Chapter 247

“Is that truly the case?”

Chiwoo asked, his tone tense.

Park Chan-woo couldn’t help being startled inwardly as well.

Not just a Creator, but a Demon Lord?

“Y-yes. I saw it!”

Anton nodded frantically.

Chiwoo’s expression hardened further.

“These lunatics… they actually did it.”

In an instant, a thick killing intent spread in all directions.

“Ghk! Kuhk!”

Shudder shudder shudder!

Anton, utterly terrified, gasped for breath and trembled violently.

‘I-I’m going to die!’

It felt like the Grim Reaper was right in front of him.

From the moment they dragged him out of his cell, he’d known they were no ordinary individuals, but had there ever been anyone in the Hall of All Gods who gave off such pure, concentrated killing intent?

It felt like he would suffocate from their fury alone.

But that was impossible.

Anton was an Arahan, formerly of the Undead Sect.

Even after being demoted to little more than a test proctor at the entrance, he was still a skilled individual in his own right.

Yet he couldn’t even twitch under this killing intent.

A master.

No, not just any master—a supreme master.

…And this wasn’t the first time he’d faced someone like that.

There had been one time, in the past, when a similar level of killing intent had crushed his entire body.

‘On par with the Family Head…?’

The day he was brought before the Family Head of the Undead Sect after secretly making a contract with the Demon Lord Jiangshi.

Anton had fainted under the Family Head’s murderous pressure.

…How could a mere Arahan from a Hidden Realm be on the same level as a Family Head?

Chiwoo reined in his anger and asked again.

“Where in the Undead Sect is it hidden?”

“It was… in a hideout. Y-you can only enter that place if I’m alive.”

“Isn’t it possible they’ve already moved it?”

“N-no. To preserve the body, it absolutely has to be kept in that specially treated location.”

Was it a lie to survive, or the truth?

After watching Anton’s tone, gaze, and demeanor, Chiwoo concluded it was the latter.

Tiny habits couldn’t be hidden, no matter how hard someone tried.

And when it came to truth and lies, they showed even more clearly.

Though he carried himself like a swordsman, Chiwoo’s nature made him adept at interrogation.

“Your Highness. It doesn’t seem like a lie.”

Park Chan-woo nodded, then asked Anton.

“The Demon Lord’s epithet?”

“Th-that… I don’t know either.”

“Is it one of the 72 Demon Lords?”

“Yes. I definitely heard that. But just by looking at it, even I couldn’t tell…”

“Hm.”

If true, it was a shocking matter.

The 72 Demon Lords.

Super-monsters that ruled the Abyss.

And one of the monsters capable of destroying a world alone was lying as a corpse on this mountain.

But if a Demon Lord had died, the entire Abyss should have been in turmoil.

Demons everywhere would be spouting related rumors.

Especially demon merchants, who were most sensitive to that kind of information.

If a Demon Lord had died or disappeared, Dagon would have told him long ago.

‘In the past, I’ve never even heard of a Demon Lord dying.’

Demon Lords were on an entirely different level.

No matter how much Master of the Moon Ahetta wielded influence comparable to a Demon Lord, that was only within ‘night.’

As individual existences, the gap was absolute—like a three-year-old fighting an adult.

Naturally, even when the end of the century arrived in the past, he had never once heard a story of a Demon Lord being killed.

“Your Highness. Even if we don’t kill Anton, there’s no way to secretly leave the mountain.”

“Why is that?”

“The [Warp] only opens at designated times. Everything proceeds under strict surveillance. The moment we try to leave, we’ll be caught and pursued.”

To leave the Mountain of Practitioners, one had to use the designated [Warp].

External [Warps] couldn’t intervene, nor could anyone forcibly open a gate.

That also meant the [Warp] leading to the Land of Valhalla couldn’t be opened from here.

“So we have to hide him somewhere on the mountain.”

“Yes. But… is there a place on this mountain where we can hide from the Undead Sect’s eyes?”

“Isn’t there one place?”

“…Even if we hide him in a Hidden Realm, it won’t be easy.”

“If it’s Avici Hell, they’ll never find him.”

“…!”

The deepest part of the Hidden Realm.

There was no more certain hiding place than Avici Hell, the place they had emerged from.

The problem was that, true to its name, once someone entered, they could never come out.

The only one who had found a way out was Park Chan-woo.

In other words, if something happened to him, Anton would die inside Avici Hell as well.

“A-Avici Hell? Where is that?”

Anton asked in fear at the ominous name, but the answer never came.

Instead, Park Chan-woo muttered softly.

“I guess we need to find Arisa.”

＊ ＊ ＊

“…You want me to tell you about a path that secretly leads to the Hidden Realm?”

Late at night.

Arisa’s expression hardened as she looked at the guests who had slipped into the Sanctum of the Sword.

At first, she’d thought, ‘Are they finally thinking of joining us?’ and had almost shrugged it off, but the moment she saw Anton with them, she couldn’t hide her shock.

And now they were asking about a path to the Hidden Realm.

Not the path every Hidden Realm resident knew, but a cautious, secret passage.

“And with Anton, a felon?”

Anton was the problem.

The rumor that he had created a Demon Jiangshi had already spread throughout the mountain.

