After Ten Millennia in Hell

Due to the Andras Guild's situation, their guild's base was in a secret and secluded location.

The man guarding the door at the end of a maze-like alleyway said in a deep voice, "Stop."

He glared at the figure that had suddenly appeared but soon lowered his guard upon recognizing the figure.

"Kang Cheol-Ho?" the guard called out.

"Y-Yeah," Kang Cheol-Ho answered.

"Didn't you go hunting for sacrifices with Seo Tae-Ho today? What took you so long?"

"Th-Things happened," Cheol-Ho said, glancing down at the large suitcase he had with him.

The guard tilted his head when he noticed that Cheol-Ho seemed a bit different from usual.

He went on to ask, "Things? What things? More importantly, where's Tae-Ho?"

"…Tae-Ho's dead," Cheol-Ho replied.

"What? Dead?" The guard looked at Cheol-Ho in disbelief.

"Didn't you go to a D-rank Gate? You're telling me that Seo Tae-Ho died at the hands of people who have only achieved their Second Awakening at most?"

"There was a high-level Player mixed in with the group. I barely managed to kill him and was able to bring the remaining Player to use as a sacrifice."

"Huuu…"

"I'll give a more detailed report later. But first, take the sacrifice."

Cheol-Ho pushed the suitcase to the guard, who looked suspiciously at him.

"You're acting strange today," the guard remarked.

"…It's because of Tae-Ho's death."

"Hmm. Well… I guess it makes sense since you two were close. The ritual is about to start, so I'll hear about what happened later."

"O-Okay. Then I'll—"

Cheol-Ho turned around as if he didn't want to be there, but the man guarding the door grabbed his shoulder.

"Come in and join the ritual."

"I… It's fine."

"Huh? What are you talking about? You were the one who brought the sacrifice, so you should be the one to be baptized. Haha, I'm jealous. If you receive some more demonic energy today, you might even be able to use a bit of the Authority."

"I-I don't need it!"

"…?"

The guard frowned as if he couldn't understand Cheol-Ho, who was just shaking his head.

The ritual was the most important event for them. It allowed the members of the Andras Guild to receive something called demonic energy—an energy far more powerful than mana.

Having the power of demonic energy was similar to getting high on illicit drugs. Demonic energy gave a person the feeling that they were more powerful, and it strengthened their desire to live. These were feelings that couldn't be replaced with anything else.

"Something else happened, right?" The guard looked at Cheol-Ho suspiciously.

After all, Cheol-Ho should have no reason to refuse the ritual. The guard knew Cheol-Ho wasn't a good enough person to refuse to acquire all that power just because his friend had died.

Cheol-Ho dripped with cold sweat as he turned around and said, "N-Nothing happened, so do whatever you want with the sacrifice."

"Hmm…"

The guard watched Cheol-Ho quickly walk away. Then he opened the suitcase Cheol-Ho had left behind. Inside the suitcase, the guard found the body of a young man with sharp looks. The young man was covered in blood and unconscious.

"The sacrifice looks fine," the guard commented.

After checking that the young man was still breathing, the guard took the suitcase with him and entered the guild house. A scrawny man wearing a robe then walked toward him.

The guard saluted him with a nervous expression. "Guildmaster! The sacrifice has arrived!"

"It's a little late today."

"They were interrupted in the middle by a high-level Player."

"Hmm. So…?"

"Seo Tae-Ho died while fighting him."

"I see."

Jo Deok-Hyun didn't seem to care that a member of his guild had died. He just turned around with an apathetic expression.

"Bring in the sacrifice. The ritual is about to begin," he said.

"Yes, sir!" the guard replied with a loud shout.

After that, he brought the suitcase to the room where the ritual was going to take place. The door creaked open to reveal eight members of the Andras Guild. They were dressed in vestments, kneeling in the room. These eight were among the small number of guild members who knew about the true nature of the Andras Guild.

"Ohhhh!"

"Oh, almighty Andras!"

Upon seeing Deok-Hyun enter the room, the members of the Andras guild bowed down toward him. Mad gazes flashed across their eyes as they looked at Deok-Hyun. Rather than a guild of Players, they seemed more like a cult.

Deok-Hyun smiled furtively while gazing at the members who had gathered in the room.

'Everything is progressing smoothly.'

It had been one year since he'd been 'evangelized,' and his followers were increasing slowly but steadily in number.

"Hehehe," Deok-Hyun laughed as his eyes gleamed with madness.

It wasn't hard to make Players fall for the power of demonic energy. Most Players wished to have more strength, and demonic energy had the power to fulfill those desires.

'With a little more effort, I'll be able to turn everyone here into a Demonoid.'

The more demonic energy a human took in, the closer that person would get to becoming a demon. In Deok-Hyun's case, twenty percent of his body had already been converted to that of a demon, so he had stepped into the realm of Demonoids. His goal was to create a powerful army of Demonoids.

'The power of my Authority is getting stronger.'

Deok-Hyun grinned excitedly while thinking about the person who had told him about the ritual. That person hadn't been wrong. Deok-Hyun had received more demonic energy as he conducted more rituals and offered up more sacrifices. Thus, he had become consistently stronger.

The power that a demon's Authority gave a person made a Player's Trait look insignificant.

'I'll become a full demon.'

Demons had eternal youth and absolute power. Becoming a demon was the only way to escape a mortal's finite life.

