‘They must have come to plunder.’

In the Krobaichen Isthmus, lawless forces, like these pirates, were as present as sand on a beach.

Part of the reason why they were widely present was that the area was under no one’s control, but it was also because the Empires and various small kingdoms often hired these forces as mercenaries.

They did this because the maintenance of a permanent presence of troops in this conflict area for a prolonged period of time was wasteful.

On the other hand, the lawless forces managed to check hostile forces in exchange for only a few rights.

‘It doesn’t matter which side they’re on.’

Woohyuk had disguised himself in a clown-like costume.

Whatever he did here, he wouldn’t have to take responsibility.

So, if a dispute should arise, he was thinking of mercilessly subduing the pirates.

“Roan and Lisa. It’s your turns to go,” stated Woohyuk. 

“…”

“Yes, if I see any advantageous openings, I will respond immediately,” responded Lisa.

Lisa had a wide-area crowd control ability, so she could easily handle these pitiful pirates.

After a while, as expected, the pirates started challenging Woohyuk’s party.

“Oh~ hey girl, you have a nice shape~ Why don’t you show me a good time?” a pirate catcalled.

“What are you doing in such a dangerous place? Is your ladys.h.i.+p trying to seek asylum or refuge? I can take good care of you~” another pirate called out.

The main reason why non-lawless people entered the Krobaichen Isthmus or the nearby seas was because of exile.

As the pirates drooled and looked at the girls up and down, Helena became increasingly upset.

“Shut up, perverts! If you don’t turn around and scram, you’ll regret it.”

“Ha! Why should we do that? Especially since there’s such a delicious delicacy in front of us.”

“I’ll make sure you have a good time tonight. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a beauty in this desolate neighborhood.”

The pirates were salivating as they pictured Helena lying naked in bed.

As the pirates moved forward, Woohyuk turned his head and sent a signal to Lisa.

“… I will take care of it,” replied Lisa almost mechanically.

Lisa lifted her staff with an expressionless face.

Then, a group of pirates knelt at once with pain-filled expressions on their faces.

“Ugh!”

“M-My body! I can’t move my body!”

The pirates would have shuddered if any of the 72 Demon Kings appeared, so it went without saying that they were powerless against the Homunculus’ crowd control ability.

Helena sighed as the situation ended easily,

“Really, that’s why beauties always suffer. I’m so bored of wicked men fawning over me all the time.”

“Okay.”

There were countless number of such bandits in the Krobaichen Isthmus.

Since he had already sent out the undead on a reconnaissance mission, Woohyuk wanted to find a suitable place to wait for their news.

He looked around and pointed to a castle ruin in the distance.

“Once the day is over, let’s stay there. Two more days are required for the crescent moon to rise. Let’s take this time to restore the Nag Hammadi Chronicles.”

“That sounds good. Since you have the soul stone from the ruins of Einherjar, we can proceed with the restoration work.”

It wouldn’t be too late to attack the other nearby historical sites after restoring the Chronicles.

Woohyuk led his party forward while organizing what needed to be done in the future.

Within the interior of the ornately decorated Demon Castle.

Demon King Agares, the 2nd ranking Demon King, awakened from her long period of sleep.

“Hmm…”

As soon as she regained consciousness, her devastating defeat in the Great Demon War came to mind.

The demon army was overpowered by the G.o.ds and humans, and the 72 Demon Kings pledged to carry on the fight on another day. They were forced to fall asleep, one by one.

Among them, Agares was sealed quite late. Therefore, she opened my eyes and regained consciousness a bit later than the other Demon Kings.

“You have finally opened your eyes, Agares,” Loengreen happily stated while standing alone in the private sleeping quarters.

Agares looked at Loengreen and smiled lightly before saying,

“It’s been a while, Loengreen.”

Loengreen was a special demon. It was hard to find any other demon with his origins in the demon world.

Loengreen possessed a name from birth, and his abilities at that tender young age were strong enough to match that of the 72 Demon Kings in the middle and low ranks.

That’s why Agares had always loved and cared for Loengreen.

Thus, Agares often turned a blind eye whenever Loengreen created a scene or made a man his lover.

“A lot has happened while you were asleep. Shall I relay the updates now?” Loengreen kindly asked.

“Yes, since I overslept, I don’t have time to relax,” Agares answered.

“First off, regarding the other demons, of the 72 Demon Kings who were awakened, 17 have been sealed again. Among them is Amon, who is ranked 7th.”

“… What?”

Agares looked at Loengreen with a stupefied expression.

Then Loengreen explained the details,

“There is a human man named Chun Woohyuk. He is in possession of Remegeton, and he also possesses the powers of the previous Demon Lord. However, he is not able to properly handle those powers yet.”

“… The previous Demon Lord? Are you saying that a Demon Lord existed before Lilith’s promise to bring down the demon species?”

The Demon World, where the 72 Demon King existed, was only one of the countless dimensions that existed in the universe.

Therefore, it was not surprising that Agares didn’t know the existence of Asura, the previous Demon Lord, who existed on a higher level.

Loengreen would also not have known this if he hadn’t met Woohyuk.

Meanwhile, Lilith and Aleister had known about Asura for a long time.

“Yes, and the Demon Throne is currently empty. Lilith is trying to get Chun Woohyuk to sit there,” Loengreen went on to explain.

“Lilith… what can that crazy woman get from his ascent? Are you sure this Chun Woohyuk is on her side?” Agares asked.

