After Ten Millennia in Hell

The mountain shook like an earthquake had struck, and a huge force rocked their surroundings.

"K-Kang-Woo?!”

"Kang-Woo!"

The two girls screamed.

However, their cries didn't reach Oh Kang-Woo's ears. A tornado of demonic energy had enveloped his body.

'Ah.'

His mind was foggy, and he felt like he was floating on top of a vast sea.

Using six Authorities simultaneously had been hard for him even in Hell. At this point, it was no longer a matter of how much demonic energy he needed to use. His brain’s processing capacity to control demonic energy had reached its limit.

'Did I overdo it?'

That was a pointless question. Using five Authorities was already pushing him to the limit; he was completely overreaching by using six. Moreover, he had used his strongest Authority, the Authority of Predation, as the sixth Authority. It wasn't something a rational person could do.

'This is quite dangerous.'

It was as if he'd put more air into a balloon that was about to burst. He wouldn't have tried something so crazy even back when he was at his prime in Hell. It wouldn't have been weird if he exploded, dying right then and there.

'But….'

Kang-Woo wasn't sure why, but he didn't regret his decision. No, he wasn't even worried. There had been a voice in his head saying that he should stop right there, but an unfounded confidence was telling him that it was okay and that he should keep going.

Slash.

His hand, which he'd placed in the transmutation matrix, was suddenly cut. Black blood poured out from his hand and into the transmutation matrix. The energy within the transmutation matrix mixed with his.

Kang-Woo's senses became increasingly hazy, and he was losing consciousness. He couldn't control the six Authorities anymore. Kang-Woo gave up on the transmutation.

However, something surprising happened at that moment.

'So, this was the reason.'

His body was now controlling the six Authorities in his place.

Kang-Woo finally understood why the Demonic Art of Creation had unlocked fully only after achieving the Ultimate Demonic Body.

Authority control—being able to control the Authorities through instinct rather than his brain—was the true effect of the Ultimate Demonic Body. No, it wouldn't be an overstatement to say that this was the sole reason why he'd achieved the Ultimate Demonic Body.

The energy from the transmutation matrix reached Kang-Woo's heart through his blood. He felt something link to him.

Riiing.

[You have successfully crafted the Key of the Demonic Sea (Transcendent).]

A system window popped up.

At that moment, the transmutation matrix began to compress into a single point.

[You have perfected the Demonic Art of Creation!]

[Demonic Energy has risen by 2.]

[You can no longer use the Trait 'Demonic Art of Creation.']

"Whoa."

Kang-Woo's eyes shone.

The Demonic Energy stat had finally surpassed 110 without buffs.

'It seems like the sole purpose of the Demonic Art of Creation was to create this.'

He grabbed the black bead that had been created by compressing the transmutation matrix. It looked similar to Fujimoto Ryoma’s Eye of Susanoo and was about the size of a ping-pong ball.

Kang-Woo checked the information on the Key of the Demonic Sea.

[Equipment Information]

[Equipment Name: Key of the Demonic Sea

Grade: Transcendent (Imprinted)

Type: Growth *The equipment will grow stronger whenever certain conditions are fulfilled.

Basic Effect: Unique Stat +3, Indomitability, Transformation, ??? *It has not been unlocked.

Special Effect: ???, ??? *It has not been unlocked.]

[Effect Description]

[Indomitability: The equipment cannot be destroyed by any physical, magical, or spiritual attacks.

Transformation: The equipment can transform into any weapon registered as a skill. It will exert 34% of the capacity of weapons made using Authorities.]

"Hmm..."

Kang-Woo groaned as he checked the equipment information. It was full of question marks this time as well.

'A growth-type, huh?’

The Key of the Demonic Sea had some good points. Its grade was Transcendent, so it was likely that it could grow stronger indefinitely. Nevertheless, its effects weren't as impressive as he wanted.

"No, wait."

Kang-Woo read through the information window again. He focused on the basic effects, especially the description of Transformation.

'A weapon registered as a skill...'

All of the weapons that he had created at least once with Authorities had been registered as skills. Bident, Gáe Bulg, and even the most recent one, Gungnir, had been registered as skills.

'34% of the capacity of weapons made using Authorities.'

The version of Gáe Bulg that he had created using the Demonic Art of Creation had only been able to exert 20% of the Gáe Bulg that he made using Authorities. This meant that the Key of the Demonic Sea was almost 1.5 times as strong as the crafted version of Gáe Bulg.

'This is pretty amazing.'

Just the effect of Transformation alone would be good enough to be qualified as a piece of Transcendent-grade equipment. No, it was too good. In other words, he could create tons of weapons beforehand to register them as skills and then recreate them using the Key of the Demonic Sea without any Authorities whenever he needed to.

'Gáe Bulg.'

He used a skill to test the new equipment out.

The black bead that was as big as a ping-pong ball transformed into a dark red spear, Gáe Bulg. As Kang-Woo grabbed it, he could tell that it was stronger than the one that he had made with the Demonic Art of Creation as practice.

