After Ten Millennia in Hell

Side Story Chapter 65 - Den of the Night Demons (2)

"You'll go, my king?" asked Lilith, wide-eyed.

"Yup," Oh Kang-Woo answered.

"Hmm. Wouldn't it be better to send an investigation team first? You're quite busy, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not."

'I'm gonna die of boredom at this rate.'

"My," Lilith expressed as if telling Kang-Woo to stop with the nonsense. "Aren't you working hard every night? ❤"

'Since when was being a stud horse my job? I mean, I can't deny it, considering what my days have been like lately.'

"In any case, I'll take charge of the investigation."

"Hmm. I think it's a little too beneath your pay grade, my king."

Lilith was right; Kang-Woo was the strongest person on Earth. He should naturally only take part in extinction-level events like the invasions from Parasites or the Galactic Federation. Just like how the CEO didn't perform tasks normally left to an intern, Kang-Woo did not usually take part in things far below his capabilities.

"But it's not like anything will change just from waiting around for something to happen," Kang-Woo remarked.

He needed to jump into danger to hasten his body reconstruction; he had long since passed the point of it being hastened through training.

"Mm..." Lilith groaned as she fell into thought. She sighed softly and stared at Kang-Woo in worry. "Haaa. If you want to do it so badly, then I can't stop you. But I don't want you to go by yourself, considering what happened last time."

"I was never planning to."

They had no idea what was lurking beyond the Gate or how powerful they were. Kang-Woo was not foolish enough to recklessly charge in with full trust in his strength.

'This is what I made a team for.'

Having two people was safer than one, and even safer if there were three.

"I'll go with Si-Hun and Balrog."

Kang-Woo wondered if he should also take Han Seol-Ah, who had become as strong as Kim Si-Hun.

'If I take Darling... she might get in the way of the investigation.'

The victims of the incident were all men; Kang-Woo had no idea who the enemy was but it was highly likely they would pay no attention to Seol-Ah.

'And it's been a while since the girls went out together. I don't want to ruin their fun.'

Seol-Ah, who was madly obsessed with Kang-Woo, had separated from Kang-Woo for the first time in a while to play with Cha Yeon-Joo and Echidna. Kang-Woo did not want to interfere with her unless she was truly needed.

"Mm... Si-Hun probably can't make it," Lilith answered.

"Hm? Is he doing something else?"

"Yes. I heard from Layla."

"What is he doing?"

"I did not manage to get the details. Shall I contact her and find out?"

"No, it's fine."

Si-Hun was the second-in-command of Guardians, meaning he was far busier than Kang-Woo.

'If Si-Hun can't come, I guess there's only one other candidate.'

"Balrog, the son of a bitch. I guess it'll be just the two of us. It's been a while."

Kang-Woo chuckled and stood up. He loved spending time with his lovers but couldn't treat them as openly as he could with Balrog, who was closer to a friend than a subordinate.

"Right, then. I'll go with Balrog."

"Understood. Please be careful, and contact me if anything happens."

"Sure."

Kang-Woo said goodbye to Lilith as he left through the front door and headed to the elevator.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

He went down to the underground floor and saw Balrog swinging his fists by himself. Kang-Woo walked toward him as he waved.

"Training as soon as you wake up?" he asked.

"Oh. Good morning, my king."

"Holy fuck, you reek of sweat."

The stench of sweat attacked his nose as soon as he entered the training room.

"Gahahaha! It's the scent of a man," Balrog mentioned.

"Man, my ass. Any progress with your training?"

"Hmm. No, not particularly."

"I'm not surprised."

Balrog was too strong at this point to power up just from training.

"But it looks like you're working pretty hard despite that," Kang-Woo remarked.

"I get restless if I'm doing nothing."

"Why don't you go somewhere nice with Yurie?"

Balrog laughed heartily and nodded. "Gahaha! I will keep that in mind." He wiped himself with the custom-made giant towel and asked, "That aside, what brings you here so early?"

"If you have nothing to do, go on a mission with me."

"A mission?"

Kang-Woo concisely explained the suspicious phenomenon Lilith reported to him.

"Oh? A monster that only attacks men... just like a succubus."

"Don't even say that word in front of me."

'I'm getting nauseous just from hearing it.'

"Hehe. I was just joking."

"Don't even joke about that. I'm getting goosebumps."

"Hm. I still can't understand your beauty standards, my king. Leaving everything aside, that woman Lilith is the most beautiful in the Nine Hells..."

"Halcyon is prettier in my eyes. Happy?"

"Kurgh! U-Unbelievable!! What a disgusting statement!!!"

Balrog twisted around as he pulled on his hair in disbelief.

"Enough of that bullshit," Kang-Woo remarked.

"Huuu. I've been living in the world of humans for quite a while now, but I still cannot get used to their beauty standards."

"Oh, come to think of it, what's Halcyon been up to lately?"

Kang-Woo did not remember the last time he saw Halcyon; it was as if he had become irrelevant in a long-running novel.

