Episode 541. Lucifer of Ruin (5)

“I admit it. I underestimated you. I foolishly tried to capture you by brute force. From now on, I’ll give it my all.”

“Bullshit.”

Lee Hoyeon glared at Lucifer, circulating his mana.

Hearing him still spout nonsense like that, Lucifer wasn’t exactly right in the head.

People from the Underworld are all like that, anyway.

“…Lee Hoyeon. Are you okay? Can you move?”

“Yes. It’s manageable. More importantly, where is Scarlet?”

“She’s resting back there. Probably getting treated by the Saintess-nim.”

“That’s a relief.”

Having taken care of Scarlet, Irene and Alice approached Lee Hoyeon, keeping an eye on the front.

Alice watched Lee Hoyeon with worried eyes, even as she prepared for Lucifer’s movements.

The memory of Lee Hoyeon, covered in blood, was vivid in her mind.

“Setting Scarlet aside… are you really okay? There’s no way you could be fully healed in such a short time.”

“Thanks for worrying about me, Alice. But this is enough.”

Although his physical condition wasn’t great, his mind felt more at ease than before.

Lee Hoyeon wasn’t alone, and there were people who supported him.

Moreover, Lucifer’s full power had weakened.

The reasons Lee Hoyeon couldn’t defeat Lucifer were numerous, but the biggest one was the infinite mana of the fake dungeon.

Supported by the fake dungeon, Lucifer relentlessly unleashed magic.

Even though Lee Hoyeon had the advantage in magical aptitude, Lucifer’s mana quality and quantity were overwhelmingly superior.

And trying to close the distance meant he couldn’t even compete due to the difference in power level, so Lee Hoyeon could only take hits for hours.

‘No wonder he was throwing so many punches; there was a reason.’

Thanks to Liliana, the mana Lucifer received had decreased.

…Actually, I did have a question about that.

‘I don’t understand why Liliana suddenly got stronger. …For now, though, it’s a good thing, I guess.’

According to the contract between Liliana and Lee Hoyeon, Liliana cannot possess power stronger than Lee Hoyeon’s.

But now, her mana level clearly exceeded Lee Hoyeon’s.

Once this fight is over, I’ll have to find out why.

Anyway, even that monster who seemed impossible to defeat had its limits now.

Although it wasn’t the situation to deploy Macheongung, the opponent had weakened just as much.

Kwang-!

Having dodged Lucifer’s mana blast, Lee Hoyeon assumed an offensive stance.

In reality, even if he had weakened, he still couldn’t afford to get hit.

That monster’s attacks, even a graze, would be fatal.

“Gaean.”

Besides, his awakened Gaean needed to be used elsewhere. For now, he needed to buy time.

Lee Hoyeon targeted Lucifer’s fully spread wings and kicked off the ground.

Reacting to him, Lucifer’s black wings fluttered, emitting ripples of mana.

“Hmph!”

‘Now.’

Liliana’s magic perfectly timed to break Lucifer’s momentum. Lee Hoyeon immediately twisted his body and slipped through the gaps in the mana Lucifer was unleashing.

Lucifer immediately countered with a punch, but Lee Hoyeon’s speed was slightly faster.

Kwadeudeudeuk-!

A spiral, created in an instant, pierced Lucifer’s arm.

Though its power could pulverize thick steel, Lucifer instantly concentrated his mana to create a shield, leaving only a light wound on his arm.

Kuung!

Simultaneously, flower petals exploded around Lucifer.

The mana created by Im Sol persistently targeted the weak points of Lucifer’s shield, exploding.

“…Hmm.”

Chiiik-

Lucifer healed his wound with mana, his red demonic eye glowing.

Lee Hoyeon’s strength was still invisible to his demonic eye.

The fight was going against his will.

That was the emotion Lucifer was feeling right now. Especially, Lee Hoyeon before him was a complete enigma.

‘Who is this human? What is his true nature?’

There’s a saying, ‘You grow through fighting.’