"Then, let's begin the ritual," Deok-Hyun said and hit the ground with a dark brown cane.

Boom.

"Ohhhh."

"Ahhh! Demon King!"

After hearing the command to begin the ritual, the eight Andras Guild members screamed and hit the ground with their heads.

"Prepare the mana stones," Deok-Hyun ordered.

"Yes, sir!"

The guard placed the young man who would be used as today's sacrifice on the altar. Then he opened the safe, which was under the altar. There were thousands of mana stones inside the safe.

They had purchased the mana stones using all of the Andras Guild's available funds and were going to use them to create a Rift.

'With these mana stones, we should be able to do at least thirty more rituals.'

Deok-Hyun smiled while looking at all the mana stones he had under the altar.

"Whose turn is it to be baptized?" he asked.

"It should be Kang Cheol-Ho… but he said that he wouldn't participate in today's ritual."

"Is that so?" Deok-Hyun nodded with a frown. "Then no one will be baptized today."

"Ah…"

The guild members seemed disappointed by those words. Their gazes filled with desire, and their murmurs grew in volume.

"Silence!" Deok-Hyun commanded.

Slam!

"…"

"If you want to be baptized, bring me sacrifices and mana stones. Those who don't act don't deserve to be baptized."

"Yes, sir!"

Deok-Hyun smiled. 'I'll be able to hoard the strength all to myself today.'

He became excited at the thought of taking the demonic energy from one sacrifice all for himself.

"Let's begin."

Whir.

Deok-Hyun moved the mana inside the mana stones by following the magic circle, just like he'd learned on the day he'd received the 'revelation.' A few of the thousands of mana stones lost their light. The magic circle under the altar began to shine, and a small distortion appeared in the air.

Swoosh!!

Black energy began to flow out from that small distortion.

Demonic energy was more destructive than mana, and it was an energy that could turn humans into demons.

'Good.'

Deok-Hyun smiled, feeling satisfied to see the demonic energy flow out.

The ritual began by creating a Rift that led to Hell. Once demonic energy flowed out of the Rift, it needed to be directed toward the sacrifice. The reason for that was that if a person tried to absorb the demonic energy directly without using a sacrifice, it would contort their body and kill them.

Once they directed the demonic energy to the sacrifice, the ritual would end. Then it would just be a matter of time before the sacrifice was killed by the demonic energy contorting their body. A person could then safely absorb demonic energy by drinking the blood of the sacrifice's corpse, which would be filled with demonic energy.

'Today, I'll be able to drink all the blood.'

Deok-Hyun would be able to monopolize the demonic energy from today's ritual since he didn't need to share the sacrifice's blood with his underling who had brought the sacrifice.

'Hehehe! Die already!'

At the thought of absorbing the demonic energy all by himself, Deok-Hyun directed the demonic energy out of the Rift more aggressively, allowing it to be absorbed by the sacrifice at a faster speed.

'He's holding on quite well.'

Deok-Hyun was surprised by how the sacrifice had barely moved despite all the demonic energy entering him.

The amount of demonic energy a person could absorb differed from case to case. Some people had only held out for merely a second.

'Does he have an A-rank Trait or something?'

Usually, people with higher-ranking Traits could resist being eroded by demonic energy for longer.

'If he can resist for that long…'

Naturally, the demonic energy inside the sacrifice's blood would be thicker the longer the sacrifice was able to hold on. Deok-Hyun smiled excitedly as he watched the sacrifice continue to absorb demonic energy.

The mana stones they were using to maintain the Rift quickly lost their light, but they could still go on for longer.

'Hehe. Luck is on my side!'

Deok-Hyun had never seen a sacrifice last this long against demonic energy.

To think that on the very day when he could monopolize the blood, the offered sacrifice would be someone capable of absorbing lots of demonic energy… It seemed like an opportunity that had been gifted to him by the heavens.

'I'll be able to absorb ten times… No! Fifteen times the normal amount of demonic energy at once!'

Deok-Hyun was thrilled.

"Hahaha! Come on, open your eyes and scream in pain!" he mistakenly spoke out loud what he was thinking.

He wanted to drink the blood of the sacrifice right then.

"Hahahaha!"

The demonic energy emerging from the Rift kept flowing into the body of the sacrifice.

"Good! Very good!"

Deok-Hyun laughed while waiting for the young man to scream in pain.

"Huh…?"

However, no matter how long he waited, the young man didn't open his eyes.

"What's happening?"

Yet, the demonic energy flowing from the Rift kept entering the young man's body.

"Why isn't it stopping?"

It kept doing so…

"W-Wait."

Endlessly…

"S-Stop!"

Without stopping…

"I said stop!"

The demonic energy flowed incessantly into the young man on the altar. All the mana stones Deok-Hyun had bought with the Andras Guild's entire fortune had lost their light. Once all of the mana stones lost their light, the Rift vanished.

"Huh…?" Deok-Hyun muttered in confusion as he watched the huge amount of magic stones, which was enough to perform over thirty rituals, disappear all at once.

The young man on the altar got up slowly. He smiled brightly as he looked at his surroundings with great interest.

"Woah. Thanks to this, my stat has gone up by 20," he said.

The young man burst into laughter as if he'd just won the lottery.

Deok-Hyun's jaws were agape, shocked by how the young man was totally fine.

"Can you do this ritual one more time?" the young man asked.

"…"

A heavy silence fell over the room.