Chapter 491 - Conviction Succumbs to Hope (1)

“Kurgh, urgh.”

Eilles collapsed on his knees on the melted ground. The gold and black flames had melted the frost swirling around various parts of his body.

Clatter.

The Frost Sword in his hand fell to the ground.

“Oh, but I guess I had fun,” said Kang-Woo brightly as he stretched.

His battle against Eilles had been more entertaining than he had hoped.

‘His swordsmanship fell behind that Arianne girl.’

However, Eilles possessed the power of frost that far surpassed Arianne’s swordsmanship. The surroundings, even the air itself, were frozen with each of his sword swings. Kang-Woo also found it nice that it would instantly turn into ice if he allowed Eilles’s attack to touch him.

‘It was pretty helpful.’

Eilles had been the perfect opponent to test the Flames of Voracity combined with Chaos. Kang-Woo smiled in satisfaction and walked toward Eilles, who was on his knees.

“Kill... me.”

“You have something to tell me before I kill you.”

“I believe I told you that I won’t talk.”

“Don’t worry.” Kang-Woo lightly patted Eilles’s shoulder. “You will.”

Eilles frowned aggressively and turned away from Kang-Woo. Kang-Woo turned away from Eilles and picked up the Frost Sword on the ground.

“Wow, this sure is a great sword.”

The power infused in the sword covered in white frost was so strong that Kang-Woo felt like his hand was going numb. It was inferior to Ingrium purely in terms of rank, but its frost attribute allowed it to surpass the bounds of a sword.

‘Regardless, I don’t need it.’

Kang-Woo didn’t need to go out of his way to use it since he had the Key of the Demonic Sea and Ingrium. No, even if he didn’t have two extraordinary weapons, Kang-Woo had far surpassed the level of needing a weapon.

‘In that case.’

Kang-Woo turned around and called, “Si-Hun.”

“Yes, hyung-nim.”

Kim Si-Hun, who was neutralizing the rest of the Frostborn knights while Kang-Woo was battling Eilles, quickly ran toward Kang-Woo.

“Here. You can have this,” said Kang-Woo as he handed Si-Hun the Frost Sword.

“H-Hyung-nim?”

“What was it called again? Formless Sword? I know you can make swords with that, but a swordsman’s gotta have a good sword.”

It was the nature of a swordsman to desire a great sword, and no words of greatness could describe a sword like the Frost Sword.

‘It’s at least Mythic-grade if I had to grade it.’

It could even be Transcendent-grade, considering how easily it penetrated Han Seol-Ah’s sanctuary.

“It’ll be far better than the holy sword you used to use.”

“Hyung-nim...” Si-Hun teared up. He took the Frost Sword and continued, “Thank you, hyung-nim— no, Kang-Woo hyung. I’ll take good care of it.”

Kang-Woo stared blankly at the brightly smiling Si-Hun. “Uhh, mm. Yeah, you do that.”

‘My god, this son of a bitch is bad for my heart.’

It was only for a moment; it had not even been for a millisecond, but...

‘I’d... no, no! Darling is the only one for me!’

Kang-Woo furiously shook his head and coughed loudly. He turned to his party members; although each of them was extremely powerful, facing an army of ten thousand had likely been difficult for them. Their faces were dyed with fatigue. Lilith was the only one who looked fine since she had barely taken part in the battle.

“Everyone but Lilith, leave the dungeon first,” Kang-Woo said.

“Pardon? What about you, Kang-Woo?” asked Seol-Ah, anxiously grabbing Kang-Woo’s clothes.

Kang-Woo smirked and lightly hugged Seol-Ah’s waist. He glanced at the collapsed Eilles and said, “I have some stuff left to do here.”

“Ah...” Seol-Ah nodded as if she understood. She grabbed Echidna’s hand and replied, “We’ll be waiting for you at home, then.”

“Well then, we will go on ahead, hyung-nim.” Si-Hun bowed slightly and turned around.

Balrog stared at Si-Hun’s back in silence and stood up. “My king, please summon me at any time if you require assistance.”

“Hm? Yeah, sure.”

Kang-Woo momentarily felt something was off with how Balrog stared at Si-Hun, but he decided to pay it no mind and nodded.

‘Did something happen between them?’

Whatever the case, it was not something he had the leeway to concern himself with at the moment. The party members left the Frozen Temple, leaving only Kang-Woo, Lilith, and the collapsed Eilles on the desolate battlefield.

“Now then.” Kang-Woo tuned to Eilles and smiled. “Shall we get on with the interrogation?”

“Kurgh,” Eilles grunted. He expected to be interrogated since he had been spared. “It’s pointless.”

Eilles glared at Kang-Woo coldly. His conviction, deep within his heart, would never be bent.

“You never know until you try.” Kang-Woo walked toward the collapsed Eilles and extended his arm toward him.

‘Authority of Sealing.’

Fwoosh—!!

The Flames of Voracity wrapped around Eilles to restrain him.

“Hmm. How are you planning on interrogating him, my lord Demon King?” Lilith approached the restrained Eilles and scanned him from head to toe with narrowed eyes. “It is never easy to make uncompromising people like him talk.”

“I’m sure it is.” Kang-Woo nodded. He placed his hand on Eilles’s head and continued, “But we have to make him talk, no matter what.”

That was how desperate Kang-Woo was for information about Bael. His eyes glinted as he activated an Authority.

‘Authority of Domination.’

Crackle—!!

