After Ten Millennia in Hell

Oh Kang-Woo felt as if a single ray of light had beamed down and cleared his hazy consciousness. His demonic energy stores, which had been depleted after forcibly closing the gate, had been completely refilled. He was surging with vitality.

'Nice.'

Kang-Woo looked down at his hands.

His Demonic Energy stat had finally reached 130 points. The stats' effects rose greatly every ten points, so the effect of the Demonic Energy stat was different from before.

The passage that led to the deep end of the Ten Thousand Demon Core had not expanded since he hadn't absorbed the souls of demons. However, the absolute amount of demonic energy had increased so much that it couldn't be compared to before.

"M-My king?"

Kang-woo could feel Lilith staring at him in confusion.

He glanced at her and sighed.

"First, return to your human form."

"But—"

"Lilith," Kang-Woo said quietly but firmly.

He narrowed his eyes. This was as far as he was willing to take this comedy skit with her.

"Do not make me repeat myself."

"As you command," Lilith replied with a bow.

Kang-Woo gazed at her with a bitter smile. He'd managed to put out the biggest fire.

'The fundamental problem hasn't been solved, though.'

Lilith was following his command now, but she would keep reverting to her demon form as long as she believed that her true form was more beautiful than her human form. She was capable of doing anything if it was to seduce Kang-Woo.

He felt like he was blacking out just from the thought of getting surrounded by those horrible tentacles again. Nevertheless, he didn't have the mental capacity to think about how to resolve that at the moment.

Squelch, squelch.

'Urp.'

The sight of Lilith's tentacles retracting back into her skin was horrifying.

'Let's take this time to look at something else.'

While Lilith was returning to her human form, Kang-Woo took his eyes off her and checked his status window.

'Eighth Awakening Trait.'

After absorbing demonic energy from the Rift, he'd reached 130 in the Demonic Energy stat. Thanks to that, he'd fully unlocked his Eighth Awakening Trait. He couldn't help but be excited about it.

[Eighth Awakening Trait: Prince Slayer (Rank: SS)]

[Effect: The Player can use the Authorities of the seven princes of Hell through their souls.]

"This is…"

Kang-Woo's eyes widened.

The description was short, but the content was shocking.

‘The Authorities of the seven princes of Hell…’

The powers of Satan and the other princes of Hell were buried deep in the Ten Thousand Demon Core, in the Abyss. Even when Kang-Woo used to rule over the Nine Hells, he hadn't been able to draw demonic energy from the Abyss.

'I can use the princes' Authorities now.'

This meant that what had been impossible for him back in Hell had been made possible on Earth.

Naturally, he couldn't hold back a grin.

'Based on the description, it seems I can use Reaper of Souls on the princes.'

Being able to absorb the souls of the princes of Hell had been nothing but a possibility before. However, after reading the description of his new Trait, he was certain that he could absorb their souls with Reaper of Souls.

'There's a high chance that the souls of the princes of Hell are related to the second condition of Demonic Soul.'

Based on the pattern so far, the Awakening Traits and the conditions for becoming a Demon God were related. In that case, his Eighth Awakening Trait was definitely related to the second condition of Demonic Soul.

'But…'

Kang-Woo frowned.

His Eighth Awakening Trait was mind-blowingly powerful. He'd also obtained a clue for the Demonic Soul's second condition.

'The problem is… the condition itself.'

Even Kang-Woo couldn't help but be a bit overwhelmed at the thought of absorbing the soul of a prince of Hell.

'In the first place, I don't even know if all the princes have revived.'

The only one whom he knew had revived was Lucifer, but Lucifer was in another dimension that he couldn't interfere with.

"Hmm…"

Kang-Woo took a deep breath.

'It's not like there's no way whatsoever.'

He just needed to make Lucifer, the only prince whom Kang-Woo knew had revived for certain, cross over to Earth. Kang-Woo had already thrown the bait. He had instigated conflict between the Demon Cult that Satan led and Lucifer's forces.

'The problem is whether Lucifer would come to this world in person just because of that.'

If Lucifer were able to cross over to Earth, then the chances of him invading it wouldn't be low. There wasn't anything more tempting to a demon than the Demonic Sea that Satan had managed to take from the demon king.

"The princes of Hell, huh?"

Nevertheless, that wasn't the only problem… Even if Lucifer were able to get to Earth, would Kang-Woo be able to beat him?

'I can't be sure.'

Kang-Woo wasn't inferior to Lucifer, but it wasn't guaranteed that he would win.

Alongside Satan and Bael, Lucifer was one of the strongest among the seven princes. He was ranked third. Bael was the strongest prince, and Satan and Lucifer were ranked beneath him.

Kang-Woo was still not quite strong enough to face Lucifer in a one-on-one battle at the moment.

'But…'

With Balrog's and Lilith's help, there was a chance Kang-Woo could win.

"Hmm…"

He groaned.

'There are too many variables.'

Kang-Woo didn't like that.

Firstly, the chances that Lucifer would arrive on Earth alone without his forces were very low. Secondly, Kang-Woo wasn't sure he'd be able to face Lucifer in a three-against-one formation with Balrog and Lilith.

'In that case…'

The gears in his mind turned quickly.

Then Kang-Woo's eyes lit up.

'I'll use the Demon Cult.'

He was aiming to play both ends against the middle. While the Demon Cult and Lucifer's forces fought, Kang-Woo would attack Lucifer and slice his head cleanly off his body.

'It's worth trying.'

Kang-Woo smiled.

When he learned through Vaal Zahak that Lucifer had been revived, Kang-Woo had instinctively felt that he would have to face the princes of Hell soon.

'Tsk. This reminds me of when I was in Hell.'

