'Just… what went wrong?'

He had clearly opened a gate toward Earth.

He had also felt the same sensation he felt ten thousand years ago when he was dragged into the dimensional rift.

In the middle of that desperate situation, his mind became confused.

"Kiieekk!"

After looking at prey that didn't move, the green monsters shouted even louder, and then they swung their low-grade knives toward KangWoo.

"Kiieekk!"

As the black sword swung, the green monster's arm fell to the ground.

KangWoo turned his body around and swung the sword he had created with the Authority of the Blade.

Although most of his demonic energy had been sealed, he was the demon king who ruled over the Hell of Nine Skies.

There was no way he wouldn't be able to win against such worthless opponents.

'First, I should take care of these guys.'

He didn't have time to think about another thing when, in front of him, some enemies were charging toward him, prepared to die.

KangWoo glared at the monsters that were leaping toward him from all directions.

A killing intent similar to a beast began coming out from him.

"Kiieekk?!"

After feeling his killing intent, the green monsters began trembling.

'There're around eight of them.'

If he had access to the 'Ten Thousand Demon Core,' he would've been able to kill them without moving by spreading out some energy, but right then, he couldn't do that.

"It's been a long time since I've moved my body like this."

He hit the floor lightly with his foot.

While dodging the attacks of the green monsters who were about to have a seizure, he cut their necks with a sword made of demonic energy.

"Kiieekk!"

Thanks to all of the battle experience he had gained through the years, the monsters died without being able to do anything.

[You've successfully eliminated the E Rank normal monster, Goblin.]

[Your experience went up.]

[Your level has increased to 3.]

'Level up?'

As the goblins that tried to attack him died, a blue window opened in front of him.

He opened the status window again; his level had gone from 1 to 3.

'The stats also changed.'

As level increased, his strength, vitality, and agility stats increased by one each.

It wasn't just a simple number increase. As his stats went up, he felt his body getting stronger.

"But that's not the important thing here."

Right then, it didn't matter if his level went up and his stats increased or not.

He had to check out if that place was Earth or not. Not only that, but he needed to see if another person was living there.

"Tsk, in situations like this, it would be more comfortable if I could use Alose's Authority."

He smiled bitterly while thinking of the Authority that let him freely fly through the skies.

The Authority of Sky let him ignore gravity and freely move through the air, so it required a lot of demonic energy.

With his current amount of demonic energy, he would only be able to jump high.

KangWoo walked toward the corpses of the goblins.

'It would be great if I could obtain more information.'

He needed to get more information about this unknown world.

KangWoo extended his hands toward the goblins’ corpses and murmured in a low voice.

"Predation."

Authority of Predation…

The ultimate Authority that’d allowed him to become the ruler of the Hell of Nine Skies activated.

Black demonic energy came out of his body and covered the corpses of the goblins.

While making a creepy sound, the size of the black energy surrounding the corpses of the goblins got smaller.

He began receiving information about the goblins in his head.

With the Authority of Predation, he couldn't read the target's memories.The only information he could get from the Authority of Predation was biometric information.

He got all sorts of information like the goblins’ physical characteristics, habits, how they lived their daily lives, and what their weaknesses were.

But there wasn't useful information that could help him know more about the world he found himself in.

"Damn it."

Disappointed, he let out a small curse. When suddenly…

"Hmm?"

While absorbing the energy with Predation, he felt a very familiar energy.

'This—'

Although the amount was very little, it couldn't deceive his senses.

KangWoo's eyes shone.

'—is demonic energy.'

Inside the goblin's body was a very tiny amount of demonic energy.

[Your Demonic Energy stat has increased by 1.]

As if confirming his guess, he got a message that said that his demonic energy stat had increased.

And with that, he felt the demonic energy inside his body increasing and the sensations getting deeper.

"Damn it…"

Although his demonic energy had increased, what came of KangWoo's mouth were insults.

Demonic energy was an energy that everyone who belonged to the Hells had. The fact that he'd found that energy at that place meant that the probability of it not being Earth had increased.

'No…'

You could feel that he was starting to get anxious.

The reason he'd been able to resist in the Hells was the hope of being able to return to Earth one day.

Memories of all the years he spent in the middle of demons whose only interests were fighting and killing each other came to mind.

"This can't be happening."

He felt a frustration bigger than the times when he was almost driven to death while fighting against the demon archdukes.

