He saw a pitch-black darkness that didnât reflect any light.
âItâs sinking.â
He could feel himself sinking into the bottomless darkness.
âHere.â
He narrowed his eyes.
The first thought that crossed his mind was that he was in the deepest part of the Ten Thousand Demon Coreâthe world that was full of demonic energy from the Abyss.
ââŚâ
He remained silent and shook his head.
âNo.â
It wasnât a grandiose world like thatâit was a simple dream.
âIs it a lucid dreamâŚ?â
He wasnât sure. He often had short dreams when he slept, but for some reason, that dream felt quite real.
âAhâŚâ
Something became visible amidst the darkness.
âA memory of the past.
The memories of what heâd gone through in Hell passed through his mind.
Squeak-
He heard something dripping in mucus move.
âWhat?â
He turned his head.
Something moved within the darkness and surrounded his body.
âUgh.â
He tried to resist and pull his demonic energy from within to use an Authority, butâŚ
âCough!â
It wasnât the real world. It was simply a dream.
There was no demonic energy or Authority.
The place was really just a pure âdreamâ.
Squish-
Something with a viscous texture was surrounding his body.
âThisâŚâ
It was a familiar textureâsomething that had created trauma in him.
âWhyâs thisâŚ?â
The tentacles slithered into his through his orifices as if they were trying to cut his consciousness.
It was a horrible nightmareâa fragment of the past he didnât want to remember.
Squeak-
The darkness split, and 18 red eyes appeared in the darkness.
An womanâs evil laugh could be heard.
âUgh, ah.â
He extended his arm, but it was useless.
He fell toward the darkness into a nightmare from which he couldnât free himself.
Deeper and deeper he went.
âAh, aah.â
He struggled and desperately flailed his limbs.
He screamed, but no sound came from his mouth.
The light vanished within the darkness.
Crack.
Something broke.
âAAAHHH!!!â
He threw aside the blanket and stood up.
His entire body was covered in sweat, and the clothing sticking to his skin felt unpleasant.
âHaa, Haa.â
He breathed heavily, raised his head, and looked around.
He saw a familiar room.
âWh-what happened?â KangWoo mumbled while cleaning up the sweat.
It was a crazily realistic dream.
He remembered his times in Hellâsomething heâd almost forgotten after he became used to life on Earth.
âDamn it.â
He closed his eyes and tried to erase the bad memory from his head.
âHaaâŚâ
He couldnât help but sigh.
For some reason, he really wanted to see Han Seol-ah.
âIf only in HellâŚâ
If only there was a woman like her.
No, if Lilith appeared like how people imagined a succubusâŚ
âIt would have been a bit better.â
Appearance was important.
It wasnât a matter of being beautiful or not.
At least, one shouldnât have 18 eyes and a body covered by tentacles that oozed pus.
Most humans and demons relied primarily on sight.
âIf there was at least one beautiful woman, maybe life in Hell wouldnât have been that bad.â
He laughed in disbelief at the thought that crossed his mind.
To be honest, it was a disgusting and lowly thought, even to him.
But what could he do?
Although it was a lowly thought, he needed something to ease his mind at the time.
âOnly those that donât have any porn saved may cast judgment upon me.â
Craving someone of the opposite gender was normal. It was in oneâs nature, after all.
He wasnât thinking of denying that.
âWell⌠Hell isnât a place like that in the first place.â
He wasnât thinking of blaming Lilith.
All demons in Hell looked like that, so there was nothing she couldâve done about it.
âItâs also something thatâs already in the past.â
Still, remembering the times in Hell made him tremble as if he were about to have a seizure.
KangWoo shook his head and raised his blanket.
âFufufu.â
As he raised it⌠he saw something there.
âYouâre going to hunt Halcyon today, right? I came secretly at night to give strength to the Demon King.â
Hehe.
Lilith put out her tongue and gave a cute smile. nine of the eighteen eyes winked at him.
Green tentacles had covered his body within his dream.
âAh, aah.â
KangWoo lowered his head while covering his eyes with his two hands.
A desperate cry leaked from his mouth.
The nightmareâŚ
Wasnât over yet.
* * *
[Demon King, you seem tired.]
âShut upâŚâ
KangWoo replied to Balrog while making an annoyed expression.
Thanks to the terrible thing he suffered until early in the morning, he had almost no mental strength left.
âAre you ready?â he said while shaking his head as if trying to brush off the nightmare.
Balrog smiled.
[Is there any preparation I need to make?]
Balrog flexed his arm as if he were bragging about his muscles.
âItâs being regulated well,â he said with a smirk on his face.
The gate that was located in the USA, FloridaâŚ
Thanks to Lilith, nobody else was visible around the gate.
[HalcyonâŚ]
Balrogâs expression hardened while he thought about what was beyond the gate.
A sense of nervousness was flowing out from his body.
âWhat, does it being an ancient demonic monster make you nervous?â
KangWoo tilted his head while looking at the nervous Balrog.
Although theyâd never fought against an ancient demonic m, seeing Balrog so nervous was rare.
[Haa.]
Balrog sighed.
[Itâs because of Halcyonâs horrible appearance⌠Iâm not afraid of fighting it, but Iâm scared of seeing that disgusting face again.]
ââŚâ
KangWoo narrowed his eyes at what Balrog said.
