Chapter 66: Summoning Ritual (1)

"I met him… about eight months ago."

Kim Jae-Hyun began talking.

Oh Kang-Woo leaned on the chair and listened carefully.

"Are you talking about the man in the red demon mask?"

"Yes."

"You don't know who he is?"

Jae-Hyun shook his head with a heavy expression on his face. He didn't seem to be lying.

'I guess even Kim Jae-Hyun doesn't know who he is.'

The information Kang-Woo wanted to know the most had disappeared.

"Keep talking."

"When I first met him eight months ago, he gave me a proposal. He said that he would turn me into a demon if I provided him with the sacrifices he needed for the rituals."

"… And you accepted that?"

Cha Yeon-Joo looked at him in disbelief.

Supplying the live sacrifices was so insane that it would destroy everything that Jae-Hyun had built up until now. Why would someone like Jae-Hyun take such a risk just to become a demon?

"Hmph. You can only say that because you know nothing about demons."

"… What do you mean?"

"Demons are immortal. As long as their heads aren't severed or their hearts don't burst, they will live forever without aging."

Immortality. Eternal youth.

There was no offer more enticing for a mortal being. Even the wealthiest of people ultimately died, so it was possibly understandable for someone like Jae-Hyun, who possessed great power and wealth, to struggle against the clutches of mortality.

"Hah, immortality?"

"Yes."

"How do you know that?"

"Because they've been alive for over a thousand years."

"What…?"

It wasn't just Yeon-Joo who was surprised.

Kang-Woo, who had been silently listening, opened his mouth and asked, "The Demon Cult has existed for over a thousand years?"

Players had only begun to appear on Earth after the Day of Calamity five years ago, so Kang-Woo had obviously thought that the Demon Cult had appeared after that day.

Jae-Hyun nodded with a heavy expression.

"They have been here for a thousand—no, even longer than that. They have been hiding all over the world and secretly growing. But of course, they only became active a few years ago."

"Hmm."

Kang-Woo frowned.

If they'd been present for such a long time, it would probably be hard to wipe them all out.

"… Then you've been kidnapping Players and offering them to the Demon Cult in exchange for immortality?"

"Yes."

"Crazy son of a bitch." Yeon-Joo looked at him in disgust. "Do you want to be immortal so badly that you are even willing to commit such hideous acts? Do you think a human can stay sane while living for thousands of years?"

There were many novels and manhwas about what would happen if one was immortal, but the result was always a catastrophe.

She believed that a human would eventually lose their mind if they lived for such a long time.

Jae-Hyun laughed at her words.

"You truly know nothing about demons. The body of a demon preserves the mind and amplifies one's desires."

"… What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you cannot get bored of life. You can live for eternity in youth. Isn't it the best?"

"Don't bullshit me. There's no way that's possib—"

"It is. Do you think I'd risk everything if it weren't?"

Yeon-Joo shut her mouth.

She knew that Jae-Hyun wasn't stupid.

'If he's telling the truth…'

It would make sense how the Demon Cult had amassed such a large number of followers so easily. The reward that they offered was hard for a human to resist.

"What a load of bull," Kang-Woo mumbled in a low voice.

"Kang-Woo…?"

Yeon-Joo looked at him, surprised by his tone from which she could sense an intense bloodlust.

"Do you seriously believe having insatiable desires is a good thing?"

Kang-Woo looked at him with sharp eyes.

Desires were limitless. Even humans always wanted more if they had one or two of something. Considering that, a demon's desires weren't even worth mentioning.

Insatiable desires brought about thirst that couldn't be understood by anyone who had never experienced it firsthand. It was comparable to eternally wandering around a desert in search of water and was like struggling to breathe in an atmosphere with no oxygen.

This suffering was incomparable to anything that could possibly be experienced.

Kang-Woo had desperately learned a way to control his desires so that he would not lose his mind from the suffering, but it was impossible to perfectly control his desires even after having lived for ten millennia and having devoured the seven princes that used to rule over Hell.

'You're the one who knows nothing about demons.'

Kang-Woo stopped those words from leaving his mouth.

It would be a problem if he acted as if he knew a lot about demons.

He forcibly changed the topic because he felt he would throw up if he heard any more. "Well, we've heard enough about your motive. Talk about something else now."

"Kuh…"

Just looking at Kang-Woo made Jae-Hyun angry. He bit his lip to calm down.

"I provided them with sacrifices as they had proposed, and I made a few members of my guild accept demonic energy through the ritual."

"Demonic energy? Is it something like mana?" asked Yeon-Joo.

"It is the power of Hell. It is similar to mana but fundamentally different."

"Hmm… So do you also have demonic energy?"

"No. I haven't accepted it yet."

"Why? Didn't you join forces with the Demon Cult to get it?"

