After Ten Millennia in Hell

It was obvious, but the country was turned upside down after the Isu Station incident. No, it wasn't just within the country but the entire world.

The Demon Cult…

It was the incident that made their existence known.

The world leaders weren't that surprised. They had already known about their existence and how dangerous they could be.

Most countries ordered the elimination of the Demon Cult, but it wasn't that effective.

The Demon Cult was strong and secretive.

Now that massive armies had been switched to small forces of Players in war, it was difficult to hold a large-scale investigation.

Rather than being more secretive, the Demon Cult no longer found the need to stay hidden and became even more active, causing chaos throughout the world.

Compared to other countries, Korea, the starting point of this global chaos which was similar to the chaos during the Day of Calamity five years ago, was rather peaceful. This was because Oh Kang-Woo had pretty much severed the root of the Demon Cult in Korea.

While the world's attention was focused on Korea, big forces were starting to move.

* * *

"I can finally move around comfortably."

A house located in Seoul station…

Kang-Woo, able to get out of bed after three days, stretched. He found it hard to recover from the side effects of using the Ten Thousand Demon Core, so he'd spent the last three days sleeping.

Kang-Woo, however, had finally fully recovered.

Click.

"Kang-Woo, why are you up?" asked Echidna.

"Because I'm feeling better. I think I can move around again."

"Don't push yourself too hard, Kang-Woo. It's okay if you rest a bit more. I'll take care of you."

Echidna grabbed Kang-Woo and tried to make him go to bed again.

Kang-Woo smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"No, I'm okay. I actually feel better than before after getting tons of rest."

"…"

Echidna looked a bit disappointed by how full of energy Kang-Woo was. She thought that the times of her being stuck next to him while taking care of him for the past three days had ended.

"Kang-Woo, don't push yourself anymore."

"Okay."

"That's what you always say, but you do it anyway," Echidna complained adorably and grabbed Kang-Woo's clothes. "What are we doing today, Kang-Woo?"

"Hmm. First, I want to get a grasp of the current situation."

He had more or less heard things, but not much on the details.

Kang-Woo opened the door and went to the living room.

"Hm?"

He saw Cha Yeon-Joo drinking tea with Han Seol-Ah.

"Huh? Why are you up already?" Yeon-Joo asked.

"Because I'm feeling better. More importantly, what are you doing here?"

"Hmph. What's wrong with taking a break in a house that I bought with my own money? Got a problem?"

Seol-Ah lightly giggled at Yeon-Joo's words.

"Yeon-Joo stops by every day because she's worried about you."

"Th-that's not true! Don't say weird things!" Yeon-Joo shouted, flustered.

Kang-Woo smirked.

"I was about to call you anyway. Perfect timing."

"You were?"

"Yeah. I wanted to know what's going on around the world."

"Hmph. Why don't you go back to bed like a good patient?"

"I told you that I'm all good now."

Yeon-Joo sighed and took a sip of tea. "First, Hanul Guild has been officially disbanded."

"And the remnants of the Demon Cult?"

"We arrested them, but… they all turned into monsters before we could interrogate them."

"Hmm."

Kang-Woo gulped. It seemed as if someone had made sure that information wouldn't leak.

"What about the cult itself?"

"We've been getting reports from all around the world, but… none of the cult's branches in other countries have blatantly shown themselves as they did in Korea. The chaos in Korea still hasn't died down yet."

Thousands of lives had been sacrificed. There was no way that the chaos would be resolved so quickly.

Kang-Woo nodded and began reading the news on his smartphone.

[Demon Cult, the global pseudo-religious organization, who are they and what is their goal…?]

[A hero has appeared! Attention to the Sword Dragon, Kim Si-Hun!]

[People continue to testify about the Sword Dragon Kim Si-Hun… A "supernova" has risen.]

[Creation of the Kim Si-Hun fan club. Sword Dragon Kim Si-Hun receives massive global attention.]

"I only see news about Si-Hun."

"Well, he was the first one to arrive and kill the demonic beasts to rescue civilians during the Isu Station incident."

Si-Hun was more handsome than the average celebrity and had saved ordinary civilians from demonic beasts like a hero. He was also strong enough for it to be unbelievable for him to have not been known all this while.

It would be weird if he didn't get attention.

"Why? Are you disappointed that he stole your thunder?" Yeon-Joo asked.

"No way."

Kang-Woo shrugged. He hated receiving unnecessary attention, and he even pitied Si-Hun, who had become a celebrity after the incident.

"Oh, and a force of one of the World Rankers has come to Korea."

"A World Ranker?"

"Yeah, and this World Ranker's force is called the Heavenly Sword Clan… a Chinese guild."

"Are they here for Si-Hun?"

"I'm not sure. They haven't done anything in particular yet, so we aren't sure about their intentions."

"Hmm."

Kang-Woo nodded. He thought it probably had nothing to do with him.

