Chapter 110 – Heading to the Demon Palace (1)

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“The Enemy of the World reappeared on the Demon Realm Frontlines.”

“The Enemy of the World one-sidedly killed Admiral Minamoto Daisuke of the Human Empire and disappeared with ease.”

“Lord Marquis Martin Breggas died suddenly, and now there is no one left to defend the Demon Realm Frontlines.”

Urgent messages of events unfolding within the Demon Realm Frontlines were spreading throughout the world.
The news even reached the shoddy saloons of Trowyn.
A sole adventurer who had been tipping mugs of beer into her mouth in a corner inside the saloon took off the rag around her head as if from frustration.

Her tidily organized hair and her brown eyes filled with soft but powerful resolution were revealed.

“…”

Sujin Lee.
Her name had been spread as Ahmuge among the upper echelon of this world.

The saloon was rowdy with debates and disputes over the news regarding the Enemy of the World and the northern frontier.
One thing that was certain was that the Enemy of the World, Sungchul Kim, had appeared for the second time.
There was also another unconfirmed rumor that a beam of light, that appeared like the spear of god, had split the dark clouds looming in the north.

Ahmuge looked at her lightly shaking mug of beer with eyes filled with distrust.

“Why is this happening? The moment he was supposed to reveal himself again was right after the Army of Devils was repelled.”

She may not know much else, but one thing was for sure: everything was becoming skewed.
The future she had seen that is.

–

There were only a few that hadn’t heard of the name Aquiroa the Executor.
Known as one of three Transcendants as well as the Second Champion of the Continent, Aquiroa the Executor of the World Council was the lord of the mystical and veiled Floating Isles and hailed as a powerful mage hero who had lent her strength to the Emperor William Quinton Marlboro in toppling the evil Rutheginea Kingdom.
However, it was rare for anyone to know what kind of person Aquiroa actually was.
There was little else recorded about her other than the plain fact that she was old, originated from the Floating Isles, and that she was a powerful magician.
Not a single thing about her actual age, her history during her formative years, nor her family situation was known.

Among the 13 Champions of the Continent who have each established themselves as powerful heroes, she was like a ghost made up of secrets.
That Aquiroa was now entering a hallway veiled in darkness to enter a room filled with stillness.

It was a shabby room adorned with no windows nor any furniture other than a straw mat bed.
There was a single man sitting on this bed.
Aquiroa carefully opened her mouth in his direction.

“Your Majesty.
It might be difficult to hold off any longer.
Judging by his oppressive strength, he seemed to have already met with an existence one should never meet.”

Aquiroa bowed in the direction of the man sitting in the dark.
Her humble bow was not for the Emperor of the Human Empire that ruled over this world, the king of the Ancient Kingdom that existed for over ten thousand years, nor the heads of Elves or Dwarves that held high pride.
There was but one person.
It was none other than the crownless king, the Third Champion of the Continent, who was commonly known as the Wandering King.

“… is that so?”

He used to go by another name in the past; The Neglectful King, Kromgard.
He was the final ruler of the Holy Kingdom of Rutheginea that had reigned over the majority of the continent before the Human Empire.
He had been praised as a genius magician of a rare kind as a possessor of three magical fingerprints and a swordsman of unending potential as a child, but he lost interest in all things at some point and shut himself away in his room; focusing all of his attention on creating locks.

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Nobles began to exercise acts of exploitation and oppression to sate their greed as he turned away from governing which ignited the embers of rebellion across the land.
A single man led the rebel army.
The Summoned known as William Quinton Marlboro.

The rebel army boldly bypassed countless fortifications and positions and forced their way right up to the vicinity of the Kingdom’s capital – La Grange.
They had bet the fate of the continent on a single battle.

When faced with the final battle, King Kromgard surrendered and gave up the crown to the rebel army.
It was an unexpected decision by the Neglectful King.
He was exempt from responsibility and made a free man in return.

What he did after that day was not known, but other than receiving the title of the Third Champion of the Continent upon the assembly of the 13 Champions, he was known to wander the world by himself without kingdom or subjects.
The world had given such a man the nickname of the Wandering King.

