After Ten Millennia in Hell

"What happened?"

"Your little act is crumbling." Oh Kang-Woo laughed as the men completely lost their cool.

Echidna transformed her giant hand into a human's again and cast magic.

A black vortex swirled around her hand.

"You're bothering us," Echidna said in annoyance.

The black vortex gathered around her hand began expanding.

"Get back!"

The masked men scattered to avoid the vortex.

"Kyaaa!" Han Seol-Ah screamed as the men violently pulled her.

Tap!

Kang-Woo stomped on the ground and leaped at the man holding Seol-Ah. He pulled back his arm and punched the man, blowing the man away with a gruesome sound.

"Kuh! Surround him and attack!"

The masked men took out their weapons. Their weapons were weird and consisted of iron hooks connected by chains.

Nine iron hooks were swung at Kang-Woo.

"Hmm."

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes.

The hooks were emitting enough energy for Kang-Woo to know that taking them head-on would be dangerous. He grabbed Seol-Ah and soared into the air using the Authority of the Sky.

"Kyaaa! K-Kang-Woo?!"

"Stay still," Kang-Woo said to Seol-Ah, who was struggling. He landed on the ground after moving a safe distance away from the masked men. "Wait for me here."

"I-I can help too!"

Seol-Ah extended both her hands, and white light started to gather around them.

"Grace of Light!"

After she made a short chant, the light flowed into Kang-Woo.

Ring.

[You have received the Grace of Light.]

[Boosting Strength by 3, Dexterity by 3, and Demonic Energy by 2.]

'Wow.'

Kang-Woo looked at the white light around his body with great interest. Leaving Strength and Dexterity aside, the effect of his Demonic Energy stat going up was considerable.

The demonic energy within him expanded.

'Although it's a bit weird that demonic energy rises after receiving the Grace of Light…'

The important thing was that her buff skill was more useful than he'd initially thought.

He was expectant of its effects after she leveled up some more.

'But before that…'

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. He could see the nine masked men looking at him nervously.

'I'll have to take care of them first.'

He raised his right arm, and a black blade shot out from the back of his hand. He lowered his body. After using the Authority of Haste, he shot forward as if he were an arrow.

Rattle!

The men shot the iron hooks at Kang-Woo.

Although nine iron hooks were thrown simultaneously, none of them were tangled with the others, which went to show how well the men had been trained as assassins.

Kang-Woo swung his blade and struck aside two of the iron hooks. He lowered his head to dodge one that had aimed for his head.

He stomped on the ground with both feet and shot upward. The two iron hooks that had been aimed at both of his legs intersected with each other.

The men's eyes shone sharply as if they had expected Kang-Woo to jump up into the air, and three of the iron hooks changed trajectories.

Kang-Woo canceled the Authority of Haste and used the Authority of the Sky. He defied inertia and changed direction at a right angle.

Slash!

The three iron hook chains brushed past the Black Pearl Coat, their sharp hooks lightly grazing the coat. Kang-Woo stomped his feet as if jumping in the air, and his floating body shot toward them at high speed.

'Authority of Dark Spears.'

Numerous spear ends the size of his fingers poured down like rain. The men urgently dodged the spear ends.

Stab, stab, stab!

"Kurgh!"

One of the men couldn't dodge the spear ends in time and was penetrated by dozens of them. He collapsed in a pool of his own blood.

The men quickly prepared to counterattack.

The chains that were scattered about pressed against Kang-Woo.

'Not a bad attack, but…'

Kang-Woo smiled after looking at the chains pressing him from all sides. They reminded him of another attack.

'They're nothing compared to Cha Yeon-Joo's chains.'

He raised his right foot and stomped with all his might. The Authority of Waves spread out with him as the epicenter, and all of the chains pressing into him powerlessly bounced off him.

He could see that the strangers were perplexed.

"R-Retreat."

The information had been wrong.

Player Oh Kang-Woo was not an insolent rookie who acted high and mighty just because he was under Cha Yeon-Joo.

'We must inform His Eminence.'

Kang-Woo's existence was an unexpected variable in their plan. If they did not inform the cardinal, their plan would most definitely fail.

The men turned around.

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

Kang-Woo spread his arms out.

A suffocating chill engulfed the men, and their movements noticeably slowed down.

"Echidna."

"Leave it to me, Kang-Woo."

Echidna stretched her hand out.

A black barrier surrounded the area. It wasn't a magic cast for defense, but one cast to stop prey from escaping.

