should've disarmed his wariness first.
Tension thickened like thin ice about to crack...
Click.
The door opened; another staffer brought food.
They set it down and left without a word, oblivious to the mood.
"...I'll tell you the truth."
"......"
Food arrived, but she dabbed blood from her ear with a handkerchief first.
"Other developed nations are exploiting their Returnees for national gain—"
"Eat first."
"...Pardon?"
Silberion's focus shifted to the steaming meal.
Soft tofu stew.
His favorite even before reincarnating.
No matter how sharp or savage the knight, he couldn't resist hometown Korean food after so long.