The battle against the seven princes that had gone on for a thousand years… The memories of that long war passed through his mind.

He heard a beautiful voice say, "The transformation is complete, my king."

Kang-Woo turned his head to see Lilith, who had returned to looking like Kurosaki Yurie.

'Ah, I'm happy.'

Kang-Woo felt like a heavy burden had been lifted from him when he saw that Lilith could change back to a human appearance. Of course, the ideal scenario would have been if she were unable to revert to her demonic form, but this was more than adequate.

Kang-Woo sat on a nearby piece of wreckage and said, "Tell me what happened after you infiltrated the Demon Cult."

The most important thing right now was figuring out how much of his identity she'd spread among the Demon Cult.

Lilith replied, "I have not been able to do much because I've been more focused on trying to recover my original body that you love so much. So, I have not had the time to engrave your name throughout the Demon Cult."

That was good news.

Lilith bowed and continued, "I apologize for not being able to deal with things faster. I will spread your name across the entirety of the Demon Cult as soon as p—"

"Ah, about that. There are a few things I need to tell you."

Kang-Woo explained to her his relationship with the Demon Cult as well as his current situation. The more he explained, the paler Lilith's face became.

"I-I'm sorry, my king!"

Lilith bowed down, slamming her forehead onto the ground.

She said tearily, "W-Without being aware of your true intentions, I… ended up doing something as stupid as giving the enemy information…"

"Of course, I have no intention of letting this go unpunished."

Even though she hadn't known about his circumstances, Lilith had made a grievous mistake. It was different from what had happened with Balrog. Lilith had spent quite some time on Earth and knew about Kang-Woo's existence and identity. Despite that, she'd done things as she wished without considering his situation, so this wasn't something he would overlook.

"...I will accept any form of punishment," she stated quietly with tears in her eyes.

Kang-Woo sighed. "Let's talk about this later."

"I will… pay for my sins with my body!"

"No."

"I will return to my original form this instant and satisfy you with the utmost devotion!"

"Don't."

"I will put my name as the Succubus Queen on the line and send you to paradise!"

"Please, don't."

Kang-Woo quickly stopped her from returning to her demon form.

Then he asked with a weary expression, "So, the Demon Cult doesn't know anything about my identity?"

"…"

There was silence, and Lilith fidgeted anxiously.

Ultimately, she gave a careful reply. "I wouldn't say that. I've been spreading the Book of Hell within the Demon Cult…"

"Book of Hell? What's that?"

"It's a book I wrote about your thousand-year-long war in the Ninth Hell. After all, the Demon Cultists still believe the seven princes rule over Hell."

"A book, huh?"

The best way to engrave the existence of the demon king into the Demon Cult was indeed to spread information about the long war between the seven princes and the demon king in the Ninth Hell. After all, the one who had come out victorious after defeating the seven princes was the demon king.

"I'm guessing you couldn't distribute it publicly," Kang-Woo remarked.

"Yes. After all, they treat the seven princes as gods."

Then Kang-Woo still had a chance.

His gaze sharpened.

"Where is the book being distributed?"

"I have heard that it is the Demon Cult branch in the Middle East."

"I see."

Lilith even gave him information about a Demon Cult branch.

'This isn't bad at all.'

Kang-Woo had thought Lilith's actions were just simple trolling that did nothing but harm him.

However, the Guardians—even with all of their forces involved in the search—hadn't been able to find traces of the Demon Cult. So, obtaining information about a Demon Cult branch was a huge harvest.

'Maybe I should've had her infiltrate for a bit longer.'

He thought that using Lilith as a spy wasn't a bad idea. However, he shook his head soon after.

'That'd be difficult since Akiyama is dead.'

It had been all thanks to Akiyama, Lilith's ardent follower, that Lilith had been able to be so active in the Demon Cult so quickly. Without him, she wouldn't be able to move about so freely in the Demon Cult.

'First, I'll have to go to the Demon Cult branch in the Middle East.'

It was worth visiting that place just to check how far the Book of Hell had been distributed.

"Come to think of it, what happened to Kurosaki Yurie?"

"I have complete control over the consciousness at the moment, so she is asleep at the moment."

"Can you wake her up?"

"Yes, if my king commands it," Lilith replied with a nod.

It was good news that Lilith had control over the body. Kang-Woo felt bad about Kurosaki Yurie, who had lost control over her body out of the blue, but he didn't have the mental capacity to care about the life of someone he didn't know.

'It's hard enough living my own life.'

Kang-Woo wasn't Alec Osborne, so he didn't feel the need to live while caring about the lives of every single person.

"What about Kurosaki Yurie's ability?" Kang-Woo asked.

"Her ability?"

"Yeah. She has the ability to borrow power from other worlds."

"Mm… I am not sure about that. At least, I cannot use that ability."

"So, that's the ability of Kurosaki Yurie herself, huh?"

Lilith nodded in response.

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes.

'This might be worth paying attention to.'

There might come a time when he would need Yurie's ability.

Before the Gaia System had weakened due to the Rift Seeds, the Demon Cult had tried to summon Lilith through her.

It meant that if Kang-Woo were able to use Yurie's ability effectively now that the Gaia System had gotten even weaker, there was a good chance that he would be able to summon the seven princes of Hell or beings of even greater power.

'Poor girl.'

Thinking about the innocent Yurie, who had unfairly lost her body to a demon, made Kang-Woo tear up. He thought that he should help her regain consciousness and take back more control of her own body.

"People should always help one another in life," Kang-Woo commented.

He stood up and nodded.

He wanted to help the innocent girl escape from the clutches of a demon right away, but he couldn't do that at the moment.

'Let's go.'

Currently, Kang-Woo's most urgent task was to go to the Demon Cult branch in the Middle East.