After Ten Millennia in Hell

A horrible scream rang out.

"Haa."

Kim Si-Hun took a deep breath and held Ludwig tighter, leaping forward and swinging the sword upward. Pure-white sword energy shot along the trajectory of his attack.

The demonic beasts rushing toward him were cut in half.

Slash!

Black blood splattered in all directions.

He lightly turned to dodge the blood splatter and then ran forward.

"Arrgghh!!"

"Kill them!!"

Screams were heard from all directions. Hundreds of demonic beasts were charging toward the collapsed Sirius Corps members.

Crackle!

At that moment, red chains spread out and cut through the demonic beasts.

A woman with short red hair kicked a demonic beast and rushed forward.

"Where is that son of a bitch Kalgia?!" Cha Yeon-Joo yelled.

Si-Hun raised his hand and pointed to the remnants of a building that had turned into a ruin. Yeon-Joo and Si-Hun could see a passage leading underground. Although it had been destroyed in the past due to a certain someone, a Demon Cult branch used to be there.

"In there, apparently," Si-Hun said.

"Ngh, it's pretty far."

It actually wasn't that far in terms of distance.

"Kiieekk!"

"Sons of bitches!" Yeon-Joo crossed her hands. The chains spread out in a net and wrapped around the demonic beasts.

Tsss.

With the smell of burning flesh, smoke rose.

"Why are there so many demonic beasts…?" she mumbled in irritation.

The thousands of demonic beasts pouring out from around the ruin made the way to the passage seem much longer than it actually was.

"This must be the entirety of the Demon Cult's remaining forces."

"But there isn't a single Demon Cultist in sight for that to be the case…"

Yeon-Joo narrowed her eyes and looked around. Just like she said, there were only hideous demonic beasts around them. Neither the Demon Cultists who controlled the demonic beasts nor the Demon Cult's cardinals could be seen anywhere.

Si-Hun remained silent.

'It's certainly weird.'

It was weird that, despite there being so many demonic beasts, not one Demon Cultist was visible.

There were two possibilities he could think of.

'They either used the demonic beasts as bait to escape…'

Si-Hun stared at the passageway where Kalgia apparently was.

'… Or they gathered the cultists to prepare for something.'

He felt an ominous feeling traveling down his back. He had a feeling that Kalgia had not run away.

'They have something up their sleeve.'

It was not a deduction based on logic, but an unreliable guess based on a hunch. However, the ominous energy coming from the underground passage strengthened his hunch.

He gripped his holy sword tighter.

"Yeon-Joo," Si-Hun called out.

"Yeah?"

"It will take too much time to advance after clearing out every single demonic beast. I will charge straight through them."

"What?"

Yeon-Joo looked at Si-Hun as if he were saying nonsense. They were about three hundred meters away from the entrance to the underground passage. There were easily over a thousand demonic beasts blocking their way.

'He's gonna charge through all that?'

It was completely absurd.

Whoom!

"Hey, wait! You're not actually—"

BOOM!

Si-Hun stomped on the ground. Blinding light spread through the surroundings.

"C-Crazy son of a bitch…!"

One step…

He swung his sword low. The leg of a demonic beast more than three meters tall was severed, and the demonic beast collapsed.

Two steps…

He stepped on its head and rose into the sky, holding his sword in a reverse grip as he smashed it down. Pure-white sword energy burst out in the shape of a fan as if the compressed power was exploding. It slaughtered the demonic beasts.

Three steps…

He squeezed through the gap that he had created and, in the blink of an eye, infiltrated the area where the demonic beasts were gathered.

"Fuuu."

He gripped the sword with both hands and raised it up high. White light rose like a pillar.

"Heavenly Dragon…"

He opened his mouth and drew out Qi from inside his dantian. An explosive amount of light filled their field of vision.

"… Flash."

Rumble—!!

The sword energy that grew up to thirty meters in length wiped out the demonic beasts. About a hundred demonic beasts exposed to that powerful energy were vaporized.

It was as if a giant from mythology had swung down their sword.

"Wha…"

"Wh-When did he gain such power…?"

Tian Wuchen laughed in disbelief.

Yeon-Joo could only stare at Si-Hun with her mouth agape.

Si-Hun had run into an area where thousands of demonic beasts had gathered, and created a path.

It was a power that was hard to imagine came from a human. It was such an unbelievable sight that it was more accurate to call him a monster.

"There is no time to waste! Now is our chance!" he quickly shouted toward the corps members looking at him in disbelief.

The Sirius Corps members, who had finally returned to their senses, rushed toward the path Si-Hun had opened up.

"Yeaaaaaaah!"

"Charge!!"

They assumed a wedge formation with Si-Hun at the forefront, cutting through the sea of demonic beasts.

"Kuh!"

Si-Hun grimaced.

Countless demonic beasts appeared out of nowhere to block their path.

'Not enough.'

He would be able to charge through if he were alone, but it would be difficult to take the entire Sirius Corps with him.

"Yeon-Joo! Master! Gather around me with only the corps's most elite members!"

"Kuh! But if we do that…"

Wuchen looked around while making a troubled expression.

If only they charged past the demonic beasts, the other members that were left behind would get surrounded.

"It's okay," Si-Hun said while looking somewhere.

