After Ten Millennia in Hell

There were sounds of bones dislocating and breaking. Kim Si-Hun's muscles twitched as if they were dancing, and a black liquid filled with bodily waste flushed out of his sweat pores.

'Ah!' Si-Hun let out a gasp of relief in his mind.

He felt a weird sensation; it was as if he were being reborn.

Si-Hun did not feel any horrible pain like he'd often heard about regarding the process of Metamorphosis. Rather, it felt refreshing. It was as if someone was scratching itchy parts of his body.

After a while, he slowly opened his eyes and took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the air of the forest. His mind felt inexplicably clear, and his body felt as light as a feather.

Si-Hun extended his hand toward the sword penetrating Kang-Woo's stomach. Blue light enveloped the sword, and it came out smoothly on its own as if it were alive.

Kang-Woo collapsed.

"Hyung-nim," Si-Hun said.

He lightly extended his hands, and Kang-Woo was surrounded by blue energy as if an esper were using telekinesis on him. Then Si-Hun slowly laid Kang-Woo on the floor.

The blue energy covered Kang-Woo's wound. Surprisingly, not a single drop of blood was coming out from where the sword had come out.

'I have to end this as soon as possible,' Si-Hun thought.

He used the principles of Sword Control to stitch the wound together, but it was just a temporary measure. To fully heal Kang-Woo's wound, Si-Hun had to take him to the Hall of Protection, return to Korea, and then call for Han Seol-Ah.

[Wh-What in the—?!]

Upon seeing Yogg-Saron's surprised expression, Si-Hun turned and gripped his sword. His hands were no longer trembling.

"Yogg… Saron," he said the name with resentment.

The demon before him was the subordinate of Satan, the demon whom he despised the most and refused to be in the same world with. Yogg-Saron was a being who had put Gaia in danger and made him stab Kang-Woo.

'I'll kill him,' Si-Hun resolved.

There was no reason to keep Yogg-Saron alive.

Si-Hun surged with an intense bloodlust.

[Shit! H-How did you free yourself from the influence of the seed?!] Yogg-Saron looked confused. [A human should not be able to resist the desires of a demon!]

"Enough nonsense, demon."

Si-Hun charged without hesitation while holding the sword.

Certainly, just like Yogg-Saron said, a demon's desires were strong. There probably wasn't a single drug that could be compared to it.

'But…'

It was possible to overcome it. Si-Hun was evidence of that. He'd hit rock bottom and barely managed to crawl back up, but it hadn't been impossible.

"I won't let you all do as you please."

Si-Hun took a step forward and thrust his sword. The sword left his hand and freely moved in the air as if it were alive.

'Heavenly Dragon Flash.'

There was a burst of light, and blue energy slashed through space and cut Yogg-Saron.

[How dare a mere human do this!!!]

The fierce battle continued. It was completely different from when Si-Hun had been overpowered pathetically.

Si-Hun moved incredibly fast while leaving afterimages.

Crash! Boom!

He felt free. He was able to do things that he hadn't been able to do before. The fact that he could use sword techniques without physically holding the sword made it possible for him to make incredible movements.

[Kuh!! Sh-Shit!]

As the fight continued, Yogg-Saron's wounds increased in number. His skin was torn, and the green tentacles were cut.

Yogg-Saron looked around anxiously. He grabbed a black sphere from his pocket.

[Bastard… This will not be the last time you see me.]

He glared at Si-Hun with intense bloodlust.

Crack.

Yogg-Saron shattered the black sphere in his hand. A black Rift appeared and devoured him.

"You're not going anywhere!!"

Si-Hun charged forward.

Yogg-Saron waved his hands, and a huge army of Undead charged toward Si-Hun.

"Kuh!"

Si-Hun could kill each Undead with one attack, but there were hundreds of them. He'd just powered up, but he couldn't eliminate such a huge amount of monsters in the blink of an eye.

'I'll ignore them…'

Just as he was about to chase after Yogg-Saron, who was disappearing into the Rift, the Undead ran toward Gaia and Kang-Woo, who were both unconscious.

"...Shit."

Si-Hun couldn't afford to chase the demon while sacrificing those two.

