Chapter 423: Lesser Demon Diablo

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang—

Ten players rushed forward with their swords and sent their attacks at Diablo. However, these ten swords that clashed against Diablo’s sword were all useless. And…

Baaaaaaang—

…even their owners were sent flying back from the impact of Diablo’s sword strike.

“Ur… urk! This… this is already the damage after the 50% damage reduction has been applied…?!”

There were only a little over ten seconds left with the buff. Just when everyone’s nerves were tense from anxiety…

[Ghost of the Battlefield.]

[Movement Speed will increase by 350% within a 30 meter radius.]

[Attack and Defense will increase by 30% within a 30 meter radius.]

…Alexander swiftly made his move.

Clank, clank, clank, clank—

Alexander, with a ridiculous increase in his movement speed, greatly overwhelmed Diablo in terms of speed. He gathered a huge amount of force in his arm and struck Diablo.

Baaaaaaaang—

For the first time, Diablo staggered and took one step back. But Alexander did not stop. Up, down, left, right, his sword continued to attack Diablo, forcing him to take more steps back. The viewers, even the players in the stadium, could not follow his movements with their eyes. Alexander left dozens of afterimages and left extreme pressure on Diablo. As long as they worked together and did not miss this chance, they might have a chance of hunting Diablo! A ray of hope finally shone on the players.

Meanwhile, the viewers watched them at the edge of their seats.

‘This is fun! So fun!’

This was the new type of game that Minhyuk had created. Minhyuk and Diablo, versus forty players! The players rushed to fight against Diablo’s supreme power. However, one player, Minhyuk, was starting another spark on his own.

“Continent Destroyer.”

Minhyuk flew high up in the sky. And as if in sync, Diablo also flew up.

“…What?!” Alexander felt something unusual. He immediately jumped up to attack Minhyuk but Diablo easily offset his attack with his sword, now turned into scythe.

A powerful force wrapped around Minhyuk’s sword, until it gathered at the tip of his sword. Then, he stabbed his sword straight down into the ground.

Baaaaaaaaaaang—

“Huh, huuuuuuuuh?!”

“What the hell?!”

The players in the vicinity lost their balance and fell down on the ground. Then, a powerful shockwave stretched out and caused damage to the players that fell down.

[Continent Destroyer]

[The moment the sword gets stabbed into the ground, everyone within a 35 meter radius will incur an additional 500% damage from powerful shockwaves.]

[Lava will rise five meters from the ground and cause an additional 1,600% damage to anyone that it touches and will continuously incur additional 100% damage.]

The players with a good sense of balance, or those that had special skills immediately jumped up to the sky. However, there were still quite a few players that had been forced to log out by the sudden changes in the terrain.

“We’re saved…”

“That’s crazy…! I almost got logged out there!”

All of the surviving players sighed with relief. This was because they were all at the same level as Diablo, so they were safe from the damage of Minhyuk's attack. But then, Minhyuk, who had already used Like the Wind, looked at Diablo. It was a sign that asked Diablo to use his scythe to grab onto Minhyuk. Diablo immediately understood what Minhyuk meant.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang—

Diablo was pulled up as the chains of his scythe wrapped around Minhyuk’s arm. And as if waiting for this moment…

Puhaaaaaaaa—

…a gigantic pillar of lava erupted from the ground and engulfed the players that flew in the skies, incurring 1,600% additional damage.

“Keuhaaaaaaack!”

“Aaaaaaaaack!”

The players started to turn gray and disappear. Among them, there were quite a few people that had been exhausted from fighting against named monsters. In fact, even with players that had high flame resistance, it was hard for them to resist that attack.

All but one player. Alexander stepped on some mysterious beads and pulled himself out of the area of effect like a ghost. Then, he pulled out his mysterious pocket and recovered the beads while gulping dryly in trepidation.

‘What the hell is that player?!’

Alexander could not help but compare Minhyuk to all the countless NPCs and monsters that he had encountered. After all, he had encountered many of them with at least this much power. However, no player had reached that level yet. And Alexander, someone who could hunt monsters that were as powerful as that, was hailed as the strongest simply because he was the strongest player in existence.

However, this was a game and the players would eventually grow in three, five, seven, or ten years, and be able to hunt monsters of that caliber. And at this very moment, everyone had witnessed Minhyuk’s level, one where none of the current players could reach.

‘And what’s more shocking is…’

Minhyuk’s main class was a chef.

Cold sweat dripped down Alexander’s forehead. The area ravaged by Continent Destroyer had now literally become hell on earth. What about the players that were using cooling potions to pull themselves out of the fire? Of course, Minhyuk and Diablo did not let them go. Minhyuk easily killed those that tried to get out. After all, it was easy to deal with exhausted players. Those that Minhyuk had trouble dealing with, or missed out, were easily overpowered by Diablo. Most of the named monsters that were loitering in the field had also been dealt with, thanks to the Continent Destroyer’s far-reaching radius.

It was not long for Korea, who was last in the rankings, to reach eight place. Furthermore, this event was a ‘time-limited game’, the one that could hunt the most named monster within the time limit would win. In other words, those that had been logged out would no longer be able to score, while those that survived would still be able to score.

The only ones left in the stadium right now were Minhyuk, Diablo and Alexander.

[It all comes down to Alexander vs. Minhyuk and Diablo! The situation may not look very good, but we all know that Alexander is a legend. He’s definitely not a pushover!]

[That’s right. He has tremendous power. Besides, he still hasn't used his ‘Ghost’s Frenzy’ in this competition yet.]

The commentators and the viewers all looked at them in anticipation. How would Alexander fight against them? Who would exert even more strength? But then…

“I surrender,” Alexander declared before going further away. “It’s a hard battle.”