“Kurgh!”

Black sparks crackled in front of Eilles’s head. He shook his head in pain, but that was it; the Authority of Domination failed to take control of his mind.

“Tsk,” Kang-Woo clicked his tongue with a frown.

As he had expected, mind control Authority had no effect.

‘There’s no way they didn’t prepare countermeasures for this.’

Kang-Wo didn’t know about Bael, but he was sure that Amon would have foreseen such a situation and prepared countermeasures for it.

‘In that case...’

Kang-Woo turned around. There was a reason why he had Lilith stay despite getting everyone else to leave the dungeon.

“Do me a favor, Lilith.”

“Hmm.” Lilith looked down at Eilles with her arms crossed.

“You... and your ■■■■■■■■■ will be able to do it,” said Kang-Woo with certainty with his hand on her shoulder.

Lilith tilted her head in confusion. “Wouldn’t he just enjoy it?”

“No.”

‘He won’t. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life.’

Lilith pouted and complained, “Ngh. I don’t understand why you hate tentacles so much, my king.”

‘You don’t? Why don’t you understand? No, even if you don’t, you should’ve fucking figured it out a long time ago after all the times I’d said it.’

Regardless of whether Kang-Woo found Lilith’s tentacles disgusting or not, it no longer mattered now that Lilith had decided to take part in the interrogation.

“I’ll leave it to you, then,” Kang-Woo expressed.

“Yes, my king.”

Lilith smiled widely and nodded.

Squelch.

Her hair moved as if it were alive and turned into green tentacles.

“Wh-What are you planning on doing?” Eilles asked as he stared at the green tentacles in pallor.

Kang-Woo patted Eilles’s shoulder as if to cheer him up, “You should’ve talked when I asked nicely.”

He shook his head and turned away.

“Kurgh! W-Wait...!” Eilles shouted.

Squelch.

“Gah! A-Arggghhh!”

Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!

“Guuurrrggghhh!!”

The green tentacles stuck to Eilles. He twisted and turned as he screamed in terror. Some time passed and Eilles was left struggling, still restrained by the Flames of Voracity.

“A-Arrgghh.”

Nightmarish pain tore his mind apart. Although he was made of ice, he had sensory perception. Pain, displeasure, and fear took control of him. The displeasure could not be explained as anything other than disgusting. Eilles was getting nauseous from the feeling of the tentacles sticking to his skin. He bit his lip, suppressing the desire to vomit at any second.

“I... M-My... My conviction...”

However, Eilles raised his head with his eyes wide open. He recalled the first time he met his lord. He recalled the thrill and awe he had felt back then.

‘Lord Bael...’

Eilles recalled the endless darkness— the boundless abyss within the innocent-looking boy.

‘Only you... can destroy this irrational world and build it anew.’

Only Bael could become the master of the new world.

“Will not... be bent.”

Eilles’s eyes were still blazing with unwavering conviction despite being covered in green tentacles.

Kang-Woo stared at Eilles wide-eyed, genuinely surprised.

‘He’s enduring that?’

Lilith’s interrogation skills surpassed even the Authority of Domination in certain ways. It was not a matter of her tentacles being hideous and disgusting; her tentacles naturally oozed powerful hallucinogenic substances and were able to inflict the pain of one’s flesh being torn apart. One’s fingernails being ripped out, bones breaking, and eyeballs being pulled out were nothing compared to the pain Eilles was currently experiencing.

’But...’

Eilles, the master of the First Heaven, was enduring and had overcome that excruciating pain.

“Hah,” Kang-Woo chuckled.

“I apologize, my king.” Lilith sighed and shook her head. Eilles passed out as soon as she released him from her tentacles. “He has developed a tolerance.”

The fluid that oozed from her tentacles possessed powerful hallucinogenic properties, but it had its limits. The target no longer saw hallucinations once they built a tolerance to the substance over time.

‘From what I know, no one ever endured to the point that they built up a tolerance.’

Kang-Woo looked down at Eilles, genuinely impressed. Kang-Woo had naturally never felt the hallucinations and pain that Lilith’s tentacles induced, but he had heard from Lilith that the pain was close to the amount that Kang-Woo felt when

molting

.

“No wonder he was so confident that we wouldn’t be able to get him to talk.”

As one who had experienced the pain that came with molting, Kang-Woo couldn’t help but be impressed. He clapped as he looked down at Eilles.

“Umm... What should we do now?” Lilith looked at Kang-Woo as if she didn’t know what to do.

She knew that it would be difficult to get Eilles to break, but she had not expected him to be this tenacious.

“Should we give up on information about Bael?”

Since the Authority of Domination and the extreme pain induced through hallucinations did not work, there was no practical way to make Eilles talk anymore. They would still be able to inflict physical pain on Eilles even if he built a tolerance to Lilith’s hallucinogen, but he would most likely be able to endure that pain as well.

“No need.” Kang-Woo calmly shook his head. He crouched, lightly patted the unconscious Eilles’s back, and continued, “Conviction usually succumbs to hope.”

“Pardon?” Lilith tilted her head in confusion. “Don’t you mean despair?”

“No.” Kang-Woo lightly shook his head with a wide smile. “He’ll break at the face of hope.”

Lilith remained silent. A chill ran down her spine. She thought for a moment that she saw goat horns on Kang-Woo’s forehead.

“Up we go.” Kang-Woo stood up and stared in the direction where Arianne had run. “Now then, let’s go catch us a spoiled princess.”