“…”

A helmet that couldn’t be peered into.
A massive armor that covered his entire body.
A white undyed cloth mantle that had slightly yellowed.
These were the symbols that now represented the Wandering King.

“There might be a need for me to step in personally.”

Aquiroa bowed her head toward the Wandering King once again.
There was someone resembling a man standing behind her.
The strange creature that was too transparent and lanky to be called human was standing half covered in darkness while silently blinking with its large and stretched out oval shaped eyes.
There was something dark within its large eyes that was pulsating while exuding an uneasy aura.

The dark interior of the Wandering King’s helm flashed with interest.

“Is it finally complete? My true soldiers?”

His vision was focused on the monstrous figure standing behind her.

“I am ashamed, and it is with the deepest of regrets to inform you that we are still not at the final stage yet.
However, they might be able to shackle a certain young man who has one-sidedly focused his growth on his physical stats.”

“A shackle…”

The face of a skinny young man tied in metal chains and shackles grazed past the Wandering King’s eyes, then the face of the woman who stood in front of the man in tears begging for his life bubbled up as well.

‘I should have killed the bastard then.’

However, the past was the past.
Only God can tell how the wheel of fate would turn.
The Wandering King broke away from his brief moment in thought and looked toward Aquiroa.

“… What will you do?”

“I will personally head toward the Demonic Realm.
Leading the fleet under your majesty’s banner.”

He nodded at her resolute request.

“We need more time than expected.
We must complete our objective before the Calamity that we can’t handle destroys everything.”

“I shall carry out thy will!”

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The Wandering King melted into the darkness.
Aquiroa turned around as well and headed forward in haste.

‘Sungchul Kim.
I can’t let an idiot like you ruin our plans.’

A blue flame danced beneath the mask.

–

“….”

The Entrance of the Demon Realm.

A Deep Sea Demon was trembling in the fetal position behind Sungchul.
Their intelligence was low, but whatever that had occurred here was enough to stamp fear into what little intelligence there was.

Sungchul left the Deep Sea Demon alone and headed deeper into the Demon Realm.
There were dozens of airships floating at the end of the passageway which was the entrance of the Demon Realm.
It was the fleet of the Human Empire.

“Enemy of the World! You shall not pass.”

Below them were the last scraps of soldiers left on the Demon Realm Frontlines who had formed a ground force from a hodgepodge of different races.

“Return Fal Garaz! You thieving rat!”

Several of the dwarves began to spit out profanities in bellowing voices.
This was the reply the World gave as Sungchul decided to stand against the Calamities.

Sungchul looked over at these people that stood before him with disinterest.

“Phew.
Don’t they ever get tired of this?”

Bertelgia let out a sigh as though she had already grown accustomed to this scene.
Sungchul, on the other hand, was in deep thought.

‘Strange.
They managed to gather such a force after breaking through the Deep Sea Demon.’

However, there was no sign of battle around the previous Deep Sea Demon.
There was not a single corpse to be found.
Deep Sea Demons were nothing but rabid mutts before Sungchul, but they were usually not an enemy to be trifled with.
They held the title of gatekeeper of the Demon Realm.

As one had crushed the Crusaders of Salvation, these Deep Sea Demons could pulverize any army with their massive physique, fearsome strength, and most of all, their unbelievable vitality.
Their ability to bypass such a Deep Sea Demon with no casualties brought up a single possibility.

‘Did they collaborate with the Devils?’

It was completely within the possibility for the ruling elite.
They would do anything for their benefit.
Martin Breggas who had sacrificed the entirety of the Order of the Iron Blood Knights for the sake of making his son a hero was a prime example.

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Sungchul wanted to put it to the test.
He looked up at the airships in the sky.
A large airship that was uniquely adorned with flashy decorations caught his eyes.

‘Is that their flagship?’

He checked the flag fluttering on top of the airship.
The golden sun symbolizing the Human Empire with a hand grasping lightning was clearly on display on the fluttering flag.
It belonged to Overseer Dmitri Medioff of the Human Empire.

‘I think his flagship was the Vanguard.’

The ship that Sungchul recalled was destroyed during the exchange with the Devils during the Airfruit fiasco.
Currently, Dmitri was aboard the Androgoras; the new model of destroyers.

