Chapter 495: Preparations for War (1)

Thud.

Eilles fell to his knees on the spot.

"Now, I have a few more things I want to ask." Oh Kang-Woo smiled brightly and crouched in front of Eilles. "Where else is that son of a bitch Bael gathering his forces?"

"That's..."

Eilles slightly quivered as he panted heavily.

Kang-Woo lightly patted Eilles's shoulder and continued, "If it's too hard for you to say... how about I give you something other than fingers as a gift this time?"

"N-No!" Eilles hastily shouted.

Immense fear took control of him. He clenched the sliver of hope that he had been given a taste of. The second time was always easier than the first.

Eilles shut his eyes tightly and slowly remarked, "There... aren't many forces like the Frostborn."

"Then?"

"The majority of Lord Bael's army is made up of the demons of the Ninth Hell."

"What?" Kang-Woo frowned.

'That son of a bitch crawled back to the Ninth Hell?'

It was not unexpected; Bael was a demon, so there was no being easier to handle for him than other demons.

'Then that means...'

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. If Bael had recruited the demons of the Ninth Hell into his army, conflict with Kang-Woo's former forces would have been inevitable. After the death of the seven princes of Hell, the Demon King's army had become so big that no other faction could compare to it.

"How did he gather his forces?" Kang-Woo asked.

"I... don't know that much. Dealings in the Ninth Hell were mostly taken care of by Lord Amon."

"Hmm..."

It did not seem like Eilles was lying.

'I guess he doesn't know what's happening in the Ninth Hell.'

It was a shame.

"Also..."

Kang-Woo asked a few more questions. Eilles's conviction had been destroyed; he was blabbering information as if his tenacity never existed.

"Alright, thanks for that." Kang-Woo tapped on Eilles's shoulder and walked past him. "I'll keep my promise, so don't worry."

"Promise?"

"I told you I would spare you and your daughter if you told me the truth." Kang-Woo shrugged. "You'll find the sleeping princess not far south of the temple. I won't bother with where you two run off to."

Eilles stared at Kang-Woo as if he couldn't understand. Kang-Woo smiled.

"But naturally..."

He snapped his fingers.

"Kurgh! Gaaaaahhh!"

Eilles clenched his chest and collapsed. He convulsed as if he were having a seizure.

"If you go back to Bael, the ember I've sown in your body will burn you alive."

"Huff, huff." Eilles stared at Kang-Woo with shaking eyes. He gulped and asked in a trembling tone, "Why are you... protecting mere humans?"

Eilles had realized it as soon as he gazed into the Demon King's eyes and the endless sea of demonic energy within them. The one who would become the master of the new world was not Bael but the demon in front of him. He couldn't comprehend why the king of all that was demonic, who was destined to rule above all, would go this far to protect mere insects.

"Well, obviously..."

Kang-Woo smiled. He muttered something as he walked past Eilles, but Eilles was not sure if he heard correctly because it was so quiet or he had never heard such a word before.

"Kimchi... what?"

Eilles remained dumbfounded as he stared at Kang-Woo walking away.

***

"Wonderful job, my king."

Lilith, who had been standing by in front of the Gate, bowed modestly to Kang-Woo as soon as he came back to Earth. Kang-Woo lightly nodded.

Lilith approached Kang-Woo and asked, "Are you sure it was okay to spare them? It would have been better to purge possible troubles by killing them..."

"Don't worry. I made sure that won't happen." Kang-Woo shrugged and shook his head.

"Hmm." Lilith narrowed her eyes and giggled seductively. She hugged Kang-Woo's arm and remarked, "As I'd thought, you've become more gentle compared to how you were back in Hell."

"..."

"Back then, you would've just killed them without hesitation."

"Well... that's true." Kang-Woo softly nodded. He chuckled and asked, "What? Does it bother you?"

"Hoho. Of course not." Lilith shook her head as if it were nonsense. She gently caressed Kang-Woo's cheek and continued, "I will love you no matter what you are, my king."

Kang-Woo remained silent as something welled up within him. He shook his head to shoo away unnecessary thoughts. "More importantly, there isn't much time."

"Do you mean until Bael comes to Earth?"

Kang-Woo nodded. "Thirty-one days."

According to Eilles, there was exactly one month left until the day of the Apocalypse arrived.

"We have to do everything we can until then."

The final battle that would decide everything was just around the corner.

'Will I lose everything I've built until now, or will I devour Bael and acquire the life that I've always aspired to have?'

