Chapter 507 - Day of the Apocalypse (4)

Grind—!!

The chilling sound of meat being ground in a mixer echoed. The demons wrapped by the red chains burst into little pieces. Black blood poured like rain.

"Haaa, haaa," Cha Yeon-Joo panted heavily.

'Maybe I was a bit too greedy.'

Although it was an emergency, she had used far too big of a technique to wipe out the demons. Yeon-Joo staggered momentarily due to mana exhaustion.

"Yeon-Joo!" shouted Han Seol-Ah, who was maintaining the buffs.

"Don't worry about me!" replied Yeon-Joo as she shook her head.

Seol-Ah's buffs were necessary to keep the power of the light rays as they were. Yeon-Joo couldn't allow Seol-Ah to stop the buffs just for her.

"Grrr! Die, human woman!!"

A demon charged out of the storm of chains and swung his hammer at Yeon-Joo's head with enough force to kill her instantly. Yeon-Joo tumbled backward to dodge the hammer and extended her arm.

Clatter!

Red chains shot out of her wrist wrapped around the hammer.

"Huup!"

Yeon-Joo lightly jumped.

"Foolish girl!"

The demon with the hammer smiled. Wrapping chains around a hammer that could be swung with enough force to kill her instantly was just asking to die.

Whoosh!

The chains were pulled taut and Yeon-Joo shot up into the air.

"Die!!"

The demon swung Yeon-Joo all over the place and then swung the hammer down.

Boom—!

The force of impact made a crater on the ground.

"Hm?"

The demon's eyes widened. The woman, whom he thought would have become paste after being smashed into the ground, was nowhere to be seen.

"Over here, bastard."

Tap.

Yeon-Joo had instantly unraveled the chains around the demon's hammer and landed on the demon's neck. She then wrapped her chains around the neck of the five-meter-tall demon.

"Red Lotus, Fifth Form."

Clatter—!!

Chains spread out like a spider web with the demon as the epicenter and wrapped around other demons in its area as they slithered across the ground like a snake.

"Spider Wrestling."

The chains spread out like a spider web and connected every demon in its radius.

"Enough of your tricks!"

The demon with the hammer tried to shake off the chains wrapped around him.

"Gaaaaaahhh!!"

"S-Stop, dammit!!"

The chains connecting the demons were pulled along the demon's movements. The sharp thorns on the chains sunk into the demons' flesh and tore it apart.

"Heh, go as wild as you want," said Yeon-Joo as she snorted and jumped off of the demon's neck.

"D-Dammit!"

The more the demons tried to shake off the chains, the deeper the chains' thorns dug into them. They were given no choice but to stay in place.

"Now then, that should more or less take care of them..." Yeon-Joo expressed satisfaction after restraining the demons who had reached the magic circle and turned around. "... Shit."

However, there were just as many demons flying toward the magic circle. Although the barrage of light rays continued, countless demons were also charging out of the Rift. Not just that, even more demons were escaping the barrage area using the ancient demonic beasts as meat shields and were flying toward the defense line.

'There's no end to them.'

Although Yeon-Joo specialized in dealing with many enemies at once, not even she could deal with an endless number of demons by herself.

"Grrrr!"

On top of that, the ancient demonic beasts who managed to charge through the barrage were running straight to the defense line. Each of them was easily over twenty meters tall.

'I can't stop them.'

The demonic beasts did not possess the power of Deicide, but their baseline level of physical strength was far too high for Yeon-Joo to handle.

"... Shit," Yeon-Joo cursed.

"Grrrrrr!"

The giant ancient demonic beasts shook their bodies and whipped their tails. Yeon-Joo hurriedly shot her chains at them.

Clunk!

"Ngh!"

Yeon-Joo had used so many chains when dealing with the demons; her bracelets became heavy and the chains shooting toward the demonic beasts fell lifelessly on the ground.

"Dammit!" she cursed and prepared to retreat.

Spark! Crackle—!!

Just then, blue lightning struck the demonic beasts' tails.

"Red-hair! We can't hold the line any longer!" shouted Uriel.

"... Who are you calling red-hair, brat?"

"What? Brat? I've lived ten times longer than you!"

"Hmph, if you look like a brat, then you're a brat."

"You obnoxious human...!"

Yeon-Joo and Uriel glared at each other.

"Both of you, please calm down," said Michael as he landed between them and sighed.

"... Sorry. This isn't the time." Yeon-Joo lowered her head and backed down. "Urgh... there's no end to them."

She stared at Bael's army as if she were sick and tired of them. Each demon was powerful, but the bigger issue was their endless numbers. An enormous number of demons were charging at the defense line like a swarm of bees trying to protect their nest.

'This is bad.'

They were protecting the defense line the best they could, but they no longer had the strength to.

'But if we were to fall back...'

Yeon-Joo looked back to see the Players and angels pouring their mana into the magic circle. They were already exhausted; if she were to retreat, everyone here would be torn apart by the demons.

"..."

Yeon-Joo clenched her fists tightly. She had no choice but to protect everyone here with her life.

