After Ten Millennia in Hell

He had been with Cha Yeon-Joo, Gaia, and Tian Wuchen for the past few days, making rules for Guardians, but he couldn't help but curse when he heard out of nowhere that Lilith had disappeared after he came back home.

Kneeling, Balrog lowered his head.

"After she had gone to hunt down the traces of demonic energy after you had commanded her to find the traces and eliminate the source… contact with her had been severed."

"… Wait just a second."

Kang-Woo called Lilith's communication crystal orb.

Just like Balrog said, Lilith was not picking up.

He narrowed his eyes and focused his mind.

Lilith was his retainer; although they were not linked through the Authority of Subordination like him and Kim Si-Hun, they were still connected by the soul.

He closed his eyes in search of traces of her soul. He even used the Authority of the Beholder, but he wasn't able to feel anything.

"…"

He anxiously bit his lip.

'Lilith lost to a demonic beast?'

Based on the circumstances, there was a chance that the demonic beast had been an ancient demonic beast like Halcyon, and Lilith could have been defeated by them.

"Is Lilith"—Balrog slurred, his eyes trembling in chaos—"dead?"

"No." Kang-Woo firmly shook his head. "If she had died, a portion of my soul that had mixed with hers would have returned to me."

He couldn't tell where she was, but their soul link had not been severed.

"She's alive," Kang-Woo said while clenching his fist.

Balrog sighed in relief.

Lilith was alive, but Kang-Woo still couldn't contact her or figure out where she was.

'In other words…'

Kang-Woo's eyes narrowed. Now that it had come to this, there were only two possibilities.

'Either Lilith intentionally severed communication on purpose…'

He shook his head. The chances of her having done that were very low—no, he was sure that it was nonexistent.

'Or…'

He didn't want to believe it, but considering the situation, it was the most likely explanation.

Kang-Woo said in a low voice, "I think… Lilith has been kidnapped."

"…"

Heavy silence fell, and Balrog's expression aggressively crumpled.

He knew Lilith very well.

Although she wasn't as strong as him, she was highly specialized in infiltration and escape through a diverse array of bewitching magic. She was careful enough to have been able to avoid the courtships of Asmodeus, the Prince of Lust, so it was hard to believe that she had been kidnapped without being able to send even a single S.O.S. signal.

"How could this have…"

Balrog grabbed his forehead while making a confused expression.

Kang-Woo shut his eyes tight. His tightly clenched fists trembled. Veins popped out on his forehead and the back of his hands.

Rumble.

The entire building shook as if an earthquake were happening.

Balrog, who had been in confusion, came back to his senses and placed his hand over Kang-Woo's shoulders.

"My king!"

The shaking didn't stop.

Shatter!

The cup of coffee on the table fell to the ground, and the coffee spilled over the floor with glass fragments.

"Kang-Woo?"

"What's wrong, Kang-Woo?"

Creak.

After hearing the glass break, Han Seol-Ah and Echidna opened the door and entered. Halcyon also peeked over from behind them.

"Gasp."

"M-Master Kang-Woo?"

Suffocatingly dense demonic energy surrounded him. Both Seol-Ah and Echidna paled from the colossal amount of power exerting pressure on their whole bodies.

Halcyon stepped forward and extended his hands, his white hair fluttering from the pressure of the powerful wave of demonic energy. He frantically blocked the demonic energy exuding from Kang-Woo.

Balrog placed his hands on Kang-Woo's shoulders and shook him.

"My king, please return to your senses!!"

"Ah."

Kang-Woo returned to his senses as Balrog desperately shouted at him. He looked around the room, which had become a mess, and said in a low voice, "If they were able to kidnap Lilith, they'd be at least prince-level."

Under the assumption that Lilith hadn't been kidnapped on purpose, it would be impossible to kidnap her unless they were at least as powerful as a prince of Hell.

"The possibility of it being an ancient demonic beast is also low."

