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Chapter 499 - Stragglers (2)

“Hmm. I can more or less tell what happened in the Ninth Hell.”

Lilith, who came with Balrog, sighed and shook her head. Kang-Woo had ordered them to come to the Gate leading to Aernor as soon as he guided the archangels Michael, Uriel, and Gabriel to the Hall of Protection.

“If Doomguard was the only one there... would that mean Arakyle, Nahila, and Wrethion were all killed by Bael?” asked Bael with a heavy expression.

Kang-Woo’s army used to be divided into five battalions. Balrog led the first battalion, Destruction Corps, Arakyle led the second battalion, Despair Corps, Doomguard led the third battalion, Ruin Corps, Nahila led the fourth battalion, Grief Corps, and Wrethion led the fifth battalion, Resentment Corps.

These five battalions fought alongside Kang-Woo in the war to decide the true ruler of the Ninth Hell. And of course, the one who decided those cringy names was not Kang-Woo.

‘It’s all Balrog’s naming sense.’

He had decided on those names without consulting Kang-Woo, claiming that the names were required so that they could strike fear into their enemies.

‘My god, just thinking about those days makes me...’

He recalled cringing every time he commanded each battalion. Memories flashed before his eyes like a panorama.

- Uh, mm... R-Ruin Corps, strike the enemy from behind, and... Despair... do we really have to use these fucking names?

- Of course, we do!

- Why? Why the fuck do we have to?

- Because they are cool!

- Son of a bitch.

“Urgh...”

Kang-Woo wildly shook his head to shoo away his dark past.

“Even if you were absent, all five battalions being wiped out is impossible,” stated Balrog as he shook his head incomprehensibly.

Kang-Woo remained silent, his expression hardened. Balrog was right; even if he, Balrog, and Lilith were absent, there was no way that all five battalions were wiped out. Unless...

Kang-Woo smiled somberly. “Yeah... it’s impossible.”

“Please wait, my king. Didn’t Eilles say that Amon dealt with most matters of the Ninth Hell?” asked Lilith as she frowned.

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue.

‘As expected of Lilith. She noticed the worst possible outcome.’

“Then it could mean that—”

“Enough.”

Kang-Woo cut Lilith off and gestured at Balrog with his chin. Lilith’s expression hardened.

“What are you two talking about?” Balrog stared at Lilith and Kang-Woo with his head tilted.

Kang-Woo refused to elaborate and turned around. He remarked, “Let’s find Doomguard first.”

“Yes, my king.” Lilith nodded.

“...?”

Balrog narrowed his eyes, unable to understand, but he did not demand an explanation.

“Let’s go.”

Whoooom.

Kang-Woo walked into the Gate leading to Aernor. His vision distorted and he felt nauseated. Once they arrived at Aernor, he held Lilith, who couldn\'t fly and lifted her.

Lilith would have stuck to Kang-Woo to seduce him in normal conditions, but she was off in her thoughts with a gloomy expression. Kang-Woo sighed.

‘Authority of the Sky.’

He slowly floated once he activated the Authority. Balrog sprouted his gigantic wings and followed behind him.

‘The southeastern region of Aernor, I believe they said.’

It was not far since the Gate connecting Earth and Aernor was located in the southernmost region of Aernor. It was impossible to know Doomguard’s exact location since he was on the move, but...

“That way.”

Kang-Woo could find him easily because Doomguard was one of his retainers. He quickly flew toward the direction that he pointed at.

Whoosh—!!!

Sharp winds brushed past his skin. The sonic booms from their supersonic speed destroyed the areas in their flight path.

***

“Haaa, haaa,” Doomguard panted heavily as he staggered.

His vision was blurry and his energy was bottoming out.

“Lord... Doomguard... we can’t...”

One of his Ruin Corps subordinates’ groans echoed within his ears.

“Keep moving,” commanded Doomguard as he turned his head to look back. Behind him were about a hundred of his ragged subordinates. He said, barely managing to squeeze out a response, “We have to make it... to our king.”

He was also in terrible condition; he was missing an arm, and black blood was pouring out of his wound that reached from his chest to his stomach. His goat horns, which were no different from his pride as a demon, were broken in half.

“Keep... mov...”

Doomguard’s voice grew fainter.

Boom.

He staggered and collapsed to his knees. The unending outpour of black blood wet the ground.

‘My king...’

Doomguard thought about his master as his consciousness waned.

“Ah...”

He hallucinated his master approaching from afar.

Whaaaaam!

Something flying toward the stragglers at astonishing speed landed on the ground.

“Doomguard.”

Kang-Woo looked down at his ragged retainer.

“My... king.”

Crunch.

Kang-Woo bit open his finger without hesitation and stuck his bleeding finger inside Doomguard’s mouth.

‘Authority of Regeneration.’

Doomguard slowly began to return to normal as soon as Kang-Woo activated the Authority. However...

“Cough! Cough!”

Doomguard covered his mouth and coughed up black blood. Kang-Woo frowned aggressively. He bit open another finger to bleed even more.

