Episode 455: Return to the Demonic Cult
Nung Un-pa’s eyes trembled violently.
“How… how could this happen? How did it come to this?”
He gritted his teeth, slicing through the dozens of tentacles lunging at him with his Whirlwind Sword Technique.
The scene before him was too horrific to witness with open eyes.
“Is this what true corruption looks like?”
Humans, their flesh torn by the pig-headed demons, seemed possessed by a ravenous hunger, madly attacking their fellow warriors to devour them.
A woman laughed hysterically as she watched comrades feast on each other, while a man assaulted her without hesitation.
It was a writhing mass of human desire, tangled together like a swarm of insects.
These were the same warriors who, just moments ago, had stood for justice and determination, trying to prevent the descent of the Demon King.
“How… how could this be…?”
Blood trickled from the corner of Nung Un-pa’s mouth.
He had bitten his lip too hard.
Even the most seasoned warriors, shouting themselves hoarse to rally their comrades, couldn’t stop the spread of this corruption, which spread like a plague.
Suddenly, the ground at the center of the descent site bulged, and a dark shadow shot up into the sky.
Kuaaaaaa!
Simultaneously, the earth shook, and a pillar of fire erupted.
“Argh!”
“Ugh!”
The warriors battling at the center were thrown back, screaming.
What soared into the night sky was a massive beast.
Nung Un-pa squinted, watching the creature with large wings take flight.
“What on earth is that?”
With a swift motion, Seung Ryong Daeju, who had just decapitated a demon soldier, looked up and answered.
“It looks like a giant lizard with wings.”
“It must be the dragon that the Sa Bi-gang leader spoke of!”
A nearby deputy shouted, confirming the suspicion.
The creature, with its red skin, was indeed a corrupted Red Dragon.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Red Dragon circled above, flapping its enormous wings, then suddenly dove, spewing fire.
Kwarararararara!
“Run! Argh!”
“It’s burning hot!”
Before this overwhelming presence, the warriors were as helpless as ants.
Most of them couldn’t escape the flames raining down from above and were reduced to ashes.
The sight was a shock to all the warriors of the Justice Alliance.
Nung Un-pa trembled, unable to speak.
Cries of ecstasy and agony, and the hellish flames—this was no longer the Central Plains.
It was a hell where human reason was lost, and only instinct and desire thrived.
An invisible barrier arched over the golems that formed the wall, making escape impossible.
Clang!
Nung Un-pa dropped his sword.
Seung Ryong Daeju, standing beside him, widened his eyes.
“Leader?”
“We can’t win… It’s all my fault.”
“Leader! You can’t give up now!”
Seung Ryong Daeju shouted, his eyes brimming with tears.
Nung Un-pa shook his head with a bitter smile.
“Can’t you see this horrific scene? Even our own warriors have lost their minds and fallen into corruption. And now, an insurmountable being has appeared. This is beyond human capability.”
“But there’s still…!”
“This war is my defeat… no, humanity’s defeat…”
At that moment, Nung Un-pa’s eyes widened.
He wondered if he was seeing things.
But there it was, clear as day—a shadow shooting up from afar.
It was none other than Sa Bi-gang, racing through the air towards the dragon.
Seung Ryong Daeju, noticing as well, shouted with excitement.
“Leader! It’s Sa Bi-gang!”
“Indeed, it is.”
In an instant, Sa Bi-gang vanished from sight, only to reappear above the dragon’s head.
Sa Bi-gang’s fearless actions and formidable skills had been witnessed countless times.
But to charge at such a massive, powerful creature in one leap…
Meanwhile, Sa Bi-gang, having blinked onto the Red Dragon’s head, swung Berthas down vertically.
“Die!”
Clang!
The clash between Berthas and the dragon’s head produced a deafening metallic sound.
The impact was so great that the golem wall trembled.
Kuaaaaaa!
The Red Dragon, enraged, retreated with a fierce roar.
In the next moment, its eyes narrowed.
[Human…?]
“What? Are you going to spout nonsense about how insignificant we are? You’re just a pathetic creature serving the demons despite being born a dragon!”
[W-what…?]
“I’m done wasting time with a lowly dragon like you! You bastard!”
Surely, Sa Bi-gang was the first to compare a dragon to a dog.
The Red Dragon felt three emotions at once: anger, surprise, and despair.
Whoosh!
Behind Sa Bi-gang appeared the unmistakable aura of a dragon.
It was indeed the Red Dragon’s aura, which collided violently with the dragon.
Boom!
The sound was as if the sky itself was splitting.
As the dragon was sent flying like a cannonball, Sa Bi-gang blinked again, appearing behind it.
Simultaneously, he raised his energy once more and brought Berthas down vertically.
“This is the end!”
Boom!
Whoosh!
The dragon, struck mercilessly, plummeted to the ground like a comet.
Boom!
With a tremendous noise and a cloud of dust, the dragon crashed and moved no more.
Sa Bi-gang looked at the dragon’s corpse and muttered coldly.
“A creature not even worthy of the dragon lineage… A useless piece of trash. Ptooey!”
With that, the stage of wrath was surpassed.
