Chapter 354: Ascension to Immortality (10)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 354: Ascension to Immortality (10)
The Ten Kings of Hell.
If you were to ask who the most famous among those collectively known as the Ten Kings is, most residents of Hell would point to the same name.
Great King Yama, the ruler of the 5th Hell, the Hell of Tongue-Ripping.
This was partly because Yama settled the karmic debts of most sinners, excluding those who had committed truly heinous crimes, and partly because she governed the sin of malicious speech—the most common transgression committed by the masses. However, there was a much bigger reason.
It was the perception that the current Great King Yama was a mere novice who hadn’t held the position for very long since inheriting it from her predecessor.
Of course, among those who had actually met her, few would dare say such a thing. In fact, most were more likely to tremble in fear, claiming the previous Yama was practically a saint in comparison. But then again, rumors are always spread most fervently by those who have nothing to do with the matter.
She had always maintained a standard of perfect work performance to avoid being looked down upon by such people and to prove her own capabilities.
…Well, for the first five hundred years or so, at least.
“Is Hell… not going to be destroyed?”
No matter how hard she worked, the rumors didn’t fade; they only changed shape. And no matter how much she proved her ability, it wasn’t as if she could be promoted any further.
Every single day was spent listening to the grievances of the dead and pulling out the tongues of bastards who argued that a few careless words shouldn’t be such a grave sin.
Why were there so many people dying? There wasn’t a single day she could rightfully call a holiday.
She should have realized why her predecessor looked so refreshed and lighthearted when they dumped the job on her and left.
“Please, just perish already. You’ve held out long enough. It feels like it’s about time for destruction. I wonder if it’ll just suddenly end today.”
If only another event like the legendary Sun Wukong’s rampage—where she turned heaven and hell upside down and nearly replaced the masters of Hell with Yokai—would happen again. Then she could quit being Yama or whatever and be done with it.
“…As if that would happen.”
No matter how much she wished for it, she would likely have to work for another thousand years before she could find a successor.
In this room, staring at that unchanging scenery, a life of pulling out sinners’ tongues awaited her…
Just as her thoughts reached that point, Great King Yama suddenly realized the view outside the window looked a bit strange.
…Had her eyes grown dim from stamping documents all day? Was Hell always this bright?
At first, she thought she was hallucinating, but the massive energy drawing closer was far too vivid to be an illusion. Finally, when the ceiling of the 5th Hell collapsed and a colossal light poured in—
With a brain creaking from being overworked, Great King Yama thought:
Did I pray too hard…? I didn’t think it would actually go to ruin.
Of course, a rational part of her analyzed that this was a battle between the Heavenly Army and something else, and she realized that the Great Kings governing the Hells above her had caused some massive accident. But honestly, such things didn’t matter much to Yama.
The sight of the light pouring in, accompanied by an impact strong enough to overturn her workplace, resembled the stimulation she had craved.
As she watched the light break through the floor and head even further down, two conflicting thoughts crossed her mind simultaneously.
‘Yes! Let Hell perish…!’ and ‘Fuck, I don’t know who did this, but am I going to have to do the cleanup for this too?’
* * *
I thought I had reached the ranks of a Superhuman even without Reinforcement, but now that I was in a situation where I couldn’t use my Talent, I realized just how much I had relied on Reinforcement and Artifacts.
To think I’m in a position where I have to run away because I’m scared of these low-level bastards.
“They’re really persistent.”
And they were incredibly dogged. I had managed to kill two more when I saw an opening, but instead of being intimidated, they began searching for me even more frantically. It was almost chilling.
-Well, it’s a story that has been passed down like a superstition among Yokai since ancient times. They say that eating the flesh of a Taoist or a monk who has accumulated great virtue through cultivation grants immense power and eternal youth.
“Is it just a superstition?”
-No, unfortunately, it’s the truth. That’s why back when I was traveling with Sanzang, more bastards were aiming for him than for me.
“That’s not very positive news in my current situation.”
-Strictly speaking, you aren’t a Taoist or a monk, but considering the energy accumulated in your body, you’re better than most Taoists. Didn’t I say you might even be better than Sanzang in some aspects?
…If only I could use just one Artifact, I wouldn’t be struggling this much.
[Uuuuuuuu…!]
Regrettably, they didn’t seem inclined to give me even a moment to complain, as the cries of the Yokai began to echo nearby again.
“…I can’t even rest.”
-A residential area should appear if you go just a bit further. Unless it’s a particularly powerful Yokai, they won’t be able to enter the residential area, so it’ll be better.
“Do they just let in anyone whose identity they don’t know in the residential area?”
-Not exactly, but there are ways. Well, that’s only possible if you manage to escape safely.
I don’t know how long I ran, but after fleeing from the Yokai for a while, a familiar sight came into view.
It was the Iron Bed Hell, its floor covered entirely in nails and awls—the place I had seen right before the Yokai I first met rescued me.
“…Aha, so escaping the Yokai isn’t the end of it?”
The fact that the Iron Bed Hell started again here meant that that guy would probably show up again too.
Honestly, I didn’t want to run into that place without Reinforcement, but I couldn’t just hesitate and become a daily meal for those Yokai bastards.
Praying that the durability of my shoes would hold out, I leaped into the hell.
* * *
Meanwhile, the group without Kang So-hyun was advancing straight ahead without getting lost.
First of all, it was thanks to Kim Ga-eul performing better than expected—or more accurately, her familiar, Bel.
Though he currently looked like a cute mascot and his demon form was that of a beautiful woman, Bel was once the Demon King of Sloth.
