[Mr. Jaraxas?]
[How could something like this…?]
It wasn't just the members of the Demon Cult; 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 like 'How could Mr. Jaraxas lose against a mere human!', but that wasn't the case.
To think that he would die without being able to defend himself against a single attack.
They weren't even able to see Jaraxas’s body, who called himself the ruler of the Hellfire Road.
[Is this something Mr. Jaraxas intended?]
[But why would he…?]
They were thinking that Jaraxas was maybe playing a trick on them.
That's how shocking it was that Jaraxas had died from a human’s single blow.
"Mr. K-KangWoo?"
"Woah. Are you really human?"
Han Seol-ah and the other people that were following KangWoo opened their mouths in surprise.
Cheon MooJin couldn't believe how strong KangWoo had become compared to when they'd sparred.
The only ones that weren't that surprised were Gaia and Kim ShiHoon, who knew his strength.
''Hyeongnim has recently received the blessing of the Hero God Tyrion and become his apostle."
"Then that's the strength of a god…?"
"Yes."
Everyone nodded at Kim ShiHoon's words.
Hero God Tyrion… They didn't know who he was, but they thought such strength was as expected from a 'god.'
Chae YeonJoo laughed while shaking her head in disbelief.
The red bracelet started to shine.
"I'm going to ask for the details later on. This isn't time to wonder about how that guy has become so strong."
"You're right."
Cheon MooJin gripped his sword.
The demons soon realized their situation. They finally accepted Jaraxas’s death and started to panic.
It was obvious that it was a great opportunity to attack.
Chae YeonJoo began charging toward the demons while sighing.
"Damn. Now I'm not even surprised if gods or demons appear."
She could feel how much the world had changed in just a few years.
"Haaa…"
She once again sighed while clenching her fists.
She sharply looked at the Demon Cult members.
'It doesn't matter if a demon, angel, or god appears…'
She only had one goal…
She looked at the Demon Cult members shouting something while they were hiding behind the demons.
As the situation began to turn weird, they were using the communication crystal to shout something and were trying to escape.
"You won't be able to escape."
She clenched her fists; the red chains rose to the sky and surrounded her body.
Cheon MooJin, Cheon SooYeon, and Goo HyunMo also took out their weapons.
Kang TaeSoo lifted his shield, and Han Seol-ah applied her strong buffs to the players.
Human vs. demons…
The battle between the two forces began.
* * *
KangWoo stabbed the sword forward—a sword that was emitting golden light.
It looked like the sword of the Hero God Tyrion, Del Lain, but in reality, it was a fake created with the Key of the Demonic Energy Sea.
Although it was a fake, the original weapon was the Key of Demonic Energy Sea—a transcendent-rank weapon.
The energy emitted from the sword was more intense than Reinald's Del Lain.
Crack-!
[Cough!]
The sword destroyed the demonic energy wall the demons had created.
He didn't even need to use an Authority. There was an overwhelming difference in their physical specs.
Even if he overwhelmed them with strength, the demons couldn't do anything.
'I really got stronger.'
He could feel how much stronger he'd become in the past few months.
It couldn't be compared to when Oriax was first summoned.
'But…'
He used the Authority of Predation.
Before the bodies of the demons could fall to the floor, the fog that stealthily came out of KangWoo's body began devouring their bodies.
From what others could see, it looked as if the demon corpses were turning into black fog and scattering away.
Ting-
[The attribute of 'Reaper of Souls' has been activated.]
The demonic energy and demon souls entered his body.
He could feel that Reaper of Souls had activated, and the passageway to the deepest part of the Ten Thousand Demon Core widened a bit.
'It isn't enough yet.'
He could feel the thirst burning his throat.
He could feel that he still needed a lot to reach the 130 stat he was trying to get.
He stomped on the ground and swung the sword.
‘A little bit more… A little bit more…’
He desperately wanted more strength.
It was a primal desire to become 'stronger.'
[G-get away!]
[AAGGHH!]
-Crunch! Crunch!
He tore their skin apart, and their gore sprayed over the area.
A fishy smell stimulated his nose.
"Ha…"
He breathed. Black blood splashed into his white mask.
Rather than the apostle of a Hero God, the sight of him drunk on their blood was more akin to a demon’s appearance.
He began annihilating the demons with an overwhelming difference in strength.
It didn't take him long to fully devour all 12 demons that had been summoned.
"Ugh!"
"H-help! Ask for help!" The Demon Cult members anxiously shouted. They picked up the communication crystal and tried to call somewhere.
Chae YeonJoo was about to rush toward them and attack.
* * *
"Wait."
"Why…?"
"Wait a little bit more."
KangWoo blocked Chae YeonJoo.
She narrowed her eyes and looked at the Demon Cult members making calls.
"Are you going to use them as bait?"
"Yes."
He nodded.
Even if they didn't do anything, they would send more their way, so there was no need for them to wander around looking for more.
'Food delivery service~!'
