Episode 279: The Demon (5)
Vahel watched with trembling eyes as the barrier vanished.
The barrier that had imprisoned Cheongyeom, the strongest among the Five Great Saints, was no ordinary one. It had been crafted by sacrificing half the power of his avatar. Yet now, it crumbled like a sandcastle.
“A demon cannot defy a superior being…”
Vahel muttered, his face blank.
“A lesser power cannot oppose a greater one…”
This was why Vahel could wield absolute power in the underworld. There was no power capable of challenging a duke-level demon like him.
Which meant that the power Demian Haxen wielded was far superior to Vahel’s.
“So I wasn’t mistaken! What you possess is real! The true power of kings! How could a mere human…”
“What nonsense are you babbling?”
Cheongyeom exhaled deeply, drawing upon his divine power. Blue flames enveloped his body.
“Seems like you haven’t come to your senses yet… Let me help with that.”
An explosion erupted behind Cheongyeom. In the next instant, his fist connected with Vahel’s face.
”…!”
With a sound that threatened to burst eardrums, Vahel’s body was sent flying, skipping across the ground like a stone on water.
Vahel quickly got back on his feet, a crack running down one side of his face.
“Hahaha! Impressive! It was a wise choice to imprison you!”
Vahel laughed loudly. Cheongyeom dusted off his fists and spoke.
“I intended to crush your head with one blow. You’re annoyingly tough.”
“Your fists are quite formidable too.”
“Then I’ll keep pounding until you break.”
Another blue explosion occurred. Vahel immediately summoned his power, erecting multiple barriers in front of him.
“You’re fast, but you can only move in a straight line, right?”
Vahel shouted, as if he had already figured it out.
Indeed, Cheongyeom was known as the fastest martial artist, but he could only move in straight lines.
Then, another explosion occurred.
Cheongyeom vanished, changing direction mid-run.
Vahel quickly followed Cheongyeom with his eyes. Cheongyeom accelerated again, causing more explosions.
Explosions erupted everywhere, Cheongyeom’s afterimages filling the space around Vahel.
“This speed is…”
The smile vanished from Vahel’s face. He finally realized that the simplicity of direction was no issue for Cheongyeom.
“Looks like I need to focus on offense rather than defense.”
Thin square pillars rose from the ground Vahel stood on, resembling lances meant to stop a cavalry charge.
“Charge recklessly, and you might end up with holes all over your body…”
At that moment, Cheongyeom’s afterimages abruptly ceased.
Simultaneously, all the square pillars Vahel had created shattered.
Cheongyeom, having pierced through the pillars, thrust his fist forward. Vahel’s face was struck again.
With the sound of something breaking, half of Vahel’s face was blown away. His left eye and part of his head shattered into fragments.
“Argh!”
Vahel screamed, clutching the wound as if he couldn’t bear the pain.
But Cheongyeom’s assault didn’t stop there.
Blue explosions continued in rapid succession. Each time, Cheongyeom emerged from all directions, pummeling Vahel’s body.
He struck Vahel’s side with his fist, jabbed his solar plexus with his elbow, and pierced his chest with his knee.
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of attacks were unleashed.
“Ugh! Gah! Ack!”
With each attack, more of Vahel’s body was chipped away.
“Truly incredible.”
From a distance, Demian watched as Vahel was helplessly beaten.
Once Cheongyeom entered the fray, there was nothing left for Demian to do but watch from afar.
“Isn’t it?”
Turning his head, he saw Gwangmyeong standing there, finally free from isolation and able to see clearly.
“Even among the Five Great Saints, there’s a wall when you look at him.”
It was inevitable.
No matter how strong the Five Great Saints were, they were only at the master class.
But Cheongyeom had reached the level of a grandmaster.
As far as Demian knew, only four individuals had reached the grandmaster level at this point: the Empire’s greatest swordsman, the Mercenary King, Cheongyeom, and the leader of Pandemonium.
A grandmaster was a being who could rival a fully summoned marquis-level demon.
Even a duke-level demon’s avatar couldn’t handle such a being.
That’s why Vahel had only managed to imprison Cheongyeom using his power.
“Hahaha!”
At that moment, Vahel burst into laughter. Despite losing more than half of his body, the smile never left his face.
“Looks like I need to change my approach.”
Darkness flowed from Vahel’s body.
Demian quickly realized what Vahel intended to do.
He planned to isolate Cheongyeom’s senses, just as he had done to Demian.