The masked men desperately swung their weapons at the barrier.

"It's too late."

Kang-Woo took a deep breath.

The powerful demonic energy throughout his body surged. He then placed both of his hands on the ground.

'Field of Blades.'

The ground was split, and black blades shot up from the cracks. It wasn't one or two. Hundreds of black blades swept the men.

Stab, pierce!

"Gaaahhhh!"

"Fuck!"

The blades dug deep into their flesh.

The masked men tried to escape, but there was nowhere to run. In front of them was the black barrier, and behind them was a field of blades. Four of the masked men lost their lives instantly, and the other four were heavily wounded.

One could see the despair in their eyes.

Boom!

Kang-Woo leaped toward the surviving men.

'I can't let them go again.'

He had to restrain them before they committed suicide or turned into demons.

Kang-Woo grabbed the head of the one that had ordered the others to retreat. The Authority of Fear flowed down from his hand and onto the man's head.

"Kurgh! A-Arrgghh!"

The man trembled, foaming at the mouth.

Kang-Woo frowned.

'I failed.'

Kang-Woo felt a huge amount of demonic energy leave him, but he did not see the hazy eyes that would show that the Authority's power had been successfully applied.

The effectiveness of control-type Authorities like the Authority of Fear was drastically reduced even if the target grew even a little stronger. Since the men who had attacked him weren't weak, it was natural that it would fail.

'The Authority of Fear isn't the only way.'

Kang-Woo took off the man's mask, revealing a man who seemed to be in his mid-thirties. Kang-Woo punched the man hard on his cheek.

"Who gave you the order?"

"Cough! Cough! Kill me."

Crack!

Kang-Woo twisted the man's hand without hesitation.

The man screamed gruesomely.

"You won't have many chances. Now, talk. Who gave you the order?"

"Kill m—Aaarrrggghhh!!"

Kang-Woo twisted his other hand, crushed his foot, and ripped his ear off.

The man peed himself from the mind-numbing pain.

"Who gave you the order?"

Kang-Woo's voice was as calm as it could be.

The man's eyes were full of fear.

"I-I don't kn—"

"There's no way you don't know. Just tell me, and you will be at peace."

"…"

"Dying is nothing. You know that very well, don't you?" Kang-Woo said softly.

The man gulped. He did indeed know that death was nothing. In the face of true suffering, death was a blessing.

Fear powerful enough to devour his sense of reason dominated the man's mind. He slowly opened his mouth.

"B-Bae…"

"Bae?"

Just as the man was about to reveal the mastermind, one of the men who had collapsed on the ground swung an iron hook. He did not aim for Kang-Woo but the man who was about to talk.

The iron hook pierced the man's neck.

Stab!!

"Glory to the Demon Cult!!!"

The man's body began to inflate.

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue.

"Petrification."

He doubled his physical defense with the Gargoyle Armor's special effect. He also used the Authority of Invulnerability on top of that to protect himself.

Boom!!

The body of the inflated man exploded, killing all of the other men as well.

Kang-Woo walked out of the explosion completely fine and grabbed one of the red masks lying on the ground.

It was a mask with the face of a demon.

"What a waste of time."

He had failed to find out the cardinal's identity yet again.

He surged with irritation.

Kang-Woo took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

'So you won't come out, huh?'

Kang-Woo's eyes shone.

"Then I'll drag you out."

There was no need to hurry. He wasn't the one who was running out of time.

He crushed the mask in his hand into smithereens.

* * *

"W-We've failed."

"What?"

"We've just confirmed that all the shadows have died."

"… Was it Cha Yeon-Joo?"

"We cannot be sure, but most likely."

"It must be. There aren't many players besides Cha Yeon-Joo who could face ten shadows."

Baek Kang-Hyun frowned. He hadn't expected the shadows to be annihilated so fruitlessly. Other Red Rose members seemed to have assisted Yeon-Joo.

"What a waste."

He'd only ended up losing precious forces while trying to eliminate Yeon-Joo.

His irritation rose from the continuous failures.

"How many Rift Fragments have we collected?"

"About thirty percent."

"Passable rate of collection."

Kang-Hyun nodded and then took a deep breath and calmed down. There was no need to rush. He was not the one who needed to rush.

'They have no way of finding the demonic crystals.'

Time was on his side.

Unless the Red Rose Guild had a demonic crystal detector, they wouldn't be able to find the crystals planted within the monsters.

Kang-Hyun stroked his red demon mask with a smile on his face.