Crack-
The sound of bones grinding together could be heard.
ShiHoon’s muscles started to move, and a black liquid came out of his pores.
'Ah.'
He let out an exclamation.
It was a weird sensation as if he were being reborn.
It wasn't a horrible pain like he'd often heard.
Rather than that, it felt refreshing. It was as if someone was scratching itchy parts of his body.
Rime went on.
He slowly opened his eyes and took a deep breath. The air of the forest entered his lungs. A hard-to-explain, clear feeling covered him.
He felt like his body was as light as a feather and extended his hands to grab the sword that had pierced KangWoo's stomach.
Blue light surrounded the sword, and it came out smoothly as if it were alive. KangWoo collapsed.
"Hyeongnim…"
He extended his hands, and KangWoo was surrounded by blue energy as if a psychic were using telekinesis on him.
He slowly lay KangWoo on the floor.
The blue energy covered his wound.
Surprisingly, not a single drop of blood was coming out from where he'd just stabbed him.
'I must end things quickly.'
Having used Sword Control to seal the damage was just a temporary solution.
To fully heal his wound, he had to take him to the Hall of Protection, return to Korea, and then call for Han Seol-ah.
[Wh-what the?!]
He saw Yogsaron’s surprised expression.
He turned and gripped his sword. He wasn't trembling anymore.
"Yog… saron."
He said the name with resentment.
The underling of the demon he hated the most…
He was a being who'd put Gaia in danger, and he’d made him stab KangWoo.
'I must kill him.'
There was no reason to keep him alive.
Strong killing intent surged from ShiHoon.
[Damn! H-how did you free yourself from the influence of the seed?!]
He had a confused expression.
[A human shouldn't be able to resist a demon's cravings!]
"Don't say nonsense, demon."
He charged without hesitation while holding the sword.
Certainly, just like Yogsaron said, the cravings of a demon's body were strong.
There probably wasn’t a single drug that could be compared to it.
'But…'
One could overcome it.
He was evidence of that.
He'd touched rock bottom and barely managed to rise back up, but it wasn't 'impossible.'
"I won't let you do as you wish."
He took a step forward and thrust out the sword, which left his hands and moved freely across the air as if it were alive.
'Blue Dragon 1st Form.'
Light shone, and blue energy slashed through the space and cut Yogsaron's body.
[How dare a mere human!!!]
The battle kept going on.
It was completely different from when he was one-sidedly beaten up.
Kim ShiHoon's body moved incredibly fast while leaving an afterimage.
Boom-!
He felt free, and he was able to do things that he couldn’t do before.
The fact that he could use sword techniques without holding the sword made it possible for him to do incredible movements.
[Ugh!! D-damn!]
As the fight continued, the number of wounds on Yogsaron's body increased.
His skin was torn, and the green tentacles were cut.
Yogsaron anxiously looked around.
He grabbed a black sphere from within his body.
[You… don't think that things will end like this.]
He glared at him with strong killing intent.
Crack. He destroyed the black sphere with his hands.
A black fissure appeared and devoured Yogsaron's body.
"I won't let you go!!"
Kim ShiHoon charged forward.
Yogsaron waved his hands, and a huge army of undead charged toward ShiHoon.
"Ugh!"
Kim ShiHoon could kill each undead with one attack, but there were hundreds of them.
Even if he'd just Awakened, he couldn't eliminate such a huge amount of monsters in the blink of an eye.
'I should ignore them…'
He was trying to follow Yogsaron, who was about to disappear through the fissure.
He saw the undead running toward the unconscious Gaia and KangWoo.
"Damn…"
He couldn't follow the demon if the price was giving up on those two.
Kim ShiHoon bit his lip and glared at Yogsaron.
[Don't forget it, human.]
Yogsaron and Kim ShiHoon looked at each other.
[In the end, the demons will win!]
He extended both hands and spoke in a madness-filled voice.
[Everything as Mr. Satan wills it!]
Yogsaron completely disappeared through the fissure.
"…"
Kim ShiHoon remained silent while watching Yogsaron disappear.
He looked at where he’d disappeared with sharp eyes but ended up turning his head.
He had no time to think about the escaped demon.
"Ugh."
"Hyeongnim! KangWoo hyeongnim!!"
"ShiHoon?"
KangWoo got up.
Kim ShiHoon quickly went running to KangWoo while crying.
KangWoo smiled and looked at Kim ShiHoon.
"I knew that you'd be able to do it."
"D-don't get up yet, hyeongnim! Your wound…"
"Why is someone whose arms were regenerated by me worried about that? I'll be okay as long as I don't die."
KangWoo smiled bitterly and healed his wound.
Even if the wound was closed, it seemed that physical damage was still left.
KangWoo, who was trying to get up, began staggering.
"Hyeongnim!"
"I'm okay, but more than that, what happened? Why did you turn into a demon?"
"That…"
Kim ShiHoon hesitated a bit.
After thinking for a while, he told him what Yogsaron had told him.
"A seed, huh?"
"I'm sorry. Because of me…"
"No, it's okay."
* * *
He shook his head.
"I think that we should keep this a secret."
"Yes…"
"Don't be so worried."
KangWoo patted his shoulders.
He held Kim ShiHoon's hands.
"Anyway, you managed to beat it on your own."
"…"
"You've already done it once, so you'll probably be okay."
"It isn't that simple of an issue…"
"ShiHoon, I believe in you."
"Hyeong…"
Tears appeared in Kim ShiHoon's eyes.
He'd feared he might kill someone important to him with his own hands, and in the middle of such fear, KangWoo's words had been of great help.
"Hyeong!!!"
'Don't hug me.'
KangWoo pushed Kim ShiHoon away.
Kim ShiHoon’s expression resembled an abandoned dog’s.
