"That's right. That way exists."
KangWoo nodded.
Of course, Raphael's apostle, Ludwig, had already fallen.
"Yes. He has definitely already fallen."
For some reason, he didn't like the way he laughed—he laughed like a villain wearing a mask.
Leaving aside that he appeared out of nowhere, KangWoo didn't like how easily he got along with everyone.
'How dare he approach ShiHoon.'
He was definitely trying to take advantage of ShiHoon.
"I'm not going to let you."
He clenched his fists, and his lips trembled.
He wasn’t trying to make Ludwig fall—he was just trying to expose what he was hiding beneath his mask.
His goal was to make sure everyone saw his true face.
"Yes… Of course."
He nodded.
He could see the sky out of the window.
'It isn't that I'm bad…'
He wasn't ashamed of anything because Ludwig's true face was definitely a twisted one.
"Then, should I move?"
He felt light.
KangWoo stood up while laughing and placed his hand over his ear, calling someone.
- Yes, Demon King?
Lilith's voice was heard.
"There's something I want to ask you."
- Fufu, you don't need to ask. Giving me an order is enough.
KangWoo smirked and opened his mouth.
"First, can you come here?"
- Of course.
The call was cut.
Just 30 seconds later, the door of his room opened, and Lilith appeared.
'How did she get here so fast?'
It was so fast that be began wondering if she actually lived next door.
'Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen the next-door neighbor in some time…'
He narrowed his eyes and looked at Lilith.
Lilith knelt and lowered her head.
"I received your call, My King. Fufu. What do you need to ask of me? If it's night service…"
"No. It's nothing like that," he quickly answered.
KangWoo tried to calm down while he organized his thoughts.
How to corrupt a saint…
He had thought of a way to reveal Ludwig's true identity.
"I'm going to create a dungeon."
"A dungeon…?"
"We have a week, and it must be as horrifying and large as possible."
"But…"
A week…
It wasn’t nearly enough time.
It wasn't like they had a large-scale army like in the Hell of the Nine Skies.
Although they could use Balzac's undead army, creating a large-scale dungeon in such a short period of time was almost impossible.
"I'm going to participate."
"Ah, fufu. Then the story changes completely."
Lilith smiled brightly.
If the Demon King helped, it was completely doable.
Not only that, but he had recovered all of the strength he used to have in the Hell of the Nine Skies, so if he took part in constructing the dungeon, the story changed completely.
"I'm going to start creating the blueprint. What do you want the theme to be?"
"Hmm…"
Numerous thoughts crossed his mind.
'This is more fun than expected.'
He wanted to create a dungeon to uncover Ludwig's true face, but after starting to plan the dungeon properly, things became quite fun for him.
He felt like a kid building a castle with legos.
'Is this why demon kings don't leave their castles?'
He began understanding why such a trope existed.
He laughed a bit and kept thinking.
A dungeon that went well with the concept of Demon King…
'It needs to be the scariest thing possible.'
A place capable of making one fall into despair and breaking their mind…
A dungeon that recreated the worst possible nightmare…
A place that not even the most respected saint could resist falling in…
"Fufufu, take your time to think about it."
Lilith smiled mischievously and sat next to KangWoo.
She spread her hands and slowly stroked him.
KangWoo's eyes shone.
'Yes.'
There was no need to think about it too deeply.
The scariest and most terrifying thing he could think of…
A dungeon that recreated a nightmare…
"I know the perfect theme."
He'd already decided on a concept.
"Tentacles," he said in a firm voice.
Lilith's eyes widened.
"Oh, Demon King!"
Lilith shyly shook her head with her hands on her cheeks.
* * *
"I had fun today. The food on Earth is quite impressive. We can use ice magic to create ice cream, but we don't have a great variety of flavors. Was it… mint chocolate? It was really delicious," Ludwig said while smiling brightly.
"That's a flavor people on Earth can't agree on…" Kim ShiHoon said while giving an awkward smile.
"What? Really? But it was quite delicious…"
Ludwig tilted his head as if he couldn't understand it.
Kim ShiHoon smiled bitterly while seeing how innocent he looked.
"Your words, Mr. Ludwig…"
"Please, call me Ludwig."
"Are you sure?"
"Hahaha. Hasn't it been a week since Mr. ShiHoon presented me with Earth's civilization? Once we can figure out the location of the Demon of Prophecy through the holy sword, support will arrive from the Heavens… and the time I can spend with Guardian will go down."
Ludwig extended his hands.
"Before that happens, I wanted to make a friend among the Earth’s people."
"Ah…" A short exclamation left Kim ShiHoon's mouth.
After hesitating for a moment, he smiled and grabbed Ludwig’s hands.
"Yes, I guess this is fate, so let's get along, Ludwig."
"Let's get along."
