After Ten Millennia in Hell

He was trying to look calm, but he couldn't hide his surprise behind laughs.

'Crazy son of a bitch,' Kang-Hyun thought.

It wasn't easy to cut off a person's arm. Bones were so hard that they needed to be broken, by slamming down on them with a hammer for example. Meanwhile, the muscles and the flesh needed to be crudely cut like a tough piece of meat.

A person had to be out of their mind to cut off their arm in that way. Yet, this guy had done exactly that… without even screaming.

'But still, nothing will change!'

It was true that Kang-Hyun was momentarily overwhelmed by the sight of Oh Kang-Woo mangling his own arm. However, when Kang-Hyun thought rationally about it, he realized he had no reason to fear.

The Authority of Sealing was no longer in effect now that the gauntlet was no longer on Kang-Woo, but he had lost an arm in exchange. Considering how fatal it was for a warrior to lose their limb in battle, Kang-Hyun still had an overwhelming advantage over Kang-Woo.

"Well, I guess we'll see soon enough," Kang-Woo said, clenching his severed left arm.

He could use demonic energy again, but just like Kang-Hyun said, nothing had changed. No, Kang-Woo was now far worse off compared to before. He'd used up the special effect Kraken's Rage, and he'd lost an arm. Moreover, he'd used three different Authorities simultaneously, so he didn't have much demonic energy left.

‘I guess I have no choice,' Kang-Woo thought, letting out a deep sigh.

He had nothing else to rely on anymore. He did not want to use that method since it was far too risky, but he no longer had any other way out.

[Hmph, what can you do with a body like that?]

Kang-Hyun violently threw Echidna away from him. Echidna had regained her power now that Kang-Woo had recovered his demonic energy, so she landed on the ground lightly using magic.

"I'll protect you, Kang-Woo," Echidna said as she stood in front of Kang-Woo.

However, Kang-Woo grabbed her slender shoulders and said, "I'll do the rest from here."

"Kang-Woo...?"

"Stay still."

Kang-Woo gave Echidna a forced command, rendering her unable to move. A summoned beast was unable to defy their master's command.

Echidna looked up at Kang-Woo while biting her lip, looking like she was about to cry. Kang-Woo ignored her and kept walking forward.

"Well, I knew that I'd have to use it one day," he said.

Kang-Woo placed his right hand over his chest.

He often used Authorities like Blades, Haste, Dark Spears, and many others that were simple and effective, but those weren't the Authorities that best suited him. There was one Authority that suited him more than any other.

"Authority of Predation."

Kang-Woo closed his eyes and focused. The blurry image in his mind turned clear.

'Ten Thousand Demon Core.'

A giant sea of demonic energy spread before his eyes. In that sea, there were three doors. Kang-Woo approached the smallest of the three. He grabbed the doorknob. His hands were shaking a bit.

The giant sea behind him formed a massive wave that could devour him whole. He only hesitated for a moment. Then he gripped the doorknob even tighter.

Kang-Woo opened the door, and a sea of demonic energy rushed out through it.

Ten Thousand Demon Core…

First Door, open.

The blood pouring out of his severed arm turned black. As the sticky black blood dripped down to the ground, his skin melted. His whole body melted; his chest, neck, shoulders, arms, and legs, were all replaced by black liquid.

[What the...]

Kang-Hyun's expression hardened as he watched the grotesque scene. He felt an ominous chill run down the back of his neck. Kang-Hyun couldn't help but think that something had gone wrong.

'What is that?' he thought.

Kang-Woo had turned into a giant blob of black mucus. He looked more horrifying than Kang-Hyun, who had turned into a demon.

'I don't know what's going on, but...'

There was only one thing Kang-Hyun should be doing now. He clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and concentrated demonic energy on his fists. New gauntlets quickly formed around his fists.

Now fully prepared to fight, he stomped on the ground. The giant three-meter-tall demon shot toward Kang-Woo at a frightening speed.

[Haap!]

Kang-Hyun punched Kang-Woo's mucous body. The punch made a giant hole in Kang-Woo, and parts of his slimy body splattered all over.

Kang-Hyun laughed, [Hahahaha! I was wondering what you were doing, but you just turned into slime?! Your body exploded!]

That one attack had blown away half of Kang-Woo's body. Kang-Woo was now far easier to fight than when he had that dark-red spear with him.

[Hey! Fight back, at the very least!] Kang-Hyun exclaimed as if washing away the uneasiness in his mind.

Seeing half of Kang-Woo's body explode, Echidna turned pale and tried to approach him.

She called out, "K-Kang-Woo!"

However, she couldn't move because of his order.

Echidna anxiously bit her lips, but her anxiety only lasted for a moment.

[Huh…?]

Grrrrrk.

Something happened. Kang-Woo’s body, which had been blown in half, gained back its form.

