After Ten Millennia in Hell

Thanks to this incident, China's and Korea's national status improved around the world.

The Demon Cult had been making the world tremble in fear. So now that their first large-scale attack was stopped, it wasn't weird that everyone was so excited about the overwhelming victory.

'Although that's actually not the case.'

Oh Kang-Woo lightly clicked his tongue.

Unlike what people thought, they weren't able to perfectly block the Demon Cult's attack. All they had done was win the fight against the demonic beasts, which were practically leftovers from the Demon Cult's plan.

'They'll take action again soon.'

… And the scale was probably going to be much bigger.

Eyes deep and sunken, Kang-Woo reached over the table. On it was a Chinese crayfish dish called mala longxia. It was obviously his first time eating it.

He put on plastic gloves and grabbed a crayfish.

'It's better for me if they take action first.'

He chewed the crayfish, which was covered in a red sauce.

Crunch.

Its shell cracked, and he could taste the soft meat. He smiled as the sweet and sour flavors filled his taste buds.

'I'll keep the gold teeth and chew up everything else.'[1]

The bigger the move the Demon Cult made, the more he'd be able to gain from them. Considering that he was protecting the world, the situation was kind of ironic.

'My top priority is to get stronger.'

Kang-Woo wasn't sure what would happen if the Gaia System kept weakening.

To stop unexpected variables, he needed to possess enough power to crush those very variables.

"How is the food?" Tian Suyan asked as she entered the room.

Kang-Woo nodded.

"It's delicious."

"… You think it's delicious when you're eating it with the shell?" Cha Yeon-Joo looked at him in disbelief.

Kang Tae-Soo, who was also eating the crayfish without peeling off the shell, tilted his head. "Huh? Shouldn't you obviously be eating this shell and all?"

Crunch.

Tae-Soo grabbed a fistful of crayfish and chewed on them whole.

"What's up with this monster?" Yeon-Joo remarked.

"Fufu. His name is Tae-Soo, and he's one of my party members," Han Seol-Ah answered with a smile.

Yeon-Joo shook her head while looking at Tae-Soo, who looked like a monster. She turned her eyes toward Kang-Woo.

"Anyway, the post-war process is almost over, so we should be getting ready to go back."

"Oh, yeah. About that…" Kang-Woo put down the crayfish. "I have a place I have to visit first, so go ahead without me."

"You do? Where?"

"Vladivostok."

There was a bit of commotion.

Vladivostok…

It was where the SS-rank Gate was located and where the conflict with the Demon Cult had started.

Yeon-Joo narrowed her eyes. If Kang-Woo was planning to visit Vladivostok in this situation, there was only one possible reason…

"Are you planning to investigate the traces of the Demon Cult? If so, I'll go with you."

"No. That's one of the reasons, but there's something else too. It's not a huge deal, so just Echidna and I will be fine."

Yeon-Joo tilted her head.

"What do you have to do?"

"I'm planning to get another summoned beast."

"A summoned beast…?"

Everyone placed their attention on Echidna.

Echidna, who was eating the crayfish, stood up in shock.

"K-Kang-Woo. You don't need me anymore?"

She anxiously pulled at Kang-Woo's sleeves. She seemed to be worried that her place as his summoned beast would disappear.

Kang-Woo smirked and patted her head.

"It's nothing like that, so don't worry."

"Urgh…"

Echidna anxiously bit her lip.

Seol-Ah softly hugged her from behind.

"Don't worry. You know very well what kind of person Kang-Woo is."

"Yeah, okay."

Echidna reluctantly nodded as Seol-Ah came in for assistance.

Kang-Woo said, "Then let's go right now. Yeon-Joo, once you get back to Korea, check if the Demon Cult has taken action in other countries besides Russia."

"Would they take action again so soon?"

"Hmm." Kang-Woo shook his head after thinking about it. "I'm not sure, but there's nothing wrong with being careful."

After all, he had to kill demons before anyone else could. He stopped himself from blurting that out and turned around.

"Let's go, Echidna."

"Okay."

Echidna nodded and followed him.

* * *

Kang-Woo headed to Vladivostok on Echidna after coming out of the barracks. He had been able to tell from the demonic beasts' marching speed that the Manchurian Plain and Vladivostok were not that far apart.

Tap.

"This place is an absolute mess too."

The ruined city looked straight out of a post-apocalyptic film. He couldn't feel any human presence, and after the summoning incident, all of the monsters that had been residing in the city had been killed.

The only thing left in Vladivostok was silence.

"Is this the place, Kang-Woo?" Echidna asked.

"Yeah."

He turned his head and saw the SS-rank Gate in the heart of the city.