He almost considered the Demon Cult members asking for support lovely.
KangWoo breathed heavily and sighed while grabbing his heart; acting as if he were tired.
The Demon Cult members’ eyes shone after seeing him act tired.
"Th-the enemy is tired! Please, send help quickly!"
'Nice!'
A smile appeared on his mask-hidden face.
Was it because of their hurried shout? He felt a bunch of beings with demonic energy charging his way.
A smile appeared on his face, and his shoulders shook.
'Call them all.'
They'd already theorized that there was more than one summoning ceremony taking place.
He wasn't sure how many demons would be coming, but he was sure that number wasn't going to be small.
'The demonic energy was spread quite a lot, after all.'
He found traces of demonic energy in most of the places he'd observed with the Authority of Observation.
There was a chance that a very strong demon had been summoned.
'Good.'
He liked how the situation was going.
Although it was slow, the passageway to the deepest part of the Ten Thousand Demon Core was increasing, and the others were thinking of him as the apostle of Tyrion.
'Hero… This isn't that hard if you can resist being cringed out.'
He just had to show them a bit of light and say some cringey stuff.
On top of that, he was considered the apostle of the Hero God Tyrion, so it would be weird if he wasn't called a hero.
Even Chae YeonJoo, who said she wanted to vomit after hearing what he said, was looking at him with different eyes, so there was no doubt it had been very effective.
'Now, if I sweep away the Demon Cult members…'
It would help him become stronger and reaffirm his place as a hero.
The trust that Gaia and the other Guardian members had in him would increase, and he would probably have as much speaking power as Gaia. His goal was to surpass her.
'Getting ahold of the Guardians…'
The tips of his mouth went up.
He'd already placed the track through Tyrion’s name.
He just had to follow that track comfortably.
'Satan! Tyrion! Thank you both a lot!'
Being free from the accusation of him being the Demon of the Prophecy and becoming the apostle of the Hero God Tyrion…
He wouldn't have been able to reach such a comfortable situation if it weren't for the sacrifice of Satan and Tyrion.
It was obvious he would be thankful for them.
It was at that moment…
"There's something I wanted to ask you."
Gaia took a step forward with Grace’s help.
She clenched her fists and opened her mouth.
"Why are you guys following the orders of an evil demon like Satan?"
The Demon Cult members that were asking for help looked at her.
Gaia's body trembled.
"Wh-why… are you trying to destroy such a beautiful world?"
She bit her lips and shouted as if she were letting out all of her anguish.
"You killed Mr. Reinald and Alec… and even sacrificed so many people. What are you trying to achieve?!" She shouted loudly.
Tears dripped from her eyes.
The people she trusted had died.
The partners who promised her they'd saved the world with her had been murdered.
Every time that happened, she'd tried her best to stand up, 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 while looking at her sadly.
Her thin shoulders shook, and the tears didn't seem to stop.
"Ms. Gaia…"
Kim ShiHoon also seemed sad after seeing her like that.
"What…?"
"Follow Satan's orders? What do you mean?"
The Demon Cult members tilted their heads while looking at each other.
They looked at Gaia as if she'd just said nonsense.
It was true that the Demon Cult served demons…
But Satan wasn’t the one giving them orders.
Satan was used as a symbol to represent all demons, so that part was understandable, but the words she said after that were even harder for them to understand.
"Who is Reinald? And who’s this ‘Alec’ you’re talking about?"
They looked at each other in confusion.
"…?"
The atmosphere was becoming weird.
'Oh, fuck.'
KangWoo's expression hardened.
Gaia and Kim ShiHoon were also frowning after seeing the members of the Demon Cult in confusion.
'No!'
The atmosphere suddenly became tense.
'Then…'
KangWoo's eyes shone. There was only one way to solve the problem.
He grabbed Del Lain and held it high.
Golden light started to come out of it.
"How dare you try to deceive me!"
"What?"
"Did you think I wouldn't know you killed Reinald, my child?!"
"That's why we're asking who Reinald is…?"
"Shut up!!"
He stomped on the ground; huge amounts of energy exploded out, and the surface shook.
"How could you?! How could you have a human’s skin and be so shameless?!"
The golden light became more intense.
The apostle of the Hero God Tyrion used both hands to lift the sword that was shining with a golden light.
"Ah…"
"That is…!"
An exclamation left Gaia and Kim ShiHoon's mouths.
It was a golden light that couldn't be compared to the ones before.
…And it was a way of talking that was different from how KangWoo usually spoke.
"Possession."
They couldn't help but think that Tyrion had used KangWoo's body to appear due to the shameless attitude of the Demon Cult.
Gaia gulped after seeing the angry god.
"So who the fuck are those guys you're talking about…?"
"It seems impossible to talk to trash like you!"
The Hero God Tyrion, who had descended using KangWoo's body, charged toward the Demon Cult members.
"Receive the light of judgment!"
The Demon Cult members were decapitated and blown away by the glowing sword.