‘It’s fine either way.’

Sungchul had no ability to fly.
However, he did know of a method to board a flying airship, and had the ability to put that plan into action.

‘Dmitri Medioff is my only target.’

Demonic Weapon Cassandra was pulled out of the Soul Storage after so long.
Sungchul held Cassandra and rushed toward the ground forces that stood against him.
Elven archers and Dwarven artillery shells poured down like rain.

Cassandra whipped about like a living snake toward the flying projectiles and destroyed them.
Due to the unimaginable tensile force it had, it not only deflected everything it touched, but it also reduced them to dust.
Sungchul approached 30 meters to the ground forces.

“Spears to the front!”

Dwarven spearmen lined their lengthy spears five times their height toward Sungchul.

‘Stomp’

Short but sturdy military boots kicked the ground to take root where they stood.
However, none of the Dwarves believed that their defensive formation would have any effect on Sungchul.
Their expectations turned to reality.

Sungchul grabbed the spears that were pointed toward him with his hand and used his strength to quickly leap over the Dwarven formation.

“How dare you!”

“Die!”

Human knights and swordsmen swung their swords and maces and leaped toward him.
Sungchul gripped the collar of one of the knights wearing light armor to deflect the oncoming attacks before looking toward the sky.
His eyes caught sight of something.
It was the hot air balloon assigned to every airship.

In between battles, airships used this hot air balloons to exchange supplies and men with the ground forces.
The airship itself could descend, but it would be risking dangers such as an ambush or sudden gusts of wind that might take down the ship.
Because losing such expensive airships would be a heavy loss to the national treasury of the Human Empire, they decided to use these hot air balloons on each of the airships.
One of these logistics hot air balloons was nearby.

‘Skkrrt!’

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Demonic Weapon Cassandra wrapped around the rope hanging below one of them.
As expressions of terror spread across the soldiers aboard the hot air balloon, the entire balloon shook and was slowly being dragged below.

Sungchul put strength behind the arm holding Cassandra and leaped on.

“Cut the rope! Immediately!”

However, a black figure had already boarded the balloon before anyone could finish the order.
A forceful hand grabbed the soldiers on board and threw them below.
The soldiers squirmed in the mud when they touched the ground.
They wouldn’t have died even if it had been on hard ground.
They were trained soldiers of the Human Empire.

Sungchul who had hijacked the balloon cut the rope connecting it to the ground and began to ascend.
Countless arrows and ballista shots shot up from the ground aimed at Sungchul, but they couldn’t pierce through the curtain of might formed by Cassandra.

The news that Sungchul had boarded the balloon immediately spread to the airships.
High-speed airships capable of much greater maneuverability opened their gunports and aimed toward the balloon Sungchul was riding.

“Fire!”

Several cannon shots fired together tore through the balloon and the torn balloon helplessly fell toward the ground, but Sungchul who had been aboard was nowhere to be found.
Sungchul had already leaped toward the nearest airship once he had reached an appropriate height.
His leap filled with god-like strength had placed him onto a certain airship’s deck.

“Boom!”

Monster of this era wielding Fal Garaz had boarded the ship.
Everyone on board with the exception of the captain wearing a particularly tall hat wore the words terror across their face.

“…”

Sungchul briskly moved toward the bridge and uttered a single word.

“Scram.”

Roughly a dozen crew members jumped out of the bridge in a panic.
Sungchul grabbed the key and turned the direction of the ship.
His destination was the massive airship Androgoras that lied straight ahead.

Other airships were aware that Sungchul took over one of their ships and fired upon him, but it was already too late to stop him.
Sungchul leaped off once he made it to an appropriate distance.
It was a leap powerful enough to make the boat’s hull groan and buckle.

‘Boom!’

Rather than a bird, Sungchul flew like a meteor and landed on the deck of Androgoras, and he looked at the man who was staring at him with eyes filled with terror to ask a simple question.

“Do you remember me, Dmitri Medioff?”

“W-who?”

Dmitri didn’t recognize the face, but he immediately knew who Sungchul was when he noticed the hammer in Sungchul’s hand.

‘Mommy…’