Chapter 176

Chapter 52.  Evidence of Hell

The demon king Athildhu took in a deep breath of the air of the demon world that he was in charge of.

Having walked out from the secret place which only he knew, he cringed when he was about to summon his underlings.

It was because he could not feel a single demonic energy.

They were useless as bugs since they could not even hold their own, but he kept them alive, thinking that it was better to have them around than not.   However, none of them were visible as if they had gone crazy, perhaps, as if they no longer knew their places.

Athildhu was already frustrated because he did not realize the magical accomplishments that he wanted.

Even in the normal times, he was known for his infamy of being cruel and heartless, and this caused him to immediately murmur with a sharp tone.

“Where are these idiots, what the heck is going on….Hm?”

The king Athildhu was thinking about how to go about punishing those that vacated their places.

Credit to his sensory capability, he was able to feel a congregation of 6 strong energies.

They were considered to be the demon world’s strongest next to him, and they would normally be patrolling the areas that they were respectively in charge of.

The king Athildhu felt it interesting that they were waiting for him there, in front of the demon king’s castle.

Besides, it wasn’t just them who were there.

It was rather far away.

A countless number of demons were surrounding him in a huge circle, putting where he was standing as the center.

The king Athildhu made a dry laughing sound as he felt the presence of uncountable number of demons, as if all the demons of the demon world have been dragged there.

“Kkkkkk, they wouldn’t….”

Like the cursed evil spirit lich, King Athildhu’s eyes were boney and hollow.

And in those eyes, dark blue eyeballs lit up like fireball.

After smacking his jaws together, he opened a spatial pouch and brought out a long staff with black ball on it.

Then he quickly moved to where the six demons were gathered.

“You’ve come.”

“Ha, hahahah!  You, you must be mad.  Must be!  You’ve completely lost your mind for sure!  Krrrrrahh!”

King Athildhu laughed out loud upon hearing the great duke Lassium, who would normally address him with the utmost respect, talk down to him.

He also knew well that those, who were before him were equipped with murderous fighting spirits, and those countless number of demons who were getting readied from the distance weren’t on his side, either.

It was a terribly dangerous situation as it seemed that they could direct their swords, spears, and magic against him, at once.

However, King Athildhu was nonchalant as if everything was a child’s play.

In fact, it was the side of the half demon kings alliance which was extremely nervous from the secretive murderous smile that King Athildhu has put on, and that certainly was a proof of how infamous his evil was in the ordinary times.

Suddenly his long crazy laughter stopped.

Whoow!  As the King Athildhu exhaled ice sheet like energy, he spoke in a prosaic manner.

“Well… .I’m not too interested in knowing why you’re revolting, either.  All the demon bastards are one in the same, anyway.”

“Do not be mistaken.  The half demon kings’ alliance was formed by not my decision.  It happened because every demon has deserted you…..”

“Ah, enough.  Excuses can be easily made up.  So, not interested in however you want to put it… Alright.  Do you think you have a chance?”

“……”

Without saying a word and clenching his fists, the great Duke Lassium drew his explosion magic of king Yan.

King Athildhu broke out into a dry laughter as the key members of the half demon kings alliance were doing all their best to draw the strongest magic that they could muster, following Lassium.

“Haha, well…I must have been seen very weak.  Also, where has Al Farum, I don’t see him anywhere…And what are they, that wall of demons, watching from way out there?”

“They are only here to witness a history.  It is sufficient for just us to get rid of you.  In fact, I’m very curious.  What is your underling, who had attacked Al Farum, doing, and where is he?”

“What are you talking about…..”

“No, no need.  You don’t have any intention to say it anyway.”

“Bastard!  How dare you cut me off!”

“Just wait.  I’ll cut off your life, too.”

“Ha, you will what, how dare you….”

Even before King Athildhu finished speaking, Lassium shot out like a cannon ball.

And King Athildhu raised his staff up in order to block his rush.

Brought out by the staff, the incredible amount of demonic energy formed a great wall, in between them.

It was the ice wall that appeared to be stronger than any metallic element in the world.

