After Ten Millennia in Hell

[Mm… There is a bit of a problem.]

Vaal Zahak opened his mouth after looking at Ludwig's corpse.

Kang-Woo frowned.

"What problem?"

[There is still far too much sacred power left within this man named Ludwig. We will have to wait until all the sacred power dissipates from his body. I cannot proceed like this.]

Vaal Zahak made a troubled expression.

"Hm."

Kang-Woo fell into thought and walked toward Ludwig's body.

'Sacred power, huh?'

Mana was the energy of nature that humans, monsters, and even gods with Divinity like Tirion used.

Demonic energy was a destructive energy derived from the Nine Hells.

And then sacred power was an energy of the completely opposite nature from demonic energy.

Of course, the three energies were the same in the sense that they could be channeled into power to break and destroy things—it wasn't like one would heal someone if one swung a weapon with sacred power.

Although their properties were different, they were all, fundamentally, energies.

'I wonder what would happen?'

Kang-Woo's eyes shone with great interest.

In the case of mana, he had the Trait Mana-Craving Demon, which transformed mana into demonic energy, but he'd never absorbed sacred power before, nor had he acquired it through other means.

'I wonder if I can transform sacred power into demonic energy like I can with mana.'

If he could, it would be wonderful news to know that he could absorb sacred power from individuals as powerful as Ludwig.

[We should first wait until the sacred power naturally dissipates from his b—]

"No."

Kang-Woo spread his hands over Ludwig's corpse. Black smoke poured from his hands and covered the corpse.

'Authority of Predation.'

Sharp teeth sprouted from the black smoke. Rather than a beast's teeth, they were more like countless small teeth resembling suckers.

Kang-Woo had modified them so they would only absorb Ludwig's sacred power without leaving a scratch on his body.

Slurp.

The teeth, so small that they were invisible to the naked eye, bit into Ludwig and absorbed the sacred power within him.

Whoom.

White light poured out of Ludwig's corpse and entered Kang-Woo.

Crack!

"Kuh."

Kang-Woo frowned.

He felt his skin distort where the sacred power flowed into him, and he felt as if he were burning from within.

'My demonic energy must be resisting it.'

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue. If the two energies repelled each other, he couldn't forcefully absorb the sacred power. Just as he was about to stop absorbing it…

Riiing.

[Sacred Power has risen by 1.]

"What?"

He was bewildered by the unexpected message.

'A stat rose?'

He laughed in disbelief.

'I mean, I guess it makes sense that the Sacred Power stat would rise when I absorb sacred power.'

Still, he was the demon king, so it was weird for him to have sacred power.

'Am I being corrupted? What should I call this?'

An angel with demonic energy was known as a fallen angel, but what would they call the opposite situation?

'Well, whatever the case…'

The name did not matter.

Kang-Woo fell into thought while looking at the stat that had been added to his status window.

'Should I absorb more or not?'

He had no idea whether it would be a plus or a minus for him.

Although it was true that they were opposite energies, they were not excessively denying each other to the point that Kang-Woo couldn't absorb the sacred power. As long as he absorbed the sacred power while controlling his demonic energy, the absorption process would not be hard at all.

'I'll just absorb it and see what happens.'

He needed to check how the sacred power and demonic energy would react in his normal state—or in other words, after he had absorbed the sacred energy and converted it into a stat.

If it hindered him from circulating the demonic energy within his body, there was no need to have it.

Riiing

[Sacred Power has risen by 1.]

[Sacred Power has risen by 1.]

……

…

He kept absorbing Ludwig's sacred power.

The stat was so low that it was rising at a very quick pace.

Kang-Woo closed his eyes and controlled his demonic energy. He felt a single ray of light flowing into the endless darkness. It was as if he had found a bioluminescent organism within the pitch-black abyss.

He thought it was fascinating and beautiful.

'This must be sacred power.'

He raised his hand, and a small white light gathered.

He felt as if he were gently floating in the air.

Although it sounded unclear, the power truly felt holy and sacred.

'I think I'd look super important if I wrapped myself in this.'

If he covered his body with demonic energy, he would give the impression of being destructive and aggressive, so sacred power would have the opposite effect—he would exude a warm and trustworthy aura.

'This should be useful.'

It was only on the level of an optical illusion. It had nothing to do with a person's real characteristics or qualities, and it was more akin to clothes. But even so, one could not deny that attire was extremely important in human relationships and, if taken a step further, in otherworldly relationships.

Swindlers always looked neat for a reason, after all.

Who would invest in the new coin you were promoting if you were wearing rags?

'I'm not a swindler, though.'

There was no one further from instigation, fabrication, and swindling than Kang-Woo. Leaving that aside, this sacred power would undeniably be of help to him. Thinking about how he had to build a positive relationship with the angels from now on, sacred power was absolutely necessary.

