NOVPUB
Chapter 242
The pure white ground beneath Suho’s shadow began to boil, bubbling and roiling in dark red waves. The demons, their bodies consumed by the crimson flames, writhed in agony, melting like wax. The sight was nothing short of hell itself.
Above their heads, the blue storm summoned by the demons’ king continued to unleash bolts of thunderous lightning, yet even he could do nothing to save them.
“What in...?”
Baran couldn’t hide his shock at the sudden turn of events.
“It doesn’t make any sense!”
His gaze turned unsteady.
The scene was utterly absurd. The dark red ground had turned to lava, the storm was seething overhead, and amid it all, demons were dying helplessly, their souls disintegrating one by one.
“How can a mere human wield so much destructive power?!”
The aura surrounding Suho had tipped him off that this young man might be Antares’ successor. But even if that was true, it didn’t matter to Baran—in fact, he had welcomed the prospect. It meant the best possible prey had walked into his domain of its own accord, already in a weakened state.
But right before Baran’s eyes, something incomprehensible was taking place.
“A mere successor to a Monarch...”
The fact that Suho was fighting on equal footing with Baran, a true Monarch, was inconceivable.
“This world is mine! Mine alone!” Baran bellowed, his angry voice echoing to the edges of the vast hellscape.
[Antares bares his teeth in a vicious grin.]
Antares observed the battle with immense satisfaction.
Even after losing the war and dying, there was a clear hierarchy among the Monarchs. Excluding the anomaly that was the Shadow Monarch, Antares reigned supreme as their leader.
It was therefore only fitting that a successor who bore his heart displayed this level of power. Anything less would have been disgraceful.
The countless demon souls continued to scream and melt away in the destructive mana emanating from the Heart of the King of Dragons.
“Ugh!”
Regaining his composure, Baran barked an order to his remaining forces.
“What are you standing there for?! Hold your ground! You’re already dead. You have nothing to fear! Why have you stopped marching?”
This was a valid point.
The demons writhing in the hellfire, despite their agony, began pulling themselves together. The flames still devoured them, and the pain remained unbearable, but they could not disobey their king.
“Kill him!” Baran thundered.
With bloodcurdling screams, the demons’ charred and even more terrifying forms lunged at Suho like a swarm of frenzied zombies.
Suho remained calm, his hands behind his back and a smirk on his face. This fight had already been won.
He fixed his gaze on Baran, who stood behind the demons, and thought, “Yes, you’re right. How can you kill souls that are already dead? But there is something you haven’t considered.”
Baran felt a wave of sudden dread as Suho’s gleamed with a fierce light.
“I may be Antares’ successor, but I was my father’s son before that.”
The hunter’s eyes shifted to the demon souls who had almost reached him.
[Mana is contaminated and cannot be extracted.]
[Mana is contaminated and cannot be extracted.]
[...]
[Target is eligible for shadow extraction.]
[Target is eligible for shadow extraction.]
[Target is eligible for shadow extraction.]
[...]
The destructive flames were purifying the souls with astonishing speed.
Suho, watching the spectacle, finally moved his hands forward from behind his back.
“Listen closely, My name is Sung Suho, ruler over death and the son of Sung Jinwoo, the Monarch of Shadows. I now command you... Arise.”
All he needed to do was issue a command in his father’s name, and a miracle followed.
[The Shadow Extraction was a success.] 𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑝𝑢𝘣.𝘤𝑜𝘮
[The Shadow Extraction was a success.]
[The Shadow Extraction was a success.]
[...]
Suho’s dark shadow swallowed the demon souls enclosed in the destructive flames. From the ashes, they were reborn anew.
[Shadow Demon Soldier - Level 1]
[Shadow Demon Knight - Level 1]
[Shadow Demon General - Level 1]
[...]
One after another, the black vapor coalesced into new forms. The demons who had sought Suho’s destruction moments ago now kneeled before him like knights before their new king.
“N-no! How can this be?”
Baran could do nothing but scream in shock and despair. Not even during the great war with the Rulers had such a thing happened.
Demons were a superior race, the only one that had not been stolen away by the Monarch of Shadows. But now that there was someone who possessed both the powers of Antares and of the Monarch of Shadows, that immunity had been shattered.
“No! This cannot be!” Baran shouted.
“Why not?” Suho retorted mockingly.
With a flick of his hand, he signaled the shadow demons who awaited his command.
“All of you. Charge.”
The demons pivoted in unison, their gazes locking onto Baran. With their jaws wide open, they rushed toward their former king as if ready to devour him.
Baran completely lost his composure.
“Who dares rise against the king?!” he thundered.
Completely overcome with rage, he reached out and grabbed the nearest demon. He sank his teeth into its very soul, consuming it whole.
After he had swallowed it, he looked for the demons who had not yet been purified.
“All of you, to me! We will become one!”
[Baran used the skill “Blood Ties.”]
It was a skill even more advanced than the demon nobles’ unique ability to create bloodstones. Baran began to absorb the souls of the unpurified demons, his body swelling with newfound power.
His colossal fist descended toward Suho with earth-shattering force.
What? Is it a contest of strength now?
Suho did not attempt to avoid the attack. If it became a battle of strength, he welcomed the opportunity.
“Are you sure you can win?”
Suho’s eyes flashed as he easily met the force of Baran’s fist with his own raw power.
“Goddamn it! You measly human!”
Baran, now a towering giant, lost his temper as he unleashed a relentless series of attacks.
[Baran used the skill “Blood Ties.”]
[Baran used the skill “Blood Ties.”]
He continued to absorb the souls of the demons, growing even larger.
Suho refused to back down, choosing instead to fight him head-on. He wasn’t alone in this fight, of course.
“You maggots!” Baran shouted as shadow demons swarmed him from all sides.