Kang-Woo closed his eyes tightly and clenched his fists. The immense pressure of anxiety weighed down on his shoulders.

"You'll win," Lilith stated and kissed the frozen Kang-Woo on the cheek. She looked straight into his eyes and firmly remarked, "You'll win, my king. As you've always done."

"Yeah." Kang-Woo laughed insincerely and nodded.

'Thirty-one days.' He started walking as his eyes shone sharply. 'I'd love to get Transcendent-rank Deific Essence by then.'

That was the most effective way to emerge victorious but it was impossible to build a month-long plan around that.

'First, I have no idea how to get it.'

It was nothing but a gamble to make a plan around something he had no idea how to go about getting.

'In that case...'

Kang-Woo fell into thought as he tapped on his chin.

"We'll have to use the fact that we have the initiative to our advantage."

"Are you planning on attacking Bael's army as soon as they arrive?"

"Yeah, since they have no idea that I know exactly when the day of the Apocalypse is."

"Hmm. But don't you have to know where Bael will attack to do that?"

It was pointless to know when Bael would attack if they did not know where. It was not like they could set up a defense perimeter that covered the entirety of Earth.

"I know where." Kang-Woo smiled. "Seoul. Bael will come to Seoul."

He recalled the future that Kim Tae-Hyun saw.

'I won't rely on it one hundred percent, but there's a high chance that Seoul being the location of the final battle hasn't changed.'

If the future could change so easily, there was no way Tae-Hyun would have tried so desperately to kill Kang-Woo. Changing the future was possible, but it was likely extremely difficult.

"How about we attack Bael first? That could catch him off-guard," asked Lilith as she rubbed her lips with her finger.

Kang-Woo shook his head. "We have far too little time to gather our forces. Also, having the final battle in the Ninth Hell is far too risky."

The majority of humanity's forces for the final battle would mostly consist of humans; Hell was far too disadvantageous of an environment for humans to fight in since demonic energy was even in the air.

"Oh, I completely forgot that your army mostly consisted of humans, my king."

"Well... we've spent the majority of our lives in Hell, after all."

"Then are you planning on setting the defense line in Seoul?"

Kang-Woo nodded. "We first need to declare martial law and evacuate every citizen in Seoul. They should be evacuated to at least Busan— no, just evacuate them to America while we're at it."

He was planning on placing a barrier that enveloped the entirety of Seoul to prevent the destruction from spreading, but letting civilians stay in the vicinity was far too dangerous.

'Well, evacuating them to America won't amount to much once the battle against Bael begins.'

If the barrier were to be destroyed, the effects of the battle would spread throughout Earth.

"Then how about we evacuate them to Aernor?"

"Aernor?" Kang-Woo's eyes shone; he did not even think of that. "Mm. Yeah, that would be a lot safer."

"But..."

"The amount of chaos would be immeasurable."

How many people spending regular daily lives would accept without question if they were told out of the blue to move to another world? It was not like they could be told that they were being evacuated because Earth might be destroyed.

'If we were to reveal that, everyone on Earth would try to go to Aernor.'

Although the population had reduced considerably ever since the Day of Calamity, there were still three to four billion people. It was impossible to evacuate them all to Aernor in a month without causing global chaos.

'I have no choice.'

Kang-Woo would prefer to move everyone on Earth to Aernor but it was realistically impossible.

"We have to focus more on making the defense line stronger than evacuating the citizens right now."

Nowhere in the Triad would be safe if Kang-Woo were to lose to Bael anyway. Whether it be Kang-Woo who failed to maintain control over the Demonic Sea or Bael, the Triad would end either way.

"I will contact Layla and have her gather the elite members of Guardians in Seoul," Lilith said.

"Average Players will only get in the way, so have them evacuate the civilians."

"Yes, my king."

"And you remember Khadgar, right?"

"The mage who supplied magic tools to Guardians?"

"Yeah. Have him make a communication network."

"A network?"

"We're gonna be gathering as many forces as possible. There are bound to be language barriers, so we need as many communication devices with interpretation magic enchanted on them."

"Mm. But didn't you set him free last time?"

"There are no breaks during a national— no, a global emergency."

'Wake up, Khadgar. You have some more work to do.'

"We have a lot more to do. We have to contact the angels and have the gods of Olympus participate as well."

"Will we be able to do it?" Lilith shook her head as if she were dumbstruck.

The amount of work was unreal for it all to be completed in one month, but...

"One month. We have to be ready in one month," Kang-Woo said quietly.