Chapter 1394

<Chapter 1394> 1394. The Spirit’s Atlantis

“The Living Hell has been upgraded to Stage 2.”

“The area of the Living Hell is expanding.”

“You can now choose a characteristic for the Living Hell.”

“Please select a characteristic for the Living Hell.”

As soon as I arrived at the Living Hell, a notification window popped up.

The stage of the Living Hell had increased to Stage 2. Maybe because it was still a low stage, the upgrade happened much faster than expected.

‘This proves that cramming prisoners into the Living Hell was worth it.’

I examined the selectable characteristics. Unlike last time, I could choose one from two available characteristics.

“Corruption: Prisoners’ bodies will rot. You can set the rate of corruption.”

“Parasite: Parasites will grow inside the prisoners’ bodies. These parasites will devour the prisoners’ innards. You can customize the type and behavior of the parasites.”

Corruption or parasite.

It didn’t take long to decide.

“I choose the ‘Parasite’ characteristic.”

With Corruption, the body would visibly decay, which means it wouldn’t look pleasant. On the other hand, with Parasite, the damage happens internally, so externally they’d still appear normal—at least for a while.

“David.”

“Yes, master.”

David, the manager of this hell, bowed respectfully. I handed over 127 new prisoners to him.

“This guy dared to defy me. Torture him intensively for now. And give special attention to this one—extract every piece of information he knows.”

“Leave it to me. I’ll uncover any information you need.”

David spoke confidently. His unique ability allowed him to detect lies, making him perfect for extracting information.

“Barun. Let’s see how long you can endure in this Living Hell.”

“I’ll never speak! Your downfall is near, Demon Lord! Karok will stab your heart!”

Barun roared defiantly.

I smirked and kicked his face.

And one hour later…

Barun’s attitude had completely changed. His once confident demeanor was replaced by sheer terror, and his stiff posture was nowhere to be seen. He knelt before me, pressing his forehead against the ground.

“I’ll do anything, anything! Please get me out of here! I beg you…!”

I stomped on Barun’s head, annoyed. Without realizing, I put too much force into my foot, shattering his skull. But then, like rewinding time, the shattered fragments of his head reassembled, and within seconds, his head regenerated.

This was the effect of the Living Hell. No matter what happens to the prisoners here, they cannot die.

“You could’ve made things easier for both of us if you’d cooperated earlier.”

“Kill me if you want! Just please get me out of here!”

“Kill you? Seems like you still don’t understand your situation.”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I was wrong! Please let me out!”

“You fool. You should’ve shown mercy when you had the chance.”

While kicking Barun to death to vent my anger, I turned my head toward David.

“Did you extract all the information?”

“There wasn’t enough time to get everything, but I did uncover information about the rebel Karok.”

“Is it reliable?”


“Uh-huh. I also verified number three.”

“It’s your turn to speak.”

David summarized the Canaan intel and relayed it to me. Even his summary was shortened as much as possible so I could understand easily. As expected, David was quite capable.

“Tch. Were there really heretics behind the rebels? I didn’t think those bastards would reach as far as the barren west…”

The only relief was that the heretics hadn’t fully mobilized yet.

‘They must have planned to quietly establish control after seizing Reltia, then gradually convert people starting from the bottom.’

The heretics were a fanatical group.

They believed that when a new world emerged from the depths of the deep sea, all existing worlds would be destroyed and vanish. They conduct religious activities in order to become residents of this new world.

These heretics call themselves the Deep Sea Star Church. And they refer to this new world as ‘Rylue.’

‘What a pain.’

I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

It seemed I’d have to deal with the rebels before getting any deeper involved with these heretics.

Leading the Wind Demon Corps of the Heavenly Horse Sect, I set out of the city to punish the rebels. Though our numbers didn’t reach 500, among those 500 was me.

I rode at the forefront on Black Wolf.

A wolf with black fur.

Originally a desert wolf with brown fur, its coat turned into a stylish black while I mastered the Wind Demon Art. Naturally, it was larger than an ordinary desert wolf. Of course, it’s female.

“Let’s go, Black Wolf!”

“Roar!”

The black wolf sprinted across the desert.

Two hours passed. We arrived at our destination. It was closer to Reltia than we had anticipated.

Enas stood beside me, staring ahead in amazement.

“I never expected their base to be this close. They’ve hidden the village using a barrier.”

“With the help of the heretics, this isn’t particularly surprising. The village looks busy.”

“They’ve noticed us and are preparing for battle.”

“Well, we did charge straight in; them catching on is only natural.”

As we observed the rebel village, Enas’s expression stiffened. Rebels were rising from underground as well.

“…There are too many rebels. At a glance, there seem to be around twenty thousand. Half of them aren’t even desert natives.”

“They’ve gathered warriors from scattered desert tribes, and even recruited mercenaries from outside.”

“Master Heavenly Horse, let’s retreat to Reltia and gather reinforcements.”

“That’s enough. I’ll handle these guys. You all fall back.”

