Vengeance Aimed at the Fourth Traitor
"AAAAAH!"
William let out a roar as he thrashed, desperately trying to rise. Yet Jae-hyun's foot pressed him back down, utterly unyielding.
"Pointless resistance changes nothing."
Jae-hyun's voice was calm as he lifted his foot slightly, then brought it down again.
**BOOM!**
"Kyaaah!"
William's skull felt as if it had been shattered. The pain of a single stab wound would have been bearable; the Grand Sword Emperor, who had never flinched under blades and slashed like a hurricane, was now writhing in agony. It had been a long time indeed.
But Jae-hyun had given him more than pain.
*'My power is sealed!'*
William realized he could not draw a single thread of mana from his body.
Jae-hyun flicked his fingers lightly.
*Snap—*
A black void materialized in the air like a signal, then began spewing forth countless tiny, pitch-black specks.
At first the creatures were hard to identify, but William soon understood. They were ants—millions upon millions of them, swarming into existence all at once.
Driven by the pressure of William's own sword, they swarmed across the floor and fell upon the bread he had been eating, devouring it in an instant.
"Y-you...!"
William grasped the intent behind the attack. He knew better than anyone how much Jae-hyun loved to eat.
He and Irene had always carried mountains of rations for exactly this reason.
And he had declared he would enjoy having his own flesh consumed.
"You monster! You want me eaten alive by these ants?!"
William screamed at the top of his lungs while his head was still crushed beneath the foot. Jae-hyun shook his head.
"How foolish you are. I said I would not kill you. You will have no need to worry about death."
Before the words had even finished, swarms of the summoned ants advanced on William. These were no ordinary insects.
They were ants that lived in the Demon World, summoned by Jae-hyun.
True, even the Demon World species possessed only a pitiful amount of demonic energy and a slight ferocity. Their sole ability was to eat food faster than normal ants. In every other respect they were weak. A single stomp from a human foot would crush thousands of them at once.
They possessed no combat prowess whatsoever. They were nothing but the breeding hordes that had multiplied in the Demon World's depths. Despite that, as a Demon King Jae-hyun could summon them without limit as his Dark Legion—unlike the limited forces he could send into the Intermediate World.
Jae-hyun had lifted his foot from William's head, yet the man could still not move. His body lay sprawled on the floor, all strength sealed, fingers unable to twitch.
He could only open his mouth.
"You... you cruel bastard! Just kill me cleanly! I wanted to kill you cleanly! At least make it quick!"
"Hmph. Cleanly? What were you planning to do with me from the start? Did I wrong you in any way? On the contrary, I have taken care of you endlessly. Because of that greed of yours I have always filled the spatial pocket with food, never once complaining about the extra burden of feeding you. And when your family was in mortal danger, it was I who saved you."
William's mouth snapped shut as if a needle had been driven through it. Yes... he knew all too well.
He had always known how much Jae-hyun had done for him since arriving in this world. Thanks to Jae-hyun, every soul in the Intermediate World lived. It was his blessing that had allowed them all to survive.
In the past, William's family—sitting targets in the seemingly weak Gallia Kingdom—had been targeted for assassination by demons seeking revenge on the Hero's companions. William had been moments from death. But Jae-hyun had spotted the threat faster than anyone else, wiped out the demons, and even saved William's three-year-old great-granddaughter at the time.
Today William was seventy-two, his son fifty-two, his grandson and granddaughter thirty-three and thirty-one, and his great-granddaughter fourteen.
His family had lived only because Jae-hyun had stopped those assassins. Yet he had repaid the kindness with betrayal.
"Isn't it strange that repaying a favor with death and seeking true revenge for it are the same thing? Filth."
Jae-hyun laughed as he spoke, and William offered no reply.
"Kyaaaaah!"
For a moment William fell silent, then unleashed a tormented scream. The ants had wormed their way under his clothes and begun tearing at his flesh.
It would have been easier if they had ripped him apart in one bite. But how fast could they eat? At a human scale, the damage seemed slow.
Still, the thought of countless ants clinging to his body, nibbling away a little at a time, sent chills down his spine. Feeling it for himself was an agony words could not describe.
