Chapter 480 - Demon of Prophecy (1)

A day passed and Oh Kang-Woo set out early in the morning.

“Urgh,” he groaned as he stretched. “I didn’t even get to sleep an hour.”

His mind was filled with the things that he did all night. He coughed and looked down.

‘Fran?ois... You’re still going strong, buddy.’

Kang-Woo smiled as he stared at his comrade with whom he had gone through a strenuous battlefield. His head was held high and his steps were light for some reason. He bought an entire box of energy drinks at a nearby convenience store and opened a Gate leading to the Hall of Protection. He saw a white hallway once he passed through the Gate.

‘Si-Hun isn’t here to greet me like always.’

Kim Si-Hun always ran to Kang-Woo after sensing his presence as soon as Kang-Woo entered the Hall of Protection, but he was nowhere to be found today.

‘Is he not here?’

He might be helping to find information regarding Nostrian like Echidna and Halcyon.

“Hmm.”

Kang-Woo headed to Layla’s office as he looked around. He knocked on her office door.

“Layl— Kurgh.”

Kang-Woo grimaced due to the dark aura that seeped out of the office as soon as he opened the door.

‘What the hell is this smell...?’

The office smelled like a rotting corpse.

“Oh... Kang-Woo... Welcome...”

Kang-Woo turned as he grimaced and saw Layla, with extremely dark circles under his eyes, looking up at him.

Tap, tap, tap.

Next to her was Si-Hun, reading documents and stamping seals like a machine. His eyes staring at the documents were not filled with light like usual.

The mood in the office was as somber as the putrid stench of sweat. There was a mountain of documents so high that Kang-Woo had no idea how it had managed to reach that height.

Kang-Woo smiled awkwardly and said, “Mm... You guys sure are hardworking, at it so early in the morning.”

“Pardon? Morning? Is it morning right now?” Layla stared blankly in Kang-Woo’s general direction. She giggled as she shrugged and said lifelessly, “F-Fufu. I’ve been here since... since last week, so... I didn’t even know it was morning.”

“I-I see.”

‘Is she broken? Well, I somewhat expected this after hearing about it from Lilith.’

The restoration of Seoul had likely progressed so quickly thanks to the dying Layla and Si-Hun.

‘I’m feeling bad now.’

Kang-Woo had also been busy the past week trying to find a way to restore Kim Tae-Hyun’s memories, but the word

busy

could not even begin to describe the amount of work that Layla and Si-Hun had to do.

‘It’s like I’m seeing game developers whose game release date was brought forward by three months out of the blue.’

Kang-Woo shook his head and handed the energy drinks that he bought to Layla and Si-Hun.

“Are you guys okay?” he asked.

“Okay...? Yes, I am. After all, I’m the only one... who can do this.” Layla took the energy drink from Kang-Woo and chugged it. “Kaaah! I... feel a bit better now.”

“You should get some rest.”

“There’s no time to rest.”

Layla sighed deeply. The biggest problem with the Parasite invasion was that the attacked city had been none other than Seoul, one of the most populated cities in the world before and even after the Day of Calamity. There would naturally be a massive amount of collateral damage. Although the number of deaths wasn’t nearly as large as it should have been considering the scale of the invasion, there were a massive number of injured.

“What are the politicians of each nation doing?” Kang-Woo asked.

“They’re working just as hard as us. That’s the problem.”

Layla sighed deeply again. Countries that did not experience disaster were working just as hard as Korea. The problem was the issue of relief supplies; Guardians was inevitably put on the spot because they needed to act as the mediators between those who needed the supplies trying to get as much as possible, and those giving the supplies trying to give as little as possible.

‘This isn’t something that can be resolved through force.’

Taking one side would inevitably cause even bigger problems down the road. To Kang-Woo, mediating between two sides was far more difficult than devouring one side.

“That aside, what brings you here, Kang-Woo? Have you finished what you needed to do?” asked Layla, staring at Kang-Woo passionately and full of hope.

Their workload would be massively reduced if Kang-Woo assisted them, allowing Layla and Si-Hun to escape this administration hell.

‘A-At least let me take a shower...!’ Layla thought as she gulped and stared at Kang-Woo.

“Mm...” Kang-Woo softly shook his head and answered, “I’m sorry. I think I’ll have to focus on restoring Tae-Hyun’s memories for a little longer.”

“O-Oh...”

Layla’s hopeful expression broke down, her eyes filling with despair. Kang-Woo calmly lowered his head.

‘I have no choice.’

In truth, Kang-Woo had completely given up on restoring Tae-Hyun’s memories, and he had originally come to the Hall of Protection to help the suffering Layla and Si-Hun. However, there was one simple reason why he had told them that he was not done yet.

‘It’s a fucking pain in the ass.’

He would prefer a Hell filled with demons than a hell of documents. His sense of guilt was repeatedly stabbing him as he looked at the disheveled Layla.

‘I’m here for a different reason.’

Kang-Woo hypnotized himself to protect his conscience. It just so happened that he had another reason why he came to see Layla.

‘Yeah, that’s good. Let’s go with that.’

Kang-Woo nodded in satisfaction and continued, “I came to see you because of matters involving the divine realm.”

“The divine realm?”

