Chapter 180 - Summit (1)
There was a small city in a desolate desert in the Middle East. Under it was a Demon Cult branch that had been secretly constructed.
At present, multiple explosions were going off in succession inside that very branch.
BOOM!
Rumble!
"ARRGGHH!!"
"Wh-What's going on?!"
The cultists in the branch's office were surprised by the explosions. They took out their weapons and began casting spells.
"D-Don't tell me…"
"C-Could those demons earlier have done it?"
It was something that they'd been afraid would happen.
A few hours before, some demons had arrived at their branch. These demons hadn't been summoned by the Demon Cult; they had appeared on Earth through a different method.
The Demon Cultists could think of no better reason than those demons for the cause of the explosions.
BOOM!
"R-Run!"
"S-Sir?!"
The office door opened, and the branch manager ran in with blood all over him. There was a fearful expression on his face.
"I-It's an attack!! Lucifer's retainers have attacked us!!" he yelled.
"Lucifer's retainers?"
"Why would they…"
The Demon Cultists tilted their heads in confusion upon suddenly hearing their branch manager mention the name of a prince of Hell.
As if squeezing the remaining energy out of his body, the branch manager said desperately, "They won't stop with this one attack! Run! Run away and let the rest of the cult know! The demons from the continent of Aernor will be coming to Earth!!"
Cough. He coughed up some blood.
Blood was leaking from all over the branch manager's body. It was as if he had been stabbed many times with a sharp dagger.
"It's a war! Lucifer's retainers have declared war on the Demon Cult!!" he screamed to his subordinates before falling unconscious.
"…"
There was a short silence. The Demon Cultists looked at each other briefly, but they quickly turned and fled.
More explosions went off, and the Demon Cult's underground base crumbled. As desert sand poured into it, the entire base shook.
"W-War!"
"It's war!!!"
The cultists thought of the branch manager's last words and swiftly escaped from the underground base.
"Huff, huff."
The branch manager had been left alone.
A young man wearing a white mask walked out from behind him.
"Well done," the young man said.
"Y-Your promise…"
"I will keep it, of course," Oh Kang-Woo affirmed with a nod.
The bloodied branch manager's expression lightened.
"Th-Then please take me out of here," he pleaded desperately while watching the wreckage pour into the crumbling base.
Kang-Woo crouched down next to him.
"Why should I?"
"Wh-What? Y-You promised that you would spare me…"
"Sparing you and taking you out of here are two completely different things."
"U-Urgh!!"
The branch manager's expression crumpled in despair.
Kang-Woo waved his hand and walked out of the office, leaving the branch manager there by himself.
The branch manager bit his lip tensely. He'd expected that things would end up like this.
'I can't die here,' he thought.
He took out a black gem the size of a thumb. It was a demonic crystal, which had been created with concentrated demonic energy.
With this gem, he could obtain an explosive amount of demonic energy. Of course, if he weren't careful, the rampaging demonic energy could turn him into a demonic beast. Nevertheless, he didn't have time to worry about that.
"Oh, I haven't seen one of those in a while."
Gasp!
The branch manager was surprised by Kang-Woo's sudden reappearance.
"Wh-Why are you—"
"I didn't think you would just roll over and die, so I waited to see what you had up your sleeve. And like I thought, you had something pretty nice," Kang-Woo said, forcibly taking the demonic crystal away from the branch manager.
"N-No!"
"Well, I'm pretty sure it won't be of much use to me anymore, but I guess it's better than nothing. I'll make good use of it. Thanks, dude."
Kang-Woo patted the branch manager's shoulder.
The branch manager, who was now lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor, screamed out, "ARRGGHH! YOU MOTHERFUCKERRRRRRR!!"
Rumble.
The underground base crumbled.
* * *
Crunch.
"I knew it wouldn't be of much help."
Kang-Woo chewed on the demonic crystal out of boredom.
A demonic crystal would have been of great help in the past, but he had grown so much that it didn't have much of an effect now.
'Like I thought, I have to kill a prince.'
There was no other way for him to grow drastically stronger. Of course, there was still the alternative of killing other demons and building his strength little by little instead.
'Lucifer's retainers weren't bad.'
He'd used the Authority of Predation and devoured the corpses of the four demons he'd killed earlier. Doing so hadn't caused his Demonic Energy stat to rise, but it had allowed the passage that led to the deep end of the Ten Thousand Demon Core to expand. He needed to expand the passage even more to use the power of a prince of Hell in the future.
'If something goes wrong, it might burst.'
Even if Kang-Woo could absorb the soul of a prince right at that moment, he wouldn't be able to use its power immediately. The passage that led to the deep end wouldn't be able to handle the massive pressure generated by the flow of demonic energy. It would burst like a ripped hose.
If that happened even once, it would be the end for Kang-Woo. Just like how the Rift ran wild when Lilith was summoned, the demonic energy within him would run amok, and he would explode.
"I guess I have no other choice but to comb through China."
Kang-Woo couldn't just stand still and wait for Lucifer to invade Earth. He had to keep hunting demons and completely expand the passage that led to the deep end.
According to the information he had been given, there was a secret Demon Cult meeting place in China. In that case, there was a high chance that the Demon Cult had a branch there as well.
'But it's too big.'
China was a huge country. Its size was way beyond that of Korea. After all, China was one of the biggest countries in the world.
Trying to find the Demon Cult's secret meeting place, which didn't even operate at all times, was close to impossible. Moreover, he couldn't bank on getting help from normal civilians as if he were searching for a wanted criminal. If he wanted help, it would need to be from an army of Players.