Having left the human world and entered Hell, an environment similar to the Demon Realm, he had recovered a tiny fraction of his power. This allowed him to spread his Demonic Energy to find the path.
The only issue was that because he was infinitely weaker than when he was a Demon King, his precision was a bit lacking. However, another person solved that.
“Um, is this way right? You’re telling me to go this way?”
Ha-ru threw a question at the sword in her hand, but the sword naturally showed no reaction.
Well, it would have been ridiculous for a sword to respond to a question, but Lee Ha-ru attributed it to a lack of communion with the blade and surged her Mana.
As she slammed a vast amount of Mana into the sword, the blade, which had been trying its best to endure, let out a vibrating wrrr!! and rang with a sword-cry. Finally, it slid and pointed in a certain direction.
“It seems the previous owner’s location is this way.”
By utilizing the fact that the connection between the sword and Great King Jingwang hadn’t been completely severed, she had determined his location through a “sincere conversation” (?) with the sword.
“See? I told you, if you have a sincere conversation with a sword, it’ll answer everything.”
For a moment, Lilac thought the sword looked pitiful, but unfortunately, the others didn’t seem to care much about the sword’s well-being.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say they were focusing on much more important matters.
After that, it wasn’t as if lava giants and the like didn’t attack, but Sun Wukong had simply been an exceptionally powerful foe; the rest weren’t enough to stop them. Thus, they reached the residential area of the 2nd Hell without much difficulty.
The problem was that at the entrance of the residential area, a massive giant and the same hellish army they had seen in the 1st Hell were waiting.
They could fight if they had to, but dragging it out might give the Great Kings a chance to flee again, and the risk to Kang So-hyun would increase.
“Who are you! Why are you Taoists walking from the direction where the sinners are being punished!?”
The group exchanged glances.
‘Should we just flatten them?’
‘U-um, a preemptive strike isn’t a bad idea, but wouldn’t it take too much time?’
‘True. Their equipment looks even better than the ones from before.’
‘Leave this to me and go on ahead!’
‘No, you’re not Kang So-hyun, don’t even think about doing something crazy like that.’
‘How about we try to persuade them?’
They managed to communicate perfectly through eye contact alone, and various opinions were being shared. However, if they continued their silent exchange, the situation was bound to worsen.
‘Ha-ru and I will handle this.’
The one who stepped forward with a confident attitude, ending the silent debate, was Baek Seol.
Baek Seol usually maintained a smiling face, but when she wiped away her expression, she took on a quite cold and sharp impression.
Stepping forward slowly with a rare, expressionless face, Baek Seol took an Artifact from her robe and used it on Lee Ha-ru. A faint light burst out from behind Ha-ru’s back.
Realizing what Baek Seol’s actions meant through that sequence, Ha-ru slowly raised her new sword.
“Insolent! Do you not recognize this sword!?”
As she shouted with a booming voice laced with Mana drawn from her Dantian, the gatekeepers of the residential area trembled.
However, they had only been momentarily intimidated by her confident attitude. Thinking a sword is just a sword and wondering what could be so special about it, they looked at the blade and were struck with horror.
Not only was it a sword made of Divine Iron, but it was also heavily steeped in the energy of Great King Jingwang.
The energy was so strong it felt as if he had been swinging it himself just moments ago. It was clearly no forgery, and it was certain that the sword was related to Great King Jingwang in some way.
“We have come under the Great King’s orders to deal with the intruders.”
“Then you are the Heavenly Army…? Are there human Taoists in the Heavenly Army?”
“I believe I heard there was a special unit…”
Of course, unless they were complete idiots, they wouldn’t just blindly believe her based on a sword alone. But Baek Seol was confident.
If she could plant even a tiny seed of doubt, inflating it was no difficult task.
“I am sorry, but we cannot simply trust you based on such flimsy evidence.”
“Yes, of course. I understand.”
“However, fortunately, Hell possesses a Magic Treasure that detects lies to interrogate sinners. May I go and retrieve it for a moment?”
‘Hmm, so there’s a bothersome thing like that here?’
“Certainly. You are only doing this to help prove our innocence, so we can naturally wait that long. However, we must track the intruders to assist the Great Kings, so please be as quick as possible.”
Though she inwardly thought it was quite a nuisance, Baek Seol didn’t stop talking.
“…Understood. Thank you for your cooperation. Half of you, follow me to move the Magic Treasure! The rest, continue to guard this post!”
The one who seemed to be the highest-ranking among them led about half the troops away. Afterward, the largest man among those remaining bowed his head.
“You might find this unpleasant, but thank you truly for cooperating.”
Perhaps because they had readily agreed to the lie detector test, he already seemed to view them as members of the Heavenly Army.
“It’s fine. To think things would be resolved so easily with just a few words.”
“Pardon? The Magic Treasure hasn’t arrived yet…”
When the man who had bowed his head looked up again, what he saw was—
“The number of soldiers we have to deal with has been cut in half, hasn’t it? This isn’t a bad deal at all.”
It was the sight of the group, each holding their respective weapons, entering a combat stance.
“E-Enemy attack…!”
He shouted belatedly, but they had been caught off guard by the group’s sheer audacity. Furthermore, the fact that the group consisted mostly of beautiful women had made them lower their guard even more. Not a single one of them was able to properly prepare for the assault.
After easily infiltrating the residential area—
“Hmm, as expected, it’s best to resolve things through dialogue. To think the enemy force would be halved.”
From the sight of the beaming Baek Seol and Lee Ha-ru, who had boldly pulled off a scam with a sword, the others felt a familiar, black-haired energy radiating from them. Or so they say.