Chapter 236: Episode 75. The Hell Lord (1)

After I was found innocent, my army and I could safely enter the castle.

The old demon Sasoon bet his head. Fortunately, he did not lose it.

The demon commanded the forces in the castle and fought with the Hell Lord so far. He knew the castle better than I did, and I believed that he would make a better commander than any newcomer.

“When the Hell Lord first appeared in Devildom, it was said that he was alone.”

I was inside a large room. It was so large that it almost felt like a plaza. Inside the room were luxurious tables and chandeliers, as well as fine food.

Sasoon knelt and continued with the story. The demon had done wrong, and he kept on looking at the floor.

“However, the Hell Lord’s army had grown as time passed by. All of the demons he killed became his puppets. The Order of White Knights was the first to discover the Hell Lord. However, when they found him, the Hell Lord had become invincible, and the order was destroyed. As a result, we lost one of the strongest groups of our forces. We did not know that we lost the Order of White Knights until we met them as enemies later.”

Frustrated, Sasoon banged the floor.

I could feel that the demon was regretful, thinking that he could have done something had he found that he had lost the Order of White Knights earlier.

Ariel was sitting still, not moving at all. Inside the room were only demons and important monsters.

Silence ensued, and so Sasoon continued, “The Hell Lord’s puppets only obey his commands. What was surprising was that the puppets were still conscious. They used magic and remembered the swordsmanship from when they had been alive. Sometimes, the puppets came back as though they were still our allies and destroyed our side. We ended up not trusting anyone…”

I understood the demon.

In such a situation, one could not tell whether another was a friend or an enemy. Even friends were capable of betrayal.

When one could not trust the other, both would never be able to fight the common enemy.

Now I could understand why all of the archdukes’ forces were annihilated everywhere but here.

“The Hell Lord’s army has grown so large and powerful that no one could stand against him.”

“How large was it?”

“It was three million, and that’s a conservative estimate.”

Ariel sighed loudly as though she could not believe what she just heard.

If all of the archdukes’ troops were combined, the number would barely make three million.

I did not think that the Hell Lord single-handedly turned three million enemies into his puppets. I suspected that a victim, killed by a puppet, would also turn into a puppet.

The Hell Lord’s army must have grown at a tremendous speed. The more they killed, the larger they became.

No one would have the will to fight such an army.

‘They were invited to the place of doom,’ I thought.

I remembered what happened at the Royal Observatory of Greenwich.

All the archdukes, besides myself, were given the special quest to return to Devildom.

Had they followed the order and returned to Devildom, it would have been the end of them.

There was no way that the archdukes could defeat the Hell Lord, even though the Hell Lord’s army was weaker back then compared to now.

“However, Miss Ariel Diablo has returned, and the soldiers are motivated more than ever. Knights are also willing to fight.”

“I am not the owner of this castle anymore,” Ariel announced.

Sasoon had already noticed my presence. I assumed that he avoided my gaze the whole time because he did not want to face reality.

“Sasoon, raise your head,” Ariel ordered the demon once again.

The demon then reluctantly did what he was told.

Ariel looked at me and then spoke, “Randalf Bruciel… That is the name of our Dark Lord. Remember that name.”

“I salute the…Dark Lord.”

Only then that Sasoon knelt before me.

This place was like his home. It had not changed for a long time, and Ariel was his master forever. The loyal demon had not changed, but the owner of the place did. His master decided to follow another being. Therefore, the servant had to follow as well.

Sasoon could not help but admit that his master failed to become the Dark Lord.

The number of soldiers in the castle was roughly 30,000.

When the monsters were taken into consideration, the number increased to 45,000.

Thanks to Sasoon’s outstanding management, I had a quite large army prepared for me.

However, I was concerned about a large number of monsters and demons. They might become obstacles in the future.

“My lord, allow me to take care of that problem,” Oswen volunteered.

The blacksmith took out a small mirror. His eyes were shining.

“One of the Hell Lord’s curse is making the dead move. This is the Mirror of Truth, and it will stop the curse from spreading.”

“Isn’t the mirror too small, though?”

I did not think that such a small mirror could stop all curses. Oswen nodded as though he understood my concern.

“If I have the right materials, I can easily make it larger.”

Ariel then interrupted, “Almost all kinds of magic materials are ready. However, we don’t have much time. The Hell Lord’s army is at our doorstep.”

“All I need is a week. Of course, it is not just about making the mirror. We must protect it. If it breaks, the curse will spread again.”

“Can we break the curses that are already done?”

“We can, but it’s a matter of efficiency. I need more than a week to solve that problem. It will need 10 of me to work for three months to solve that.”

“So we need to make a mirror,” Ariel realized.

The archduke seemed to know that Oswen was one of the greatest blacksmiths in the world.

Oswen, the Blacksmith of Twilight, was incredibly talented that even the gods envied his skills. No one in this world was as good as he was, and it was impossible to undo the curses that were already done.

