Chapter 177
Chapter 177
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 177
Chapter Title: Ice Flower Divine Sword
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“Bones didn’t feel a thing when struck, but hits to the soul sure hurt like hell, huh?”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s words.
-Please, please stop.
Limonshits begged toward Kang Hyun-soo.
‘Damage to the soul seems way more painful than to the body.’
A smile crept across Kang Hyun-soo’s lips.
“You think that cocky attitude is appropriate right now?”
Kang Hyun-soo cast an attack skill toward Limonshits’ Life Force Vessel.
Even though he carefully adjusted the output so it wouldn’t destroy the Life Force Vessel.
-Aaaagh!
-Aaaagh!
Agonized screams erupted from both sides.
And that wasn’t the end of it.
Crack!
Cracks began to form in Limonshits’ newly reconstructed body made of bones.
‘If the Life Force Vessel takes severe damage, the lich’s body gets hit too.’
He had to control his strength carefully.
One mistake, and the body he’d painstakingly invested demonic energy into could shatter.
-Just kill me! Please, kill me!
Limonshits pleaded.
“Can’t do that.”
With those words, Kang Hyun-soo continued applying pressure to Limonshits’ Life Force Vessel and kept using attack skills.
-Uwaaaah!
-Uwaaaah!
“Perfect for mana control practice. Gotta use this more often.”
Kang Hyun-soo grinned cheerfully as he kept casting various skills.
Burning with fire, freezing with ice, zapping with lightning.
-How long do you plan to keep this up?!
“What do you mean, how long?”
-Any more damage, and this body you invested your precious demonic energy into will just dissipate! That’s not what you want either!
“You threatening me right now?”
Kang Hyun-soo let out a scoffing laugh.
“Then just dissipate.”
-What?
“Whether you have a body or not, the pain feels the same anyway. Looks like my education so far was a bit lacking. See you in a year. I’ll be resurrecting the others and putting them to use in the meantime.”
With that, Kang Hyun-soo tightened his grip.
Crack!
Cracks formed in the skull of Limonshits’ constructed body, and the red glow from its eye sockets began to dim.
‘Tough bastard.’
Up until now, Kang Hyun-soo had experimented on the Life Force Vessels of the liches he’d captured.
Dunked them in water, roasted them in fire, smashed them physically, even crashed them into each other.
‘Playing marbles with Life Force Vessels was surprisingly fun.’
He’d thought the pain would have broken them by the end of training.
But they hadn’t submitted easily.
‘Might really have to wait a year.’
He was a little worried.
What if the other liches didn’t submit either?
It would mess up his plans.
‘Well, with 104 of them, at least one should break.’
If not, he’d just keep training them.
It’d be a shame if the bodies he’d made dissipated.
‘They give EXP though.’
Even if he resurrected them by injecting demonic energy through summons.
These were genuine demons, not his summons.
So of course, defeating them would give?
EXP.
And since demons weren’t invading, it’d raise his divine stat, which couldn’t be increased otherwise.
‘Not as much as the demonic energy invested, though.’
Still, he could recoup some losses.
Plus, the training had side benefits.
The negative emotions spewing from the liches’ souls trapped in their Life Force Vessels as they writhed in pain.
‘Recharge the demonic energy orbs for me.’
Training them, recharging demonic orbs.
EXP and divine stat boosts.
For Kang Hyun-soo?
‘No downside.’
Just before Limonshits’ newly formed body shattered.
-I will become your servant! Please, stop this pain!
Limonshits finally submitted.
If it dissipated and lost its body?
It would lose its way to communicate with Kang Hyun-soo.
Even if it changed its mind midway, it couldn’t convey that for a year.
It would just scream in the Life Force Vessel.
Limonshits had no confidence it could endure this horrific pain for a whole year.
“Hoo.”
A satisfied smile bloomed on Kang Hyun-soo’s lips.
‘I’d given up on it.’
Success by a hair.
At that moment, system messages poured in front of Kang Hyun-soo’s eyes.
[You’ve achieved the unbelievable feat of gaining a demon’s loyalty.]
[Title: One Who Received the Demon’s Oath of Loyalty EX-Rank granted.]
[You’ve achieved the unbelievable feat of gaining loyalty from a lower demon or higher.]
[Title: Lord of Lower Demons EX-Rank granted.]
[You’ve achieved the unbelievable feat of gaining loyalty from a mid-tier demon or higher.]
[Title: Lord of Mid-Tier Demons EX-Rank granted.]
[You’ve achieved the unbelievable feat of gaining loyalty from an upper demon or higher.]
[Title: Lord of Upper Demons EX-Rank granted.]
[You’ve achieved the unbelievable feat of gaining loyalty from a top-tier demon or higher.]
[Title: Lord of Top-Tier Demons EX-Rank granted.]
“Hahaha!”
A booming laugh erupted from Kang Hyun-soo’s mouth.
‘Insane.’
He’d expected achievements.
But.
‘This many?’
Five achievements at once.
‘All EX-Rank too.’
He’d thought multiple achievements would be tiered like A, S, SS, SSS, EX.
‘Nope.’
One reason.
‘That’s how hard it is to gain a demon’s loyalty.’
Limonshits, a lich, refused to submit even with its Life Force Vessel in Kang Hyun-soo’s hands.
It even begged for death.
‘Wouldn’t want to bow to a puny human.’
A normal demon?
Would’ve just killed itself.
But.
‘Liches can’t do that.’
No submission?
‘Eternal torment.’
So it had no choice but to submit.
And.
‘This is just the start.’