“A poor decision.”
Demian’s prediction proved correct.
Cheongyeom struck Vahel’s darkness with ‘Destruction.’ The darkness scattered, and the power dissipated.
”…What?”
Confusion appeared on Vahel’s face. In that instant, Cheongyeom’s hand sliced through the air.
“It’s over now.”
As Gwangmyeong spoke, Cheongyeom’s hand pierced through Vahel’s torso.
Vahel looked down in disbelief at the hand embedded in his body.
Cheongyeom withdrew his hand. Vahel staggered back a few steps.
“Wow… You’re incredibly strong. Even as an avatar, I didn’t expect to be so helpless.”
Even in this situation, Vahel never lost his smile.
“But I can’t understand it. You’re strong, but not enough. How did our ancestors lose to humans like you?”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Haha, I’ve been talking to myself too long in front of the victor.”
Vahel’s body began to crumble. His avatar was completely destroyed, forcing him back to the underworld.
“Never defile the land of humans again.”
“That’s not possible. Our demons’ long-cherished wish is to reclaim the surface.”
“Nonsense. This was our land.”
At Cheongyeom’s retort, Vahel laughed silently, as if hearing a dull joke.
“A bit disappointing. There was something I wanted to confirm.”
Vahel’s gaze turned to Demian Haxen. In that moment, Demian heard Vahel’s voice.
-Demian Haxen, how did you acquire that power?
Vahel was speaking through his soul, so the Five Great Saints couldn’t hear him.
-That power was bestowed by the Demon Kings. How does a human possess not one, but two of them?
Demian couldn’t help but frown at those words.
When Dorgo had implanted this power in Demian, he had called it the power of the ancient gods.
But the power of the Demon Kings?
-It seems you don’t know either. Keep it safe. We’ll come to reclaim it someday.
Finally, Vahel’s body completely disintegrated, and his voice was no longer heard.
“So he was ultimately banished.”
As soon as they arrived at the lab, Dorgo muttered in a low voice.
Iota, who understood the words as if by instinct, asked with a puzzled expression.
-Mother, what do you mean? There’s still plenty of time left for the summoning. Did someone actually manage to destroy that monster?
“I don’t know the details. But it’s certain that he was banished.”
As the summoner, Dorgo could sense the state of the summoned being.
However, there was one thing that didn’t make sense.
“How did two of the Five Great Saints manage to face Vahel?”
Since Cheongyeom was isolated, it would have been two of the Five Great Saints against Vahel.
But with the abilities of the Five Great Saints that Dorgo knew, it was impossible to defeat Vahel so quickly.
-Didn’t you say there was another man? Maybe the three of them did something.
Iota spoke nonchalantly.
Yet Dorgo still wore a dissatisfied expression.
-Mother, what’s wrong? Is something bothering you?
“No, it’s nothing…”
There was no reason to be dissatisfied.
They had achieved their original goal of obtaining the demon’s essence containing the power.
“Just a strong feeling that I should have stayed there…”
At that moment, a headache surged. Iota clutched his head with both hands.
“Ugh.”
Lately, the headaches had become more frequent.
Each time they came, Dorgo gained new inspiration and knowledge.
But the thirst also grew. A nagging feeling that something was forgotten tormented Dorgo.
-Mother, is your head hurting again?
“No, it’s fine now.”
Dorgo said, placing a sphere on the table. It was filled with the demon’s essence.
“We’ll be busy if we want to stick to the schedule.”
Saying so, Dorgo looked at the large paper spread on the table.
It was labeled with a plan to assassinate the Empire’s greatest swordsman.
As Dorgo stared at the sphere, he suddenly remembered another item received from Vahel.
Dorgo took out the half-key given by Vahel.
The worn key glinted under the light of the lab’s lamp.
“You fool. You think you can just give this to me?”
Dorgo opened a pocket of space, retrieving the other half of the key from within.
The two halves snapped together as if magnetized, forming a complete key.
“I told you we don’t know what might happen next, didn’t I? What nonsense.”
The reason Dorgo had clung to this wretched life for so long was simple.
Revenge.
Against the empire that had betrayed him and his beloved.
Against the people who had forgotten who the true hero was.
He had crawled through the filthiest depths to reach this point, all for vengeance.
But if he summoned a demon?
He would lose his targets for revenge. That was something he could never allow.
“I will never use this key.”
Muttering to himself, Dorgo shoved the key deep into the recesses of the pocket space.