After Ten Millennia in Hell

[What just…?]

It wasn\'t just the Demon Cultists; there was a huge commotion among the demons as well.

Rather than being horrified, they were confused.

If he\'d lost after fighting intensely, they could have made a reaction such as \'How could Lord Jaraxxus have lost against a mere human!\' but that wasn\'t the case.

To think that he would die by being split in two without being able to defend against a single attack. Not even a piece of flesh was left of Jaraxxus, the self-proclaimed Ruler of Hellfire Blaze.

[Was this what Lord Jaraxxus intended?]

[But why would he…?]

They were thinking that Jaraxxus was maybe playing a trick on them.

That\'s how shocking it was that Jaraxxus had died from a human\'s single blow.

"K-Kang-Woo…?"

"Hah, are you really human?"

Han Seol-Ah and the others opened their mouths in surprise.

Tian Wuchen couldn\'t believe how supernaturally powerful Kang-Woo had become compared to when they\'d sparred.

The only ones who weren\'t that surprised were Gaia and Kim Si-Hun, who already knew the extent of Kang-Woo\'s strength.

\'\'Hyung-nim has recently received the blessing of Lord Tirion, the God of Heroes, and become his apostle."

"… Then is that the power of a god?"

"Yes."

Everyone nodded at Si-Hun\'s words.

Tirion, God of Heroes… They didn\'t know who he was, but they thought such power was as expected from a \'god.\'

Cha Yeon-Joo laughed and shook her head in disbelief.

The red bracelets on both her wrists started to shine.

"I\'ll get the details later. This isn\'t the time to be wondering about how that guy became so strong."

"You\'re right."

Wuchen raised his sword.

The demons soon realized their situation. They finally accepted Jaraxxus\'s death and started to panic.

It was obvious that it was a great opportunity to attack.

Sighing, Yeon-Joo charged toward the demons.

"Damn. Now I\'m not even surprised when gods or demons appear."

She could feel how much the world had changed in just a few years.

"Haaa."

Sighing once again, she clenched her fists and looked sharply at the Demon Cultists.

\'Whether it be demons, angels, or gods…\'

She only had one goal…

She saw the Demon Cultists, hiding behind the demons, shout something. Because the situation had turned awry, they were using a communication orb to shout something and were trying to escape.

"Where do you think you\'re running off to?"

She clenched her fists, and the red chains rose to the sky and surrounded her.

Wuchen, Baek Hwa-Yeon, Tian Suyan, and Goo Hyun-Mo also took out their weapons. Kang Tae-Soo lifted his shield, and Seol-Ah applied her strong buffs to the Players.

Human vs. demons…

The battle between the two forces began.

* * *

Kang-Woo thrust his sword emitting golden light.

It looked like Del Lain, the sword of Tirion, God of Heroes. But in reality, it was a replica created with the Key of the Demonic Sea. Although it was a replica, its base was the Key of the Demonic Sea—a Transcendent-grade weapon.

The energy emitted from the sword was more intense than Reynald\'s Del Lain.

Crack!

[Kurgh!]

The sword pierced a demon through the demonic energy barrier they had created.

Kang-Woo didn\'t even need to use an Authority. There was an overwhelming difference in their physical specs. Even when he was running wild with pure physical strength, the demons couldn\'t do anything.

\'I sure have gotten stronger.\'

He could feel how much stronger he\'d become in the past few months, and his strength couldn\'t be compared to when Oriax was first summoned.

\'But…\'

He used the Authority of Predation.

Before their corpses could fall to the ground, the demons were devoured by the smoke that had stealthily come out of Kang-Woo.

From what others could see, it looked as if the demon corpses were turning into black smoke and dissipating.

Riiing.

[Activating the Trait \'Reaper of Souls.\']

The demons\' demonic energy and souls flowed into his body.

He felt the passage to the deep end of the Ten Thousand Demon Core expand as the Reaper of Souls Trait activated.

\'It isn\'t enough yet.\'

A thirst was burning his throat. He could feel that he still needed a lot more for his Demonic Energy stat to reach the 130 points he was trying to achieve.

He stomped on the ground and swung the sword.

More. More.

He desperately desired and thirsted for more power. It was a primal desire that couldn\'t be replaced with anything else.

[S-Stay away!]

[ARRGGHH!]

Crunch! Crunch!

He tore their flesh apart, and their gore sprayed over the area. A fishy smell stimulated his nose. He couldn\'t get enough of it.

"Haaa."

He breathed in. Black blood splashed on his white mask.

Rather than the appearance of an apostle of the God of Heroes, the sight of him drunk on their blood was more akin to the image of a demon.

He was annihilating the demons with overwhelming power to the point that they couldn\'t even think of resisting.

It didn\'t take him long to fully devour all twelve summoned demons.

"Kuh!"

"B-Backup! Request backup!" the Demon Cultists anxiously shouted. They picked up the crystal orb and contacted someone.

Yeon-Joo was about to rush toward them and attack.

"Wait." Kang-Woo stopped Yeon-Joo in her tracks.

"… Why?"

"Wait a little bit."

Yeon-Joo narrowed her eyes and looked at the Demon Cultists making calls. "Are you going to use them as bait?"

"Yeah." He nodded. If they were going to call for backup, Kang-Woo and the others had no need to go out of their way to search for the other Demon Cultists.

