The Chained Archduke
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
"Are you sure that guy is really there?"
Canteas flew alongside the running Do-ha, glancing over at him. They'd barely gotten home before Do-ha had suddenly decided to go looking for Baal.
"Beats me. I don't know either."
"What?! Then why are we going?! All the way to Greenland!"
An incredibly distant place out in the Arctic Ocean. Do-ha had merely said Baal might be at a gate there — and now they were already on the move.
"We have to check whether he's there or not."
Splash-splash-splash.
Do-ha deployed his Water-Stepping Flight and raced forward, skimming across the surface. After teleporting to Iceland, he was now striding over the open sea.
"But why did you have to drag me along too…"
He'd been enjoying himself at home — watching movies, snacking on chips. So why was he being hauled off to some freezing wasteland…
"What's the point of sitting around at home? You need to move."
"What's the point of sitting at home?! Watching movies, bingeing dramas, playing games! There's so much to do!"
"So magic training and research come second?"
"That stuff improves just fine if I half-ass it for a few hours!"
"…"
Do-ha closed his mouth. The truth was, for all the daily scolding he took from Do-ha, Canteas was a Lich — and not one born that way. He had researched dark magic on his own and climbed all the way to Lichhood. That made him an extraordinary genius. Of course, in Do-ha's eyes he looked less like a genius and more like a complete dullard.
"You've gotten fat lately. You need to move."
"Oh, for real? I've gotten fa— wait, no I haven't. I'm nothing but bones! What fat?!"
Canteas snapped in irritation. He momentarily patted himself down, falling for it — all he could feel was bone…
"But why bother going with Water-Stepping Flight?"
Wouldn't Noeryeongsinbo be faster, covering the distance in a single step? He could even use Fly magic or teleport — so why go to the trouble of Water-Stepping Flight?
"This way it counts as training, doesn't it?"
Water-Stepping Flight consumed an enormous amount of internal energy, but used properly, it doubled as training just like this. By carefully regulating the energy that drained away like water, he could govern the power within his body more stably.
"Ugh, you training-addicted bastard…"
"Hup!"
Tap!
Thud.
"Aaagh! You're heavy!"
Canteas screamed as Do-ha climbed onto his back. Why had he suddenly climbed onto his back?!
"Talking with you, I forgot my internal energy was running out."
"Then just use mana and cast Fly!"
"I could, but then you'd be missing out."
"Wouldn't you be the one missing out, not me?"
"You need training too. Come on — fly us all the way to Greenland like this."
"Argh!"
Do-ha rapped him on the skull, and Canteas accelerated with an irritated scowl. What made him even angrier was that it really was training — the finer mana control required was genuinely improving him.
Whooooosh.
Screeeech!
"What the hell is this? A new landing technique? Face-first landing or what?"
Canteas, who'd been flying hard, slid face-first across the ground in front of the gate, and Do-ha shook his head. If this hadn't been a snowfield, his face would have been ground clean off.
"Haaah… haaah… I… I almost died."
"I even injected you with mana."
"Then why didn't you just fly yourself with that mana!!"
"Shut up."
Smack.
Do-ha rapped Canteas on the head and looked at the gate. Perhaps because it was a gate that didn't spawn monsters, there were no hunters around.
Greenland should have Danish hunters stationed here, but there's nobody.
Still, they hadn't closed the gate either. Was Baal really inside? Or had they simply been unable to find a way to deal with it?
"If not that, it could be because of your lot, Canteas."
"Huh."
Zwaaang!
Dark Thorn.
Puh-buh-buh-buh-buk!
Hundreds of black thorns erupted from the earth, punching up through the white snowfield. At the same time, something leaped into the air to dodge them.
"Cultists."
"What are they doing underground? They're not moles."
Wooooong!
Do-ha's energy lifted stone fragments from the snow into the air.
Tan-ji-gong · Cheon-gong-gyeok-bun.
Thung!
Hundreds of stone shards shot outward in every direction at once — so fast that sonic booms erupted in an instant.
Puh-buh-buh-buh-buk!
Chwaaak.
"Hmm. Doesn't it look like a work of art?"
Red blood sprayed across the white snowfield looked for all the world like someone had laid down a piece of art.
"Just looks like a psycho to me…"
Canteas shook his head looking at Do-ha. If that were paint it might look like art — but that was blood…
"If you make art with human blood, isn't that just being a psycho?"
"It's just a figure of speech. Let's go in."
Do-ha shrugged and entered the gate. Canteas turned to look at the corpses.
Just how much stronger is that bastard Do-ha getting?
Just now, when he'd cast Dark Thorn, he'd meant it for real. He'd sensed hidden energy and cast it intending to skewer them — and yet he hadn't managed to injure a single one. It hadn't been a mere threat. A genuine attack, and they'd dodged it.
But Do-ha took out this many of them in one go.
Even floating in midair, these were people who'd dodged his magic. They weren't the type to fail at dodging flying stone shards. And yet not a single one had blocked or dodged Do-ha's attack.
"What are you doing? Aren't you coming in?"
Do-ha poked just his head out of the gate and called to Canteas.
"I'm coming."
"Looking at it again, doesn't it look like art?"
"I was just reflecting on how you're becoming more of a maniac by the day."
Canteas passed through the gate and entered.
Hwaruk. Hwaruruk.
"Ugh, it's hard to breathe."
