Chapter 131
Lee Shin returned to De Gret Dale and entered the valley with the Demon Realm. The path there was complex, but it was not an obstacle for him.
‘It feels like I've come to the Demon World.’
Lee Shin frowned at the dense demonic power in the cave. He was on a lower level, so it wasn’t as thick as in the Demon World, but it was enough to invoke a sense of familiarity.
The demonic power here could crush those weak to its effects. Looking inside the cave, he ambled toward the thick black fog.
[The demonic power is penetrating.]
[You became immune to it.]
The demonic power trying to penetrate Lee Shin’s mind bounced back as if it had hit something.
‘Belial's power doesn't work on me just like I expected.’
Belial was once part of the seventy-two thrones, so she was a powerful demon in her own right. Illusioncraft could have worked on Lee Shin, just like it had on other challengers, but he had the Immortal Sphere. Thanks to that, the possibility of him hunting down that demon increased.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The sound of Lee Shin’s footsteps echoed in the cave. As he walked deeper inside the cave, the dense demonic power suppressed him even more intensely. Still, he pressed on and followed the demonic power until a huge hall appeared before him.
Inside, a beautiful woman was levitating with her arms stretched out. When Lee Shin took a closer look at her, he noticed that seemingly-invisible chains bound her limbs.
"Have you come?" Her voice came as a whisper right in his ears.
Although she was quite far from Lee Shin, it felt like she was standing beside him.
"Did she set a limit on herself?" Lee Shin muttered.
"Wow... how did you notice that right away?" Belial was surprised.
Belial looked at Lee Shin with interest. Her vibe seemed creepy, and whenever she spoke, he felt like bugs were crawling on his neck and got goosebumps.
"Come here," commanded Belial, like how one would call their pet.
Lee Shin obediently approached her. Her demonic power gently embraced him.
"He Who Knows Death, do you want to have me as well?” Belial asked Lee Shin.
Lee Shin lifted his head and saw her charming smile. However, his lips soon twisted into a bitter grin.
"Lies and lust, the demon of pleasure—Belial," Lee Shin muttered.
His calm voice distorted her expression.
"Did you think that kind of charm would work on me?" Lee Shin asked coldly.
Suddenly, he used his sword to attack her.
Swoosh—
"Keugh!" Belial gasped.
She quickly released demonic power to counter the attack. Still, the strike managed to graze her leg, making her groan in pain.
"How do you know about me?" Belial asked.
"If you're curious, use your fancy power to find out," Lee Shin replied.
Lee Shin took a few steps back and held out Martyr. Its pure white figure didn’t conform with the space Belial had created.
"That’s an annoying weapon you are holding," Belial commented.
"Really? Feels quite pleasant to me." Lee Shin laughed at her.
With a shallow smile, Lee Shin neutralized the demonic power Belial had unleashed. The demonic power could not even penetrate Martyr. Noticing her attacks were useless, she retracted her power and glared at him.
"So you could withstand the demonic power at the entrance because of that thing. Why are you using a weapon that doesn't suit your name?" Belial asked.
"And when was that rule set? Didn’t get the memo," Lee Shin replied.
Lee Shin did not bother to correct her mistake that it was not Martyr’s power that allowed him to resist the demonic power at the entrance.
“Ha! What a cute kid!” said Belial.
Her demonic power spread from behind her, relentlessly attacking Lee Shin.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
The power split to form hundreds of tentacles and attacked him. Lee Shin could deal with a few tentacles, but severing hundreds was impossible with the amount of divine power he had.
It might have been possible if he had Warrie’s level of swordsmanship. He moved his left hand horizontally, cutting the air. After dispersing his mana, he created dozens of shields in the air.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
The tentacles didn’t stop, seemingly trying to show that the shields couldn’t stop them. However, they bounced off the shield like rubber balls hitting a wall.
"Nice trick!" Belial said.
With that, her tentacles abruptly broke into pieces, but those pieces then turned into more tentacles. Lee Shin’s pupils trembled as he saw it.
'It has to be an illusion.'
The shields couldn’t block all those tentacles. Lee Shin was sure some of those tentacles were fakes, but he couldn’t distinguish them. So, he only had one choice: knock them all down.
[Lightning Bomber]
Quickly sheathing Martyr at his waist, Lee Shin gathered lightning between his palms, facing them toward each other. As he spread his hands outward, the spherical lightning between his palms expanded and spread in all directions.
