After Ten Millennia in Hell

[The Earth has united under one banner.]

[Unexpected results... Rather than choosing to benefit their own countries, politicians have chosen world peace.]

[Countries have formed an alliance under the US… The name of the world alliance has been announced to be Guardians.]

The news shook the world. An alliance of such a magnitude hadn\'t even been formed on the Day of Calamity, when half of the world had been massacred at the claws of monsters. Guardians, the alliance that had been made through the active support of each country, had completed its grand launch.

Although it was called a world alliance, it was not made up of every army and Player in the world. They did not share an economic, political, or religious system either. If a comparison were to be made, it was as if an international super-guild had been born.

Ever since the Day of Calamity, the norm for armies all over the world had changed from being a massive force of regular soldiers to small elite forces of powerful Players. So, the birth of this unusual super-guild had been referred to with the overblown term of \'world alliance.\'

The officially announced leader of Guardians was Grace McCubbin. Sword Dragon Kim Si-Hun had been announced as her right hand.

There was quite a commotion about the announcement regarding Sword Dragon. He was a rising star, but his abilities had not been evaluated like the established World Rankers—Tian Wuchen, Mahabach, Jason, Emilia, and so on.

One of the US rankers, Jason, had been dissatisfied with the announcement and challenged Kim Si-Hun to a duel.

However…

Poster (Tresha): Did you guys hear the news??? Sword Dragon apparently beat the shit out of Jason!!

ㄴ I honestly didn\'t even watch the stream since I thought Sword Dragon would lose, but fr?? How did he win?

ㄴ The Pacer: I saw it. Jason got absolutely floored.

ㄴ Butterfly Valley: According to the rumors, not even Tian Wuchen is a match for him.

ㄴ Wooden Spoon: bruh LMAO not even a year has passed since Tian Wuchen accepted Sword Dragon as his disciple, right? What an absolute unit LOL

The battle between Si-Hun and Jason had been streamed worldwide. Si-Hun had absolutely destroyed Jason by an overwhelming margin.

The communities were in an obvious uproar at the unexpected development of events. Si-Hun\'s name became almost as famous as Grace\'s and spread worldwide.

Everything went smoothly after that. Players from all over the world were gathered under the name Guardians. They were designated into squadrons depending on their Traits and specialties before starting group training.

Guardians, the organization that had been hiding behind masks and protecting the world in secret, had formally presented themselves to the world.

* * *

"A-Amazing. The news channels are full of news reports about Guardians and Si-Hun," Han Seol-Ah said in surprise while changing channels.

She\'d been in a party with Si-Hun since his early days as a Player, so seeing him become famous worldwide felt unreal.

"It feels like Si-Hun has gotten far away," she remarked.

"Seol-Ah, you\'re a part of Guardians now too," Oh Kang-Woo pointed out.

"Ah, y-you\'re right."

Guardians had moved away from being a secret organization formed only of Protectors after going public. They were now rapidly growing in size. A secret organization that protected the world sounded cool, but having more members expanded the limits of what they could accomplish.

\'It\'s pretty much pointless for Guardians to remain a secret organization at this point.\'

If a secret organization were to be successful, then its target—which, in Guardians\' case, was the Demon Cult—had to be unaware of its existence. That way, they would be able to ambush the target in secret or take other action in stealth.

\'But we can\'t do that anymore.\'

The Demon Cult already knew about Guardians. Even a small branch of fifty people had recognized Guardians, so there was no question about other branches.

In such a scenario, keeping Guardians as a secret organization was dumb. The correct thing was to announce their name publicly and move forward.

"They always talk about the same thing. I wish they would stop airing this," Echidna, who was sitting on Kang-Woo\'s lap, said while pouting.

Kang-Woo smiled and patted her head.

"Why?" he asked.

"The Re:Zero rerun was canceled because of that. It was the last episode…" Echidna complained, kicking her feet.

\'Is that an anime she likes?\' Kang-Woo wondered.

In between her dragon-tongue magic training sessions, Echidna often spent her spare time watching television, and what she liked the most was anime.

Seeing her stare at the television with bright eyes was one of the small things Kang-Woo liked to do.

\'I should get rid of them as soon as possible.\'

Kang-Woo\'s goal was to spend the days relaxing and watching television. Yet, as time went on, those days seemed to be getting farther and farther away from him.

\'Ancient demonic beasts, the princes of Hell, the celestial realm…\'

Even the divine realm where Gaia and Tirion resided was getting involved.

\'At this rate, maybe we\'ll get a martial arts world too.\'

The entire world was becoming a shitshow now that Gaia\'s protection, which had been keeping the dimensional wall intact, was almost gone.

Kang-Woo felt like he wouldn\'t even be surprised anymore if he were to find out there were even more worlds. The peaceful life that he desired so much was getting further away the more dimensions got added into the mix.

