After Ten Millennia in Hell

Oh Kang-Woo closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and concentrated.

'Authority of Blaze.'

FWOOSH!

A bright yellow karmic fire burned. He'd gotten used to Mammon's Authority. The flames burning from the tips of his fingers devoured the surroundings. The earth and the rocks melted, and a river of magma instantly formed.

'Authority of Blades.'

An Authority was added on top of the Authority of a prince of Hell.

He could normally merge up to six Authorities, up to seven if he pushed himself, but he had already reached his limit after merging two.

"Kuh."

His vision blurred, and his head heated up. The problem with merging Authorities with a prince's Authority wasn't the amount of demonic energy required—it was an issue of control.

'But…'

It was at least better than when he had done it for the first time. The first time, he had struggled to maintain Inferno for even three seconds, but he could now maintain it for over thirty seconds.

'As long as possible…'

He slowly opened his eyes and concentrated. He couldn't breathe properly, his legs were trembling, and he felt an intense pain in his chest as if his demonic energy was about to run amok at any moment.

'A little bit more…'

He was already used to controlling demonic energy that was about to run rampant.

'I can do more.'

He was dripping in cold sweat. His skin swelled from the demonic energy running rampant under it, and an intense pain shot through his entire body.

He felt as if he would faint the moment he even relaxed a little bit, but despite that…

'More.'

He didn't stop.

He had never stopped once in his life.

He never compromised. He never yielded. He never hesitated.

He would climb much, much higher and keep pushing forward.

FWOOSH!!!

TSSS.

A sword emitting yellow flames took perfect form. The unstable flames had formed a solid blade.

[Proficiency of the skill 'Inferno' has risen!]

[The power of the skill 'Inferno' has increased. Reducing the necessary level of demonic energy control to maintain the skill.]

"Fuuu."

He relaxed after reading the message window that had appeared in front of him. The flaming sword melted and disappeared into the air.

Riiing.

[You have obtained a clue for the advanced quest of 'Road to Becoming a Demon God,' ???.]

"Again?" Kang-Woo mumbled while making a bored expression.

It'd been a month since he started training his demonic energy control after a short break. He was finally starting to attain some results, and he had been continuing to get these clues every now and then.

'At least remove a question mark each time I get the clue or something.'

He cast the message window aside in irritation.

"Alright, then…"

Since training with Mammon's Authority was over, it was time for Satan's Authority.

Kang-Woo used the Authority of Extinction.

"Kuh…"

His head began to hurt again. He'd only used one Authority, but his proficiency in Satan's Authority was still very low. He needed much more time to get used to it.

"A bit more…"

"Master Kang-Woo."

"Gasp!"

Kang-Woo's expression paled when he heard a voice behind him. He turned around, trembling. He saw a beautiful, elegant girl with black hair standing behind him.

"Wh-What's up?" he asked while calming himself down.

Lilith bowed and said, "I have come to give a report."

"Is it about that Kalgia guy?"

The last remaining Aspect of Evil, Kalgia.

Guardians and Lilith had been looking for him for the past month, yet they hadn't been able to find him.

Lilith shook her head.

"No. I… do not believe it is Kalgia."

"Really?"

Kang-Woo felt that the conversation would become long, so he stepped on the ground lightly. The earth split, and a rock rose from the ground. After he took a seat on the rock, Lilith offered him a beverage.

The drink was the blue beverage they sold in the market.

"…"

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes and looked at Lilith.

"You didn't put anything weird in here, did you?"

"Hohoho, no." Lilith shook her head while covering her mouth. "After all the scolding you gave me, I will never do that again."

"… Well, as long as you understand."

Kang-Woo trembled as he recalled what happened last time. Just thinking about it made his insides churn.

"So, what is it?"

"There have been phenomena of demonic beasts appearing within Gates, have there not?" Lilith mentioned.

"… Yeah."

Kang-Woo nodded while making a heavy expression.

The Demon of Prophecy, Satan…

After he forcibly crossed dimensions to Earth, the Gaia System, the barrier that defended Earth, had been impaired and the dimensional wall had been severely weakened.

Thanks to that, aside from those summoned by Demon Cultists, demonic beasts and demons have been appearing within Gates from time to time.

'That scumbag.'

Just thinking about it made Kang-Woo clench his fists in anger. Satan's twisted desire to take over Earth had caused countless people to shed blood and tears.

Even now, when he'd gone into hiding, the Gaia System had not been restored. No, it was actually weakening even more. Just like how a knife wound did not disappear just because the knife broke, the broken Gaia System was also the same.

Although the Demon Cult, the perpetrators behind the wound's aggravation, had been dismantled, the wound was not healing.

"Did a strong demonic beast appear this time?"

If Lilith was reporting it to him, that was likely the case.

"I do not have the exact details yet, but… it seems an ancient demonic beast has appeared within the Gate located in the US state of Florida."

"… An ancient demonic beast?"

Kang-Woo frowned.