Pizz— Pizz—!
The lightning energy and demon power met and evaporated. Thick black smoke soon began to fill the air.
"You're quite impressive, after all. A human who hasn't even reached the 30th floor already has such divine power?" Belial was amazed to see Lee Shin’s skill.
"But you're not as great as you think," Lee Shin replied.
"Hahaha, you’re funny," Belial replied.
Her black pupils flickered. She released her demonic power, and two women that looked like Belial materialized next to her.
"You are a cheeky one," said a Belial.
"I'll play with you and then kill you painfully," said the other Belial.
Two Belials rushed toward Lee Shin. The demonic charm of the two women constantly tried to sway him, trying to stimulate his sexual desire and cloud his judgment. He spread his mana to protect his mind, which required considerable mental fortitude.
Woong— Crack!
A fingernail from one of the Belials darted toward him. It cut through the air but ended up plunging into the ground. Lee Shin had turned slightly to avoid her attack. Then, he stretched his hand toward her face.
[Blitz Gun]
Swoosh—!
The lightning attack shot through Belial’s head. However, this Belial just turned into demonic power and reappeared a few steps behind. This avatar was completely unharmed. Lee Shin trembled at the sight.
[Psychokinesis]
Lee Shin lifted the rocks and stones scattered around him.
Babababam—!
Hundreds of rocks and stones flew toward her avatars.
"You must be desperate," said Belial.
Although her demon power blocked Lee Shin’s attack, he didn’t stop. He covered the rocks with mana and controlled them to prevent them from breaking on contact with demonic power.
And if they broke still, he would just gather the pieces to create another rock. Belial could not understand why he was holding onto that meaningless defense. The attack felt annoying, a chore that drained her mentally but was utterly ineffective physically.
With that in mind, Belial focused more on attacking, abandoning the meaningless defense. The rocks began to penetrate her barrier and hit her, but she received little to no damage—a meaningless attack indeed.
Whether the rocks were sharpened or heavy, they remained meaningless attacks. The rocks that pierced Belial just passed through her and hit the ground.
"I've had enough of your stupid trick,” Belial said.
One avatar exchanged blows with Lee Shin, and another watched them from behind. Suddenly, Lee Shin changed the direction of his attack. Six thunderbolt spheres, which had been swirling around his fingertips, flew toward the avatar, watching them from behind. However, the attack wasn’t fast enough to catch that avatar off guard.
Pizz—!
Something hexagonal made of demonic power materialized from the avatar’s outstretched palm and collided with the thunderbolt. Although Belial was a devil, her fighting style was similar to that of a wizard.
However, magic battles were Lee Shin’s specialty. For him, a battle that involved endless calculations and making a move that exceeded the opponent's predictions was familiar terrain. Even a seemingly simple move required countless predictions and calculations.
By the time the thunderbolt spheres and the hexagonal attack collided, Lee Shin’s attention was already somewhere else. He didn’t have to watch, as he knew that the attack would pierce through the demonic power and then scatter throughout the entire space.
Unless the real Belial stepped up to block the attack, there was no way to avoid the attack. Therefore, Lee Shin was almost convinced that the other side would fall into his trap. The ground beneath the feet of the avatar, who had just exchanged blows with him, began to turn black and rotate. The avatar's expression contorted.
"Ugh!?How!" shouted the avatar.
It turned out that Lee Shin hadn’t been just using the rocks to attack—he had also been using them to carve a mana circle on the ground. The scattered rocks combined to create a strange mana circle.
[Fall in Abyss]
Hundreds of hands wriggled out from the magic circle, grabbing the avatar. After the first one had been caught, Lee Shin turned his attention toward the other avatar. The thunderbolt spheres, which had been rotating in a circle, linked together. Their size increased, and they discharged lightning bolts in all directions.
The abyss had the first avatar, and his lightning was electrocuting the other.
‘What is she going to do now?’
Lee Shin looked up at the real Belial up in the air. Despite losing both of her avatars, she seemed calm, seemingly unbothered by the outcome.
"Ha... This one was a little surprising."
Lee Shin frowned and threw his gaze in the direction of the voice. The avatar that should be in the abyss was there, utterly unharmed. And the other avatar also seemed fine now.
‘Tsk.’
The space was full of illusions and deceptions. He had to deal with Belial’s deception before even considering defeating her. And what if the Belial bound with chains in the air wasn’t even the real Belial?
