Neither the demons nor the warrior could easily respond to Kim Jin-Woo’s words. They simply looked at him with their jaws hanging open, rolling their eyes in bewilderment at the unexpected turn of events.

But then, a strange thing happened. The activity of the magic circle, which had been emitting a dark and gloomy aura as it absorbed the energy of its surroundings, had ceased.

“Ohh! Finally!”

Quickly forgetting about Kim Jin-Woo’s sudden intrusion, the demons began to cheer as they looked at the magic circle.

Goaaaaaaaar.

The moment they stopped cheering, the magic circle that had suddenly fallen silent roared once again and spewed dark energy. After some time, the dark and viscous energy began to press down on its surroundings.

“The one and only Demon King!”

The demons fell on their knees, and additionally began to take up worshipful postures.

“Ah..”

The countless demons worshiped the summoned Demon King in exultation, while conversely, the warrior and the other humans moaned in despair.

“What a nightmare..”

The expedition had failed. The humans couldn’t stop the coming of the Demon King, and they lamented that fact.

“It’s not too late. The Demon King isn’t yet at its full power! Now is the time!”

An unbreakable, indomitable spirit. That was the greatest virtue a warrior should possess.

And the hero was more than qualified. He didn’t forget his purpose, and although he had hesitated for a moment upon seeing the demons’ resistance, he succeeded in reestablishing his fighting spirit.

“Even if I die a death so brutal that not even my legacy will remain, I’ll be with you!”

“My family lives on an estate not far from here. If I leave the Demon King as it is now, my family won’t be able to avoid a certain catastrophe. That’s why I’ll make my decision right here, right now!”

Inspired by the warrior’s fighting spirit, the humans’ will revitalized. They?regrouped?with grim expressions and?waited?for the hero to give his orders.

“That face, that look, that fighting spirit. I remember it all.”

A dark voice came from the black fog.

“Of all the beings I had to face, it had to be the clan of warriors. It doesn’t feel good to see those damned faces as soon as I’ve awakened.”

As the dark voice expressed its disappointed judgment, the faces of the warrior and humans who had barely revived their fighting spirit quickly turned pale. Merely the voice of the Demon King suppressed their willpower and shook them to their soul.

“God is watching over this place.”

At that moment, the Saint stepped forward. Despite having lost consciousness due to exhaustion of her stamina just moments before, she was now emanating greater divine power than ever as she exhorted the warrior’s party. Her warm, firm voice lit a fire in the humans’ spirit, which had been close to being extinguished.

“You beings have always been like this throughout history. Never giving up and holding me back until the very end. Thanks to that, I had to wait to awaken from my endless nightmare. And that wait is now over.”

The black smog cleared and the Demon King appeared. His lower body resembled that of a goat, and his head was that of a lion with a dark blue mane that blew in the wind. The humanoid demon’s figure was neither that of a pure demon nor a human, and the Demon King spread his wings out wide and twisted his pale lips.

“I’ll end my nightmare today by killing you all here and drying out the blood of your kin.”

Hearing the Demon King’s declaration of war, the warrior and the humans drew their swords. For a while, it seemed as if just the tiniest movement of a sword could trigger a war at any moment. Suddenly, a muffled voice intervened.

“Okay, stop. That’s enough.” Having been alienated from the conversation the whole time, Kim Jin-Woo was very displeased. He continued, “I can’t overlook this anymore. What a waste of time.”

Seeing the man’s arrogant and blasphemous attitude despite standing in front of the Demon King himself, the demon worshipers abruptly stood up and pointed toward him, exclaiming, “You are yapping away despite the presence of the Demon King in front of you! Previously, this place may have belonged to you, but now, it is the King’s! So, be obedient and surrender yourself by committing all you have to the King! If not..”

“If not?” Kim Jin-Woo cut them off.

Despite having gone on for a while, the moment the demons saw Kim Jin-Woo’s strangely cold expression, they stopped immediately.

The expression on his face was already somewhat frightening, but nevertheless, the demons believed that the situation was already favorable toward them. Believing in the power of their king, one of the demons stretched its shoulders and raised its voice again. “The Demon King will tear you to shreds and leave not a single trace of you behind!”

That declaration must have inspired the rest of the demons, as they shouted loudly before looking at their king. They looked like lambs trembling to receive recognition for their loyalty and devotion. However, something was off.

The Demon King, who had seemed ready to devour the hero and humans at any moment, suddenly had a stiff expression. His eyes, which should have flashed with endless greed and hatred, had begun wandering around aimlessly, and despite standing proudly just moments earlier, his back had bent for some strange reason.

“M-My King?”

The demons seemed to not understand what was happening. Just as they were about to ask what was going on, however, Kim Jin-Woo interrupted them.

“‘Tear?me to shreds and leave not a single trace of me behind’, was that it?” he remarked. He was definitely smiling, but that smile was strangely creepy. He continued, “How interesting.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the air around him completely changed. The atmosphere, which had sunk heavily due to the corruption of the demons’ magic, completely froze as a raging chill appeared out of nowhere, and an ominous energy descended upon them.

“Try it then, if you can.”

Kim Jin-Woo’s energy was on a totally different level. Neither the holy divine power of the Saint, the indomitable fighting spirit of the hero, nor the wicked energy of the Demon King could be compared to his presence. In the face of that unholy and ominous energy, not a single being could maintain a straight face, and all they could feel was their own insignificance.

As blue streaks of light flowed from his eyes, Kim Jin-Woo turned to look at the Demon King.

“O-O Demon God.”

