Chapter 22: Demon Followers (Part 1)

Editor: Cherish

'Fanatics.' There was no other way to label them. Kang Yu, who had snuck into the guild of Andras under the guise of a victim, laid on the table and cracked open his eyes to observe the members of this guild.

As soon as Dok Hyun had entered the room, the words of praise started to echo. It was like a meeting of a pseudo-religious organization.

'And also…' Kang Yu felt the changes in their bodies.

Their bodies had begun to change demonically under the influence of the Magi.

Like Kang Yu himself, he was more like a demon than a human.

Each of them, albeit to a different degree, was on the way to becoming a demon in human form.

Knowing this, he could understand their crazy behavior.

The body of the demon is always filled with desire, which never becomes smaller and only increases. If you compare them to animals, it is as if they are always in heat, thirsty for mating.

Since Kang Yu has long been a demon, he could control his thirst to some extent, but in their case, it was different.

There was probably no one among them now who is mentally adequate.

'How do they get Magi?' Maybe they had the Devourer's Power to safely fill a body with Magi.

But originally Magi is not meant for mortal humans, as it destroys both the soul and the body.

'I'll wait for the ritual first.' Kang Yu, pretending to be unconscious, lay on the altar to watch the ritual take place.

— Prepare the mana stones.

— Yes!

The guy who placed the victim's body on the altar opened the safe underneath it.

There were over a thousand mana stones inside.

'What will they do?' He became even more curious about how the ritual was performed.

Standing in front of the altar, Dok Hyun hit the ground with his dark brown staff and started reading the mantra.

Maryok, who was imprisoned in the Mana stone, broke out and formed a slight split in the air.

After squinting, Kang Yu saw the split and a small shiver broke through him.

Through this split, Magi piled up in the air.

'What the hell?' He was very familiar with the rift.

'Why the hell is there Magi from the Nine Thousandth Circle of Hell?' A question that Kang Yu had no answer to.

And how they created this split was also unclear.

He was completely confused and could only watch what was going on.

Dok Hyun directed the Magi that spilled from the split into Kang Yu's body.

'What?' The flowing Magi from the split began to flow into his body.

His Devourer's Power began to draw in energy as usual.

There was a notice.

[Magi increased by 1 unit]

This was a surprise that cannot be denied.

Kang Yu continued to draw in the Magi flowing from the split.

'Nice.' Kang Yu understood why they were directing Magi from a split into a victim.

All they have to do is wait for the Magi to absorb the spirit and body of the victim, which is why the victim will end up dying.

'But then how to get the Magi out of the body is a mystery.' Anyway, it wasn't really a big deal for Kang Yu.

Because for him, Magi wasn't poison, it was more like sweet honey.

The notifications kept coming one by one.

'It's rising fast!' His body received many times as much Magi as he had in the day with his own Devourer's Power.

The corners of his lips unwittingly rose with the incoming Magi.

— What the hell? — Kang Yu heard Dok Hyun's excited voice, which seemed to be starting to guess something. — Why isn't he stopping? —

'You can't stop this.'

— Mi… wait a minute.

'A little more.'

— Stop!!!

'Don't stop.'

— Stop it!

'One more unit.'

Dok Hyun's panic voice and Kang Yu's thoughts merged into a scream.

Everything has an end.

The mana stones supporting the rift lost all their power, and eventually, the rift disappeared on its own.

With disappointment weighing in his heart, he opened his eyes and started to move and show signs of life.

Now he had a rough idea of what the ritual was. And now it was time to hear more information from Dok Hyun himself.

— How… how? — He was shivering when he looked at Kang Yu, who had absorbed all that power without getting hurt.

— Can we do the ritual one more time?

— Ahhhhh! — Dok Hyun was shaken up.

He couldn't imagine how a simple guy could draw all that energy into himself and stay in his right mind.

But one thing was clear — he had used up all the mana stones they had that his followers had obtained. And Dok Hyun himself didn't receive any of that power.

— No way. — All the energy they had accumulated in the mana stones was meant to kill the victim and give Dok Hyun immortality.

