The Greatest Estate Developer - Chapter 394: The Hell Conquest (1)

This is Hell, which is beyond the Hellgate.

A hardcore world filled with smoke and fine dust.

Standing before the wide-open gate at its periphery.

About 6,500 demons were chattering amongst themselves.

“Heh, I never thought I’d live to see the day we invade the human world. It’s getting my blood pumping!”

“Invasion, my ass. We’re just going in to clean up, you fool.”

“What?”

“Am I wrong? It’s just cleanup. The real invasion of the human world is being handled by the vanguard, the Hell Knights. After they’ve trampled and burned everything, we just go in and mop up.”

“Hey, that still counts as an invasion!”

“Fine, think what you want. Either way, the Frontera estate or whatever it’s called must already be a pile of ashes. By the time we go through that gate, do you think there’ll even be a chicken left for you to kill?”

“…Oh, damn.”

“So just relax, you idiot. Don’t get too worked up.”

“But still!”

“But still what?”

“It’s my first time going. I want to have some fun, you know?”

“…Tsk. Yeah, I feel the same.”

“Right?”

“Yeah.”

These were the strongest demons in Hell, chosen from among countless others.

Each of them was comparable to a high-level sword expert.

Their idle chatter continued.

“But how long do we have to wait? At this rate, there won’t be even a chicken left, like you said.”

“Beats me. We can’t move until the Hell King wakes up, right?”

“Well, yeah, but when is the Hell King supposed to wake up?”

“Maybe soon?”

“Soon?”

“Yeah.”

One demon nodded.

“To manifest as an avatar in a lich’s body takes about 100 days in human time? No, maybe it was 200 days? Anyway, it takes that long.”

“So, today’s the day it’s supposed to be completed?”

“Yeah, probably?”

“Tch. Still, the Hell King is something else. Even while he’s asleep, preparing to manifest as an avatar, he’s been managing all the affairs.”

“That’s why he’s the Hell King. Though he hasn’t been able to oversee the surface during this time.”

“Well, that’s true.”

The two demons nodded in agreement.

The Hell King was undoubtedly impressive.

So today’s invasion was bound to succeed.

No, even if the Hell King didn’t intervene personally, it wouldn’t matter.

The Frontera estate was probably already in ruins.

No matter what resistance they faced.

No matter what preparations they made.

They couldn’t possibly have stopped 500 Hell Knights.

‘Of course not. If there are 500 Hell Knights… Ugh, even if they gathered all the elite forces of the human world, they wouldn’t stand a chance.’

The two demons thought.

And with the same thought, they hoped.

They wished the Hell King would wake up soon.

That they could soon cross the gate and invade the human world.

That they could soak themselves in human blood and have a beautiful and fulfilling day.

Then suddenly.

“…Oh!”

A strange noise came from somewhere among the ranks of demons.

A demon who had unconsciously let out an exclamation raised his hand.

He pointed to the Hellgate.

And shouted.

“Someone’s coming out!”

Someone from the Hellgate?

From the human world to here?

At this unexpected shout, all 6,500 demons raised their heads.

They looked up at the Hellgate, open above the skies of Hell.

At the same time, a similar thought crossed everyone’s mind.

They hoped the one coming out of the Hellgate was a Hell Knight.

Since they were the ones with the command authority.

To tell them that the Frontera estate was more or less cleaned up.

That they left a few things for them to destroy and kill, just for them.

So they could all cross the Hellgate and invade the human world.

‘Please, give us such an order!’

They all wished fervently in unison.

Swallowing dryly with a thirst for slaughter.

Staring at the Hellgate with eyes filled with a destructive longing.

And finally, someone really came out of the Hellgate.

And greeted them all.

“Hello?”

It was Lloyd.

He looked down at the demons with a bright smile.

“Hey. You guys know me, right?”

“…!”

The demons’ eyes widened in shock.

That human riding on a large bird, grinning widely.

He was a man firmly etched in the memories of most of the demons.

‘Lloyd Frontera?’

‘That human who worked us to the bone during the Hell Railroad construction…’

‘I remember it well. Overtime, overnight shifts. Damn it.’

‘My mom warned me never to get involved with that guy because he’s more evil than us demons.’

‘But why is he coming out of there?’

It was absurd.

Unbelievable.

Clearly, 500 Hell Knights had invaded the Frontera estate.

How could this human, who should have been in that estate, cross the Hellgate so unscathed?

No matter how much they thought about it, they couldn’t understand the situation.