Limonshits had resurrected as a top-tier demon lich.
But with continuous demonic energy infusion?
‘It can become a demon realm earl again.’
Then?
New achievements.
‘And this isn’t exclusive to me.’
Excluding Limonshits, there were 103 other lich Life Force Vessels.
Distribute them properly to his subordinate commanders?
‘They’d get achievements too.’
If EX-Rank achievements were being handed out like this?
‘The liches are basically achievement vending machines.’
The issue was demonic energy supply.
‘Hunt diligently, and it’s solved.’
Whoosh!
At that moment, a blue glow enveloped Limonshits’ Life Force Vessel.
‘Huh?’
Kang Hyun-soo was caught off guard by the unexpected situation.
[You have acquired the EX-Rank skill Demon Ruler.]
A message about acquiring a new skill appeared before Kang Hyun-soo’s eyes.
‘Demon Ruler?’
Kang Hyun-soo checked the skill info.
[Demon Ruler – EX-Rank Skill]
-Active Skill
-Control demons who have sworn loyalty.
-Subservient Demons: 1
‘A skill like this?’
Info he hadn’t known even before regression.
‘Probably from the Demon’s Oath of Loyalty or Demon Lord titles.’
Testing it out.
‘I see.’
A way to forcibly control loyalty-sworn demons came to mind.
‘Control their bodies regardless of will, inflict pain, or even erase them.’
Active skill, but no cooldown.
‘Gaia System’s safeguard to prevent betrayal from loyalty-sworn demons?’
That’s all he could think for now.
‘Makes sense.’
For liches, gripping the Life Force Vessel allowed control.
‘But other demons? This safeguard is needed.’
Acquisition condition seemed to be receiving a demon’s loyalty oath.
‘Useless against liches, but handy for other demons.’
One concern.
‘Will they actually submit?’
Demons who see themselves as superior to humans—would they bow to “inferior” humans, or just die?
‘Well, turn ’em into summons then.’
No alternatives for other players.
But Kang Hyun-soo had one.
“Taliman, inject more demonic energy.”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s command, Doppelganger King Taliman injected additional demonic energy into Limonshits’ Life Force Vessel.
Limonshits, receiving the energy, upgraded from lich to arch lich.
And at that instant, the expected messages appeared.
[You’ve achieved the unbelievable feat of gaining a demon realm noble’s loyalty.]
[Title: One Who Received the Demon Realm Noble’s Oath of Loyalty EX-Rank granted.]
[You’ve achieved the unbelievable feat of gaining loyalty from a demon realm baronet or higher.]
[Title: Lord of Demon Realm Baronets EX-Rank granted.]
Two more achievements acquired.
“Stop.”
Kang Hyun-soo halted Doppelganger King Taliman.
Any more, and Taliman would weaken too much.
“Now, let’s see what you’ve got.”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s words, Limonshits bowed politely.
-As you command, my lord.
Limonshits had fully submitted to Kang Hyun-soo.
It had originally planned to steal back its Life Force Vessel at an opportunity.
But Gaia System’s intervention meant even stealing it wouldn’t free it from Kang Hyun-soo.
So all Limonshits could do was.
-I am very useful.
Show off its talents diligently to prove its worth.
And earn favor from its master, Kang Hyun-soo.
* * *
Time passed without incident.
Kang Hyun-soo leveled up through hunting, returned, and kept using skill enhancements.
Song Ha-na, Fist Emperor, and Yuka steadily leveled up.
Limonshits recovered its demon realm earl strength from its past life.
The number of liches grew smoothly too.
Then.
‘They’re back.’
The ones Kang Hyun-soo had waited so long for returned.
‘Mantis Guild.’
Kang Hyun-soo had wiped out the Mantis Guild’s Mightor Kingdom branch and turned branch chief Demon of Mass Slaughter Jo Sa-pyeong into a summon.
Using that memory, he raided their main base.
‘But it was empty.’
So he left a few summons as watchers and withdrew.
He’d considered pulling them since Mantis never returned.
‘But kept them just in case.’
Mantis Guild was a malignant tumor that absolutely had to be eradicated.
‘Thought they’d abandoned it completely.’
Now Mantis Guild had returned to their old lair.
‘Time to finish them off for good.’
A guild of murderers like Mantis needed its roots ripped out completely.
Kang Hyun-soo headed to Mantis Guild’s main base with Song Ha-na, Fist Emperor, and Yuka.
‘Their base should have info on branch locations scattered across countries.’
Not just the main base—cut off every branch too.
Using spatial gates and flying summons, the group arrived in a day.
‘They fled early last time, but not this time. Summon legion.’
Kang Hyun-soo summoned his forces, forming an encirclement.
‘Let’s begin. Attack.’
At his command.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Demon Dragon Karas and dragonkin monsters unleashed breaths.
Roooar!
Arch Lich King Limonshits and his lich horde’s fierce assault.
Pzzzt!
Ranged dealer summons’ attack skills piled on.
Boom!
A massive explosion, flames and lightning surging, turning Mantis Guild’s base to ruins.
‘Don’t wanna get crushed under rocks? Come out quick.’
Mantis Guild’s base was a natural cave in a stone mountain, renovated.
Normal firepower?
The mountain itself would shield them.
But Demon Dragon Karas’ breath plus Arch Lich King Limonshits, restored to demon realm earl power, and ranged attacks?
Strong enough to collapse the mountain.
“Uwaaaah!”
“If you don’t wanna get buried, move now!”
As Kang Hyun-soo predicted, Mantis Guild members crawled out from everywhere in the mountain like ants.