“Proceed with your plan. If you need a week, then so be it.”

If I was correct, I could hold for a week.

“I will go with you.”

“Me, too…”

Ariel and Krithli were the first to volunteer.

I shook my head.

“No, I’m going alone,” I declined. “Don’t you have jobs to do?”

We were in need of manpower. Ariel had to deal with the soldiers in the castle, and Krithli had to devise a strategy. The dark elf also had to take care of magic.

No one could replace them—only they could do the jobs that I assigned.

“Do you think…you can do it alone?”

“I have plans. I will make sure things will go as expected—that nothing is amiss. I think I can give Oswen a week.”

I was quite confident about the plan. I believed that I could easily sneak out even if I made some mistakes. A large number of high demons were guarding the Hell Lord, and it would be impossible to eliminate him. However, I thought that I could distract them for about a week.

‘Most high demons had entered the realm of transcendence,’ I remembered.

Most of those who were above the rank of a count had entered the realm of transcendence. The 72 demons, including the archdukes, had not entered the realm of transcendence because their abilities were limited as they came to Earth. However, Ariel had now regained most of her power from her prime.

‘Hell Lord, I have what you need to prove yourself,’ I thought.

I smiled.

I possessed most of what he should have had.

If he realized that I had them, he would definitely get furious. However, he could not blame anyone else besides himself, who had returned from Nothingness.

As soon as I exited the castle, I took out the Sword of the Emperor.

The sword was originally the Hell Lord’s, and it was a treasure that Maxium had kept.

It would never get destroyed, and the sword had another feature.

“The Military Power of the Emperor.”

Boom!

The Sword of the Emperor made noise. Then, a large crack opened next to the sword. Soldiers on horses appeared from the crack.

They came from the treasure house located in the Underworld, and they were called Soul Cavalry.

There were 10,000 of them, and they created a formation behind me.

The horses did not have bodies but were made of armor and iron. All of them were either equivalent or even stronger than high monsters.

‘Ninety days…,’ I pondered.

This army of 10,000 lasted 90 days, and it obeyed my orders to destroy enemies. The Hell Lord took much effort to create these soldiers.

They were artificial monsters that did not have physical bodies but were made of armor. If I added my skills to them, they would be impregnable against most curses.

“I wonder how it would feel to get attacked by the soldiers that I created, Hell Lord,” I muttered.

I spread my wings and soared into the sky, moving quickly.

Behind me were 10,000 cavalries made of iron.

The Hell Lord’s army was not far away; they were within three day’s distance.

Had I been a bit late, the castle would have been conquered.

“There are a lot of them,” I noticed.

I thought about Karmiel and his army of angels. They were 1,014,000 in number.

It took me more than a month to eliminate all of them. Had it taken longer, I would have used the Military Power of the Emperor.

‘I am glad that I did not use this.’

I would have been in deep trouble if I used the Military Power of the Emperor to fight Karmiel. I could not think of any other ways to stop the Hell Lord’s army, which was only three days away from the castle. I could try using myself as bait, but that would be very risky. After all, I had never met the Hell Lord, and I didn’t want to reveal my strength yet.

The Hell Lord could curse demons who had entered the realm of transcendence. Without any special powers, it would have been impossible. While fighting Karmiel, I learned that dealing with special powers was very tricky, and I did not want to act prematurely before I find out what kinds of power the Hell Lord possessed.

“There are too many of them, and it’s hard to get the exact number,” I told myself.

Sasoon told me that the size of the Hell Lord’s army was around three million. Now that I looked at it, it was definitely more than what Sasoon had reported. It seemed that the Hell Lord reinforced his army with monsters, besides the demons. I could find some demonic dragons and earth dragons among them.

“Balrogs…,” I uttered.

I could even find some Balrogs, which were perceived to have gone extinct a long time ago.

Balrogs were the strongest of monsters. It was said that they were one of the highest monsters with the level of five, and no monster had a level higher than five.

Some monsters like Ahojin were called exceptionally strong, but they, too, were not called monsters of level six.

In other words, Balrogs were the most powerful living things in Devildom.

Each one of them was as large as the hydra, and it was much larger than 10 meters in length. In addition to its tremendous size, its wings were even larger.

When they flap wings, strong mana fluctuated nearby.

As the tales of the previous Dark Lord told, all of them focused on eliminating Balrogs. It was impossible to tame them, and they were too violent, resulting in the deaths of many demons.

The ninth Dark Lord, Alextroza, was even killed by a Balrog.

Just like Ahojin, the Balrog was beyond any monsters.

Demons back then recorded the appearance of the Balrog, which killed the Dark Lord, with much detail. They even named it.

‘Roguzan,’ I thought.

I frowned as I thought about the Balrog.

It seemed that the Balrog that I was seeing at the moment resembled Roguzan. This Balrog also had two right wings, just like Roguzan.

‘This Balrog could also come from Nothingness,’ I pondered.

Perhaps the Hell Lord wasn’t the only one that came from Nothingness.