“A-Are you here to surrender?!”

One of the demons shouted and asked.

The smile on Lloyd’s lips subtly changed.

“Surrender? No, we’re the ones invading.”

“What?”

“Yongyong!”

The moment Lloyd shouted instead of answering.

Huge bones burst out in succession from the Hellgate.

Crack! Clatter! Thud!

They were bones separated into pieces like Lego blocks.

Hundreds of those bone fragments crossed the Hellgate.

And once they had all passed through, they began to assemble in mid-air.

In an instant, they took shape.

A figure that the demons remembered well.

“It’s the Bone Dragon!”

The Bone Dragon that had appeared when Lloyd dealt with the lava giant.

It was now showing itself again in the skies of Hell.

It gripped the Hellgate with both hands.

Put its head against the gate.

And… it became a huge, sturdy platform for the humans pouring out of the Hellgate!

“Gweeek! The air here is weird, gweeek!”

“My nose and throat are burning, gweeek!”

“Your face makes my eyes burn, gweeek!”

“Still, we invade, we do! Gweeek!”

“Still, we conquer, we do! Gweeek!”

“Still, we fight, we do! Gweeek!”

“Invasion! Conquest! Domination! Gweeek!”

Muscle-bound orc warriors, who would not lose in size to the demons, poured out of the Hellgate.

They swarmed out and stepped on Yongyong’s skull.

They ran down his neck and spine like a staircase.

Only then did the demons snap back to their senses.

“Stop them! Stop them!”

“Take out the Bone Dragon first!”

“Graaahhh!”

Realizing the situation, the demons let out ghastly roars.

They charged all at once.

Their target was Yongyong.

They figured they had to destroy the Bone Dragon first.

That would make it difficult for the humans to come down through the Hellgate.

They all thought that way as they spewed flames from their mouths.

Fwooshhh!

6,000 demons spewed hellfire in unison!

The blazing, cursed flames concentrated on one of Yongyong’s legs.

And Yongyong?

Crack! Snap!

…Loved it.

He liked how warm it was every time he came here.

He thought bones tasted best when grilled hot.

He even gave the demons a sly look, asking if they could please grill his other leg too.

That look made the demons’ sense of crisis spike dramatically.

“Crush it!”

Shush! Clang!

The demons swung their hands as if shaking them off.

The bones in their forearms extended, piercing through their palms and protruding.

The tips of those bones morphed into the shapes of various menacing weapons.

Their faces twisted even more, becoming increasingly ferocious.

“Graaahhh!”

The elite demons charged.

But they couldn’t reach Yongyong.

Because the orc warrior vanguard, who had already descended to the ground, blocked their way.

“Those guys! They’re as big as us, gweeek!”

“Those guys! Their muscles are as thick as ours, gweeek!”

“I want to fight, gweeek!”

“I want to be friends, gweeek!”

“…There’s a traitor here, gweeek!”

The orc warriors roared like beasts against the demons.

They swung battle axes, hammers, and iron pillars as they charged forward.

Boom!

The elite demons collided with the orc vanguard.

Muscles and sinews danced.

Fangs roared with primal ferocity.

Fists swung.

They bit.

Pulled.

And trampled.

Of course, the orcs were being pushed back.

“These guys, they’re no joke, gweeek!”

“That one hit me, gweeek!”

“Still, hold on, gweeek!”

The orc warriors held on tenaciously.

They struggled to secure a beachhead as if in a landing operation.

Thanks to their efforts, the rest had it easier.

The allied forces poured out of the Hellgate.

They descended on Yongyong’s back.

They joined the orc warriors.

A total of 30,000 orcs charged forward.

10,000 elite soldiers of the Magentano Kingdom advanced in formation.

On the left wing were 500 centaur cavalry units, elf snipers, and 500 white spear cavalry.

On the right wing, 1,200 Sultanate Mamluk cavalry charged.

In the rear, 36 cannons from the Cremo County, protected by 700 pikemen from the Namaran County, fired with a thunderous roar.

Gradually, the main force of the elite demons began to be pushed back.

“Graaahhh! W-Wait a moment!”

But there is no such thing as a timeout in war.

The relentless onslaught of the allied forces continued.

The orc warriors and the elite troops of the kingdom pressed the demons’ lines with a solid formation from the front.

The mobile centaur cavalry, white spear cavalry, elf snipers, and Mamluk cavalry swung widely around both flanks, encircling the rear of the demons.

All 6,500 demons were surrounded, pitifully.

The cannons from Cremo fired again.

