Chapter 267
“What?”
“S-Satan is the weakest?”
Kim ShiHoon and Chae YeonJoo looked at Rakiel in disbelief.
Satan…
The Guardians knew how strong that demon was.
Even heroes that could’ve dominated an era had died at the hands of Satan.
Even leaving all his wrongdoings aside, Satan had fought against Raphael and won.
Not only that, but Raphael still hadn’t recovered from his wounds.
Satan had proven to everyone how strong he was, but…
“W-wait! I… I’m sure there’s a mistake!” Chae YeonJoo shouted in disbelief.
To think that Satan would die so easily. And for him to be the weakest among the demons that served the Demon of Prophecy?
She couldn’t easily believe that.
“That guy also wore a mask, so we don’t know its face! Check it again!” Chae YeonJoo anxiously shouted at Kim ShiHoon.
“…”
Kim ShiHoon remained with his mouth closed.
Just like she said, it was the first time they’d seen Satan’s face.
There was nothing special.
His face looked like a standard demon’s, so one might wonder why he wore a mask, but…
“It’s Satan’s head.”
It wasn’t simple intuition.
Previously, Satan had implanted a ‘seed’ on him in order to corrupt him.
The demonic energy was exactly the same as the energy he’d felt at that time.
“…”
There was silence.
Rakiel crossed his arms and looked at them.
“Can you now believe in what I’m saying?”
“Where’s… Hyeongnim?”
Kim ShiHoon threw Satan’s head like it was trash
What mattered at the moment wasn’t Satan or the Four Kings of Hell.
Anyway, they’d been expecting the Demon of Prophecy to be there.
Just because a strong enemy had appeared didn’t mean they could forget their goal.
“Hyeongnim? Are you talking about this guy?”
Raphael smirked and flicked his finger.
The darkness surrounding them like a curtain was lifted, and KangWoo, who was chained to a cross, appeared.
“Ah, ugh…”
“H-Hyeongnim!!”
“Ugh…”
KangWoo’s body looked completely messed up.
His body was covered in wounds from all of the torture he had received.
“K-KangWoo!!!”
Han Seol-ah lost her rationality and rushed toward KangWoo.
Kim ShiHoon grabbed her shoulder.
“Let me go!”
“Calm down.”
“Let me go!! K-KangWoo… Mr. KangWoo is…!” Han Seol-ah screamed while crying.
Kim ShiHoon bit his lip and pushed her back.
In reality, he also wanted to rush toward KangWoo, but…
‘Calm down.’
Chilling killing intent appeared in Kim ShiHoon’s eyes.
It wasn’t hard to imagine what would happen if he rushed forward without being able to control himself.
…They would probably lose KangWoo forever.
“ShiHoon…”
“Hyeong…”
Kim ShiHoon closed his eyes.
He didn’t want to see his wounded hyeong.
Kim ShiHoon tried to control his breath and slowly opened his eyes.
He wasn’t sure if he could say he was glad for it, but he didn’t notice any evil demonic energy coming from KangWoo’s body.
‘We can still…’
They could save him.
It wasn’t too late like with Ludwig.
Kim ShiHoon gripped his holy sword tighter.
He saw Rakiel giving him a relaxed look and started to hesitate.
‘Can I win?’ he began wondering.
It was a demon that had made fun of Satan, calling him weak.
The chances of winning were close to 0.
“Hmm? I’m surprised. I thought you’d lose your rationality and rush forward like crazy.”
“…”
“Or is it that your hyeong wasn’t that important after all?”
Rakiel burst into laughter and mocked him.
He ignored it.
Kim ShiHoon took a deep breath and raised his sword.
‘Even if the chances are close to zero…’
He had no reason not to pick up the sword.
He remembered everything he’d gone through with KangWoo and how he was just saved by him whenever there was trouble until that moment.
It was time to pay it back.
‘If he saw me now…’
He would probably grab him by the collar and curse him.
Kim ShiHoon smirked and opened his mouth.
“We’re going to do as planned.”
“…”
“Gulp.”
The players gripped their weapons nervously at Kim ShiHoon’s words.
The goal of the mission was to rescue KangWoo—there was no need to fight and beat Rakiel.
“Then…”
Kim ShiHoon lowered his body.
BOOM-!!
Shadow Body Arrow.
He shot forward toward Rakiel as if he were an arrow.
* * *
‘Good.’
KangWoo smiled while blocking Kim ShiHoon’s attack.
He looked at the players around him.
‘It was a success.’
It seemed like the angels hadn’t taken part in the plan, but it didn’t matter.
If so many players had seen him, even if they were suspicious about KangWoo, they would have no choice but to trust him.
‘Now…’
The identity of the Demon of Prophecy had fallen into the Abyss.
He’s created a card called ‘Rakiel’ that would make things easier for him in terms of doing things.
