Chapter 152
Chapter 152
Chapter 152
The Entrance to the Underworld (3)
Death force.
This energy, commonly called Death Force, was a power that could only be wielded by those who had set foot in the realm of the underworld.
In fact, even in , where all kinds of strong beings swarmed, there were no more than five on the continent who could properly handle death force.
Witches or necromancers who handle death force receive power and knowledge by contracting with the King of the Dead in the underworld, not the demon realm.
Those who are closer to death than even the deceased.
And among such beings, the one evaluated as the pinnacle.
The princess of a fallen kingdom, Layla Starseis.
She was one of the continent's top-tier powerhouses, but unfortunately, she was a pitiful soul who became entangled with Rudian, fell into ruin, and was captured and tormented by Baal and Apophis.
Of course, considering the evil deeds she had committed, she was simply receiving the natural consequences of her actions.
Still, as the one who provided the cause for her downfall, Rudian had held at least some sympathy for her.
Of course, even that had completely disappeared now.
"Yes, I can clearly see what you're thinking."
What appeared here now wasn't a dungeon.
It was the remnants where the main base of the Seven Arks and Layla's ruined royal palace once stood.
The Nightmare Sanctuary, which bordered the gates of the underworld—this was its true identity.
Rudian ground his teeth and glared at Layla beyond.
"You were planning to devour all the participants of this war to restore your power."
At those words, the darkness that had been silent began to writhe and started taking human form.
And the mouth part of that form split open, creating what looked like a smile.
—Kihihihi...!
Layla's voice leaked through this gap.
With laughter in a completely different tone from usual, Rudian surmised that some change had occurred in Layla.
'It definitely doesn't seem like a good change...'
Having had her soul captured by an evil god, even briefly, it wouldn't be strange if her soul had become corrupted somehow.
—It's impossible to do anything to you from the outside now... but inside here, there's a possibility. Kehihihi!
That place was the true main base of the Seven Arks.
Naturally, the accumulated power built up until now would block Rudian's path.
—If you don't come... this time I'll devour every living being in this vicinity.
"Did you think I'd fall for such threats?"
No matter what, fighting Layla inside there would be suicide.
Breaking Galdran was only possible thanks to Adi's support.
But Layla could wield power far stronger than Galdran's, at least within that place.
—If you don't fall for it, I'll just proceed with the plan as intended! I'll devour everything and turn this world into a land of death. Hahahaha!
The clear, ringing mad laughter tickled his eardrums.
Rudian's expression contorted horribly.
"You've completely abandoned your mission to save humanity... You've completely fallen."
No matter how hypocritical, the Seven Arks had the cause of serving humanity, but the current Layla had abandoned everything and become a beast that desired only destruction.
Layla, who had been laughing madly, suddenly changed her expression and snarled at Rudian.
—Everything got tangled up! This is all because of you! If only you hadn't existed. If only you weren't there!
"...Even comedy becomes art at that level."
—Now, what will you do? Should I turn these guys into death knights and bring them before you? That sounds like it would create quite an interesting situation. Or maybe I'll just turn this region into a land of death! Kihihihi! This is your hometown, isn't it?
"......"
She seemed to have done quite a lot of research.
—Even with this, you won't come in?
"Hah..."
Rudian clicked his tongue slightly.
Yes, this was definitely checkmate.
Derrick, Arnold, Chris... They weren't deep relationships, but they weren't distant enough to just let them die before his eyes either.
Moreover, all the many connections made in this Iskar territory—the village chief and all the others—could all disappear with just one rampage from Layla.
She was a powerhouse capable of doing exactly that.
"Fine..."
Rudian made his decision.
"I'll go not just to some fake avatar, but to the location where your core is."
In the current situation without Adi's support, this choice might be nothing more than simple suicide.
But Rudian's instincts judged, for some reason, that entering that place wouldn't be such a great crisis.
It was just baseless confidence without any evidence, but Rudian truly believed he could enter there and proudly take Layla's head.
SWISH!
Swinging Diablo to instantly cut through the darkness that had taken Layla's form, Rudian crossed the sanctuary's entrance and went inside.
"Just wait for me."
***
The Catacomb of Doom that had been in the capital Neban.
This place, the Nightmare Sanctuary, could be said to be that location expanded dozens of times over.
—For Princess Layla!
—Kill the enemy!
An enormous number of undead hordes appeared as soon as he entered the sanctuary.
According to the original setting, this wasn't originally such a place, but it seemed to have been modified solely to welcome Rudian alone.
'It is quite a spectacle.'
A tragic kingdom that had not only fallen but had even its records erased, its very name forgotten.
The knights and soldiers of that kingdom still remained as the dead, offering their loyalty to Layla.
'A knight order composed of Death Knights...'
Among them, there were several who appeared to be powerhouses on the level of Simir Dran.
'Derrick and the other knights are... inside there.'
Not killing them immediately but displaying them as if for show was clearly meant to mock this side.
"Rescuing black-haired men instead of princesses does dampen my motivation a bit, but..."
Diablo in his right hand. Daylight in his left.
With swords in both hands, Rudian launched a massive slash attack toward the Death Knight order.
Bzzzzt!
And with that cross-shaped strike, more than 80% of the hundred or so Death Knights were split apart.
—Kraaaah!
"...Huh? Why is it so strong?"
It was a strike so powerful that even Rudian, who had launched the attack, was bewildered.
'I definitely held back my power and swung gently as a restraining move...'
