After Ten Millennia in Hell

Side Story Chapter 3 - Abyss Summoning

"Mm..." Kang-Woo crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "First, let me ask you something, Balrog."

"Anything."

"How strong are you right now?"

Balrog's eyes shone.

Clank, clank!

He slowly raised his right arm, and black armor instantly wrapped around it.

Tsssssssss!!

White steam poured out of the gaps. Kang-Woo could feel powerful Divinity from the shining black armor.

"You gained Deific Essence," said Kang-Woo as he nodded calmly.

Balrog had already been at a stage where he could acquire Deific Essence with the right event to trigger it. It was no surprise he was able to acquire it in the past three years.

"Kehehe. Yes, I awakened the Deific Essence of Domination."

"Huh?"

'Wait, what?'

"Is there a problem?" Balrog asked.

"No, it's just... the pronunciation..."[1]

'It sounds sus as hell. You'd better pronounce it properly. A single slip of the tongue will get us canceled.'

"Well, in any case." Kang-Woo smiled and looked up at Balrog. "Congratulations."

He knew how much Deific Essence meant to Balrog since he had to taste humiliation simply because he didn't have it.

"I would never have acquired it if it weren't for you, my king."

Balrog bowed once again.

Kang-Woo smiled and said, "Good, it'll make things much easier if you've awakened Deific Essence."

"Make what easier, exactly?"

"Restoring my powers." Kang-Woo then spread out his arms and commanded in a deep tone, "Now then, kill me."

Balrog's eyes widened. "Wh-What do you mean?!"

He stepped back in confusion.

"You said you'd help me regain my powers, didn't you?"

"What does killing you have to do with that?!"

Kang-Woo replied without hesitation, "Every cell in my body is made of the Demonic Sea."

He had destroyed himself as a vessel and became the Demonic Sea itself.

"The reconstruction is taking so long because there is no reason for it to be quick."

The Demonic Sea outputted more power once it detected threats. This was the case for opening the Doors; the more Kang-Wo was hurt, the more power the Demonic Sea emitted and ate away his sanity.

'That was mainly why I couldn't keep the Doors open for long.'

Kang-Woo did not die as long as the Doors were open. Even if every cell in his body were to be obliterated, they would be regenerated instantly through the power of the Demonic Sea. However, his sanity would be corroded by that growing power as time passed.

'But I don't have to worry about that anymore.'

Kang-Woo had devoured the Abyss and become one with the Demonic Sea. His consciousness was the same as the Demonic Sea's consciousness. There was no risk of the Demonic Sea's consciousness taking over his in most cases.

'It would be a little dangerous if the Abyss were to pour out.'

Just because Kang-Woo devoured the Abyss did not mean he could fully control it. The reconstruction of his body needed to be completed for him to have full control over the Abyss— no, he might not even have full control after that.

'Since it's a power considered to have reached the realm of the Primordial.'

That was why Kang-Woo created the Ten Thousand Demon Core to seal the Demonic Sea, especially the Abyss, deep inside him so that it couldn't take control over him.

"Whatever the case." Kang-Woo shooed away the notions in his head and continued, "I need to make this thing feel threatened if I want to make it work harder."

There was no better way to threaten it than what he suggested; it was simple and effective.

"But..."

"I won't die anyway, man. You think I'm crazy enough to die for real?"

Kang-Woo had already reached a point where he couldn't die even if he wanted to. Regardless of whether Balrog awakened Deific Essence or not, he couldn't kill Kang-Woo, who had become the Demonic Sea itself.

"I'd be crazy to die after all I went through." Kang-Woo placed his hand on Balrog's fist. "So punch away."

Balrog remained silent.

He did not hesitate for long; he nodded with a hardened expression.

"Well, then." Balrog raised his right arm wrapped in black armor high. "As my king commands."

Bash!

Balrog swung his fist with all his weight and struck Kang-Woo.

Crack!

The fist wrapped in black armor shattered every bone in the little boy's body. The power emitted from the five-meter-tall giant caused a sonic boom. It looked like a little boy was obliterated by a wrecking ball. Kang-Woo, the king of the Demonic Sea, exploded all too easily without his powers to protect him.

Rumble—!!

The training room, protected by several layers of protective barriers, shook from the immense impact.

Whoosh.

A vortex formed where Kang-Woo was due to the immense output of power. His body was gone from the knees up. His legs stood on the floor as if they had not realized what happened, but only for a moment.

"Kurgh—!" Balrog grunted in pain as he grabbed his right fist with his other hand and crouched. "This is..."

He looked down at his right fist and saw black blood flowing out of it. The Overlord Armor wrapped around his fist was torn apart, and his flesh was bitten off in several areas as if a school of piranhas attacked it.

'He's this powerful even after he lost his powers?'

Chills ran down Balrog's back. Despite being unable to use the Demonic Sea to its full potential, Kang-Woo tore apart Balrog's Deific Essence barrier and Overlord Armor and turned his fist into a rag.

Gulp.

If Kang-Woo were at his full strength, his entire fist would have been devoured by the darkness of the Demonic Sea. Balrog wrapped his ragged fist with his other hand and stared at Kang-Woo, whose legs were the only parts of his body remaining.

Wriggle.

Even a three-year-old child could understand a person would be dead from such an injury, but Balrog could tell that Kang-Woo was still alive. Black mucus boiled and sprouted from the cross-sectional areas of his knees and then slowly began to take the form of a human. Kang-Woo instantly regained his form just like a T-1000 that came from the future to kill John Connor.

"I'll be b— Oh wait, this is the other guy's line." Kang-Woo looked down at himself. Unlike what he had hoped, his body was still that of a child. "Dammit. Seol-Ah bought me those clothes."

