The Art of the Ambush

Furneus froze. What did that pathetic excuse for a demon just say?

"...Do not speak such nonsense. How dare you mock me when that object has been missing for ages?"

"If you have eyes, see for yourself!"

Pogalo was by no means a weak demon. In fact, he was the highest-level demon among those imprisoned in the Archisus Temple! However, his combat capabilities were the absolute weakest. Why? Because he was a non-combat demon! Pogalo's specialty was his Speech skill. Under normal circumstances, he could easily suppress or deceive almost any church NPC or player. It was just his rotten luck that his opponent had been Tae-hyun, a man who was rapidly scaling the absolute peak of the Speech skill himself! But now, that very Speech skill was truly shining. It had successfully forced even the freezing, furious Furneus to halt.

"If that staff is real, hand it over."

"Nonsense! How could I possibly trust you?!"

Furneus did not get angry at Pogalo's reaction. For a demon, such suspicion was only natural. It certainly looks the part. To Furneus, the staff's appearance closely matched the descriptions passed down in legends. However, he was still only half-convinced. The staff's name had been whispered for millennia, and naturally, several fakes had surfaced over the years. It would be foolish to immediately believe a random demon who had suddenly popped out of nowhere holding it.

"Who are you?"

"I am Pogalo. A free demon wandering the Demon Realm."

"Hmph. A stray, then." Furneus looked down at Pogalo with open contempt. Stray demons were like wild dogs—wandering the Demon Realm without a master or territory.

This bastard... There was no way Pogalo could miss that look. He gritted his teeth. I'll show you the spicy taste of Archisus! Pogalo was thinking the exact same thoughts his demonic predecessors had harbored thousands of years ago. There's no way I'm going down alone!

"What business does a stray demon have lingering before me? If that staff is real, why aren't you using it?"

"...Hmph. If a demon of my stature tried to use this staff, I would only meet a miserable end or have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it stolen from me."

"At least you know your place."

"I figured it would be far better to offer it to you and receive a reward. I watched your battle with Adad, and even he is nothing compared to you."

"A statement of the obvious." Furneus lifted his chin arrogantly. No Demon Duke disliked such flattery.

"Wait... You saw Adad yourself?"

"I saw his subordinate arrive and spread poison and plague."

"I knew it...!" The air around Furneus trembled violently. He was already furious, and this was like pouring gasoline on a fire. Adad! I will freeze you to death!

Where on earth is that guy? Pogalo grew anxious. He was stalling for time and lowering the Duke's guard, so Tae-hyun needed to arrive and deliver a decisive blow...

Meanwhile, Tae-hyun was preparing to use a skill.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

"Look at how violently they're reacting."

"I will slaughter you!!"

"Remove these bars, you dog of an Incarnation! Get in here!"

The souls inside the Soul Reliquary welcomed Tae-hyun warmly every time he prepared to use the skill. Hakkaras, Nevuchadnezzar, Uipoatl—any one of them possessed a soul capable of turning the world upside down. However, the one Tae-hyun chose this time was Edaor.

"You young Incarnation of Archisus... mmmph, mmmph!"

After silencing Edaor, Tae-hyun organized his thoughts. Edaor is definitely the most suitable choice. Utilizing the souls of Hakkaras, Nevuchadnezzar, or Uipoatl carried too high a risk, and Furneus would undoubtedly become suspicious. Why would such entities suddenly appear here? In contrast, Edaor was one of the Demon Dukes of the Demon Realm. It wouldn't be strange at all for him to suddenly show up. He was the perfect soul for this situation!

Whew. This is my first time using the Soul Reliquary skill... The skill description was incredibly unhelpful. It merely stated that one could borrow the power of a soul, with no further explanation. He had to figure it out by trial and error in a high-stakes situation like this! Even Tae-hyun couldn't help but feel a bit tense. But it won't be weak.

"Activate!"

"Aaaaaaaaargh!" Edaor screamed.

The Authority itself has a long cooldown, and now the soul is sealed too? I should assume I can basically only use a soul once per battle. Since it was sealed rather than consumed, there was bound to be a way to unseal it later, but it would be easier to just use a different soul next time.

Whoosh!

It would have been great if I still had the Soul Vessel. But he had already consumed that Unique item to break Esla's seal!

Flash!

Upon using the skill, Tae-hyun's body began to expand, transforming into the shape of Edaor. Red steam billowed from his body—he was now the Demon Duke Edaor!

Every single stat was skyrocketing—except for Luck!

He had even gained access to Edaor's Authorities! Even though he had only unlocked a fraction of Edaor's true power rather than the whole thing, the boost was incredible. It gave him a clear sense of just how powerful a Demon Duke truly was in the Demon Realm. Right now, he felt like he could single-handedly wipe out the entire Guild Alliance and conquer the Auston Kingdom.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

...Well, that's true!

