Editor: Cherish
— Get ready!
— Your Majesty… — Pallock, catching the Lord's steadfastness, humbly bowed his head.
'It's His Majesty's choice.' He had sworn allegiance and could do nothing but follow the King's wishes.
— Pallock, do I have to do it again?
— I'm sorry… — Pallock nodded politely and went to the servants to gather the necessary items.
The weapons of the Seven Great Demons they fought were what had to be prepared.
It is said that the power contained in these weapons is so great, it could form a gap in space and time.
Recently, by consuming the last of the Strongest, Kang Yu had received the last weapon. And now, all of them were lying before him, ready for use.
— The preparation is complete.
— Excellent. — Kang Yu stood up from the throne and walked slowly towards the seven trophies, each adorned in different shapes and colors.
There were seven of them, and they comprised the power of the whole Nine Thousand Circles of Hell. The weapons complemented each other perfectly in both power and appearance.
If the King put all the energy that he had absorbed into these weapons, he really would be capable of opening a time portal.
— Ha… — Kang Yu quietly took in a deep breath.
He had waited so long for this moment, the chance to finally return to Earth, that he seemed to have lost his sense of reality.
'At last.'
He'd finally be able to go home.
An unbelievable amount of energy from Kang Yu's body began to flow into his weapon. The Power of a Devourer that had grown over tens, hundreds, thousands of years.
It was no exaggeration to say that even the Nine Thousandth Circle itself had already been absorbed by the King. His power was just that great.
Man Ma Jung.
(P.P.: In short, the Power of Lord Pandemonium)
This was the word used to describe the part inside Kang Yu that contained a mass of great power.
And now, the flow of Man Ma Jung perfectly complemented the weapons of the Seven Great Demons.
In an instant, there was a split in space, and a black passageway appeared before his eyes.
'I can finally return to Earth.' The vivid remnants of his memories on Earth came to mind at that very moment.
Even after ten thousand years, he had not forgotten his hometown.
In that place, there was no family nor woman waiting for him.
Even so…
'Even if my town is small, it's better than being here, in a place with no food or entertainment.'
He was willing to do anything to get out of this place that was full of bloodshed and murder.
'So, it's necessary to set the right time.' Kang Yu didn't want to move now. After all, the face of the Earth could have changed enormously in ten thousand years. So much so, that his beloved kimchi jjigae may no longer be there either. An Earth without kimchi jjigae was unimaginable. Just thinking of it caused goosebumps to rise all over his body.
Kang Yu decided to travel back to the time before he first went to Hell.
— Well, I will go now.
— King…
Pallock bowed his head in despair, for he knew the Lord's will was firm.
From all of Lilith's 18 eyes, tears resembling chicken droppings were pouring out. She began to speak:
— Are you really going to leave me?
— Don't weep. It looks awful.
So terrible that maybe one day, her crying image will appear in a horror film.
She seemed to have misunderstood the Lord's words, for her tentacles trembled slightly, and she bawled:
— Oh! Oh, what kind words! It seems my heart is torn apart by your love.
And when she finished speaking, one of the tentacles closest to her heart burst, and pus began to gush out of it.
"Oh, my God."
— Oh, my king! Oh, my love!
"Don't come near me."
— Lilith wants to go with the King, too!
"Get lost."
Looking at Lilith approaching while oozing with pus, Kang Yu hurried to the open portal without a trace of hesitation.
— Kang Yu! No matter what happens, Lilith will follow you!
Her screams gradually faded as his consciousness was enveloped by an unusual feeling.
— May our paths never cross! — He showed Lilith his middle finger.
No, not only to her, but to all the agony he had endured in the past ten thousand years.
'This isn't easy,' Kang Yu thought as he tried to control time travel.
'Time' controls life, so it was difficult to manipulate.
Kang Yu set the time as close as possible to before he first went to Hell. An error of 10— 20 years would not matter.
After all, he was born an orphan, so he had nothing to change in the past and has no expectations for a better future. The only thing that mattered was getting back to the Earth he remembered.
With the time settings now established, an unknown force began to pull him deep into the dark tunnel.
Unable to resist, he calmly closed his eyes and relied on the force that was dragging him.
[ Error of access to the nucleus.
Security system activated. ]
[ Error. Error. ]
[ Your power is too great. ]
[ All forces are focused on defending the kernel. The system is now in reboot mode. ]
[ Error. A mistake. ]
[ Your power is too great. There is no way to fix the defect. ]
[ It is impossible to fix the defect. Sealing has now commenced. ]
[ There is a mistake. There is a mistake. ]
[ Your power is too great. There is no way to fix the defect. ]
[ It is impossible to fix the defect. Sealing has now commenced. ]
'What's that sound?' he wondered. The completely unnatural voice could be heard from all over the place.