Demons struck directly by the cannonballs were knocked out and collapsed in a single blow.

Some demons rampaged even more ferociously.

But they were soon caught by the bulging muscles of three orc warriors.

Other demons tried to flee.

But they were brought down, their legs pierced by arrows from the elf snipers.

The tide of battle quickly turned in favor of the allied forces.

Watching the scene from above, Lloyd clenched his fist.

“It’s done. Perfectly done.”

It was an overwhelming victory.

In fact, it was a foregone conclusion.

“After all, this invasion began only after effectively binding their main force, the Hell Knights.”

The Hell Knights were each beings beyond Swordmasters in strength.

Even if just one of them appeared on the surface?

It would be nothing to destroy an entire country.

And there were 500 of them.

A terrifying force, even in thought.

“Even in the Magentano Kingdom, which has risen to a dominant power on the continent, there are only three Swordmasters: Queen Alicia, Javier, and myself… And other countries? At best, maybe two. Or just one.”

That was how rare Swordmasters were.

And there were 500 Hell Knights, stronger than Swordmasters, coming at them.

So what did they do?

They held them down and bound them with just one young dragon and a thousand mermaid warriors.

“Thanks to that, we were able to minimize the damage to the estate.”

If they had only tried to defend against the invasion, they would have only accumulated damage.

They had already lost Lake Kapua while executing the Holy Water Battle.

And that wasn’t the only loss.

“All the aqueducts were swept away, too. The water bridges were destroyed. A third of the Marez reclamation area was flooded. To restore everything and drain the water… phew.”

After calculating the damage, Lloyd wiped away the tears that were about to form in his eyes.

Then he resolved himself.

“I won’t suffer any losses!”

The aqueducts, water bridges, Marez reclamation area.

How much backbreaking labor had it taken to build them?

Thinking of all this, Lloyd shouted to the allied forces.

“Remember! The priority is to capture those demons alive!”

Capture rather than kill.

Capture them all and lead them into the brutal world of labor without minimum wage.

Of course, to do that…

“I still have the biggest hurdle left. The Hell King.”

They had to capture the ruler of Hell.

Only then would this chaos end.

With that determination, Lloyd turned to his side.

There was Sir Geo-Rexius, a Hell Knight, mounted on his hellish steed.

“How are you feeling, Sir Rexius? Any strange feelings?”

– What kind of feelings do you mean?

“Like a sense of betrayal, maybe?”

– Not at all. Do not worry.

“Really?”

– Yes, my lord.

Sir Geo-Rexius nodded heavily.

– You are already my lord. Even if it’s only for a five-year contract.

“Then you’ll have no trouble carrying out your guide duties from now on?”

– Of course, my lord.

“Alright. Let’s do well today. Let’s achieve great results and move on to a permanent employment contract next time. Got it?”

– Understood.

The mention of a permanent contract made Sir Geo-Rexius’s ribs quiver.

He was excited.

For the past three months or so.

Having lived in the Frontera estate, he had experienced something called “employment benefits” for the first time.

‘At first, it felt strange. A cozy little accommodation just for me. Working only during set hours and then going home. The humans didn’t even seem that scared of me. Sir Yongyong and the senior Bone Knights were kind.’

He even received his salary regularly!

It was the first time in his life as a Hell Knight that he had experienced such kindness and benefits.

‘If possible… I want to live like that until my bones are shattered and turn to dust.’

To do so, he needed to secure a permanent employment contract, not just a temporary one.

He could do it.

He would do it.

Sir Geo-Rexius clenched his fist with determination.

And he recalled his duty for today.

He was the guide.

– Over there. I can sense the presence of the Hell King in that direction.

He pointed his hand north, deeper into Hell.

Lloyd’s eyes flashed.

“In that direction? How far?”

– It’s quite a distance. But if we fly at full speed on Sir Yongyong, we can reach it within 10 minutes.

“That should be enough. You all heard that, right?”

Lloyd turned around.

There, the core strength of the allied forces was gathered.

Javier, of course.

The Queen, eagerly awaiting the coming battle.

The fallen angel Raphael, who burned with a halo of fire.

The muscular orc warrior, Arosh.

The elf archer Muira, calmly checking her bow.

And even the largest and most durable among them, Yongyong and Bibeong.

All of them had refrained from engaging in the battle with the demons, seemingly saving their strength.

Prepared to unleash all that pent-up power on a single opponent, Lloyd asked them with a meaningful smile.

“Are you ready to hunt the Hell King?”