Because Yeon-woo was intangible at the moment, he could harm Kindred physically. Instead, he forced the explosive power of the exuviae into Kindred.

『Another shadow? It’s like he’s an amoeba constantly dividing itself into more cells.』 Yeon-woo clucked his tongue as Kindred’s corpse scattered. It seemed like his true body never appeared.

[00:26:49_78]

Yeon-woo checked the clock and turned around. He could see Doyle bowing with blank eyes on the floor. 『Let’s go back.』

* * *

Rumble! The earthquake spread from the center to the rest of the palace. Dust and rocks fell from the ceiling, spooking the mercenaries who were swarming into the palace.

『Shit! Ack!』

『Save me! Urk!』

They wanted to escape the dangerous situation, but it was impossible when they couldn’t even tell up from down. The undead army kept swarming in to trample them, like elephants stepping on ants.

[A god of , ‘Thanatos’, is thrilled.]

[A god of the , ‘King of Seven Hells’, observes the souls calmly.]

[A god of , ‘Nergal’, nods in satisfaction. He expresses his contentment that the mortal can use the power well.]

[A god of , ‘Ksitigarbha’, shakes his head and watches the situation carefully.]

……

[A demon of , ‘Hel’, licks his lips with his red tongue. His body trembles from happiness.]

[‘Aēšma-daēva’ checks to see if any souls will go to him. He expresses his regret that he can’t do anything about the great harvest.]

……

[The gods of death nod. They all speak as one.]

[Message: His.]

[The demons of death are happy. They enjoy their festival and deliver a common message.]

[Message: Successor.]

The gods and demons didn’t hesitate to send messages as if they were overjoyed by the situation. The mercenaries were angry that they were just entertainment for the gods and demons of death. However, they felt helpless that they couldn’t do anything about it.

[Athena looks at you with sad eyes.]

Only one god who was looking at the battle from another point of view. With her at the lead, other gods and demons began to show themselves.

[A god of , ‘Ares’, nods in satisfaction.]

[A god of the , ‘Prince Nezha’, comes to observe the situation after hearing the news.]

The gods of war and fighting began to show themselves as war spread out with death. They weren’t interested in simple combat since so many occurred in the Tower.

[A god of , ‘Tyr’, slowly puts down his book of law. He observes the situation with impartial eyes.]

The difference was that Yeon-woo was fighting a huge number of opponents with his subordinates, demonstrating a power that no Lord in history had ever been able to muster up. Perhaps only the Vampiric Lord Bathory had ever exuded this much power.

And so, it was inevitable that the gods and demons related to war would watch keenly. He was the first person they’d felt any interest in after the Martial King.

[A demon of the , ‘Vimalacitra’, nods in satisfaction. He compliments player ### for standing against all the players.]

[Vimalacitra offers his power, ‘Gubitara’.]

[Agares shows his displeasure, warning others not to look at what belongs to him.]

[All gods ignore him.]

[All demons ignore him.]

[Cernunnos is silent.]

Yeon-woo’s directory of powers increased at a quick pace.

『These crazy bastards!』

Boom! Doctor Doom was flicked away by a loud explosion. The barrier protecting him was already in tatters, and he broke his spine as he crashed against the wall. He didn’t even have the strength to vomit blood anymore, and the relentless attacks left him unable to collect himself.

Corpses of magicians had piled up around him, and despair filled his eyes as the messages from gods and demons kept popping up. He felt like he would die from frustration.

Magicians believed in the natural law of their environment, which was why many of them were atheists. They considered the gods and demons on the ninety-eighth floor as superhumans who weren’t too different from normal players.

Doctor Doom was one of these, and he hated feeling like a monkey in a zoo. He had an old sunbae whom he’d admired like a god. The sunbae was the creator of sword magic and the founder of Demon studies along with De Roy. He was the one who created the Emerald Tablet, which opened the path to the Philosopher’s Stone: Faust.

However, they’d met as enemies.

「How…persistent.」 The Inferno Sight in the air narrowed, as if its owner was in an unpleasant mood.

Doctor Doom grew more dismayed as time passed. Boo wasn’t as strong as the Faust he remembered. Faust was once someone who’d stood toe-to-toe with the Summer Queen. His magic hadn’t been restricted to this level—he could create miracles. It was clear that something was missing from his memory.

However, even with that, the power that made everything bow down was still there. The blue flames looked like they could swallow up demons. His signature hadn’t faded.

「Become…fertilizer…for…Master.」

Space opened, and a large hand grabbed Doctor Doom. He didn’t have any strength to resist. He just didn’t understand why Faust had become a mere player’s subordinate. Also, it suddenly occurred to him that the reason he hadn’t received a good divination that day was that it was the end of the line for him.

‘T-Teacher…’ His thoughts ended there.

Boo slowly turned after swallowing Doctor Doom’s soul and recovering some of his knowledge and memory. The cave was collapsing. He’d taken more time than he’d expected, and he had to proceed with the rest of his great master’s orders.

「Wake…up.」 At Boo’s command, all the undead connected to Boo cried up at the sky. Void descended and erased Doctor Doom’s corpse as rocks tumbled down.