The Warrior of Light Oh KangWoo had been freed of any suspicion.
He would have shouted ‘hurray’ if it weren’t a situation like that.
‘Now the only thing left is…’
He just had to wrap up the situation.
‘What’s up with this?’
He was planning to watch Kim ShiHoon fighting with Kalgia while drinking beer, but because of a mistake, he got all the way there in the blink of an eye.
‘Anyway, the result was overall positive.’
They say that the land hardens after it rains.
Although it had been dangerous, having obtained a card that could replace Satan was a positive.
‘Still…’
He laughed in disbelief while looking at Kim ShiHoon, who was attacking as if he were an angry bull.
‘He’s really a monster.’
He couldn’t believe it while looking at the wounds that were appearing on his body.
The dungeon’s difficulty was set taking into consideration Kim ShiHoon.
Leaving him aside, Kim ShiHoon was overwhelmingly stronger than the rest, so it was obvious.
He’d thought that, no matter how many people there were, it would take them three days at least to reach him, but they’d gotten there in just eight hours. The biggest reason for that achievement was definitely Kim ShiHoon.
‘What’s going on?’
KangWoo looked at Kim ShiHoon in disbelief.
At that level, one couldn’t just laugh and brush it off while saying he’s the protagonist.
Kim ShiHoon could probably win against an archduke with the strength he was displaying. If it was one with a low ranking like Mamon or Belphegor, his chances were pretty decent.
‘How’
Three years…
It’d only been three years since Kim ShiHoon Awakened as a player.
He’d surpassed archdukes in just three years.
KangWoo had spent nine thousand years in Hell to be able to face archdukes.
Of course, it was true that KangWoo had helped him. Not only that, he was born with a lot of talent, and the soul of Cheon TaeHwang, the Martial God, was inside him.
This growth speed, rather than being phenomenal, was bizarre.
Clang-! Clang!
The sound of clashing steel spread around.
The white light coming out of the holy sword illuminated the surroundings.
“Haa, haa!”
Kim ShiHoon breathed heavily.
* * *
Every time he swung his sword, his body shook from the impact.
“We’ve struggled so much to reach this place, I won’t let everything rest on your shoulder, ShiHoon!”
After saying that, Chae YeonJoo also joined the fight.
After Chae YeonJoo, Cheon MooJin, Jang HyunJae, Park HwaYeon, and Goo HyeonMo, among others, also joined.
All of the players that were above the level of a ranker were surrounding him.
Attacks poured from all directions.
Because of the clash of strong energies, the entire dungeon shook.
BOOM-!!
A very loud sound, similar to how a lightning storm would sound, shook the surroundings.
Although he had received the attack of players at ranker level up front, a small bruise had appeared, but as they began to stack up, they would end up becoming huge.
“If it’s this…!”
After seeing that Rakiel was defending rather than attacking, hope began appearing in the players’ eyes.
“Give us… Hyeong…!”
Kim ShiHoon stomped on the floor. While floating in the air, he raised both of his hands.
A pillar of light came out from the holy sword that he was holding—an intense light that seemed like it would cut the world into two pieces.
“HAHAHA!! Good, very good!!”
Rakiel burst into laughter.
“But…”
The ends of his mouth went up.
While laughing, he extended both arms.
The wings of the fallen angel spread.
“Not enough.”
He lowered his body; a sound could be heard from the feathers forming his 10 wings.
A chillingly thick demonic energy rose from Rakiel’s body.
“Dangerous…!”
Kim ShiHoon felt something had gone wrong and quickly shouted.
“Blackout.”
BZZT-!!
“Cough!”
“KYAA!”
Screams spread out.
As Rakiel spread his wings, black lightning spread to the surroundings.
Dozens, hundreds of little traces of lightning moved through the ground and hit the players.
Clang. The players hit by the lightning dropped their weapons, and their bodies trembled.
Their eyes rolled back, and bubbles frothed out of their mouths.
With just one attack, half of the players lost their ability to fight and collapsed.
“Tsk tsk. So they’re just bugs in the end.”
Rakiel clicked his tongue as if he found them pathetic.
“Shut… up…!”
Kim ShiHoon got up while trembling.
Was it because he’d received an attack up front? His entire body was trembling.
Rakiel kicked Kim ShiHoon.
“Ack!”
“It isn’t the time of prophecy yet.”
“Time of Prophecy?”
“Once the time arrives, you’ll naturally figure it out.”
He made a fishy smile.
After he said ‘Time of Prophecy’, the expressions of the players around them hardened.
‘To be honest, I also don’t know.’
He had just said random things that came to his mind.
‘Well, I guess saying one or two mysterious things is more than enough.’
Weren’t all four Kings of Hell like that?
Rakiel spread his wings and raised both hands.
“Keep struggling, humans! And fall into despair!”
