Chapter 211
But it was quiet.
With no response, Christian had no choice but to shake his head and look at the devils watching him.
All of them were gazing at him with eyes full of longing—craving guidance.
Christian shrugged.
“Just because someone receives my guidance doesn’t mean they’ll grow rapidly.”
The explosive growth of the Hero’s party after following his advice was due to the fact that they were all heaven-sent geniuses.
Hero Evan needed no explanation, and Grand Mage Rania was already considered the most promising successor of the Sky Magic Tower.
“This time, the ones who progressed rapidly under my guidance had already formed the right foundation for it.”
The ones Christian had taught recently had all hit a wall for at least five years—some even for over a decade.
Naturally, their vessels had already been filled to the brim.
Which also meant, conversely—if the vessel isn’t full, even Christian’s help would have limits.
“Still, I can at least help them avoid wasting time wandering aimlessly down the wrong path.”
That wasn’t all.
Christian wasn’t just content with guiding others—he was already planning to overhaul the Dark Demonic Arts system as a whole.
“The current version of the Dark Demonic Arts is far too difficult for the average person to learn.”
The sheer lack of 7-star or higher-ranked devils was evidence of that.
Of course, even for someone like Christian, tampering with techniques that had been passed down for centuries wasn’t easy.
Minor improvements could be made at any time, but what Christian aimed to do was to completely reinvent the Dark Demonic Arts.
To make them more intuitive—while preserving their depth and power.
And perhaps, in the future, when Christian's cultivation deepened to the point he could be called a Great Grandmaster—
Then it would truly be possible.
At that moment, Nordian scanned the devils gathered in the hall.
“By the way, those fools who dared to speak so recklessly despite knowing nothing… we must make sure they pay the proper price.”
The faces of those who had bad-mouthed Christian turned pale.
To insult a Grand Duke was a serious offense.
And now that Christian’s words had been proven entirely right, there was no room left for excuses.
“We’re sorry!!”
“Please forgive us!!!”
The very same devils who had shouted criticism earlier were now dropping to their knees and groveling.
“What sort of punishment do you think would be fitting for them?”
“First, let’s hear what Marquis Langham has to say. They all seem to be his loyal followers.”
Most of those who had spread slander about Christian were lower- to mid-ranking devils.
They were the small fry of Marquis Langham’s faction.
Punishing such insignificant lackeys would be meaningless.
After all, they were simply following Marquis Langham’s orders.
So the plan was to use them to place Langham himself in a difficult position.
But then—something unexpected happened.
“Where did he go?”
Marquis Langham, who had just been nearby a moment ago, was nowhere to be seen.
“That’s odd. There’s no reason for him to step away right now…”
Even Nordian frowned.
“Where has the Marquis gone?”
The sudden disappearance left even Marquis Langham’s faction visibly shaken.
“What is going on…?”
And then it happened.
A completely unexpected disturbance.
Nordian, who had been standing still, abruptly fell silent—his expression began to harden.
“...My Lord?”
Everyone turned toward him in confusion.
But Nordian couldn’t respond.
It was as if he had just suffered a massive shock—frozen in place.
The next person to notice the anomaly, aside from Nordian, was Count Khazar, the second-highest ranked individual present.
“This Energy... What in the world…?”
Count Khazar’s tone was tense and cautious.
Then, Christian, who possessed an unusually advanced sensitivity for such things, also picked up on the disturbance.
“This is…?”
His eyes snapped wide open.
A nauseating stench—an aura that felt like rot.
“No way… Is this the sinister aura of Gehenna?”
It was unbelievable.
And yet, unmistakable.
It was the eerie, corrupted aura that belonged solely to Gehenna.
“This is impossible. Why would this energy suddenly appear? It’s like… like the start of an ‘Invasion’.”
It felt identical to the signs that preceded an Invasion—an event in the later stages of the Age of Ruin, where Gehenna would overlap with the surface world.
And at that moment—
A jolt.
Christian felt a stinging sensation.
It was a signal from the Mark he had planted on Yurian.
This meant that everything happening now… was directly tied to her.
“No way…”
That was when it all clicked for Christian.
He realized what Yurian had done.
“Damn it—she really went that far?!”
He shouted urgently,
“Everyone, get back!!”
“!!”
“Now!! There’s no time!!”
He yelled at the top of his lungs, but people stood frozen, too stunned to react.
Not that it would have changed much, even if they had moved quickly.
Suddenly, the sky darkened.
And not just the sky.
The entire world lost its color.
All light and hue faded.
All that remained… was grey.
The landscape transformed into something resembling the very edge of Gehenna—
just like the place Christian had visited once before.
A suffocating silence descended, as if the world itself was holding its breath.
And everyone instinctively understood—
This wasn’t the end.
Something far more terrifying was about to begin.
Soon after—
Gwooooooooh.
A bone-chilling wail echoed through the air.
Like the sound of paper being torn apart, the ashen sky began to split open.
A surreal sight.
Beyond the rift in the sky, an eerie scene was revealed.
[Gyaaaaahhh.]
[Please… someone, end this pain.]
Flames of karmic fire.
Souls writhing in agony within the inferno.
And devils grinning cruelly as they tormented them.
The horrific landscape of Gehenna poured out from the torn sky above.
“Damn it.”
Christian clenched his teeth.
He knew exactly what this phenomenon was.
Summon Hell.
A 9-star forbidden spell that linked the surface world to Gehenna.
* * *
A heavy silence fell.
No one could react—everyone stood frozen in place, overwhelmed by the unimaginable event unfolding before them.
“Corruption like this shouldn’t even be possible at this stage in time…”
Christian clenched his fist tightly.
“How the hell did Yulian manage to cast Summon Hell?”