Naturally, he couldn't waste magic from the start, so it was an attack that compromised at an appropriate level.
But the result that came out was almost like when he used his full power.
Just in case, he tried swinging his sword once more with that same feeling.
BAAAAANG!
This time, with a tremendous destructive sound, the left side of the undead horde was swept away.
At that result, Rudian's mouth fell slightly open.
'What in the world...?'
What has happened to my body right now?
'Power... is endlessly surging forth.'
Rudian looked down at his own fist gripping the sword and was slightly bewildered.
One who doesn't know the state of their own body is disqualified as a warrior.
But even so, the current situation was too strange.
Anyway, the battle continued.
CRACK! CRACKLE!
—Pr-Princess Layla, please forgive our disloyalty...!
The holy sword's divine power purified the undead, and the demon sword's demonic energy drained their life force.
Normally, vast amounts of magic should have been consumed, but for some reason, Rudian couldn't see the end of the power he possessed.
'It doesn't strain me at all.'
Not just magic, but demonic energy, divine power, psychic abilities, and more were being drawn out like an infinite spiral.
Normally, this was a performance that could only be shown briefly by overexerting himself, but for some reason, he had the intuition that he could rampage in this state for several more hours without problem.
A situation where his body didn't feel like his own body.
Though he was in the middle of battle, Rudian activated his Eye of State for the first time in a while to examine himself in order to understand this strange phenomenon.
And he was shocked.
—Name: Rudian
—Race: Demigod
—Age: 18
—Titles: Descendant of Adora, Contractor of Wrath, Advanced Psychic, Magic Beginner, ...omitted... Priest of the Outer God
—Strength: 666
—Agility: 666
—Vitality: 666
—Magic: 6,666
Overall Combat Power: 510,427
Special Notes: Abilities temporarily fixed due to receiving the blessing of an Outer God.
'...What?'
Overwhelming stats completely different from what he had confirmed before.
'Why is my body like this!'
All ability scores had increased by at least three times compared to before.
As for the magic pool, it had easily exceeded ten times, and his combat power number was approaching that of Marbas, whom he had fought in the past.
Truly a level where it wouldn't be strange to receive restrictions from causality!
Only after seeing the newly appeared title at the end of his title list and the contents of the special notes did Rudian realize the cause of the current situation.
Priest of the Outer God. And the blessing of the Outer God.
'The source of this power is perhaps...'
Outer Force... and divinity!
Seeing that his current race had changed from human to demigod, this was 100% certain!
'Whatever the reason, I'll gratefully use it now!'
***
—Mon, monster...!
The time it took for Rudian to sweep away about half of the undead army and rescue Derrick's group was just 3 minutes.
After creating a barrier around Derrick's group, who were still unconscious, borrowing Daylight's power, he smiled brightly at the remaining half of the undead who were looking at him with fearful eyes.
"It's not over yet, is it?"
Without a doubt, if Layla was watching this scene right now, she would have been tremendously flustered.
—You, are you... a god?
The Death Knight who appeared to be the knight commander looked at Rudian with trembling fear.
Given the divine majesty he had shown so far, it wouldn't be strange for the knight commander to make such a mistake.
Even if Galdran came back to life, he wouldn't be able to reproduce the way Rudian had rampaged madly just now.
"I'm not a god yet, but... for you all, I will be an evil deity."
SAAAA!
Completely different from the weak power he had received from Yev before, proper Outer Force flowed from Rudian's body.
Until now, it had been so weak that he could only use it mixed with other powers to create chaos, but now it was different.
'If I had used this power outside, angels would have swarmed here immediately.'
It was fortunate that this place was no different from another dimension.
Just as he was about to grind down the hesitating undead army again.
BAAA!
BAAA!
The familiar bleating of goats that he had heard once before began to be heard from far away.
—Rudian Belstad! How dare you harm my loyal servants...!
And from somewhere, Layla's sharp voice was heard together.
—I will never, never let you go! Even if I have to sell my soul to the King of the Dead, at least you...!
"Yes, you've certainly prepared thoroughly."
Evan and other Seven Arks survivors had not yet shown themselves.
So this couldn't be seen as a trump card, but that didn't mean the enemies before his eyes were to be completely ignored either.
For the first time, Rudian looked at the 'three' Baphomet entities that appeared before him with slight tension.
'The fact that those guys appeared here means there's a gate to the underworld nearby...'
Unlike Dugo whom he had faced before, who had been restricted in combat power, there was definitely a gate to the underworld nearby that would free them from causality's restrictions.
The three creatures hovering in the sky with flapping wings looked down at Rudian, who was lost in thought for a moment, and said:
—According to the contract.
—We kill the enemy.
—This is the will of the King of the Dead!
BAAA!
The Baphomet creatures adding vibration with one heart and mind.
Each one was a being that didn't fall short compared to the previous creature called Dugo.
In other words, each individual easily exceeded 100,000 combat power...
Considering Rudian's own combat power confirmed with his current Eye of State.
"I wonder what would happen if I prayed for the souls of underworld beings?"
Baa?
The Baphomet sent puzzled looks toward Rudian, who was suddenly saying something out of the blue.
But without caring about that, Rudian slowly clenched his fists and stepped forward.
"If I kill you all, it would unnecessarily worsen relations with the King of the Dead... so I'll just finish by beating you up."
CHILL!
At that moment, the Baphomet felt their instincts, honed over thousands of years, screaming madly for them to run away.
"It's going to hurt a bit."