DEMON CASTLE-Chapter 100

Hours and days had passed, yet he had no precise sense of time. Only upon regaining consciousness did he look up and see the same creature—the legendary being, bound in chains, screaming in fury.

"Ahh—"

The creature launched another assault, but this time, Hazard had the chance to defend himself. Teleporting repeatedly toward the grand gate of the hall, he summoned numerous shields. The mental attacks, though slowed by his enhancements and barriers, still managed to take a toll on him after mere seconds.

"What?!"

Hazard called upon the system for assistance as he fled, but there was no response.

"Why?!"

It was then that he realized—the portal was gone. He reached the door, pushing against it with all his might, but it wouldn't budge. It became clear—his system was useless in this place.

"Damn you!!!"

Summoning Twin Deaths, Abyssal Demons, the Eye of the God of Death—everything he had—he prepared to fight the legendary being. Yet, to his shock—

"Why isn't it working?!"

Trapped by the door, his magical shields and buffs were shattering one by one. The spells he had learned through books and experience were now his only allies. None of the system's abilities functioned here. As if, with the portal severed, all his powers had been nullified in this world.

"Is this... the end?"

Watching as the mental attacks broke through his magical barriers one by one, Hazard poured all his remaining mana into his defenses.

"I'm not going down that easily!!!!"

Only darkness and death were now compatible with his body. Without the system, he couldn't use other elements. He summoned a storm of death spears and vengeful spirits while encasing himself in a spherical shield. With a powerful leap, he hurled himself at the creature. If there was no escape, merely defending would only delay his demise—attacking with everything he had was his sole chance at survival.

"Die!!!"

Countless spears shot toward the creature. It conjured barriers to defend itself, but the surrounding chains shattered them all, eliciting a furious scream that shook the entire hall.

Hazard, his bones cracking one after another under the pressure of the creature's sonic attacks, gripped his staff tightly, pressing forward like a battering ram. He had no idea what skull adorned his staff's tip, only that its terrifying resilience was his last hope.

The mental assaults reached him, shattering his shields. Disrupted thoughts, doubt, nightmares—Hazard was on the brink of death. He was undead, supposedly immune to such attacks, but no one had ever said he was immune to a legendary being that specialized in them.

He emptied his mind. His goal was in front of him. His singular target—the chained entity, incapable of moving freely.

"NO!!!!!"

His attacks struck the creature. Bound by magic-consuming chains, it couldn't summon its barriers. Hundreds of death spears and vengeful spirits crashed into it, triggering a massive explosion.

Dust and debris filled the air. Hazard was thrown backward, having stayed close to his attacks to ensure the creature couldn't absorb their mana or nullify them.

"Ughhh...."

He looked at his staff—only the skull remained, its shaft completely destroyed. His hands had vanished entirely, and his ribcage was shattered.

"I think... this is... the end?"

He knew that if he had a health bar, it would be at its lowest point.

"At least... did I kill it?"

His gaze locked onto the space where the chains had once been. But as the dust settled and the chains began to tremble, he understood—he had failed.

"Oh... God of Destruction... I guess my death will be laughable, huh?"

He cursed his own foolishness for bringing such a fate upon himself. Yet, through the dust, he could see it—the creature's upper torso was completely obliterated. Its heart was on the verge of destruction, yet still beating.

"I was close, wasn't I?"

Hazard briefly entertained the idea that he had been near victory. But such a thought was laughable to the legendary beings who had sealed this creature here.

"YOU!!!!!"

The chains trembled, unlocking one by one. Each falling chain shook the ground, and with every release, the creature's magical power surged, making Hazard increasingly aware of his impending doom.

"Why did my summoning have to be this?!"

The creature's mana skyrocketed past a million. Hazard was sure of it.

The chains kept falling. The creature's body was regenerating. Rising from its kneeling position, it surveyed its surroundings—then its gaze locked onto Hazard.

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"How?!!!"

It stepped forward, shattering the surrounding crystals with its sheer presence. The hall trembled under the pressure of its overwhelming mana.

Standing before Hazard, who lay on the ground, the creature stared down at him.

"Haha... I'm such an idiot...."

Summoning such a being? Hazard now saw himself as nothing more than a fool for even considering it. This entity's power was on another level entirely. Even now, he was willing to bet that its mana had exceeded three million—ten times his own, even with his items.

"Undead!!!"

Hazard met its dark eyes.

"What do you want?!"

He was ready to die. The difference in power was insurmountable.

"This divine essence... how did you obtain it?!"

Confused. The creature wasn't killing him? Had it regained full consciousness upon recovering its power? Instead of striking him down, it questioned him about divine essence?

"Divine essence?!"

He didn't even know he had such a thing. Until he recalled—his conquests on human lands. Preparing to subjugate the faithful, he had destroyed their churches and replaced their statues with his own. But that had only been a preparatory measure. He never expected that humans would actually pray to those statues—that they would believe in him.

"The divine essence inside you?!!! You're not a legend—how?!!!!"

And then, Hazard understood. Divine essence only formed when legendary beings sought to ascend into demigods. He was merely at the beginning of legendary rank—yet he had absorbed it.

"I..."

A thought struck him. He was a Demon King—a piece on the board of the God of Destruction. Not a mere ruler of hellish realms, but a being personally nurtured by the Primordial God of Destruction. And that raised a question—who exactly was the God of Destruction?

"I am a Herald of the God of Destruction!"

The God of Destruction—one of the greatest gods of the Abyss, standing alongside two other Primordials: the God of Chaos and the God of Slaughter. These three supreme beings ruled the Abyss with absolute power. A mere legendary creature? These gods didn't even need to look at one to erase it from existence. Millions of legendary beings served in their armies.

And now, the unsealed entity—the one who should be called by her true name, Queen Mari, a supreme being among the Mare race who had ascended to her original bloodline—staggered back.

"Impossible!!!!! The Heralds of Destruction are always in the deepest Abyss!!!"

She knew the truth. The power of the Heralds might not have been the strongest, for worshiping Destruction inevitably led to one's own demise. But if destruction only brought annihilation, what protected the Heralds and the God's chosen? Were they abandoned to be preyed upon by others?

No.

With the death of any follower, a legendary-ranked being would be sent to investigate. All of these figures, under the system of the God of Destruction, were called His Heralds.

But if a Herald was slain?

Then the Army of Vengeance was unleashed. An unstoppable force that even gods outside the Abyss feared. A force that bent reality itself to exact retribution.

Mari, never expecting such a reaction, trembled. The word "Herald" had escaped Hazard's lips, but in the Abyss, it carried far deeper meaning.

"Y-you... you're really a Herald... of Destruction...?"

She sharpened her senses—and she recognized it. The presence of divine authority. The God of Destruction, a unique existence even among Primordials, bore three divine laws.

A faint trace of Creation's divine power lingered within Hazard—a power that only one pantheon, hostile to the undead, possessed.

"Oh no...!!!"

Terror overtook her. While bound, she had only been semi-conscious, acting purely on instinct. And in doing so, she had attacked a being she never should have.

A godless legend, she fell to her knees and pressed her forehead to the ground. She had three choices—flee the Abyss, which meant certain death; end her own life for a painless escape; or beg for mercy.

And so, she chose the third option.

Yet, if she had known what Hazard truly was—not a mere Herald, but something far more crucial—she would have been even more terrified.

A voice, hidden yet all-encompassing, whispered from the Void's depths, shaking the silent expanse of the River of Oblivion, a place even gods feared to tread.

"Now, let the terror begin, my child. Let all witness the rise of the Heir of Dread. Rule through fear and death, and take control of your destiny. This is but a trial... one you will one day thank me for."