After Ten Millennia in Hell

Chapter 506 - Day of the Apocalypse (3)

Rumble—!!!

A giant heat storm swept throughout the concrete city. The demons that were caught in the explosion were reduced to ashes and scattered. The day of the Apocalypse, which Bael's army had dreamed of, began with the wretched screens of demons.

"Kurgh!" Amon grunted.

The intense heat was penetrating his demonic energy barrier and burning his skin.

Sizzle—!!

Pus oozed out from his skin as excruciating pain attacked him.

'How...?'

Amon's eyes widened. He stared at the giant explosion that had swept the surroundings. Such firepower could not have been possible unless the humans had prepared in advance for the invasion of Bael's army.

'They must have found out about the day of the Apocalypse...!'

That was the only possible explanation.

"Gaaaahhh!" Amon groaned as unpleasantly as nails on a chalkboard.

He gripped his staff tightly and hunched back even more.

"Tent of Evil!" he chanted.

Amon had no idea how the Demon King acquired information about the day of the Apocalypse, but he did not have the leeway to think about it.

Crackle—!

A black tent spread out in front of Amon and covered Bael's army, deflecting the barrage of light rays from the mage Players and the angels.

"Whoa, the fuck? You've gotten pretty strong in the time I haven't seen you!" said Oh Kang-Woo, looking down at the black tent.

Amon was well-known in Hell as a demonic scholar even during Kang-Woo's days as the Demon King, but his strength was only in academics; he was of no threat whatsoever combat-wise. However, seeing Amon single-handedly blocking the barrage of attacks from Players and angels, he was no longer the weakling scholar whom Kang-Woo knew.

"Tsk, tsk." Kang-Woo clicked his tongue and shook his head in disappointment. "This is why power balancing is important. Make someone too overpowered and the author is forced to power everyone up like it's some clearance sale."

"Kurgh!"

"You think so too, right, Amon? If you were to be set up as nothing but a scholar, you should've stayed that way. How does it make any sense for the story if you just power up out of nowhere?"

"Shut up, Demon King!!!"

"And one more thing, dammit. What is a mastermind-in-the-shadows character like you doing in the vanguard? Huh? Why is a mage like you the first to come out?"

'You Galdalf?'

"Guh..."

Blood vessels bulged from Amon's forehead. He had seen the frivolous side of the Demon King many times, but he couldn't help but surge with rage now that he was the target of ridicule.

"Huff, huff," Amon panted heavily.

He raised his staff and stomped his foot.

Boom!

A massive wave of demonic energy spread out in all directions like a rock dropped into a pond. The wave began to push back the barrage of attacks.

"Man, you sure are going all out for a frail son of a bitch." Kang-Woo crossed his arms and looked down leisurely at Amon. "Now, then." He slowly raised his hand and smiled crookedly. "Try blocking this."

He pressed a button on his earbud communication device, made by Khadgar's blood, sweat, and tears.

"Darling."

- Yes, Kang-Woo.

"Cast the buffs."

After his concise instruction, a massive pillar of light shot up into the sky from where the barrage of light was coming from.

"That's..." Amon slurred with his eyes widened. He knew exactly what the twelve wings overlapped with the pillar of light signified. He hurriedly shouted, "Disperse!! Disperse right now!!"

The army of demons, who were marching in formation like highly-trained soldiers, clumsily scattered as per Amon's command. Their airtight formation crumbled almost instantly.

"Right, here comes another one!" Kang-Woo cackled and spread out his arms widely. "Art!!"

Whoooom!!

Mana, incomparable to the amount from before, poured from the defense line once Han Seol-Ah's buffs were cast.

"Is an explosiooooooooon!"

Rumble—!

The magic circle that the mage Rankers and angels spent an entire month creating brightly shone blue.

"Kyahahahahahaha!!" A blonde angel standing at the center of the magic circle with a bottle of alcohol in one hand laughed madly.

It was Gabriel, the archangel who had worked the hardest to make the magic circle.

"So these are Lady Seraph's buffs, huh?! This is just cheating!!"

Gabriel's face reddened as she trembled. Kang-Woo had been hiding the fact that Seraph's soul was lying dormant within Seol-Ah, but he revealed it in advance so that there would be no chaos during the final battle. However, this was the first time Seol-Ah directly revealed her power.

Gabriel burst into laughter as she felt the extraordinary effects of Seol-Ah's buffs. "Kyahahahaha! I thought this girlie only had her breasts going for her, but she had something even more amazing!"

"Ah, u-umm... P-Please don't suddenly touch my breasts..."

"Hihihi! Okay, okay. Right, then!"

Gabriel, who had been feeling up Seol-Ah, sprouted her wings, threw aside her bottle of alcohol, and narrowed her eyes sharply.

"Those tainted by darkness," she said coldly, unlike how much she was laughing a few seconds ago.

The Players and angels around her placed their hands on the magic circle.

Gabriel stared coldly at Bael's army and declared, "Receive the judgment of light."

Rumble—!!

Rays of light poured down like rainfall from the shining magic circle.

Kang-Woo frowned as he stared at Gabriel standing at the center of the magic circle.

"That bitch, how dare she lay her hands on my Darling...?"

