## Chapter 945 – How Long Has It Been?

“…”

The heavy silence showed no signs of disappearing.

ㅡTzzzzz.

As if waiting for it, the head of the enormous Infernal Great Beast finally vanished completely. Whether it was the effect of the destroyed gate or something else, it turned to dust and disappeared forever.

Daring to act up against me, a being from another world.
Truly a fitting end.

All that remained at the scene were Baphomet, who had lost one hand, me, and the members of the Holy Crusade Search Party.

“…”

Baphomet, or Dor, was staring at me with his mouth wide open.

Seeing that demonic head gaping blankly was somewhat grotesque. Especially since one of his arms was like Rockman’s, the strangeness seemed to amplify endlessly.

“…”

The other holy knights were the same. Their fanatical fighting spirit was nowhere to be seen, and they just stared at me with their mouths agape, as if they had momentarily glitched.

I certainly did something incredible.

ㅡSwish.

As I quietly raised my arm.

“Ooh. Oooooooo!!!!!”
“Oooooooooooooooo!!!!!”
“One hit! It was one hit!!!”
“The Paladin did it!!!!!”
“Waaaaaaaah!!!”
“The young Paladin did it!!!!!”

A roar erupted that seemed to shake the very space.

ㅡJump!
ㅡJump!

The holy knights cheered and jumped up and down. Yes, it was such a shocking event that they needed some time to process it.

ㅡVigal.

I looked at Vigal, the epitome of uselessness and betrayal.

From the blade, the figure of a rainbow-colored demon seemed to flash momentarily. He was giving me a thumbs up, as if he was always my friend and would never betray me.

ㅡAh.

Indeed.

Vigal was my true friend and comrade. I had lived doubting him all this time. But at this moment, we became one in the truest sense.

Of course, Vigal was dead.
The feeling that he was alive was also an illusion.

Even so.

If I believed he lived on in my heart.
It was no different from being alive.

“Thank you, Vigal.”

Thanks to Vigal greedily absorbing the Orb of the Otherworld King, I succeeded in slaying the Infernal Great Beast, which could have been a significant threat.

Honestly, I was unsure.
I didn’t know how far it would go.

But it worked, so that’s all that matters. As they say, it was a natural result of absorbing the orb that contained the overwhelmingly powerful force of the Otherworld Monster King.

And.

“To all the Korean-American merchants in LA.”

Those burning shops added strength to my Sword Flame.

ㅡNo!! Noooooooo!!!
ㅡMy shop issss!!!
ㅡPlease stop…! Stop itttttt!
ㅡAaaaaaaagh!!!
ㅡHic… Hic…! Why, whyyyy!!
ㅡWhy my shooopppp!!!

Their screams still seemed to echo in my ears. I had used too much mana and felt slightly dizzy. Was it an auditory hallucination? Or a side effect of recklessly awakening the realm of Sword Flame?

I don’t know, but those screams were definitely my power.

“Dor, is this all you had hidden?”
“…”

Amidst the holy knights’ enthusiasm, I looked at Dor and asked.

“I asked if you were aiming to summon the Infernal Great Beast.”
“…”
“It was a good move. But that alone won’t stop us.”

Dor, who had just been released from the seal, felt like a formidable enemy, a powerful magic user. He must have been planning various things. He must have had many means at his disposal. He was said to be a general of the demons who was active during the Idol War, so it was only natural.

But it all failed.
There were too many holy knights on our side.

No matter how strong he was, he couldn’t withstand being ganged up on by superhumans like us, all determined to bury him.

“…Amazing.”

The guy who came to his senses spoke slowly.

“Was thinking I had won the cause of my defeat…”

An attitude as if he had resigned himself.

“How… were you able to cut Leviathan in one blow? Were you hiding your power?”
“No, I always give it my all.”

I gave it my all when fighting Dor.

“It just seems my faith and that monster were compatible.”
“…”

Compatibility exists everywhere.

“I see… that’s right.”

ㅡThud.

Dor raised his sword.

“However, humans. This Dor has not yet fallen.”

Is that your answer?

“Fight.”

ㅡBang!

Dor kicked off the ground.

“Kill him!!!”
“It’s over, Demon King!!!”
“Die, minion of evil!!!”

