Chapter 370: Chapter 370 - Yeah, No

“What... are you talking about?” Tai Wuji asked while frowning. The culprit who stole the legacy was Lucifer? It was far too out of left field. “Are you saying that Michael mistook the Constellation of Agony for Lucifer?”

That was impossible; Michael had fought against Lucifer for a very long time, so there was no way that he would be unable to distinguish between him and the Constellation of Agony.

“I don’t know.” The boy with blank eyes shook his head.

Tai Wuji remained silent. He was having a hard time understanding what was going on. “In that case, has the fear of the angels—”

“They are all toward Lucifer, along with the fear of the humans. With the way things are now, the negative emotions cannot be absorbed.”

Tai Wuji’s eyebrows flinched. He was able to understand the fear of the humans for Lucifer since he had made his appearance in the empire not long ago, but how could even the fear of the angels be directed at him as well? The one who had massacred the angels at Sant’Angelo and stole the legacy was him, not Lucifer.

“What the hell is going on?” Tai Wuji muttered with his eyes narrowed.

Regret momentarily crossed his mind; maybe it would have been a good idea to attack Sant’Angelo without putting masks on.

‘Provided we were guaranteed to succeed.’

Since Tai Wuji had been unsure if he really would be able to steal the Demon God’s legacy, he and the other Constellations of Evil had worn masks. If they had failed while they were bare-faced, the situation would have been much worse than now. Tai Wuji set aside his regret and returned to his usual expressionless face.

“What will you do?” the boy asked.

“There’s only one thing we need to do,” Tai Wuji replied calmly.

He did not know why the angels thought Lucifer had been the one to steal the legacy, but it did not change their objective.

‘To plunge the continent in fear, and to direct that fear toward the Demon God.’

To perfect the Demon God’s legacy and create the Key of the Demonic Sea, they needed an enormous amount of negative emotions.

‘Not a difficult task.’

Plunging the continent into fear with its inhabitants fearing for their demise, and each person not even daring to utter the Demon God’s name— it was far too easy. Humans and angels were weak, and the gods were not able to intervene in any way.

Tai Wuji turned to look across the endless ocean. Across the ocean was Aernor.

‘And...’

He looked up. Across the dimensional wall, there was Huan, Tai Wuji’s home world, and the world managed by Gaia. These three worlds were known as the Triad, and...

“They will soon... bow down before Lord Bauli,” the Constellation of Despair muttered.

***

Unfortunately, Oh Kang-Woo had not been able to fulfill his secondary goal because the corpses of the ancient demonic beasts were being investigated by the angels. Hundreds of them were swarming around the corpses to investigate all sorts of things, so it was not easy to swipe the corpses.

Kang-Woo decided to come back once the angels were about to dispose of the corpses, and went back to Arnan for now. There was a massive commotion in the imperial palace due to Uriel’s appearance and Kang-Woo’s disappearance.

“Find him!! Find him even if you have to scour the entire continent!!”

Iris was nagging at the imperial army, and Kim Si-Hun had already set out to the north along with Balrog to chase after Kang-Woo. So had Halcyon and Echidna... No, everyone except for Lilith and Vernaak had already set out for the north.

Feeling a phantom headache, Kang-Woo put his hand on his forehead while he read the imperial notice that whoever found him would receive an astronomical reward and be granted a noble peerage.

‘What a fucking mess.’

It was his fault for leaving without a word, but this was far too much of an overreaction.

“Welcome back, Master Kang-Woo.” Lilith elegantly walked up to Kang-Woo while he was looking down at the imperial notice.

She was giggling while covering her mouth with her hand as if she found the situation highly entertaining.

Kang-Woo sighed and remarked, “You should’ve stopped them.”

“Hohoho. You know how unyielding Si-Hun can be. I barely managed to convince him to take Balrog and the others with him when he was about to chase after you all by himself.”

“Call the others back first.”

They would only have an awkward encounter with the angels who were in the middle of cleaning up after the situation if they were to arrive in the north right now.

Lilith nodded with a smile. “I already have.”

She seemed to have expected Kang-Woo to give her such an order. Kang-Woo was about to scold her that she should’ve stopped everyone from going if she knew this was going to happen, but he shook his head; after all, he was ultimately at fault for heading to Sant’Angelo without a word.

“Oh right, Master Kang-Woo.” Lilith walked up to him, clung to his arm and leaned on him. Her hands were slightly trembling. “Please let us know before you leave next time.”