However, without reducing his speed, Lassium was rushing towards King Athildhu in order to get close.

On to his body that turned fire red as if hot boiling liquid metal has been poured all over him, the remaining five members placed flame buffs on him.

Like a comet that was about to explode when it entered the atmosphere.

The moment that he has crashed into King Athildhu’s ice wall, the entire demon world was shook with deafeningly loud explosion.

Kwaaang!

******

‘Incredible……’

Wearing a white set, Vulcan was in the midst of the half demon kings alliance troops as he watched.

Although they were far away such that what could be discerned to ordinary demons was just the destruction, Vulcan who had the body of a god was able to see the exact details of their movements.

That was why he was even more awed.

The clash of the 7 incredibly powerful ones with 1,200 at a minimum, and over 1,400 for the strongest!

Such a scene of the ultimate powers fighting with their lives was a very rare incidence even in Act 3, the land of true gods.

On top of that, seeing the key members of the half demon kings alliance doing well made him exclaim with even more appreciation..

‘Certainly, the equipment that I gifted them must be better than their own.  Everyone is wearing what I gave them.  And….. I couldn’t have expected that all of them would reach higher levels within the 50 day period.  I couldn’t imagine such a result….’

Vulcan put on a face to say that it was too incredible as he was watching the key members of the half demon kings’ alliance who have acutely raised their levels by 10 and even 20, at the highest point.

Since he had met Belzeram in Act 2, he felt that most of the demons were specialized in techniques related to flames, and that they had great potential in that area.

Therefore, he gave his own book of fire to Lassium, thinking that it might help them just a little bit, should they become enlightened on the fire.  However, he didn’t expect this much improvement.

‘Truly amazing.  Gosh, if I did not eliminate Al Farum, the half demon kings alliance side could have become more advantageous….’

In fact, the acute advancement of the great duke Lassium was on a different plan that even they could not believe it.

Everyone had the awesome abilities which were sufficient to proclaim themselves as the king of a demon world, and they were all specialized in flames.

They were able to grow this quickly from the synergy formed while they discussed and shared all their respective understandings for the first time in the training process within a demon world.

Having taken full advantage of the rushed time that they had, they were able to overcome the wall that has been a hindrance to their development through repeated training, and eventually entering a zone as a whole.

Although they have not succeeded in totally overcoming the wall, it could be considered a miraculous achievement since the training period has only been 50 days.

On top of that, they were now equipped with tools that they never had before, allowing them to have newly invigorated confidence, and as if they were completely different demons than they were 50 days ago, they fought against king Athildhu with new attitude.

Chuuunnng!

Whirrrrl.

Kwaaaang!

King Athildhu executed Freezing Hell magic which continuously spews freezing air and dulls the enemy’s mobility.

However, three demon dukes worked together by employing flame hell to the huge land and neutralized it.

Then the demon king summoned an ice golem, as tall as 100 meters and equipped with a sword and a shield, to have it attack the demon dukes.

However, it was defeated by the fire dragon and the fire bird which were summoned by Lassium’s two key subordinates.

Taking advantage of the moments in which the king Athildhu’s strong magic was being neutralized, Lassium, the great duke, rushed in an incredible speed.

Seeing him catapult out as he carried the five demons’ flame buffs on his back, king Athildhu, gnashing his teeth, quickly extended his left arm and pointed at Lassium.

Pudeuk Kwaddddeuk.

A flower of death, formed in the empty space of cold air.

Their sharp pedals shot out in order to suppress the great duke Lassium’s approach, but they were all crushed by his fiercely swung fists, arms and elbows.

Like an angry imposing bison, he was rushing towards the demon king.

One by one, every high level demons of the half demon kings alliance exclaimed, and even the junior demons who knew nothing about anything also cheered in the moment.

That however, did not mean that the demon king was in any severely disadvantaged situation.

He has already succeeded in distancing himself while the great duke Lassium was pushing through the flowers of death, and the situation has also returned to the original state.

However, king Athildhu who just avoided a disastrous situation did not feel much better.

In fact, he was about to go berserk as he couldn’t calm himself down from the growing frustration.

