Chapter 353:

Chapter 353:

“...What do you mean by that?”

“Huh?”

“Kang Hye-rim, you mean... who is the Black Thunder Lord?”

“She is the Demon Sky Empress Kang Hye-rim.”

“Kang Hye-rim? The one I know... but Demon Sky Empress? Not Sword Empress, but Demon Sky Empress? And Lord...”

Yu-hyun felt his head spinning. He needed more explanation.

He didn’t think that the Black Thunder Lord was someone with the same name as Kang Hye-rim he knew. The Kang Hye-rim that Jimmy mentioned was definitely the same one that Yu-hyun knew. Five years had passed, so he understood that her title might have changed.

But, Demon Sky Empress and Black Thunder Lord didn’t suit her at all.

Wasn’t she the one who used the clear and beautiful lightning that was as cold as the autumn sky? Heavenly Thunder Sword was a noble martial art, not something that would have black or demon attached to it.

“Tell me more if you know anything.”

“W-well, that is...”

Jimmy couldn’t continue his words. It wasn’t because he was afraid of the Black Thunder Lord, but because he didn’t know anything else about her.

To begin with, a 10-year-old kid from a village in the outskirts of the mixed world wouldn’t know much about the Black Thunder Lord.

Jimmy was worried that he might lose his chance to repay Yu-hyun, who was his savior, and shouted desperately.

“M-maybe my sister knows!”

“Your sister?”

“Y-yes, yes. My sister is very smart. She knows everything because she has a good head. She might know something about the Black Thunder Lord too.”

“Where is your sister then?”

“She was in the village, but the legion’s soldiers came in and tried to capture everyone.”

“Then we have to save her.”

Jimmy nodded his head with a bright face at Yu-hyun’s words. The Yu-hyun he saw was a really strong person. He didn’t know if he was human or not, but he easily knocked down three soldiers in a short time that didn’t even take a second. He trusted him.

“Which way is the village?”

“T-that way.”

Jimmy raised his hand and pointed to where the village was. Yu-hyun nodded lightly and picked up Jimmy with one arm.

“Huh?”

“Hold on tight.”

As soon as he said that, a black aura rose around Yu-hyun’s body. It was the same darkness that he saw when he knocked down the three pursuers.

Yu-hyun’s body, wrapped in the powerful energy of Seven Devil Black Sky Divine Art, soared up to the sky vertically.

From high above, Yu-hyun saw a light in the direction that Jimmy pointed. He could tell from afar that it was a village on fire.

Yu-hyun stopped in mid-air. His figure, which defied gravity’s will, stayed still for a moment and then fell down like an arrow towards the village. Jimmy clenched Yu-hyun’s clothes tightly in the wind pressure that made it hard to open his eyes.

It took more than 30 minutes to get from the village to the mine, but it took only 10 seconds to go back.

***

“They are traitors who sided with the rebels! Kill some of them as an example if they resist!”

“You worms! Move faster if you don’t want to die!”

The legion’s soldiers dragged the captured villagers to one place.

The villagers couldn’t resist. In an era where law had disappeared and power ruled, the legion’s soldiers who were much stronger than them were much more frightening than the distant Black Thunder Lord.

More than anything, they lost their will to resist when they saw some people being executed as an example.

“Are they all here?”

“Yes. Except for a few who ran away, we have almost all of them.”

“There are some who ran away?”

The captain frowned and the lieutenant quickly explained.

“Oh, don’t worry. They are just kids anyway. The pursuers went after them. They will catch them soon.”

“Don’t let them go even if they are kids. Now that we heard that there are rebels hiding here, kids and elders are all subjects of interrogation.”

“I understand.”

The captain approached the prisoners who were cornered in the village. The giant man in armor approached with fire behind him, which was a tremendous pressure for the prisoners.

“I heard that there are rebels in this village.”

“...”

“Maybe they are not rebels, but just tails who joined them. Or maybe they were just unlucky and got caught up in a false rumor.”