Although most demonic beasts didn't have any intelligence, ancient demonic beasts were the extremely few that did. Although they possessed intelligence, that did not mean their demonic beast characteristics had completely disappeared. This was the reason why they formed their own territories and did not leave them.

'I've only heard about ancient demonic beasts.'

He had never seen one.

There were two main reasons: first, there was no need for him to go out of his way to fight them, and second, it was far too risky to fight them.

The physical prowess of a demonic beast was higher than a demon's. It was just like how a human's physical capabilities were lower than both a lion's and a tiger's. Ancient demonic beasts were so strong that they could fight against a prince of Hell one on one.

'Come to think of it, I heard that the ancient demonic beasts were acting strangely.'

He remembered what Doomguard and Balrog had told him, but still, he never imagined that an ancient demonic beast would appear in a Gate.

He was again reminded of how weak the Gaia System had become.

"Do you know which one?" Kang-Woo asked.

"It seems to be… Halcyon, most likely."

"Halcyon, huh?"

He had heard of it before; he had even tried to summon it with his Demonic Beast Summoning Trait.

'Oh, speaking of which…'

He'd completely forgotten about his Demonic Beast Summoning Trait.

"Mm…"

He fell into thought.

'I wonder what would appear if I tried to summon one now.'

He currently had more demonic energy than when he used to rule over the Nine Hells.

"…"

He remained silent.

He couldn't even imagine what would be summoned. He recalled what Goddess Benigoa had told him.

"Outer Gods receive fewer restrictions from the system."

Outer Gods were beings that did not belong to worlds within their proximity, like Aernor and Huan, but ones far, far away.

'Fucking hell, what if I actually summon one?'

He couldn't completely brush off the possibility.

Not only had Goddess Benigoa warned them about it herself, but the Gaia System had also become so weak that even an ancient demonic beast could cross over to Earth.

'If I summon a god…'

It was the end, without a doubt.

It would bring about the same result even if he managed to defeat that god. The Gaia System, which was barely holding shape even now, would be completely destroyed, exposing the world to irreversible calamities.

'I'll put it off for now.'

It would probably be fine if he held back on the amount of demonic energy used for the summoning, but there was no need to take that risk on purpose. Besides, he did not need someone or something summoned while holding back his power.

"Any casualties?" he asked.

"At the moment, none but the six-member party that discovered it. One party member had been severely wounded but had miraculously survived."

"First, restrict access to the Gate."

"Fufu. It has already been done. I also restricted the press to minimize the spread of news."

As expected of Lilith, she had dealt with things swiftly.

Kang-Woo nodded.

'An ancient demonic beast, huh?'

To be honest, he had nothing to gain by hunting an ancient demonic beast at the moment. The amount of demonic energy he could control was nearing its peak, so he couldn't afford to use the Authority of Predation.

'I'll consider it an investment for the future, I guess.'

He couldn't devour the ancient demonic beast, but he could compress it like Belphegor to devour later on.

'And…'

Even if he had nothing to gain, he couldn't let the ancient demonic beast run amok inside a Gate. If it managed to get out, it would obviously cause a massive catastrophe.

"Let's go as soon as tomorrow."

"And the members of the subjugation party?"

"Just Balrog and I are enough."

If the ancient demonic beast was as strong as a prince of Hell, having many people would only be a hindrance.

He'd considered Kim Si-Hun, but Balrog was more suited for it.

'Hiding how I turn the corpse into a gem would be a bother.'

Si-Hun didn't know that Kang-Woo could grow stronger by eating demons. Usually, Kang-Woo could use the Authority of Predation secretly to make the corpse scatter into dust, but he couldn't do so at the moment.

"Understood. I will prepare a Gate in the Hall of Protection that will lead straight to the location."

"Oh, do you know anything about Halcyon?"

It was the first time he would be fighting against an ancient demonic beast, so it would be better to get as much information as he could.

"Mm."

Lilith put her finger on her lips and fell into thought.

"I have also never seen it in person, but… I have heard that it is extremely hideous."

"Hideous?"

"Yes. I have heard that it is the most hideous being in Hell."

"Hah."

He laughed in disbelief.

'How fucking ugly could it possibly be?'

How did a demon have to look to be called the most hideous in Hell?

'I can't really put my finger on demon beauty standards.'

For example, Lilith was considered the most beautiful in Hell.

'It would be a huge twist if Halcyon actually looked human.'

"Lilith, do you find humans disgusting?" Kang-Woo asked Lilith, just in case.

"I'm sorry? No, of course not." Lilith shook her head. "I cannot discern who is beautiful or ugly, but they do not look disgusting to me."

"Mm."

He nodded.

'It's like the way a person looks at an animal.'

One couldn't tell which lion was beautiful or ugly, but lions did not look disgusting.

"Well, it doesn't really matter how it looks."

He smirked.

"Are you sure? I have heard stories of demons losing their minds the moment they see Halcyon…"

"Don't worry," Kang-Woo said while holding Lilith's shoulders.

It didn't matter how repulsive and hideous Halcyon looked.

"I've had pretty thorough training in that area," he said confidently.