“No. Just watching things unfold, it seems that Aleister is in close contact with Chun Woohyuk. It seems that Aleister is developing Chun Woohyuk by giving him the appropriate challenges and tools.”

Though Lilith constantly said that she would create a new world of magic by rewriting the beginning of the world, no one knew the reason for her ultimate goal.

It was quite possible that she was trying to develop the seed of a previous Demon Lord and give birth to an almighty descendant…

“Is she trying to get revenge on Adam and Eve? To overcome the old trauma,” Agares murmured.

Or it could simply be hate.

There was a saying that if a woman embraces hate, even frost would fall on the hottest day.

“Anyway, there are a few more issues besides Lilith. One of them is a quest recently given to humans.”

“What is the content of the quest?”

“The ultimate goal is to fill the four of the newly emptied Divine Thrones. One of the requirements involved sealing the 72 Demon Kings.”

“… It seems the Creator is trying to hold us in check. Is it because of the demon that Lilith is trying to bring forth?”

A transcendent being on the opposite side of the Creator.

The system couldn’t be properly maintained if a transcendent being started to run wild.

Loengreen nodded in agreement before continuing,

“It seems that there are more complex problems than what could be seen on the surface. Thus, the remaining Demon Kings are gathering and discussing what to do in the future.”

“What do you think, Loengreen? Is the new advent demon someone we need on our side?”

Agares was a high-ranking Demon King who was more moderate in her behavior and open to discussion.

Loengreen nodded again at her question,

“Up to now, the demons have been used only as a means of maintaining the Creator’s system. But looking at its roots, we can never be said to be part of the system. So, I think it’s better to have a Demon Lord sit atop the throne than play nice in the Creator’s playpen.”

“… I knew you would think so,” Agares warily answered.

Loengreen, who always pursued n.o.ble values, vehemently denied any formal order.

This was because he felt order suppressed the world of free art and deprived the world of vitality.

Agares looked out the window for a moment and then spoke,

“I wanted to meet him.”

“Chun Woohyuk?”

“Yes. I wonder what kind of human he is. What is his purpose?”

“You will definitely like him. He’s a very special human being,” Loengreen answered.

Loengreen had a favorable feeling for Woohyuk.

As he stepped back, Agares muttered with a bitter look,

“It seems he’s like another Roland. Someone who you had to let go at the end…”

She hoped that this new hope wouldn’t fall asleep before her this time around.

Hwi-Ahh!

The storm winds began to rush and whistle outside the window as if reflecting her lonely feelings.

“Finally, the new moon has risen,” muttered Woohyuk.

“I know, right. I’m exaggerating a bit, but I feel like I waited for about two years,” Helena added on.

Their time at Krobaichen Isthmus seemed to drag on.

There were no special threats or incidents.

However, since this was the beginning, the group looked nervous and anxious.

Ssssssss.

Against the backdrop of the crescent moon in the night sky, a ruin rose from a desolate land.

At first glance, it looked like an Arabian palace.

From within, one could hear women’s laughter and harp performances accompanied by a brilliant light.

“Is that a device to seduce men? It’s so like a demon site. It’s really one-dimensional,” Helena stated.

“Men are surprisingly weak against these things,” commented Woohyuk.

In fact, Roan was drooling and appealing with his eyes for Woohyuk to quickly enter.

Woohyuk clicked his tongue and then stepped inside the ruins with his party.

Kwi-Eek.

Bam!

The entrance door firmly closed behind them after they entered.

However, knowing that it was going to happen in advance, no one seemed to mind.

“By the way, no one came out when we entered. It looks like everyone who challenged this quest is dead. The difficulty level must be quite high.”

“This is a little different from other historic sites, Arhen. It’s similar to the Vampire’s Sand Temple in that it was built to play with invaders.”

After all, it was the purpose of the demon hiding here to make all the intruders fight and kill each other.

Hearing Woohyuk’s explanation, Helena tiredly replied,

“It’s similar to the Sand Temple ruins? I really dislike survival games…”

“It can’t be helped. It’s this demon’s taste. There’s a high probability that the Death Alchemist is here.”

They couldn’t find the Death Alchemist at the other sites on the Isthmus.

All they found were looting bandit groups wherever they went.

As Woohyuk’s party was walking along the path towards a bizarre stone statue…

[Welcome to Phantom’s Temple of h.e.l.l]

[From now on, you will be playing fun games with me.]

[Please choose the game difficulty level.]

[Beginner Mode]          [Normal Mode]             [Hard Mode]                [h.e.l.l Mode]

A series of system messages arose before each person’s eyes.

“Difficulty level?”

“What should I choose for this?”

The group looked at Woohyuk with confused expressions.

“h.e.l.l Mode,” Woohyuk answered without missing a beat.

Helena asked again with an expression of objection,

“No, why should we choose h.e.l.l Mode? Will it give us more rewards if we choose h.e.l.l Mode? Didn’t you say it was a ruin built to pit intruders against each other?”

“Only in h.e.l.l Mode can we get out of here without any victims,” Woohyuk replied.

In Beginner Mode, only one survives,

In Normal Mode, only two survive,

In Hard Mode, only three survive,

Anyone could clear the game and survive in h.e.l.l Mode.

Of course, the difficulty increases based on the number of people.

At Woohyuk’s explanation, Helena muttered with a lost expression,

“I’m not going to go. I’ll just wait outside…”

However, it was too late.

When everyone in the group pressed h.e.l.l Mode, the area was surrounded by a dazzling light.