KangWoo took a deep breath.
His lungs filled with air, and demonic energy spread through his body.
He slowly closed his eyes and concentrated.
'Authority of Flames.'
He used the Authority and used demonic energy from the depths of what he could summon.
He woke up Mamon’s sleeping soul there.
A hot energy began to spread through the demonic energy that had been dissolved into his blood.
"…"
He felt pain.
It was as if lava was flowing through him instead of blood.
A yellow light surrounded his body, and he slowly raised his right hand.
He focused on the Key of the Demonic Energy Sea that was on his right middle finger.
His black ring burned.
Tss-!
He felt his skin burning as well, and the odor of flesh burning tickled his nose.
He ignored it.
Black blood poured from where his skin was melting.
He ignored it.
'Concentrate.'
He closed his eyes and focused.
The Authority of Flames was running amok in his body.
They were flames that couldn't be controlled.
He tried to smother the flames.
Mamon's soul twisted its body as if it were screaming, and it seemed like he was feeling pain.
He didn't concentrate—he didn't have the mental space to concentrate on that.
He ignored the resentful scream, and another line of demonic energy flowed out of the Ten Thousand Demon Core.
'Authority of the Blade.'
TSS-!!
BOOM-!!
The ground he was standing on melted down, and his body started to sink into the boiling earth.
Cold sweat dripped down his forehead. An immeasurable pain spread through his body.
He wanted to throw up, and his consciousness started to blur.
He wanted to let his hand go. He felt chills after feeling his body was about to burn down and disappear.
Tap-
He took a step forward and stretched out his right hand.
The yellow flames surrounding his body began to pour down his arm and gather around the palms of his hands, and the heat was pushed into the ring.
"Ugh."
He moaned in pain.
He couldn't feel anything in his arm. No, the only thing he could feel was pain.
The drops of sweat evaporated.
“Haaa, Haaa,” he breathed heavily.
He knelt down on one knee, head hurting.
He couldn't think of anything, and his consciousness was fading away.
He moved his right hand.
From the index finger to the middle finger. Little by little. He was okay, even if he could only move his finger 1mm.
He grabbed the flames that had gathered in his hands.
TSSS-!!!
The floor split, and lava rose.
A valley of death that made Hell seem fun spread under his feet.
He fused the archduke's Authority with the Authority of the Blade.
Combining an archduke's Authority and another Authority… It was something that no one had done before.
A miracle took shape.
He held a sword that was burning with yellow flames.
There was one last thing to do…
He had to put a name to that miracle.
He opened his mouth. He had already thought of a name.
"Inferno."
Ting-
[You've obtained the skill 'Inferno.']
[Techniques registered as skills can be used more optimally.]
[You've achieved something no one has been able to accomplish before.]
[You've obtained a hint about the higher quest '???' of the 'Road to Becoming a Demon God.']
'What's this?'
A message appeared in front of him. He frowned while reading it.
'The 'Road to Becoming a Demon God' has a higher quest…?'
The road to becoming a Demon God probably had different steps like Extreme Demonic Energy Body and Demonic Soul.
'I haven't even completed that yet.'
* * *
He still hadn't reached Demonic Soul.
Until then, he hadn't been sure if the Demonic Soul was the last step to becoming a Demon God.
To think he would get such a quest out of the blue.
'Is this Bleach?'
Why were there so many steps?
"Haa."
He sighed.
He tried to click on the quest that had '???' written.
"If it's as I think…"
Ting-
[You can't open the '???' quest yet.]
"See, I knew this would happen."
He couldn't help but frown.
He remembered a promise he'd made before.
"I'm going to twist the one who made this and turn them into a '?' shape."
Even a sudoku had a hint, but he had no hints at all.
'That bastard probably doesn’t even know the details.'
He had no other choice but to give up for the moment.
"Tsk."
He clicked his tongue.
He turned his head from the confusing message window.
The important thing wasn't the higher '???' quest that looked like a failed puzzle.
"Let's see…"
He raised Inferno.
Although he'd moved it only a little bit, Inferno couldn't maintain its sword form and started melting.
'It isn't perfect yet.'
Although it had been registered as a skill, he'd fused a skill he couldn't control well yet, so the level of perfection was disastrous.
"Still…"
He stomped the ground and raised the sword to the sky.
* * *
[It's the 8 o’clock news. A volcano suddenly exploded around the Grand Canyon in the USA, Arizona. Scientists say this wasn't a natural phenomenon. According to them, this probably happened because of outer interference. Guardian has started to investigate the incident. The governor of the state of Arizona has ordered an evacuation. We're currently talking with a reporter on location. Reporter Lee HanSeok?]
[Yes! I'm currently in the Grand Canyon. There's lava flowing through the valley, and the air here is incredibly hot!]
[What's the scale of the anomaly?]
[The lava is flowing in an area about 300 meters long! The heat around here is quite intense! Let me show you how hot it is!]
The reporter began walking toward the lava.
[AAGGHH!]
A painful scream was heard.
Pic-
KangWoo turned off the TV.
There was silence.
"Hmm… Mr. KangWoo, things became quite big."
"…"
Lilith walked toward KangWoo, who was laying on the bed.
"Can you move?"