"Kyaaah! Kill me! Just kill me!"
William screamed through the pain of tiny teeth peeling away strips of his skin. Jae-hyun only laughed.
"Don't you think dying is a luxury, William? You, an ugly traitor who betrayed me and repaid a favor with death, deserve to be treated this way. Every morning the ants will tear your flesh. At noon the vultures will feast on your liver and organs. In the evening the parasites will devour you from the inside. This is my first act of revenge."
Jae-hyun's laughter was genuine. He truly was happy. Five beautiful beauties at his side, and he had reacted with indifference. Now, in the moment of revenge, joy burned in his eyes.
Watching William suffer was as pleasurable as seeing Lucretia writhe in agony.
The man who had been torn apart by ants slowly bled from every wound. William desperately wished for death by massive blood loss.
But his wish would never be granted. Just as with Lucretia, William was cursed to an eternity of torment—unable to die.
Jae-hyun had no intention of killing his six betrayers. He would keep them alive forever, suffering endlessly.
No matter how they were eaten, they would never die.
And the ants soon turned their attention to William's most sensitive part: his testicles.
"Kyaaaaaaaah!!!"
The scream that tore from William's throat was worse than a pig's death squeal. The ants, already feasting slowly across his body, finally sank their teeth into his most vulnerable area. Tears of agony streamed down his eyes.
The indomitable spirit that had let a sword pierce him without flinching as the Gale Sword Emperor failed to protect him from this agony.
It was not a single kick, not a stomp. It was slow, deliberate, terrifying—testicles being peeled away from the outside.
"Kyaaah! Save me! No—kill me! Please! Kyaaah!"
Pain in other areas had been unbearable, but this was beyond endurance. If only he could let go of his mind and go mad... yet William's iron will, forged in the refinement of swordsmanship beyond Grand Sword Master, refused to break. He could not even wish for madness.
He had trained his body into something stronger than ordinary flesh, though not quite diamond-hard. Legends claimed such bodies existed, but no one had ever reached that realm. William was no exception.
Especially his testicles—they had never been trained at all! Without mana he had no way to form an aura barrier to protect them.
And the ants had already begun devouring his face: eyes, nose, mouth torn away forcibly. William writhed in greater torment than before.
"Do you wish to be freed from this pain, William?"
Jae-hyun asked, smiling, watching the suffering man thrash beside him. Irene stood quietly to his side, golden hair swaying as she brushed it back with a faint, knowing smile. She clearly enjoyed the sight.
"Freed... save me from this pain! Kyaaah! I'll do anything!"
William answered without hesitation. No time to plot, no chance to bargain. Anything to escape this agony right now.
And if he refused this chance, he would suffer such torment for the rest of his life.
"Hmph. Even the Gale Sword Emperor shows no backbone."
Jae-hyun clicked his tongue in mock disappointment. If William had stubbornly resisted out of pride, the scene might have been more entertaining. But William was weaker than Jae-hyun had imagined.
After all, true backbone would have prevented such brazen betrayal. This man was no hero—just a self-interested whelp.
"Stop."
The ants froze mid-bite at Jae-hyun's command.
"Withdraw."
Following his next order, the insects quickly retreated, leaving William's body. The agony finally eased, yet the wounds remained raw. Bleeding had already begun from his testicles.
"Kyaaah!"
"Don't worry. You'll never need to use that part again, so it's unnecessary, isn't it? Ah, but it hasn't completely fallen off, has it?"
Jae-hyun taunted as he looked down at the fallen man. William's clothes were soaked through with blood where the ants had burrowed beneath the fabric, tearing him apart. Yet his eyes still burned with defiance, his life force intact. He would not die from these wounds.
The testicles were not only painful; they were a dangerous area where excessive bleeding could kill. But William's body was built far stronger than any human's—strong enough to cross into divine realms.
"Well, then. I will explain clearly, since you are about to listen with a clear mind. You said that to stop the pain you would do anything. We are now bound by contract. You must fulfill it."
"Kyuuugh!"
William could only groan in agony. He did not want to suffer that again.
"What I will command..."
The Demon King's lips curled into a cruel smile as he deliberately drew out his words.