After Ten Millennia in Hell

Chapter 513 - Open (1)

"Hihi, hihihi," Bael giggled as he stared at Oh Kang-Woo.

His scleras were black, his irises were yellow, and his pupils were stretched horizontally; they were characteristics that appeared when the Demon King, who usually looked human, was enraged.

"What? Are you angry? Hm? Are you angry because you lost your precious subordinate?"

Bael snickered as if he couldn't be more entertained. Seeing a side of the Demon King, which he did not show even after losing the Demon God and becoming unable to use the Demonic Sea, elated him more than ever before.

"I didn't think you treasured Balrog this much," said Bael as he licked his lips.

He knew that the Demon King treasured his subordinates but did not expect him to break down this much— he did not expect the Demon King to crawl on the ground as he wept like a baby.

"Hmm," Bael hummed regretfully. "If I knew you'd break down this much, I would've killed that human before I chased after you. Kim Si-Hun, was it?"

Bael was thrilled to no end just thinking about the Demon King's expression if he had done that.

Kang-Woo remained silent.

He looked down at Balrog's corpse. Boundless fury took control of him. His head was getting hot, and his vision was blurring. He wanted nothing more than to charge at Bael right this second.

"Hihihihi!! You're angry, aren't you? Hm? You can't hold back your rage, can you? But..." Bael smiled. "There's nothing you can do."

Bael was not afraid of a puppet without a puppeteer— a broken vessel, no matter how angry he got.

"Is that what you think?" asked Kang-Woo as he swayed. "Do you really think... there's nothing I can do?"

"Hm?" Bael tilted his head in confusion. The Demon King was far calmer than Bael had hoped. "You're not angry? Hm?"

He thought the Demon King would be angry based on his black eyes; he thought the Demon King would lose his sanity and go on a crazed rampage.

"Why are you... so calm?"

Bael stared at Kang-Woo, unable to understand.

"I am angry," Kang-Woo answered calmly. "I'm so, so, so angry that I feel like I'll go insane at any second."

"But, you see," Kang-Woo stared at Bael coldly. "Life isn't a drama."

It wasn't a comic or a novel; going on a crazed rampage did not grant one illogical power that defied the law of causality.

"Reality isn't that forgiving."

No one powered up just by screaming in rage after losing their comrade. Kang-Woo had never won so easily and conveniently. He had abandoned everything and crawled pathetically and wretchedly to win; that was the only way he could win.

"Heh, so what are you gonna do?" asked Bael with a smile.

The battle was already won after the Demon God transferred to him. Kang-Woo couldn't control the Demonic Sea without the Demon God. He did not have anything close to the power needed to rebel against this despair.

"How are you planning to kill me?" asked Bael mockingly.

Kang-Woo looked down at his chest— the sea of demonic energy inside his heart, in silence. Waves of demonic energy were flooding into him through the two open Doors.

"Hihihi! If you don't close those Doors, you'll soon be devoured by the Demonic Sea!" Bael cackled. "Or why don't you just let yourself be devoured?" He stuck out his tongue and continued with shining eyes, "So you can kill your precious remaining subordinates with your own hands."

Bael cackled even more.

"Now, you should get to closing those Doors, huh?"

Kang-Woo stared at Bael coldly and answered, "I won't."

"Hm?"

"I won't close them."

Kang-Woo staggered as he thought about the thing he needed to do, which Balrog had allowed him to realize.

'I won't close them.'

There was no way to surpass Bael by desperately trying to close the two Doors and bringing the demonic energy to his control.

'If Bael is insane, the only way I can defeat him is to become even more insane.'

"What?" Bael's expression crumpled.

'He won't close the Doors?'

If Kang-Woo didn't close the Doors sealing the Demonic Sea, he would be devoured by the power of the Demonic Sea and be annihilated. His sanity would burn away, and his intelligence would vanish. There was no other way to stop the Demonic Sea's encroachment than to close the Doors.

'Despite that, he won't close them?'

"What are you trying to do?" asked Bael, a sense of uneasiness running down his back.

"You said I was a vessel to hold the Demonic Sea, didn't you?"

Kang-Woo smiled. As a vessel, he was broken after the Demon God left him and was breaking even more by the second.

"In that case."

Kang-Woo could no longer stay as a vessel to hold the Demonic Sea now that the Demon God, the one keeping the sea of demonic energy together, was gone.

"If being a vessel isn't good enough..."

If he couldn't climb to greater heights as a vessel, he would just destroy the vessel entirely.

"I'll just devour the Demonic Sea."

Kang-Woo snickered.

"What?" Bael's eyes shook.

Devouring the Demonic Sea? The boundless sea of demonic energy? The Primordial Darkness?

"What are you... talking about?" asked Bael, his voice trembling. "H-Hihi!! Are you saying nonsense like that because you still don't understand what you've been reduced to?"

Bael laughed in exasperation.

"YOU'RE...!!!" He gritted his teeth and shouted, "NOT SPECIAL ANYMORE!!!"

