Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Into the Lava Zone
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Another space in the church basement.
Wooong!
The warp gate installed there was emitting light.
Yun Seunga was channeling her magic a bit more stiffly than usual due to her tension, and Gluttony was doing the same.
In front of it.
Tremble, tremble.
Dvergr, whose mind was half-gone, and Black Beard, their entire bodies bound, knelt there like sacrificial offerings.
"......"
Overseeing the entire scene was Go Yohan.
He recalled their conversation from earlier.
"There's a way!"
Black Beard, who had come to his senses, had cried out in desperation.
"A way to open a gate connected to Baratkgoreun!"
There was already precedent once before.
The black gate in Seoul's Mapo district—it hadn't been a naturally occurring black gate but one created by maneuvering Dvergr and dark elves.
And that was precisely...
"Captain."
Something all the Apostles knew Go Yohan desired most.
"Preparations are complete."
Yun Seunga approached and said.
"What do you think?"
Go Yohan's cautious question.
The Seoul Mapo black gate had been a half-success for him.
"...Not certain, but."
Yun Seunga said.
"It should succeed."
"......!"
A tremor from Go Yohan, rare to witness.
"It's a one-way gate. You can enter, but you can't exit."
"So the only way out is destroying the gate?"
"Yes."
Clench.
Go Yohan gripped his fist tightly.
"We cross-verified it with the dark elves too, and we reconfigured the mana circuits and magic formations ourselves."
Her voice trembled in sync with his.
"Success."
Success.
"An invasion-type gate."
"......!"
All the gates demons had opened to invade Earth thus far ended with their destruction—they couldn't reach the demons' own world.
But what mattered was opening a door not to our world, but to theirs, turning some place there into a battlefield.
"There are still many limitations, but once we accumulate data, we should be able to open something akin to a black gate."
"You've worked hard. Truly."
The door hadn't even opened yet, but Go Yohan already said it.
Step.
Go Yohan approached the bound Black Beard.
"Hey, I kept my promise."
Black Beard said, trembling.
Truly.
"I'll have to thank Seunga and Hayeon again."
He regretted his past words insisting they should be killed.
Yun Seunga and Lee Hayeon had truly succeeded.
They had instilled pain and fear into these wretched beings and created even greater utility.
"Hey, the promise... keep..."
Crunch.
Black Beard's head was torn off.
In his final moment, Black Beard was smiling.
Not a vile smirk, but the face of a liberated slave.
Splatter!
Blood sprayed from all directions at once.
The captured Dvergr—all their heads fell to the floor, rolling.
This was no execution.
Splash!
Black energy extracted from within them.
[The Sin activates.]
Go Yohan felt his heart, where the Sins were sealed, pounding.
At that moment.
[Consuming Karma Points to open a passage to Baratkgoreun's territory....]
[A passage to the Barat Lava Zone can be opened.]
The Goddess's voice rang out.
"I beseech you, Goddess."
Had Go Yohan's prayer reached her?
[The passage to the Barat Lava Zone activates.]
Fwoosh!
The warp gate began emitting intense light.
"I'll be back."
Go Yohan said.
*
*
*
According to Yun Seunga, this was similar to how they summoned an Archdemon.
Sacrificing demons infused with Sins to summon an Archdemon.
Conversely, sacrificing demons infused with Sins to open a passage connected to an Archdemon.
Thus, the required Sins differed.
And accordingly.
"It brings back old memories."
There were restrictions on who could enter the opened passage.
"Yeah."
Go Yohan entering the Archdemon's territory wasn't alone.
"Still, it'll be different from back then."
Lee Jaekyung, who had become his familiar, was with him.
"It better be. Last time, we just stood there like idiots, right?"
"Who said anything about standing like an idiot?"
Lee Jaekyung pouted.
"I even caught a hellhound or two."
"You call that catching?"
"......"
The day Lee Jaekyung's life had changed for the third time came to mind.
The first was the day he became a Player and joined the Holy Order.
The second was the Incheon villa incident when Go Yohan was six.
And the final third was the black gate Go Yohan had entered with him when he was eight.
"Still."
Wooong.
Lee Jaekyung emanated aura as he spoke.
"This time, it'll really be different."
The other Apostles couldn't cross this passage connected to the demon world.
Having become vessels for Archdemons, it exceeded the passage's set limits for them to enter alongside Go Yohan.
Originally, it would have been Go Yohan alone, but Lee Jaekyung could cross with him.
Rumble!
A vibration echoed.
"They've noticed already, huh."
"We came in so flashy—how could they not?"
