Chapter 336
Chapter 336
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 336
Chapter Title: The Demon King Awakens
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Deep underground, the Demon King opened his eyes.
Even in the thin air of the underground, the Demon King's expression was calm.
Compared to the stuffiness inside the iron bars, this was nothing. This level of confinement was freedom to him.
Whoosh-!
Suddenly, the surroundings lit up brightly.
A white orb floating on the ceiling replaced the sun.
The underground scene came into view.
It was a vast space like a cave, with a high ceiling. On one side, a massive iron door stood wide open, and skulls littered the floor haphazardly.
He knew at a glance where this was.
"How does it feel to be back?"
From one side, Hielz floated over, leaning on her staff, and asked.
"Doesn't suit a guy like you, does it?"
"Provocation?"
At the Demon King's question, Hielz cackled with laughter. She didn't answer, but the Demon King knew she had brought him here to mock him.
But contrary to her intent, the Demon King didn't get angry.
He gazed calmly at the iron bars where he had been sleeping.
"Not a bad feeling."
Peering inside from outside the bars, the Demon King's face wasn't unpleasant.
"Someday, if I build my kingdom, I might reminisce about this place. Say the first step in history began here."
The smile faded from Hielz's face.
She looked at the skulls scattered on the floor and asked.
"How many people's lifespans did you devour?"
"Who knows. I didn't count. Even if I asked you how many loaves of bread you've eaten in your life, you couldn't answer, right?"
It meant he saw humans as mere meals—and that he had stolen that many lifespans.
Hielz didn't get angry.
If it were a human before her, maybe, but he was once the king of the demon race.
She understood the racial difference. Just as humans killed livestock and tore into meat without guilt, they killed humans without remorse. It was only natural.
She hadn't asked how many lifespans he stole to judge his sins.
"Still only half-revived? Poor fuel efficiency."
The Demon King's eyebrow twitched.
He had remained calm even before the bars, but he couldn't tolerate the words "half-baked."
Perfect revival was the greatest reason he had endured this stifling prison.
Bubble-.
At that moment, Hielz's surroundings changed.
The solid floor softened as if it were rippling. The walls and ceiling did the same.
Like entering the belly of a massive living creature, sticky liquid oozed from the floor.
Sizzle-.
Hot steam rose above Hielz's head.
When she lifted her hand, she saw her fingertips shriveling and drying up. She could feel her invisible life force being sucked away.
Something wriggled up from the floor.
The souls of the countless humans who had entered the Demon King's mouth wriggled into view.
Grab-.
A soul's outstretched hand gripped Hielz's shoulder.
It wasn't just humans.
All the souls of the lives the Demon King had devoured filled the underground. They reached out toward Hielz, drawing closer and merging into a slimy mass.
The wriggling slime swallowed Hielz in an instant.
"I was the king of life."
The Demon King controlled all those souls with a single hand.
The souls robbed of their lives couldn't go to the afterlife—they became his.
"Lives devoured by me become mine. Now you too."
"......Bullshit."
At that moment, a voice leaked out from among the souls.
Roar-.
Bright flames appeared within the massed souls. Like fire spreading on oil, Hielz's flames consumed the souls.
The souls wailed. It was a scream, yet close to cheers.
Cheers of finally being freed from this hell.
That was why Hielz burned the souls without the slightest guilt.
"Burning souls?"
The Demon King's eyes sparkled.
It was impossible.
Could you burn water? No.
It defied the laws of physics.
How much more so with souls?
They had no form to begin with—even the hottest flames couldn't burn them.
But Hielz had made it possible.
A mage who wielded flames. Her fire wasn't mere fire—it was magic itself.
"That auntie said it, right? She'd revive you if you killed me."
Hielz wrapped her entire body in scarlet flames, as if burning herself.
"Then you made a mistake."
As she burned the underground souls, Hielz raised her staff.
"You should have revived properly."
Kyaaa-!
Neila's dragon, the Red Dragon Crasion, spread its wings and soared high into the sky.
Controlling a dragon was the bare minimum requirement to be called an archmage. In that sense, Neila's realm was firmly at the level worthy of the title.
Yet even so, Neila couldn't help but feel tense.
It was because of Siwoo standing loftily below.
'Arrogant.'
Fire and ice. Two attributes at absolute extremes that could neither mix nor harmonize.
Was it because of that? The more Neila looked at Siwoo, the worse her mood became.
That cold gaze of his too.
Even looking up from below, his eyes seemed to look down on her.
It really rubbed her the wrong way. An impulse surged to gouge out those blue eyes and burn them right then and there.
At that moment, Chief Mage Quion, who had appeared atop Crasion, whispered in her ear.
"Kim Ye-ryeong has vanished."
