Unease began to spread among the members of the Demon Cult.
“...Cult Leader?”
“Could he be a fake...? No, that aura is unmistakably the Cult Leader’s Heavenly Demon Divine Art...”
“He really was alive? Then the Strategist lied to us?”
Why had they cut off contact with the headquarters of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and moved under the Strategist’s command like this?
Had it not been to avoid being toyed with any longer by the enemy who had murdered the Heavenly Demon, their cult leader, and usurped his seat? To avenge the lord who had led them and restore the cult to its original state?
Faced with a situation that shook that cause from its very roots, even those who had struggled to maintain their composure amid the sudden war could not hide their bewilderment.
For now, its influence was limited to only part of the battlefield, but if left alone, it would soon spread through the entire force.
“No, that is not the Cult Leader.”
At the old man’s low words, the gazes around him focused on him all at once.
The Strategist, Yaryulhwan, had been staring quietly at the Heavenly Demon with his bright yellow reptilian eyes.
He opened his mouth with certainty.
“...A jiangshi, is it? Hah, how remarkable. A jiangshi that not only has a self, but can imitate the aura it had in life and pretend to be alive. Hahaha.”
Letting out an incredulous laugh, he clicked his tongue and shook his head.
He himself had been momentarily flustered by how much effort had gone into it, but upon closer inspection, he could clearly perceive what was wrong.
Like that being called the Demon King, it was merely covering itself with artificially created vitality; within it was packed full of the aura of death, something no living person could ever possess.
“To call a perfectly living person a jiangshi. It seems the Strategist has suffered quite a lot all this time. Given the circumstances, I understand.”
“Oh? So you claim to be the Heavenly Demon himself?”
“Can you not tell by looking? Tsk, your senility has taken firm hold.”
“Hmm—so your memories are not intact after all. From the look of it, you must have wanted to imitate the Cult Leader using bits of information gathered from here and there, but that might work on some low-ranking warrior; it won’t work on us, who spent so many years by his side.”
“......”
Just as he said.
The Demon Cultists who had been confused until just moments ago were now staring quietly at the Heavenly Demon with narrowed eyes.
Their gazes flashed sharply, as though they would not miss a single one of his movements.‘...Damn, I had hoped just in case, but as expected.’At the abruptly changed reaction around him, Hans slightly frowned.
Since he had implanted memories extracted from the Heavenly Demon himself as well as various Demon Cultists, he had thought the imitation was quite convincing in its own way, but it seemed that level was nowhere near enough to deceive those who could be called his close aides.‘No matter how far I’ve come, reviving someone who died in exactly the same state as before is impossible.’In the first place, an undead was an existence formed from the concentrated and distorted lingering obsessions of its time as a human.
Having awakened divinity, he could somehow make use of the body, but reproducing the soul and self of someone who had reached the peak of the Profound Realm and had even been an apostle of the Lord of the Beoncheon Society was simply impossible.
“Tsk. I thought this might make things a little easier.”
Looking down at the Demon Cultists whose hostility was finally beginning to rise, as if they had reached a conclusion, Hans clicked his tongue.
He had wanted to take them in while keeping them as intact as possible, but that seemed to have been too greedy.
Then all that remained was to exercise force in earnest.
Srrrng—
The moment Hans’s will was conveyed.
The actor who had stepped forward, the Heavenly Demon jiangshi, drew the beloved sword he wore at his waist.
“It cannot be helped. Guiding subordinates who have fallen into inner demons and delusion must also be the duty of the Cult Leader.”
Continuing his fervent performance without giving up to the very end.‘Well, if I think about it, earning their recognition isn’t actually that important.’Just look at the process by which Hans had come to rule the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Had those there obeyed him because he was the Heavenly Demon?
No, not at all!
What was needed now was not such a flimsy justification.‘Only martial might. As long as I have overwhelming power capable of fulfilling everything according to my will, nothing else matters.’If everyone refused to acknowledge it, he simply had to force them to acknowledge it.
If he looked at that jiangshi and called it the Heavenly Demon, then from that moment onward, no matter what anyone said, it became the Heavenly Demon.
Though he would have to accept some loss of strength in the process, this side possessed more than enough power to enforce that will.
Gooooo—
Jet-black energy streamed out from the Heavenly Demon’s body in strands.