He clicked his tongue; he could regenerate his body, but not the clothes blown away from the impact. He wrapped himself with demonic energy.

'Let's see.'

Kang-Woo checked the changes in his body.

'As I thought, it stimulated the Demonic Sea.'

It was an attack that obliterated eighty percent of his body, killing him beyond a shadow of a doubt. If that had not stimulated the Demonic Sea, he would have been stumped on what to do.

'But...'

His body was the same as before. Kang-Woo frowned. 'Did it fail?'

That was the first thing that came to mind, but he shook his head.

'No.'

Kang-Woo closed his eyes and monitored the inside of his body. A sliver of energy was flowing out of the Demonic Sea.

'Hell yeah!'

His plan to stimulate the Demonic Sea by hurting himself on purpose had succeeded. Kang-Woo focused on the sliver of energy flowing out of the Demonic Sea.

'This is...'

Energy from the Abyss, the deepest point of the Demonic Sea that Kang-Woo had kept sealed due to its unfathomable power, was spreading throughout his body.

Crack, crack.

Kang-Woo could feel his body changing as his bones broke. The feeling was completely different from what happened when his body was getting optimized. The demonic energy from the Abyss was making him grow. Kang-Woo's eyes widened.

"O-Ohhhhh!!"

'It's coming!! It's finally coming!!'

"Yes! That's it!!"

'Grow! Rise to your former glory!'

"FRAN?OIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!!!"

"My king...?"

Balrog flinched from Kang-Woo's desperate screams of madness. Kang-Woo paid no mind to the backstepping Balrog and focused on the changes happening to his body.

Riiing.

[Hastening the reconstruction as per the influence of the demonic energy from the Abyss.]

[Growing the body by 4.3 cm.]

[Developing (pfft) Player Oh Kang-Woo's Fran?ois (pfft) in proportion to the growth.]

"You motherf...!!"

Blood vessels bulged from Kang-Woo's forehead as he read the blue message window in front of him. He succeeded in stimulating the Demonic Sea by harming himself, but...

[At least it's not a Vienna sausage anymore.]

"Shut the fuck up!!" cursed Kang-Woo as he aggressively swiped the blue message window away.

He had indeed grown but nowhere near enough to return to his original form.

'Motherfucking System... how dare it laugh at me?'

Kang-Woo gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"You sure have it easy now that Bael is gone, huh?"

'Screw being the guardian deity. I quit. Screw the Triad.'

[An error has been detected in the System message. The auxiliary control system 'Eve' states it had nothing to do with the previous message.]

"Shut it."

'Don't you dare try to bullshit your way out of this.'

Riiing!

[You can use a portion of the Demonic Sea's power in proportion to your growth.]

[You have learned a new skill 'Abyss Summoning.']

'Look at you, changing the subject.'

"What the hell is Abyss Summoning?"

Kang-Woo sighed and shook his head. He decided to be satisfied that he managed to grow at least a little. Now that he had grown bigger, he could feel demonic energy, far more than what he used to feel, circulating according to his will.

'It's still nowhere near enough.'

He wouldn't even be able to leave a scratch on Kim Si-Hun with this meager amount of demonic energy. Considering how much he used to have, it was merely a drop in the ocean.

'But it's a start.'

Hunger couldn't be satiated from just one bite of food. One could say that Kang-Woo had successfully taken the first step in regaining his powers.

'The more demonic energy becomes available to me, the faster the reconstruction will get.'

A snowball could start an avalanche; in that sense, the fact that he managed to grow at all was highly encouraging.

'It's only difficult the first time. It gets easier the more you do it.'

Kang-Woo quelled his anxiety and swept his hair back. There was no need to fret; he experienced the same thing when his powers were sealed after returning to Earth. At the time, his life would have been in danger if he hadn't grown strong as quickly as possible, but now he had dependable shields like Si-Hun and Balrog to protect him. Although the outer worlds were full of variables to be wary of, Si-Hun and Balrog were strong enough to break through them.

'And if worse comes to worst, I can just unleash the Abyss.'

If he unleashed the Abyss inside him just like when he opened the Third Door of the Ten Thousand Demon Core, the enemies would be wiped out regardless of how far the reconstruction was along.

'But of course, I'd be stuck in that fucking place again if I do.'

If Kang-Woo were to unleash the Abyss while his body's reconstruction was incomplete, he could risk being stuck in the Abyss again.

'So what? I've escaped once before.'

It would be easier the second time.

"Well, that doesn't mean I want to go back."

Kang-Woo shook his head as he recalled his horrible experiences in the Abyss. His reconstruction would be completed over time even if he didn't do shit like this.

'The problem is that I have no idea how long it will take.'

Kang-Woo cursed and clicked his tongue.

"That aside..."

He turned and looked at the blue message window he had swiped away. He clicked on the new skill Abyss Summoning with his finger and a skill description popped up.

[The ability to summon the army of the Abyss. The number of soldiers summoned will increase in proportion to the amount of demonic energy used.]

"Whoa."

It was quite useful especially since he was currently weakened. The army of the Abyss was practically immortal.

'Let's try it out.'

Kang-Woo slowly raised his hand and circulated the demonic energy flowing out of the Abyss. He followed the instructions that naturally appeared in his head and summoned a soldier lying dormant within the boundless Abyss.

Wriggle.

His palm split, and black mucus poured out of the ends.

"Huh...?"

The Black mucus took the form of a familiar demon.

[I-I... I am...]

A weeping voice of the dead echoed. Kang-Woo stared wide-eyed at the demon summoned from the Abyss.

"Satan?"

'Why are you here?'

1. The word for domination/hegemony in Korean (??) sounds very much like pedo. ☜