Chapter 40: (an unknown era) 1,998,999 Years Befor Zero : The bittersweetness of eternity [2]

Beneath the layer of ice that served as the roof of the tropical forest beneath Antarctica, the aurora danced among the trees, even though it was much closer to the ice above.

The aurora reached every corner of the place it could touch, showing off its beauty. In the middle of its dance, deep within the dense tropical forest, the aurora illuminated Van as he stood in front of one of the most prominent trees, distinguished by its enormous height and size.

Van slowly raised his head, following the tree trunk with his eyes. It seemed to stretch so high that it could almost reach the aurora.

A sigh escaped Van’s mouth. He placed his left hand against the tree’s trunk, but the tree did not react no matter how long he touched it.

In his right hand, meanwhile, he held a small book. Only the first page contained writing.

Van read those words for quite a long time. His body did not move at all.

There was no wind to move his black robe or his golden hair, whose ends had now partially touched the ground and turned brown. His mustache had grown thick and merged with his beard, which had now reached his chest.

"Prince’s potential...."

Van smiled faintly. He cracked the bones in his neck by slowly turning his head from side to side.

"...this really fits the name predator. Has he already mastered it—"

Van stopped in the middle of his sentence.

He sighed more heavily.

"Ahh... he might have died a long time ago..."

Van closed his eyes and lowered his head slightly. He then smelled his thumbnail before raising his hand and pointing upward with his index finger.

"Rest in peace... everyone who has gone before."

Van returned to reading his little book. Then he looked at the tree he had been holding.

"Look at your prey... study their weaknesses."

Van stroked the tree trunk beneath his hand. He felt its rough, uneven texture with every stroke, while his gray eyes slowly began to shine.

"Ohh... you have quite a lot of weaknesses."

After a short while, Van finally chose something that could become a predator to the tree in front of him.

His body temperature suddenly began to rise.

His skin turned red, and smoke started pouring from his pores.

His black robe slowly tore apart, with some parts beginning to burn. Fire gradually emerged from Van’s skin and covered his entire body. Even his golden hair turned into flames, burning the ground beneath it as it touched the earth.

Van’s entire face began to burn. The hand holding the tree channeled fire into it, and the flames immediately spread throughout the enormous tree, which was many times larger than him.

Smoke billowed upward, trying to reach the aurora far above.

Reflected in Van’s burning eyes, the tree was also engulfed in flames, which began spreading to the surrounding trees.

Van simply stood there in silence, covered in fire.

For a while, he watched one leaf after another fall together with their branches.

His burning eyes finally focused on the flames consuming the tree.

"Ahh, if you’re the predator, then it’s definitely that, right?"

Van’s gray eyes, covered in flames, slowly began to shine.

His body, engulfed in fire, slowly released smoke that covered part of the surrounding area. A sound like boiling water could be heard as his body began transforming into water.

Van touched the tree, which was beginning to turn black from the flames.

He began targeting every flame with the water flowing from his body, fighting and suppressing each one under his command.

The smoke grew thicker and covered Van, but he did not cough.

His silhouette could be seen in the middle of the smoke after the battle between water and fire. All he did was stretch his body.

He then pinched the air and summoned another black robe.

He put it on, leaving it as the only thing covering his body.

"Ahh... I have to learn how to control it so I only change one part of my body."

Van slowly walked out of the smoke barefoot.

His golden hair, which touched the ground, dragged behind him like a brush painting across the earth.

He walked calmly, but reflected in his eyes, the ground beneath his feet seemed more vivid than the trees he passed.

His bare feet clearly touched the ground with every step, yet inside Van’s mind, it felt as though he were floating.

He repeatedly almost fell whenever one of his legs suddenly lost its strength.

With every step that carried him farther away, he somehow looked even more awkward.

He had to keep stopping in the middle of the silent forest.

The only sounds were his footsteps and his long hair dragging along the ground.

Even though he was merely trying to walk, his mind seemed to be leaving his body rather than remaining within it, unlike when he had been doing something before.

Van crouched in the middle of the forest.

He held his head tightly, as though he were trying to keep it from breaking apart.

He had to constantly remind himself to breathe.

His breathing grew rougher and more desperate as his chest rapidly rose and fell. He began repeatedly hitting his own head to maintain his consciousness, even though his eyes remained open.

He eventually continued his journey while hitting his own head, as he began to feel as though he were floating.

After hitting his head dozens of times, to the point that his regenerative potential had to repair the damage, he finally reached the end of the forest.

He was immediately greeted by the backs of the four demons.

The four of them were still staring at the Hell Gate in the same positions as before.

Van did not greet them.

He immediately passed them and sat down between them and the Hell Gate, staring at the gate.

The four demons now had a new view.

Van’s back.

Azazel clicked his tongue.

His white eyes looked at Van’s back instead of the Hell Gate.

"You took quite a long time today... what did you do?"

Van remained silent for quite a while before answering Azazel’s question.

Instead, the four demons saw Van’s shoulders slowly trembling.

"Ahh... I trained today. I should have started training a long time ago."

Aryn, who was sitting to Azazel’s right, finally spoke as well.

"How do you feel so far?"

Van became silent again for quite a long time.

His body trembled first before he finally spoke.

"Not bad. Even though I don’t know how long it’s been..."

The four demons finally began whispering among themselves.

Lily, who was sitting to Azazel’s left, started the conversation.

"Hey, head butler... how long has it been?"

Aryn answered Lily’s question without turning around.

"Seems like a thousand years, more or less..."

Grok, who was sitting to Lily’s left, let out a sound of amazement.

"Woah... that’s quite a long time. He might be the oldest human."

Azazel finally joined their whispering.

"Wanna do what we did last year?"

The four demons continued talking among themselves behind Van before eventually deciding what they would do.

Azazel cleared his throat several times while looking at Van’s trembling shoulders.

"For Van, our human friend...."

After Azazel’s words, the four demons finally shouted together in celebration.

"HAPPY ONE-THOUSANDTH BIRTHDAY!!"

The four demons continued talking afterward.

They kept making noise and reminding Van that he was now the oldest human who had ever existed.

The atmosphere was noisy, even though there was no confetti or the smell of chocolate birthday cake for them to give him.

Instead, they simply continued talking among themselves, unable to hear Van’s voice.

Van’s shoulders trembled.

"Thank you..."

The four demons paid no more attention to Van.

They did not know why his shoulders continued trembling.

Only the Hell Gate knew.

It could see everything clearly.

Van was cutting his own fingers with a vegetable knife to keep his mind attached to his body.