"Tsk. As expected, talking doesn't work with you."

"I don't want to hear that from you."

He spread the energy of the demonic energy stone through his body.

Demonic energy gathered at the head of the spear.

'Kraken's Rage.'

He used the effect of the Black Pearl Coat, which increased his demonic energy stat by five. Thanks to that and Han Seol-ah's buff, his stat reached 111.

'Woah.'

KangWoo's eyes shone.

Since he'd passed 110 stats, he felt a huge difference from when it was in the range of 100~109.

It seemed like, just like levels, stats also had a huge difference after every 10 points.

The demonic energy filled his entire body.

KangWoo gripped the Gae Bolg even tighter.

He felt that he'd even be able to win a fight against Cheon MooJin.

His whole body shuddered at the feeling of an intense force.

Although the strength was a temporary one that resulted from the buff from Han Seol-ah and the Black Pearl Coat, he couldn't help but get drunk on the power.

Boom-!

He stomped on the ground.

He stabbed forward with Gae Bolg, and the whip, as if it were alive, wrapped around Gae Bolg.

But KangWoo didn't care.

He pulled back the spear that was wrapped with the whip.

"H-huh?"

Akiyama's body was pulled toward KangWoo and rolled on the ground.

KangWoo threw the spear at Akiyama.

"Cardinal!"

A Demon Cult member blocked the head of the spear.

The spear went right through him, tearing his skin apart and piercing his bones.

But it created a little bit of time.

Akiyama rolled to the side, and the head of the spear brushed past his clothes.

"YOOUU!!!"

An anger-filled shout rang out.

Akiyama aggressively swung the whip.

The whip, surrounded by demonic energy, wrapped around KangWoos body at a frightening speed.

It applied such strength that it would've been able to tear the steel apart as if it were paper.

'Authority of Defense.'

KangWoo made a fast decision.

He dropped Gae Bolg.

Gae Bolg scattered away in mid-air and disappeared.

KangWoo invested all of his demonic energy into the Authority of Defense.

His whole body was covered by darkness as if a demonic energy barrier had formed around it.

"Hiic!"

Akiyama's face became red.

Even though he'd used all of his strength, he couldn't penetrate the darkness. He changed his strategy and concentrated and put more power into the whip.

Demonic energy gathered in the whip.

Crack-!

'Yes!'

The demonic energy gathered at one point was able to break through the demonic energy wall and deal some damage.

Part of the skin on KangWoo's right shoulder fell off.

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But his expression didn't change. No, his smile got deeper.

After being freed from the whip, KangWoo moved again.

He didn't have time to use the Authority of Regeneration. Instead, he used the Authority of Speed, and he shot forward and did a spin kick.

Paf-!

"Cough!"

* * *

Although it was an attack done without a weapon, it was a kick done using the Authority of Speed.

Akiyama's body bounced away with a loud sound that resembled an explosion.

The wall was destroyed, and smoke covered the entire passageway.

KangWoo ran toward the widening fissure.

"Stop him!"

"Protect the fissure!"

The Demon Cult members that were surrounding the fissure ran toward him.

The battle against the Demon Cult members kept going on.

Although they weren't strong, it took time because there were so many.

It was hard to block ten hands with just one.

'Damn.'

He punched the approaching Demon Cult members with the Authority of Waves.

Blood poured out from the Demon Cult member as his organs exploded.

But he didn't stop attacking.

Like moths rushing into flames, they jumped at him without fear of death.

And KangWoo was delayed even further.

The duration of Kraken's Rage was almost over.

Akiyama was in a bad state.

"Ah, ah"

Akiyama was in a desperate state.

He felt his heart was being torn apart after seeing his underlings, who shared his same convictions, being defeated.

'If I were stronger'

He clenched his fist.

If he were among the three cardinals who had the rank of 'Apostle of Evil,' he would've been able to save his underlings from the hands of that intruder.

He felt enraged with himself because he hadn't been able to protect his underlings.

"Escape."

He grabbed the whip tighter and spoke. All members of the Demon Cult looked at him.

"I'll face that guy! Everyone, escape!"

"C-Cardinal!"

"W-we can't do that!"

They exchanged desperate cries. He shouted with a trembling voice.

"Don't worry! Even if my body dies here, our beliefs, our wishes, will last forever!"

"Ah!"

"When do you think someone dies?! When the heart gets pierced by a spear? No! When he becomes a monster after not being able to control demonic energy? No! It's when we forget our beliefs! That's when we die!"

Tears flowed from the eyes of the Demon Cult members.

Akiyama also cried along with them.

KangWoo opened his mouth at the sight of the incredibly moving scene.

"What bullshit."

Akiyama frowned at the harsh criticism.

"Don't insult our beliefs!"

"Don't say things you've heard from an anime so seriously. You're making me embarrassed."

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"Ugh!"

It seemed like it really was something taken out of an anime. Akiyama's body flinched.

"If you're the evil character, just laugh a bit like a villain and then die."

He extended his hand and combined three different Authorities and created a greatsword that was over two meters in length.