"Lilian," Lee Shin called out.
A woman, equally if not more beautiful than Belial, walked out of the crimson path in the air. Belial's eyebrows furrowed as soon as she saw Lilian. As their eyes met in the air, one could see sparks flying between them.
"You are... the Vampire Queen, aren't you?" Belial asked.
"Yes, a lowly demon was hiding here?" said Lilian.
Although neither of them could exert the power they possessed in their prime, they had both reached the king class in their heydays. As soon as they faced each other, they could sense the immense power that came with that class.
“Says the one who became a subordinate of a human…” Belial muttered.
"You should have spent your days quietly after losing your throne. Trying to get it back like this… Pathetic," said Lilian.
The atmosphere became tense as they tongue-lashed each other. Even Belial couldn’t flout Lilian, as the latter was in her main body. Belial wasn’t as strong as she used to be in her prime, and she had put a limit on herself to regain her past glory.
"How foolish," Belial muttered.
Belial’s avatars suddenly split and gave rise to dozens more. Each avatar fired demonic-power tentacles that further split into branches. The demonic power was enough to flood the entire space. The avatars, though possibly only illusions, possessed the potential to materialize.
‘At the point of impact, fake turns into real, so I have to consider everything as real and block them all.’
Belial’s ability was tricky because she could turn lies into the truth and present the truth as a mirage. Fortunately, Lilian was there with him, so Belial’s charm no longer affected him.
"Lilian!" Lee Shin shouted.
"Leave it to me," Lilian replied.
Lilian's ruby-like pupils turned even redder.
[Blood Field]
Dark red blood shot up from all directions and surrounded Lee Shin and Lilian, forming a dome.
Babababam—!
The tentacles struck the dome and recoiled. Then, the dome exploded, sending blood drops flying toward Belial's avatars.
[Blood Burn]
The blood drops ignited, using themselves as firewood. The drops managed to burn all of Belial’s avatars, save for the two she had summoned in the beginning.
While Lilian was busy fighting, Lee Shin observed Belial's abilities to find her weaknesses. She poured demonic power onto the two avatars, but it was all deception. He had to create a situation where her illusions became a reality to deal real damage to her.
‘Obey me.’
Lee Shin held Martyr in his right hand and Misteltein in his left hand, which had been in his subspace pocket until now.
[Misteltein doesn’t accept those who are not its true owners.]
[Radiant fire has occurred.]
[You have been damaged by 430.]
[You have been damaged by 210.]
[...]
"The devil in front of us comes first," said Lee Shin to the sword, ignoring the damage.
[Misteltein has said that you are more dangerous than that devil.]
‘I didn’t expect it to resist me even in this situation.’
Lee Shin frowned and poured a lot of mana into Misteltein.
‘Ugh… I’m using enough mana already due to Lilian… Tsk.’
Since Misteltein was unwilling to obey him, Lee Shin had no choice but to control it by force.
[Your divinity class has been activated.]
[Chaos controls light and darkness.]
[Dominance is strongly applied.]
[Misteltein cannot resist.]
[You have forcibly dominated Misteltein.]
[You have acquired the 『Title - Ruler of Artifact』.]
[Ruler of Artifact]
You can forcibly control an artifact. You are amazing!
# When using an artifact, the probability of dominating the artifact's ego increases.
# When using an artifact, you can decrease the artifact's resistance.
Lee Shin knew that he could gain this title, so he ignored the system message and focused on the battle.
[The original power of Misteltein awakens.]
While Martyr needed divine power, Misteltein could be used with mana alone. Moreover, one could use Misteltein’s unique abilities even without mana. Being a light attribute weapon, Misteltein could deal critical damage to devils. All in all, it was the best weapon for this situation.
"You look tense." Lee Shin laughed at Belial.
Her relaxed expression had distorted a bit due to Misteltein.
"How dare you think you can defeat me with that sword?" Belial shouted at Lee Shin.
She then scattered the demonic power powder into the air. When Lee Shin saw the small particles spreading like fog, he activated Misteltein’s power.
"Block them," Lee Shin ordered.
Lee Shin moved the sword in a circle in the air, creating a bright white, circular trail.
[Judgment of Light]
That was Misteltein’s unique ability. Brilliant, pure light poured out of the circle and shot toward Belial.
"Unacceptable!" Belial shouted.
She stretched her arms and shot demon power from her palms.