Hwaran's Squad was always watching Andras Guild closely, so it would take several more years to collect so many mana stones again without attracting their attention.

— Uh… uh! — Dok Hyun's scream spread all over the room.

He glared angrily at Kang Yu.

— Oh, you lousy dude! — He stretched his brown staff forward, and at the end of it appeared a ball of concentrated Magi directed at Kang Yu.

Kang Yu dodged the charge with ease.

The ball hit the wall and exploded with force, making a loud sound.

When Kang Yu saw that explosion, Kang Yu looked at Dok Hyun with interest.

'Pretty powerful.' Either because of Magi or Dok Hyun's skills as a Player, but he could keep releasing powerful charges without interruption.

Those charges, which were sent to Kang Yu when he got there, spun into the air and then turned around and flew back.

'The Power of the Iron Curtain.' Kang Yu's Magi wrapped around him like armor.

The charges issued by Dok Hyun were repelled by Kang Yu's armor and flew back.

'The more Magi there is, the more comfortable it is.' He'd gotten a lot of Magi on rank 3.

And taking into account that it hasn't even been a week since his return, it was encouraging.

Kang Yu continued to use Magi with a happy look.

— Are… Are you saying that you have Magi? — Doc Hyun was stunned to see the victim who not only survived the ritual and felt normal but also knew how to handle Magi.

It couldn't be.

No, that's something that shouldn't have happened.

With an anxious look, he changed tactics.

— What are you looking at?! Attack him! — Dok Hyun screamed as he turned to the guild members.

When they heard the order, each of the eight members of the guild, using Magi, ran towards Kang Yu.

Looking at the running followers, Kang Yu smiled a bit.

'They don't know how to use the Magi properly.' They certainly couldn't be considered proper opponents.

Kang Yu was like a wolf among a flock of sheep.

They were desperate to point their weapons at Kang Yu, but it was impossible to pierce the Magi's armor.

His defense was impenetrable, so all that was left was to concentrate on his attack.

For that, he used the Iron Curtain Power and Blade Power at the same time.

'A lot of Magi will be spent…' It was hard to support two Forces at once, given that just the armor itself required a lot of Magi.

'We have to finish this quickly,' Kang Yu thought and took action.

There was no problem with most of the opponents.

In Hell's Nine Thousandth Circle, before meeting Pallock, he'd been all alone, so he was used to fighting demons face to face.

— Aah! My hand!

— Hah!… my leg!

In battle, the main thing was not to take the enemy's life. At times it was better to strike a powerful blow to deny the enemy the chance to fight rather than killing them.

The wounded members of the guild became a hindrance to their own army, giving Kang Yu the space to fight.

— Aaaah!

A member of the guild rushed forward, ready to attack Kang Yu from behind, but his attack was repulsed and his shoulder became badly injured.

The black blade pierced his shoulder and crushed his bones, causing a wild scream.

'Four.' Not even three minutes into the battle, and half of the guild was already broken.

If this went on, it wouldn't be difficult to deal with the entire guild of Andras.

— Out of my way, you useless creatures! — Dok Hyun screamed.

Following the order, the remaining four members of the guild stepped back and looked at Dok Hyun with a look full of faith.

— He's finally using it.

— The power of the great founder.

Dok Hyun stepped forward, accompanied by the waiting gaze of his followers.

— Look at it! It's the fire that burns life, the Power of Hellfire! — Dok Hyun, full of confidence, pulled one hand forward.

His palms were fluttering with black flames.

— Ha… — Kang Yu looked at the fire burning on his hand and smiled. — You call this the Power of Hellfire? —

Ridiculous.

There's no way that could be called hellfire.

The Hellfire created with the power of Hell must burn, it must be insatiable.

The fire created by Dok Hyun was like something sloppy, created in a hurry, and only a little like Hellfire.

— I don't know how you can control the Magi, but you can't use this power… — Before Dok Hyun finished, Kang Yu's hand flashed with blazing black fire.

The flames danced from Kang Yu's hand to the ground.

Now, Dok Hyun's fire seemed very insignificant.

— А…? — Dok Hyun looked stupefied.

'No way.' That was when he realized he'd made a big mistake.