It was a brutal clash, neither side willing to concede an inch.
Antares seemed the most thrilled of all.
[Antares feels his blood boil with excitement at the battle.]
[Antares wishes he could join the fray.]
He recalled the first time he had met Suho after returning to nothingness and the ensuing conversation he’d had with Jinwoo’s apparition.
“Antares... I know my son isn’t strong enough yet to wield your power. After all, he’s not a dragon. So let me make you an offer.”
“An offer?”
Antares had frowned at the suggestion, but in hindsight, he knew Jinwoo was the one being who understood him better than anyone else in the universe.
As the king of dragons and the Monarch of Destruction, Antares was a battle addict who only truly felt alive amid the bloody chaos of combat. He was the embodiment of destruction itself, a truth he had come to accept about his identity.
Jinwoo had likely known this as well, which was why his offer had been crafted so perfectly.
“You must be bored now that you’re dead. Wouldn’t you be interested in having a proper fight again?”
There was a ding.
[Pet: “Ragna’” was summoned.]
[“Antares” has entered the body of the Shaman.]
In the end, Antares descended into Baran’s world.
Laughing at the top of his voice, he exclaimed, “Exhilarating! Sung Jinwoo, I made the right choice accepting your proposal!”
The battlefield already resembled a hellish wasteland thanks to Suho and Baran’s fight. It was the site of pure, unfiltered destruction.
Gray, the successor of the Monarch of Fangs, could only descend when Suho granted it. But comparing Gray and Antares was a great injustice to Antares. After all, he was the only one among the dead Monarchs who had regained a physical body and truly returned from the grave.
While in his current life he suffered from limited mana, no such restrictions existed in this world. Suho’s mana was his to use freely.
“Suho, my successor,” Antares said, grinning from ear to ear.
He was clearly delighted with the devastation before him. He addressed Suho, who was locked in a fierce clash with Baran.
“Let me personally teach you how to wield the power of destruction.”
There was a ding.
Huh?
A quest window had appeared.
[Job change quest: The Trial of the King of Dragons 3]
[Antares, the King of Dragons, wishes to teach you how to harness the power of destruction.
If you succeed in using it to destroy the soul of Baran, the King of Demons, you will receive an excellent reward.
If you fail, the Heart of the King of Dragons will burn your body once again.]
Suho grew confused. He had assumed the trials were over after reaching level one hundred, but now a third trial had begun.
“Huh? There are more?”
“Of course!”
“Well, I suppose if they were over, my job wouldn’t still be unspecified.”
Suho quickly accepted the situation.
“All right, then! What do I need to do?”
“Just watch. This is how you can use my power.”
Antares’ eyes gleamed as the small body of Ragna, which he inhabited, slowly rose into the air. Following his ascent, dark flames began to flare around him.
Ragna’s tiny mouth opened.
[Antares used the skill “Breath of Destruction.”]
In that instant, Suho felt a vast amount of his mana escape him.
At the same time, the Breath of Destruction shot out from Ragna in a straight line. It pierced through Baran’s side, leaving a massive hole in its wake.
Baran roared in pain and staggered backward, his torso half-charred and blackened.
A beat later, he recognized the identity of the small dragon as the one he despised with every fiber of his being. His anger burst forth.
“Goddamn it! Antares!”
Baran abandoned all thoughts of Suho, charging toward Antares at a terrifying speed to attack.
Despite the overwhelming presence of his enemy, the dragon simply smiled, almost amused.
“So you managed to avoid it. I was going for the heart,” he said.
It was clear that Antares couldn’t unleash his full power in Ragna’s tiny body. Still, it had been a great lesson regardless.
“Now let’s see if you can avoid it again.”
[Antares used the skill “Breath of Destruction.”]
Another beam of Breath of Destruction fired from Ragna’s mouth, but this time, Baran was ready. He narrowly evaded the attack and retaliated, bringing his colossal fist down on the dragon’s tiny frame.
The ground split and shattered under the sheer force of the attack, but Antares was safe. Suho had quickly commanded the shadow demons to whisk Ragna to safety, as the dragon had next to no defenses when compared to his offensive capabilities.
Despite narrowly avoiding death, Antares seemed thoroughly entertained, snickering while cradled in a shadow demon’s arms.
He looked to Suho and said, “I’ve shown you twice now. Surely, you can manage it yourself?”
Though his tone was light, Suho knew his message was anything but.
[If you fail, the Heart of the King of Dragons will burn your body once again.]
He had experienced firsthand just how painful it would be to fail the quest.
“What’s the matter? Can’t you do it? You know, I think I would be a bit disappointed if you didn’t succeed,” Antares said.
“No. I can do this.”
Suho was already on the move.
“Don’t get in my way!” Baran shouted, swinging a massive arm to swat Suho away.
Suho leaped high, landing on the enormous arm and sprinting up its length. With one hand, he began gathering his strength.
“I think I’ve got the hang of it.”
“Oh?” Antares said, sounding intrigued.
Just like when he had defeated Siddharth at the Loktak Field, Suho channeled his destructive energy into a single point—but this time, he did so with far greater precision and focus.
Suho extended his hand toward Baran’s face, unleashing an attack as the demon’s furious gaze locked onto him.
[Skill: “Breath of Destruction” has been acquired.]
Baran widened his eyes in shock, realizing too late the danger heading his way.
[Skill: “Breath of Destruction” has activated.]
Inevitably, the attack hit its mark.
[The soul of Baran has been defeated.]
[Calculating experience points.]
[Please wait. Calculating large amounts may take some time.]
Huh?
Suho’s eyes grew wide with astonishment.
There was a ding. Then another, and another.
There seemed to be no end to the alerts as Suho’s vision suddenly filled with system messages.
