Chapter 3: The Lord of the Nine Hells Returns to Earth (3)

'Just… what went wrong?'

Oh Kang-Woo was sure he had opened a gate to Earth. He had also felt the same sensation from ten millennia ago when he was dragged into the dimensional rift.

Amid this desperate situation, Kang-Woo fell into confusion.

"Skreeee!" the green monsters shrieked even louder when they saw that their prey wasn't moving.

Then they swung their crude knives at Kang-Woo.

Slash!

"Kiiiik!"

Yet, the arm of one of the green monsters fell to the ground from an instant slash of a black blade.

Kang-Woo turned his body around and swung the blade he had created with the Authority of Blades. Although most of his demonic energy had been sealed, he was still the demon king who ruled over the Nine Hells. There was no way he wouldn't be able to win against such worthless opponents.

'First, I should take care of these guys.'

Regardless, he didn't have time to think about anything else right now. Enemies were charging at him with their lives on the line.

As Kang-Woo glared at the monsters that were leaping toward him from all directions, he exuded a bloodlust similar to that of a beast.

"Kiee?!"

Upon sensing Kang-Woo's killing intent, the green monsters trembled.

'There are around eight of them,'

Kang-Woo observed inwardly.

If he had access to his Ten Thousand Demon Core, he would be able to kill the green monsters without even moving; all he would need to do was release some energy. Nevertheless, he couldn't do that right now.

"It's been a long time since I've moved my body like this."

Kang-Woo stepped lightly and dodged the attacks of the crazed green monsters. He then cut their necks with a blade made of demonic energy.

Slash!

"Skreee!"

Thanks to all of the battle experience Kang-Woo had gained through the years, the monsters died without being able to deal any damage to him.

Riiing!

[You have successfully defeated the E-rank common monster, Goblin.]

[Increasing EXP.]

[Your level has risen to 3.]

'Level up?'

Blue message windows appeared before him after the Goblins died. When Kang-Woo opened the status window again, he found that he had risen from Level 1 to 3.

'My stats went up as well.'

His strength, health, and dexterity stats had risen by one point each. Furthermore, it wasn't simply just an increase in the stats numbers. He could also feel his body get stronger, albeit only slightly.

"But that's not the important thing here."

Right now, it didn't matter if his level went up or if his stats increased. What he needed to do was confirm if he was currently on Earth and if there were even humans here.

"Tsk, in situations like this, it would be more comfortable if I could use Alloces' Authority."

Kang-Woo smiled bitterly while thinking of the Authority that would let him fly freely through the skies. The Authority of the Sky allowed him to ignore gravity and move freely through the air, so it required a lot of demonic energy. However, with his current amount of demonic energy, he would only be able to jump high.

He then walked toward the Goblins' corpses.

'It would be great if I could obtain more information about this unknown world.'

He extended his hands toward the Goblins' corpses and murmured in a low voice, "Predation."

Authority of Predation, the ultimate Authority that had allowed him to become the lord of the Nine Hells, was activated. Black demonic energy flowed out of his hand and covered the corpses of the Goblins.

Crush! Crunch!?

Creepy sounds rang out as the mass of black energy surrounding the Goblins' corpses reduced in size. Kang-Woo then began receiving information about the Goblins in his mind.

With the Authority of Predation, he couldn't read the target's memories, but he could get their biometric information, such as the Goblins' physical characteristics, habits, how they lived their daily lives, and what their weaknesses were. However, the biometric information did not have anything that could help him know more about the world that he had found himself in.

"Damn it," he cursed, feeling disappointed.

Suddenly…

"Hmm?"

While absorbing the Goblins' energy with Predation, Kang-Woo felt a very familiar energy.

'This is…'

There was only a very small amount of it, but his senses could not be deceived. Kang-Woo's eyes lit up.

'Demonic energy.'

Inside the Goblins' bodies was a very tiny amount of demonic energy.

Riiing!

[Demonic Energy has risen by 1.]

As if confirming his guess, he got a message saying that his demonic energy stat had increased. With that, he felt the demonic energy inside his body expand and thicken.

"… Damn it."

Although Kang-Woo's demonic energy had increased, what came out of his mouth were curses.

Demonic energy was an energy that everyone in the Nine Hells possessed. So, finding that energy here meant that the probability of this place not being Earth had increased.

'No…'

Kang-Woo was starting to get anxious. The only reason he had managed to endure the Nine Hells all this time had been his hope of being able to return to Earth one day.

Memories of all the years he had spent among demons whose only interests were fighting and killing each other flooded into his mind.

