Ch.40Chapter 40 – Judgment

# MAYDAY! MAYDAY!

“Mayday! Mayday! Requesting immediate support! The boss has created a spider web! Measured mana level, minimum S-class..! It keeps growing! Oh, no! The sp-spider is coming! It’s coming here! No-“

*Static crackle*

The radio spat out harsh noise. The connection from the other side had been cut off. Their final death throes allowed one to infer their fate.

A soldier in flight gear turned the radio channel. His voice sounded distorted through the oxygen mask.

“Control room, this is command aircraft. What happened to the ground forces?”

“Copy. The forward unit is on the verge of annihilation. Surviving forces and hunters are retreating while protecting civilians. Support units are guiding the imps toward the 2nd Gyeongin Expressway in the 1 o’clock direction to separate them from survivors and the boss.”

“…Permission to engage?”

“The President has authorized missile use. Disregard civilian property damage and ensure the boss is eliminated.”

“Received.”

“…Good luck.”

*Static crackle*

Twenty missile-equipped jets sliced through the night sky over Incheon. With an S-class gate suddenly opening in the middle of the city, combat aircraft had been urgently deployed despite the early dawn hour.

It should have been a time when nothing was visible, but thanks to fires throughout the city, the devastation was clearly visible as if in broad daylight. Black smoke billowed up from the ground into the sky.

Even from the air, the battle situation was obvious. The Korean military was being overwhelmingly pushed back. Imps poured out in droves from five consecutively opened gates. Since gates had never formed so close to each other before, the military was struggling to collapse them. Whenever they tried to concentrate forces to break through to a gate, they immediately became targets for the boss monster.

“Major, what should we do?”

“Hmm, see that spider web?”

In response to his subordinate’s request for orders, the pilot pointed out the enormous structure ahead. A massive spider web encompassing four skyscrapers entirely. Each strand of the web was a blasphemous nest made of human corpses. How many people had been used to create that spider web?

“That’s presumably where the boss stores its… food. Team A will distract the boss while bomber Team B destroys the nest.”

“Understood.”

The hunters fighting on the ground looked up at the sky when they heard the sonic boom. Support was coming! Their faces brightened as they saw the fighter jets flying toward the boss.

“We’re saved!”

“Finally, air support! Burn it all down!!”

Belial was too preoccupied with reinforcing his nest to even hear the fighter jets. He needed to build his storage carefully so that rats couldn’t steal his food. With so much food available, he needed to store it properly to eat it over a long period.

“Target acquired. Commencing engagement.”

The pilot who locked onto the target pressed the firing button on his control panel. The machine gun spun with a loud noise. Fierce tracer rounds streaked across the night sky and embedded themselves in the boss monster’s body.

Belial turned around when he felt a stinging sensation on his skin. Some annoying flies were buzzing loudly and shooting metal fragments at him. Ah, these bothersome humans.

“Moths flying into their graves without knowing their place!”

Belial shot spider webs to hit the flies. The fighter jets avoided the attack with acrobatic maneuvers. The major felt a chill down his spine at the attack precisely aimed at them. One wrong move and they’d be crossing the River Jordan. There was no time to spare missiles.

“Don’t hold back—unleash all missiles!”

At the command, missiles were fired simultaneously. Some bombers targeted the spider web, while others aimed for the boss’s face. Belial didn’t know what was coming, so he didn’t even try to dodge when he saw them.

KABOOOOM!!!!

The missiles hit their targets directly. With a violent explosion, the spider web burst into flames. The missiles that hit his face were also effective. Green blood flowed from skin melting with burns.

“Good! Keep concentrating fire!”

The pilots who had landed effective hits on the S-class boss cheered and continued firing missiles. Korea was finally gaining the upper hand against this terrifying boss!

Belial regenerated his face while secretly marveling. The flies’ attacks were fiercer than expected. Almost as powerful as the five A-class hunters he had devoured. Each hit was quite substantial.

Of course, they were no match for him.

Belial stretched his hand toward the incoming missiles. Mouths that sprouted from his hand swallowed each missile as it approached.

“What? Response lost!”