"No…"
He shook his head.
After using Inferno, KangWoo entered a state of exhaustion similar to when he'd unlocked the Ten Thousand Demon Core’s seal.
Lilith sat on the bed.
"It seems you must think carefully before using that Authority."
"I didn't expect it to be this hard."
He didn't think its destructive power would be that huge and that he'd suffer such recoil.
He felt like a huge piece of iron was weighing down his body.
"Is everything okay in Guardian?"
"Yes. Magic items are constantly being provided, and the average level has been increasing, too."
He nodded.
The magic items were being made by the magicians of the Magic Tower after he’d made a fair contract with them.
To increase their levels and strength, the members of Guardian were recovering the lands in South America and Middle-east that had been lost to monsters.
Thanks to the equipment provided and the monster hunting, which served as training, Guardian forces were getting stronger each day.
"It seems like I won't need to worry about that."
KangWoo turned and lay down as if he were relieved.
"How's the battle between Lucifer's forces and the Demon Cult going?"
The fight between them was more important than the growth of Guardian.
He needed them to damage each other as much as possible.
"They haven't engaged in an all-out war yet."
"Hmm."
He nodded.
'I wonder which side has the advantage.'
The Demon Cult and Lucifer's forces…
Honestly, he couldn't even imagine who would have the advantage.
'Lucifer's forces should have the advantage,'
Leaving everything aside, in Lucifer's forces, there was Lucifer, the third-strongest archduke.
Just his presence should be enough to weigh the fight in his favor.
'I can't be so sure about that since there aren't many things I know about the Demon Cult.'
He didn't think that Mamon was their leader.
There was, for sure, someone stronger than him leading the Demon Cult.
'I wonder who it is.'
There was no way for him to know.
Trying to make a guess in his situation was dangerous.
He stopped imagining it.
The moment he thought, 'he's probably the one,' he wouldn't be able to think of other possibilities.
A simple guess would become a certainty inside his head.
"Has Lucifer come to Earth?"
That was the most important thing.
He had to devour another archduke to fulfill the conditions for Demonic Soul.
Lucifer's forces and the Demon Cult fighting were good, but it had absolutely no meaning if Lucifer himself didn't appear.
'There's probably no point in me devouring the others now.'
He couldn't gain any more experience from trash mobs.
It had no meaning unless it was an archduke.
"No. We haven't found any traces of him, so he probably hasn't come yet."
"Ugh."
He frowned.
'Even after all that, he isn't going to show himself?'
Should he have stimulated him a bit more?
Lucifer's forces had only made small moves, so it was clear that they hadn't shown all of their strength.
'He isn't someone who would stand still after such provocations.'
Lucifer, Satan, Baal…
He'd fought against them for the longest.
Lucifer wasn't someone who would remain still in such a situation.
'Then…'
That probably meant he was in a situation where he couldn't easily make a move.
'How troublesome.'
He needed to stimulate Lucifer more.
He had to make him so crazy that he didn't care about the forces of the Heavens anymore.
'The issue is how I’m going to do that.'
He couldn't think of anything.
"Damn."
It had been half a year since he began trying to make them fight.
He felt frustrated while looking at them skirting around each other.
"Oh yeah, Mr. KangWoo."
"Yes?"
"Lucifer didn't come, but a demon who says he's Lucifer's son has appeared on Earth."
"His son?"
"Yes. I checked the footage of the Demon Cult’s crumbled base, and there was a demon that said he's Lucifer's son fighting against them."
"…"
KangWoo's eyes shone.
'Lucifer's son?'
It was something he couldn't have imagined.
'An archduke had a son?'
It was something that had never happened before.
Although archdukes had appeared tens of thousands of years before, something like that had never happened before.
'Ah, Leviathan had parents.'
Leviathan was the son of the king of Demonic Monsters, the Behemoth, so he had a family.
Still, he had never heard of an 'archduke' having a descendent.
"…"
There was a short silence.
The tips of KangWoo's mouth started to go up.
"Mr. KangWoo…?"
'Lilith…"
He turned his head.
"I wonder if demons also care for their children."
KangWoo's eyes started to shine with madness.
He licked his lips as if he'd thought of something fun.
There was strong killing intent emanating from him.
Viscous demonic energy spread slowly on the ground like tar.
Madness, killing intent, and maliciousness…
"Yes…?"
Lilith's body trembled a bit.
She looked at KangWoo and trembled.
She slowly opened her mouth.
"Y-you want to have a child with me?"
"What?"
"He, hehe. I… I'm a bit flustered. To think the Demon King would be so…"
"No, what are you saying?"
"I… I was thinking about it… but it's a bit embarrassing."
"Uhm, excuse me?"
Lilith shook her head with the palms of her hands on her cheeks.
Her face had become red.
Her black hair started to turn into green tentacles.
Squeak. The tentacles shyly hit KangWoo.
'No.'
He lowered his head while looking at Lilith, who had become immersed in her fantasies.
He covered his face with both hands.
'I tried to say something while setting up the mood for the first time in a while…'
It even sounded cool…
It was a chilling line from a protagonist with a villainous aura.
'Why are you doing this to me?'
‘Please, let me be a protagonist.’
