Return To Earth 4

That admission was no small thing. Argan had lived long enough to witness the rise and fall of universes. He had slain creatures born before time. But these symbols… they were alien even to him.

He pressed his hand to the door.

One by one, the symbols pulsed — glowing in sequence.

And when the final symbol lit up — a ninth rune unlike anything he'd encountered — the door opened.

It revealed a portal, swirling with dark mist and faint cosmic ripples, suspended in silence.

A portal that connected the place where Argan stood to an unknown location.

The portal showed no image of what lay beyond — only a shimmer of unstable energy. No time to analyze. No trace of fear in his heart.

Without a hint of hesitation, Argan stepped through the portal.

---

A sharp gust of wind met him as he emerged.

The cave was bathed in carnage. Blood splattered across its walls, monster corpses scattered across the floor. The air was thick with the stench of iron and rot. Burn marks streaked the stone. Claw trails. Splintered weapons.

But no signs of life.

Argan narrowed his eyes. "So, this portal connects… to the Demon God's domain?" he murmured.

Suddenly—a whistling noise. Three arrows.

He raised his hand. In one effortless movement, he caught all three mid-air. A moment later, he flicked them back. Not just with speed—with intent.

Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!

One collided mid-air with another arrow, detonating in a brief flash of sparks.

"What?! How is he that fast?!" a voice growled from behind a shattered pillar.

"Oii!! Why are you making so much noise?! What if monsters hear us?!" snapped a sharp-eyed elven woman crouched behind a rock.

"The monster already knows where we are," said a calm voice. A woman in armor stepped out, her sword and shield ready.

"Let me fire a flame orb at that monster," muttered a cocky mage, already gathering mana.

Suddenly, the figure disappeared.

"Where is the monster?!" Vicon, the strategist, shouted. He scanned around, heart thumping. "It's vanished from sight!"

"Everyone, battle positions!" barked Jullia as she drew her sword. Her eyes sharpened.

Manuk raised his massive shield. Laila nocked a glowing arrow. Raun finished chanting. Vicon clenched his fists and dropped into a martial stance.

They formed a tight defensive circle.

Minutes passed.

Nothing.

"How long are we going to wait? Still no sign of it," Manuk grumbled.

"Just wait. You're the one who gave our position away, idiot," Laila hissed.

"Wanna fight?!"

"Enough, both of you!" Jullia snapped, rubbing her temple.

"I bet it ran away. There was only one monster," Raun muttered arrogantly.

"Monsters that can't be seen are often the deadliest. They're smart. Calculated," Vicon added, his gaze serious.

Jullia sighed. "Then we leave. No point wasting time."

"Yo, going somewhere?"

The voice behind them froze their blood.

They spun around. A tall, shadowed figure stood inches from them. They couldn't see his face—his aura distorted the air.

"How did it get behind us?! And it's speaking our language?!" Manuk trembled.

The pressure was unbearable.

"Why are you calling me a monster?" Argan asked calmly.

"Everyone, attack! Formation Gamma!" Jullia ordered.

The battle began.

Manuk rushed forward, shield first. "I'll pin it down!"

Clang! Argan parried it with a single finger. Manuk skidded back.

Raun launched a fire orb. "Burn!"

Argan caught the orb mid-air. It fizzled out in his palm like a candle flame.

Laila fired arrow after arrow. They curved mid-air with buffs. Argan dodged them effortlessly, barely shifting his stance.

Vicon struck from the side with lightning-fast punches. Argan raised his arm, blocking them with his forearm.

"Tch… he's not even trying," Vicon grunted.

Jullia leapt from behind, her blade aimed for Argan's neck.

But her sword halted inches from him. She was frozen in place by sheer pressure.

Argan simply stared. His presence alone made them tremble.

Their strikes continued. Formations. Techniques. Spells. Flares of teamwork. But no matter how they attacked, they could not touch him. Not truly.

Within minutes, they collapsed one by one. Not wounded. Not bleeding. Just… out of strength.

Just before Jullia lost consciousness, her mind flickered back to the moment it all began — the reason why they attacked him without a second thought.

They had just finished extracting monster cores from the fallen beasts when it happened.

A portal, silent and ominous, opened beneath their feet — swirling with unstable energy.

Instinct took over. Without exchanging a word, the five of them scattered and hid behind the closest cover, blades drawn and breaths held.

They believed a high-tier monster was about to emerge.

They never expected... him.

It was then that she gave Laila the order — "Shoot it."

Laila obeyed without hesitation. The first arrow flew.

But from that moment onward, it was clear — they couldn't even touch him.

No matter how well-trained their formation was… no matter how precise their attacks… nothing landed.

Her strikes missed. Their coordination broke. The pressure… the overwhelming weight of his presence…

One by one, the others collapsed — not from wounds, but from sheer exhaustion and suffocation under that suffocating aura.

And now, as her vision dimmed, Jullia finally fell — her blade slipping from her hand.

Collapsed, panting. Unconscious.

Argan looked at them silently.

Then he realized it.

"...My aura."

He gently lowered his pressure. The atmosphere seemed to breathe again.

"I see. My presence alone suppressed their lungs. Their movements. Even their will."

He knelt beside them.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

His voice wasn't soft. Nor guilty. Just honest.

He placed five glowing crystals beside their bodies. "Take these. They're Barti. Treasures from a world beyond comprehension."

He rose.

The dungeon sprawled ahead. Twisting tunnels, echoes of monsters.

But Argan didn't destroy the walls. He didn't break through.

He walked. Fought. Wandered.

Gulan beasts and goblins leapt at him. They fell with single glances or flicks of the wrist.

He saw the style of the walls. The carvings. The monsters.

"Why does this place feel… familiar?"

He couldn't recall.

Until he found it.

Another portal.

Without hesitation, he stepped through.

---

As Argan stepped through the swirling portal, his boots touched cold, cracked concrete.

A wave of stale air met him — thick with dust, rust, and the faint scent of forgotten time.

The place was dark, dimly lit only by a shaft of moonlight piercing through the broken roof above. Steel beams jutted from unfinished walls. Exposed wires hung limp. It was a structure once intended for something great, now long abandoned. A forgotten skeleton of human ambition.

Argan's eyes sharpened. Movement.

At the edge of the corridor, just beyond the hollow scaffolding, stood two uniformed men. Security guards. They were talking in hushed tones, oblivious to the anomaly that had just stepped into their world.

"This place gives me the creeps, man…"

Without a sound, Argan released a soft breath and withdrew his presence entirely. Not a trace of his energy leaked out. Even the air around him fell still. The guards didn't flinch, didn't look his way — as though he were no more than a passing shadow.

Silently, he walked past them, slipping through the shadows of the forgotten building like a whisper lost in the wind.

And then…

The moment he exited the rusted double doors of the old construction site, the night sky opened before him — vast, familiar, impossibly blue with scattered stars. City lights shimmered in the distance. Neon signs flickered. The distant hum of traffic echoed through the wind.

Argan stopped.

The silence inside him was replaced by a slow, powerful thrum in his chest.

"…Earth."

His voice was low, almost a whisper — laced with something he hadn't felt in a very long time.

Not confusion.

Not awe.

But something far deeper.

Nostalgia.

Recognition.

A return.

After what felt like an eternity wandering worlds beyond stars… he had come home.

And yet — the Earth he returned to no longer felt the same. Or perhaps… he was no longer the same.

He stepped forward slowly, eyes scanning the city skyline ahead.

"...So this is what remains."

And without another word, Argan began to walk — fading into the shadows of his once-forgotten world.