The pilot was bewildered when the missiles suddenly disappeared from the radar. He couldn’t guess what the boss had done.

“Hmm, a bit spicy. I’ll return them.”

Belial stretched his other hand toward the fighter jets. Mouths emerged from his palm and spewed flames. The explosive power, concentrated inside his body and enhanced by demonic energy, erupted from Belial’s hand.

“In-increase altitude!!!”

“Aaaaargh—”

BOOOOOM!!!

Six fighter jets that couldn’t avoid the flames were gloriously incinerated in mid-air. Three more caught in the aftermath shared the same fate. The remaining jets quickly turned to escape the attack range.

“Well, this is unfortunate.”

Belial clicked his tongue after checking the state of his nest. The spider web he had painstakingly created was burning completely. He had planned to pile up humans like a mountain and savor them one by one slowly… It was irritating. The Four Heavenly King’s anger focused on the flies that had destroyed his storage.

His ten fingers formed intricate gestures as if playing cat’s cradle. Thin strands of demonic energy drawn from his fingertips gradually wove together more intricately. What he created looked like an enormous net.

Belial swept his hand across the sky, scattering the demonic net. The net rushed forward with a sharp whistling sound. To catch the flying fish.

“Evasive maneuvers!”

The fighter jets traced complex curves to escape through the gaps in the net. The aircraft bodies slipped through the empty holes.

One pilot made a mistake due to excessive tension. A single strand touched the fighter jet’s wing, and the steel was cut off as cleanly as tofu. The jet that lost its balance spiraled down and exploded in mid-air.

“Nooooo! Major!!!”

Several more jets were shot down as they lost their composure.

“Hehehe. Let’s see…”

Ten fish were still swimming in the night sky. After casting the net, it was only proper to reel it in.

The fisherman in the upside-down sea pulled in his net to catch people.

The net he had cast now pursued the fighter jets from behind. Death chased them—faster, more cunning, and more persistent than when it had covered them from the front.

The fighter jets, in danger of being caught from behind, had no choice but to lower their altitude and dive toward Belial. There was no other way. Even the best pilots didn’t have eyes on their backs. Another fighter jet was cut in half and exploded as its tail was caught.

“That’s right, come here…”

Belial was a skilled hunter. With subtle movements of his fingertips, he drove the lone surviving aircraft toward himself. As the net undulated and restricted the flight path, the pilot had no choice but to fly straight toward the boss monster.

“Damn it all!!!”

The pilot of the last fighter jet pressed the firing button with desperate fury. Belial opened his mouth wide and deliciously swallowed the incoming bullets. A few seconds later, the fighter jet followed the bullets and settled comfortably in his stomach. A spicy taste was felt in his stomach before quickly subsiding.

“Tsk tsk. What a severe loss.”

Belial smacked his lips and looked at the spider web with regretful eyes. Unfortunately, the damage to the weight-distributing critical parts made restoration seem impossible. If he wanted to rebuild, he’d have to start from scratch.

At this point, he needed to change his plan. If he built another storage, similar enemies would come and the same situation would repeat. Better to eat everything now before another demon stole it.

Having decided on a course of action, the Four Heavenly King began to circulate the stored demonic energy through his blood vessels. The immense power that had been dormant extremely boosted the metabolism of his demon cells. His body swelled enormously. The mouth attached to his body grew with it.

His mouth opened wide enough to swallow the sky and engulfed an entire building. He could feel power rising as the constituent materials were broken down into nutrients inside his body.

“Ah, this exalted sensation..!”

He wasn’t born a powerful demon. Born as a mere low-level spider demon, he devoured his siblings, parents, and every demon he encountered, becoming a top-tier demon in just a few hundred years. In the history of hell, only Belial had grown so powerful in such a short time.

About a hundred years ago, when Mammon, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, was killed by a hero and a position became vacant, Belial broke through formidable ancient demons to become one of the Four Heavenly Kings. Since the other three Kings were ancient demons who had existed since hell’s creation, Belial had reached the highest position possible for a new demon.

