CH 371

Gi-Gyu and the group headed toward the 90th floor, whereas Lou seemed ready to die. He was slumped and panting heavily.

“Haa… Haa…”

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The fight in Gehenna was close to being over as well. Every time Lou breathed, a sticky stream of blood spilled out of his mouth. Five of his nine powerful heads had seemingly been amputated, and the rest weren’t in good condition either. Fortunately, he still had his main and strongest head, and the war in Gehenna was almost over too.

‘I feel like I’m dying.’ Lou wasn’t exaggerating. He had lived a long life and experienced countless dangerous moments, but today was by far the worst. At this rate, he believed that he truly might die.

If truth be told, he had almost died. It had been a particularly close fight, and the only reason he was still alive was that El had helped him at the last moment.

“Khoff.” Lou coughed up even more blood as he looked up to see El in the sky. She was also covered in blood, and her wings and clothes were in tatters.

Fwoosh.

Suddenly, she began plummeting toward the earth. Lou tried to catch her, but his body refused to obey him.

‘Dammit,’ He swore silently, frustrated. He struggled to even stay awake, but he still wanted to catch El. After all, she had risked her life to save him, so how could he let her hit the cold ground?

-I got her.

Lou heard Oh Tae-Gu’s voice in his head.

‘Thanks,’ Lou replied.

Oh Tae-Gu and the surviving Pandemonium soldiers created an invisible net with their magic.

Plop.

El looked unconscious; thankfully, she had fallen into the invisible safety net. Lou was glad that she hadn’t sustained more damage from falling.

Oh Tae-Gu nodded toward Lou from far away, letting him know that he shouldn’t worry. Lou opened his giant dragon mouth to grin. Although he was exhausted, Lou still had enough strength left to smile.

Whoosh.

Lou’s head whipped to the side to face Uranus, standing straight as an arrow. He gathered his last bit of strength and unleashed his final attack.

Kaboom!

The land of Gehenna shook, and the giant Uranus finally fell to his knees in front of Lou. There was now a subtle spark in his eyes, but it was still mostly shadowed by Chaos.

Lou refused to let his guard down just yet, as Uranus had spent a long time inside Gehenna. Lou believed he had defeated Uranus, but he couldn’t be certain.

But soon, the remaining light in Uranus’ eyes disappeared like a machine being powered down.

“Haa…” The black dragon sighed deeply and began changing its form. It was as big as a mountain, but it began shrinking. Because Uranus remained the same size, he looked even bigger than the shrinking Lou.

Lou, in his normal form now, muttered, “Gosh… I feel like I’m dying.”

In his smaller form, the wounds on Lou looked even worse. Not an inch of his body was without injuries, his innards were no longer inside, and he could barely keep his eyes open and breathe properly.

Plop.

In the end, Lou also fell to the ground, but the most important thing was that he had won.

“I… I won.” Lou deemed it a miracle. ‘Without that jerk Kim Gi-Gyu, this wouldn’t have been possible.’ 

Lou had wanted to kill Uranus for a long time but couldn’t because he used to lack the strength to even try. But now, he had eliminated Uranus. Well, he had to do it because he had no other choice, but he had fought with the confidence that he could do it.

Lou, the former king of hell, and El, the former queen of angels, couldn’t surpass their peaks and become stronger in their past life. However, they had grown stronger with each passing day after meeting Gi-Gyu.

‘Thanks.’ Lou felt grateful to Gi-Gyu. Thanks to him, Lou had defeated Uranus.

“That was amazing.” Oh Tae-Gu hurried to help Lou stand. Oh Tae-Gu and the other soldiers didn’t look much better. They had only survived because of the existing barrier system in Pandemonium and Lou and El. The Pandemonium soldiers knew this well and were grateful to Lou and El.

“Th… anks,” Lou said to Oh Tae-Gu.

“So what will happen now?”

“I guess… you don’t know everything either?” asked Lou.

“I know a little more than the rest, but certainly not as much as you and El.”

When Oh Tae-Gu explained humbly, Lou smirked. “The real battle will begin soon, but the problem is… We are more dead than alive.”

Lou glanced at El, still unconscious. They had used much more power than they had expected, so their recovery would be slow. It was a miracle that they didn’t die, but they would have to jump into another fight once the changes in Gehenna began.

Lou was frowning when Oh Tae-Gu reassured him confidently, “Don’t worry about that.”

“What?” Lou looked at Oh Tae-Gu in confusion. The smile on Oh Tae-Gu’s face looked genuine, and Lou couldn’t understand why he looked so confident.

Then suddenly, Lou remembered something. “Could it be…”

When Oh Tae-Gu took out a vial from his inner pocket, Lou couldn’t hide his surprise.

Oh Tae-Gu explained, “Yeon Nam-Ju gave me this vial of the elixir. There is plenty for you and El to share.”

Yeon Nam-Ju had obtained two vials of the elixir. He had used one to heal himself, but he never explained what he had done with the other.

Lou asked, “So you kept the other one?”

“Yes. We don’t accept the worst criminals in Pandemonium. We would have never let Yeon Nam-Ju in, but he paid the price with the elixir.”

“I see.” Lou realized that this shouldn’t have surprised him. He grinned when he tasted the elixir flowing into his mouth.