The oldest resident of the village stepped forward and spoke in a cautious voice.

“We don’t know anything about the rebels.”

“We’re just people who live from day to day. How could we defy the Black Lord, the loser of this region?”

“So you’re saying there are no rebels here?”

“Anyone you ask will tell you the same. We’re completely clueless.”

The captain glared at the others, who nodded hastily in agreement.

“It’s true! We don’t know anything!”

The captain’s anger boiled up at Yu-hyun’s attitude of calling the lord in such a demeaning way, but he suppressed his rage as he remembered who held his lifeline in this place.

“I don’t know who you are, but if it has nothing to do with you, just pass by! We only have business with the people of this village!”

“Why do you think it has nothing to do with me?”

“Because there is no way that someone as strong as you would be in a village like this!”

To the captain’s eyes, Yu-hyun looked like a transcendent at least, no matter how low he estimated him. He had seen a transcendent-level powerhouse in a faraway place before, and his aura was exactly similar to Yu-hyun’s now.

He would die if he attacked. So he thought he would scare him away by using the name of the Black Thunder Lord as much as possible.

“Well, as you said, I’m not a person of this village, and I’m actually a foreigner.”

“Then...!”

“But now, it has something to do with me.”

The eyes of the mask curved like crescents.

Yu-hyun raised his hand and pointed at Jimmy and his sister.

“I have something to do with that kid and his sister.”

“T-Then just let these two go and...”

“And everyone behind them.”

“What...”

“It has something to do with me. As of now.”

He wanted to argue that it was a ridiculous nonsense, but the captain bit his lips and said nothing.

The opponent was strong. So he had to avoid a clash at all costs. If he was that strong, he wouldn’t be unaware of the infamy of the Black Thunder Lord in this area, so he thought he could get away with just selling his name.

But he didn’t. The captain hesitated. Should he let go of all the villagers like this?

‘No. I can’t.’

He had received an order. To weed out and kill all the rebels. The moment he received that order, he had to do it even if there were no rebels.

If he couldn’t do that, he would die. It would be him. Failure to obey orders, disrespecting superiors, incompetence. There were plenty of reasons to put on his tombstone.

‘I have to... fight.’

The captain gave a wink to his subordinates. The subordinates who had followed his orders well until now knew what the captain was trying to do.

They all raised their Divine Spirits and drew their weapons. Yu-hyun laughed out loud at their sight.

“You’re going to attack me?”

“...”

“Well, fine. Actually, I didn’t tell you, but even if you let go of all the villagers and apologize and go back, I wouldn’t leave you alone.”

“...Why?”

“Because I’m stronger than you.”

Yu-hyun swung his right hand lightly. The wind swept through and tore apart the huge fire that engulfed the village. The flames around him went out in an instant and the darkness of night fell.

In the darkness, four eyes floated in midair.

“So you have no complaints?”

Blame your weakened skills.

The captain clenched his teeth and raised his blood pressure and shouted.

“Attack!”

The soldiers of the legion bit their teeth and ran towards Yu-hyun.

“Come on.”

The demon of Ahoria spread his arms and welcomed the moths.

***

“Cough! Cough!”

The villagers all held their breaths and looked at the scene in front of them with disbelief.

A mountain of corpses.

The corpses of the legion soldiers who invaded their village and burned it with fire and killed people while laughing were piled up like a mountain.

At the top of it, a demon with four eyes stood holding the neck of the soldiers’ captain.

“S-Spare me...”

Snap!

Yu-hyun broke the captain’s neck as if he had no more value to listen to.

The sound of his neck breaking echoed eerily in the silent air.

The people looked up at Yu-hyun with anxious eyes. He was surely the benefactor who saved their village, but his ferocious appearance made them think of nothing but a demon.

“Now, then...”

The demon looked this way.

A red afterglow flowed from his eyes and remained in the darkness.

“Let’s talk. What exactly happened in the last five years?”