Go Yohan nodded at Lee Jaekyung's words.
Indeed.
Behind them.
Fizzle.
A gate filled with white light rippled there before vanishing.
They couldn't have missed the sight, as if the gates of heaven had opened.
Rumble rumble!
The vibration drew even closer.
"Together?"
Lee Jaekyung asked.
"As if."
"...I'll have to work harder."
"You will."
Finally.
Boom!
The enemies revealed themselves.
Beastkin in the form of bulls, Kentauros.
Atop them rode diminutive Dvergr.
Beside them...
"Golems."
Not ordinary golems.
Armored golems clad in Dvergr equipment.
Their numbers as scouts neared a hundred.
"Go first."
When Lee Jaekyung's voice reached him.
Tatatat!
Go Yohan was already dashing across the wasteland.
Watching him, Lee Jaekyung thought.
'Now everything will truly change.'
He was convinced the cataclysm hadn't ended—it was only beginning.
Wooong!
Before he knew it, the Great Sin was in Go Yohan's hand.
The black blade emitting radiant light wailed in his grasp.
Shrieeek!
It swung horizontally.
The gleaming sword qi drew a line, shooting toward the enemies.
Woooonnng!
Startled by the sudden attack, they tried to dodge or block Go Yohan's slash in their own ways.
But.
Crack!
Too late.
Like its color, the radiant sword qi reached the enemies at the speed of light.
Boom!
In an instant, it tore through more than half.
Only golems and beasts survived.
Once more.
Shrieeek!
Go Yohan's sword strike flew.
Only then did Lee Jaekyung begin to move.
His role was simply to stick close behind Go Yohan and mop up fleeing stragglers.
*
*
*
"I was a little tense."
After three waves of enemy assaults ended and they took a brief rest, Lee Jaekyung said.
It was true—he had been tense invading an Archdemon's territory.
If they failed to defeat the Archdemon here.
'We'll be trapped.'
As Yun Seunga had said, they could be trapped in this scorching lava zone for an indeterminable time.
But as mentioned, Lee Jaekyung had been only 'a little' tense.
"Those damned demon spawn would laugh if they heard."
Snicker.
Lee Jaekyung curled his lips at Go Yohan's words.
"But it's true, right? If anything, they're the tense ones."
The assaults had ceased for no other reason.
They had realized sending armies wouldn't stop Go Yohan anyway.
"Probably trembling right now?"
An Archdemon trembling.
Lee Jaekyung, who had cracked a silly joke, hardened his face.
"...Still, a lot came."
Lee Jaekyung vaguely knew Go Yohan's objective.
Exterminating demons was a given, but Go Yohan had put much effort into the process.
And now, he had achieved the first of those efforts.
"Can we keep doing this from now on?"
Making their land the battlefield, not ours.
Not always on the defensive, but striking first.
That was the war Go Yohan desired.
"No idea."
Go Yohan, leaning against a rock, said.
"What was Travanian like?"
Lee Jaekyung suddenly asked.
They hadn't come solely to kill the Archdemon.
'Iron Hammer.'
There was also the goal of rescuing Travanian's dwarf great king.
'Travanian.'
Lee Jaekyung knew.
About Go Yohan's previous life, Michael.
"It was a cookie-cutter place."
Go Yohan said.
"You know those fantasy worlds in novels sometimes? It's fascinating. I sometimes think the one who first wrote about such a world was probably a being like me."
Could be.
"Races mingled, empires and kingdoms existed. Swords over guns, magic over science—that kind of world."
Go Yohan's eyes darkened.
Recalling the past.
"The unspoiled nature was beautiful, and the towering castles gave a profound resonance."
At those words, Lee Jaekyung imagined Go Yohan's world.
"And..."
Go Yohan said.
"It was hell too."
"......"
"Countless starved to death, heartless parents sold their children."
"......"
"Nobles were debauched, royals tyrannical."
Go Yohan closed his eyes.
"Beautiful nature was filled with rotting corpses."
It was hard to imagine easily.
Thus, Lee Jaekyung changed his question.
"Then..."
Something he had always wanted to ask.
And had been learning bit by bit.
"What kind of person was Michael?"
Lee Jaekyung asking about Michael, Go Yohan's previous life.
Some demons knew of Michael.
Even this Black Beard had known Michael.
They always said, trembling in fear.
'Knight of illusions.'
'Knight of terror.'
'Knight of death.'
"Michael was..."
Go Yohan rose as he spoke.
"A great holy knight and noble paladin. The Goddess's first knight."
Snicker.
"Enemies are coming. But this time, they've clearly prepared properly."