Eventually, the pitch-black sphere expanded and touched Aleister’s defensive barrier…

KwJi-Ji-Ji!

The black current inside the sphere was amplified, and a crack appeared in Aleister’s s.h.i.+eld.

“Ho…! It seems you’ve put a lot of thought into this,” Aleister nodded as he praised Woohyuk.

However, this turn of events only lasted for a moment.

He turned into a shadow and easily slipped out of Woohyuk’s black sphere.

“What is your ident.i.ty?” Woohyuk asked.

“As I said before… I’m nothing more or less than Lilith’s shadow,” Aleister said with a relaxed smile.

This time, Woohyuk attempted to constrain Aleister using Asura’s Absolute s.p.a.ce.

“If you’re just a shadow, you can surely be killed.”

“Is that so? Shadows do not die. They just disappear,” Aleister shouted out. He then proceeded to avoid the Demon Kings’ attacks.

In the meantime, he called upon the Witch Cult members to conduct a ritual to summon the Ancient Demon, Lucifer.

Pu-Wook!

Pu-Wook!

The elves who were tied to the torture devices were sacrificed one by one by the witches.

“What would you do by summoning an Ancient Demon?” Woohyuk asked.

“To give you trials. That’s all. I’ve told you before.”

The advent of the demon and purification of the world.

Those were the two key phrases Aleister repeated regarding his philosophy and beliefs.

Woohyuk frowned and wondered how he could stop him.

‘As Helena said, I must never let my emotions get the better of me.’

That was the end Aleister wanted.

This was because Aleister believed that it would be enough if Woohyuk transformed into a demon and brought chaos to the world.

Therefore, Woohyuk had to find a realistic answer while staying calm.

‘He said he was Lilith’s shadow.’

The shadow was not a reality, but an illusion of reality.

In other words, the Aleister that confronted him was nothing more than a mirage.

If so, finding the essence was the key to resolving this problem.

‘That means this guy’s body… isn’t here!’

To be precise, it did not exist in this dimension.

Woohyuk recalled the scene where Paimon hid himself in the cracks of the abyss while attacking during the battle in the Enoa Kingdom.

Aleister was probably utilizing the same concept.

As he made his decision, Woohyuk expanded his senses and tried to feel the essential, physical existence of Aleister.

‘There it is.’

Perhaps because he used Asura’s Absolute s.p.a.ce, he could faintly make out Aleister’s essence.

The location of his essence was far above the place where Aleister’s shadow was located.

Woohyuk swung Verserios and sent out a pitch-black wave towards the estimated location.

ChwAhhhhhh!

The dimension split and a black shadow fell and disappeared.

At the same time, Aleister’s shadow spewed black blood from his mouth.

“Keuk…!”

Finally, he was able to inflict damage on him.

Woohyuk didn’t stop at this and quickly narrowed the gap toward the essence’s location.

Pounce!

Woohyuk touched the King’s Book.

At that time, Aleister, who was still, raised his head and opened his mouth,

“Excellent. But it’s still not enough.”

Aleister’s shadow suddenly turned into several dark spears and penetrated Woohyuk’s body.

Pu-Wook!

Pu-Wook!

It happened so close and quickly that he had no way of avoiding the attack.

However, Woohyuk didn’t let go of the King’s Book.

“What’s not enough… is you!”

Woohyuk grit his teeth and swung Verserios.

Then, once again, the dimension split, and the black shadow pattered and disappeared.

“Keuk!”

The dark spears that had pierced Woohyuk disappeared and Aleister appeared, vomiting blood.

Aleister also suffered considerable damage.

The black shadow hiding behind the dimension corresponded to his physical being, his essence.

“It was true that you were a shadow.”

“… Ho. I’ll admit, you’re definitely stronger and wiser than before. That makes me very happy.”

Aleister grinned and reached out into the air.

Then, the black shadow appeared and absorbed the remote shadow into the palm of his hands. Aleister’s appearance disappeared.

“Are you running away again?”

“I am just waiting for the next stage. We are all puppets that move according to an invisible thread. If the stage isn’t ready, we can’t dance together.”

“Bulls.h.i.+t!”

Woohyuk raised Verserios and pursued the place where he last felt Aleister’s presence.

However, Aleister’s essence had completely disappeared beyond the dimension.

‘… At least I got my hands on the King’s Book.’ 

He wasn’t sure whether it was deliberately handed over or whether he obtained it through his cunning strategy.

Regardless, with the King’s Book, he could now stop the Ancient Demons from being summoned into the world by halting the ritual process.

After releasing Asura’s Absolute s.p.a.ce, Woohyuk dispatched the witches who were beheading the Elves.

Slice!

Slice!

The Witches’ bodies were scattered on the floor like puppets who had their strings cut.

After getting rid of all the Witches, Woohyuk released Ophelia and Reina.

“I’m already done for, Rhine King. Save the other children…”

Ophelia pointed to her abdomen, which was being mutated.

The mutation meant that she was gradually dying.

However, Reina shook her head as she cried,

“No! Ophelia, you can live!”

“Reina is right. You still have one chance.”

As a result of pa.s.sing Hevnia’s Tomb, Woohyuk obtained the Power of Resuscitation.

Reina opened her eyes wide as he restored Ophelia.

“Oh, how is that kind of magic possible…”

“For right now, cover your bodies.”

The two elves were naked.