Baaam—!
The light and the demonic power clashed with each other. Aside from divine power, weapons with the light attribute were the most effective against demonic power. Moreover, if it was the power of an artifact, it was significantly more effective.
"Keugh!" Belial gasped.
Despite having pushed back the demon power, Lee Shin had to retract the light, as forcefully using Misteltein had severely reduced her efficiency. It was difficult for him to use Misteltein’s ability and simultaneously block the seemingly omnipresent tentacles.
'Tsk.'?
Nothing good was happening for him, so he also had to suppress his building frustration. If only Misteltein’s ego had cooperated in the first place, the situation would have been much better. However, there was nothing he could do at the moment.
Lee Shin infused his mana once again into Misteltein. He struggled to separate real from fake, so he had to be on guard and block all attacks while counterattacking.
"Hahaha, is that all you’ve got?" Belial laughed at Lee Shin.
His expression hardened, and he extended his mana.
[Psychokinesis]
His black mana tried to grasp Belial, but the mana passed through her, seemingly having encountered a ghost.
‘Is her main body immune to ordinary attacks? Or do I have to wait and endure until Belial's Illusioncraft runs out?’
He had noted that he could hurt her with Martyr, so one could say that divine power could counter her deception. However, the amount of divine power he had was only a fraction of how much mana he had. Lee Shin could not win this fight by relying only on his divine power.
‘There must be another way. There has to be…’
On the other side, Lilian was fiercely battling another avatar, doubling Lee Shin’s mana consumption. Over time, he would be at a disadvantage.
"Lilian!" Lee Shin called out.
Lilian responded to the call by joining him. With a stiff expression, he placed Martyr and Misteltein back on his waist and moved his mana with his right hand. His black mana seeped into the ground, and lightning bolts began to strike in all directions.
"That kind of magic won't work on me, kid," Belial said.
"That's for me to decide," Lee Shin replied.
Thud! Thump! Thump! Thump!
As the lightning bolts struck her, Lee Shin noticed that she blocked all the simple attacks but evaded powerful attacks that were difficult to avoid with Illusioncraft. This meant that she couldn’t use her power endlessly.
"Ha... Ha..." Lee Shin gasped.
"Is this the end of your tantrum?"
"The arrogant vampire is speechless now."
Belial's two avatars mocked and sneered at Lee Shin and Lilian. Lilian's expression distorted, but she held herself back because there was no command from Lee Shin yet. Lee Shin, despite his rough breath, gathered his mana once again.
“Will you throw another tantrum? You’re a funny kid.” Belial laughed at Lee Shin again.
Lee Shin ignored her words and raised his arm, giving rise to lightning bolts ready to wreak havoc. He waited until the two avatars were within his range of attack.
[Lightning Wave]
Babababam—!
The lightning bolts moved like waves; unless one could teleport, they were not escaping.
"You must know it's useless, don't you?" Belial mockingly asked Lee Shin.
The avatars were about to get struck by the bolts, but they remained calm. They felt confident that they would remain safe regardless of the amount of magic fired on them. However, that was exactly what Lee Shin was aiming for.
The wave of the lightning bolt hit the avatars and pierced through them. The avatars became dust and dissipated, and a thin smile appeared on Lee Shin’s face.
He pulled out Misteltein quick as lightning, and it flew straight toward the real Belial.
‘Lies have a shelf life; truth doesn’t.’
Belial could manipulate the fakes. Therefore, if only what is real existed and fakes did not, then what is real could not turn into fakes. Otherwise, the real ones would disappear from the face of the world.
Her avatars reappeared not more than two seconds after dying. And if he had killed only one avatar, the other would’ve blocked Lee Shin. He had used their recent exchanges to create a hypothesis accurately. If he could destroy both avatars and then kill the real one within two seconds, he would win the battle.
If her avatars had blocked the lightning bolt with their demonic power, Lee Shin’s strategy would’ve failed, but he was confident that they would not do that based on their previous battle.
‘It's finally going to be over.’
After the avatars had disappeared, Misteltein hit Belial almost simultaneously.
Swoosh—
Flames began to flicker on the sword's edge stuck in her neck.
[Misteltein creates a radiant flame.]
[The intelligence of Belial has been taken away.]
[Your intelligence has been increased by 1.]
[Belial's...]
[...]
As Lee Shin looked at the system messages, a smile appeared on his face.
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