However, he was unable to ponder more about it.
— Ah… — His consciousness, like everything else around him, became obscured.
* * *
His body was in such great pain that he could hardly move his fingers.
Kang Yu moaned in pain as he gathered his strength and opened his eyes.
— Where am I? — The first thing he saw was a thick forest.
The sun's rays penetrated through the dense foliage of the trees, tickling the cheeks of the young man.
— Phuh — Kang Yu took a deep breath and forced himself to get up.
A sharp pain shot across his body and spread to his head.
'Okay, first I should do a self-diagnosis.' He had to make sure that nothing irreparable had happened to his body.
[Status information downloading…]
'What?' As soon as he had thought about checking his physical state, a blue panel appeared before his eyes.
His eyes widened in amazement, small wrinkles appearing on his forehead, after which he turned his attention to the 'status window.'
[Status Window]
Player Name: Oh Kang Yu
Level: 1 [Stage 1 – Awakening]
Level 1 Feature: The Power of the Devourer (Rating: ????)
Special skills are currently sealed.
Skills: None
Strength: 8
Vitality: 9
Physical ability: 7
Maryok: 0 (Mana that humans use)
Magi: 12
Intellect: 8
Wisdom: 7
'What the hell is this?' His condition board looked exactly like it did when he had first arrived in hell.
Kang Yu's face was distorted in confusion – he couldn't understand why his status was like that.
'Are you saying that the powers of all those monsters, which I ate, are sealed?'
'The Power of a Devourer.'
A unique power that had allowed him to survive in Hell, the power with which he was able to become the strongest Overlord.
And now he is told that his Man Ma Jung, his Power and all his abilities are sealed? He was panicked, horrified that the power he had accumulated for ten thousand years was no longer within his control.
— Ugh. — Kang Yu took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
Panic and rejection of reality would only make the situation worse. He understood that very well.
"Concentrate," he murmured to himself, "First, you need to know about your condition."
Kang Yu tried to summon Man Ma Jung, the force he had accumulated over tens, hundreds, thousands of years, from devouring demons.
'I can't feel it.' Or rather, thanks to his skillful concentration, he was able to feel Man Ma Jung, but it was so miserably weak that the young man deemed it to be insignificant.
Now he could compare the strength of that power not to infinity, but rather to dust.
'If this is how it is, it will be quite difficult to use any abilities.' Kang Yu was obviously annoyed with this realization.
Among the demons, he had been considered the most powerful, thanks to the Devourer power.
Thanks to it, he could devour those who also possessed special powers. There were 666 such 'special' demons that he'd eaten. Among them were the Seven Great Demons, after consuming which, he learned how to use their Powers.
Each of the Powers is unique, but to use them you need to have a certain amount of energy.
The energy that he currently possessed was not enough to use the Powers.
'In the current situation, it will be difficult to use the Blade as well.' The power the demon Shabnak previously owned was called the 'Blade Power.' It was an ability that summoned a sword from the body.
'It's not enough.' With sufficient energy, the Blade could be skillfully used, but at this moment, it was almost impossible.
Kang Yu focused on his left hand and called for the Blade Power.
And after a moment, a sharp, black blade was drawn out from the back of his hand.
The young man felt the energy from his body flow into the sword.
— It will be hard to get used to this. — His Powers which had previously been approaching infinity, giving infinite possibilities, were now like a puddle of water at the bottom of a dried up ocean.
The realization of this fact was depressing.
But the Status Window reflected his reality … For whatever reason his Powers were sealed remained a mystery, but it was clear that his Man Ma Jung was almost at zero. What injustice.
He recalled the moment when the Status Window suddenly appeared with the details of his characteristics.
'Did I enter the game?' Kang Yu suddenly wondered if he had gotten back to Earth.
"Kik, kik!"
A nasty rattle of metal reached his ears, and he turned to where the sound was coming from.
"Heh-heh-heh."
He soon realized the source of the sounds and tensed up.
They were short, their height just reaching the young man's chest, with skin and sharp teeth of a light green shade.They looked exactly like filthy creatures from the First Thousandth Circle of Hell.
As far as Kang Yu knew, there had never been such creatures on Earth.
— Is this not… the Earth? — He murmured in a tone full of despair.
Kang Yu couldn't even laugh at the fact that after ten thousand years of preparation, he was still unable to get back to Earth.
"Kia-aah!"
The large crowd of ugly-looking monsters, shrieking gleefully, threw themselves at him.