As the girls blushed and covered themselves up with both hands, Woohyuk walked towards Alice.

“f.u.c.k, you guys endure like c.o.c.kroaches!”

She was still fighting with his party members.

However, with Woohyuk’s introduction, the stage gradually ended.

ChwAhhhhhh!

Verserios breathed out black flames and tore Alice’s left wing.

Infuriated by this, Alice tried to counterattack, but Sieg and Bailey dug in from the side and restricted her movement.

Then,

ChwAhhhhhh!

Brynhildr swung her Valkyrie spear and tore Alice’s right wing.

“Get away! I don’t want to die!”

As if she felt a sense of crisis, Alice desperately swung her sword.

At the same time, a crimson lightning strikes from the sky struck down again and again.

KwKwKwKwKwKwKw.a.n.g!

She tried to separate herself from her enemies with lightning magic.

However, Woohyuk absorbed the lightning magic with the Nocturne of the Crescent Moon.

“It’s over now, Alice.”

Woohyuk grabbed Alice’s neck with a cold voice.

He then proceeded to crush her neck with a grip strong enough to pulverize rock into dust.

Crack.

No matter if she was the Queen of Thorns, her vertebrae had been snapped, so she couldn’t move.

Alice sobbed as she collapsed lifelessly onto the floor,

Pu-Wook!

Verserios breathed black flames and pierced her heart.

“Keuk!”

Alice vomited black blood and soon stopped breathing.

Roan sighed as he saw the scene.

“Phew… finally, that p.r.i.c.kly b.i.t.c.h is finally dead.”

“Remain vigilant. Don’t let your guard down.”

Woohyuk shook his head and pointed towards Alice’s fallen body.

Then, her hollow heart began to regenerate with red energy.

Startled, Maria asked Woohyuk while covering her mouth,

“She doesn’t die even if you pierce her heart… Then how do you kill her?”

“Well. I’ll have to figure something out.”

Alice couldn’t be as domineering again as before, as long as he stopped her from fully regenerating her body.

Woohyuk plunged Verserios into her heart and spoke,

“If possible, Alice will be sent to Aris to use as research material. It will be of great help in nurturing chimeras and undead in the future.”

“Uh… that’s gross. To experiment with living beings like that…” Helena said as she frowned and looked down at Alice’s lifeless body.

Brynhildr also complained,

“Wouldn’t it be better to burn such an uncomfortable being? We don’t know when or how she may resurrect again…”

“Huh? You guys aren’t talking about me, right? I just arrived. What a surprise,” Hong Yuri, who had just entered the entrance, said as she stared at the party members happily.

She had taken care of the Kazak so that the party could enter the palace.

Woohyuk shook his head on behalf of his party.

“Don’t worry. You haven’t gone this crazy yet, so we don’t have to do this to you now.”

“Humph…” Hong Yuri turned her head with a frown.

When the battle was settled, Woohyuk and his party had a conversation with Ophelia after releasing all the Elves in the palace.

“Thank you so much for saving me earlier, Rhine King. How can I ever repay this grace…”

“As I said earlier, I’ll be taking Reina and Allen. Of course, I’d like to maintain a friendly relations.h.i.+p with you and the Elven people in the future.”

“Huh?! Why are you taking me? Allen is human, so I can understand…” Reina screamed out in fright and took a few steps back.

However, Ophelia nodded as a sign of consent.

“It doesn’t matter. Since you favor this child, you shall have her. The same goes for Allen.”

“Oh-Ophelia…”

Reina couldn’t refute anymore and bowed her head.

Helena, who saw Reina’s defeated appearance, looked displeased.

“Reina seems to want to comfortably eat apples in the forest. Of course, she also eats lemon jelly well.”

“… Are you worried that your snacks will be taken, Helena?” Woohyuk asked as he looked at Helena with a dumbfounded expression.

Then Ophelia, who was listening to the conversation, burst into laughter.

“Oh… what the h.e.l.l is Lemon Jelly? Are we fighting each other for that?”

“Have you never had one, Ophelia?”

“I have never given any thought about snacks in the first place, King of Rhine. For a long time, our Elves have lived on the things that grow in the forests and fields.”

Ophelia repeated what Reina had said long ago.

Woohyuk took out a container of lemon jelly from his pouch.

“Huh?! Didn’t you say you only had one container left?”

“If I said I had more then you wouldn’t stop asking me for them, Witch of Annihilation.”

Woohyuk pushed Helena out of the way and put a lemon jelly into Ophelia’s hand.

Ophelia thought about it for a while, went along with this comical farce, and put the lemon jelly in her mouth.

“…!”

“It tastes pretty good, no?”

“… I’ve lived so long without knowing that there was such food. As an Elf Queen, I feel such deep sorrow.”

Ophelia shed tears as if she was moved.

Reina turned scarlet red in embarra.s.sment when she saw this and screamed out,

“Why, why are you crying, Ophelia…”

“You’ve been a good girl to endure through these difficult times, Reina. This world gave me all kinds of pain and sorrow, but it also brought joy, like this lemon jelly.”

Ophelia continued to concentrate on and praise the lemon jelly.

Reina, who had lost her words, turned her head towards Woohyuk.

“You needed to take responsibility. Ophelia has turned strange.”

“If it’s not enough, I’ll send a messenger and send you more later, Ophelia.”

With a container of lemon jelly, Woohyuk completely conquered Ophelia’s heart.