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However, Chi-Woo was not alone. The Will-o’-the-Wisp’s Wind was taking him to Shalyh with all their strength and energy, and Asha was also with him. He didn’t mean to bring Asha, but Asha had secretly hidden inside his pocket. Moreover, he heard that the League’s late reinforcements were stationed in Shalyh. Even though they were latecomers, they must be of a sizable force and possess sufficient strength. Chi-Woo hoped with all his heart that they would be able to hold out till he got there. He prayed while keeping his gaze forward.

How long had it been? There was still some time left until dawn. It was dark all around, but he could see the outline of a city in the distant light. Chi-Woo looked at the gradually approaching Shalyh, and his eyes opened wide when he saw the rising smoke.

* * *

Chaos had fallen upon Shalyh. As the Last Dragon said, the latecomers had arrived and were stationed in the city, but they weren’t able to beat one single enemy. It was because the advance team was organized mainly for mobility and speed, and the main army was where the heavy-hitters were.

Although it was said that there was power in numbers, there were always exceptions. Their enemy was way beyond their pay grade, and the League’s army was in a state of disarray and scattered apart as no one could deal with this one individual. That was when Chi-Woo arrived at Shalyh. He checked the situation inside the city and clicked his tongue. Judging by how it looked, the city’s gate had fallen a long time ago, and there were obvious signs of damage everywhere. In short, the city had been thoroughly destroyed. One fortunate part was that the temple of the White Horse General remained relatively intact, but even that seemed precarious as the League forces were near the end of their desperate resistance.

“Over there!” Chi-Woo identified where the great commotion came from and pointed down. “That way!” The Will-o’-the-Wisp’s Wind turned immediately and flew towards the direction. When he was right above the place where the fight broke out, he felt the wind covering his whole body gradually move away; at the same time, his body slowly descended to the ground.

Then the enemy, who had been walking as if she was coming out for a drink in the neighborhood, stopped. Her head, which had been tilted towards the night sky, began to slowly tilt down as her gaze followed Chi-Woo’s descent. Soon after, Chi-Woo landed on the ground on one knee. As soon as he looked up, his eyes met with his enemy’s, and his expression hardened. He hadn’t want to believe it, but—

“Here you are.” The enemy greeting him with faux friendliness was none other than Bael. The Last Dragon had been right. Bael was still alive, and in a relatively good condition at that. Bael continued, “I’ve been playing since I was so bored…” Bael seemed extremely relaxed and comfortable as she looked around. “Originally, I would have destroyed everything as fast as possible…but that would have been too boring, right?”

Then she smiled at Chi-Woo and said, “While I’m at it, I think it’ll be more fun to destroy everything along with you.”

“…”

“It’s just, I had a strong feeling that you’ll definitely come here. So thanks for coming.”

Although Chi-Woo could hear Bael loud and clear, he didn’t reply because of how confused he was. Now that he looked at her again, the hole in her abdomen was completely patched up, and that wasn’t the only change. The great demons that Chi-Woo had seen so far generally had darker skin. It wasn’t true for all of them, but their skin tended to have a dark-bluish undertone due to the influence of dark energy. This had also been true for Bael.

Chi-Woo hadn’t realized it since it was still dark at night, but up-close, he could clearly see that Bael’s complexion was no longer black and blue like before. It wasn’t just her face. Her skin was now as fair as white jade. As a result, her features had become clearer and more visible, and she looked like a beautiful human woman. It was to the extent that he wouldn’t have recognized her if he passed her by on the streets. He wondered what in the world happened.

Seemingly feeling his stare, Bael covered her mouth with a hand and laughed silently. “Why?” she asked a little teasingly. “Are you surprised?”

Although her crescent-like eyes were seductive, Chi-Woo stayed focused and alert. He slowly rose from the ground, keeping a close eye on Bael. How on earth was she able to recover to this state, and what had changed from before? It was a mystery at the moment, but there was one thing he needed to do right now—defend Shalyh and defeat Bael. Chi-Woo stretched out his arm. As soon as Armed with the Sixth Element emitted a white light and transformed into a club, Chi-Woo rushed towards Bael without hesitation. Once their distance was narrowed, Chi-Woo clearly saw Bael dropping her hand from her mouth, and she started shaking like her body was lagging the way computers would.

An unknown sense of ominousness came over him, but Chi-Woo didn’t stop. He stretched out his arm and swung the ghost-busting club with all his might. Then—

“!” Chi-Woo felt his eyes tense without even realizing it when his club was blocked. Of course, considering the strength of his opponent, it was fully within the realm of possibility that this could happen. However, Bael blocked it way too easily—she had simply lifted her arm a little. She didn’t bring out her giant sword like before and hadn’t even wrapped dark energy around her.

‘Come to think of it…’ Only then did Chi-Woo realize there was another reason why he thought Bael felt unfamiliar. Her appearance wasn’t the only thing that had changed. When he met her at the last gate, the dark energy she emitted had been so thick and heavy that it was hard to even breathe, but now he couldn’t sense a lick of dark energy from her. He could also tell the difference by the effects the ghost-busting club had on her, or the lack thereof. The club’s exorcism power should have absolute advantage against dark energy, yet it was quiet today. It wasn’t the same as before. Then Bael’s head twisted from side to side, and her body shook like crazy once again.

Alarm bells rang in his head, and Chi-Woo hurriedly withdrew. Soon, the tremor subsided, and Bael caught her breath. She glanced at the forearm blocking the club and let out a long sigh. “As expected…it really is great. Even among all this countless information…the best is fifty-fifty…” She muttered incomprehensible words and then smiled at Chi-Woo, who had gotten out of range. “But it’s all right. Fifty-fifty is well worth a try. No, I’ll win because I was stronger than you in the first place.”