There were angels with white wings attacking the demonic beasts where he was looking.

"Those tainted by darkness!"

"Receive the judgment of light!"

The angels were sweeping away the demonic beasts. Among them, Shalgiel and a few angels flew toward Si-Hun.

"Where is the enemy commander?"

"This way!"

Si-Hun pointed to the underground passageway.

Yeon-Joo, Wuchen, and Shalgiel turned toward the passageway, and the elites of the Sirius Corps and the high-ranking angels worked together to clear a path.

Boom! Crash!

The underground passageway crumbled, revealing a large cave behind its crumbled walls.

"Zazas, zazas, nasatanada za—"

"I-Intruders!"

Hundreds of priests in black robes were performing some sort of ritual.

Without hesitation, Si-Hun rushed forward.

Slash! Slash!

"Kurgh!"

"Arrgghh!"

The priests were cut down at an incredible speed.

Si-Hun grew even more anxious.

'Something's wrong.'

He had no idea what ritual the hundreds of Demon Cultists were performing or what it would bring, but one thing was for certain:

'I can't let them succeed.'

He was sure of it. His steps became quicker, and he cut through all the priests blocking his way.

"Filthy demon worshipers!"

It was the same for Shalgiel. After he sensed the chilling demonic energy coming from the complex magic circle, he spread his six wings and flew up.

"Die!"

Shalgiel flew toward the scrawny old man who seemed to be leading the ritual.

Kalgia raised his head.

"Kehehehe."

A chilling laugh came out. He slammed his cane down on the ground.

BOOM!

"Kurgh!"

Demonic energy spread radially and blew Shalgiel away. Shalgiel smashed into a wall as if he'd been struck by a giant hammer.

"Kekeke. Angels and the retainers of Gaia, huh…? What an interesting audience we have gathered here."

Kalgia burst into laughter and turned around. The huge amount of demonic energy coming out of him weighed down on the entire cave.

"Kuh! Wh-what's up with that bastard…?"

Yeon-Joo frowned at the huge pressure weighing her down. She was trying to control the red chains and attack Kalgia, but her body wasn't listening to her.

"Kuh!"

"M-My body…"

It was the same for the rest.

Players and angels alike fell to the ground because they couldn't withstand the immense pressure weighing down on the entire cave.

Slash!

Among them, the only one that could still move was Si-Hun. He cut through hundreds of the Demon Cultists and advanced.

"Stop him!"

"Do not let him interfere with the ritual!"

The Demon Cultists blasted thousands of black magic spells at Si-Hun.

"Flash."

He slashed the countless black magic spells and advanced. Every time he took a step forward, dozens of Demon Cultists fell.

Wham!

"Haaa, haaa."

But no matter how strong Si-Hun was, there was no way he'd be okay after being attacked by so much black magic. He was becoming more wounded, and blood poured out from everywhere.

'Shit.'

He bit his lip and glared at Kalgia, who was laughing in madness as if having the time of his life.

Just then…

BOOM!

"P-Protector Kim Si-Hun!!"

"Gaia…?"

The wall collapsed, and Gaia appeared along with the middle-aged blonde woman Grace McCubbin, who was carrying Gaia on her back.

Si-Hun's expression hardened at Gaia's sudden appearance.

"It's dangerous h—"

"W-We must stop the ritual!!!" Gaia shouted while making a pale expression. "I-I received a revelation! Th-That man is trying to…!"

"Kehe… Kehehehe!!!" Kalgia burst into laughter. "It seems you've finally realized it, incarnation of Gaia!"

He rummaged through his robe.

"But you are already too late! You cannot stop the ritual!"

He took out a black book from his robe.

"I have finally realized! We have been deceived all this time! We had been fooled all this time by Satan!"

He opened the book, and he released an immense amount of demonic energy.

"Wh-Whooooaaaaa!!"

"The truth!!"

"At last, our true ruler…!"

The priests kneeled while cheering as if they had lost their minds.

"What in the world…"

Si-Hun frowned at their sudden change in attitude.

Kalgia kept shouting. "This book contains the entire truth! This book is a sacred text that has come directly from Hell! This book is truth itself!"

On the cover of the book was written Book of Hell.

Kalgia exclaimed in madness, "Satan was a false king! He was not the Demon of Prophecy that made even the gods tremble in fear! The true demon… the lord of Hell has always been someone else!!"

Slam!

He smashed his cane down on the ground.

"Now, come! Manifest yourself, O Great One!!"

The air cracked, forming a black Rift.

"O Lord of Hell! O King of Demons Who Rules the Nine Hells!!!!"

Crackle!

The black Rift grew bigger.

"Kahahahaha!! You are all too late! The ritual cannot be reversed anymore!"

Kalgia opened both arms and burst into laughter.

"Look with your own eyes at the moment of the world's destruction!"

Crackle!!

"O Demon of Prophecy! Please bring destruction upon this world as per the prophecy!!!"

Boooom!!!

The entire cave shook with a massive explosion. Smoke rose into the sky and sank. And in the middle of the magic circle…

"… Huh?"

… Was Kang-Woo, spread out over a couch with a can of beer in one hand and popcorn in the other.

He said with drowsy eyes as if he had just woken up, "The hell?"

He looked around. His half-open eyes widened.

"What the fuck is going on?"