If Lilith was not dead, there was only one reason why she couldn't be tracked.

'Someone is disrupting the tracking with magic.'

Ancient demonic beasts fought purely with overpowering physical prowess. Although they possessed intelligence, they were not intelligent enough to be able to use magic. Like Halcyon, most of them overpowered their enemies with their overwhelming raw strength.

"In that case, a prince of Hell might have…"

"Yeah. It's possible."

Not every prince of Hell had shown themselves; only four had appeared so far, and three of them had been killed. Including the ones that they had yet to see, four were still alive.

"Leviathan can be excluded. He can't use magic," Kang-Woo said.

"What about the Constellations of Evil that Raphael had mentioned?"

"Not likely. Even if their seal broke and they came to Earth, they have no reason to kidnap Lilith."

"In that case, we would have to begin our investigations under the assumption that it was a prince of Hell," Balrog expressed while nodding.

"Call Kim Si-Hun."

"Kim Si-Hun is currently in the USA—"

"Call him," Kang-Woo said in a firm voice.

Balrog groaned and nodded. He had seen this side of Kang-Woo several times back in Hell.

'Once he becomes like this…'

He couldn't be reasoned with—nothing could stop the king. He had also been like this when he had caused the thousand-year war, which he had almost no chance of winning at the time.

"Right, then." Kang-Woo stood up. He mumbled, "Let's move."

He turned away. He could feel the gazes of Halcyon, Echidna, and Seol-Ah, but he paid them no mind. He couldn't afford to.

'How dare they…'

He was not mad. Even if Lilith was kidnapped or put in a situation where she could die at any second, he would not become furious. The emotion he was feeling was closer to irritation than rage.

'… Take what's mine?'

Lilith was his—she was his loyal and capable subordinate. Not even he could match Lilith's information-gathering capabilities. Purely in terms of capability, she surpassed Si-Hun.

'But…'

His possession—his subordinate who should be dedicating her life to working for him had been taken from him. The problem wasn't simply that she had been kidnapped. This was a provocation and a declaration of war directed right at him.

"Shit," Kang-Woo cursed aggressively.

Once again, he did not mind that Lilith had been kidnapped. She was just another convenient pawn to use without any worry of betrayal, just like Si-Hun.

"Fuck."

He ground his teeth. For some reason, he could not erase the sight of Lilith's smile from his head.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!!"

The appearance that had caused him trauma, the stench from her oozing pus, and her face covered in hideous tentacles… For some reason, he felt an unbearable desire to see her.

"Kang-Woo, what's wrong?"

Echidna, who hadn't heard what had happened, approached Kang-Woo. She was about to pull on his clothes when she flinched.

"Kang-Woo…?"

She stared into his eyes, which were staring into nothingness while he was in deep thought. The whites of his eyes were dyed black, his irises yellow, his pupils torn horizontally. He was emitting such overpowering bloodlust that she wondered if he really was the Kang-Woo she knew.

"U-Urghh…"

Echidna trembled. Seol-Ah grabbed her by the shoulders and stepped back while lightly hugging her. She realized instinctively that Kang-Woo shouldn't be touched for the time being.

Clack.

Kang-Woo opened the room door and left, which lifted the air of the room.

"Haaa." Halcyon finally let out his held breath.

Seol-Ah approached Balrog. "Umm… Balrog, what happened? I think I overheard that… Lilith was kidnapped."

"It's just as you've heard. Communication with Lilith was severed while she was chasing after the traces of demonic energy in Seoul. We don't yet know who kidnapped her or why."

"O-Oh no…"

Seol-Ah turned pale.

If a beautiful woman like Lilith was kidnapped… one couldn't help but imagine things beyond her just being physically restrained.

"I am also worried about that." As if he'd read her mind, Balrog said in a serious tone, "The king didn't bother mentioning it, but… Lilith is excessively beautiful. Honestly, we would have to take into account what you are imagining."

