Chapter 156 - The White Ghost King’s Sanctuary 1 (1/2)
As he repeated the stage over and over again, certain people with quite a bit of strength appeared as opponents, but they weren’t enough to deal with Woohyuk.
Eventually, Woohyuk became the winner in his area and moved on to the next stage.
'Helena must have entered the first stage by now.'
She was the second in Eteria Rodinus to enter the stages.
The first was Saint Martinus.
The third was Ibn Rusud. Woohyuk had no idea why Helena was prioritized over him.
He could only guess that it was because Helena was in charge of monitoring him.
A series of system messages popped up as Woohyuk imagined Helena running on a battlefield full of monsters.
[This next stage is the last siege.]
[The Blue Team will have to defend the Citadel for a limited amount of time, while the Red Team will have to capture the Citadel.]
[All teams that do not complete their goal will return to the previous stage after the time limit has elapsed.]
[You are in the blue team.]
[Before the start of the siege, you will be given an opportunity to have a strategic meeting with the participants of the same team.]
[The strategic meeting time is 5 minutes.]
He could hear whispers and murmurs here and there.
Most of the participants were demons.
It was a natural result because all of the lower level monsters were killed in the previous stages.
'I have to become the leader.'
It was better to use the others as much as possible in order to conserve his own strength.
Woohyuk climbed on the platform in the fort and slammed the speech table with his palm several times.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Quiet down. From now on, I will command everyone.”
“What's your deal?”
“I can’t see any wings or horns. Is he a human?”
Ivanov's men were also into these ruins, so the demons did not find Woohyuk's existence bizarre.
They just didn't like that he was trying to control them.
Woohyuk noticed these thoughts being processed in the minds of the demons and came up with an appropriate solution.
“I will accept anyone's challenge. However, I’ll limit it to three people since we don’t have time.”
“Is that human crazy?”
“He thinks he’s the strongest here. What a joke”
“He’s just a dog of the Dragonlord. He should know his place…”
The demons stared at Woohyuk with ridicule.
No matter how low-level these demons were, their abilities exceeded those of ordinary humans.
While they were weak against divine energy, as long as it was a one-on-one duel without the use of divine power, the demons would be overwhelmingly advantageous.
“Come on up already. We need time to plan the operation as well.”
“That cheeky… I will face you!”
One demon spat out resentfully at Woohyuk's confident attitude and stepped up to the podium.
The other demons immediately began cheering for him.
“Cardane, get him!”
”Show the puny humans the greatness of us demons!”
Cardane was one of the Demon King Astaroth's favorite thugs.
The reason he was here was to contact the Demon King immediately if the Sangreal Chronicles were found in the Sand Temple.
But currently, he was summoned to another dimension and was unable to perform his mission.
In the midst of this ordeal, a strange human had appeared and proclaimed that he would act as their commander-in-chief, which greatly angered him.
However, Woohyuk had no intention of taking this demon’s feelings into account.
Receiving a public challenge like this would allow him to show off his battle prowess to the other demons and make them obey him.
He did not intend to persuade them with words and befriend them.
“Are you the strongest demon here?”
”Indeed. I am Cardane, the 3rd corps commander of the Astaroth County. Killing someone like you will be a piece of cake.”
Cardane pulled out a pair of giant labryses from his back.
As he stepped forward, the axes emitted a purple glow and generated a strong electric current.
'Is he specialized in lightning like Volak?'
Woohyuk felt like he had faced Cardane in the past, but couldn’t remember the details.
He had fought countless enemies on battlefields for over 40 years, so he could not remember every demon he had faced.
While the 72 Demon Kings were doable, he couldn’t keep all the faces of their subordinates in his mind palace.
'Well, he doesn’t seem difficult to defeat.'
Those who mainly used lightning skills tended to try to win through speed.
Otherwise, they’d stand in the distance and bombard him with ranged attacks.
However, since Cardane was openly approaching him, the possibility of his battle style being the latter was nil.
Woohyuk unsheathed Grandia from his waist and waited for the demon to strike first.
'I should at least make a show out of this.'
The key was to show them the overwhelming power gap.
Therefore, he would end the battle with one strike to amaze the spectators.
Meanwhile, Cardane didn't know of Woohyuk's calculations and took on a proud stance to criticise him.
“Why are you standing so still? Did you wet our pants or something? Wanna go back to mama?”
“… .”
“If you’re scared of showing an opening by attacking first, I’ll do it instead!”
Cardane yelled and dashed to Woohyuk.
His labrys soon fell towards Woohyuk's head like a lightning bolt.
The large blade sparked and shone brightly like a lightning strike.
However, the attack did not reach Woohyuk at all.
”Too slow.”
“…Huh?”
Cardane, who had cut down Woohyuk's afterimage, stared in confusion.
Woohyuk had disappeared from his view instantly.
...And his voice was resonating from behind.
Before Cardane could turn around,
Stab!
Grandia pierced through his heart and a pure white glowing blade protruded from his chest.
“Cough…!”
A painful look grew on Cardane’s face and he spat out black blood.
Afterwards, his strength left his body and he fell to the floor.
The demons who were watching the battle were astonished and could not shut their jaws.
“Im, impossible!”
”Ivanov's mutt killed Cardane in a head-on battle!”