The holy knights, who had been shouting excitedly, once again ignited their fighting spirit and charged at Dor. ㅡBang! Boom! Continuous explosions followed. “Buwoooooooo!!!” Dor, who didn’t know how to give up, scattered his eyes as if releasing all his power and swung his sword.

“Verdeeeeeee!!!”
“Shhhhhhhh!!!”

But now Dor was exhausted. His injuries were piling up, and he had used up almost all the energy in his body. On top of that, he had lost an arm, and his trump card had been foiled.

ㅡSlash!
ㅡThwack!

I could feel that his condition was not normal.

Unlike before, he couldn’t properly respond to the holy knights’ joint attack. And since his power was almost exhausted, the holy knights’ blades began to pierce, tear, and enter his skin.

ㅡGurgle.

Blood spurted from Dor’s entire body. He screamed like a beast and attacked the holy knights, but he couldn’t subdue these fanatical warriors.

ㅡBoom!

Eventually, he dropped his sword.

“Cough!”

And so, Dor fell.
His body was completely wrecked.

“We have wonnnnn!!!!!”
“Hoorayyyyyyy!!!!”
“Oooooooooooooooo!!!!”

It was our victory.

ㅡCough.

Dor, who had been stabbed all over, was just breathing heavily and spitting out blood. I immediately approached him.

“You said you were a demon, Dor. Are there more of your kind upstairs besides the minotaurs and cyclops?”
“Do you think… I would tell you that?”

There’s no way a dying guy would explain that.

“It is your victory.”

He quietly declared and closed his eyes.

“Pelazer… my comrades… the silver sky… I miss it…”

ㅡThud.

With those words, Dor’s body slumped.

“Hoorayyyyyyy!!!”
“We have defeated the seed of evil!!!”
“Verdeeeeeee!!!”
“Shhhhhhhh!!!”

The holy knights shouted madly. The blood that spurted out almost formed a stream. Dor was dead, and it was our victory.

“Holy Oneeeee!!!”

As I was quietly looking down at Dor’s corpse, Eliza rushed towards me as if she was charging. She was holding out her arms, and ㅡWhoosh! I immediately grabbed her hands and spun her around like a top.

“We won, we won! Our justice has shone!! It is the victory of the Holy Crusade!!!”
“Yes, we won, Eliza.”
“Holy One’s incredible feat!!! I watched it all!!! Even the Dark Great Beast was cut down with a single blow!!!”

Eliza was almost ecstatic.

“It was extremely sacred!!! Above all, he might be a being like a Demon King! Ah, to be alive and participate in the Holy Crusade with the Holy One and win! I am so moved!”
“Hahaha! Me too!!!”

ㅡSpin! Spin!

I spun around with Eliza enthusiastically and then let her go.

“Hey, what are you all doing!!”

As soon as I let Eliza go, the holy knights ran towards me. Then, they suddenly grabbed my body and lifted me up.

ㅡWhoosh!

Soon, my body floated up.

“Hooray for the Paladin!!!”
“You did a great job!!!”
“To think you would be this powerful!!”
“He defeated the Great Beast with one blow!!”

Is this a Divine Toss?
It was quite a pleasant sensation.

ㅡWaaaaaaaah!!

As I was being tossed, I thought.

Risha… Risha would know the identity of that guy named Dor. No, even she wouldn’t know everything he was trying to do. What was he aiming for? What was he trying to do by summoning Leviathan?

Could it be that the comrades he mentioned.
And the demon conquest armies that suddenly disappeared after the Idol War.

Could there be a connection?

Perhaps the Demon King, sensing defeat in the war, used a last resort to transcend time? Giving such orders to his trusted general, Dor.

This is…
I can’t just purely rejoice.

“Infernal!!!”

When I shouted, the toss stopped.
I need to find this out now.

“Please calm down for a moment!! He clearly said that he summoned that monster called Leviathan from Infernal!!!”
“Y-yes, he clearly did!”
“I heard it too!”
“Infernal, you say!!”

As I stood in place, the holy knights began to ponder. I asked them about the exact identity of Infernal, and they soon began to answer.

“As you all know, there are several worlds that we call Hell. Of course, this classification… is not based on a clear standard through thorough research in modern times, but simply uses what has been passed down since the Idol War.”

