Chapter 234

Sssshaaa! Chk-chk-chk!

Two hundred legs rippled.

They churned the lava. Kicked off the ground.

A long body surged forward.

Splash!

A massive lava centipede burst out of the lava pond.

It was thirty meters long.

Its body alone was a full meter thick.

A truly enormous centipede.

Its temperament was just as vicious.

Hiss! Chk-chk-chk!

The moment it reached land, it sprayed killing intent in all directions.

If it spotted anything that annoyed it, it looked ready to pounce and shred it to pieces with its huge mandibles.

But the satan riding on the centipede’s back only smiled in satisfaction.

‘Yes! This is it!’

A wicked grin spread across a one-horned satan’s face.

At the same time, a solid confidence surged up inside him.

“A hard shell that won’t melt in any scorching lava! Mandibles that can pierce even armor like paper in one bite! And strength that can crush boulders in an instant! And we’ve gathered thirty thousand of these lava centipedes! Hahah!”

“Hahahaha!”

“Die, Lloyd Frontera!”

“Finish him off, master singer my ass!”

“Otherworldly impossible high notes? Let’s send him to the otherworld for real!”

“Haha!”

At the one-horned satan’s shout, thirty thousand satans roared.

And the thirty thousand lava centipedes they rode hissed in unison.

Thirty thousand satans and thirty thousand lava centipedes.

Their advance was overwhelming.

Just marching forward turned the lava ponds black.

Just their passing pulverized the basalt rocks and flattened the ground.

Every creature in Hell that lived along their route held its breath.

No surprise.

Satans were dangerous, sure—but the lava centipedes were terrifying predators.

They sat proudly at the top of Hell’s food chain.

A hard shell that wouldn’t melt in any lava.

A body length of at least twenty meters, up to thirty.

A savage nature so fierce that nothing in the lava ponds could stand against them.

And now?

There were thirty thousand of them gathered in one place.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say they’d brought nearly every specimen in Hell.

‘But I don’t care!’

The one-horned satan leading the charge thought from the very front.

‘He humiliated us. A mere human, humiliating satans!’

Just thinking about it made his fists tremble.

It was humiliation.

Lloyd Frontera.

He’d meant to find a flaw in that human.

He’d wanted to crack the “master singer” reputation.

That was why he’d gone all the way to the far edge of Hell, full of anticipation and dreams.

But when he got there?

That bastard had baited him.

Why should I sing for you?

He treated them like insignificant bugs.

He calmly admitted that he’d baited them.

And he even offered them that “kind advice” to go home and be good children to their parents!

‘That was even more humiliating!’

It was insulting.

Shameful.

Unforgettable.

He had to pay it back.

So he brought them.

Working together with the satans who’d suffered the same humiliation.

Spending a full fifteen days, properly and thoroughly.

Scraping up and dragging in every lava centipede across all of Hell!

“What we want is!”

“Lloyd Frontera’s humiliation!”

“Or his death!”

“End him!”

“Graaah!”

At the one-horned satan’s lead, 29,999 satans roared.

And all of them were certain.

‘We win. This fight is ours. Absolutely!’

They had thirty thousand lava centipedes.

No matter how strong that knight was,

there was no way he could handle this.

‘Even a Hell Knight who served as a legion commander can only fight about a thousand lava centipedes alone!’

For example, Hell Knight Georexius—who’d lost to that human and Javier—had been exceptionally strong even among Hell Knights, and he had a record of facing about 1,300 lava centipedes by himself.

That was the limit of a Hell Knight.

But with thirty thousand lava centipedes gathered?

No matter how horrific Lloyd Frontera’s singing was.

No matter how powerful Javier Asrahan was.

They would crush them for sure.

‘He beat a Hell Knight, but he’s still just a human. How much stronger could he’ve gotten in that time? No mercy. I’ll enjoy watching him beg pathetically for his life!’

Thud!

At last, the thirty thousand satans and lava centipedes arrived at the far edge of Hell.

They scanned the area with sharp eyes, searching for Lloyd Frontera—the loathsome human who had humiliated them.

But…

“Where is he?”

He was gone.

No matter where they looked.

No matter how hard they searched.

Even after rummaging through volcanic pits.

Lloyd Frontera was nowhere to be seen.

“Did he run?”

“No way!”

The satans fell into confusion.

And then—

Chk-chk?

The lava centipedes carrying them flinched all at once, their bodies trembling.

They suddenly lifted their heads and waved their antennae in every direction.

“Huh? What’s with them?”

The one-horned satan tilted his head.

At first, he thought it was nothing.

But it wasn’t.

Bit by bit, the centipedes stopped obeying.

They ignored orders completely and started moving on their own.

“H-Hey…?”

Chk-chk-chk-chk!

Telling them to stop did nothing.