Now that the Demon God, the one who created and chose Kang-Woo, had transferred to Bael, Kang-Woo was no longer special. He was but a broken vessel who possessed the Demonic Sea.

"Haaa, haaa," Bael panted.

At least, that was supposed to be the case.

"What... the hell?"

'Why am I getting such a bad feeling?' Bael thought.

-Stop him.

Just then, the Demon God's voice, trembling as if he were terrified, echoed inside Bael's head.

"What?" Bael tilted his head in confusion.

- Stop that damn lunatic!

Bael frowned fiercely as the Demon God, whom he had been ignoring until now, screamed desperately.

"What the hell is so wrong?"

Bael couldn't understand why Bauli was acting this way just from the Demon King's bluff of devouring the Demonic Sea.

- H-He's thinking of unleashing the Abyss!

The place where the Demon God was imprisoned— the deepest point of the Demonic Sea where not even a Titan, a creator of worlds, could escape from.

"What do you mean?"

Bael had no idea what Bauli was talking about. The Demon God's anxious voice echoed inside his head.

- The Door... It's about to open.

"Door?"

- The Third Door is about to open!!

Bael turned to Kang-Woo.

"Haaa," Kang-Woo took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and looked inside his consciousness.

Pour—!!

The sea of demonic energy was flooding out of the two open Doors. However, it was only the sea's surface; the deepest point of the Demonic Sea was not coming out of the two Doors as if it were blocked by something.

'Now.'

Kang-Woo walked along the raging sea of demonic energy. He looked down at the boundless darkness underneath.

'To devour this...'

He needed to pull out everything in the sea of demonic energy— he had no choice but to walk into the Abyss, where the Demon God was imprisoned, on his own.

Kang-Woo walked through the raging sea of demonic energy and saw the three Doors sealing the Demonic Sea. He focused on the third unopened Door.

'The Door that seals the deepest point of the Demonic Sea.'

Kang-Woo reached for the Door.

His hand suddenly stopped in its tracks. He had only ever opened two Doors of the Ten Thousand Demon Core. If he opened this Door, there was no turning back; he would never be able to close the Doors again. Once the Abyss began to flood through the Door, it would devour everything in its path.

Kang-Woo wondered if he could handle the Abyss, which even a Titan was powerless against. Would he be able to devour and bring it under his control?

Kang-Woo felt helpless; he was filled with hesitation as his hands were just a few centimeters from the handle. Opening the final Door in a situation like this was like pouring gasoline on oneself after they caught fire. If he failed and was devoured by the Abyss instead, he would lose everything.

His teeth clacked together. His fingers were trembling. He bit his lip and lowered his head.

'It's so heavy.'

The weight on Kang-Woo's shoulders... the eyes full of hope gazing at him... they were all too heavy for him to bear. He could barely take a step forward under all the weight.

- You can just do as you have always done.

Balrog's voice suddenly echoed inside his head.

- You told me... when we first met.

His faint dying words.

"Fucking hell."

Kang-Woo chuckled. His hands, which had been frozen, gripped the handle of the Third Door.

'Forward.'

Higher.

'Forward.'

To even greater heights.

'Forward.'

To a place no one can ever reach.

Creak.

Kang-Woo swung open the Door without hesitation.

[All conditions for Transcendent-rank Deific Essence have been fulfilled.]

[Breaking all level caps.]

Blue windows appeared in front of Kang-Woo. He closed his eyes. An incantation, the one filled with static that he saw before his battle against Bael, flowed into his mind.

'I see.'

This incantation was the key required to open the Third Door, which was why Kang-Woo, who did not have the heart to open the Third Door at the time, was unable to see it.

"Grrrk."

Slushy stretched and wrapped around Kang-Woo. The Key of the Demonic Sea on his right middle finger moved to Kang-Woo's chest and disappeared.

Clank, clank.

The sound of cogs interlocking echoed. The Key of the Demonic Sea entered the keyhole of the Third Door located at the center of the Ten Thousand Demon Core. The key slowly turned.

Kang-Woo slowly raised his head and stared at Bael.

"Stop!" shouted Bael as he ran toward Kang-Woo.

Fwoosh—!

"Kurgh!"

Gold and black flames blew Bael away. The flames around Kang-Woo spread and formed a black sun behind him.

"Ah..."

Bael's eyes widened. The black sun, formed by gold mixed with the darkness, looked like a giant door.

Kang-Woo walked as he swayed from side to side and stood in front of the door made of the Flames of Voracity.

"Ye who pass me," Kang-Woo chanted. "To the city of grief."

Fwoosh.

The Flames of Voracity wrapped around him.

"Ye who pass me." He slowly placed his right hand over his heart. "To eternal suffering."

Countless red eyes glinted from beyond the door blazing like a black sun.

"Ye who pass me, to the land of the dead."

The souls of boundless evil, which had been trapped in the Abyss, were unleashed.

"Malice dyes the sea black, creating me with endless desires.

"Only those eternal may precede me for I am eternal.

"Ye who pass through, abandon all hope."

Ten Thousand Demon Core...

All Doors, open.