Kim Jin-Woo tilted his head upon hearing the nonsensical remark, but the Demon King quickly spoke again.

“What are you all doing?! The Demon God has descended on this land; it is only right that we should kneel and worship his holy name!”

The Demon King was the first to fall flat onto the ground, and the other demons immediately followed suit and fell to the ground in worship.

“Contrary to your appearance, you’re quite the sharp one,” Kim Jin-Woo said.

The Demon King crouched and trembled, replying, “You are too kind with your words. Anything the Demon God desires, I will execute it. Even if I had to throw myself into boiling lava right away, what difficulty would there be in doing so?”

“Really?”

“Mm. That is..”

The being’s quickly changing attitude was more familiar than rude to Kim Jin-Woo, and he soon realized why. He finally remarked, “You look like Uther.” Uther, the King of Gluttony, and the Demon King looked remarkably similar.

The Demon King himself didn’t hesitate to serve Kim Jin-Woo as the Demon God, and claimed to be his servant. In any event, Kim Jin-Woo felt the need to renew the population of the Underworld, which had been greatly reduced due to repeated Restoration and the last war, so he accepted the Demon King's allegiance.

“It is not very desirable to keep them alive. They do not know how to give up and they will invade this place again, unaware of the grace that saved their lives,” the Demon King advised him.

Kim Jin-Woo, however, sent the warrior and the humans back to the surface. Despite the Demon King’s dissuasion, he didn’t care. He said, “Should they ever set foot here again, I’ll make sure they’ll pay for their foolish mistake.”

The Demon King was overly moved by the Demon God’s confident words and praised his magnanimity.

“I thought you were running late, but it looks as if you’ve picked up someone interesting.” Seeing the Demon King, Angela raised an eyebrow as she spoke.

The Demon King had felt the immense difference in power between himself and Kim Jin-Woo, which was why he had quickly turned obedient; but as a prideful being, he initially showed indifference toward Angela. However, upon opening his eyes and feeling the Highlord’s power lurking in the Vampire’s slender figure, he quickly tucked his tail between his legs.

Angela must have instinctively recognized that fact, as she openly treated the Demon King as if he were her own subordinate.

“Oh, great timing. Educate him,” Kim Jin-Woo said.

“Oh my, are you planning to keep?him?by your side?” Angela asked.

“For now, I’m thinking of giving him a suitable position, perhaps a Duke, and let him take over the outskirts. If it’s him, he should be able to handle most enemies.”

“I’ll definitely whip him into good shape.”

There was something strangely sadistic about the way Angela spoke as she flicked her red tongue, but Kim Jin-Woo didn’t bother to stop her.

“Oh, and Mother told us to stop by for dinner at their place tonight,” Angela added.

“Ah, was that today?” Kim Jin-Woo asked.

“Sigh. Mother has said so many times that raising a son is useless, but I guess there’s some truth to it.”

“Hey, I was busy.”

It sounded as if Kim Jin-Woo were simply making up a thoughtless excuse, but that was the truth.

A lot had happened since the day he had decided to fight the Underworld Tree. He had devoured all of its divinity and had eventually come to reign as the absolute being of the Underworld, becoming the master of the Mysteries of the Underworld.

The first thing he had done when he gained control over the Mysteries of the Underworld was to eliminate the threat from the surface that could strike the Underworld at any moment.

With the Spear of Mortality—the spear made from the branch of the youngest Frost Treant—he had broken the link that connected the Underworld to the surface.

As the Underworld Tree had begun to cease to exist, so had the link that connected the two realms. The contact point between the surface and the Underworld had eventually been cut with the demise of the Underworld Tree, and the Terrans couldn’t find the Underworld ever again.

However, the Underworld was now connected to another realm on the surface. It was a realm where demons, warriors, wizards, and saints existed.

That had happened because the Underworld was one of the many layers that made up the world, and the same applied to the surface. Having obtained the Mysteries of the Underworld, Kim Jin-Woo had been introduced to that fact from the start.

There were many more realms out there on the surface. A realm of burning flames. A realm of ice and water. A realm covered in mist. All those realms contained various existences, and they were each one of the many layers that made up the world.

“Urgh. We should head out early and buy some presents,” Kim Jin-Woo muttered.

Kim Jin-Woo had also completely taken control of the powers of the Wandering Lord. Thanks to that, he had become able to cross back into the realm where his family lived at any time, despite the link between the Underworld and that realm being broken.

In response, Angela smiled at him and gently pounded her chest, saying, “I’ve already bought them, so don’t worry about it.” Kim Jin-Woo hugged her with sincere gratitude for such thoughtfulness.

“Uh.. Then what happens to me..?”

Unable to keep up with what was going on, the Demon King intervened and asked about what was going to happen to him.

“Sigh, you’re so damn dense.”

But his untimely intervention seemed to have offended Angela. Hearing her sharp voice, Kim Jin-Woo foresaw that the Demon King was going to face a tough future and subconsciously broke out into laughter.

“Ah, and Dominique is looking for you, Master,” Angela added.

In response, Kim Jin-Woo looked sullen. For some reason, his steps quickened.

“What’s your name?” Angela’s voice rang out in the distance.

“D-Demon King!”

“Your name is ‘Demon King’?”

“That’s not..”

“Don’t you have a name? A?name?”

“The thing is.. Not anyone can easily call me by my name..”

“Anyone?”

“I-It’s Dantalion!”

Kim Jin-Woo could hear Angela shaking up the Demon King Dantalion like a trapped little mouse, but he ignored it and quickened his pace.