Before he knew it, the lava centipede was sprinting.

Its antennae worked furiously in only one direction,

as if it had found something fragrant and irresistible over there.

It charged forward with blind momentum, completely beyond control!

“W-What the hell?! Why is it doing this?!”

The one-horned satan panicked.

And it wasn’t just his.

Every centipede around him was the same.

All thirty thousand were breaking free of control and charging toward a single spot.

The reason was simple.

A captivating scent was coming from that direction—something that stirred them to the core.

Chk-chk-chk!

The lava centipedes’ antennae trembled with excitement.

Even the centipedes didn’t know why.

They only knew that smell.

That delicious smell that clawed at instinct.

A stock-broth scent, like chicken simmered down thick!

The moment they caught it, their shells trembled all over.

They wanted to run straight in and dive into that scent!

So they ran.

Chasing the thickening aroma.

They crossed the ash plain, smashed rocks, and found a tunnel.

Chk-chk-chk!

No doubt about it.

It was inside the tunnel.

A rich stock-broth scent was bubbling up from deep within.

By now, they couldn’t even hear the voices of the satans riding them.

“Hey! Stop! Stop, I said! Hey!”

Chk-chk-chk-chk-chk!

Ignoring the shouts, they plunged into the tunnel.

The deeper they went, the stronger the stock-broth scent gripped their antennae.

They ran like mad.

They couldn’t stop.

And the moment they reached the deepest point of the tunnel—

the centipede saw it.

“Ggoming?”

A huge parrotbill was taking a hot-spring bath.

It had been soaking so long that its feathers were plump and swollen all over.

Beside it, a human was scooping up the deeply brewed stock—no, the hot-spring water—into containers, then grinned when he noticed them.

“See? I told you they’d come.”

That question was aimed at—

a silver-haired knight sitting nearby.

With a calm gaze, not panicked at all,

he watched them as if he were looking at fresh meat that had just walked into a butcher shop.

His hands moved slowly.

He sharpened his sword on a whetstone.

Shraaak↗

…Chk?

The centipede flinched at the unexpected atmosphere.

♣

The hunt was a success.

All thirty thousand centipedes were processed.

All thirty thousand satans were captured as well.

The process was systematic.

Chk-chk?

The very first lava centipede to enter.

The moment it flinched—

Javier’s sword flashed.

And that was the end of the centipede’s fate.

Thunk!

Dozens of fine strands of Aura wrapped around its entire body. Cut. Dismantled.

Back shell, belly shell, antennae, legs—broken down into standardized sizes and lengths.

The flesh inside was diced into manageable chunks.

Total time: 0.2 seconds.

When the Aura’s flash faded,

the lava centipede had been neatly “prepared,” as if only packaging remained.

And the one-horned satan riding it?

He was handled with one sentence from Lloyd.

“Head down.”

“Yes, sir.”

Thud!

The one-horned satan, understanding the situation instantly, dashed to the corner of the tunnel.

He planted his head to the ground and clasped his hands behind his back.

Since he had a horn on his forehead,

he could just jab it into the dirt,

which made it easier to keep balance while he kept his head down—

and he cried tears of relief at that tiny mercy.

Meanwhile, the hunt progressed smoothly.

Chk-chk-chk!

When the next centipede got lured in by the parrotbill stock scent—

Shrrk!

Javier’s Aura flashed again, slicing cleanly.

Thud!

The surviving satan’s head-down position was executed without exception.

In the meantime, Ppodong got busy too.

He diligently carried away the centipede shells and chunks of flesh Javier had dismantled,

so the inside of the trap wouldn’t get clogged with remains,

so the hunt could continue smoothly.

He moved the centipede remains to an exit that had been dug in advance on the opposite side of the entrance.

And so the hunt continued all day long.

The satans realized what was happening and tried to stop the centipedes, but it was useless.

The centipedes’ eyes had already gone wild with parrotbill stock.

Trap or not, they charged in anyway.

One after another, they entered and were cut down in turn by Javier’s sword.

The hunting alone took a full eight days.

During that time, all thirty thousand centipedes were dismantled and organized, stacked neatly.

Every byproduct was piled into Lloyd’s temporary material warehouse.

And all thirty thousand satans were captured alive.

They were forced to kneel across the vast ash plain.

“Heh heh, hahahaha.”

“……”

“Hehehe, hahahaha.”

“……”

Lloyd’s laughter flowed across the plain.

Hearing that ominous sound, the satans swallowed hard.

‘What happens to us now?’

Everyone was gripped by anxiety.

It made sense.

They’d never imagined the thirty thousand lava centipedes they’d gathered with such effort would be sliced up so effortlessly.

They’d never imagined Lloyd had dug a trap like that.