I already know that.

Eliza continued to explain.

“First, there is Pandemonium. As you all know, this is the world where demons live, and it is the most famous, and it is still invading this land. For example, everyone here knows that the Brass Celestial Army defeated Andromalius.”

At those words, everyone nodded.

“He also said he came from Pandemonium. But as the Holy Knight just explained, this is not the only world called Hell. There is also Infernal, which was just mentioned. And Abyss, Hell, and places called Abaddon.”

Besides Pandemonium, there are places called Infernal, Abyss, Hell, and Abaddon. Of course, their existence and characteristics have not been confirmed.

They are just using records that have been passed down since the Idol War.

No one knows exactly.

They don’t even know what the most famous Pandemonium is really like.

In my opinion, that place called Infernal seems to be a type of Otherworld. When you think about it, those monsters that appeared in the Otherworld Palace. In a way, they could also be called demons. If that’s the case, did that Monster King also come from Infernal?

People from the pre-Idol War era, who enjoyed the peak of technology, would have classified Hell in detail because they could figure out where such visitors came from. But humans in the modern era do not have such technology. So, they may have collectively called it `Otherworld`.

“To try to summon such a Great Beast from Infernal… Perhaps he was just trying to confuse us with nonsense.”
“That’s right!! It’s what a Demon King would say! We must not believe it carelessly!!”
“His words are not worth listening to!!!”

As soon as Eliza finished her explanation, the holy knights began to share their opinions.

“Wait a moment! He clearly called himself a demon!”
“I heard it too!!!”
“Of course, we must doubt that too! In fact, he could be a demon from Pandemonium and lied about being a demon from the Demon Realm!!!”
“Then the existence of the minotaurs doesn’t make sense.”

This is…

There are so many places called other worlds that it’s too chaotic.

“Calm down! There’s no need for us to fight among ourselves! Haven’t we just won the Holy Crusade!!!”

ㅡGah!!!

I scolded the excited holy knights.

“T-the Paladin is right…!”
“Old age makes you meddlesome, meddlesome…! Calm down a bit!”
“I’m so ashamed!”

Unexpectedly, they calmed down immediately.
I immediately organized the situation.

“Let’s try to organize the situation. He introduced himself as Dor of the demons. Let’s put aside whether it’s a lie or not and think about it that way for now.”

Dor is a demon, but only Risha, Claudia, and I know that, so I can’t say it properly.

“Dor of the demons… was sealed here?”
“Is he perhaps the Demon King of the demons?”
“A Demon King from the Demon Realm… There is no record of that name. Of course, records of the demons themselves are very rare. There may be believers who consider the Demon Realm absurd.”
“But what about the evil god Gothmotra? An evil god who was active during the Idol War? I’ve never heard of him before.”

Opinions are exchanged.

“Anyway, we don’t know about those things. Anyway, this Dor of the demons tried to open a dimensional gate and summon a Great Beast called Leviathan from a place called Infernal. Of course, I killed him in one shot, but he clearly said that the lamp on that guy’s head would guide his comrades.”
“…”

Silence descended for a moment.
They must have recognized the seriousness.

“Could it be that he can summon the demons?”
“But the Paladin killed him within seconds of his appearance. If he could guide them with such a short signal, there would be no need to use such a cumbersome method. He could just turn it on for a moment.”

I agree with that opinion.
I dealt with it quickly, so there shouldn’t be a big problem.

“Anyway, to summarize only the facts, that’s all there is. There is a possibility that he lied to confuse us, but it is not right to only think about that and not prepare.”
“The Holy One is right!!!”
“Yes! That makes sense! Perhaps that Dor!! The seed of the demons may have used a trick!!”
“Fortunately, we stopped it… but we don’t know about the future!”

The holy knights shouted each.

Even though I only listed the facts, they can speculate to this extent.
I can finish this matter like this.

“Anyway, let’s celebrate the victory now!!!”

Vice Commander Jaynant shouted.

“That’s right…! That’s what we should do!!”
“Okay, okay! Then let’s just deploy the guard force and have a time of holy prayer!”
“That’s a great idea!!!”
“Let’s pray! And pray again!!”

Let’s praise the victory for a while.