He bit his lip and glared at Yogg-Saron.

[Do not forget, human.]

Yogg-Saron and Si-Hun looked at each other.

[We will ultimately be the victors!] Yogg-Saron spread both hands out as he spoke in a maniacal tone. [Glory to Lord Satan!]

Then he disappeared into the Rift.

"…"

Si-Hun remained silent while glaring at the rift with a sharp gaze, but he ended up turning his head away soon after. He had no time to think about the demon who had escaped.

"Kuh."

"Hyung-nim! Kang-Woo hyung-nim!!"

"Si-Hun…?"

When Kang-Woo regained consciousness, Si-Hun cried while quickly running over to him.

Kang-Woo looked at Si-Hun with a faint smile and said, "I knew you'd be able to do it."

"D-Don't get up yet, hyung-nim! Your wound…"

"You're worried about me? I regenerated your arms with my blood, man. I'll be fine as long as I don't die instantly."

Kang-Woo smiled bitterly and healed his wound.

The wound was gone, but it seemed the physical damage was still left. He staggered when he tried to get up.

"Hyung-nim!"

"I'm fine. But more importantly, what happened? Why did you turn into a demon?"

"Well…" Si-Hun hesitated.

After thinking for a while, he told Kang-Woo what Yogg-Saron had said.

"A seed? Hmm," Kang-Woo muttered.

"...I'm sorry. Because of me…"

"It's okay." Kang-Woo shook his head. "But I think we should keep this a secret between us."

"...Okay."

"Don't be so worried."

Kang-Woo lightly patted his shoulder and held Si-Hun's hand, which was holding his sword.

"Whatever the case, you managed to overcome it with your willpower."

"…"

"If you've done it once, I'm sure you'll be able to do it again."

"It isn't that simple of an issue…"

"I believe in you, Si-Hun."

"Hyung…"

Tears appeared in Si-Hun's eyes.

He'd feared that he might kill someone important to him with his own hands. In the middle of such fear, Kang-Woo's words were like a welcome rain during a drought.

"Hyung!!!"

'Don't hug me.'

Kang-Woo pushed away Si-Hun, who had been moved to tears.

Si-Hun's expression resembled an abandoned dog's after being rejected.

'Don't look so hurt, dude.'

Why did Si-Hun keep aiming for the role of the female lead?

"I don't think I'm the one you should be hugging right now."

"Ah…"

"Mmm? S-Si-Hun?" Gaia, who had been unconscious, called out as she sat up carefully.

She looked around in confusion; she didn't seem to be acting.

"Gaia."

"Protector Kim Si-Hun! Uhmm… I mean… Wh-What happened to the demon?"

'Nice, sister-in-law!'

Thankfully, she spoke in a trembling voice as if she had recalled her role.

Si-Hun helped Gaia stand up.

Kang-Woo smiled while looking at them.

'With this…'

The hero had blossomed in the midst of despair. The evil demon had escaped, but the weak heroine had been rescued.

'This is what I call a novel! Huehuehuehuehue.'

* * *

A week had passed since that incident.

Kang-Woo was having a training session with Balrog to practice using the Authority of Blaze.

After it ended for the day, Balrog remarked, [I must say, that human certainly was impressive.]

Kang-Woo nodded.

It wasn't hard for him to guess who Balrog was talking about.

"I wouldn't have gone through all that if he wasn't impressive."

[I can only be amazed by your eye for people, my king. To be honest, I did not expect that human to become that much stronger in the middle of our plan.]

Balrog recalled his fierce battle with Si-Hun. He felt a thrill spread through his body.

Kang-Woo smirked. "You think he'll catch up to you?"

[Hehe. Even if the soul of a god dwells within him, I, Balrog, am not so weak that I would lose against a human brat,] Balrog answered without hesitation.

Kang-Woo nodded.

Balrog had not been at his best back then. He had fought without his whip, his main weapon, and had even had bothersome tentacles attached to him.

'But Si-Hun has honestly become strong enough to easily overpower most archdemons.'

Kang-Woo smiled.

Si-Hun should now be able to easily deal with small fry like Halphas, Malphas, and Phenex simultaneously.