"This can't be happening."

He felt even more frustrated than all those times when he was almost driven to death while fighting against a prince of Hell.

"Kyaaaa!"

Kang-Woo suddenly heard a scream from far away, and his hopeless eyes came back to life.

"This…"

It wasn't the voice of a demon or a monster. He could sense that the shout belonged to a human, but more importantly…

"It's a woman."

Kang-Woo started to tremble as a shiver swept through him.

The echo of the scream seemed to spread through his entire body, right into his soul.

"A woman!"

If someone were to have heard him, they would probably think he was a pervert. Regardless, he didn't have enough mental space to think about his dignity right now.

It had been ten millennia. For ten millennia, he hadn't been able to even look at a video in which a woman appeared. So, it would be strange if he could stay rational in this situation.

Stomp!

With aggressive steps, Kang-Woo ran over to where the scream was coming from. Simultaneously, he activated the Authority of Haste, the Authority of the demon Valefor.

Demonic energy flowed out of his body and pooled around his legs. The demonic energy inside his body was depleted swiftly, and his body shot forward like an arrow.

Although this was a frighteningly fast speed for an ordinary human, it felt slow for Kang-Woo.

'If only I had more demonic energy!'

If he had access to all the demonic energy inside his Ten Thousand Demon Core, then he would be able to move at speeds so fast it would be like teleporting. Kang-Woo couldn't help but feel resentful that he couldn't do so.

"Kiieekk!"

"Kyaaaaa!"

The screams got clearer. There were also shouts similar to those of the Goblins that had attacked Kang-Woo earlier.

'I just hope it isn't a monster like Lilith!'

Kang-Woo was fine with it if the woman was ugly. She could even be fat. He was okay as long as she had two eyes, one nose, and one mouth.

'And no tentacles, please!'

He kept focusing his demonic energy on his feet while thinking about Lilith's absolutely horrifying tentacles.

For the first time in many years, Kang-Woo felt out of breath. He felt frustrated by how breathless he was just from running. The fight had not even begun yet.

'I found her.'

As he moved through some dense grass, he found an open space. There, he saw a frightened woman surrounded by more than ten Goblins. She was pressing her hands on her leg wounds to stem the blood loss.

"Ah…" a gasp emerged from Kang-Woo's mouth.

The moment he saw the woman surrounded by a group of Goblins, he shuddered.

The woman had black hair that reached her waist, big eyes, thick lips, and a high nose bridge. She even had a small mole near the left side of her mouth. She was so pretty that if one saw her on the street, one would have instinctively turned around.

Nevertheless, her beauty wasn't important to Kang-Woo right now.

'She's human.'

The main point was that the woman was a human… with two eyes, one mouth, and one nose. She was just a simple human who didn't have tentacles from which pus emerged, nor did she have bat wings or red fur covering her body.

'Thank heavens…'

Kang-Woo was so touched that he wanted to thank the god who had ignored him for the past ten millennia.

"Grrrrr!"

"Ugh!"

As the Goblins charged at the woman with rusty knives, she closed her eyes. The sight of the knives swinging in her direction made her think she would die there.

Clash!

"Kiieekk?!" the Goblins shouted in surprise.

Kang-Woo suddenly appeared, moving swiftly like an agile beast as he killed the Goblins.

"Huh?" The eyes of the black-haired woman widened.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Kang-Woo had slayed the group of more than ten Goblins in just a few seconds.

Stab!

"Kiieekk!"

Kang-Woo's black blade cut the neck of the last Goblin.

After twisting the blade and completely slicing through the Goblin's neck, Kang-Woo approached the woman sitting on the ground.

"Th-Thank you," the woman said.

Although hurt, she stood up with some struggle and bowed to him. Kang-Woo grabbed her hands and helped her maintain her balance.

"Ah…" Kang-Woo gasped the moment he grabbed the woman's hands.

That soft sensation was something he couldn't have felt in the Nine Hells. She was definitely human—the species that he had wanted to see and interact with so much for all this time.

Overwhelmed by his emotions, Kang-Woo's mind went blank. All the emotions he had forced himself to suppress had exploded and blocked off his rationality.

"My name is Han Seol-Ah. Thank you for saving me," the woman said.

She was surprised to see Kang-Woo feel so moved while grabbing her hands. Nevertheless, she bowed again without freeing her hands from his grip.

Kang-Woo gazed at Han Seol-Ah and stated in a serious tone, "Let's get married."

"What?"

"Three kids sounds good."

"What…?"