'It's not something Tian Wuchen could arrange.'
If Kang-Woo truly wanted to do it, Players from all over the world would have to join the search.
'Does Guardians have such authority?'
Guardians as an organization was well-connected with the chief executives of each country… but that didn't mean Guardians could use them however they wanted.
Guardians could make the US take action, but that was only because of Grace McCubbin's influence. They couldn't even make a single country take action as they wished, let alone the entire world.
'I'll have to take some measures of my own.'
A massive threat like the Demon Cult couldn't be stopped by an organization that didn't even have thirty members. The members of Guardians were too restricted in their actions unless they were able to borrow power from other countries.
'Even if Guardians' members move as fast as possible, they won't be able to match the reach of an army.'
It wasn't a matter of their capabilities; it was a matter of numbers. Moreover, there weren't any information-gathering groups that they could use, like the ones in martial arts novels—such as the Beggar's Gang or Hao Society, which were made up of lower-class people.
Kang-Woo couldn't ignore the strength of numbers.
"Okay."
He was done making his plan, so there was no reason for him to hesitate.
Kang-Woo created a gate that led to the Hall of Protection.
As he crossed over to the other side, he saw Kim Si-Hun walk out of the training room. Si-Hun was covered in sweat as if he had just finished training.
"Ah, hyung-nim! I heard the news from Mr. Ito! You found Princess Kurosaki Yurie?" Si-Hun asked.
"Oh, yeah, I guess."
"I would've come right away if you'd contacted me…"
"It wasn't that hard," Kang-Woo said while making a forced smile.
In reality, he'd desperately needed help from Si-Hun or the other members of Guardians. However, he couldn't let them meet Lilith.
"Anyway, are you pretty much living here now?" Kang-Woo asked.
"Yes, Master said that he doesn't have anything more to teach me, so he said that I should focus on training alone for the moment."
'It hasn't even been a year since he began teaching him, yet he ran out of things to teach?'
Kang-Woo laughed in disbelief.
"What about your mother?"
"Her illness has been fully treated. She said she wants to live in peace and quiet, so I bought her a house in Chuncheon."
"Don't forget to visit her often."
Si-Hun's mother was the person who'd given Si-Hun his trauma, so interacting with her more often would help him overcome his trauma.
"Okay, hyung-nim. More importantly, what brings you here today?"
"I came here to see Gaia," Kang-Woo answered and walked over to Gaia's room.
He opened her door and told her the plan he'd thought of.
"A summit?" Gaia asked, tilting her head in surprise.
"Yes, I'd like to suggest gathering the chief executives of each country to matters regarding the Demon Cult."
"Mm…" Gaia murmured as if she was in a dilemma. She sighed and replied, "That'll be difficult. No matter how desperate the situation is, each country has its own problems. Even if a summit actually takes place, you shouldn't expect any major change to happen."
It wasn't easy to make the countries cooperate. The government of each country was already struggling to keep their country safe, so they did not have the leeway to worry about the circumstances of other countries. No, even if they did, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that no country was willing to make sacrifices for world peace.
"But we have to try at the very least. I would appreciate it if you could schedule a world summit held in the US," Kang-Woo persisted.
"It won't be easy."
It was beyond the capabilities of Guardians… but Gaia couldn't reject a proposal from the Warrior of Light.
She nodded and said, "I understand. I will give it a shot."
"Thank you." Kang-Woo nodded in gratitude.
* * *
A black sphere was squirming in a deep, dark cave made of ice. It was a giant sphere over thirty meters in diameter.
A woman wearing a black robe and a red demon mask walked toward it.
"Apostle of Evil Julia greets the Aspect," she said.
[What… is it?] a quiet voice flowed out of the black sphere.
It was a goosebumps-inducing voice, full of horrifying malice.
"I have come to report the many incidents, big and small, that have been occurring in the Demon Cult lately."
[Speak.]
The voice took on a solemn tone.
Julia knelt before the dignified being.
"First of all, the Aspect of Fire will awaken shortly."
[I see.]
"Should I give the order to move according to the plan?"
The black sphere squirmed. It was a silent approval.
Julia continued, "Next… the Balrog summoning failed. To be more precise, we failed to control Balrog after he was summoned."
[It matters not. No one on Earth can possibly control him now that the demon king is no more. Having him run wild is more than enough.]
"It seems… he was killed by the retainers of Gaia, so I do not believe we can expect that."
[Balrog was killed by the retainers of Gaia, you say?]
The black sphere felt shaken for the first time.
It was well aware of the demon Balrog. No human could be a match for him even if they had been chosen by a god.
[Hm. Something will have to be done about this.]
"We will gain a good opportunity soon. I will take care of it myself."
[I will leave it in your hands. Is that everything?]
Julia shook her head and said, "The Middle Eastern branch was attacked."
[Is that worth reporting?]
"It was apparently attacked by the retainers of Lucifer."
[What?]
The black sphere squirmed again. It sounded as if it couldn't believe what it was hearing.
[There must have been a misunderstanding. I don't believe Lucifer would move so carelessly. If he sends a delegate, try to convince them and send them back.]
"Understood," Julia replied with a bow.
[The most important thing is waking Mammon up and proceeding with the plan.]
"Understood. I will inform the Chinese branch to awaken the Aspect of Fire as soon as possible."
Julia stood up.
After bowing once more, she said to the black sphere, "May your will be done, Lord Satan."
A breathtaking wave of demonic energy flowed out of the black sphere.
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