It was at that moment…

"Kyaaaa!"

He heard a scream from far away.

KangWoo's hopeless eyes came back to life.

"This…"

It wasn't the voice of a demon or a monster.

* * *

He could sense it—that shout belonged to a 'human.'

But more importantly…

"A woman."

KangWoo's body started to tremble.

The echo of the scream seemed to spread through his entire body.

A shivering sensation ran through his body.

The scream he heard seemed to be spreading through his soul.

"A woman!"

If someone heard him, they would probably think he was just a pervert.

But right then, he didn't have enough mental space to think about his image.

It had been ten thousand years.

For ten thousand years, he hadn't been able to even look at a video where a woman appeared.

No, it would've been strange if he could keep himself sane in that situation.

While stepping on the ground violently, KangWoo changed direction toward where the scream was coming from.

Authority of Speed…

The Authority that a demon called Vallefort had used in the past activated.

The demonic energy that came out of his body went to his legs.

The demonic energy inside his body reduced very quickly, and his body shot forward like an arrow.

It was a scary speed compared to a normal human's, but that speed felt slow for him.

'If I had more demonic energy…!'

If he had access to all the demonic energy inside the 'Ten Thousand Demon Core,' he would've been able to move at speeds close to teleporting.

At that moment, he couldn't help but feel resentful that he couldn't use the demonic energy of the 'Ten Thousand Demon Core.'

"Kiieekk!"

"Kyyyya!"The scream got clearer.

There were mixed shouts similar to the ones from the goblins that had just tried to attack him.

'I just hope it isn't a monster similar to Lilith!'

He was fine if she was ugly. She could even be fat.

He was okay as long as she had two eyes, one nose, and one mouth.

'And no tentacles, please!'

He kept concentrating demonic energy on his feet while thinking about Lilith's absolutely horrifying tentacles.

He felt out of breath for the first time in many years.

He felt frustrated by how he was out of breath from running before the fight even began.

'I found her.'

As he went through some dense grass, he found a vacant lot.

There, he saw a frightened woman surrounded by more than 10 goblins.

She was holding her legs with her hands from where she was losing blood.

"Ah…"

A short exclamation came out of KangWoo's mouth.

The moment he saw the woman surrounded by a group of goblins, he felt a shudder.

Her black hair reached her waist; she had big eyes, thick lips, and a tall nose, and she even had a small mole near the left side of her mouth.

She was so pretty that if you saw her on the street, you would have instinctively turned around.

But right then, to him, it wasn't important whether she was pretty or not.

Her beauty wasn't the main issue.

'She's a human.'

She was a human…

A human that had two eyes, one mouth, and one nose.

She was just a simple human who didn't have tentacles from where pus came out. She didn't have bat wings or red fur covering her body.

'Thank you, God…'

He was moved.

He wanted to thank the God who had ignored him for the past ten thousand years.

"Grrrrr!"

"Ugh…!"

The woman closed her eyes while looking at the goblins who were charging at her with rusty knives.

While looking at the knives being swung in her direction, she thought she would die at that place.

It was at that moment…

"Kiieekk?!"

The goblins shouted in surprise.

KangWoo, who had suddenly appeared between them, was killing them while moving quickly like a beast.

"Oh…?"

The eyes of the woman with black hair widened.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. In a few seconds, KangWoo had killed the group of more than 10 goblins.

"Kiieekk!"

The black sword cut the kneck of the last goblin.

After twisting the sword and completely cutting the goblin's neck, he approached the woman on the floor.

"Th-thank you."

Although hurt, she stood up while struggling and bowed to him.

KangWoo grabbed her hands and helped her maintain her balance.

"Ah…"

The moment he grabbed her hands, an exclamation came out of KangWoo's mouth.

That soft sensation was something he couldn't have felt in Hell.

A human…

She was clearly a human that he’d wanted to see and interact so much with.

Because of the emotions rising from inside, his mind suddenly became blank.

All the emotions he had forced himself to suppress exploded in just an instant and blocked his rationality.

"My name is Han Seol-ah. Thank you for saving me."

She was surprised at the sight of KangWoo, who was moved for some reason while grabbing her hands, but without releasing her hand, she bowed again.

While looking at her, KangWoo spoke in a serious voice tone.

"Let's get married."

"What?"

"Three kids sounds good."

"What…?"