Oh Tae-Gu fed Lou half of the bottle’s content and closed the bottle. Before going to help El, he said to Lou, “Please rest here for a moment.”

“I can’t believe it’s working out so well. Guess we’re all lucky.” Lou grinned. Uranus, defeated by Lou, turned into dust and scattered away. As if responding to his demise, Gehenna began shaking.

Oh Tae-Gu and the other Pandemonium soldiers shouted in surprise.

“Finally…!”

“We can leave this place!”

“Ha… Hahaha…!”

Everyone reacted differently. Some looked ecstatic, while others jumped around and screamed in joy. A few even sobbed in silence.

Lou couldn’t help but laugh as he watched them. ‘I guess they still have plenty of energy left.’

Meanwhile, Gehenna began shaking even harder after Uranus’ corpse vanished. The ground shook visibly, and Lou announced, “Everyone…”

Lou’s voice was soft, but everyone could hear him because he had recovered. The soldiers turned toward him to hear him out.

“I’m sure you haven’t forgotten the promise you made to us, correct?” asked Lou. When he and El had first built Pandemonium, they swore to protect and free its inhabitants. In return, the Pandemonium soldiers had to offer their service.

Lou continued, “You must fight for me until I no longer exist.”

They had promised to become Lou and El’s foot soldiers, and it was time to pay up. They had to fight another fight; thankfully, most of the soldiers were in fair condition.

Dun!

Just then, the land of Gehenna shook.

‘I guess he survived.’ Lou saw Koios of the Titan tribe kneeling. A fierce fighter nicknamed the traitor of the Titans, it was no wonder Koios had survived.

Koios roared, “Uwaaaaaa!”

The rest of the soldiers screamed their fealty as well. The soldiers, these creatures, had spent an enormous part of their life on the battlefield called Gehenna. So, they were more than willing to participate in another fight, as it could be their last battle, inside and ever. Truth be told, they had no idea where they would go after leaving this place, but they just wanted to leave this hellish place right now.

“Good.” Lou looked ahead, noticing that Uranus’ corpse had vanished completely.

Dun dun dun dun.

Suddenly, the ground Uranus had been standing on vibrated and cracked simultaneously. From the crack emerged a metal door larger than any inside the Tower.

“It’s finally here.” Lou quickly walked up to it and touched it. He announced lightly, “Let’s go.”

El, also having recovered thanks to the elixir, appeared beside him. “We finally get to reunite with our master.”

The door opened, and bright light streamed out of it. Lou and El stared at it for a bit before they led the Pandemonium soldiers out. This door, which appeared after Uranus’ death, would lead them to the 90th floor—Kronos’ location.

-Kwerrrrk!

Lou, El, and the soldiers of Pandemonium all heard the angry screams.

Lou muttered, “Chaos is waking up.”

Since the seal trapping Uranus was gone, Chaos was about to wake up. Still, there was a bit of time left before Chaos fully awakened.

‘What’s most important is to have the upper hand when it wakes up,’ Lou thought. ‘And the last thing I need to figure out is when Soo-Jung will appear.’ 

***

Gi-Gyu crossed the 90th-floor door as Lou and El exited Gehenna. Meanwhile, the situation in Seoul was worsening.

“Thank goodness we evacuated the non-players,” one of the players battling the monsters muttered.

Things were looking grim in Seoul.

“Ack!”

“Help!”

“Move, move, move!”

The desperate screams of the players could be heard everywhere. Confusion and fear filled the streets of Gangnam. The city had already witnessed hundreds of gate breaks, but more were still appearing.

“The gates break as soon as they materialize!” a player at the front line screamed in shock. The situation was worse than anyone could have ever expected. Without the usual delay period, a smorgasbord of monsters kept popping out of the gates.

“There are so many different types… And it looks like all the gates are connected to different Tower floors!” the same player exclaimed. The monsters appearing on the streets of Seoul were inhabitants of the Tower’s various floors. And not just any floors—the higher, more dangerous floors. The increasing number of monsters was certainly a problem, but this scared the players the most. Fortunately, the Eden creatures were dealing with the powerful monsters, but things still weren’t looking up.

“At this rate, this is never going to end,” Old Man Hwang muttered. He was at the frontline with the other important figures of Eden, leading the soldiers. But at this moment, they were staring at the overwhelmingly-giant gate in the Seoul sky. This grotesque gate was bigger than anything they had ever seen. Unlike normal gates with a blue hue, this one was a metal door, like the ones inside the Tower.

“I think… that door is connected to Gi-Gyu’s location,” Old Man Hwang informed Heo Sung-Hoon. This metal door wasn’t open yet, which was probably the only reason they could still manage the situation.

Gi-Gyu’s creatures could feel their master’s subtle energy behind this door.

“Sung-Hoon”—Old Man Hwang turned toward Heo Sung-Hoon—“Will you be able to last?”

Sung-Hoon couldn’t answer easily. He ultimately nodded and replied, “We will try.”

“All right. Then please gather those who will head out to the battlefield.” With this order, Old Man Hwang disappeared. The elderly blacksmith needed to get ready himself for a battle. Once this metal door in the sky opened, they would have to help Gi-Gyu fight his battle.

Looking up at the sky, Heo Sung-Hoon whispered, “I better hurry.”

The metal door was slowly opening.