'Don't try to act as if you feel hurt.'
Why was he aiming for the role of the main heroine?
"There's another person you should be hugging."
"Ah…"
"Eh? M-Mr. ShiHoon?"
Gaia, who had been unconscious, carefully got up.
She looked around in confusion, and she didn't seem to be acting.
"Ms. Gaia…"
"Guardian Kim ShiHoon! Eh… I mean… what happened?"
'Nice, sister-in-law!'
Thankfully, she spoke in a trembling voice as if she knew her role.
Kim ShiHoon helped Gaia stand up.
KangWoo smiled while looking at them.
'With this…'
The hero had blossomed in the middle of despair, the evil demon had escaped, and the weak heroine had been rescued.
'This is what I call a novel ending!'
Hahaha.
* * *
[That human was certainly impressive.]
A week later, after Kim ShiHoon's incident…
After the training session with Mamon's Authority was over, Balrog opened his mouth.
KangWoo nodded.
It wasn't hard to guess who Balrog was talking about.
"If he weren't impressive, I wouldn't have tried that hard."
[I'm just impressed by the King's ability to recognize strong people. To be honest, I didn't expect that human to become that much stronger in the middle of our act.]
Balrog remembered the fight with Kim ShiHoon.
He felt a thrill spread through his body.
KangWoo smirked.
"Do you think you'll be caught up to?"
[Haha. Even if he's accepted the soul of a god inside his body, I, Balrog, am not so weak that I'd lose against a human brat,] Balrog answered without hesitation.
KangWoo nodded.
At that moment, Balrog's condition wasn't the best. Not only that, but he wasn't using his main weapon—he'd fought Kim ShiHoon with tentacles.
'To be honest, he's become so strong that he should probably be able to beat an average great demon.'
A smile appeared on KangWoo’s face.
Kim ShiHoon should be able to deal with chickens like Halphas, Malphas, and Phenex.
'I'm proud of you.'
A proud smile appeared on his face.
With the Awakening, he'd become so strong that he was strong enough to get into the top five in the army he used to lead in the past.
'As expected, trying hard never fails.'
It had been worth it.
'Still, there's a long way to go.'
He didn't have a complaint regarding Kim ShiHoon's growth speed, but the thing he had an issue with was how strong Earht’s players were in general.
'I don't expect them to be as strong as ShiHoon, but it would be great if stronger players started to appear.'
The difference in power between demons and humans was too much.
If KangWoo hadn't been there, a single archduke would've been able to destroy Earth.
"Hngh."
It was true that what he wished for was too much.
'It has only been six years since players appeared.'
The fact that humanity had become strong enough to be able to defeat monsters in six years was already a miracle.
"I guess I'll just have to believe in the future…"
He just had to hope players would grow more through future encounters.
"Balrog, the break is over."
For the moment, he had to learn how to control Mamon's Authority and…
'Try to fuse this Authority with others.'
An archduke's Authority…
There had been no cases of the strength of a Transcendent being mixed with another.
It was something that had never happened before, and it wouldn't happen in the future if not for KangWoo.
It was something that no one would try unless they were a crazy irregular like Oh KangWoo.
'For now, it's impossible.'
He still couldn't control the Authority of Flames to perfection, so fusing it with another Authority was out of the question.
Fusing one Authority with another increased how difficult it was to control.
It was something no one had managed to do before, so he had to be very careful about it.
'Still, one day…'
He raised his hands, and a small flame danced in his palms.
He still hadn't caught up to Mamon's ability to control the flames, but as time went on, he would catch up to and surpass him.
…Just like he'd always done before.
[You were also like this in Hell… but King, you really don't rest.]
"There isn't anyone who doesn't take a break."
Most people couldn’t go on without taking a break, and that was also the case for KangWoo.
He really wanted to have a date with Han Seol-ah, watch TV with Echidna, and go to the internet cafe with Chae YeonJoo.
"Ah, I really want to rest…"
Thinking about it made him crave those things even more.
After learning Mamon's Authority, he'd spent 20 hours a day trying to control it.
'No, maybe even more.'
He had used the Authority of Concentration, which made him feel like time was flowing slower, so, according to his senses, he'd spent much more time than that.
His goal in his life was to become a millionaire with no job, so it was hard to resist taking a break.
'Fuck, let me take a break.'
Before returning to Earth, he thought he would enjoy a life of leisure once he got there, but before he noticed, he had to keep fighting with the Earth’s future at stake.
He was starting to get annoyed.
'I should pick a day to rest…'
"Oh, my King, so you need to take a rest?"
He heard a voice coming from behind.
He turned his head. Lilith was looking at him with a smile on her face.
"No," he answered without hesitation.
He kept talking in a low voice.
"We don't have time to rest."
"Oh, you're saying that again."
It didn't work with her.
Lilith hugged KangWoo while smiling.
"Now that I think about it, we haven’t gotten to spend much time together since my arrival in this world."
'I'm okay with things staying like this.'
"I can understand why my King is so tired. You're missing the nights with me."
'I'm going to work like a dog without taking a single day off.'
He looked at her desperately.
Had his look worked? Lilith sighed and kept talking.
"I want to spend an intense night with my king… but it seems like that's going to be hard today."
'Woah, what happened?'
KangWoo's eyes shone at the unexpected answer.
"Did something happen?"
"There's something I need to inform you of…"
Lilith kept talking with a calm voice,
"A survivor of where the forces of Lucifer clashed with the Demon Cult has asked for protection from Guardian."
"A Demon Cult member…?"
"No. He said he isn't a Demon Cult member. According to him, he was just kidnapped by them and forced to work like a slave."
"Then what did he say he was?"
He asked curiously.
"He said he's a magician… from the Magic Tower."
