Chapter 105
The ground split apart, and magma and the demonic beasts of Hell boiled up everywhere.
Berid was clearly at the forefront of every operation, placing powerful Demons within the Student Council.
But even without them, there were countless Demons that had infiltrated the Academy.
Intoxicated by the power that surged with the Hell Manifestation, the Demons ran rampant, and the screams of cadets echoed from outside the Student Council room.
“Help! It’s a Demon!”
“There are monsters lurking outside!”
“Stop blocking the way and move! The Demon’s coming!”
With no warning whatsoever, the phenomenon began, throwing not only the cadets but even the instructors into chaos.
“You damn bastard!”
So this was how he stabbed us in the back?
I immediately contacted the comrades who had gone out to capture the Demons—no, the bait.
“All Demons are bait! Abort the mission immediately and return to the Academy!”
I didn’t wait for a response.
If they were all bait, then my comrades would be safe.
When I opened the tightly shut door of the Student Council room, I ran into cadets who were fleeing from something.
As if they had found an escape route, the fleeing cadets rushed into the Student Council room all at once.
“Hurry up and get inside!”
“You’re stuck in the door! Stop pushing!”
“Move!”
I shoved the cadets aside and sprinted out into the corridor.
In the distance, I saw a Demon strolling along while humming, tentacles protruding from its body.
“Ukyahahaha! The time has finally come.”
Our eyes met.
The Demon’s eyes curved into a crescent.
It looked as if it had found a new toy.
Judging by the power I sensed, it was a low-ranked Demon.
Its strength had been boosted by the Hellification, but since its base was trash, the cadets could have taken it down if they banded together.
However, with the surroundings looking like the apocalypse itself, the cadets seemed completely panicked.
There were simply too many cadets for the instructors to protect them all.
Then the Demon in front of me sneered.
“What are you staring off into space for? Have you lost your mind from fear? Khehehehe!”
“This bastard…… I’m in the middle of thinking here.”
I was already dizzy from getting blindsided by Berid, and now some trash mob was getting on my nerves.
Thinking it had been provoked, the Demon twisted its face in rage.
“What did you say?”
“I said shut up. You’re annoying.”
Its frivolous laughter and the tentacles swaying before my eyes were both irritating.
As it flared its demonic energy in anger, its tentacles began to swell.
The Demon thrust them toward me like sharp spears.
“If you want to die that badly, I’ll grant your wish!”
Grit.
Annoyance surged through me as I glared at it.
Its attack wasn’t even worth dodging.
Activating the Asura Divine Art, I wrapped Infernal Flame around my fist and fired a straight punch head-on.
Bang!
The swollen tentacle dented in with a dull thump, like a water balloon struck by my fist.
I’d expected it to be hard after sharpening itself, but—
The sensation was like hitting a dense, rubbery water balloon.
The Demon froze, finally realizing something was wrong.
Hey.
You’re not the only one who got stronger.
I’m a Demon too.
I compressed the Infernal Flame in my hand, spinning it tightly and sharpening it like an awl.
The tentacle affected by the heat began to bubble and boil.
“W-wait!”
The Demon tried to say something in panic, but it was too late.
I drove my Infernal Flame straight into its tentacle.
Bang!
It was a pitiful thing that lacked even basic resistance.
The tentacle exploded in an instant.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
The Demon writhed in agony, and I stepped forward, grabbing it by the head and lifting it up.
“I’ll ask you just once. Where’s Berid.”
“How do you know that great one’s name……?!”
Infernal Flame burst from my hand and incinerated the Demon’s head.
I said I’d ask just once.
If I beat down Demons one by one, I’d find out eventually.
As Berid came to mind, I felt heat rise into my head again.
So you want to take it dirty, huh?
The last time I felt this level of rage was when I stabbed Seo Da-hee with my own hands.
Leaving Jinri Hall, where the Student Council room was located, I surveyed my surroundings.
Outside was even more of a mess.
Demonic beasts of Hell prowled about, craving the vitality of the living, while magma and toxic gas churned up from the ground.
It was truly a scene straight out of the apocalypse.
At that moment, the demonic beasts roaming nearby turned their gazes toward me.
The demonic beasts of Hell were always starving, endlessly craving the vitality of the living.
Even if the target was a Demon.
They really didn’t know their place.
“Grrrrrrrr……!”
“Uwooooo……!”
Like famished ghouls, they drooled as they stared at me.
They had already devoured several cadets, blood and strands of hair clinging around their mouths.
Originally, they were weak enough that Academy cadets could defeat them.
But their regeneration was extremely high, and the more living beings they devoured, the stronger they became.
The blood smeared around their mouths.
I clenched my fist so tightly that blood began to seep out.
As the blood flowed down my fist and dripped—
The starving ghouls charged at me.
Was it because of the Hell Manifestation?
It felt as if the entire environment was moving to bolster my power.
Like a home ground created by the Reader—no, perhaps the power I drew here was even greater.
I lightly flicked my hand, scattering the blood that had flowed onto their faces.
Fwoosh!
The ghouls were engulfed in Infernal Flame, as if they had spontaneously combusted.
“Kieeeeeeeek!”
“Kkeeeeeeek!”
They began writhing on the ground as if in excruciating pain.
Infernal Flame was fire that punished sin.