Instead of his Dae-man-bul-gang-geom, Tae-hyun drew the Imperial Spear of Uipoatl. Aside from the minor drawbacks of a time limit and the possibility of attracting a dragon...

...it was an incredibly powerful weapon.

"Let's go, Yong-yong."

"Understood, Master!"

Yong-yong puffed up his chest, expanding his size to let Tae-hyun mount him. The Demon Duke Edaor riding atop a Gold Dragon! To anyone watching, that was exactly what it looked like.

Flap, flap!

Yong-yong soared swiftly into the air, positioning himself diagonally behind and above Furneus. Their target was still completely distracted by the staff and Pogalo.

"Divine Foresight."

The path is incredibly narrow.

The Divine Foresight skill illuminated the only viable path of approach. To bypass Furneus's sharp senses, he needed at least this much precision!

"Lucky Strike, Lucky Strike, Lucky Strike, Lucky Strike, Lucky Strike..."

The skill Tae-hyun chose was Infernal Strike. It was a skill capable of dealing the highest single-target damage! A devastating attack skill that erupted with an immense amount of hellish mana, converting it all into pure offensive power. Not only that, but he also cast every buff skill he could lay his hands on.

"Hell's Protection, Edaor's Wrath, Edaor's Soul Blade, Edaor's..."

The buffs stacked to absurd heights. Tae-hyun clenched his fists. He could feel an incredibly immense power coursing through his hands. Here I go!

Ah. I should turn on the stream now.

Tae-hyun recalled his conversation with Lee Da-bi.

"If you feel like it's a good moment during gameplay, please turn on the stream if possible."

"It's a hassle, why? I think we've promoted enough already..."

"Because it infuriates me to see other people editing your videos and getting free views off of them!"

"...That is an incredibly persuasive reason. Alright."

Every time Tae-hyun completed a quest, countless videos flooded the community boards. Most of them simply ripped his footage and reuploaded the exact same content, which was utterly ridiculous. Even if they reported every single one, it was impossible to completely stop them since people from all over the world were doing it! There was only one solution: crush them with the overwhelming power of the original source! If Tae-hyun streamed it live himself, who would bother watching those cheap reuploads?

"Start stream."

"No."

Now was not the time to fight while displaying people's reactions on the side. He needed to focus entirely on the battle!

Ding! Ding! Ding!

"!"

"?!"

Players everywhere gasped in surprise. The notification that sounded when a bookmarked stream went live had just rung out.

"Oh my god!"

"He's live!"

Normally, they would have tuned in calmly, thinking, Oh, Tae-hyun is streaming? I wonder what he's doing. But right now, almost every player in Pandemonium Online knew exactly what quest Tae-hyun was currently undertaking. The Demon Realm quest!

"I... I have to watch this!"

"Get out of the way! This is no time to be doing quests!"

Across the entire world of Pandemonium Online, scenes resembling a collective pause button being pressed began to unfold. Even players who had planted their flags and were in the middle of dueling...

Ding!

"Wait. They say Kim Tae-hyun is streaming?"

"What? Let's pause this and fight later!"

Even guilds bickering over dungeons for quests...

"If you do not back down this instant, we will consider this a declaration of war against our guild!"

"Nonsense! Our guild discovered and has been managing this dungeon for two weeks now!"

Ding!

"Wait. What are you guys doing? Don't lower your weapons!"

"What the hell are you doing in front of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠enemy?! Hey, hey!"

It was a bizarre phenomenon where members of both parties stared blankly into the air as if possessed! The party leaders quickly realized what was happening.

Are these bastards watching the stream?!

You absolute idiots...

"Have you all lost your minds?! No matter how curious you are about a stream, how can you do this in a situation like—"

"But, Leader! Kim Tae-hyun is live-streaming his Demon Realm quest right now!"

"...And you were watching it all by yourselves without telling me?!"

What appeared on the screen was the dark sky of the Demon Realm, along with a brief glimpse of a Gold Dragon's head. These were Tae-hyun's pets, already famous throughout the game. Most players recognized them instantly. But Tae-hyun's hardcore fans noticed something even deeper.

With pounding hearts, the viewers swallowed hard, their eyes glued to the screen. After circling through the dark, deep blue sky, Yong-yong came to a halt in midair. He was targeting only one entity: the Ice Duke, Furneus!

The Ice Duke, Furneus, sat atop an Ice Dragon that had landed on the crystal ground. There was no way anyone could fail to recognize that majestic, imposing figure. He was the very boss monster who had sent shockwaves through the community just days ago by utterly slaughtering a massive raid party from a top guild! He was easily one of the strongest boss monsters revealed in Pandemonium Online to date!

Someone voiced the thought everyone was having.

During the Nevuchadnezzar quest, he had been backed by elites sent by the churches of each continent, a massive army, and a fortified stronghold. Here, in the Demon Realm, there was no support, and all the player parties had already been utterly annihilated. No matter how one looked at it, the situations were completely incomparable.