The sudden appearance of the Red Dragon was over, but the seeds of anger likely lingered in the minds of those affected by the terraforming.
‘The longer we stay, the more dangerous it becomes. We must leave as soon as possible.’
Sa Bi-gang gripped Berthas tightly.
He wished he could summon Natas to fight, but during this terraforming, summoning was impossible.
Natas, too, was a demon spirit, bound by the rules of the Seven Deadly Sins.
‘Three stages remain.’
And these stages would come all at once.
**
“This is impossible…!”
Gu Yoon trembled.
He couldn’t believe the scene unfolding before him.
Though he hadn’t lived a long life, he’d never witnessed anything so surreal.
Standing on the cliff, he instinctively took a step forward, raising his spyglass to his eyes.
One more step, and he might have fallen.
But it wasn’t the abyss below that frightened him.
It was the fact that everything happening before him defied his predictions.
For a strategist, this was the worst-case scenario.
Unpredictable, uncontrollable, incomprehensible!
After the creation of the barrier, a burst of golden energy erupted, and the people within the descent site vanished without a trace.
In their place was a frozen lake.
Whether it had always been a lake or transformed by the demonic ritual was unclear.
What was clear was that the frozen surface reflected the warriors who had been transported elsewhere.
At first, he thought he was caught in an illusion.
But if it were an illusion, there would have been some sign.
“How could this happen…?”
Gu Yoon trembled again.
The scene reflected on the frozen lake was nothing short of hell.
People laughing maniacally, being devoured by pig-headed demons, or consuming their comrades, mass assaults, rage, pride—people driven mad or falling into demonic possession.
It was chaos.
Yet, amidst it all, Sa Bi-gang’s battle with the Red Dragon was awe-inspiring.
But the truth was, humanity was on the path to self-destruction.
The massive trunk was hardening like stone, embedding itself into the ground, forming a fortress.
“Where is that place? Is that the real descent site? Then what is this? Was it some kind of altar?”
Knowing there was no one to answer, Gu Yoon muttered meaninglessly.
His legs felt weak.
Not only had they failed to rescue the injured, but they were on the verge of losing all the warriors who had joined the hunt.
Staggering, Gu Yoon barely managed to steady himself.
At that moment,
“Behold. This is the true nature of you humans. A little temptation, and your base instincts are laid bare.”
A youthful voice pierced through the air, startling Gu-yoon so much that he spun around in shock.
Standing there was a girl he had never seen before.
Yet, from the descriptions he had heard from Sabigang, he instinctively knew she was “Jonya.”
How had she managed to get so close without him noticing?
A warning echoed in his mind from Biryung, his guardian spirit.
[Be careful!]
Gu-yoon nodded inwardly and slowly began to speak.
“You are…!”
“You humans are truly arrogant. And from what I know, the martial artists of this ‘Central Plains’ are the epitome of that arrogance. But look at them now. Even those who were once so proud have become slaves to their instincts, revealing their baseness.”
“What exactly are you?” Gu-yoon asked, frowning.
Jonya ignored his question and continued with her own monologue.
“Why do you think they’ve fallen so far?”
“Well, it’s because of the ritual you performed…”
Jonya let out a cold, mocking laugh, cutting him off.
She walked over to a tree with bare, brittle branches that looked as if they might snap at any moment. Picking up a grain of sand with her fingers, she turned back to Gu-yoon.
“My ritual? Do you think I gave them some grand provocation?”
”…”
“I merely tossed a single grain of sand.”
As she let the sand fall, one of the dry branches snapped off with a soft crack.
Jonya’s gaze deepened as she looked at Gu-yoon.
“You crumble on your own, blaming everything on your environment. Humans collapse so easily when given the slightest excuse.”
Gu-yoon lowered his head, a cold wind sweeping across the cliff.
After a moment, he spoke in a faint voice.
”…Enough.”
“What?”
Jonya’s brow furrowed slightly.
Gu-yoon lifted his head, meeting her gaze directly. His eyes burned with an intensity she hadn’t seen before.
“You’re just… so noisy.”
“What did you say?”
“If the person I know were here, they’d probably say, ‘Who doesn’t know that already?’”
“What are you talking about?”
“Humans are well aware of their own deceitfulness. It’s because of that weakness that we strive to understand and improve ourselves. Mastering martial arts is part of that journey. That’s why humans are strong, and why we become even stronger!”
Gu-yoon’s eyes flashed open, as if signaling something.
Whoosh!
A fierce wind surged forward, and in that instant, Biryung launched a surprise attack on Jonya.
Clang!
Amazingly, Jonya blocked Biryung’s sword with just a casual wave of her hand.
Both Biryung and Gu-yoon were taken aback.
“Just like that?”
Jonya’s expression darkened.
“As expected… you humans are pathetic.”
Thud!
Crash!
“Biryung!”
With a swift motion, Jonya struck Biryung, sending him flying several yards before he crashed into a tree trunk and fell to the ground.
Jonya cracked her neck, her eyes settling on Gu-yoon with a chilling calm.
“It’s best to kill annoying pests quickly.”
In that moment, a deadly glint flashed in Jonya’s eyes.