If the numbers had been reasonable, I would’ve fought alongside the Wind Demon Corps. But twenty thousand was far too many. Even the Wind Demon Corps couldn’t handle a forty-to-one disadvantage.

I pulled out a Random Magic Spell Scroll from my inventory.

[Random Magic Spell Scroll

Tear this scroll to activate a random magic spell. After activation, you will learn which spell was cast.

Price: 3,000 points

※Caution

This magic may endanger the user’s life. Use with care.]

Honestly, I had no idea what magic would come out. But I had high luck stats.

‘Luck from the Atlantis world might not affect the Random Magic Spell Scroll. Still, I’ve got Heavenly Luck.’

Heavenly Luck.

A skill that manipulates probability.

Using this, I should be able to pull the best possible magic spell.

‘I’m activating Heavenly Luck.’

[Heavenly Luck cannot influence items from the Leisure Life app.]

“Shit.”

Since the Random Magic Spell Scroll was an item from the Leisure Life app, Heavenly Luck didn’t work on it.

My plan fell apart right from the start. However, I hadn’t returned the Random Magic Spell Scroll to my inventory. I wanted to see what kind of magic it would produce. 3,000 points. For just one use of magic, it was absurdly expensive.

‘It might show up again in some random draw later. I should at least experiment with how it works.’

Heavenly Devil Art (天魔神功) – Heavenly Devil Overlord Step (天魔君臨步).

Using the Heavenly Devil Overlord Step, I appeared at the center of the rebel village. The rebels were startled by my sudden appearance.


*Screaming while gripping the weapon.*

*SQUEEEEEAK!*

The spell card tore apart.

[Using a random magic spell card.]

[Song of Annihilation has been activated.]

[The world will end in 30 seconds.]

[Method of annihilation: meteor collision.]

“Huh?”

My eyes widened as I saw the notification on the game app visible only to me. It felt suspicious. Instinctively, I looked up. With superhuman vision, I spotted something far off in the sky—a blue light hurtling toward us.

My gut told me the meteor’s destination was right here. Dangerous. I needed to run. But would escaping from here even be safe? That meteor’s impact…

「The system is shocked!」

「A chain of annihilation has begun!」

「Sung Yoojin, what have you done!!!」

“Ah, no… I didn’t expect this either.”

I froze unconsciously.

「The system glares at you like it wants to kill you.」

「The King of Gambling chuckles wickedly.」

‘Are they trying to punish me? No, if they could, they’d have already done so and more. The system doesn’t understand my abilities. That’s why they can’t rashly impose penalties.’

With the situation so perilous, my mind raced.

I ripped the spell card. And yet, the massive meteor kept flying toward me. The key point here was that it wasn’t my power summoning the meteor—it was the spell card’s doing.

‘If I were the system… I’d suspect divine interference. Someone handed me this dangerous spell card without the system noticing.’

That explanation made sense unless you knew about the Entertainment Life App.

「The Lord of the Sky speaks.」

「Even though causality has occurred, the result (果) isn’t set in stone yet. Stop it. If necessary, I’ll lend you my strength.」

「The system declines the Lord of the Sky’s assistance.」

「The system exerts its power. The chain of annihilation is minimized.」

I stared at the sky with my mouth agape.

The size of the meteor was shrinking before my very eyes. It transformed into a mere meteorite falling onto the ground.

As much as I tried to endure, I couldn’t withstand the destructive force of the meteorite. After all, it landed directly above my head.

My vision went dark.

[Death Resistance activated. You won’t die for the next 15 seconds.]

[Full Recovery used.]

After resurrecting, I looked around. All the enemies surrounding me and the village had been wiped away, not a single foundation stone left standing. I stood at the center of an enormous crater, surrounded by scorching sand, some of which had melted into lava.

“KRAAAAAH!”

Two men burst out from the hot sand. They were in bad shape—one held a sword, the other wore a black cassock.

“That uniform… Are you Karok?”

“Heavenly Demon…!! You bastard…!! How dare you pull such underhanded tricks…!!!”

“Who are you calling underhanded, traitor? Ridiculous.”

I glanced at the man beside Karok. He must’ve been a follower of the Cult of Shadows, surviving the meteorite through some mysterious power—but judging by the blood he kept coughing up, death was imminent.

“Oh, ohh… the abyss… the abyss calls to me… Lyrue… ruin…”

The cultist muttered those words before dying. What a futile end for someone who looked like at least a bishop-level figure.

“Damn it!”

Karok turned his body and began fleeing into the distance.

“Where do you think you’re going? Die here too.”

Heavenly Demon Arts (天魔神功) – Heavenly Demon Black Bullet (天魔黑彈).

The black energy bullet fired from my finger struck Karok’s back. Killing him in his weakened state was no challenge.

「The system offers you a deal.」

「Reveal the source of the spell card, and we’ll grant you immense rewards.」

「We’ll give you access to the Cosmic Crucible.」

“…”

I stayed silent. I had no idea how the system would react upon learning about the Entertainment Life App. In situations like this, silence was golden.

‘This will drag on for a while. Now that the rebels are dealt with… let’s return to reality.’

[Ending Entertainment Mode.]