For Lucifer, that was a natural statement.

Figuring out an opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, and devising combat methods to exploit those weaknesses was not difficult for him.

Lucifer’s innate talent for combat was that overwhelming.

In fact, the reason he became interested in the humans before him was similar.

At first, the humans who were barely dodging his attacks were now managing to counter some of them.

For mere humans, it was a fascinating talent.

Nevertheless, the gap between Lucifer and the humans was immense.

To Lucifer, it was like a puppy showing off tricks.

Annoying, perhaps, but if he went all out, they were beings he could easily dispose of.

But Lee Hoyeon was different.

Was this entity before him now truly the same Lee Hoyeon from an hour ago?

Hadn’t another Lee Hoyeon with the same appearance and mana pattern appeared?

That’s how immense Lee Hoyeon’s transformation was.

‘Awakened by nearing death?’

If there were beings whose very level changed by crossing the line of death… wouldn’t that be precisely the transcendent being Lucifer craved?

Lucifer looked at Lee Hoyeon and scrunched up his face.

Even though he knew Lee Hoyeon wasn’t a transcendent being, seeing him like this made him think otherwise.

‘…I can’t afford to drag this out.’

It was humiliating, but if he continued fighting like this, a truly bizarre outcome might occur.

Even if it meant the magic circle collapsed, he couldn’t let the fight drag on for more than five minutes.

Lucifer, feeling displeasure for the first time in a long while, began to unleash the mana from deep within his heart.

His pride and authority were put aside for now.

Beyond his usual limits.

Pouring out power to dangerous limits.

Ppa-deuk.

Ka-deu-deuk.

Centered around Lucifer, black flames erupted.

Filled with the mana of the Underworld, Lucifer’s authority

the fake dungeon’s magic circle reacted to the immense power and began to tremble.

“Aaaagh! Rebecca! Open the barrier!”

“I’m trying!”

Sensing the unusual power, Rebecca deployed the highest-grade rune barrier.

But the moment that mana descended, she instinctively knew the rune barrier wouldn’t hold.

“Kkuhhht. Hoyeon-ah….”

Moon Surin’s telekinesis was the same.

Moon Surin’s mana, which had been suppressing Lucifer, vanished in an instant once Lucifer went all out.

“W-what is that….”

“Holy crap.”

Lee Hoyeon, seeing the horrified Irene and Alice, summoned his mana.

Now, there was no time to conjure other spells.

The space was shaking from the backlash of the magic Lucifer unleashed.

He had to focus all his mana to counter Lucifer’s attack.

“Eclipse.”

Of all the spells Lee Hoyeon knew, it was the most destructive.

A black sun rose above his head.

But even with Eclipse created, it wasn’t enough.

Was it because he couldn’t deploy Macheongung?

The overwhelming mana felt from the front made Lee Hoyeon swallow hard.

‘It’s hopelessly insufficient.’

He poured in all the mana he possessed.

The black sun grew larger and larger, but it was still not enough.

Lee Hoyeon’s black sun was far too weak to overcome Lucifer’s mana.

– Kwadeudeudeuk

The space where Lucifer stood shimmered.

The core of the fake dungeon, unable to withstand the immense mana, began to collapse bit by bit.

Kung.

As Lucifer took a step forward, a massive chunk of power surged above his head.

Containing the authority of the Demon King’s successor, it was a full-power strike.

Lucifer took another step forward and simultaneously unleashed his mana.

Hwa-ahk!

A massive storm of mana collided with Lee Hoyeon’s Eclipse.

The fiercely burning black sun charged forward with terrifying momentum, but Lucifer’s mana began to crack the black sun.

Rebecca’s rune barrier couldn’t withstand the shockwaves of the collision for long and shattered.

‘…I’m being pushed back.’

Lee Hoyeon gritted his teeth and poured mana into Eclipse.

It wasn’t enough.