True to its meaning, Infernal Flame carried the power of karmic retribution.
Because of that, it was fundamentally incompatible with Demonic Authority.
Even their greatest strength—regeneration—was utterly useless before Infernal Flame.
Leaving them behind, I started walking to find Berid.
At that moment, I felt an overwhelming presence from the sky.
This familiar presence—
I lifted my head and looked upward.
At such a high altitude that it couldn’t even be seen without focusing one’s vision.
There, someone stood calmly atop a sword, gazing down at the ground.
Soon after, subspace began to open in the sky.
And then, swords began emerging one by one.
One, two, ten, fifty…… one hundred…….
Swords filled the sky.
Their number was one hundred.
And then, a rain of swords descended upon the Academy all at once.
The swords accelerated as they fell from the lofty heavens.
And just before they struck the ground—
Each sword gained a will of its own, abruptly changing direction and shooting outward in all directions.
It was truly astonishing mana control.
The swords that spread across the Academy began cutting down the ghouls and low-ranked Demons on the ground.
As expected of the trump card I had prepared.
This situation was the perfect field for the Sword Empress to shine.
Her Spirit-Controlled Sword Technique allowed long-range attacks, wide-area suppression, and even targeted assassinations.
That was why she stood out all the more in chaos like this.
And she wasn’t the only instructor present here.
At the same time, a gigantic magic circle formed in the sky.
That magic circle gradually began to shrink.
I had already seen this spell once before.
The magic that had wiped out the rampaging demonic beasts all at once during the field trip.
Following the flow of mana and turning my head, I saw Mabel, her face twisted with fury, holding her staff and chanting a spell.
With these two, the situation at the Academy could be entrusted to them.
So I focused on finding the root cause.
I spread my mana in all directions, turning this place into my Domain.
Perhaps because of the Hellification, my Domain expanded to near infinity.
I searched for the place where my mana was raging the most violently.
That would be the very center of this Hell.
And soon—
I found it.
I threw myself toward the heart of Hell, where ghouls were swarming.
---
Kang Jae-seok stared at the Demon’s body as it disintegrated.
A deep sigh escaped his lips.
Dealing with Demons wasn’t difficult.
But as he watched the dissolving corpse, his emotions were complicated.
Pandemonium had always targeted the Academy, dispatching spies without fail.
Sometimes as instructors, sometimes as staff working within the Academy, and sometimes as Academy cadets.
Having spent a long time at the Academy, he had watched countless Demons be dealt with that way.
And each time, the same thought crossed his mind.
Why sell one’s soul to Demons?
What were they being loyal for?
He had personally experienced the horrors of war and the brutality of dungeons.
Yet even he, who had fought and struggled endlessly to survive, couldn’t understand their purpose.
For what reason did they devote their bodies and souls to such unwavering loyalty?
Was it simply because their souls were mortgaged to Demons?
Or was it because they truly sympathized with Pandemonium’s goals?
Ironically, the largest group among the spies infiltrating the Academy consisted of mere cadets.
Just what were those young ones pledging their loyalty for?
Even if Kang Jae-seok was called Yaksha and feared by Demons, he wasn’t an emotionless machine.
There were times when cadets he had taught were revealed to be Demons and killed.
There were also times when he heard news that graduates had become Demons and were put down.
Each time, he was filled with grief.
This time was no different.
The Demon he had just killed was named Kwon Ji-seung.
He belonged to Class C and specialized in flashy dual-blade techniques.
Whenever Kang Jae-seok passed through the Academy grounds, he would see him chatting energetically with friends, bread from the campus store hanging from his mouth.
Now, that boy had been erased from this world without even leaving ashes behind.
A Demon who contracted with Demons couldn’t even leave behind a corpse.
Because they had sold their soul, their death was bound to the Demon they contracted with.
The deaths of Demons who vanished without a body were remembered by no one.
Instructor Kang Jae-seok reached out to the spot where the body had disappeared.
Only a small cloud of dust remained.
Clenching his fist tightly, Kang Jae-seok murmured softly.
“I will remember you.”
Even if he had become a Demon, he had once been his student.
He hoped that the end of students who had chosen the wrong path wouldn’t be lonely.
Knowing the fate that awaited Demons after death, he did not pray for their repose.
As Kang Jae-seok stood up, his back looked endlessly small.
At that moment, his phone rang loudly.
His brow furrowed.
Checking the caller, he saw it was Yoo Iseo.
Worried that the Demon subjugation might have failed, he answered immediately.
“Cadet Yoo Iseo, what is it?”
[“I–Instructor?”]
Her voice was urgent, her breathing ragged.
Kang Jae-seok sensed that something had gone terribly wrong.
[“Th–the Academy. The Academy is in danger!”]
Without waiting to hear more, he sprinted toward the Academy.
Each time his foot struck the ground, a massive crater formed, and sonic booms erupted.
Before long, the Academy came into view in the distance.
At the sight, Instructor Kang Jae-seok’s face twisted into something ferocious and murderous.
The entire Academy was wreathed in ominous demonic energy, flickering like flames, and magma boiled up across the grounds.
Above all else, beings that could hardly be called living creatures wandered the streets.
Instructor Kang Jae-seok’s enraged roar burst forth as a blood-red energy wave.