After Ten Millennia in Hell

Chapter 394 - The Light Will Burn You

“For Aernorrrr!”

The forces of the churches wiped out the demonic beasts with Anduin at the forefront. A wave of brilliant light swept across the battlefield.

Anduin lifted his mace high. “Die, depraved forces of evil!”

He swung down his mace as he bellowed. The shining mace split the earth, setting the hundreds of demonic beasts alight in its path.

“Yeaaaahhhh!!” The apostles were filled with morale as they watched Anduin wiping out hundreds of demonic beasts with one strike.

They continued their charge at an overwhelming pace.

“Haaaaahh!!”

Countless demonic beasts turned into ash every time Anduin swung his mace.

‘With this power... With this great power granted to me by Lumeria... I’ll be able to protect them.’

He would be able to protect the people of the continent suffering in fear from the schemes of the forces of evil. Anduin imagined himself being praised as a hero as he killed the demonic beasts. He would be even more popular than Kim Si-Hun.

‘No, this isn’t the time.’

Anduin shook his head. It was not the time to think about such pointless things. He had already made one terrible choice.

‘It’s still not too late.’

This was his chance to make up for the error he had made, blinded by his desire and temptation. Anduin swung his mace at the forces of evil as his eyes shone brightly.

“L-Lady Lumeria has manifested...”

“The Goddess of Peace has manifested.”

The apostles of the Church of Lumeria gasped as they watched the shining Anduin wiping out the demonic beasts.

“...”

The incarnations of the other churches clenched their fists in silence, likely having been influenced by Anduin. They looked at each other and then followed after Anduin to charge at the demonic beasts. The demonic beasts that had filled the valley were unable to handle the combined forces of all the churches.

“Haaa, haaa!” Anduin panted heavily.

He could barely catch his breath; he felt like he was about to collapse at any second. His vision blurred, and he was staggering. His condition could not be any worse, but his eyes were gleaming with hope. But then...

Crack.

A man walked out from a black Rift. The middle-aged man with a diagonal slash scar on his face stared expressionlessly at the combined forces of the churches.

“Tch, what the hell are these?”

“... Incarnations of the gods.”

Said a woman with black tentacles and a boy with blank eyes as they walked out from behind the man.

“You’re...” Anduin slurred as he stared at the beings that had come out from the Rift.

His limbs trembled as he suffocated within the energy that they were emitting.

“Incarnations? Have the gods started to make their move?” asked the woman with black tentacles while frowning, paying no attention to Anduin at all.

The boy with blank eyes nodded.

“Jeez, why now of all times? I’ve been busy thinking of a way to appeal myself to my darling.”

The woman with black tentacles glared in displeasure at Anduin, who got goosebumps because of the woman’s hideous looks.

“Quiet,” said the man with the scar.

The woman simply snorted at his words and asked, “More importantly, what happened with what you want to do? Was it... Tian Taihuang? You said that you were going to meet the human who possesses your disciple’s soul.”

“I told you to be quiet, Proserpine.” Tai Wuji glared at Proserpine.

“...” Proserpine shrugged and averted her eyes from his gaze.

Although she didn’t know everything about him despite being fellow Constellations of Evil, she at least knew that she shouldn’t test Tai Wuji’s patience right now.

“Lumeria’s incarnation.” Tai Wuji stared at Anduin with sunken eyes.

Anduin flinched. He retched while grabbing his chest, having a hard time breathing. He trembled without being able to do anything in the face of unfathomable evil.

Seeing that, Tai Wuji said expressionlessly, “Pathetic.”

He unsheathed his sword from his waist, and dark blue flames traveled up the blade.

“A-Aaaahh,” Anduin muttered in fear.

He collapsed to his knees on the spot. The light of hope in his eyes dyed with despair.

***

“Kurgh! Cough, cough!”

Dark red blood permeated the ground. A blond young man crawled along the valley that had been destroyed as if a natural disaster had passed by. He was Anduin, the incarnation of Lumeria as well as the leader of the Godly Pantheon.

“Urgh...”

Tears flowed from his eyes. The combined forces of the churches had been defeated so one-sidedly that it was an understatement to call the power of their enemy overwhelming.

“H-How can someone be so...”

Anduin lowered his head while biting his lip. It had been an utterly miserable defeat.

Step, step.

Just then, he heard footsteps.

“... Huh?” Anduin looked up. He quickly shouted at the young man walking toward him, “S-Sir Oh Kang-Woo! You must be careful! There is a man who possesses unfathomable strength among the forces of—”

“I know,” Kang-Woo answered with a smile.

“... Pardon?”

“I saw it all from up there. Dayum, he’s such a delight. He’s... the best,” muttered Kang-Woo as his eyes gleamed with madness.

He exhaled heatedly. He shivered in ecstasy as he recalled the Constellation of Despair wiping out the soldiers of the churches.

‘He’s insanely powerful.’

Kang-Woo wasn’t even sure that he would be able to defeat him.

“Ha... Haha,” Kang-Woo laughed.