It was a presence derived from the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the exclusive martial art that symbolized the cult leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, but its nature was slightly different from the internal energy he had used in life.
It was darker and more sinister than before, a destructive power steeped in the aura of death.
And that was not the only thing supporting his martial power.
The “Heavenly Slaughter Star,” which, in exchange for mental side effects, supported every act related to combat, including martial arts.
That unique skill, activated through some method, was preventing the inevitable decline in ability caused by the distortion of his self, and instead was drawing out every possibility residing in his body beyond its limits.
With black-flame-like astral energy blooming across his entire body, the Heavenly Demon smiled murderously and flicked his sword.
“When beasts raised to face external enemies fail to recognize their master and try to bite him, there is no choice but to take up the rod.”
Kwaaaa—
As a fierce storm erupted and blade-like pressure began to slash in every direction, those nearby hurriedly retreated.
It was a phenomenon caused merely by him raising his energy.
At that, the one-eyed old man who had been quietly watching the situation, the Ghost Sword Demon Emperor, stepped forward with a stiff expression.
“...Strategist, do you know what that is? By my common sense, I cannot understand it at all. No matter how close the Cult Leader had been to transcendence, he should still be a jiangshi in the end... Yet is this not as if the Cult Leader has returned alive?”
“Huh, I have no idea at all. Just what otherworldly secret art was used to make such a thing possible? An army of the dead using the strength they had in life without any decline in ability. Hah! ...If that power had been mine...”
“Strategist?”
The Ghost Sword Demon Emperor frowned and asked again at the words that had been cut off midway, but Yaryulhwan’s mouth did not open again.
He merely looked back and forth between the Heavenly Demon and Hans with a strange gaze.
“Enough idle talk. Any conversation that remains will be—”
As if cutting off their exchange, the Heavenly Demon’s low voice rang out in all directions.
Immediately afterward, the sword wrapped in black astral energy that blazed like burning flame slowly pointed toward the sky.
“—held after you kneel before me.”
The astral energy, which had soared more than ten meters high as if to pierce the heavens, came crashing straight down.
Kwaaaaang—!
The earth shook violently as though struck by an earthquake, splitting apart with a tremendous roar.
That was the signal flare for a full-scale war in which both sides’ full strength clashed.
***
Kugugugung—
One step.
The atmosphere in the area was crushed, and those resisting fell to their knees and bowed their heads.
Swaaak—!
One sword.
Those who blocked his path were cleaved apart along with space itself, and acrid blood sprayed through the air.
Kwaaang!
One hand.
The one-eyed old man who barely managed to respond was sent flying backward with a groan.
As if following up, the Blood Demon jiangshi and numerous Heavenly Jiangshi rushed in, but that alone was only barely enough to maintain the situation.
Rather, the gap in combat power created when they broke away caused the battlefields elsewhere to be helplessly pushed back again and again.
All of that was the change brought about when the jiangshi wearing the mask of the Heavenly Demon joined the battle.‘This is hopeless.’At the sight, the Heavenly Secret Demon Immortal Yaryulhwan frowned and shook his head.
The Heavenly Demon had been the peerless master publicly acknowledged as the strongest under heaven.
Such a person had appeared with no decline in ability at all... no, perhaps even with greater killing power, so in a sense, this situation could be said to have been foreseen in advance.
“Kekeke—still have some composure left, do you? To be lost in other thoughts before me.”
Of course, now was not the time to watch as if it were someone else’s affair.
Death in human form had already strode right before his nose.
“Hahaha, it is not composure. I was merely pondering how to break through the current situation. But... I truly see no answer.”
“I am magnanimous. And I very much like talented people who know their place. If you prostrate yourself even now, I could consider sparing you.”
“Oh! That is quite a tempting offer, but...”
The conversation between the two continued in a strangely calm atmosphere, as if they stood one step removed from the chaotic battlefield around them.
But their situation was not nearly as peaceful as it appeared.
Pajijik—pajik—!
As if resisting the aura of death encroaching from every direction, sparks continuously burst along the boundary of space.
However, that boundary was visibly being pushed back, and if things continued like this, it was obvious it would not hold out for long before being swallowed by death.
“Even so, I think that would be difficult. Given my nature, I doubt I could tolerate anyone standing above me.”