Alexander had thought about dropping out of the game, but if he did that then even the silver medal would be lost. ‘Dropping out’ meant that he would give the game up and his score would be reset. However, surrendering meant that he would no longer fight. Besides, he was aware that Minhyuk was very clever and cunning.

‘I’m sure he’s not showing all of his strength since he knows that I’ll eventually lose, right?’

The game was already decided. If it was a 1v1 fight between him and Minhyuk, Alexander was sure that Minhyuk would lose. But with Diablo in the mix, it was a different story. Alexander and Diablo were on different levels. This was a fight that he would not win, and he would be foolish to think otherwise. He could already tell that he would be poured with a bucket of criticisms, but he still remained calm.

‘Why would I even show all of my strength when it’s already a losing battle?’

Alexander did not have to fight recklessly here. And Minhyuk did not really need to attack him either. Whether he surrendered or got killed, the fact that he would only be able to get the silver medal and that Minhyuk would win the gold medal was undeniable.

Minhyuk quickly narrowed the distance in scores between him and the other players by hunting the named monsters. His score was able to dramatically increase since the only players left were him and Alexander. And finally…

[

1st Place

. South Korea. 531 points. Gold Medal.]

[

2nd Place

. America. 510 points. Silver Medal.]

[

3rd Place

. China. 460 points. Bronze. Medal.]

Minhyuk won another medal. After confirming his gold medal, he quickly stopped fighting and turned to Diablo and talked to him. And once the game was over, he was covered with a flashing light and disappeared from sight. Just like that, Minhyuk won two gold medals. As of now, only he and Alexander had won two gold medals.

***

This was a story that took place after the events of the Athenae: World War.

Minhyuk visited Diablo, handed him two pieces of paper and then disappeared. Diablo followed the path that was written on one of the pieces of paper that Minhyuk handed to him.

Whether it was under the cold rain, or over huge mountains, he continued to walk, until he finally reached the house that he used to live in. It was a house that he could not really remember that well, since it had turned into a fragment of a very distant memory.

Diablo looked at his already collapsed house. After looking at his house, he moved forward and headed somewhere else. It was not that far from his house. The place was covered with a myriad of tombstones.

‘My mother…’

Perhaps his beloved mother had died waiting for him to return. Diablo felt horrible. He was a son that had never even visited his mother’s grave. Perhaps, her grave had already disappeared with the sands of time. Or if, by any chance, it was still there, it would definitely be unmanaged.

Diablo suddenly stopped in his tracks. The grasses that were growing around his mother’s grave were neatly trimmed. There were even flowers that were planted in a beautiful arrangement around it, flowers that were in full bloom and facing the sky. They were sunflowers, flowers that meant ‘waiting’ in the language of flowers.

An old man that was trimming the grass next to his mother’s grave spoke up, “It’s a bit strange, but sunflowers always grew on that grave. Even if you pluck it, it will grow again and again. It’s really strange.”

The old man paused for a moment as if he thought about something before continuing to speak, “Ah, that’s right. Not too long ago, a man that can eat as much as an elephant came here with some people to clean that grave. He seems like he’s in a high position, but he cleaned the grave with his own hands.”

Tears welled up in Diablo’s eyes. He watched as the squirrels jumped around and played on his mother’s clean and neat grave, while ladybugs frolicked around after falling down from the plants. This was what Minhyuk and the Hybrid Race did. When he looked down, Diablo discovered something written on her mother’s tombstone as a memorial.

[Helen, Mother of the Great Hero that sacrificed himself for mankind, rests here.]

He was a lesser demon, not a hero.

Hot tears dripped down Diablo’s cheeks. Then, he started walking again. This time, he was following the directions written in the other note. He climbed mountains and crossed rivers. When he felt thirsty, he would drink river water, when he was hungry, he would hunt wild animals. Still, he walked.

He walked for days on end, but his steps remained powerful and energetic. Finally, he reached his destination.

“Grrrrrr!”

“Grrr?!”

A three-headed dog greeted Diablo the moment he arrived.

“Grow hair! Grow!”

Then, he saw a strange man shouting loudly in public.

“Ack! Rascal! Why is your poop so little today?!”

Turning around, he saw a black-haired old man checking a cat’s butt, and a dark-skinned boy taking a nap with a white wolf. There was also a burly man whose height could rival his own, emitting a fierce aura despite chewing on hay and humming, while lying among the pigs.

Finally, Diablo reached an extremely huge mansion with a door that could only be reached after climbing a flight of stairs. The huge doors opened as a man came out and stood atop the stairs. The man looked down at Diablo with a smile on his face. Seeing the smile on the man’s face made Diablo recall the words written on the note in his hands.

[Lesser Demon Diablo. What’s your real name?]

The words were written together with the directions to this place.

“El… pi…” Diablo stuttered. Although he had returned to his human form, he was still clumsy in his speech, since it had been a long time since he last spoke. However, the man did not feel irritated and just listened to him patiently.

“Elpi… s…”

Elpis. Minhyuk knew the meaning of this word. In Greek, this word meant ‘hope’.

“What a good name.”

Diablo knelt on one knee and spoke with a low and somber voice, “I want… to stay… together… with… you…”

Then, Diablo tried to look up at the man, with a bright smile on his face. However, it had been a long time since he had last shown an emotion on his face, so his muscles had turned stiff. His lips moved slowly and awkwardly and it took him a long time, but he was still able to show Minhyuk a broad and bright smile. One could say that his smile was charming and beautiful.

He was Elpis, the man that would become Let’s Eat Sect’s shield.