Chapter 430 - Be The Protagonist If You Have A Problem With That

“Demon King...” Lucifer bit his lip desperately as he clenched his fists. “If you return Lucis to me... I will become your retainer. I will do anything you say without question.”

Lucifer lowered his head. Although he had acquired Deific Essence, he was once the Prince of Pride; he never bent to anyone because he was more prideful than anyone. Even while the other princes of Hell avoided Bael, Lucifer trespassed on Baels’ territory without reluctance. Such a person had been completely broken.

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue. The Lucifer that he knew was not this kind of person.

‘Lucis, huh?’

Lucis was currently put to sleep with his consciousness sealed within Vernaak’s laboratory that Kang-Woo had made for him in the imperial palace. It was to be able to use him as bait whenever Kang-Woo wanted if he ever faced Lucifer.

‘I never thought it’d work this well.’

Kang-Woo had expected the bait only to cause hesitation in Lucifer’s actions a few times, but his expectations were pleasantly exceeded. The Prince of Pride whom Kang-Woo knew no longer existed.

“Haaa,” Kang-Woo sighed deeply and looked up.

‘He’ll become my retainer if I give him Lucis?’

It was a tempting offer. Lucis was pretty much losing his value as bait after being neglected all this time; there was no better trade if Kang-Woo could use him to gain Lucifer as his retainer. However...

“Wow, this brings back old times, doesn’t it?”

Kang-Woo smiled widely as the memories of his suffering and struggling self that he wanted to forget arose.

“What do you...”

“You know, the time when you brainwashed my subordinates and commanded them to commit mass suicide bombing.”

“...”

“Man, I was so desperate back then. I remember begging you to stop. Do you remember?”

“That’s...”

Kang-Woo grabbed the shaking Lucifer’s head and smiled. It was easy to give Lucis to Lucifer; in terms of efficiency, it would be far more useful to have Lucifer as a retainer than killing him.

‘But...’

Kang-Woo closed his eyes and recalled his days in Hell. He had not gone through the thousand-year war without a single loss like some overpowered shounen protagonist. If that had been the case, he would not have been stuck in Hell for ten millennia. He had lost and despaired countless times. He had ultimately ended up coming out victorious, but he had lost far too much in the process.

“It seems like you remember now. Well, it’s not like I don’t understand. After all, the perpetrator tends to remember less than the victim.”

Kang-Woo smiled widely. Just remembering his precious comrades, who had sworn their undying allegiance to him, charging at him with bombs in their embrace brought about unpleasant emotions.

“Well, I guess what I’m doing could be considered a pity show too, but so what? Be the protagonist if you have a problem with that.”

Stuff like this was usually exclusive to the protagonist.

‘Oh, but am I the protagonist? Wouldn’t it be Si-Hun? Well, whatever.’

Kang-Woo brought Lucifer’s head closer to his.

“You didn’t stop back then.” Kang-Woo smiled and continued, “And the same goes for me.”

He gripped Lucifer’s head like a hydraulic press with his immense strength.

“Kurgh! Urgh!” Lucifer trembled with his eyes wide open and his mouth agape.

“I won’t stop either.”

Lucifer felt as if his head would explode. He flapped his eleven wings to summon black lightning.

Crackle—!

Lucifer was blown backward as black lightning sparked around him.

“Shit...!”

Lucifer turned around. He could tell that conciliation with the Demon King through words was impossible.

‘In that case...’

“You’re thinking of running again?” Kang-Woo asked as he smiled and snapped his fingers.

Fwoosh!

Gold and black flames surrounded the area. They blazed fiercely and aimed for Lucifer.

Sizzle—!

“Gaaaaaahhh!” Lucifer twisted and turned as he screamed.

The Flames of Voracity tore his Deific Essence apart and burned him.

‘He’s this powerful even without opening the Doors...?!’

Lucifer looked at Kang-Woo in pallor. The Demon King had become an icon of fear because of the Demonic Sea that he possessed, and his true form was revealed once he opened the Doors of that Demonic Sea. However...

“Tsk, you can’t even be compared to Tai Wuji.”

Fwoosh—!

“Kurghhh!”

Lucifer could not put up any sort of resistance against the blazing flames surrounding him. Kang-Woo clicked his tongue in disappointment. Lucifer’s Deific Essence was on par with that of Tai Wuji, but Lucifer’s combat prowess was highly unremarkable in comparison.

‘I mean, I guess it’s obvious since the reason why I had a hard time against Tai Wuji wasn’t because of his Deific Essence.’

Tai Wuji had been so powerful because he had reached a realm that Kang-Woo had no idea about.

‘Besides, I couldn’t use the Flames of Voracity back then.’

Considering that, Kang-Woo realized how much he had gained from his battle against Tai Wuji. He had acquired Top-rank Deific Essence, the Flames of Voracity, and even his Chaos skill control had improved.

‘I can now fight Top-rank gods without relying on the Doors.’

It was fortunate since Kang-Woo had been reluctant to open the Doors after the side effects disappeared all of a sudden.

“

Huff, huff...

”

“Is it over already?” Kang-Woo asked as he sighed in disappointment.

He had expected this result somewhat; he had become far too strong and he could barely sense a will to fight from Lucifer.

‘And most importantly...’

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes and stared at Lucifer’s torn arm and wing. Black blood was pouring out of the wounds without end.

‘He was severely injured from the start.’

Lucifer would have had a hard time against Kang-Woo even if he was in perfect condition, but there was no way he would be any match when he was that injured.