Both people exchanged a firm handshake, and there was an awkward atmosphere.
Kim ShiHoon blushed and scratched his cheeks.
'A friend…'
It was an awkward sentence.
He had never had a friend other than KangWoo before because his hyeong, Kim YeongHoon, had ensured as such.
He had always lived a lonely life.
'I wonder if hyeongnim would disapprove.'
There was a chance he wouldn’t approve of him hanging around others like he was a middle-school student when he could have been practicing.
"…"
He thought about it for a while and nodded.
The KangWoo he knew wouldn't get mad for something like that.
"Then let's prepare to return. It’s today, right?"
He didn’t specify what he was talking about, but the meaning was clear.
Ludwig nodded.
"Yes, it's today. The holy sword will soon be done adapting to this world.
"I should gather the Guardians…"
"No," he shook his head.
"Using the holy sword requires a lot of concentration. The fewer people there are around, the better."
"Hmm…"
"I don't want it to be the case, but there's a chance that one of the Guardians is harboring demonic energy, so I will use the holy sword with just the Light Watchers around."
"…"
Kim ShiHoon remained silent and thought of KangWoo, someone who was born a human but ended up having the body of a demon for reasons that were outside of his control.
'He'll be okay.'
KangWoo had thrown away his demonic strength; the energy filling his body was a holy one bestowed upon him by Hero God Tyrion.
'It's… going to be okay.'
He suddenly felt uneasy.
Kim ShiHoon opened his mouth while looking at Ludwig.
"What if… There's a demon within Guardian?"
"I'll kill it."
"What if that person has become a demon due to circumstances that are—"
"ShiHoon…" Ludwig said with a smile on his face.
"It doesn't matter why he became a demon. A demon is a being that must be killed. We must tear apart every single one of them."
"Even if someone was forced to become a demon…? You know that, if demonic energy enters your body, you become a demon whether you want it or not, right?"
"Yes, that could happen."
Ludwig nodded and continued to smile.
"That doesn't matter to us. Even if someone was forced to become a demon, we must kill them all," he said without hesitation.
Every single one…
"…"
Kim ShiHoon looked at him in confusion.
'Weird.'
Something about his reasoning was weird and twisted.
"That—"
"Ah, isn't that Mr. KangWoo?"
Ludwig pointed.
He saw KangWoo entering Baskin Robbins, the ice cream shop they'd just visited, and Han Seol-ah was at his side.
He saw the two of them carefully holding hands.
"Ah, you're right."
"Who's the person next to him?"
"That’s Ms. Han Seol-ah. She's hyeongnim's girlfriend."
Kim ShiHoon looked at both of them while narrowing his eyes.
For some reason, he felt a bit jealous.
"Huh…?"
At that moment, Ludwig's eyes widened.
"D-don't tell me? No. There's no way. Why… why someone from Earth…?"
"What's wrong…?"
"H-hahaha!! To think that something like this would happen!!" Ludwig said in an excited voice.
He quickly turned around.
"I'll be going."
"Huh?"
Before Kim ShiHoon could say anything, Ludwig opened a gate that led toward the Hall of Protection.
He quickly woke up one of his underlings there.
"Call Mr. Raphael right now," Ludwig said while standing in front of the gate that led toward Africa.
He took a step forward without hesitation, and…
"Huh…?"
Once again, a confused voice left his mouth.
The gate that connected the Hall of Protection with Africa was a gate that they'd been using for a week, but…
"Where are we?"
"M-Mr. Ludwig…! Wh-where are we?!" the priests anxiously shouted.
Ludwig raised his head.
They were in a giant cave, and there was endless darkness, similar to that of the Abyss, in front of them.
"Eek!"
One of Ludwig's underlings raised his hand, pouring white light into the cave.
Squeak-
"Huh…"
His expression hardened.
Illuminated along the cave walls were hundreds, thousands of tentacles.
Squeak- Squeak, Squeak!
The thousands of tentacles began moving, leaking yellow pus and transparent fluid.
A horrifying scent overcame their sense of smell.
"Ah, aah."
Their mouths fell open.
Tap.
A priest collapsed, and…
"H-huh?"
They realized the very floor they stood on was made of tentacles.
"E-escape… Cough!! Ugh!!"
Crack-!
The tentacles spread, entered the priest’s mouth, passed through their throat, invaded their stomach, and twisted their body.
Paf!
"Ugh! Ugh!!"
His stomach exploded, and tentacles poured out.
"AGH!!"
"R-run!"
A horrifying scream spread through the place.
Ludwig looked forward into the darkness with a hardened expression.
"Where are we…?"
Ting!
[You've entered the SS+ rank dungeon 'Lilith, ♡ Demon King's love, whotoldyoutoputanamelikethisfuckitwasalreadymade.']
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