"I did. But if you recklessly accept demonic energy, you become unable to control your desires and become something closer to a monster than a demon."

"… Just accepting that thing called demonic energy can transform a human?"

"Yes. The man said that they needed more time to prepare if I wanted to become a full-fledged demon with perfect hold over my intelligence."

"… Then why did you make your guild members accept it? You said that it would transform them into monsters."

"But it grants great power in exchange. Guild members are nothing more than expendable soldiers. As long as they can fight, it doesn't matter if they're human or monster."

"Crazy son of a bitch."

Yeon-Joo frowned.

Jae-Hyun made her sick.

After hearing his explanation, she felt that Kang-Woo had been too soft with him.

"Then what is the summoning about? What are they trying to summon?"

"… A demon."

"A demon?"

Kang-Woo looked at him with narrowed eyes.

.

Jae-Hyun nodded and kept talking.

"I don't know the exact details, but what I know for sure is that they're trying to summon a demon."

"Is the Demon Cult's ultimate goal to summon demons?"

"I'm not sure about that either, but what I do know is that they're highly obsessed with the act of summoning demons."

"Hmm…"

Kang-Woo nodded.

Since they called themselves the Demon Cult, it would be weird if they weren't obsessed with summoning demons.

'It's not like I've devoured every single demon.'

Kang-Woo had devoured tens of thousands of demons, but it wasn't like he'd devoured every single one.

The Nine Hells were gigantic.

Even though Kang-Woo had lived in Hell for ten millennia, there were places he'd never been to and demons he'd never met.

Kang-Woo had only fought to survive, and he hadn't gone out of his way to eat demons that hadn't bared their fangs at him.

'I'm not sure what rank of demon they're trying to summon, but…'

If they managed to summon a demon that belonged to the Seventh Hell or higher, Kang-Woo would likely struggle against them with his current strength.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"Have they successfully summoned a demon before?"

The organization had been present for more than a thousand years, so there was a chance they had successfully managed to summon a demon before.

"I don't know, but they said that this was their first attempt in Korea, at the very least."

"This is their first attempt?"

"They said that the dimensional wall had recently become drastically weaker. It was about… one month ago. They mentioned that they'd become able to summon a demon thanks to the weakened dimensional wall."

"…"

Kang-Woo's expression hardened.

He naturally recalled the Gaia System once he heard that the dimensional wall had weakened.

The time that Jae-Hyun had mentioned when the dimensional wall had weakened matched the time when Kang-Woo had returned to Earth.

'So…'

Because the Gaia System had gotten weaker, the Demon Cult had become more active.

'It's all my fault, then.'

Kang-Woo frowned.

Based on the information he had gathered, he had surmised that he was the reason why the dimensional wall had weakened.

'Can't it repair itself?'

"Is that thing you call the dimensional wall still in a weakened state?" Kang-Woo asked with a sliver of hope.

"It's apparently getting weaker by the day."

"Fuck."

Not only was it not repairing itself, but it was also becoming worse.

'At this rate, are demons and demonic beasts gonna freely jump over to Earth?'

It wasn't just Hell. There was also the chance that beings from Aernor, like Reynald, would also travel to Earth.

'There might also be other dimensions besides Hell and Aernor.'

It was clear that the situation was critical. The problem was that there was no way to solve the situation at this moment.

'Did I really fuck things up this badly?'

It was as if Earth's atmosphere had disappeared and asteroids were falling with zero resistance.

It was only this bad because the Gaia System was still more or less intact. He couldn't even imagine what would happen if it was completely destroyed.

"… Fuu."

Kang-Woo took a deep breath.

He felt his head clear up a bit.

'Let's focus on what I can do right now.'

It wasn't like he would get an answer just by thinking about the Gaia System. What he could do at this moment was thwart the Demon Cult's scheme and figure out the identity of the man in the red demon mask.

"Do you know where the man in the red demon mask is? I'm asking about the Demon Cult's headquarters in Korea."

"I do, but… they would already be somewhere else by now."

"Somewhere else?"

Jae-Hyun nodded.

"They're preparing for the summoning ritual."

"… I thought they were lacking sacrifices."

"Who knows? I sure don't."

"Wait. That doesn't add up. You guys were the ones providing them with sacrifices."

If they had enough sacrifices, there would be no reason for Kim Yeong-Hun to target Kim Si-Hun. It was weird for the Mir Guild not to know whether they had gathered enough sacrifices.

Jae-Hyun smirked.

"That's because we're paid based on our performance."

"… Damn."

Kang-Woo frowned. It was not hard for him to figure out what Jae-Hyun had meant.

Yeon-Joo tilted her head in confusion.

"What does he mean?"

Kang-Woo clearly and concisely answered, "It means that Mir isn't the only major guild that had cut a deal with the Demon Cult."