\'Delivery, please~!\'

He almost considered the Demon Cult members asking for backup lovely.

Kang-Woo panted heavily as if he were exhausted and bent over while grabbing his chest.

The Demon Cultists\' eyes shone at Kang-Woo\'s methodical acting.

"Th-The enemy is tired! Send backup now!"

\'Awright!\'

A smile appeared on his face behind the mask.

He could sense that a group possessing demonic energy was heading his way from nearby after having received the request for backup.

A smile appeared on his face, and he shrugged.

\'Yes, call them all here.\'

He had already predicted that multiple summoning rituals were happening in this area. He wasn\'t sure how many demons would be coming, but he was sure that the number wouldn\'t be small.

\'The demonic energy was spread pretty far.\'

He had found traces of demonic energy in most of the areas he\'d observed with the Authority of the Beholder, meaning many powerful demons had been summoned.

\'Very good.\'

He liked how the situation was playing out.

Although it was very little at a time, the passage to the deep end of the Ten Thousand Demon Core was expanding, and his allies were thinking of him as the apostle of Tirion, God of Heroes.

\'It isn\'t that hard being a hero as long as you endure the cringe.\'

He just had to emit a bit of light and say some cringey stuff. On top of that, he was the apostle of Tirion, so it would be weird if they didn\'t consider him a hero.

Even Yeon-Joo, who said she was going to hurl after hearing his lines, was looking at him in a different light, so there was no doubt it had been very effective.

\'Now, as long as I wipe out these Demon Cultists…\'

It would help him become stronger and consolidate his position as a hero.

The trust that Gaia and the other Guardians members had in him would rise, and he would probably gain as much influence as Gaia. No, his goal was to surpass her in influence.

\'I\'ll take over Guardians.\'

The tips of his mouth went up.

The true hero, Tirion, had already placed the tracks. He just had to follow them.

\'Satan! Tirion! Thank you both so much!\'

Becoming the apostle of Tirion and being free from the accusation of being the Demon of the Prophecy…

He wouldn\'t have been able to be in such a sweet position if it weren\'t for the sacrifice of Satan and Tirion.

It was obvious he would be thankful to them.

It was at that moment…

"I would like to ask you all something." Gaia took a step forward with Grace\'s help. She clenched her fists and opened her mouth. "Why are you all following the commands of an evil demon like Satan?"

The Demon Cultists who were requesting backup through the crystal orb looked at her.

Gaia trembled.

"Why… Just why are you… trying to destroy this beautiful world?" She bit her lip and shouted as if she were letting out all of her anguish. "You killed Reynald and Alec… What are you all trying to achieve by sacrificing the lives of countless people?!"

Tears dripped from her eyes.

The people she trusted had died.

The partners who promised her they\'d save the world together had been murdered.

Although she was a god\'s apostle, she was just a frail girl at the core. She\'d tried her best to stay strong after such unfortunate incidents, but it was hard to make the sadness and anger go away.

Her anger had exploded after seeing the Demon Cult.

"Gaia, calm down."

Grace grabbed Gaia, looking at her sadly.

Gaia\'s thin shoulders shook, and the tears didn\'t seem to stop.

"Gaia…" Si-Hun clenched his chest as he witnessed Gaia\'s sorrow.

"… What?" The Demon Cultists tilted their heads while looking at each other. "Follow the commands of Satan? What is she talking about?"

They looked at Gaia as if she were talking nonsense. It was true that the Demon Cult served demons… but Satan wasn\'t the one giving them commands.

Since Satan could be considered a symbol of demons, they could understand if the name was used in a figurative sense, but what she had said after was even harder to understand.

"Reynald? Alec? Who is she talking about?"

They looked at each other in confusion as if asking one another if they knew.

"…?"

The atmosphere was becoming weird.

\'Oh, shit.\'

Kang-Woo\'s expression hardened.

Gaia and Si-Hun were also frowning and were trying to figure out what was going on after seeing the Demon Cultists\' genuine confusion.

\'No!\'

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

\'In that case…\'

Kang-Woo\'s eyes shone. There was only one way to solve the problem.

He grabbed the Key of the Demonic Sea, which was still in its Del Lain form, and held it high. Golden light burst out of it.

"How dare you try to deceive me!"

"What?"

"Did you think I wouldn\'t know you killed my child Reynald?!"

"No, seriously, who is this Reyn—"

"Shut up!!" Kang-Woo stomped on the ground. A huge amount of energy exploded outward, and the surface shook. "How could you?! How could you be so shameless while still wearing the skin of humans?!"

The golden light intensified.

The apostle of Tirion clenched the sword shining gold with both hands.

"Ah…"

"That\'s…!"

An exclamation left Gaia\'s and Si-Hun\'s mouths.

The golden light couldn\'t be compared to the ones before.

… And Kang-Woo was talking in a way different from how he usually spoke.

"Deific Manifestation."

They couldn\'t help but think that Tirion had borrowed Kang-Woo\'s body to manifest due to the Demon Cult\'s shameless attitude.

Gaia gulped after seeing the enraged god.

A Demon Cultist said, "But for real, who the hell are those peop—"

"Scumbags like you are not even worth talking to!"

Tirion, God of Heroes, who had descended by borrowing Kang-Woo\'s body, charged toward the Demon Cultists and swung his sword.

"Take the judgment of light!"

The Demon Cultists\' heads were blown away with the flat of Del Lain\'s blade.