“Yes,” Kang-Woo nodded and continued angrily, “I was wondering why the hell they didn’t show themselves during this entire mess.”

“Ah...” Layla expressed. “Now that you mention it... I haven’t even thought about it.”

The gods were now free from the Law of Titans restricting them, so it was indeed weird that they did not take any action during the Parasite invasion.

‘Even if they’re busy keeping in check the evil gods trying to manifest, it doesn’t logically make sense.’

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes.

‘It would be a relief if they didn’t appear simply because they were short on hands, but in the worst-case scenario...’

He had reason to expect that something had happened in the divine realm— something so big that they couldn’t manifest on Earth even as the Parasites were invading it.

“Just a second. I will try to contact Lady Gaia.” Layla, also realizing it was not a trivial matter, stopped what she was doing and stood up. “...”

She closed her eyes for several minutes.

“Why...” she muttered with a trembling voice.

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue.

‘I knew it.’

There was no way the gods of Olympus would do nothing as the Parasites invaded Earth.

“I can’t... get in touch with Lady Gaia,” Layla said in pallor.

Kang-Woo closed his eyes.

‘Shit.’

Something else had happened while he had been focused on the Parasites.

***

Black smoke rose from the branches of the giant tree that acted as the pillar of every world.

“Kurgh!”

“S-Stop that monster!!”

There was a giant palace attached to one of the branches. It was Olympus, where the gods which humans knew through Greek mythology resided.

Fwoosh—!

The extraordinarily beautiful palace of Olympus was crumbling as it was engulfed in flames.

“Hehe.”

A boy with blank eyes was standing above the ruins of the palace. He looked down at the gods of Olympus with a bright smile.

Tap.

The boy vanished into thin air with just a little tap of his feet. He then appeared in front of Uranus as if he had teleported.

“Kurgh!” Uranus quickly jumped backward.

However, the boy’s hand was faster.

“Stay still,” the boy said and kicked Uranus in the stomach.

“Kurgh!”

Uranus’ Deific Essence barrier was torn apart with just one blow. He collapsed on the spot.

“Hihi. Well then, bon appétit~”

The boy opened his mouth wide like a snake and was about to swallow Uranus whole.

“Get your filthy hands off of him!!” shouted a brown-haired goddess.

A massive shockwave blew the boy away and he tumbled across the ground.

“Urgh, what the hell do you think you’re doing, old lady? Haven’t you learned that you shouldn’t interrupt someone when they’re eating?”

The boy turned to the woman in annoyance. Gaia, the brown-haired goddess, glared at the boy furiously.

“Bael, how dare you...”

“Hihihi,” Bael giggled innocently as his shoulders moved up and down. “You’ll get wrinkles on your forehead if you get so angry, old lady.”

“...”

“And I’m just as irritated as you, you know?” Bael licked his lips. “I was so~ curious about how an otherworldly being would taste, but I had to give up on them and come here instead.”

“What are you talking ab—”

“Hehehe. Are you curious?” The boy smiled. “It was so hilarious how you were all being fooled by him, so I gave up on eating them and came here instead.”

Gaia frowned in silence. “Fooled...?”

“Hehe. Yeah! Like a bunch of morons!” Bael clapped his hands together with a bright smile. “I was watching to see how long you’d stay fooled for, but after some thought...”

His blank eyes widened, filling with madness.

“I thought it’d be more fun to tell you the truth instead of just watching.”

Bael jumped up and down, filled with excitement from just thinking about it.

“Hihi, I wonder what he’ll do once everything is exposed? Hm? I wonder how he’ll try to fool you again?” The boy’s eyes darted around madly. “I’m sure he’ll find a way to resolve it the first time, but what about the second time? And the third? How would he fix it? Hm?”

“What have you been talking about since earlier...?”

“H-Hihihi!! Just imagine! Aren’t you excited to see how that arrogant bastard despairs once everything is exposed?!” Bael spread his arms wide and burst into laughter. “That’s why... I’ve come to see you.”

Gaia stared at Bael dumbfoundedly. “You’re insane.”

There was no flow or reasoning to his sentences. It sounded like he was just blabbering things that came to mind without a filter. Gaia shook her head, thinking that Bael had gone insane.

“Insane? Hm? Do I look like I’m insane?” Bael cackled, the corners of his mouth ripping to his earlobes.

Gaia shrouded herself with Divinity and prepared for combat as if there was no point in dragging the conversation.

“I wonder if you’ll still be able to say that... after seeing this?”

Bael snapped his fingers and a blue window appeared in front of Gaia. It was the thing that Players referred to as the System, created by the Law of Titans.

- You want to feel fear?

On the screen was her retainer whom she deeply trusted.

“M-My child!”

Gaia’s retainer was battling the Parasite King, who had invaded Earth from the outer world.

“Kurgh,” Gaia grunted anxiously.

Not only was she not able to help her retainer, but she was being one-sidedly overwhelmed by Bael.

- Sure, I’ll let you feel it until you’re sick of it.

Just then, Kang-Woo on the screen smiled in a way filled with madness, which Gaia had never seen from him before. His smile could only be described as

demonic

.

“My... child?”

Gaia stared at the screen as her eyes shook. The God of Splendor whom Gaia knew was nowhere in sight.

- Open.

The Door to the Demonic Sea opened.