He wanted nothing more than to smack her on the back of the head this instant, but it was not the time.

"What the...?! Are you planning on wiping out the entire continent?!" Amon shouted as he was just barely blocking the light rays.

Kang-Woo smirked. As Amon had said, the barrage of light rays was powerful enough to wipe out not just Seoul but the entire Korean Peninsula.

"You think I don't know that?" Kang-Woo said.

"... What?"

Amon frowned and looked around. The light rays were reflecting off of the barrier surrounding the entirety of Seoul and falling on the demons. It was as if a flamethrower was being used in a small room. The energy trapped within the barrier was destroying everything inside.

"Kurghhh!!"

Amon aggressively bit his lip.

'I have to destroy that magic circle first.'

They couldn't endure the barrage of attacks for much longer.

Amon raised his staff and chanted, "Zazas, zazas, nasatanada zazas."

"Mm, it kinda looks like our roles are reversed."

Kang-Woo tilted his head and looked down at Amon, who was doing his best to block the rain of attacks.

'I feel like the villain.'

Amon, who was blocking the barrage as he chanted spells, looked more like a hero protecting his comrades than a demon trying to end the world.

"Well, not like it was any different before."

Kang-Woo laughed as he looked down at the demons scattering all over the place like flies.

'Not a bad start.'

Amon being in the vanguard worked in their favor. A mage needed time and safety to display their full potential; if Amon had cast magic from a safe space at the rear, they would not have been able to deal this much damage to Bael's army.

'But...'

Guardians still did not have the upper hand despite dealing considerable damage to Bael's forces.

'This is only the beginning.'

They had overpowered the demons using the element of surprise, but it was short-lived.

'Here they come.'

Kang-Woo slowly turned around and saw ancient demonic beasts over twenty meters tall running out of the Rift.

"Grrrrrrrrrrr!!"

The ancient demonic beasts used their extraordinary physical prowess to charge right through the barrage of light rays.

'It's not enough.'

Although a few demonic beasts died from being unable to handle the barrage, the demons began their charge by using the demonic beasts as their shield.

"For Lord Bael!!"

"For the Apocalypse!!"

The demons who managed to get out of the barrage's range flew toward the defense line. Kang-Woo gripped Ingrium on his waist as he stared at them.

"... No."

He shook his head after some thought. Taking action himself would certainly tilt the momentum in the favor of Earth's forces.

'But Bael has yet to make an appearance.'

He and Bael were the ones who would decide who would win or lose. As long as Bael was keeping himself hidden, Kang-Woo couldn't take reckless action either.

'I need to dissociate myself from those small fry.'

Kang-Woo needed to keep his focus on Bael.

'And...'

Kang-Woo smiled; he had already prepared a method to wipe out the demons flying toward the defense line.

"Destroy that magic circle first!!"

Several thousand demons had flown out of the range of the barrage. There were so many that they covered the sky.

[Gods of Olympus.]

Just then, Gaia walked out from the defense line. Behind her were other gods, who had manifested into Earth, glaring at the demons with weapons in hand.

[Bring down judgment on the forces of evil who have dared to set foot on the Triad!]

The gods of Olympus flew up toward the swarm of demons who had covered the sky. There were not many of them due to Bael's attack on Olympus, but each of them possessed Deific Essence.

Boom—!!

"Gaaaaaahhh!"

"Arghhh!"

The gods of Olympus flew right into the swarm of demons, the Deific Essence barrier protecting them, and began to tear the demons apart.

"Kuh." Amon frowned. He clenched his staff and shouted, "ingest the horn powder!"

Every demon raised the pouch hanging from their necks and poured its contents into their mouths.

Whoooom!!

Explosive demonic energy filled the sky.

[Kurgh...] Gaia grimaced. [So this is the power of Deicide.]

Just as Kang-Woo had told her, the demons had prepared a way to fight against those with Deific Essence.

Gaia stretched out her arm and shouted, [Fall back!]

It was impossible to slaughter the demons one-sidedly as they were doing before now that the demons possessed the power of Deicide.

"Raaaaaaahhh!!"

The demons roared ferociously and flew down to the defense line once the gods of Olympus retreated. It looked as if the night sky was falling on the ground.

"E-Eek!"

"Wh-What should we do?!"

The Players who were infusing mana into the magic circle looked around frantically.

"Stay focused on maintaining the magic circle!" Gabriel commanded.

However, the panic that had already been spread did not die down. No human could stay calm when a swarm of demons were flying down on them. The panic spread to the angels as well.

Clatter.

Just then, red chains enveloped the magic circle like a dome.

"Red Lotus, Eighth Form."

Step, step.

A slender woman with red hair spread out her arms and stood at the center of the magic circle.

Clatter—!

The hundreds of chains squirmed as if they were alive with each step the woman took.

"Red Lotus Kaleidoscope."

Swoosh—!!!

The red chains in the shape of a dome shot at the demons. The chains, which possessed the power of Deicide like the demons who ingested the horn powder, tore the demons apart.

"Finally..."

Cha Yeon-Joo clenched her fists as her shoulders trembled.

"Finally...!

She pumped her fists into the air.

"I finally get a badass scene!!"

Her sorrow, which had been built up from constant teasing by the Demon King, burst out all at once.