After Ten Millennia in Hell

'What is a demonic beast doing here?'

Monsters and demonic beasts looked similar, but there was a decisive difference between them. Both possessed demonic energy, but a monster's main energy source was the mana inside their mana stone. Demonic beasts on the other hand were a demon subspecies, and they moved solely with the power of demonic energy.

"Grrrrrr," the Hellhound growled and glared at Kang-Woo.

Every time the Hellhound exhaled, black flames spewed out of its mouth.

"What the hell is going on?" Kang-Woo muttered.

'How did an entity that belonged to the First Hell get to Earth?'

Even Kang-Woo, the former lord of the Nine Hells, had barely been able to cross dimensions through painstaking efforts. So, there was no way that a demonic beast from the First Hell could have crossed the dimensional barrier on its own.

'Is this the Demon Cult's doing?'

He didn't have enough clues to speculate.

"Damn it."

Kang-Woo extended his right hand to the side and used the Authority of Dark Spears. A giant demonic energy spear two meters in length appeared in his hand.

'I don't have good memories with that damn fire mutt.'

Back when Kang-Woo was still in the First Hell, he'd been at the bottom of the food chain. Hellhounds had been apex predators that killed anything that moved, so Kang-Woo had almost died several times while hiding from them.

"But well, not anymore."

He had been at the bottom of the food chain in the past, but it was the complete opposite now. Kang-Woo had risen to the top of the food chain where he hunted the apex predators. Most of his strength was sealed, but there was no way he would lose against a demonic beast that belonged to the First Hell.

"Graaaaahhh!!"

Fwoosh!!

The Hellhound roared and launched black flames toward Kang-Woo.

Of course, the Hellhound's flames weren't the same as Andras's hellfire, which burned one's life force. However, since demonic energy was optimized for destruction, the power of the fire created with it was stronger than that of regular fire.

Boom!

Kang-Woo violently stomped on the ground to dodge the Hellhound's attack. Then he threw the demonic energy spear. It flew like an arrow and pierced the Hellhound's thick skin.

Crack!

"Graaaahhhh!!"

The attack that had killed the Troll Chief in one blow didn't weaken the Hellhound's movements but rather amplified its ferocity. The Hellhound shot toward Kang-Woo like a bullet. The ground that the Hellhound had leaped off of exploded as the Hellhound approached Kang-Woo at a frightening speed. It targeted Kang-Woo with its mouth opened wide—so wide that it could easily devour a person.

"Hmph!" Kang-Woo scoffed.

He kicked off from the ground and thrust his foot accurately at one of the Hellhound's canine teeth. Kang-Woo's kick, amplified with demonic energy, crushed the Hellhound's canine teeth, and Kang-Woo used the recoil to move backward. He twirled in the air and landed on the ground into which he then shoved his right arm.

'Authority of Pitfalls.'

Kang-Woo's demonic energy traveled down from his hand into the ground. The ground started to tremor as if an earthquake was occurring, and a giant hole suddenly appeared on the ground right under the Hellhound.

"Whine!" the Hellhound cried like a dog as it fell into the hole.

Then, Kang-Woo charged toward it.

'Authority of Dark Spears.'

He jumped into the hole and created a demonic energy spear in midair. Gripping the spear with both hands, he stabbed it into the Hellhound's head.

Crush!

"Woof, woof, woof!"

"As tenacious as always."

Even with its head pierced, the Hellhound stood up and jumped into the air. Once it was out of the hole, the Hellhound staggered away from Kang-Woo.

It wasn't trying to escape though. Hellhounds were the apex predator of the First Hell. The Hellhound's pride wouldn't let it escape.

"Grrrrrr."

The Hellhound lowered its body. The muscles of its hind legs swelled as if they were about to explode, and thick sinews protruded all over its body while its demonic energy grew even stronger. The flames that it exhaled covered its entire body.

Slam!

There was a loud boom as the flame-covered Hellhound charged toward Kang-Woo. The surrounding trees were crushed as if they'd been swept away by a tornado.

"…But also as stupid as always."

Kang-Woo smirked when he saw the Hellhound coming at him with its remaining life force despite having suffered a fatal injury. He clenched his right fist and pulled it back as if he was pulling a bowstring.

'Authority of Titanic Might.'

Kang-Woo surged with explosive strength. He was using the demon Baphomet's Authority, which was the best in terms of purely amplifying raw strength.

Then, he stepped forward with his left foot and used the force generated by twisting his waist to punch the Hellhound's chin.

Crack!

"Whine!"

Despite weighing well over a hundred times more than Kang-Woo, the Hellhound was sent flying away miserably like an empty can that got kicked. The Hellhound's jaw was destroyed, and black blood leaked from its mouth. It wriggled for a bit and then finally lost consciousness.