They hadn’t known the silver-haired knight following him was far beyond the level of a Sword Master.

They truly hadn’t expected to end up captured like this.

‘Hah. A satan’s life. I should’ve lived even more like trash.’

The one-horned satan let out a deep sigh.

If he’d known it would end like this, he should’ve lived worse.

Instead of half-hearted regrets, he should’ve committed proper evil in bulk.

But life was short, and regret was always a step too late.

“Hey, you.”

Thud.

Before he knew it, the human Lloyd Frontera was right in front of him.

Casting a shadow as he looked down.

“I heard you were the one who stirred all these bastards up.”

“……”

The one-horned satan didn’t answer, only kept his head bowed.

Lloyd’s voice turned a little more wicked.

“So you need to be punished.”

“……”

Punish me or don’t.

You’re going to kill me anyway.

Why talk so much?

The one-horned satan waited stoically for death.

But Lloyd’s next words didn’t match his expectations.

“From now on, even if you want to die, you won’t be able to. I’ll work you until you beg me to kill you.”

“…Pardon?”

What the hell does that mean?

Startled, he raised his head.

And he saw it.

The smile of a ruthless, merciless boss who would grind them down and squeeze them dry.

“Don’t ‘pardon’ me. Work. You got caught by me.”

“……”

“So from now on, you’re my slaves. You don’t get it?”

“…Then, um.”

“Yeah. Ask.”

“You’re not going to kill us?”

“Why would I?”

Lloyd tilted his head.

He smiled brightly, like the question was too stupid to exist.

“Why would I kill free labor I can use right up until the moment they die? That’d be a loss.”

“……”

“So why kill you. It’s annoying. A hassle.”

“……”

“If you’re going to die, then die from overwork while working. From now on, that’ll be the only way you’re allowed to die.”

“……”

Just kill me now.

The one-horned satan shuddered without realizing it.

But there was no mercy in Lloyd’s smile.

No contract, either.

‘Because they’re satans.’

Of course he wasn’t going to write up a contract.

There would be no worker welfare, no proper wages.

The reason was simple.

‘They’re satans. Literally. And if you treat satans even slightly well? They latch onto you like you’re easy prey. That’s Hell’s law.’

In Hell, being kind was a loss.

Following the proper way only got you screwed.

That was the rule that governed this place.

And in Rome, you follow Rome’s laws.

So just this once, Lloyd vowed to localize with everything he had.

‘And the plan worked perfectly.’

Not just “worked.”

It was a massive success.

Spreading rumors through Hellkaros.

Humiliating the gathered satans.

He’d expected they would respond.

‘That’s how satans are. If they hold a grudge, they have to pay it back. And if the target is someone doing better than them? It’s guaranteed.’

They would mobilize every weapon they had.

That was his prediction.

And it was right.

The satans brought the strongest creature in Hell they could control.

Lava centipedes.

‘They showed up briefly in Iron Blooded Knight. Lava centipedes.’

As the name implied, they were centipedes that lived in lava ponds.

With a habitat like that, they naturally had shells that wouldn’t melt in lava.

They were big—and beautifully abundant—so there would be plenty of shell material.

Perfect as the core material for this railway construction.

‘And we got thirty thousand of them. That’s enough.’

The ground the railway would be built on.

The roadbed that would be formed over it.

The sleepers and rails that would be installed along the roadbed.

Now he could extract all the materials needed for all of it from the centipedes.

And Lloyd had plenty of “centipede hunting” experience too.

Where from?

The army.

How?

By becoming a loyal SCV for the company sergeant major.

‘Hah. Even now, thinking about it pisses me off.’

Back then, the company sergeant major was obsessed with health supplements.

Maybe that was why.

One day, he came back saying he’d heard centipedes soaked in alcohol were good for you.

And thanks to that, Lloyd had to become a centipede-hunting specialist for about two weeks.

‘That’s when I built real experience. Pour chicken stock into an empty plastic bottle and wait, and when the centipede crawls in—pop! Ugh. I’m not some mountain herb gatherer or a Cesco employee.’

Either way, that experience paid off.

Not only did he successfully catch lava centipedes,

he’d secured thirty thousand satan slave laborers too.

The more he thought about that haul, the more a wicked, satisfied grin swelled up.

“Just so you know in advance—safety first? Get lost. And of course there’s no daily pay, no extra allowances either. If you don’t like it, try running. If you can get past Javier’s watch.”

“……”

The one-horned satan.

The other satans too.

All of them thought the same thing.

That human’s brand of viciousness was, strangely enough, their style.

‘No… I can’t fall for this… but it’s admirable!’

Having decided to transform into an unprecedentedly ruthless boss when dealing with satans,

Lloyd didn’t notice.

The thirty thousand satans were already being deeply moved by Lloyd’s merciless attitude.