Nam Daeun’s spatial slash or Liliana’s magic also aided Lee Hoyeon, but their power was weak.

Without his awakened Gaean, he felt he couldn’t break through that mana.

‘In this situation, was double casting too much to ask?’

It couldn’t be helped. Plan B was scrapped.

If he used Gaean, he could probably block it somehow.

Of course, whether he could block the next attack was uncertain… but for now, he couldn’t just die for nothing.

Just as Lee Hoyeon was about to read Lucifer’s mana with Gaean, a familiar mana erupted from behind him.

“Spatial Distortion (空間歪曲).”

Squeezed out, Im Sol’s blue mana instantly took control of the surrounding space.

The forcibly opened spatial rift absorbed the shockwaves of the collision and reduced the destructive force.

“Professor Im Sol…!”

“Ah. S-Saintess-nim. It’s Professor Im Sol!”

“Sol-ah!”

Im Sol swayed.

The magic that swallowed the entire shockwave slowly compressed, and after a moment, the very space where Eclipse and Lucifer’s mana collided began to fold.

Defying the physical laws of this world, Im Sol’s wondrous magic caused Lucifer’s mana to eventually scatter into thin air.

“…Did they really block that?”

Alice widened her eyes.

They had blocked Lucifer’s mana, which seemed impossible to stop.

That was enough.

Even Lucifer, surely, couldn’t use that kind of magic multiple times, right?

However, contrary to Alice’s thoughts, Lucifer’s mana flared up again.

“It’s over.”

Even if exhausted, Lucifer was the strongest in the Underworld.

Lucifer’s mana was sufficient, and he could unleash this kind of magic several more times.

‘I won.’

The humans before him couldn’t handle his magic.

They blocked it the first time, but they wouldn’t be able to block it the next.

If only I had done this before Lee Hoyeon awakened.

“…What?”

Lucifer, regretting his delay, frowned, sensing something strange.

His mana was leaking.

More precisely, the mana drawn from the fake dungeon’s magic circle was returning.

Liliana had blocked some of the mana flowing from the fake dungeon, preventing free extraction, but the connection wasn’t severed.

But now, that connection was completely severed.

“No way….”

It was unbelievable, but Lucifer considered the worst-case scenario and glared straight ahead.

*

“Ah, aahhh….”

“Lu, Lucy. Get up!”

Teolseok.

Lucy, kneeling, felt like the world was spinning.

This must be what it means to pour out every last ounce of strength.

To block Lucifer’s attack, she had poured all her mana into Professor Im Sol’s magic circle.

She couldn’t even stand anymore.

“…Unbelievable.”

Kkulkeok.

Im Sol stared straight ahead, her eyes vacant.

Even though she blocked the attack, it felt like she hadn’t.

The Spatial Distortion spell had consumed all the mana of herself and her disciples, a grand magic.

She couldn’t even summon a fireball now.

She felt like collapsing like Lucy.

“Sol-ah. Are you okay?”

“…….”

She didn’t even have the strength to answer Baek Ahyoung.

Lucifer, unlike Im Sol, was overflowing with mana.

‘Was everything up to now just a game? How are we supposed to beat an enemy with that kind of power?’

Victory was impossible.

She even considered that escaping with just her disciples might be the better option.

“Huh? What’s this?”

Just then, Liliana incongruously made a strange sound and tilted her head.

“…What’s wrong? Liliana.”

“Something’s strange. My mana is returning.”

“Mana?”

Rebecca, standing nearby, questioned Liliana’s words.

Liliana had used most of her mana to sever the connection between Lucifer and the fake dungeon’s magic circle.

But that mana was returning to her body.

Was Lucifer getting even stronger?

“Did Lucifer sever it? …No, that’s impossible.”

The magic Liliana cast was meant to block mana flow from the magic circle to Lucifer.

It wasn’t that the spell itself was broken, but that the mana was being recovered was clearly strange.

As Liliana felt puzzled and tried to cast mana again,

a blue mana burst forth from the front.