'I can't rely only on the Ruler of Demonic Energy Trait.'

Ruler of Demonic Energy made his demonic energy feel like mana. In other words, he couldn't cause an effect similar to sacred power with it.

Also, since he had confirmed that demonic energy could be detected with the power of the holy sword Ludwig, having sacred power would have many uses.

'There's a chance I could interfere with demonic energy detection with sacred power.'

The chances were not high; there was no way he'd be able to conceal the infinite amount of demonic energy within the Ten Thousand Demon Core with just Ludwig's sacred power. An ocean did not become freshwater just from pouring a bucket of freshwater into it, but he should be able to benefit to an extent by using sacred power in tandem with the Ruler of Demonic Energy Trait.

'It's not hindering my demonic energy circulation either.'

That was the most important thing.

If he consciously regulated his demonic energy, he could avoid it clashing with sacred power. It was the same as using the Heavenly Dragon Cultivation Technique while walking.

[D-Did you just absorb sacred power?] Vaal Zahak asked in confusion as if he'd just witnessed something unbelievable.

"Oh, yeah.."

Kang-Woo nodded. He couldn't understand why Vaal Zahak was so surprised.

'If you can control demonic energy, it isn't hard to have both energies simultaneously.'

He thought that even Vaal Zahak should be able to do it.

[What in the… That should not be possible…]

Vaal Zahak put his hands on top of his skull in confusion.

Kang-Woo tilted his head in wonder and placed his hands on top of Ludwig's corpse again.

"I'll suck all the sacred power out of him."

[Wai—]

Before Vaal Zahak could finish talking, the Authority of Predation surrounded Ludwig's body.

Thin and long teeth pierced the corpse.

"Haaa."

Kang-Woo was beginning to pant a little.

Controlling demonic energy while accepting sacred power was just enough of a challenge to stimulate his brain cells.

'This is pretty fun.'

It felt like playing a well-balanced puzzle game.

Kang-Woo accepted sacred power while smiling.

Riiing.

[Sacred Power has risen by 1.]

[Sacred Power stat has reached 73!]

'73, huh?'

Although it looked like a lot at first glance, that wasn't really the case.

'Most of it was annihilated during the absorption process.'

In terms of stat points, Ludwig's Sacred Energy stat likely surpassed a hundred points easily.

Considering that each point made a bigger difference the higher the stat was, 73 was not high in the slightest.

'Well, there's nothing I can do about it.'

The Authority of Predation couldn't even absorb demonic energy with 100% efficiency, so there was no chance it would be able to perfectly absorb sacred power, which was something it hadn't done before.

'I wanna test it out a bit.'

He wondered how it would feel to use sacred power and demonic energy at the same time.

Kang-Woo raised his left arm. He drew out demonic energy and then used sacred power.

Rumble!!!

The lab shook.

An enormous amount of energy burst out as if the two energies underwent a chemical reaction, and they ran wild around his arm.

"Kuh," he grunted.

The skin of his left arm split, and black blood poured out.

Then, for a moment…

'Gray?'

He saw a gray energy he'd never seen before gather around his left arm. Before he could even think about that gray mana, he felt an intense pain spread through his left arm.

"Fucking hell."

It hurt like hell. The pain was hard even for Kang-Woo, who was used to pain, to resist.

He controlled his demonic energy and stopped it from clashing with the sacred power.

'I guess it's a bit of a stretch to mix the energies.'

He was curious about the gray energy he'd just seen, but he couldn't carelessly try to mix them.

'It hurts way too much.'

The pain was almost unbearable.

Vaal Zahak opened his mouth and asked in disbelief, [Wha… What was… D-Did you really absorb all of Ludwig's sacred power?]

"I mean, it wasn't that hard."

[What are you talking about? Sacred power and demonic energy are clashing energies. Unless you have full control of the demonic energy in your body, there is no way you could stop them from…]

Vaal Zahak's words were cut short. He began to tremble.

[Master, could it be… do you always finely control your demonic energy?]

"Huh? Isn't that obvious? Everyone does it, don't they?" he asked in confusion.

Demonic energy was destructive in nature.

He couldn't fully control the energy within the Ten Thousand Demon Core because it was so boundless, but he always kept the demonic energy available to him under control at all times.

If he didn't, his entire being would end up being consumed by the Ten Thousand Demon Core, and he would die.

[…]

Vaal Zahak remained silent.

Finely controlling one's demonic energy? What kind of nonsense was that?

'Such a thing is…'

It was equivalent to controlling every single blood cell in one's body.

'What in the…'

Vaal Zahak shuddered. He looked at his master, Kang-Woo, who was looking at him and tilting his head in confusion.

'What is this monster?'

His master was an incomprehensible existence.

Like a stigma, a deep fear was imprinted into Vaal Zahak's bones.