* * *

[Osiris observes the battlefield.]

The destruction of the cave continued. The players who stayed to finish the fight felt endangered, Kahn and Ivan among them.

Clang! They fought violently, as though they were mortal enemies, and turned their bodies in the opposite direction after one last clash, shooting Aura in all directions.

The three bishops watching Kahn collapsed to the floor before they realized what had happened. When their attention was diverted by the sudden problem with the ceremony, they were hit without mercy.

Kahn put away the sword he was holding and turned around. 『Let’s stop here for today.』

『Kahn!』 Ivan shouted in a tearful voice at his son’s cold tone. However, Kahn only gave him a cold look.

『Don’t say my name with that dirty mouth. You don’t have the right.』

『Do you still…hate me?』

『Hate? It’s nothing like that.』 Kahn scoffed. 『You need to have expectations for someone in order to hate them.』

『Kahn…』 Ivan’s voice was filled with sadness as he said Kahn’s name. He was famous on the battlefield as the Iron Lion, but in front of his son, he was just a bad father who couldn’t stand tall.

It was unpleasant for Kahn to see that side of his father. 『Stop pretending. Didn’t you expect this the moment you threw Mom away?』 Kahn felt disgusted watching the perpetrator act like a victim, and he walked away.

Void settled around him and hid his presence. Shanon and the Bone Dragon quietly stepped back as well. Ivan turned back, his hand stretching out in the emptiness. Then, he began to run. His subordinates were probably still in the cave. He had to save as many as he could.

Kahn stopped in the darkness and watched his father’s back as he moved away. His shoulders seemed rounded and his back hunched. He couldn’t see the father who had once been a towering shelter over him and had given him piggyback rides.

『Kahn…』 As if sensing Kahn’s complex thoughts, Nike appeared and hugged him with his wings. The warm fire calmed down his confused mind.

『How does a guy like Cain have a kid like you?』 He joked as he quickly began to move again. He didn’t have to worry about getting lost. The Lich that Yeon-woo commanded had been sending him messages, so his escape route had already been set up. ‘How much stronger has Cain gotten? It probably took quite a bit of time to build up all these undead.’

Was he aiming to become a Lord? He also had potential to become superhuman, and the messages from the gods and demons that filled up the cave clamored for Yeon-woo to be their Apostle.

‘He’s amazing in many ways.’ While Kahn was feeling baffled about Yeon-woo, the Void suddenly disappeared, and he could sense a bright light. As if it had been waiting, the cave collapsed and completely disappeared.

The mountain quaked, and Kahn could sense that Yeon-woo was already outside of the cave with Doyle, who was sleeping in his arms.

『Doyle!』 Kahn quickly dashed to Yeon-woo. Victoria discovered him and spread her arms out with a smile to hug him, but Kahn avoided her and ran to Yeon-woo.

『Hey!』 Victoria shouted after only hugging air, but Kahn didn’t hear her as he looked at Doyle.

Doyle was quietly sleeping, as though he didn’t know what had happened around him. Kahn quickly reviewed the Seventy-Two Bian he had. Bian had turned Doyle into a puppet, so he thought there could be a way to heal him through Bian, as well.

At that moment, Doyle’s eyelashes fluttered. As his eyes opened slowly, he saw Kahn.

『Hyung?』

『Doyle!』 Kahn hugged Doyle. He felt sorry for making Doyle suffer through everything, and he was grateful to see him open his eyes.

『The fuck, why are you being so embarrassing?』 Doyle tried to push Kahn away, unused to this behavior from Kahn.

Victoria, who had been sulking, walked towards them with a warm smile. The Ice King nodded in relief. All the commotion ended—at least, it appeared to be over.

* * *

『Sniff. It’s a relief, isn’t it, Master?』 Nike wiped his tears with a wing and turned to Yeon-woo because he wasn’t reacting. 『Master?』

Yeon-woo’s gaze was fixed on the air in front of him, not Kahn and Doyle.

[Athena looks at you with sad eyes.]

There were many gods and demons looking at him. After this battle, the gods and demons of death seemed ready to accept him as the successor of the Black King. His list of powers exceeded 800.

But one gaze was different. It wasn’t filled with greed or covetousness but sadness. Why? He had defeated the Devil Army and saved Kahn and Doyle. Now that he’d dealt with everything, he could move on to Tartarus and help Hades. Why hadn’t Athena’s gaze changed? Had something else happened in Tartarus?

However, even if it had, Athena wouldn’t know because the heavenly world was blocked from viewing Tartarus. At that moment, something flashed through his head, something he didn’t want to consider. 『Kahn.』

『What?』 Kahn looked at Yeon-woo after calming Doyle down and cocked his head. Yeon-woo’s voice was strangely cold.

『Step back.』

『What are you…?』

『Step back!』 Yeon-woo shouted in a tone unlike himself. Kahn got to his feet automatically and staggered away from Doyle. Victoria and the Ice King stepped back as well, feeling something wasn’t right.

Doyle looked at Yeon-woo. There was a smile on his face, but it was strangely empty of joy, as though he were a doll.

『How long do you plan on keeping this up?』 Yeon-woo glared at Doyle. 『Head Bishop.』