Despite ascending to the ranks of hell’s strongest, Belial still craved hunting and power. He wanted to devour more and gain even greater strength. Unfortunately, the position of a Heavenly King came with as many restrictions as benefits. He endured his hunger and waited for an opportunity…

The invasion of “Earth,” the new material world decided by the 2nd Demon King, was an opportunity sweeter than celestial fruit. The ability to absorb what he devoured as his own power. With that ability, if he devoured everything in the material world… perhaps he could obtain power surpassing the other Heavenly Kings, or even the Demon King.

So when the opportunity for true freedom from system restrictions was finally given, Belial quickly volunteered to lead the vanguard and obtained military authority. Although his true power was greatly reduced due to the strong system restrictions in this world where humans were weak, Belial didn’t mind. He was confident he was stronger than anyone in the middle world, and he grew stronger with everything he ate.

Indeed, as he thought, the material world was abundant and overflowing with food. Now all that remained was to grow stronger. To devour this entire world before the other Heavenly Kings descended…!

Imagining a happy future, the demon proclaimed to the sky:

“Behold, incompetent Eloah! Watch your beautiful world being trampled!

I shall lay the cornerstone of destruction upon this city and build Rohim’s temple above it, and though rain falls, floods come, and winds blow and beat against that temple, it shall never fall, like a house built on bedrock!!!”

The demon’s roar echoed across the black sky. Everyone in Incheon could hear that roar. Though they couldn’t understand the language, they could tell from the resounding voice that the boss was excessively healthy.

People despaired seeing the boss’s well-being, which neither A-class hunters, tanks, nor fighter jets could stop. Unfortunately, Korea’s only S-class hunter, “Light Warrior” Kim Jae-min, had been dispatched to clear a gate abroad. There was no one in Korea who could stop that monster.

Belial, now even larger, took another skyscraper into his mouth. This one was quite large, so it would take some time to digest… Until then, he would have to stay still and wait—

“—!!! This power?!”

***

The Holy Knight opened his eyes on the rooftop.

His severed limbs had already regenerated, and his entire body was healed as if new. When he slowly pulled out the lightning rod embedded in his chest, golden energy swirled and the hole closed. The natural operation of holy power unconsciously healing wounds. He had regained his past level. He felt he could now do things that would have been impossible for him an hour ago.

Shin Jae-hyuk slowly stood up and looked down at the ground from the rooftop.

It was a scene from hell.

Roads destroyed by bombing, people being devoured by imps, corpses strewn across streets, a burning world.

All of it was a catastrophe he had brought upon them.

He understood the cruel reality to his very bones. But unlike before, he wasn’t just wallowing in despair. There were still many precious things to protect. The current Shin Jae-hyuk was prepared to humbly endure pain for their sake.

“What I started with my hands, I shall rightfully end with my hands.”

He could see Belial swallowing an entire building in one place. His size had increased several times since Jae-hyuk had lost consciousness. Even Belial seemed to be struggling to digest thousands of tons of mass instantly, as he had stopped moving to concentrate solely on digestion.

It was his last chance.

Shin Jae-hyuk picked up the mace lying on the rooftop. His arm trembled under the weight of the mace due to phantom pain from having been severed once. His firm will supported his knees that threatened to buckle.

The Holy Knight suddenly looked up at the sky. There wasn’t a single star in the dawn sky viewed from the city.

“In a world where darkness covers everything, there are no stars. What does the lost traveler rely on to move forward, and what does the sailor in the storm look at to navigate?”

A lament flowed out. The world was too dark. Too dark to see even a step ahead, even when wanting to move forward.

So the Holy Knight recited an aria.

To pray to his star.

“The time of judgment has come!

Heaven proclaims justice to distinguish between the righteous and the wicked

The Lord places the scepter of law in the hand of the anointed one.”

Profound holy power radiated from his body and dominated the area. It was extremely pure and vast enough to cover the entire city. Enough to genuinely shock Belial, who noticed the flow of holy power.

“You, Holy Knight! How is this possibleeeeee-!!!!”

A single scream contained dozens of questions and confusion.

How did he recover? Where did this holy power come from? Was he hiding his strength? Just hours ago, he was being one-sidedly toyed with…!