Although they were hot and passionate individuals you wouldn't normally think were members of the Demon Cult, he had no intentions of going easy on them.

They were still Demon Cult members.

It wasn't hard to imagine what strategies they'd used to grow their forces to the point where they could manage to summon a demon.

Although they looked dumb, they were someone's fear and despair at one point.

He didn't care what their beliefs were, that didn't matter.

He had things he had to do, and time was running out.

"If your beliefs are so important, die for them."

He raised the greatsword.

The fissure had grown so much that it almost reached the ceiling KangWoo threw the sword at it.

"Noo!!"

Akiyama threw his body. 'Gram' pierced him, and blood poured in all directions.

"Cough! Coff!"

"Cardinal!!"

The remaining Demon Cult members screamed. He didn't have time to care about them.

KangWoo approached the fissure.

"Ugh!"

The remaining Demon Cult members glared at him but didn't charge toward him. They took Akiyama, who was dying, and escaped.

KangWoo looked at them escaping.

It wasn't hard to follow and finish themthat would be the most comfortable option.

"Damn."

He cursed.

The fissure had become too big. Blocking Lilith's summoning was more urgent.

He approached the fissure.

He didn't have Han Seol-ah's buff or Kraken's Rage anymore.

KangWoo concentrated the energy inside the demonic energy stone in both hands and touched the fissure.

"Ugh"

He felt the pressure of the fissure in both hands.

If he knew more about the demon summoning process, he would've been able to close the fissure more effectively, but he had no other choice than to forcefully close it at the moment.

It was a brute way to do it, but it was effective. The fissure started to shrink in size.

'Good.'

He started to have hope that he'd be able to close it. It was at that moment

Squeeze- Squeeze.

Tentacles wriggled out from the fissurethey were the tentacles' he was so familiar with. KangWoo's face became pale.

'No.'

The tentacles wriggling from the fissure touched KangWoos body like they were savoring it.

Brrr-

The tentacles touching his body trembled.

He felt that they were trembling from joy and excitement.

If they trembled after tasting his body, he didn't need to think too deeply about who they belonged to.

- My king. I'm going right now

"No! Don't come!"

He agonized.

The being he didnt want to meet, shouldnt meet, the most was trying to come to Earth.

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KangWoo explosively increased the demonic energy flowing out of the demonic energy stone. He was debating opening the Ten Thousand Demon Core.

'The Ten Thousand Demon Core'

He remembered Echidna's voice.

He didn't need to think too deeply.

'There's no need to block it while risking my life.'

It was true that he didn't want to see Lilith again

But the answer wasn't clear if he was asked whether he would even risk his life just to not see her.

'I'm going to do everything I can do right now.'

It would be stupid to risk his life for something like that.

While suppressing the fissure with the energy inside the demonic energy stone, he used the Authority of Predation to devour the demonic energy making the fissure with his Authority.

Demonic energy flowed into his body.

The demonic energy of the fissure mixed with the demonic energy stone.

'A little bit more'

The size of the fissure grew smaller to the point that it was barely even of a size that a person could go through.

Aahh!

He could hear Lilith agonizing. Her tentacles retreated into fissure and disappeared.

KangWoo's eyes shone.

He used all of his remaining strength and started to suppress the fissure.

The amount of demonic energy absorbed by the Authority of Predation increased.

'There's almost nothing left of the demonic energy stone.'

Was it because he'd used too much strength?

There was almost no demonic energy stone left in his dantian. It was hard to suppress the fissure with simple demonic energy.

KangWoo closed his eyes and concentrated; he thought of the Celestial Dragon's Psyche Style he'd learned from Kim ShiHoon.

If there was almost nothing left of the demonic energy stone, he had to create one.

He took the Celestial Dragon's Psyche Style to an extreme.

He created a demonic energy stone the moment he absorbed demonic energy with the Authority of Predation.

As the demonic energy stone grew, he could feel his Dantian vibrating.

'It's almost done.'

He bit his lip.

Although he was used to controlling demonic energy, using the Celestial Dragon's Psyche Style was still hard.

He felt that his veins were about to explode.

'A little bit more!'

Tap-

The palms of his hands touched each other.

The fissure closed.

A blue light came out and entered the body of Kurosaki Yurie from the closed fissure.

Her ability to 'call a being from another dimension' seemed to be returning to her.

"Oof, oof."

KangWoo breathed heavily and collapsed to the ground.

Although he'd successfully stopped Lilith's summoning, he was tired after taking the usage of demonic energy to an extreme.

"Oof"

He caught his breath.

Although the process was hard, he had managed to block the summoning. KangWoo lay on the ground.

Ting-

"Hmm?"

At that moment, he heard a familiar bell sound. He slowly opened his eyes as message windows popped open in front of him.

[The demonic energy stone has reached the size necessary for the Extreme Demonic Energy Body.]

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[You've fulfilled all 3 necessary conditions to reach Extreme Demonic Energy Body.]

[Body transformation is starting now.]