Chi-Woo looked at her questioningly.

Bael smirked and asked, “…Are you curious?”

Of course, she had no intention of telling him the truth even if he said he was curious since there was a much more important task she needed to accomplish. The queen of the Demon Empire, who had returned from the crossroads of life and death, had been waiting for this very moment—the moment to remove the stigma this human had inflicted on her body and soul.

“If you’re curious—find it out yourself!” With a shout, Bael explosively rushed towards him.

* * *

At the same time, the second-rank great demon, Agares, was conversing with the Abyss King. Frankly, Agares might as well be talking to himself since the Abyss King wasn’t even looking at him. Just like how the Last Dragon was sensing and watching their movement, the coalition was also closely monitoring humanity and the League, and Agares had just received a report that humanity and the League had made a move a few hours ago: the human who had defeated countless great demons had left the last gate in a hurry.

After receiving this report, Agares visited the Abyss King and insisted on resuming their siege. Bael was absent, but their opponent had also lost a force at a similar level of power. Now that the terrifying human was elsewhere, they could try capturing the last gate again. Moreover, if things went wrong, Bael could be attacked from the front and back, so they needed to keep the enemy troops at the last gate occupied as much as possible.

As such, Agares had thought the Abyss would naturally make their move, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. The Abyss King did not budge and seemed to be barely listening to him. His reasoning was also ridiculous: that they needed to be more careful since it could be a trap. Agares couldn’t understand the Abyss King at all, and it felt as if he’d been hit in the head with a hammer after going out of his way to visit the Abyss King. If he wasn’t mistaken, it seemed as if the Abyss King wasn’t very interested in capturing the last gate, and his attitude was detached and passive.

“This is the perfect time to capture the gate, but sir, why aren’t you moving the army?” No matter how many times Agares made the suggestion, the Abyss King didn’t budge. “What are you going to do if our enemies learn that we’re going to stay still? Not even considering the Last Dragon, if one of the top leading tribes join Shalyh’s side…!” He received the same reaction even when he showed his anger.

“That won’t happen, but it won’t be too late to think of appropriate measures then,” the Abyss King answered calmly.

Agares repressed his frustration and was about to continue when—

“Stop.” The Abyss King cut him off. “It’s an order.”

Agares became speechless. He was well aware that the Abyss held operational command currently. Although he would have never accepted this usually, he had no choice but to since it had been a direct order from Bael only a few hours ago. Agares gnawed on his lips when he recalled what had happened back then. He didn’t know what Bael and the Abyss King had talked about, but he did know that not long after the Abyss King visited Bael alone, he walked out with Bael in his arms. Bael left with only the words that she was going to recover and that they should follow the Abyss’ lead until she came back. Since then, Bael had been absent. From what he heard, Bael had succeeded in recovering, and then he heard from the Abyss King that she had gone past the gate through a tunnel to capture Shalyh.

Agares was perplexed. He wondered how Bael was able to recover so quickly, and why she had gone to Shalyh alone without saying a word. He didn’t know anything. But even then, he trusted Bael and tried to do something. On the other hand, he was burning up in frustration as all they were doing was waiting day and night. Then a memory suddenly came to his mind.

[Sernitas. Can’t meet them.]

The day before he was dispatched, Shersha had secretly called him aside and fervently made a request.

[Bael. Don’t leave her alone.]

[Never.]

He hadn’t thought much of it then. ‘Perhaps.’ However, he recalled this memory belatedly and stared at the Abyss King.

“I will not allow any further protests.”

However, Agares wasn’t able to ask any questions.

“We’ll move when the time comes, so go back now and wait quietly.”

Agares had no choice but to close his mouth because he felt an intense and terrifying pressure coming from the Abyss King’s whole body. It was a decree and a warning; if he disobeyed, he would be taken care of. In a way, maybe the Abyss King hoped for this outcome, since the Abyss had all the authority to do so currently. In the end, Agares had no choice but to turn away while gritting his teeth, lamenting that things might already be too late.

The Abyss King folded his arms as he watched Agares move slowly away. He had already obtained one of the things he wanted, but this wasn’t the end. He planned to take advantage of this situation to get the best result possible. And in order to accomplish this task, he needed to wait; at least until the results came out. In that sense, Agares’ argument was not completely wrong; they needed to keep the enemy troops at the last gate. Thus, he had stayed behind here. His presence was enough to keep the Last Dragon in check.

‘I don’t know how things will go, but…it’s not a bad situation for them right now.’ The Abyss King fell into thought and suddenly snorted. It was funnier the more he thought about it. What an ironic turn of fate. Yesterday’s enemy became today’s friend, and yesterday’s friend became today’s enemy. Or to be more precise, ‘it could be’. Anyway, he would only come to the full picture of the rest of his plan once the results came out. Not much time was left until then. Meanwhile, humanity and the Cassiubia League would try to protect the last gate to the best of their abilities. Unless they went completely off their rockers, they wouldn’t crawl out and attack them first. If they just waited a little longer…

At that moment, the Abyss King saw something so unbelievable that he doubted his eyes. Where the moonlight rested, the gate opened wide, and troops marched out. It wasn’t just the gate. From the mountain ranges on the left and the right, soldiers poured out and began to attack them. It was an ambush in the dead of night.

Woahhhhhhhhh! The Abyss King jumped up from his seat after hearing the war cry. He stared blankly at the forces of humanity and the League that were rushing towards them from all directions.

“…What?” A shrill cry escaped his lips. The plan that he had worked hard to implement to match the sudden change in situation went completely awry.