“Drink.”

“My king...”

“Drink.”

“...”

Kang-Woo poured large amounts of his blood into Doomguard’s mouth as he activated the Authority of Regeneration at full throttle. All of Doomguard’s injuries disappeared as if time had been reversed.

“Cough! Kurgh!”

Doomguard continued to cough up blood despite all of his injuries having disappeared.

“My king, this is...” Lilith said quietly.

“I know,” Kang-Woo answered, biting his lip.

The Authority of Regeneration could only treat superficial injuries; it couldn’t heal internal accumulated damage. Doomguard’s body was already destroyed to the point that it couldn’t be healed with the Authority of Regeneration.

“What the hell happened, Doomguard?!”

Balrog grabbed Doomguard’s shoulders with a miserable expression. His missing arm had regenerated, but it drooped lifelessly as if it had lost all feeling. Kang-Woo stared at Doomguard with deeply sunken eyes.

“Doomguard...”

“Hehe. I’m happy that... I managed to see you again... Cough! Before my last breath, my king. I... I have something that I need to tell you... no matter what.”

Doomguard smiled in a way that did not fit his hideous looks at all. His smile was filled with Purity, unlike Balrog’s. Although he was violent enough to be known as the Guardian of Ruin, he was but a loyal baby to Kang-Woo.

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes and recalled the terrible wound that spanned from Doomguard’s chest to his stomach before Kang-Woo healed him. It looked as if he were hacked by a saw blade; there weren’t many demons who could make such a wound.

‘In the end...’

The possibility that he wanted to deny had become reality.

“Arakyle did this... didn’t he?”

“...”

Doomguard lowered his head, looking like he was about to break at any second. He kneeled in front of Kang-Woo as if he were confessing his sins.

“What... do you mean?” asked Balrog with a trembling voice. His eyes were shaking as if he couldn’t understand. “Arakyle is... your loyal subordinate, my king.”

Arakyle was the commander of the Demon King’s second battalion, the Despair Corps.

“Why would he... attack Doomguard?!” Balrog shouted.

As someone whose loyalty to his king was on par with that of the king of the Frostborn for Bael, Balrog was having a hard time understanding.

“Why would fellow commanders—”

“Balrog, stop,” said Lilith as she sighed deeply. There was no change in her expression since she had already expected this to happen. “I’m sure you’ve already figured out what happened as well.”

“...”

“Most of what happened in the Ninth Hell was done by Amon, not Bael. If Bael didn’t involve himself, there was no way that only a hundred survived, even if they had to retreat against Bael’s army.”

Merely a hundred surviving was logically impossible, considering the size of the Demon King’s army.

“It would’ve made more sense if no one survived. It would just mean they decided to die honorable deaths.”

However, they had run away instead of going out with a bang.

“If only a hundred managed to survive...”

If it was logically impossible, it would mean that something illogical had occurred.

Lilith shut her eyes tightly and continued firmly, “It means our king was betrayed.”

Kang-Woo had been betrayed by his subordinates, his retainers whom he had led throughout the war and fought alongside to the very end.

“We were... betrayed,” Lilith said hesitantly.

She knew how much Kang-Woo cherished his retainers as well as how many he lost during the thousand-year war. She couldn’t even imagine how Kang-Woo was feeling after finding out one of those retainers had betrayed him.

‘My king...’

Lilith turned to Kang-Woo, who was looking down at Doomguard with his head lowered. She wanted to embrace and console him, telling him that it was not his fault and that it couldn’t be helped.

“...”

However, the sorrow, rage, frustration, resentment, and regret in his eyes kept her legs from moving.

Boom!

Balrog stomped his foot and stared at Doomguard, grimacing like a Yaksha.

“Is that true?” he asked.

“...”

“I asked you if that’s true, Doomguard!”

Balrog roared like a ferocious beast. Doomguard simply trembled in silence with his head lowered. Balrog walked to him and reached out for him.

“Balrog.” Kang-Woo grabbed Balrog’s arm. “Stand down.”

“But...!”

“Stand... down,” Kang-Woo said in a deep voice.

Balrog flinched and took a step back.

Kang-Woo lightly placed his hand on the kneeling Doomguard’s shoulder and said, “Doomguard.”

“Yes.”

“Good work for making it this far.”

“...”

Doomguard looked up at Kang-Woo in silence. Black blood flowed from the corner of his mouth and welled at the end of his chin.

“Heh... hehe.” Doomguard smiled innocently in a way unbefitting a demon. “If I knew... this would happen...” He raised his shaking hand and grabbed Kang-Woo’s hand on his shoulder. “I would have... come to see you... sooner.”

Doomguard smiled brightly again as the light in his eyes dimmed. His hand on Kang-Woo’s hand dropped as if a string holding it up was cut. The light in his eyes disappeared.

“And...” Kang-Woo said as he slowly raised his head. He stared at one of the hundred demons collapsed behind Doomguard. “It’s been a while, Arakyle.”