“Lucifer.” Kang-Woo walked up to Lucifer, who was panting heavily after being singed by the Flames of Voracity. He crouched down and stared at Lucifer trembling in despair and asked, “Who made you like this?”

=Kang-Woo wanted to ask Lucifer this from the very beginning. Who could have possibly driven the Lord of the Flies so far into the corner?

“...”

Inexplicable anxiety ran down Lucifer’s back. He was getting nauseous and dizzy for some reason.

“...el.”

“Huh?” Kang-Woo asked.

“It was... Bael.”

“... What?” Kang-Woo’s eyes widened. The name

Bael

shocked him. “W-wait. Did you say Bael? Bael is here?”

He would not have been this flustered if Lucifer had mentioned any other prince of Hell or even one of the Four Heavenly Kings, but...

‘Bael.’

Bael was different; Kang-Woo had never defeated him in the truest sense. He had only managed to deal a critical wound on Bael by crawling on the ground like a dog to lower his guard. Kang-Woo then absorbed Bael’s forces with Lilith’s help and attacked him with hundreds of thousands of demons.

‘Even with that, I wasn’t able to beat him.’

It was only after risking his life and opening the Second Door that he was able to devour Bael. Kang-Woo barely remembered anything about the battle since he had been unconscious, but Balrog told him that his final battle against Bael had been desperate and horrendous beyond belief. It was to the point that Lucifer, who had witnessed the battle, developed trauma because of it.

‘And you’re telling me he’s here?’

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. He took a deep breath to calm himself and recalled Bael and his eyes filled with madness in contrast to his pure and innocent laughter.

“Haaa,” he exhaled.

The perplexity and slight fear that Kang-Woo had felt when he first met Bael had long since vanished and been replaced by hunger. Intense thirst grinded his throat and his stomach hurt from the extreme hunger.

“Bael.”

Kang-Woo drooled uncontrollably as powerful desire surged almost to a point that he couldn’t control.

‘Calm down, calm down.’

He quelled his desire with all his might.

‘It’ll be different from back then.’

In the past, Bael had looked so delicious that Kang-Woo was barely able to handle himself, but that would likely not be the case anymore.

‘Because I didn’t have Deific Essence back then.’

Kang-Woo had attained far more power than his past self after returning to Earth. He had several great powers in his arsenal such as the demonic energy from the Abyss, Chaos, and the Flames of Voracity.

‘It’ll be different from back then.’

If Kang-Woo had this much power back in Hell, forget opening the Doors, he would not even have needed the Flames of Voracity to devour Bael. Even so...

‘Bael, Bael, Bael.’

Kang-Woo’s heart beat rapidly as if he were recalling his first love. The uncontrollable hunger was making him drool to no end. He wanted to meet Bael right away.

‘No, no.’

He would rather not meet him in fear that the emotions and spark he was feeling at the moment might die in vain after seeing him. He feared that Bael might be too weak.

“Hah,” Kang-Woo chuckled.

‘It’s not like I’m going to see my first love.’

His mind was in jumbles. Kang-Woo shook his head to get a hold of himself.

“Where is Bael?” Kang-Woo asked after coming to his senses.

Lucifer pointed at a part of the forest and said, “H-he was there when I ran away from him.”

The trees were scorched black, likely due to the battle between Bael and Lucifer.

“... Huh?” Kang-Woo’s expression hardened after seeing where Lucifer had pointed.

‘That’s...’

It was where he had told his party members to search for him to be left alone with Lucifer.

“Wait...” A chill ran down Kang-Woo’s spine. He quickly tried to call Lilith, but she was not answering. “Shit!”

Kang-Woo quickly turned around. Seeing that, Lucifer’s eyes lit up with hope.

‘Yes, go!’

Lucifer prayed desperately in his head. However...

“Lemme borrow your shoulder.”

“What?”

Kang-Woo grabbed Lucifer by the chin and placed one foot on Lucifer’s shoulder.

‘I wanted to get some more info out of him, but...’

Unfortunately, it did not seem like he had the time.

“Wh-what are you... t-trying to do?” Lucifer asked.

“What? Isn’t it obvious?”

Kang-Woo pressed his foot into Lucifer’s shoulder even harder and raised the hand that was holding Lucifer’s chin.

Crack!

“Kurghhh! Gaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

Lucifer’s neck elongated and then ripped out along with his spine.

“What? Did you think I’d forget about you?” Kang-Woo chuckled. “You won’t get away from me twice, man.”

Kang-Woo used Lucifer’s shoulder as a foothold and jumped up like a cannon, Lucifer’s spine dangling behind him like a tail.

Zoom!

Kang-Woo flew to the area where trees were burning.

‘... Huh? That’s...’

He saw the boy with blank eyes that he had seen during the war against the Constellations of Evil. It was the boy known as the Constellation of Nightmares. He was facing Balrog and Si-Hun at once with a bright smile. He could not see Bael anywhere.

‘I don’t know what's going on, but it doesn’t change the fact that my party members are being attacked.’

“Hup.” Kang-Woo took a deep breath and fell toward the boy who was facing Si-Hun as if he were toying around.

He gripped Lucifer’s spine and threw it at the Constellation of Nightmares like a hammer throw.

Wham—!!

A massive explosion swept the surroundings.

“H-hyung-nim!”

“My king!”

Tap.

Kang-Woo landed on the ground and pulled back Si-Hun and Balrog, who had become like ragdolls.

“Ahhh...” The boy walked out of the dust cloud. “Heh.” He smiled widely as soon as he saw Kang-Woo. “It’s been a while. How’ve you been?”

The boy giggled innocently in contrast to his eyes filled with madness.