'I'm proud of you, my boy.'

Kang-Woo's smile turned into a proud grin.

Si-Hun had powered up to the extent that he was strong enough to be among the top five in the army Kang-Woo had previously commanded as the demon king.

'Hard work never betrays you.'

Kang-Woo's painstaking, heartfelt performance had been worth it.

‘But there's still a long way to go.'

He didn't have a complaint regarding Si-Hun's growth speed. However, he did have an issue with the average level of Earth's Players in general.

'I don't expect them to be as strong as Si-Hun, but it would be great if some stronger Players appear.'

The difference in power between demons and humans was so massive that it wasn't even funny. To say it bluntly, if Kang-Woo and other elite members of Guardians hadn't been here, a single prince of Hell would have easily been able to destroy Earth.

"Ngh."

Still, it was true that he was wishing for too much.

'It has only been six years since Players appeared.'

The fact that humanity had become strong enough to be able to defeat monsters in six years was already a miracle.

"...I guess I'll just have to gamble on the future."

He just had to hope Players would grow more through future battles.

"Balrog, break time is over."

For now, Kang-Woo needed to get used to using Mammon's Authority, and…

'I have to try merging it with other Authorities.'

Kang-Woo had never tried mixing a transcendental power like a prince's Authority with something else before. There was no precedent for it, nor would it ever happen with anyone else. Only an irregular being like Kang-Woo could even attempt it.

'It's not possible yet.'

He still couldn't control the Authority of Blaze properly, so merging it with another Authority was out of the question. Merging one Authority with another exponentially raised its difficulty level to control. It was something no one had managed to do before, so he had to be very careful about it.

‘But one day…'

Kang-Woo raised his hand, and a small flame danced on top of his palm.

He still hadn't caught up to Mammon's ability to control fire. Nevertheless, he was certain he would be able to over time… just like he'd always done before.

[You were also like this back in Hell, but… you do not rest at all, my king.]

"There's no one who doesn't take a break."

There were simply people who couldn't afford to take breaks, and that was also the case for Kang-Woo. He actually really wanted to go on dates with Seol-Ah, watch TV with Echidna, and go to an Internet cafe with Cha Yeon-Joo again.

"Ah, I wanna take a break…"

Thinking about it made him crave it even more.

After learning Mammon's Authority, he'd been spending twenty hours a day trying to control it.

'No, even more than that.'

Kang-Woo had used the Authority of Focus, which reduced the perceived flow of time. So, according to his senses, he'd spent much more time than that on Mammon's Authority.

His goal in life was to become a wealthy bum, so it was hard to resist taking a break.

'Gimme a fucking break, for fuck's sake.'

Before returning to Earth, he thought he would enjoy a life of leisure once he got back. However, he ended up needing to fight for the sake of the world.

Kang-Woo was starting to get irritated.

'I really should dedicate a single day to re—'

"My, did you need a break, my king?"

He heard a voice behind him.

Kang-Woo turned and found Lilith looking at him with a smile.

"Nope," he answered without hesitation. He continued quietly, "We don't have time to rest."

"My, my. There you go again."

Kang-Woo's deflection was not very effective. Lilith slowly embraced him.

"Come to think of it, we haven't gotten to spend much time together since I arrived in this world," she expressed.

'I'm okay with that.'

"Hohoho. I understand your fatigue. You must have been missing our nights together that much."

'I'm sorry. I won't think about taking a break ever again. I'll work like a dog without taking a single day off.'

Kang-Woo looked at Lilith in despair.

Perhaps the desperation in his gaze might have gotten through to her…

Lilith sighed and said, "I would love nothing more than to spend an intense night with my king… but it seems that would be hard today."

'Oh, what?'

Kang-Woo's eyes shone at the unexpected answer.

"Did something happen?"

"There is something I must report to you."

Lilith continued calmly, "A survivor from the region where Lucifer's forces battled the Demon Cult has sought asylum in Guardians."

"A Demon Cultist…?"

"No. He mentioned that he was extorted by the Demon Cultists like a slave."

"Then what is he?" Kang-Woo asked curiously.

"He said that he's a mage… from the Magic Tower."