Echidna pointed to it.

"Should I go through there?"

"Wait. We should look around before that."

The place where the demon summoning had happened… Maybe he'd be able to obtain some information.

Kang-Woo began following the traces of demonic energy. It wasn't hard to find where the large-scale summoning had taken place.

"I don't see anything like an altar."

A complex magic circle was drawn on the floor, but he couldn't see anything else. He knelt down to observe the magic circle.

'Authority of Insight.'

Kang-Woo observed the magic circle and analyzed how the Demon Cult was able to summon beings from Hell.

"… Hah."

He laughed in disbelief, and his expression distorted slightly.

'I have no idea.'

He couldn't tell. Even though he'd obtained the Ultimate Demonic Body and his control over the Ten Thousand Demon Core had increased, he couldn't decipher the magic circle drawn on the floor.

'How did they develop a technique like this?'

According to what he'd heard, the Demon Cult had been present almost a thousand years before the Day of Calamity. They had likely developed their summoning technique over that long period of time, so it was only natural that it would be at such a high level.

'But even considering that…'

Was it possible for a human to create a technique that was at a level he couldn't decipher?

He couldn't help but have doubts.

"Tsk."

He couldn't understand it, but he had to acknowledge it.

'The Demon Cult far surpasses me in terms of summoning knowledge.'

Their knowledge was in unknown territory for him.

Kang-Woo stood up. There were no clues to be found. The only information he could gather was that there wasn't a way to decipher the Demon Cult's summoning and seal it completely.

"Well, I guess it's better this way."

The tips of his mouth went up. He wasn't planning to stop them from summoning demons in the first place.

'If the only other world besides Earth was Hell, I would've used any means necessary to seal it, but….'

Since he knew there were other worlds besides the Nine Hells, blocking the demon summoning was like halting, of his own accord, his path to grow.

'I can't have that.'

The Demon Cult was, to him, a jar full of honey. He was going to eat from it for as long as he could.

"Let's enter the Gate."

"Did you find any clues?"

"No, but it wasn't completely fruitless."

He entered the SS-rank Gate with Echidna.

A monster charged toward them as soon as they entered, but Echidna got rid of it without Kang-Woo lifting a finger.

"Don't touch Kang-Woo."

Echidna trampled on the corpse of a giant, eight-meter-tall spider.

Kang-Woo smirked while looking at her.

'Echidna's also become quite strong.'

He was the source of her power. The more he grew, the stronger she also became.

'With this, I guess it won't matter whichever demonic beast gets summoned.'

Even if he was unlucky and summoned a weak demonic beast, it would become very powerful as long as it linked with him.

'I just hope it's obedient.'

He didn't hope for it to be as loyal as Echidna… He would be satisfied just from it being a dog that didn't bite its owner.

'But still, I'd prefer for it to be strong. Halcyon, please let it be Halcyon!'

Halcyon was one of the demonic beasts of the Ninth Hell possessing intelligence.

They rarely left their habitat so Kang-Woo had never seen them, but he had heard many rumors about them.

'They are one of the top five demonic beasts.'

Summoning Halcyon would be like winning the lottery.

"Right then, let's go for it."

He focused his demonic energy and activated the Demonic Beast Summoning Trait.

Riiing.

[You have successfully created a Rift necessary for summoning.]

[A deeper Rift has been created due to the influence of the Demonic Energy within the Ten Thousand Demon Core (Rank: ???).]

[A connection to another world could not be obstructed due to the impairment in the Gaia System's functions.]

[A dimensional gate leading to the continent of Aernor has been opened.]

'What the fuck?'

He was sure that this time he would finally succeed in summoning a demonic beast from the Ninth Hell, but things flowed in a weird direction again.

'Where the hell is my Halcyon?'

He was frustrated. He had been expecting an outrageously powerful demonic beast to appear.

A blue gate appeared just as it had during his first summoning. A being crossed through it.

"You're…"

It was a skeleton wearing a black robe. Kang-Woo could feel strong demonic energy flowing from its body.

Light came out from the skull's eye sockets, and it looked at Kang-Woo.

[Where am I?]

"Hmm. It's a bit hard to explain. First, introduce yourself."

[I am the one who brings nightmares to Aernor. I am the king of the dead and the overlord of magic.]

'This dude's way of speaking kinda resembles Satan.'

Enormous demonic energy burst forth. The skull lightly struck his staff downward on the ground.

[I am the Demon King Vaal Zahak.]

"…"

There was a heavy silence.

Kang-Woo couldn't close his mouth.

"… You're a demon king?"

Strange.

'So am I.'

1. This is a famous line from the 2010 Korean film The Man from Nowhere. ☜