"…!"

Seol-Ah shut her eyes tight to shoo away the horrifying thought.

"I will also help look for Lilith!"

She didn't know how to find traces of demonic energy or where to even begin searching, but she wanted to be of at least a little help to Lilith.

'Lilith…'

Seol-Ah had been able to become an item with Kang-Woo thanks to Lilith's help. Lilith had given her the courage to confess to him. They'd also become quite close after chatting about things she didn't know about Kang-Woo, such as what he liked and disliked, and many other things. She couldn't let Lilith go through something so insufferable.

"Thank you."

Balrog nodded while making a bitter smile. He knew she wouldn't be of much help, but they needed as much help as they could get.

Just then…

"Ah," Seol-Ah exclaimed as if she'd remembered something.

"What is it?" Balrog asked.

"C-Come to think of it. There was a box placed in front of our door without any address or sender written on it this morning."

"What?"

"I thought it had just been sent to us by accident, so I left it at the security office… W-Wait just a moment!"

Seol-Ah quickly walked out of the room. She ran into Kang-Woo and told him to stay right here before returning with a box in her hands not long afterward.

"This is…"

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes as he stared at the box.

It was an unknown box that had arrived shortly after communication with Lilith had been severed. It was hard to see it as a simple coincidence.

Rip!

Kang-Woo quickly tore open the box. In it was a black crystal orb.

"A communication crystal orb…"

Crystal orbs made by processing mana stones did not require electricity, so they were used very often in daily life.

Kang-Woo raised the crystal orb.

"Fuuu," he nervously sighed. "All of you… stay outside."

He couldn't predict what state she would be in. If she happened to be in the worst possible scenario in his imagination, then he should be the only one to see it.

"…"

Seol-Ah was about to say something but then nodded and dragged Echidna and Halcyon into the room. With a heavy expression, Balrog also nodded and followed behind them.

'Lilith.'

Her appearance was not leaving Kang-Woo's head.

Kang-Woo activated the crystal orb, and a video appeared in midair as if it were a hologram. Within the video, he could see Lilith restrained within darkness.

"Lilith…!" Kang-Woo called out. As he had expected, Lilith had been kidnapped by someone.

- My… king…

He could hear Lilith's heartrending voice. Hearing that, he felt like his heart was being ripped apart, but at the same time, he felt relieved when he saw that she wasn't hurt.

- Aaah! My king!!!

It seemed this was a live feed; after seeing Kang-Woo's face, Lilith urgently called out to him.

- I apologize. I… apologize, my king.

She sobbed. She was so sad that yellow pus, instead of tears, was flowing out of her eyes.

"…"

- It is okay! I have not gone through anything that you are fearing!

Wriggle, wriggle.

Countless tentacles shot out of her body.

'No.'

The atmosphere that had been so grim—the cliche scene of the protagonist raging after seeing the kidnapped heroine—was taking a weird turn.

- Aaah, my king!

Yellow pus poured down from her eighteen red eyes, which were locked on Kang-Woo.

'Fucking wait.'

Kang-Woo clenched his fists. He bit his lip, trying his best to suppress a certain thought in his head while desperately trying to maintain the grim mood.

- There is no need to worry.

Lilith's voice was filled with sadness.

- No matter what happens to me…

'No.'

The tentacles twisted hideously.

- Even if my body… is violated…!!

'Stop.'

Like mold, red holes formed all over her purple skin.

'Please…'

- I…! At least my heart…!

Lilith screamed in a desperate voice.

- Will never submit!!

Poof!

The ends of her tentacles exploded, and yellow pus poured out of them as if her tentacles were fountains. The yellow pus splashed onto the crystal orb, making the feed blurry.

"Aah." Kang-Woo covered his face with his hands. "Please, please… fucking stop… Why are you doing this?"

Kang-Woo clenched his hair and lowered his head.

'You're making me not want to save you.'

Tears flowed down his cheeks.