Some of the sticky black mucus crawled up Kang-Hyun's fist, and something appeared from within it.

[A mouth…?]

It was a mouth baring sharp teeth. Furthermore, there was more than just one mouth. Hundreds of mouths appeared simultaneously from the mucus stuck on Kang-Hyun's arm.

[What the hell is th—]

Crunch!

[AARRGGHH!!]

A painful scream emerged from Kang-Hyun's mouth.

The mouths created from the mucus bit off his flesh, each one taking off about two fingers worth of flesh. Considering Kang-Hyun's huge body, that amount was nothing, but it was a completely different story if there were hundreds of mouths doing the same thing.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

Kang-Hyun's skin was ripped apart, and mouthfuls of flesh fell from his body. The sharp teeth dug even deeper, piercing into his muscles. Kang-Hyun quickly used his other arm to shake off the mucus, but they did not budge.

Then Kang-Hyun focused demonic energy into his other fist and struck Kang-Woo's mucous body.

Splat!

The mucus burst from just one punch. However, a blob of the mucus splattered onto Kang-Hyun's eye.

[N-No w—]

Crunch!

[Aaarrrggghhh!]

A mouth had formed inside the blob of mucus and devoured his right eye. Mind-numbing pain spread throughout Kang-Hyun's whole body.

[Wh-What the hell are these?!]

Kang-Hyun had never heard about something like this, nor had he ever imagined it. Was it a monster? A demon? He had no idea how to classify it. The fear of the unknown dominated his mind.

He stomped on the ground while struggling desperately.

[I-I will not be defeated by a mere slime!]

Kang-Hyun thrashed about violently and swung his fists, but it was useless. He tried to brush the mucus off, but it only made the mucus spread even more across his body. He ripped apart parts of his flesh that the mouths were devouring, but they instead stuck to the hand that he had used to rip off the flesh.

Kang-Hyun focused his mind and gathered all of his demonic energy into one place.

[Haaaaap!]

He clenched his hands into tight fists and let the compressed demonic energy burst.

It was as if a huge explosion had occurred; shards of rock scattered, and a nearby car bounced away as if it were a stone skipping on water.

However...

[A-Aaaahhhh...]

Kang-Hyun still couldn't free himself from the black mucus. Rather, the black mucus grew bigger from having greedily devoured the demonic energy that he had released.

The black mucus soon covered Kang-Hyun's whole body. His face turned pale.

[N-No, d—]

Crunch! Crunch!

Thousands of mouths appeared from within the mucus and used their sharp teeth to devour him. There was nothing Kang-Hyun could do. He kept trying to rid himself of the mucus, but it was like trying to shake off water while fully submerged in it.

He was completely covered in the mucus and felt like he'd been thrown into a lake full of piranhas.

- What is happening? a low-pitched voice said inside Kang-Hyun's head.

It was the voice of the demon he'd summoned into his body.

[H-Help me.]

- Help you...? What is going o—

Kang-Hyun synchronized his consciousness with the demon's. There was a risk that the demon could take over Kang-Hyun's body if they synchronized consciousness too early, but Kang-Hyun had no other choice.

Regardless, the result was the same.

- Gaaaaahhhhh!!

The painful screams of the demon who had synchronized his consciousness with Kang-Hyun echoed throughout his mind.

After realizing what the situation was through Kang-Hyun's eyes, the demon shouted in despair, - Wh-Why?! Why did you fight this monster?!!

[Monster?]

- Argh, you idiot! You fool! You'd have been better off fighting one of the princes! Bael, Satan, anyone!

It was a desperate cry from the demon.

Kang-Hyun was taken aback by the demon trembling in fear.

[Wh-What are you talking about? Are you saying he's as strong as the seven princes of Hell?]

- The seven princes? The seven princes, you say?! Wake up, human! the demon's desperate cry continued. - The seven princes are no more! They were all devoured by that monster!!

[What are you talking ab—]

- That is the demon of demons, the predator of predators! Why don't you know that, you stupid human?!

Kang-Hyun felt the demon's fear through the synchronized consciousness.

- That monster is the demon king!

It was a cry that came from the demon's soul.

[...]

Kang-Hyun was confused by what the demon was saying. Why would the demon king, the most powerful demon who ruled the Nine Hells, be here?

'There's no way,' he thought.

It was impossible. It simply couldn't be true.

Kang-Hyun's sensations gradually disappeared from his body as it was getting devoured by the countless mouths. He could no longer feel pain. His fading consciousness and the little that remained of his body were all he had left.

The black mucus scattered away and then gathered in front of him again. Something appeared from within the mucus. It was a giant mouth big enough to devour the three-meter-tall Kang-Hyun whole.

The mouth opened up wide, and its sharp teeth chewed up what was left of Kang-Hyun.

Crunch.

With a chilling sound, Kang-Hyun vanished into the giant mouth.