"How did you get here…?!"
He could hear the flustered voices of the Demon Cult members.
He didn't answer. KangWoo used the Authority of the Blade, lowered his body, and swung the sword.
"Ugh!"
The Demon Cult member raised his hand, and a wall made of demonic energy blocked the sword.
Clang-
The clear sound of ringing metal was heard as he blocked the sword.
"Woah."
KangWoo's eyes shone.
The impact on his hands was quite heavy. The member of the Demon Cult was stronger than he thought he’d be.
"You're not Fujimoto… Who are you?"
The masked man looked at KangWoo.
KangWoo extended his hands.
He combined two Authorities and created a big spear. After grabbing Bident, he spoke in a low voice.
"Move."
"Well… You're not planning to answer, huh?"
The Demon Cult member clenched both fists, and a strong demonic energy flowed from them.
'So they weren't joking when they said that the Demon Cult’s forces in Japan were bigger and stronger.'
The Demon Cult member there probably wasn't a cardinal like Baek KangHyun.
That meant that a normal priest was that strong. The situation couldn't be compared to Korea's.
'But…'
KangWoo gripped the spear tighter. Although they were stronger than the ones in Korea, he was just a simple Demon Cult priest.
There was no way KangWoo was going to lose.
Whir-!
The Demon Cult member raised both hands, and a strong wall made of demonic energy blocked the passageway.
You won't pass!"
Judging from his scream, it seemed like he was quite confident in his skills.
KangWoo smirked. He found it funny that the man was screaming so confidently just because he had been able to block his attack once.
He focused on the Dantian. Energy flowed out of the demonic energy stone and gathered around Bident’s blade.
KangWoo lowered his body, pulled the spear back, stepped forward, and threw Bident. The impact shook the entire passageway.
"H-huh?"
Crack-!
The Demon Cult member’s eyes shook. Biden flew toward him after smashing through the demonic energy wall.
He quickly rolled to the side. Although it was humiliating for him, it was the correct decision. Bident, which flew past him, made a huge explosion.
"H-hiic!"
He stepped back while making a pale expression. KangWoo walked toward him.
KangWoo took the Demon Cult member’s mask off and saw the face of a fat young man in his late-20’s.
"Where is the ceremony taking place?"
"C-cough! H, how did you—!"
Crack-!
"Aagghh!"
"I won't ask again."
You could see the fear in the young man's eyes. He bit his lips while holding his finger, which had been twisted away.
"I… I'll never tell you…!"
There was a burning conviction. It looked like a knight willing to risk his life for his king.
'What?'
KangWoo was surprised. He'd never seen a Demon Cult member who had 'loyalty.'
The Demon Cult’s structure should have made that impossible.
The Demon Cult promised them two things while trying to get new people to join them: eternal life and an increase in strength using the influence of demonic energy.
In the case of Baek KangHyun, he cared more for strength, but most people cared about the eternal life part.
It was obvious. It didn't matter how much money you had, you couldn't bribe death. Even if you had hundreds of millions of dollars, once you became old, you would die. The reason why the Demon Cult had grown so much was that they could stop death.
Your country, race, and ideals didn’t matter. It was normal that people would crave eternal life.
Ideals? Beliefs? Nothing of that sort mattered.
It all lost meaning in front of what they could provide, eternal life.
Of course, there were some bad points, too. Arguments like 'If you risk your life, you'll go to heaven' didn't work with those people, so the Demon Cult members had low loyalty.
'It should be like that.'
"I'll choose death!"
The Demon Cult member bit his tongue and severed the artery within it, and blood began pouring out.
To think that he would commit suicide by biting his tongue. It wasn't something that you could do with average conviction.
"What's up with this crazy loyalty…?"
KangWoo laughed in disbelief. He was starting to wonder if they were really the same Demon Cult.
"Damn."
He threw the corpse aside and used the Authority of Observation to look for where the ceremony was taking place.
But the passageway was so full of demonic energy that it wasn't easy to find it. It was like searching for a tree in the middle of a forest.
KangWoo moved. He had no choice other than to use his two feet.
"Who are you?!"
"Catch him!!"
He kept facing Demon Cult members, and fierce battles broke out.
They weren't strong enough to be a menace, but they were still able to slow him down.
KangWoo was starting to get annoyed at the pointless battles.
Oh-!
"Huh?"
He heard some shouts while running through the underground tunnels.
KangWoo moved toward the source of the sound.
'I found them.'
He saw a small altar.
* * *
A beautiful woman with long, black hair was lying on the altar, and a blue light coming out from her was entering the fissure.
That woman was definitely the Maiden of the Skies, Kurosaki Yurie.
KangWoo created a Leviathan once again and approached the altar.
He saw a group of Demon Cult members and the person in charge of the summoning.
He had seen summoning ceremonies take place numerous times before.
"What's happening…?"
KangWoo's mouth was wide open. They were definitely doing the summoning ceremony…
But there was something different—they didn't look like the Demon Cult members he'd seen before.
"Let's go, guys!! Wait a little bit more! We're soon going to be able to summon it!"
"OOOH!! As expected of the cardinal!! We trust and will follow you!!"
"Stay strong, Akiyama Cardinal!!"
"We're also going to help you!!"