"Urgh."

He shook his head.

It was pointless to think about things he couldn\'t resolve. His priority was to deal with what was in front of him first.

"Gaia, you don\'t look too good... Is something bothering you?" Seol-Ah concernedly asked Gaia, who was sitting on the couch too.

"I-It\'s nothing," Gaia answered, shaking her head flusteredly.

Kang-Woo glanced at Gaia, who couldn\'t seem to calm down.

\'It must be awkward for her.\'

Gaia had begun living in Kang-Woo\'s house after Guardians\' inauguration ceremony. Grace, the one who used to take care of her, had become busier, so Gaia needed someone else to take care of her.

They\'d decided to use Grace as Guardians\' representative because Gaia was too important. However, she had to be taken care of by someone they could trust, and that\'s why she was living with Kang-Woo.

"Grace and Si-Hun are beyond busy, so I\'m not sure if it\'s okay for me to stay here doing nothing," Gaia expressed.

"It\'s okay. It\'s not like they\'re working for our comfort," Kang-Woo replied.

After Guardians went public, they\'d deliberately hidden Kang-Woo\'s and Gaia\'s existences. Kang-Woo was Guardians\' strongest member, so they wanted this trump card hidden from their enemies. Gaia, on the other hand, was their fatal weakness, so they needed to hide her to protect her.

They were in hiding for different reasons, but it didn\'t change the fact that they both didn\'t have much to do at the moment compared to the other members of Guardians.

"Kang-Woo, have you investigated the Demon Cult branch in Tibet?"

"Yes. I went there a few days ago. As expected, it was massive."

There was a risk of being discovered if Kang-Woo were to search in greater detail, so Kang-Woo had only gotten a general outline of the branch\'s structure with the Authority of the Beholder. Nevertheless, he managed to discover that the branch was on a whole other level compared to the branch in the Middle East.

Over five thousand Demon Cultists lived within the repurposed mountain interior. There were also numerous demons residing there, which meant the number of inhabitants was even larger than that. It was the biggest base they\'d ever found.

"...It really might become a war," Gaia remarked.

"Yes," Kang-Woo agreed with a nod.

Wars involving millions of soldiers like in the past no longer existed. They were centered instead around a small number of superhumans known as Players, so five thousand Demon Cultists wasn\'t a number that could be taken lightly.

"Kang-Woo... you won\'t participate this time, right?"

"I will be participating, but I won\'t be in the forefront," he said in a firm voice.

Gaia\'s expression darkened.

Kang-Woo asserted, "It\'s a necessary thing."

He wasn\'t going to compromise on that.

If Kang-Woo, Balrog, and Lilith were to fight in the war, winning it would be far easier. In fact, unless there was a prince of Hell, just the three of them would be able to wipe out the Demon Cult branch.

Nevertheless…

\'I can\'t fight alone forever.\'

Of course, Kang-Woo would have to step up if a prince of Hell, a being that couldn\'t be defeated with numbers, were to personally participate in the war. Even so, Kang-Woo couldn\'t be in every single fight. It would be egocentric to think that he could do everything alone.

\'And…\'

He recalled what the politicians had said at the banquet hall. They had not felt a shred of fear or anxiety regarding the Demon Cult.

That was also the case for the Players who had just joined Guardians. They didn\'t put much effort into training, and all sorts of incidents kept happening. It was as if they were making it clear that they\'d been forced to be there.

They weren\'t scared of the Demon Cult, so they were just trying to use the name and prestige of Guardians as much as possible. That was the current mindset of the Players. Several Players had even been caught misusing that prestige by accepting bribes.

\'We\'ve won too easily so far.\'

Kang-Woo was too strong, so they\'d been able to overcome dangerous situations too easily. The other Players had not even had the opportunity to experience bloodshed and to feel the need to be vigilant toward the Demon Cult. This issue wasn\'t something that could be resolved by simply telling them that the Demon Cult was dangerous.

\'They need to know.\'

At this rate, it was obvious that, with such complacency, the Players would be digging their own graves. They needed to know how powerful and terrifying the Demon Cult and demons were—even if much blood needed to be shed in the process.

"Didn\'t you feel it too when you were talking to the politicians, Gaia?"

"..."

"Do you really believe it\'s okay for things to go on like this?"

There was a heavy silence.

Gaia bit her lip and slowly shook her head. "No. I think that it\'s dangerous."

\'What a relief.\'

It seemed like she wasn\'t dumb enough to be unreasonable in a situation like this. Gaia too knew how serious the situation was.

"I didn\'t make this choice just to raise their vigilance," Kang-Woo continued.

If the goal were only to raise their vigilance, then there would be other options. However, he\'d decided to leave this war to the Players for a different reason.