- Ah, ahh, can you hear me?

Just then, Yeon-Joo heard a voice from her communication device in her ear.

"K-Kang-Woo?"

- Yeah.

"Can you send Si-Hun here? I don't think we can hold out much longer."

- Fall back.

"... What? F-Fall back?"

- Yeah. Give up on the defense line.

"Wh-What the hell are you talking about?!" shouted Yeon-Joo, her eyes widened.

Abandoning the defense line was no different from leaving everyone here to die.

- Don't worry.

Yeon-Joo heard Kang-Woo chuckle.

- I've already prepared an escape route for them.

"But if you do that, the magic circle will..." Yeon-Joo slurred as she looked back at the magic circle.

- It's fine.

"... It is?"

- Yeah. After all...

Kang-Woo cackled menacingly.

- That magic circle was bait from the very beginning.

"..." Yeon-Joo remained silent.

Hearing that, she felt as if she had been hit on the back of her head.

'This magic circle was bait?'

Based on the details of the plan she was given, this magic circle needed to be protected at all costs, so she did her best to protect it. But it was bait all along?

"Why are you deceiving even your allies?!" Yeon-Joo shouted as she frowned angrily.

If the magic circle was bait, then it meant the forces stationed here were all bait as well.

- Because...

Kang-Woo snickered from across the communication device.

- That would make you more desperate.

"..." Yeon-Joo was left with her mouth agape. She slapped her forehead. "You son of a..."

She thought that Kang-Woo was the shittiest person in the world.

"..."

However, she realized that he was that kind of person from the start.

'No wonder the System called him the God of fucking Splendor.'

Yeon-Joo clicked her tongue and shook her head.

"So, what do you need me to do?" she asked.

- You'll see three blue crystal orbs at the center of the magic circle. Just infuse mana into them.

"... Got it." Yeon-Joo nodded and turned around. She shouted at the angels and Players, "Everyone, get in the magic circle!!"

She reached the center of the magic circle and found the three blue crystal orbs.

"Fuuu."

She infused mana into them as Kang-Woo instructed.

Whoooom!!

"This is..."

"Wh-What's happening?"

Blinding light poured out of the magic circle and enveloped everything in its radius. The Players and angels above the magic circle vanished as if they dissipated into thin air.

"Now!"

"Destroy the magic circle!"

The demons, seeing that the forces protecting the magic circle had retreated, charged at the magic circle as they roared.

"Shit! Run away, you idiots!!" Amon shouted.

The demons looked back at Amon in confusion. He had commanded them to destroy the magic circle, but now he was commanding them to run away.

"It's a trap!! Get away from there right now!" Amon yelled.

"Pfft!" Kang-Woo laughed, unable to hold it in. "It's too late."

He licked his lips and snapped his fingers.

"Ah..." Amon muttered.

BOOOOOOOOM!

He reached out in desperation but was unable to stop the explosion of the magic circle.

"Bwehehehehe!!" Kang-Woo burst into laughter, grasping his stomach. "Why would you even charge all together like a bunch of morons?"

Throwing so many demons at the magic circle to destroy it ended up being the worst possible decision. Kang-Woo cackled as he looked down at the demons who had been reduced to ashes.

"K-Kekeke. You sure thought things through, Demon King."

Amon clenched his staff tightly with his trembling hand. That was not all of Bael's army that was caught in the explosion, but it was still a significant portion; so many that the number wouldn't be restored for a very long time even after ending Earth and turning it into the territory of the Nine Hells.

"How very... very interesting..."

"Hey, hey."

"To think the king of demons would pull such an undignified trick."

"Hey, you crying? Hm? You crying for real?"

"Lord Bael would be terribly disappointed in y—"

"Bwehehehe!! This son of a bitch is crying!! Hey, guys! Take a look at this crybaby!"

"..."

Amon clenched his staff so hard that it could break. Blood vessels bulged from his forehead and he glared at Kang-Woo.

'He can only act leisurely for so long.'

The explosion had dealt a massive blow to Bael's army, but they were still going strong.

Boom!

Amon aggressively slammed his staff down on the ground. The red Rift grew bigger.

[So this is Earth.]

[Kahahahaha!! How long I've waited for this day!]

[This is our territory now!]

The otherworldly beings walked out of the Rift.

"Wow, there sure are a lot of them," Kang-Woo mentioned as he stared at the otherworldly beings of diverse appearances.

He crossed his arms and slowly turned his head.

Schwing!

Si-Hun unsheathed his sword and walked out as if he had waited for this moment.

"The Sirius Corps is ready," he said.

"Good."

Kang-Woo nodded. Now that the defense line was destroyed, the only thing left to do was to scuffle it out on the battlefield known as Seoul.

"Charge!" Si-Hun shouted.

The Guardians Players charged at the otherworldly beings.

Clang! Boom!

The number of injured among the Players rapidly increased as the battle went on.

"..." Kang-Woo stared at the red Rift with deeply sunken eyes. "Isn't it about time you crawled out of there?"

- H-Hihi.

The voice of a boy echoed in Kang-Woo's head as a response.