The tension going around was crazy.
It was hard to think of them as evil beings that had accepted demonic energy and prayed to demons.
Rather than a demon-summoning ceremony, it resembled an athletic club's dinner party.
The Akiyama cardinal had both fists clenched.
Demonic energy flowing out of his body made the fissure bigger.
"Let's go! Our goal is Lilith, the Succubus Queen!"
"Ah, finally! Our long-lasting desire…!"
"Cardinal, I'd have no regrets if I died right now!"
At Akiyama's shout, the Demon Cult members began shouting in excitement.
The word “chaos” was the perfect word to describe the situation.
KangWoo looked at them with confusion in his eyes.
'What's wrong with these guys?'
It was as if he'd returned to Hell.
He couldn't even understand what was going on.
KangWoo was flustered at the unexpected development of things.
'No, wouldn't it be weirder to expect something like this?'
He almost felt that the situation wasn't fair.
The fissure began wriggling and grew in size.
The blue light that was flowing out from Kurosaki Yurie's body mixed with the fissure.
Akiyama raised both hands.
"Finally, it's about time we serve our true god!"
"OOOH!!"
"There's no more Hitomi! We don't need to crave for the life beyond the monitor! Our beliefs run across dimensions!"
"Cough! Cardinal…!"
"We're going to follow you!!"
An enthusiastic speech ensued.
It was at that moment…
"H-huh?! C-Cardinal! There's an intruder!"
It was at that moment that they noticed KangWoo's presence.
The Demon Cult members stood up and took their weapons out.
KangWoo raised one hand and tried to stop them.
"No. Finish what you were doing. Wait… Give me some time to think about this…"
It was a supplicating voice.
He needed time to organize his thoughts.
He was starting to wonder if he wasn't in some sort of dream.
He rubbed his eyes, but their aspect still didn't change.
'These guys are members of the Demon Cult?'
They were different from the dark, greedy, and crazy image he had of the Demon Cult members.
But still, they were different.
'No, it's true that, although it's different, they're still a group of crazy, dark, and greedy individuals.'
But it was still different…
There was something crucially different.
"Hmm, even if there was an intruder, I thought it would be Fujimoto. This is unexpected."
Cardinal Akiyama took a step forward and raised his red leather whip.
"Tsk, this was prepared for her… This is too bad."
"What do you mean you've prepared it for her…?"
"Hahaha! That's obvious."
"Wait, no, I don't want to hear it."
KangWoo shook his head.
Cardinal Akiyama hardened.
"Hngh, you were the one who asked. What do you mean you don’t want to hear it?"
"…"
He didn't know how to explain the complex emotions he was feeling.
KangWoo remained silent.
"Cardinal! Leave this to us!"
"Keep doing the summoning ceremony!"
"You guys…"
Cardinal Akiyama swallowed some tears. He shook his head and took a step forward.
"No! I cannot remain still! Love always flourishes amid oppression and crisis! Won't this make it burn even more?!"
"Ah…"
"Cardinal…"
A weird friendship between guys could be felt.
KangWoo grabbed his forehead. He thought he was about to go crazy.
"You… Don't tell me that… The reason why you're trying to summon the Succubus Queen is… Don't tell me… Oh fuck, don't tell me…"
He couldn't say it properly. He didn't want to believe it so badly that he repeated the sentence 'don't tell me' three times.
"The reason why we're trying to summon her? Isn't there only one possible answer?!"
He shouted from the depths of his soul.
"I…! No, we…! Why do you think we entered the Demon Cult?!"
"I'm really not sure… I really don't want to know… Just what are you guys…?"
"It was obviously to summon the queen we want to serve to the modern world!"
"What's obvious about that, you dumbass?!"
"Tsk tsk, this is why it's impossible to talk with someone who doesn't understand romance."
Akiyama swung the whip.
Flap-!
The whip hit the floor.
He kept talking with intense eyes.
"Every man dreams about succubi! Isn't that the ideal everyone craves for?!"
"…"
What he didn't want to believe flowed out through Akiyama's mouth.
He couldn't believe that there were so many Demon Cult members because of some stupid reason like that. To think that all those people were trying to summon Lilith among the countless demons that there were in Hell…
He would've preferred to hear that they were after eternal life.
He would've preferred to hear that they were after power.
If that had been the case, he wouldn’t be feeling the turmoil he was.
"Every man dreams about a succubi?"
KangWoo's body trembled. He was flustered, angry, and annoyed.
Succubi.
To be honest, KangWoo also had high hopes for them in the past.
He had gotten so tired of living surrounded by horrible monsters that he had often thought he'd like to meet a succubus.
"Hahaha! That's right! This is our belief!"
"Do you bastards only think with the head that's between your legs?"
His voice trembled.
He felt the thoughts of the past, the trauma, returning.
KangWoo was flustered the first time he’d seen Lilith.
She was too different from what he thought she'd look like. She was too different. Even Balrog looked more beautiful.
The tentacles… He remembered the horrible, wiggling tentacles. He remembered the 18 eyes looking at him.
"Don't underestimate Hell."
Bident’s blade began to twist.
Gae Bolg, which was the result of combining three different Authorities, emitted an ominous presence.
"There's no romance there."