\'We need to make our forces stronger.\'

The phrase \'What doesn\'t kill you only makes you stronger\' was nonsense in most cases, but that wasn\'t the case for Players. Players became stronger through battle, especially when their lives were on the line.

It was not simply about them gaining battle experience.

\'The level cap and EXP.\'

Most Players usually broke past their level cap by hunting strong boss monsters to gain experience points or when they were on the brink of death. The upcoming battle against the demons could satisfy both requirements. Demons gave more experience points and were stronger than boss monsters, so the Players\' lives would be at risk.

Basically, Players would be able to obtain huge growth thanks to the war.

\'There has to be at least thirty Players who are of the level of World Rankers.\'

Kang-Woo thought that was the bare minimum they needed for the future battle against Lucifer. Only World Ranker-level Players would be able to deal significant damage to a prince of Hell.

"You said before that the drops of our blood will become the light that illuminates the darkness, didn\'t you?" Kang-Woo asked.

"I did," Gaia answered in a heavy voice.

Kang-Woo put his hand on her shoulder, which was trembling slightly.

"This war is a chance to prove that statement."

* * *

"All troops, get ready!!"

It had been two months since Guardians was made known to the world. Their troops, who had completed basic training, arrived in Tibet. Ten thousand Players had gathered from all around the world. They were the finest of the elites who had completed their Seventh Awakening.

"Advance!" Grace, who was at the forefront, shouted.

The Players weren\'t riding on horses like cavalry forces in the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, the scene of so many Players charging forward was quite impressive. The warrior-class Players at the vanguard were running at a speed that made cars look pathetic.

"Hey! Demon Cultist heads are apparently five hundred thousand dollars each!"

"Holy shit. They\'re paying that much for a bunch of lunatic cultists?!"

There wasn\'t a hint of anxiety on the faces of the advancing players. They charged recklessly, without even maintaining formation, at the mountain where a branch of the Demon Cult was hiding.

Rumble!!!

There was an explosive bang, and a cloud of white smoke rose. Demonic beasts, demons, and Demon Cultists emerged from the mountain while exuding black demonic energy.

"Shit! H-How did they find this place…?!"

"Stop them!"

[Kahahaha! I was getting bored being stuck inside a mountain all day! Perfect timing!]

[I, Malfurion, demon of the Seventh Hell, will face you!]

The battle between demons and Players began. Screams and sounds of explosions as well as waves of heat and frost spread in all directions.

"It\'s begun," Gaia, who had been waiting at the rear for the battle to begin, stated.

Kang-Woo nodded.

"Yes, it has," he replied solemnly.

The members of Guardians were fighting desperately with all their might. Seeing them shed their blood made his heart hurt.

\'I can\'t just watch.\'

Kang-Woo didn\'t intend to simply watch as the others fought hard and spilled their blood on the battlefield.

Black smoke emerged from his hands and enveloped the corpses of the demons that had been killed.

Riiing.

[Activating the Trait \'Reaper of Souls.\']

[Slightly expanding the passage leading to the deep end.]

"Everyone is fighting," Kang-Woo said in a voice full of sadness while hearing the system\'s notification. "The blood they shed won\'t be in vain."

Riiing.

[Activating the Trait \'Reaper of Souls.\']

[Slightly expanding the passage leading to the deep end.]

"Guardians will become stronger with that blood."

Riiing.

[Activating the Trait \'Reaper of Souls.\']

[Slightly expanding the passage leading to the deep end.]

The tips of Kang-Woo\'s mouth curved upward.

"Humanity will move a step forward in protecting the world\'s peace and making a better future."

\'Oh, fuck.\'

Riiing.

[Activating the Trait \'Reaper of Souls.\']

[Slightly expanding the passage leading to the deep end.]

He kept hearing the chime of the system notifications.

\'I shouldn\'t be smiling.\'

His heart ached as he watched Guardians\' members fight desperately against the demons.

Riiing.

[Activating the Trait \'Reaper of Souls.\']

[Slightly expanding the passage leading to the deep end.]

\'Man, I really shouldn\'t be smiling.\'

The bloodshed was necessary, but he tensely clenched his hands into fists while watching it happen. It seemed like tears would drop from the eyes of the Warrior of Light, Oh Kang-Woo.

Riiing.

[Activating the Trait \'Reaper of Souls.\']

[Slightly expanding the passage leading to the deep end.]

\'That\'s weird. I\'m super sad right now.\'

The tips of his mouth kept going up uncontrollably, with silent laughs leaking out of it. There was truly nothing more delicious than free food after all.

\'Ah, I\'m so sad. I can\'t stop crying.\'

Kang-Woo lowered his head while shedding tears as if he couldn\'t bring himself to watch the battlefield. However, the real reason was to hide his extremely wide smile.

Huehuehuehuehue.\'