"Halcyon is in hibernation," Balrog answered.

"Hibernation."

"Yes, since he's a demonic beast."

"Mmm. When will it end?"

"Who knows? The hibernation period is different for every demonic beast..."

"Why didn't you say anything? I would've visited him before he hibernated if I'd known."

"Halcyon asked me not to tell you anything."

"He did?"

"Yes. He said he had something to tell you once he came out of hibernation..."

"Mmm. Alright. Anyway, are you coming?"

"How could I ever disobey you?" Balrog remarked.

"Good." Kang-Woo nodded with a smile. "Then get yourself cleaned up and turn into your human form."

"My human form?"

"The victims were all human men. They might not approach you if you're in your true form."

"Hmm. It's uncomfortable, but... I understand."

Balrog nodded as he entered the showers.

***

"This must be the B-rank Gate," Kang-Woo said.

The Gate wasn't too big; it was three meters tall at most. If Balrog were in his true form, he would have to duck to enter.

'If the entrance is only this big, it means the inside isn't that big either.'

Kang-Woo wondered what kind of monster was wreaking havoc inside the Gate.

'I guess I'll find out.'

He entered the Gate with Balrog.

"It's quite dark," Balrog mentioned.

They were inside a long tunnel as if they were in an ant nest. Pink rocks embedded in the ceiling were emitting light but it was so faint that they barely lit up the dark tunnel.

"Well, it doesn't matter to us."

Demons could see as well in the dark as they could in the day.

"Hehe. Right, you are."

"Let's head deeper inside."

They stopped the chit chat and slowly walked through the tunnel. Kang-Woo rubbed his hand against the wall and looked around.

'Nothing out of the ordinary so far.'

All he could notice was that it was dark and slightly moist.

Garrrrrrrrr!

A monster that looked like a giant larva screeched ferociously and attacked them.

Crush!

And of course, it exploded with one blow.

"Looks like shit."

Kang-Woo frowned and rubbed his shoe against the ground to wipe the green goo off of it.

"Is this thing the culprit?" Balrog asked.

"No. Take a look at its teeth. They're super sharp."

A monster with teeth as sharp as these could never create corpses as dry as a mummy.

"Then it must be a monster that originally inhabited this Gate."

"Probably. Let's head deeper inside."

Kang-Woo and Balrog continued to walk down the tunnel. They sometimes came across a forked road or an empty cave but they did not find anything special. All they could find were giant larvae that Bear Grylls would eat and say were creamy in texture.

"For fuck's sake. Where the hell are they hiding?"

"Mm. The tunnel seems to end here."

They had already hit a dead end despite not having walked for very long. As Kang-Woo had expected, the Gate was fairly small.

"Let's try going another way," Kang-Woo suggested.

"Yes, my king."

Kang-Woo and Balrog backtracked and went down the other tunnel.

"This is... also a dead end," Balrog said.

"This is driving me nuts."

Both of the forked roads led to a dead end.

"Have we not explored the entire dungeon?" Balrog asked.

"How does it only take an hour to fully explore a B-rank Gate? And there's no sight of those goddamn Imhotep makers."

"What is Imhotep?"

"You don't need to know." Kang-Woo sighed. "Let's get out of here and come back another time."

There was no point in searching a dungeon they had already fully explored. If the monster appeared at a specific time of day, they were better off coming back in the evening.

"Understood." Balrog nodded as he took the lead.

Although the tunnel was dark and narrow, they did not have difficulty navigating the way they came from since the tunnel system was not complex.

"Huh...?"

Around the twenty-minute mark of their walking and looking around, Balrog suddenly stopped with his eyes widened.

"What is it?" Kang-Woo asked.

"Umm... my king. Was this not where the entrance was?"

"It should be. There's only one path."

"..." Balrog's expression hardened. He slowly turned around and said quietly, "The entrance... is gone."

"What?"

"The Gate entrance is supposed to be here, but... I don't see it."

"The fuck are you talking ab— oh, fuck," Kang-Woo cursed after walking past Balrog and looking around.

'It's really gone.'

The Gate entrance they had come in from was nowhere in sight.

Kang-Woo turned around after searching some more and remarked, "Let's... backtrack."

They went back to the forked road they were just at.

"Why are there three fucking paths now?"

'Did it get a boner?'

"The hell is going on?"

Not only were there three paths instead of two, but each of them looked completely different from what they had been like when they first came across it.

"Hah, you thought this was enough to make me panic?"

"Kehehe! I don't know who they are, but they sure are arrogant!"

"Let's rip their heads off once we catch them."

"Of course, my king!"

"Right! Let's investigate again, starting from the left!"

"Gahahaha! Stop hiding like cowards and come out!"

Kang-Woo and Balrog laughed heartily as if they were unfazed and walked down the left path. With that, five hours passed. Kang-Woo had no choice but to admit it.

"Fuck."

'We're lost.'