And so had the news that he’d been convicted and imprisoned for a serious crime.

She didn’t know how they’d gotten him out, but if they went to the Hidden Realm with Anton, it would be turned into a wasteland.

Park Chan-woo answered.

“We’ll put him in Avici Hell.”

“….”

Arisa was left speechless at the even more shocking claim.

But… if it was true, it was also an opportunity.

A chance to prove that these two had really come out of Avici Hell.

The only issue was the risk she’d have to take for that.

Arisa glanced up at the sky.

Deep night.

The mountain was quiet, which meant Anton’s disappearance might not have been discovered yet.

Or they were searching in secret.

If it were exposed that she helped hide Anton…

‘They’d push aside the Hidden Realm, that thorn in their side.’

And if it became known that Arisa was involved, it could put the Hidden Realm itself in danger.

Yet the secret path to the Hidden Realm from the mountainside was known only to Arisa.

What should she do?

There was nothing to ponder.

The right choice was to refuse.

“The Undead Sect used the Creator’s corpse to make a Jiangshi.”

“…What?”

Arisa blinked at Park Chan-woo’s words.

It wasn’t comparable to turning a normal demon into a Jiangshi.

Her whole body stiffened.

Because it was pure madness.

Park Chan-woo glanced at Anton, and Anton shook his head and spoke quickly.

“I-it’s true. The Undead Sect killed the Creator of the Cradle and used its corpse to make a Jiangshi. I had it hidden on the top floor of the Mystic Tower.”

“The Undead Sect…?”

They had clearly crossed the line.

If this came to light, the other families wouldn’t stand by.

The Undead Sect would suffer damage that could never be undone.

Then Anton asked Park Chan-woo cautiously.

“Um… by the way, what happened to that Demon Lord Jiangshi…”

“Eliminated.”

“Ghk…! Cough! Cough!”

He coughed like something had gone down the wrong way.

Because it was impossible to believe.

“Y-you really climbed the tower intact? All the way to the 150th floor?”

“Yes.”

“B-but the Demon Lord Jiangshi was stationed on the 100th floor. I-I don’t know anything about the floors after that.”

“A [Hidden Piece] opened.”

“Ah…”

So there was a [Hidden Piece] even he hadn’t known about.

Even so, he couldn’t accept it easily.

Reaching the Demon Lord Jiangshi should have been impossible.

Didn’t even Chiwoo, who seemed to possess martial prowess on par with a Family Head, give up on the 73rd floor?

Then… just how strong was this man?

Arisa, who had been listening, grasped the seriousness and spoke.

“Is there any evidence left to prove this?”

“There’s a research journal.”

“…If we can ascend to the upper levels and reach Mir Mun, we can make this public. With witnesses and evidence, they’ll surely move actively.”

Mir Mun, one of the Nine Families, was the most fair and just family on the mountain.

If they presented Anton as a witness and handed over the research journal, judgment would be inevitable.

But that was only possible if they reached the upper levels.

Until then, Anton had to be hidden.

“…Follow me. There isn’t much time.”

Arisa took the lead and ran.

＊ ＊ ＊

After passing through a soggy swamp and descending for a while, a small cave appeared.

Beyond it lay the Hidden Realm.

“Lady Arisa?”

“What brings you to the Hidden Realm at this late hour…?”

Two Arahan were guarding the cave’s far end.

Arisa pointed behind her.

“There are guests who need to meet my father in secret.”

“Ah, then we’ll pretend we didn’t see anything.”

The Arahan hurriedly left their posts.

Only then did Park Chan-woo, Chiwoo, and Anton step forward.

“The one you call ‘father’ seems to have quite a bit of influence in the Hidden Realm.”

“…This is something I’ll handle myself, so there’s no need to meet my father.”

Arisa shook her head at Park Chan-woo’s words.

It was just an excuse she’d used to slip past the gatekeepers.

After that, Arisa ran for a long time, guiding them deep into the Hidden Realm, all the way to Avici Hell.

‘The gate is closed.’

Avici Hell lay in the deepest part of the Hidden Realm.

As expected, the massive iron gate was firmly shut.

A gate no one could open, one that had never been opened before.

Countless barriers blocked it, making it hard even to approach.

Chiwoo strode forward and stopped before the gate.

He placed his hand on the handle and slowly applied force.

Krrrrrrrrumble!

“…!!”

…the gate began to open.

The gate of Avici Hell!

Beyond it was darkness so thick you couldn’t see an inch ahead.

‘So it was true…!’

Who would have thought their absurd story—about emerging from Avici Hell—was real?

If not, there was no way they could open this gate.

In other words, these two were deeply tied to the Absolute Demon Heads said to have been imprisoned five thousand years ago.

And—

Inside the gate, twelve names were inscribed.

‘The Twelve Heavenly Kings…?’

The names of the Absolute Demon Heads?

Among them, the very first name was strangely familiar.

‘First Heavenly King, Chiwoo…?’

…Wasn’t that the same name as the man who had just opened the gate?

Above the names, a single faint word was carved, as though it named the master they followed.

The idea that the Absolute Demon Heads had a master was unheard-of in itself.

Without meaning to, Arisa looked at Park Chan-woo and read the inscription again.

‘Heavenly Demon……’