‘Very cool concluding phrase.’
“Soon, the end will come!”
‘Yes, this is it!’
“The time of Prophecy is…”
PAF-!!!
He was about to say the finishing words when a light suddenly went flying in his direction.
‘Eh?’
What’s going on?
KangWoo raised his head, wondering if Kim ShiHoon had Awakened again, but there was no light coming from Kim ShiHoon.
“How dare you… To my KangWoo…!”
‘Darling?’
Han Seol-ah was glaring at him.
There was an intense light coming out of her.
Twelve white wings appeared on her back.
BZZT-!!
‘What’s…’
KangWoo’s eyes widened.
Although the wings were blurry and their shapes couldn’t be seen clearly, their strength could not be taken lightly.
Light spread out of her, and smoke started to rise from her body.
Not only that…
‘This…’
Kim ShiHoon got up.
Like when he’d drunk KangWoo’s blood, all the wounds Rakiel had caused were healing.
He looked at Han Seol-ah with a surprised expression, but that only lasted for a short while.
While biting his lips, he raised his holy sword.
“Ugh!”
KangWoo twisted his body in pain.
He couldn’t return to his senses at the unexpected development of events.
Behind him, Kim ShiHoon dropped the weapon and made a spin kick.
Paf-!
Kim ShiHoon’s kick, which was covered by intense blue energy, hit his head.
“Agh, fuck!” he cursed.
Rakiel’s body rolled to the ground.
He grabbed the back of his head and turned.
‘Oh, fuck. That hurts a lot!’
That shout wasn’t acting.
A crack might have appeared on his skull if he hadn’t subconsciously used the Authority of Defense.
“Now!”
As Kim ShiHoon shouted, Chae YeonJoo nodded.
She took out a white crystal.
It wasn’t just her—all of the other players also took out white crystals as well.
They were the crystals given by Guardian that led to the ‘Hall of Protection’.
Dozens of crystals started to shine. The lights got intertwined in the air like a net.
“Quick, grab Hyeongnim!”
“Okay!”
Chae YeonJoo spread her red chains, freed KangWoo’s body, which was being held in the cross, and grabbed it.
“We’re retreating!” Kim ShiHoon shouted.
All the players that had recovered thanks to Han Seol-ah nodded.
Without hesitating, they threw their bodies into the Hall of Protection.
“…”
Kim ShiHoon grabbed Han Seol-ah, who’d lost consciousness after emitting intense light.
He looked at Rakiel, who was struggling in pain.
“I’m not sure what the Time of Prophecy is or why that slime bastard is interested in me, but…”
“…”
“At least you…”
An intense killing intent could be seen in Kim ShiHoon’s eyes.
“I’m going to rip each of those chicken wings apart and put them in your mouth.”
After saying that, Kim ShiHoon also jumped into the gate.
There was silence in the place where the intense fight had just happened.
“He’s gotten better at cursing.”
KangWoo frowned while looking at the wounds caused by the light.
They weren’t healing easily.
‘What was that?’
What just happened felt like a dream.
His head hurt.
“Hng. First…”
KangWoo got up.
“Well, things didn’t go as planned, but I guess this much was enough.”
At first, he was planning to say a few mysterious things and retreat, but things had gotten a bit twisted.
Still, it wasn’t that things had gone wrong.
Thanks to the light that had come out of Han Seol-ah, the Guardians had managed to save Oh KangWoo.
“Haa.”
KangWoo lay in the dungeon, which had been pretty much destroyed.
He concentrated his consciousness on the ‘clone’ he’d created.
‘Now…’
It was time to give the finishing touch.
* * *
“Aah, ugh…”
“H-hyeongnim!! Come back to your senses, hyeongnim!!”
“Hey! A-are you okay? Healer! Fuck, bring a healer right now!!”
Loud sounds could be heard all around the place.
KangWoo slowly opened his remaining eye and got up.
“Ugh!”
An intense pain spread through his body.
“Don’t move! Stay still!”
Chae YeonJoo spread her hand and held his body.
KangWoo smiled.
“It seems like I’m alive.”
“Yes, you’re alive! So just keep your mouth shut!”
“…”
KangWoo slowly extended his arms.
With trembling hands, he grabbed Kim ShiHoon’s hands.
“H-hyeong…”
Kim ShiHoon shed tears while looking at KangWoo’s messed-up body.
“Thank you.”
“H-hyeong! P-please. Don’t talk! Th-the blood…!”
“Hey! Fuck! I said to bring a healer!”
“Ha, haha.”
KangWoo looked at the sky while making a bittersweet smile.
“I… lived a good life.”
“H-hey!! Don’t say nonsense! Hey!! Oh KangWoo! You bastard!! Come back to your senses!!!”
KangWoo closed his eyes as he listened to YeonJoo’s screams.
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