In principle, Summon Hell was a spell that shouldn’t be possible to cast.
The Three Realms—the Mortal Realm, the Heavenly Realm, and Gehenna—were divided by clear boundaries.
Linking the surface world to Gehenna should have only been possible after those boundaries collapsed.
But then the realization struck Christian.
“She used the Forbidden Ground of the Dark Demonic House. She opened a ‘Spot’ connected to Gehenna.”
Throughout the Mortal Realm, there existed rifts—gaps that served as links to the Heavenly Realm or Gehenna. These were called Spots.
Even the main estate of the Dark Demonic House had one.
Christian had once gone there to train—it was a Forbidden Ground, and it led directly to the borders of Gehenna.
“So that’s what she’s been doing these past five years—preparing to open the Forbidden Ground.”
Christian recalled Yulian’s demeanor over the years.
She had never shown interest in the struggle for power, instead moving quietly from place to place within the household, building relationships with people using her innate charisma.
But those friendly exchanges had only been a cover.
All of it was groundwork—for this.
To open the Spot connected to Gehenna within the Dark Demonic House.
And she had done it with excruciating precision—for over five years.
“But even that shouldn’t have been enough. How did she cast a 9-star spell…?”
Then Christian figured out the final piece of the puzzle.
“…The Demon King of Azure Flow. She helped her activate the spell.”
Christian’s lips pressed into a firm line.
The Demon King of Azure Flow was attempting to destroy the Dark Demonic House… in order to obtain the Sacred Black.
That’s why Yulian had joined hands with her—for the sake of revenge.
At that moment, some of the dark mages who were finally regaining their senses began to speak up.
“What is that?”
“Are we seeing some kind of illusion?”
“Who dares to pull such a stunt against the Dark Demonic House?”
They couldn’t accept what they were seeing—the panoramic scene of Gehenna spilling into reality.
But what happened next silenced them completely once again.
Ooooooooh!!!
A scream rang out, like the wail of something being ripped apart.
A horrific cry that seemed to shake the soul itself.
And then, came the sound of trumpets.
A clear signal—like an army beginning its march.
Ssshhh—
From the rift in the sky that led to Gehenna, a dirty, murky mist began to seep through.
It swirled and coalesced into a singular shape.
A giant leg stretched forward.
Three pairs of arms, spider-like in form.
A grotesque head, covered in countless glaring eyes.
Its form resembled a human… but was twisted beyond recognition.
It was a demonkin—a species enslaved by the devils.
“Is… is this really Gehenna?”
Some of the dark mages cried out in disbelief.
The demonkin raised its head and let out a guttural moan toward the sky.
And yet—that was only the beginning of the nightmare.
From the rift, more and more of the thick mist poured through.
Two… three… in the blink of an eye, an entire legion of demonkin revealed themselves.
At a glance, there were easily more than five hundred.
[Grrrrrr.]
[Kyaaaaaahh…!]
Faced with these monstrous creatures in a rainbow of grotesque forms, many of the dark mages swallowed hard.
“That many demonkin…?!”
Demonkin weren’t invincible.
They were merely the servants wielded by devils.
But even a low-tier demonkin typically wielded the power of at least a 4-star being.
“Mid-tier demonkin possess strength equivalent to 5-star High-Rank mages, and upper-tier ones match even 7-star Supreme-Rank dark mages.”
The ones emerging now—just the low-tier ones alone—numbered well over five hundred.
That number wasn’t something to be taken lightly.
Christian's immediate surroundings were filled with overwhelmingly powerful beings, but 4-star combatants were still considered top-tier powerhouses almost anywhere else.
In the Allied Forces, they would rank as commanders or vice-commanders of most mid-level or small-sized knight orders.
Even within the Dark Demonic House, they were regarded as sub-leaders or officers of elite strike forces.
And now, over five hundred such monsters had appeared.
To make matters worse, there were easily over a hundred mid-tier demonkin as well—each equivalent to a 5-star High-Rank mage.
It was, without exaggeration, a force of pure catastrophe.
And yet… the worst nightmare had yet to arrive.
From the rift, more mist leaked out.
A thick, blood-colored haze.
Unlike the earlier demonkin, this mist carried an entirely different presence.
The fog soon took form—
A surprisingly neat, well-dressed human male figure.
[Ahhh, it's been quite a while since I last set foot on the surface.]
The man flexed and stretched awkwardly, as though adjusting to a body he hadn’t used in ages.
He looked just like an ordinary human, but Christian’s expression darkened immediately.
“An upper-tier demon.”
Among demonkind, only upper-tier demons possess appearances identical to humans.
They are beings with strength rivaling that of the highest-ranked dark mages.
The man grinned, revealing sharp, gleaming fangs.
[Ahhh… to think there would be such a banquet waiting. I’m in ecstasy.]
[Don’t forget, it’s not all for you. We agreed to split it evenly, remember?]
A young girl appeared next—
But just like the man, her outward form was perfectly human.
Another upper-tier demon.
“Focus. Now's not the time to be distracted.”
Christian clenched his fist tightly and surveyed the enemy force.
“Two upper-tier demons. Over five hundred ordinary demonkin. So this is the current strength that’s come through?”
Even a spell like Summon Hell didn’t allow an endless stream of demons or devils to appear.
The laws of causality that governed the Middle Realm enforced limits—
There was only so much force that could manifest at once.
“Still… over time, more could emerge. Thankfully, no devils have shown up yet.”
Most likely, it was because the boundaries between the Three Realms hadn’t collapsed.
If the veil between the worlds was still intact, then devils—the true rulers of Gehenna—could not cross over.
“Not that this situation is hopeful by any means.”
Even the current horde of demonkind was horrifying enough.