âDid you face Halcyon before?â
If that werenât the case, Balrog saying he was afraid of seeing it âagainâ made no sense.
[YesâŚ]
Balrog nodded while making a heavy expression.
[Yes⌠It was about 900 years ago. I went out to investigate with my subordinates and entered a Halcyonâs territory. At that moment⌠I was able to see it.]
âWait, 900 years ago?â
If it was 900 years ago, it was when heâd started ordering Balrog around.
He didnât remember hearing a report saying Balrog had met a Halcyon.
âWhy didnât you report?â
[AhâŚ] he mumbled in a low voice.
Reporting to your higher-up was one of the musts as a subordinate; not reporting something delicate on purpose could even lead someone to be executed.
[I⌠Iâm sorry, Demon King!]
Balrog noticed heâd made a mistake and lowered his head.
KangWoo scratched his head while looking at him.
âNo, I wasnât trying to blame you. I just wanted to know why.â
Although not reporting was something serious, it was something that had happened 900 years ago.
There was no need to punish him at that point.
âBut why did he do it?â
There was probably a reason why he hadnât made a report.
Considering his personality, there was a chance it was quite an important reason.
[ThatâŚ]
Balrog sighed and kept talking.
[Thatâs because of how disgusting Halcyon looked.]
ââŚâ
[You were really busy, so I didnât want to distract you with that disgusting beingâŚ]
KangWoo frowned.
It was too weak of an excuse.
âWell, I guess it makes sense considering the situation back then.â
If it was 900 years ago, it was when the conflict against the archdukes was just starting.
Ancient demonic monsters didnât leave their nest, so there was no need to be cautious or think about them.
âThis just makes me wonder more.â
Just how disgusting did Halcyon look for Balrog to say something like that?
KangWoo looked at the gate with great interest.
âLetâs go.â
[I⌠Iâll pay for the crime with my life.]
âDonât say nonsense.â
He gave Balrog a kick and began walking.
As he crossed the gate, an immense forest appeared before him.
ââŚâ
The thick scent of blood wafted into his nose.
âIt seems like itâs been going on a rampage.â
He saw the corpses of monsters throughout the forest.
âOh well.â
The opponent was an ancient demonic monster.
It was a monster that could even face an archduke, so, for monsters, it was as if a catastrophe had appeared.
Because of the characteristics of a demonic monster, there was a chance it had killed all the monsters around to create a base.
[Demon KingâŚ]
âI know.â
KangWoo readied his demonic energy.
He prepared the Ten Thousand Demon Core so that he could use an Authority at any moment.
Balrog also raised his fists and readied his demonic energy.
Clack-
Armor formed around his fistâit was like a gauntlet that knights in the middle ages used.
That was the new power called âOverlordâs Armorâ Balrog had obtained.
âNow that I think about it, arenât you going to use the whip?â
[It doesnât suit the Overlordâs Armor very well, so Iâve been mostly using my fists recently.]
âHmm.â
KangWoo nodded.
It was true that Balrogâs main weapon was the whip, but that didnât mean he wasnât good at using his fists.
âI guess heâs going to do whateverâs the best for him.â
Just like he couldnât give martial arts advice to Kim ShiHoon, the same thing applied to Balrog.
He was an already complete warrior.
If heâd thrown away his main weapon, the whip, his choice was probably correct.
â SniffâŚ
At that moment, he heard the sound of someone crying in the forest.
KangWoo created a sword with the Authority of Blades.
âItâs over there.â
He felt an intense amount of demonic energy from the crying voice.
He slowly began walking.
âHalcyonâŚâ
The demon that looked so disgusting that it made even demons scaredâŚ
He couldnât help but wonder how it looked.
âIt doesnât matter.â
It didnât matter how disgusting it looked.
There was no romance in Hell.
Heâd already seen the worst in Hell in terms of horrifying things.
Even if it looked like it had been made by attaching many different corpses, he was sure he could eat it with the Authority of Predation while smiling.
âCome onâŚâ
âShow yourself.â
KangWoo cut the vines that were blocking their path with his longsword.
ThereâŚ
ââŚâ
[Ugh! You still look disgusting!]
Balrog clenched his fists while frowning.
âSniff, sniff.â
A white-haired woman was crying, there were bat wings on her back, two horns on her forehead, and a long tail came out of her ass area, andâŚ
She had an impressiveâŚ
ChillingâŚ
Beautiful appearance.
âHey, BalrogâŚâ
His body trembled.
Halcyonâs appearance was so beautiful that it made one feel a thrill.
To be honest, Han Seol-ah, or Echidna, couldnât be a match for her.
If he had to make a comparisonâŚ
She looked like how people would often imagine a âsuccubus queen.â
âFuck.â
All those years heâd spent in Hell passed through his mind.
Not only had he been unable to see a woman, but he also couldnât see even a person.
The wife he got was Lilith.
He cried every night after being harassed by tentacles.
It was an empty and dry place where he didnât have any form of entertainment.
Heâd been supporting all of that; heâd been resisting, butâŚ
ButâŚ
âAh, aah.â
He grabbed his head.
â Have you seen a Halcyon before?
â Yes.
âUgh, ah.â
â Why didnât you report?
âHey, youâŚâ
â Because Halcyon I saw was too disgusting.
âYou motherfucker!!!!!â
Tears dripped down KangWooâs cheeks.
âWhy didnât you report it, you motherfucker?!!!!â