‘How!  How could those cockroaches defend against my magic!’

He could not understand it.

Rather, he could not accept it.

He thought them to be just a little bit above the cockroach level demons.

Of course, he recognized the great duke Lassium’s skills, yet even with that, he could not have imagined himself as being only equal to those six combined.

This was certainly not the case.

They never had the capability, nor the skill required to withstand his magic.

Just even 1 year ago, the combined power of the three demon dukes could not have neutralized his freezing hell magic.

The two close servants of Lassium, too, were much weaker than the ice golem that he had summoned.

However, not now.

As if they were completely different than before, the five demons were neutralizing his attacks with undying fighting spirit.

And without giving him a moment to recoup, the great duke Lassium kept coming towards him with arrogance.

Their powers were so strong that even the demon king, the ultimate, powerful one in the Nurhark dimension, was feeling at risk, himself.

He felt as if he was mistaken and was fighting against six fire demon kings who came to attack him from other demon dimensions.

And that was not the end of it.

One other entity that was refusing to show itself from the beginning.

Al Farum, the right hand of the great duke Lassium.

As long as he was mindful of Al Farum, the demon king always had to have his antenna raised and be ready for a surprise attack.

‘Can’t tell when that bastard will appear and attack, in which way… Can’t put my guard down even in the middle of the fight!’

Certainly, king Athildhu did not have to have such a concern.

How could Al Farum, who had been already killed in the hands of Vulcan, appear and launch an attack.

However, not knowing that, he continued to assume that Al Farum would appear and attack, all the while that he was engaged in the fight against the six great demons.  As a result, and however slightly, the fight was moving in favor of the half demon kings alliance side.

King Athildhu’s mental capacity and senses were being dispersed towards a non-existing opponent.

Unable to focus because of that, he was being pushed and was losing his ground.

Of course, the main members of the half kings alliance were also concerned about the demon king’s underling who was supposed to have launched a surprise attack on Al Farum.

However, unlike the demon king who was writing them off, they weren’t as focused against the demon king, while not letting their guards down at all.

It was because they weren’t strong enough to be at ease to be thinking about an invisible enemy while fighting against the demon king Athildhu.

“Oh, oh, the great duke Lassium’s side is winning!”

“Wow!  Is a new era about to begin!”

“Well, can’t be sure, so best to keep watching for now….”

As the fight was progressing favorably, the demons were getting incredibly excited as if they were waiting for a celebration.

Vulcan, who was quietly watching the fight in their midst, also thought the same.

For some unexplained reason, demon king Athildhu, who was at 1,407 level, did not perform as well as Vulcan had anticipated, while the half kings alliance over performed in their collaboration.

They were displaying such a team work that could not happen unless they ultimately trusted each other.

As Vulcan did not expect such performance by the six all very proud demons, he was in awe of what he was witnessing.

‘Is Lassium that great a leader that he brought everyone together… Even when he was scanned, it returned many characteristics like has charisma, intelligent, benevolent which did not go in harmony with being a demon…. He is certainly great.’

Vulcan smiled as he finished his thought.

Seeing the demon king losing brought joy to him.

It was a much better situation with respect to completing the quest as he might not have to directly engage in an one on one battle with the demon king, so he even wanted to cheer for Lassium.

‘The stronger Lassium is becoming a burden also…. It would be great if the demon king would work harder and take Lassium with him.  Seeing him gnashing his teeth, he probably won’t go alone and take two or three with him….Let me see how it plays out.’

Vulcan calmly watched the demon king losing from the distance.

However, the words that would shake up his calmness came out of the king Athildhu’s mouth.

“Krraaahk!  You little bastards!  You dare to fight me, you who haven’t even seen hell!”

It was a thunderous yell which echoed even where Vulcan was at.

Since it was loud enough for several weak junior demons to lose their mind, every demon put on a concerned expression.

They felt that the demon king still had sufficient reserve power to fight.

Vulcan, who was in the midst of them, also looked on concerned.

However, the reason for him to be making such an expression was different than from the other demons.

The true hell.

A hidden quest that was thrown at him without any hint.

He has finally found a clue to what that was.