"Phew. The Authority of Titanic Might sure consumes a lot of demonic energy," Kang-Woo said.

He had used it only for a brief period, but it had consumed half of his demonic energy. Kang-Woo panted as he approached the Hellhound's corpse. He felt refreshed after overwhelming the demonic beast that had put him through the wringer when he had fallen to the First Hell.

'In terms of the trouble I'd gone through, I struggled as much as when I'd killed those goddamn princes of Hell.'

In terms of strength, the beings in the Second and Third Hells were much stronger. However, the Hellhounds had been a living nightmare for Kang-Woo, who had not even been able to use the Authority of Predation properly at the time.

Ring.

[You have successfully defeated a C-rank Rift Fragment.]

'Rift Fragment?'

Kang-Woo frowned when a message window popped up that was different from the ones he'd gotten when he defeated regular monsters.

'Come to think of it, it said something about a Rift Core when I crossed the dimensional barrier.'

He surmised that 'Rifts' likely referred to beings of Hell.

'How the hell did this thing cross over the barrier?'

Kang-Woo was met with more and more questions, but in the end, he couldn't come up with an answer. In the first place, he wasn't even sure if these 'Rifts' referred to beings of Hell, so there was no way for his questions to be resolved.

More message windows popped up and interrupted his thoughts.

[Increasing EXP.]

[Your level has risen by 5.]

'Five levels.'

Kang-Woo's eyes widened after reading the message.

The number of experience points that he had acquired from killing the Hellhound couldn't be compared to what he'd gained after killing the Troll Chief. The experience points required to level up increased exponentially from Level 30 onwards, so this meant that he had earned an astronomical number of experience points at once.

'I became Level 34 in one go.'

It was four levels higher than his original goal.

Kang-Woo waited for the next set of message windows with great interest.

[You have reached Level 30 and have achieved your Fourth Awakening.]

[Your Fourth Awakening Trait has been unlocked.]

'All right.'

Kang-Woo's goal today had been to get his Fourth Awakening. He had massacred many Trolls with no signs of a level-up. Nevertheless, after killing a Hellhound, he gained way more experience points than he had intended.

Before checking his Trait, Kang-Woo pulled out the demonic energy within his body.

"The seal breaks more with each Awakening."

It turned out that a larger portion of the Ten Thousand Demon Core's seal broke with each Awakening.

Kang-Woo smirked upon discovering that the amount of demonic energy he had access to had doubled.

'I won't have trouble using two Authorities simultaneously now.'

He smiled, satisfied to see that the results were better than he had hoped.

Kang-Woo pulled the demonic energy back into his body. At that moment, he felt something that he hadn't before.

'What's this?'

Kang-Woo tilted his head in confusion and pulled out his demonic energy again. The demonic energy flowed out of the Ten Thousand Demon Core and spread through his body far faster than before.

'The demonic energy is flowing faster than before.'

Furthermore, he was able to use the demonic energy more naturally.

"Don't tell me…"

Kang-Woo opened the status window and checked his new Trait.

[Fourth Awakening Trait: Ruler of Demonic Energy (Rank: A)]

[Effect: The Player can use demonic energy faster and more naturally, and can also completely conceal it from others.]

"So, it was because of the Trait."

As expected, the reason why he could use his demonic energy more effectively was the new Trait.

'A-rank, huh?'

Kang-Woo's eyes lit up.

His new Trait was different from the ones he had obtained before. If the Traits he had obtained before helped him gain more demonic energy, then the new one let him use it more effectively.

Now that he had learned that the government was starting to investigate demon worshipers, being able to completely hide his demonic energy was going to be incredibly helpful.

'I'll be able to avoid meaningless conflicts.'

Getting mistaken as a demon worshiper and being chased by the entire country would be troublesome, even for him. In consideration of that, the effect of the new Trait was better than the huge increase in his demonic energy reserves.

"I knew I made the right choice to level up."

The power of Traits was beyond what he had imagined. Kang-Woo initially thought that he could already use demonic energy better than any demon, but with the Trait's help, he could now surpass his previous capabilities. It was a power that he didn't have when he used to rule over the Nine Hells.

'Once the Ten Thousand Demon Core is fully unsealed, I'll probably be stronger than I had been in Hell!'

If the princes of Hell that he had devoured were to hear that, they would've panicked.

"And like I'd thought, it doesn't have a mana stone."

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue after using the Authority of Predation on the Hellhound's corpse. It did not move with the power of mana like monsters did, so it was natural that it wouldn't have a mana stone.

"I guess I'll go home."

After having gained far more than the goal that he had set, Kang-Woo headed to the Gate exit. He went through the Gate and was about to head home with lighter steps when…

"Long time no see," a voice said to him.

Kang-Woo turned to the source of the voice. There, he saw the red-haired girl he had met at the internet cafe. She was standing with her back against the wall.