Kang-Woo remained silent and imagined how he would’ve felt if the roles were reversed; if Han Seol-Ah had charged into enemy lines before he had known it.

“I’m sorry.” Kang-Woo gently patted Lilith’s head.

She smiled widely. “Fufufu. I believed you would come back.”

“Well... I had something to tell you in private, so I guess it kind of worked out.”

“Something to tell me?”

Kang-Woo nodded. Lilith was one of the very few people who knew his true plan, so it was a good idea to let her know what was going on. He told her about what had happened with the Constellation of Agony and the angels back in the north.

“Mm,” Lilith expressed while putting her index finger on her lips. “As you’ve said, it’s nothing but good for the Constellations of Evil.”

“It couldn’t be helped.”

To focus all attention on Lucifer, Kang-Woo needed to take the heat off of the Constellations of Evil. Lilith nodded; it was better to focus on one prey than to divide one’s focus on two and risk losing them both.

“In that case, are you planning on continuing to conceal the appearance of the Constellations of Evil?” Lilith asked.

“Until the high elves appear, at the very least.”

He could also claim that the Constellations of Evil were working with Lucifer, but considering the Constellations of Evil were putting in the work, attention would naturally end up focusing on them instead of Lucifer.

‘Though it might not matter who I use since either would drive the continent to its collapse.’

Whoever the fear was directed at, it did not matter to Kang-Woo as long as the continent was placed on the brink of collapse.

‘No.’

Kang-Woo shook his head after thinking momentarily. He was unable to control the Constellations of Evil. He needed to be in complete control for him to create flashy and exciting situations with minimal casualties.

‘And...’

Having multiple targets to fear might have a negative effect. Emotions could not be set ablaze endlessly; it would wear down and fade over time. For fear to be concentrated, there could not be more than one target for that fear.

‘No matter how I think about it...’

Just Lucifer was good enough as the evil being that would bring collapse to the continent.

“Until then, I’ll keep the focus entirely on Lucifer while concealing the Constellations of Evil as best I can. Lilith, once your information network is complete, regulate information so that the Constellations of Evil aren’t brought to light.”

“As you command, Master Kang-Woo.” Lilith slightly raised the hem of her skirt and bowed elegantly. “But...”

Lilith stared at Kang-Woo in worry. She had heard from him about his battle with the Constellation of Agony, as well as the fact that the culprit who had stolen the legacy possessed power on another level to that of the Constellation of Agony.

“My king.”

Lilith stared at Kang-Woo while hesitating to speak. Her expression was heavy as if she didn’t know how to bring it up. Kang-Woo was easily able to figure out what she was worried about.

“What? You think I’m gonna lose to them?” he asked.

“N-No, that’s not it,” Lilith stuttered as she turned away.

Kang-Woo was actually on the money. Although he was the Demon King who had ruled the Ninth Hell, his enemies were gods that had acquired Deific Essence. In terms of pure power, Kang-Woo was hopelessly outmatched.

“Come to think of it, I remember you making that face before.” Kang-Woo smirked and lightly placed his hand over Lilith’s frozen mouth.

“Are you talking about the time right before your battle against Bael?”

“Yeah.”

At the time, Kang-Woo’s difference in power compared to Bael had been overwhelming. Even when Kang-Woo managed to defeat Bael, he had not managed to surpass him.

“Lilith.” Kang-Woo smiled. “And what happened at the end?”

Bael had been an absolute monster so overwhelmingly powerful that Kang-Woo had not managed to surpass him even to the very end. However...

“Which one of us won?”

Kang-Woo had won. He overcame the despairingly overwhelming difference in strength and managed to come out victorious.

“My king...”

Lilith’s eyes widened. Shivers ran down her spine and throughout her body. The ends of her hair unconsciously turned into tentacles, and they turned red as if they were burning.

Lilith looked up at Kang-Woo. Although he was talking as if it had been nothing, she remembered the pain, suffering and humiliation that he had to endure for that victory.

‘Ah...’

This was the kind of person Kang-Woo was. No matter what happened, whatever was blocking his path, he would always walk forward.

“Ahh, my king.” Lilith breathed heatedly as she became aroused. She put her arms around Kang-Woo’s neck and kissed him passionately. She whispered sexily, “I would like to go back to my true form, just for today. I want to make love to you in my true form, not in this ugly shell.”

Kang-Woo smiled faintly and stroked Lilith’s hair, which was slowly turning into tentacles. He could feel the genuine passion in her eyes. He did not hesitate to answer.

“Yeah, no. Go back.”

‘Over my dead body.’