At that moment, the yellow eyes of Yaryulhwan, who had been laughing hollowly, gleamed strangely.
They were by no means the eyes of one who had accepted the result.
“Oh? For someone like that, it seems you spent quite a long time living in service to the Heavenly Demon.”
“Ah—that? Well, that much was hardly impossible.”
The energy within the old man’s body began to writhe.
A massive energy slowly swelled, as if throwing off the restraints that had bound his body.
“He, protected by that ‘deity from beyond this world,’ was the only being in this world capable of concealing my existence. Merely staying by his side also made it easy to accumulate karma. And above all...”
In his figure as he continued speaking, not even a trace remained of the sage-like air he had possessed before.
On top of that, his energy was bloating far beyond the level Hans had already anticipated.
“He was emergency food of the highest quality for when the need arose. For better prey, should I not put in at least that much effort?”
As he spoke with a grin, twisted madness, in which greed and appetite mingled together, flickered across his face.
At that, Hans’s eyes narrowed.
The Heavenly Demon, the final boss of this Ganghwan Realm, had already been dealt with long ago.
That was what he had thought...‘The guy I thought was a mid-boss was actually the hidden boss?’Hans’s mind began spinning rapidly.
The Lord of the Beoncheon Society, who had extracted the Dragon Heart, and the Heavenly Demon, who as an apostle from among the Settlers had tried to devour this world.
Their intentions had been clear.
They must have intended to make this world a colony and raise their divinity even higher.‘...But to think there was someone who had been preparing to stab them in the back from far longer ago.’An unidentified monster who, for decades, had served as the Strategist of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, overseeing all the cult’s activities and assisting the Heavenly Demon’s growth from right beside him—
The Heavenly Secret Demon Immortal, Yaryulhwan.
Just how large a picture had he been drawing?
And while wholeheartedly helping the Heavenly Demon cross the wall, uncaring even if it meant destroying the world he lived in.
“Of course, thanks to your side making the first move, my long-laid plan went awry.”
“Pfft—that is quite unfortunate. My apologies.”
“As if that were not enough, you even chased me here and are obstructing my work like this... How could I possibly follow you?”
“Hmm. So what is it you want to say? That you have no intention of submitting, and will fight to the end?”
“Hahaha, I suppose you could see it that way.”
Yaryulhwan’s figure, answering calmly, slowly twisted and collapsed.
Yet even in the midst of it, only his mouth did not stop, continuing to speak until the end.
“Now that things have come to this, I, too, can no longer be picky about my methods.”
At last, his body completely lost its human form and began expanding rapidly.
In an instant, it surpassed ten meters and began soaring even higher.
Kwadeudeuk—
Hans, who had stepped slightly back at that, watched the sight quietly with narrowed eyes.‘...Attacks don’t work.’As was his usual habit of being unable to leave an opponent alone whenever they transformed, he had immediately slammed death magic into him, but this time, as if some strange principle were at work, the attack did not land properly.
They said the chief god of this world was a Dragon God, so perhaps some law of the world related to that side had been established.
[There should be no need to struggle so desperately to hide my true form even in a situation like this.]
However, even that lasted only an exceedingly brief instant.
The being that finished transforming in the blink of an eye looked down from above.
A long body covered in scales, glaring eyes, sharp teeth, and horns rising upward.
Just as Hans had guessed, it had the form of a dragon.
However, what he had not anticipated was...
“...Was it a hydra? No, I should call it a six-headed dragon.”
The number of heads writhing this way and that was not one.
Nor was it simply that it had six heads.
Red, blue, white, black, yellow—
And even the green head at the center.
Each of those six heads even held its own Yeouiju in its mouth.‘I was certain they said dragons could only have one Yeouiju each...’As Hans frowned at the discrepancy with the information he had received through Horus.
The fierce battle came to an abrupt halt at the sudden appearance of the enormous monstrous dragon in the middle of the battlefield.
[Since things have come to this, it cannot be helped. No, rather, this is for the best. I shall take this opportunity to devour you and seize that otherworldly secret art as well! If that power is added to mine, I will no longer need to hold myself back!]
Kwareureung—!
At the six-headed dragon’s roar, the atmosphere shook violently along with a raging storm.
It was the moment the true hidden boss of the Ganghwan Realm appeared.