He was caught off guard. The human army had completed its retreat, and hunters would have to deal with countless imps and other demons scattered on the ground to attack him. He had judged himself safe even in a defenseless state and was focusing on digesting the building to increase his power, but this was an unexpected blow.

“He shall come to judge sinners.

He shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with truth

He shall rebuke the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.”

Standing on two feet, on solid ground. His bare feet touch the asphalt, reminding him of its firmness.

His eyes gaze at the burning city. Memories of the past flash across his retina like an old dream. Villages he couldn’t protect, the sight of dying comrades, painful scenes from the past. Moments filled with regret overlap with the current landscape. He slowly raised his mace.

“At last the final verdict is pronounced

And thunder roars to the ends of the earth.

The trembling sinner dare not enter the assembly of the righteous.”

The beam of light flowing from his soul and converging in one place soared upward, ever upward. Through the clouds, beyond the stratosphere, toward above.

To reach the door that connects to ‘above all places.’

Eventually, the beam of light knocked on the void, creating an invisible spiritual ripple. In a place unreachable by human eyes, a golden door slowly opened in response to that desperate knock.

“Let the adversary be shattered to pieces.

Let the fugitive be entangled in his own deeds.

The Lord is a righteous judge and justice that is angry every day—”

Some form of light began to fall from the opened heaven. A massive rod of light appeared, dispersing the clouds that blocked it. It looked slightly different to each observer. It was a shepherd’s staff guiding the flock. It was a light hammer executing justice.

It was, truly, divine judgment.

“O light, sing of wrath.”

Holy Incantation: Divine Punishment

A supreme holy incantation comparable to the highest 9th tier grand magic, Meteor. A miracle that even saints recognized by the Vatican could only perform by combining their powers was manifested by Shin Jae-hyuk alone. Heaven willingly dropped judgment to earth for its most beloved saint.

All citizens and demons on the ground witnessed this majestic sight.

Death was approaching in a form they never imagined. The demon, instantly transformed from hunter to prey, screamed.

“No, no..! This can’t be-!!!”

The spider struggled like an insect caught in a web, trying to escape the death about to crush him. But the weight of three thousand tons of undigested matter held him down. He was too heavy to move.

Desperately trying to save at least part of his body, he stretched his legs out, but there was no way to escape from the beam with a diameter of 1km.

“This light…”

Looking at the falling mass of light, the demon recalled something. A memory from hundreds of years ago, when he was insignificant. The image of a holy knight who fearlessly rampaged through hell with eleven other humans. And himself, fleeing in terror from an overwhelming power he had never felt before…

“You, you! Could you possibly be—”

Belial couldn’t finish his sentence. The thick beam of light engulfed his entire body. It was the light of judgment—infinitely warm to the righteous but hotter than hellfire to the wicked. The sacred light spread through the demon’s body, burning every cell.

The sky flashed violently like a thunderstorm, and screams on the ground never ceased. It seemed as if the Day of Judgment described in scripture had arrived. The light continued to strike down for ten minutes, completely vaporizing nearby demons. Without leaving even ashes.

When the tearing screams and flashing light finally disappeared, people who had been hiding in buildings cautiously emerged onto the streets. A desolate wasteland with not even corpses remaining greeted them. After confirming that all monsters had vanished, citizens hugged each other and jumped for joy.

Shin Jae-hyuk, watching from the rooftop, collapsed in his spot, drained. He had no energy to rejoice over defeating a Heavenly King. The phantom pain in his legs and the aftereffects of using a grand miracle after so long made it difficult to control his body. As holy power ebbed away from his soul like the tide, a sense of emptiness washed over him, but his heart was filling with something warm.

Savoring the warm sense of fulfillment, his gaze looked into the distance. To turn his eyes away from the ground’s devastation, if only for a moment.

He could see Munhak Mountain, Incheon Harbor, and the sea stretching beyond. As if the commotion on land had nothing to do with it, the water’s surface was calm and peaceful. Shin Jae-hyuk stared blankly at the surface, savoring the peace.

Dawn was breaking beyond the horizon.