Right after the battle began, Kim Ye-ryeong had disappeared.
Finding Kim Ye-ryeong in stealth was nearly impossible. She knew all too well from recent ear-aching reports what had happened when the Poison King Tang Paegun tried to fight her.
If she let Kim Ye-ryeong slip while fixated on Kim Siwoo, she'd end up with her head rolling on the ground before she even knew she was dead.
"Finding her is impossible. Use that time to prepare for assassination."
"Understood."
"Drag out the time. I'll prepare Meteor."
Quion was startled.
"Meteor, you say?"
Meteor was the most destructive high-difficulty spell among fire-element magic.
Among existing mages, only Hielz and Neila could wield it.
"Can't find her? Then sweep them all away."
A bit extreme, but Neila's choice made sense.
No matter how superior the tracking magic, following Kim Ye-ryeong's movements was difficult.
Even so, if there was one way a mage held the advantage against an assassin, it was unleashing near-AoE magic.
"But that will sweep up all the Deep Sea residents too."
"So what?"
Neila glared at Quion with gleaming eyes.
"They're all criminals anyway. If they die, it's all for the better."
Neila raised her staff high. She began drawing the magic circle in the air to summon Meteor.
Gazing at the distant dot that was Siwoo, Neila said.
"Sweep them all away."
Roar-.
At her command, the Red Tower mages simultaneously prepared their spells.
Quion also descended from Crasion's back and joined them.
The elites of the Red Tower. Among them, those who were like Neila's own limbs.
The firepower from dozens of elite mages instantly changed the color of the sky.
Roar-.
The ground turned into a sea of fire.
As if to block any escape routes first, the elite mages began by blanketing the area in flames.
The moment retreat was cut off, the Red Tower mages pooled their power into a single spell.
Roar-.
Flames erupted from the ground, forming several elongated heads.
Siwoo grimaced at the flame-formed shapes.
"Of all things, this one."
Kiaaa-!
Red serpents spewing flames.
It resembled the venom dragon Hydra.
Of course, it was smaller in size and different in attribute.
Roar-.
The Hell Hydra spewed flames from its nine heads. Siwoo was swallowed by the flames, and the ground melted into lava.
For a moment, the Red Tower mages thought they had suppressed their opponent.
But only for a moment.
Sizzle-.
Jet-black smoke billowed up into the sky. The flames that had scorched the earth red died down, and the surrounding heat cooled in an instant.
Step-.
Siwoo's body passed through the Hell Hydra and kept walking.
The Hell Hydra, which had been spewing hot flames, shrank rapidly. Soon, it vanished completely in a puff of black smoke.
"Don't stop the magic!"
"His ice will melt eventually! Keep pushing him......!"
Crack-.
Quion's shout toward Siwoo cut off.
His staff-holding hand wouldn't move. His hand, now frozen white, had lost all sensation.
Quion's eyes widened in shock.
'From this distance?'
No way that was possible.
And sure enough.
Whoosh-.
Before he knew it, Siwoo had passed by his side like mist.
He hadn't ignored the distance to freeze him. He had closed in at a speed too fast to perceive and frozen him.
"C-can't... move......"
Crack-.
Quion's body froze white.
And it wasn't just him.
The other nearby ally mages suffered the same fate.
Having instantly frozen the Red Tower mages, Siwoo looked up.
The sky had grown even redder. Through the clouds, a familiar massive meteor was falling.
Whooo-.
Neila thrust her staff downward. With Meteor ready, she unhesitatingly dropped the meteor toward Siwoo's location.
A grand magic that swept away a vast area with no room to dodge.
Siwoo looked up at Neila riding the Red Dragon and asked.
"Gonna kill them all?"
Your minions are here?
Of course, his words wouldn't reach her. He hadn't said them seeking an answer anyway.
Siwoo raised his spear.
The next moment.
Flash-.
Kicking off the ground, Siwoo leaped up and charged straight at the falling meteor.
"That madman......!"
Neila was the one who panicked.
Unless he planned to smash his head and die, rushing at a falling meteor?
Mages hated incomprehensible actions like this to an extreme degree—it only filled her with anxiety.
And sure enough.
"The meteor that auntie dropped—compared to the one I saw recently, it's way too small, don't you think?"
Startled by the voice beside her, Neila swung her staff to redirect it.
Before she knew it, Kim Ye-ryeong had climbed onto Crasion's back.
A chill ran down her spine.
She realized that if Ye-ryeong had wanted, her head wouldn't be attached right now.
"When the hell......"
"You were full of openings preparing that big magic—what's there to say? And if you're wondering why I didn't kill you—"
Crack-.
Gazing at the pure white, frozen meteor, Ye-ryeong giggled.
"You lot couldn't beat even that one guy anyway."