'This is seriously overpowered.'

"Wow."

In that case, Kang-Woo would be better off using skills that had better baseline specs since 34% of Gungnir was better than 34% of Gáe Bulg.

'Gungnir.'

He used a skill that had been created by merging four Authorities.

Riiing.

[It is currently impossible for the equipment to transform into a weapon created with four Authorities.]

"Ah, that's too bad."

He’d thought that the effect was unbelievably good, but as expected, he couldn't transform it into a weapon that had been created with four Authorities yet. Nevertheless, there was no reason for him to be disappointed.

'I haven’t unlocked its full potential yet.'

The Key of the Demonic Sea was a growth-type equipment. He wasn't sure what the conditions for its growth were, but he knew that it could get stronger, and that's what mattered. It was already overpowered as it was, so he couldn't even imagine how much more overpowered it could get.

'That's Transcendent-grade equipment for you.'

Feeling satisfied, Kang-Woo smiled.

Then he checked the Key of the Demonic Sea’s specs again and realized a few things.

'It can transform into any weapon... not just the ones registered as skills.'

Of course, changing its form into a weapon that he hadn't registered as a skill meant that it wouldn’t contain the power of any Authorities in particular.

'And it can only transform into weapon-type skills.'

Kang-Woo had two types of skills. Gáe Bulg, Gram, Bident, and the like were weapon-type skills that created weapons for him to use, while one-off skills like Skybreaker and Field of Blades were magic-type skills.

The Key of the Demonic Sea could only transform into weapon-type skills.

'But that's good enough.'

Kang-Woo transformed the Key of the Demonic Sea into a ring and put it on the middle finger of his right hand.

'My Demonic Energy stat is now 113.'

If he added Kraken's Rage and Han Seol-Ah's buff to that, it could reach 120.

"Nice."

Becoming stronger meant that the number of things he could do would increase, so he felt good about that. He could even face a demon from the Ninth Hell at this moment.

"K-Kang-Woo, are you okay?" Seol-Ah asked carefully.

"Yeah, I’m fine."

"Phew. I was worried that something had gone wrong."

"It was nothing. Let's go back home."

"Did you manage to craft that weapon?"

Kang-Woo raised his right hand. The ring on his middle finger turned into a dagger.

"As you can see."

"Ah..."

Seol-Ah flinched after seeing the ring on his finger.

She coughed and said, "What a relief."

"Since I've made the weapon, let’s go back."

“Okay. Oh, right. Yeon-Joo called while you were making the weapon."

"Cha Yeon-Joo?"

"Yes. She said she had some stuff to give you, so she asked you to come to the guild."

"Hmm... Okay."

Kang-Woo nodded and lightly embraced Seol-Ah, who blushed. Then he used the Authority of the Sky and flew into the sky with Seol-Ah in his arms.

"Let's stop by the Red Rose Guild first."

* * *

Click.

"Ah, you’re here."

Cha Yeon-Joo raised her head as Kang-Woo opened the door to her office.

Kang-Woo sat in a chair and asked, "What do you have to give me?"

"Kurosaki Yurie sent a few items."

"Kurosaki Yurie?"

"Yeah. She said that the gifts are a token of apology for the hero who rescued her and almost got framed as a criminal because of that."

"Why is she sorry when she wasn’t the one who did it?"

Kang-Woo let out a laugh in disbelief. The one who’d tried to frame him as a Demon Cultist had been Fujimoto Ryoma, not her.

"I don’t know either. Why don't you see what it is first?"

"Hmm... Sure, I guess."

Kang-Woo opened the box that Yeon-Joo handed to him.

The first things he saw were a card and a letter written to him.

[I truly apologize for this disgraceful incident. The card contains thirty billion won so that you can freely use it in Korea, and under it is my contact information. Please feel free to call me if you need help with anything, and I will help you as best I can.]

"What the..." Kang-Woo uttered.

Thirty billion won? That wasn't an amount of money that Kurosaki Yurie could freely use even though she was the emperor's granddaughter.

On top of that, she said she would help him with anything he needed…? That wasn’t something a woman, who was currently the de facto empress in place of the sickly emperor, should be saying.

'Why is she going that far?'

It was true that Kang-Woo had saved her life… But people didn't usually do that much to pay back their savior. It was as if a person who had been saved from drawing handed their property deed to their savior to show their gratitude.

The current outcome was better than a negative outcome, but still, he couldn't understand it.

"It seems like she likes you quite a bit. Hmph, you must be happy to be receiving so much love from a princess," Yeon-Joo told him off, not liking what she saw.

Kang-Woo gulped and looked at what else was inside the box.

"What's this?"

There was something frozen in the box. He opened it to see what it was.

"...An octopus?" he uttered.

There was an octopus that was the size of a person's head in the box. Due to some kind of magical contraption, the octopus’s tentacles were still squirming around despite being frozen.

"Why did she send an octopus?" Kang-Woo wondered, looking at the box confusedly.