Irresistible desire fired him up.

“You... were watching...?” Anduin asked.

“Oh, yeah. Thanks, you were a lot of help.” Kang-Woo softly laughed and continued, “I was able to find out the extent of the Constellations’ forces, and even managed to confirm a Constellation that I didn’t know about. Not just that, you reduced the number of demonic beasts for us. Man, you went above and beyond.”

Kang-Woo nodded consecutively. He had made the right call to use the incarnations as scouts as well as bait. Not only had they allowed Kang-Woo to figure out the extent of the enemy’s forces, but they had also culled a considerable number of the demonic beasts that would have been a nuisance to him.

“Wh-What are you... talking about?” Anduin asked with a trembling voice, unable to comprehend what Kang-Woo was saying.

Kang-Woo looked down at him with a smile. “What do you think I’m talking about?”

“...” Silence fell for a few moments. Anduin’s face paled, a thought popping up in his head. “Could it be... you used us... as bait?”

“Hm?” Kang-Woo tilted his head. “Pfft, bwehehehehe! What do you mean, bait? You’re the ones who came here on your own. Huh? I told you not to come here hastily, didn’t I? Didn’t I?”

“U-Urgh!!” Anduin turned red with fury. “Y-You planned for this to happen from the very beginning!”

Kang-Woo smiled and grabbed Anduin’s head. “That’s not true, is it, my friend?”

“... What?”

“You’re the one who planned it all. All I did was give you the information necessary for you to make the choice.”

“Bull! You didn’t say a word about there being this many demonic b—”

“I sure didn’t, because I didn’t know.”

“...”

“All I told you was where the forces of evil were hiding. I’m sure you know this, deep down in your heart.” Kang-Woo looked around the valley at the piles of corpses of apostles and incarnations. “You drove everyone here to their deaths of your own accord.”

“...” Anduin’s face paled. He shook his head and stuttered, “N-No.”

Kang-Woo cackled. “No, it was your fault,” he said firmly to the incarnation who was trying to avert his eyes from the truth. “You killed them all.”

“...” Anduin’s teeth clacked noisily. “I-I...”

“You realized that you were wrong? You tried to right your wrongs?” Kang-Woo lifted the collapsed Anduin by his hair. “You think your sins would be forgiven as long as you realize that you were wrong later? Is everything forgiven once you promise yourself that you’ll never do it again after driving your subordinates to their deaths?”

“N-No, I—”

“No, my ass. You heard me and Michael warning you not to come here.”

“...”

“But you still did regardless, with an entire army behind you, no less.”

“That’s...”

“I didn’t force you to. You made the choice. You took the risk and came here to regain the honor of the churches and the trust of the people that had been stolen from you by Kim Si-Hun. Isn’t that right?”

“...” Anduin bit his lip in silence.

He found Kang-Woo’s eyes, which looked as if they were looking into his soul, very unpleasant.

“Did you think you would look cool if you risked your lives for the people? Did you think they would revere you?”

“M-My intentions were purely for—”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that your choices have consequences. Don’t try to cover up your sins with pointless heroics. You killed them. You killed every single person here.”

“...”

Deathly silence fell. Anduin grabbed his head and trembled.

“A-Aaaahh,” he groaned while grimacing. Transparent tears flowed down his cheeks. “H-Hurghhh.”

“Ahh...” Kang-Woo expressed.

‘You’re making me feel bad, man.’

Regardless of the process, Anduin had been of much help to him, so Kang-Woo felt bad seeing Anduin crying so miserably.

‘You sure have softened, Oh Kang-Woo.’

He was impressed by himself. Kang-Woo patted Anduin’s shoulder to console him.

“Come on, man. Don’t cry so much.”

“...”

“To be honest, it’s not entirely your fault. If you want to get to the nitty-gritty of it, I guess I incited you to come here by hiding the fact that an ambush would be pointless since there was a barrier.”

“... What?”

“Oh, and I was also the one who broke the barrier right when you arrived and caused the demonic beasts to pour out.”

“Y-You...”

“So, you know, cheer up! Don’t be so down since it’s not entirely your fault!”

“Y-You son of a bitch!”

Anduin trembled with his mouth agape. He raised his trembling arm and swung it at Kang-Woo, but it dropped without even reaching him.

“Hm? The hell? This is the thanks I get after I consoled you since it wasn’t entirely your fault?”

Kang-Woo frowned as if he couldn’t understand. Why was Anduin losing his temper when Kang-Woo consoled him while he was blaming himself for the whole thing?

“A-Aaaahh,” Anduin groaned. He coughed up blood as the life in his eyes was slowly dissipating. “Th-The...”

Anduin drew out what remained of his power. He bit his lip and raised his right arm. Radiant light emitted from his hand.

He said resentfully to the demon wearing human skin in front of him, “The light... will... burn... you.”

Kang-Woo smirked. “The hell are you on about?”

He grabbed Anduin’s shining right hand. Blinding golden light far brighter than Anduin’s light burst out.

“I am that very light, bro.”