Looking at the flames surging from every direction, Canteas coughed. The reek of sulfur filled the gate's interior, along with a fire-qi that seemed ready to swallow everything whole.
Writhe. Writhe.
"Yep. That's Baal's fire."
Looking at the flames writhing as if alive, Canteas shook his head. He'd wondered if Do-ha's intel might be wrong — but Baal's fire was truly here. And yet no matter how far he spread his senses, he couldn't feel Baal's presence.
"If Baal were here, there's no way we wouldn't sense his energy…"
Canteas had fought Baal multiple times himself, so he knew him as well as Do-ha did.
Zwaang. Chiiiik! Hwaruk!
"Even when I put out the flames, they come back to life?"
Canteas tilted his head. Even extinguishing the writhing flames, they surged back up immediately. That was only possible if Baal was nearby.
"That bishop I killed said something. That he'd obtained the Flame Spirit Sword."
"Huh? Obtained it?"
At Do-ha's words, Canteas also tilted his head, finding something odd. He'd heard that guy was a Baal contractor. But "obtained"? Something about that wording was strange.
"That's why we need to check. Figure out exactly what's going on."
Wooooong. Kugugugugu.
As Do-ha drew up his power, the atmosphere began to tremble.
"What are you doing?"
Canteas looked at him. He was drawing up power so vast the very air shook. Was he planning to extinguish all the fire around them?
"Even if you clear the flames, I don't think there'll be anything special…"
"Right. There's nothing on the surface."
"The surface? Don't tell me…"
Wooooong!
Baek-bo Myeol-hwang Gong — Seventh Step: Eok-cheon-ma-hwang-gong.
Kugugugugugu!
Thung!
"Aaagh!"
The ground they stood on suddenly caved in, and Canteas's body lurched hard. Do-ha's Eok-cheon-ma-hwang-gong was a martial technique modified from gravity magic, crushing everything in the vicinity. If there had been enemies nearby, they would have been completely pulverized — like insects crushed underfoot.
Thung! Thung!
"Hey, are you planning to keep going down like this?!"
As the ground caved in ten meters at a time, Canteas jumped in alarm. Was he seriously planning to go all the way underground like this?! They didn't even know if there was an underground!! Moreover, the more he crushed the earth this way, the internal energy consumption doubled each time.
"The ground underneath is hollow."
"Huh? How do you know?"
"I already spread my qi sense when we came in."
Wooooong!
As if intending to punch through the ground in one go, Do-ha drew up far greater power than before.
Kuoohhhh.
Thududududung! Crash.
"Seriously. You are a maniac."
As they plunged straight down into the underground below, Canteas stuck out his tongue in sheer disbelief. He really had just punched straight through the earth… From the surface to the underground was at least thirty meters — and he'd simply smashed through it with raw power.
"There he is, after all."
Sensing Baal's energy deep underground, Do-ha smiled. Whatever the cultists had done, once they entered the underground, his energy became detectable. On the surface, even spreading his qi sense, he'd only been able to sense that an underground existed — not Baal's energy itself.
"Do-ha, we can't go down there."
They were still falling, but it didn't look like they'd be able to set foot on the underground floor. And for good reason — compared to the surface, it was twice… no, more than three times greater. Massive flames writhed as if ready to devour everything. If they entered those flames, they'd be annihilated without a trace.
"We still can't handle Baal's power."
Baal was a being strong enough to rank at Demon King level. Hadn't Asmodeus actually fled for fear of having his Demon King seat stolen? He denied it himself, but most of Hell already knew it as fact.
"How are you planning to withstand those flames?"
"Why would I withstand them?"
Wooooong!
"Again?!"
Baek-bo Myeol-hwang Gong — Seventh Step: Eok-cheon-ma-hwang-gong.
Thung!
Having nearly reached the underground, Do-ha immediately deployed Eok-cheon-ma-hwang-gong. If they couldn't withstand the flames, he'd just crush them with the earth itself.
Thung! Thung! Thung!
"…The more I watch you, the more absurd it gets."
Normally, seeing flames like these, one would cast water magic to put them out — not just crush them out like Do-ha. Anyone watching would think he was just stomping out a little ember.
"But you know putting them out this way is only temporary, right?"
As long as Baal lived, the fire would only go out briefly — it would never truly vanish.
"I know. That's why we need to tell the man himself to pull his power back a bit."
At Do-ha's words, Canteas looked toward a particular spot. It was the place where the flames filling the underground had originated. And at its center, someone had both arms bound in white chains.
"Yo. Long time no see."
"…Unbelievable. To think you were still alive."
The being bound to a stake. Rank 1 among demons. Master of the sword, and lord of fire. Archduke Baal looked at Do-ha.
"You bone bag. It's been a while."
"Who are you calling a bone bag, you ash heap."
Baal's entire body was gray. Aside from his black hair and red eyes, every inch of his skin was ash-gray. That was why Canteas always called him an ash heap.
"What the hell kind of state is this?"
Ting.
Do-ha struck the white chains binding Baal's arms. This was unmistakably an angel's power.
"Did you fight Metatron or something?"
Archangel and Seraph — Metatron. To bind Baal alive would be impossible without an angel of that caliber.
"I have nothing to say to you. Get lost."
"Aw, come on — answer me. That way you can die easy."
Do-ha wore a sly smile as he drew Un-jeop-bi-jang and pressed it against Baal's heart.