"Anyway. The Demon Cult's forces in Korea have been more or less wiped out… or so I'd like to think," Kang-Woo remarked.

"Yeah, although the ones in Korea were probably nothing but the tip of the iceberg."

Yeon-Joo's eyes shone sharply.

Kang-Woo looked at her. "You aren't planning to end your revenge here, right?"

"Of course not. I'm not stopping until I completely wipe them off the map."

"That's a good mindset."

After the Isu Station incident, it became obvious that the Demon Cult was too dangerous for Kang-Woo and the entire world.

Because the Gaia System was weakening, he couldn't even imagine what absurd methods they would use to increase their forces.

'I had never even imagined that it was possible to summon a demon within one's own body.'

He'd never thought humans could fuse with demons in such a way.

"So no Demon Cult members have been exposed in other countries?"

"Right. Although we've been receiving some reports, there hasn't been any detailed information."

"I see."

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes.

It would be impossible for him to search for the Demon Cult branches hidden all around the world.

'That would be beyond stupid.'

Finding the branch hidden in Korea was already hard enough, so searching for the branches that he had no idea where they could possibly be was far too inefficient.

'Right now, I have to get stronger.'

If it wasn't possible to attack, he just had to build a fortress to defend, a fortress they wouldn't dare to attack.

'First, I'll have to break through the level cap and figure out how to acquire the Ultimate Demonic Body.'

Since his level was capped, he wouldn't be able to grow stronger if he couldn't figure out the final condition for obtaining the Ultimate Demonic Body.

However, the problem was that he wasn't sure how to solve these two problems. If he had some sort of clue, he would be able to make a guess, but that wasn't the case.

'In that case…'

He couldn't waste any more time. He had to find something that he could do right away.

'Something that I can do right now and will be of help to me…'

The first thing that came to mind was raising his Demonic Energy stat through hunting. However, this would be as much of a waste of time as thinking about the other two problems because his Demonic Energy stat had surpassed 100.

Raising it through hunting wasn't very effective.

Kang-Woo closed his eyes and fell into thought.

"Oh."

At that moment, he thought of a possibility that he could do and that could be helpful to him.

"I'll have to call Si-Hun."

Kang-Woo took out his smartphone while smiling.

* * *

"Hyung-nim! Are you feeling okay now?"

After he called him, Kim Si-Hun appeared in less than 20 minutes.

Kang-Woo nodded. "More importantly, how are you doing? I've been seeing nothing but you on the news lately."

"Haha, please don't even get me started. People swarm me as soon as I even leave my house, so I can't even go hunting." Si-Hun took off his hat and mask in exasperation. "I'm considering buying a full face mask."

"Well, I don't really see the point of that after all this time, but… in any case, you must have it hard."

"I actually have a lot of complaints."

"Complaints?"

"Yes. Speaking frankly, I wasn't the one who resolved the Isu Station incident. That was you, Kang-Woo hyung-nim. It's you who should be praised as a hero," Si-Hun said in disappointment. He felt that he'd stolen Kang-Woo's achievement.

"I would hate that."

"You don't mind people not recognizing you for what you've done?"

"Receiving attention when I have nothing to gain just makes things bothersome. You literally just talked about how exhausting it is."

"That's true, but…" Si-Hun felt a bit disappointed that people weren't recognizing Kang-Woo for his achievement.

"I hate bothersome things."

"Hmm… If you say so, I guess there's nothing I can do. That aside, what did you call me for?"

"I have a favor I want to ask you."

"As long as it's something I can do, I'll do it," Si-Hun said with eyes burning with loyalty.

Kang-Woo laughed after watching him act as if he was willing to even give Kang-Woo his own liver.

"I want to learn martial arts."

"… Martial arts?"

Si-Hun tilted his head.

"Yup. You told me that you reached a new height some time ago, didn't you? What was it again…? One With the Sword, right?"

"Yes, but…"

"Not to that point, though. I just want to learn how to use weapons properly."

"Mmm…"

Si-Hun suppressed his groan. He wasn't hesitant because he didn't want to teach Kang-Woo martial arts but because of another reason.

He replied cautiously, "I'm not good enough to teach you, hyung-nim."

Kang-Woo was already far stronger than him.

Si-Hun teaching Kang-Woo was like a student teaching a teacher how to study.

Kang-Woo shook his head.

"No. I may be stronger than you in terms of power, but not if it's purely in terms of weapon technique."

Kang-Woo's techniques had been polished through countless battles—he'd never properly learned martial arts.

'Although they say that true martial arts are formless…'

But that could only be said by someone who had learned the forms.

Kang-Woo's techniques were purely practical techniques that had reached their ultimate form.

'I thought that was more than good enough, but…'

It would be a complete waste to leave Si-Hun, the Martial God's successor, to rot in a corner.

"Understood." Kim Si-Hun nodded. "I will teach you martial arts."