Player who Returned 10,000 years Later

Lilith…

She was one of KangWoo's most loyal underlings along with Balrog back when he was in Hell.

If Balrog was as strong as an archduke, Lilith was capable of eliminating the army of the archdukes with all sorts of illusions and restricting abilities.

Illusion and controlling-type magics…

Lilith was stronger than KangWoo in those two fields.

Since she was also very intelligent, she was the one in charge of administrating the demon king's army.

And…

'Officially,' she was KangWoo's wife.

'Fuck.'

When KangWoo arrived in the 9th hell and was growing his forces along with Balrog, he was once ambushed by Archduke Satan, and half of his forces had ended up dying.

KangWoo was almost defeated then. After all, the archdukes were so strong that they used to say they couldn't kill each other because of that.

The one who saved him was Lilith, who had the title of Hell's prettiest woman.

'Prettiest woman?'

Thinking about those tentacles made him curse.

Lilith, who was struggling because of Archduke Asmodeus's tiresome proposals, joined KangWoo's forces.

From KangWoo's point of view, the beauty of Lilith was incomprehensible, but Lilith was capable of seducing any demon.

Thanks to the demons that followed her, KangWoo's forces became even bigger than before. Thanks to her, he overcame the crisis and kept battling against the archdukes.

After that, she started to have strong feelings toward him while fighting alongside KangWoo against the archdukes.

The demons that followed her wanted her love to become a reality, and because of that, KangWoo was forced to marry her.

Since most of KangWoo's forces followed Lilith as much as him, he couldn't ignore her.

'Damn.'

Thinking about the time he was married gave him chills.

Lilith had tried to sneak into his bedroom every single night, and he struggled because of her tentacles every day, so he had tried to escape as much as he could.

Those horrible days came to an end when he was able to put an end to the war and return to Earth.

'I don't want to go back to those days.'

He clenched his fists.

No, Lilith being summoned in that situation could bring a worse result than those days.

KangWoo didn't have the strength to escape from Lilith at the moment.

Although he'd grown at a faster pace than anyone else, he still wasn't as strong as demons like Balrog or Lilith.

If Lilith was summoned to Earth, he could be devoured by her.

'How were they able to summon Lilith?'

KangWoo couldn't understand it.

It was true that they had summoned Oriax from the 7th hell and Amducias from the 8th hell. Even though they had succeeded in doing that, summoning someone from the 9th hell wasn't as easy as it sounded.

Lilith was one of the strongest demons in the 9th hell.

She couldn't be compared to beings like Oriax or Amducias.

'So the Gaia System has weakened this much?'

It was a desperate situation.

The situation was worse than he had initially thought.

If great demons like Lilith began appearing on Earth, the current state of humanity wouldn't be able to win against them.

"Just like HwaYeon said, you're a young man with a strong sense of justice."

Jang HyunJae smiled satisfyingly.

It seemed like he'd misunderstood KangWoo's shout.

Chae YeonJoo looked at KangWoo suspiciously.

'Why are you so desperate?' It was as if she were asking him that.

KangWoo didn't answer. It wasn't important if she'd misunderstood something or not.

"First, could you tell me about Japan's current situation…?" KangWoo asked in a low voice.

Jang HyunJae told him that Japan's situation was in such a bad state that they had even asked for Korea's help.

He had also heard something else about the incident.

"Oof. Please don't tell this to anyone else."

Jang YeonJae sighed.

He looked at Chae YeonJoo, Baek HwaYeon, Goo HyunMo, and KangWoo. The four of them nodded.

"The Demon Cult has kidnaped Kurosaki Yurie."

"Kurosaki Yurie?"

It was the first time he had heard that name.

Except for KangWoo, the faces of the other three people turned pale after hearing that name.

"Ku-Kurosaki Yurie?!"

"Hey, old man, are you serious?"

"Please explain it to me…"

KangWoo poked Chae YeonJoo.

Chae YeonJoo looked at him as if she were asking if he really didn't know who it was. She bit her lips.

"The maiden of the skies… It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she's currently the spiritual support of the Japanese people."

"Oh, that's interesting, but why is she the spiritual support instead of Fujimoto Ryoma?"

"There are many reasons… but her social status is no joke."

"Her social status?"

Chae YeonJoo nodded.

"She's the granddaughter of the Emperor."

"…"

* * *

The Emperor…

He was more like a symbolic figure in Japan and had almost no real influence.

No, in the modern era, you could say that even that symbolic figure was starting to lose influence.

But for the past five years, after Japan's situation quickly changed, that 'symbolic' figure regained importance.

Japan suffered more damage during the Cataclysmic Day five years past than Korea had.

There was one reason for that…

The SS-rank gate that opened in Hokkaido.

The strong monsters that appeared from that gate had almost destroyed the entire country.

The situation improved after players appeared, but despite that, Hokkaido was still a forbidden area.

The country was in a bad situation, so the Japanese people began asking the Emperor to do more for the country.

“Since we're struggling so much, nobles should do whatever they can,” is what most people thought.

The one who took a step forward in that situation was the granddaughter of the Emperor, Kurosaki Yurie.

She was able to prevent the worst situation. She had not only asked for help from foreign players but also fully supported Japanese players.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Japan was able to overcome the crisis thanks to Kurosaki Yurie.

The people from the country loved her.

Many people said that the Emperor should step down and she should take his place.

Chae YeonJoo's 'spiritual support' was a correct way to describe her.

"Hmm… But why is she called the Maiden of the Skies?"

"Oh, that's because of her Attribute. Although she isn't a world ranker like Fujimoto Ryoma, she's still quite strong."

"What's her ability?"

"She… Can summon the spirits of the gods that appear in Japanese mythologies within her body."

"…"

KangWoo's eyes narrowed.

It was an ability so incredible that it wouldn't be weird if it were stronger than the Ten Thousand Demon Core.

Chae YeonJoo's explanation kept going on.

"I'm also not sure about the details, but it seems like she can only call out part of the god's strength."

That was obvious.

If she could call them with their full strength, she would've become the world's strongest instead of a world ranker.

"It seems like the weapon Fujimoto Ryoma is using, 'Susanoo's Eyes,' was created using Kurosaki Yurie's ability to call forth the gods."

"Hmm…"

KangWoo drooled a bit. He turned around to Jang HyunJae.

"Do you know why they've kidnapped the Maiden of the Skies?"

"No, I didn’t hear the reason. Why they took such a huge risk and kidnapped her… I guess that it's somehow related to summoning a demon."

"…"

KangWoo remained silent. He closed his eyes and thought.

There were many possibilities.

They had to figure out why they had done that.

'There must be a good reason.'

They wouldn't have kidnapped her for no reason—she was someone too important for that.

'Did they do that just to use her as an offering?'

KangWoo shook his head.

If they needed an offering, they wouldn't have kidnapped her.

'The power to copy a god's strength…'

KangWoo focused on her abilities.

If the Demon Cult had kidnapped Kurosaki Yurie, it was probably because of her ability.

"A god that appears in mythologies…" KangWoo mumbled in a low voice; it was as if he almost had a grasp of it.

He suddenly began thinking about the seven archdukes.

KangWoo's eyes shone.

"I see."

He finally understood.

Even when he’d been in hell, KangWoo had one doubt…

He was surprised when he first heard about the archdukes.

That was because they were the names of demons he had heard of.

Lucifer, Satan, Ball, Leviathan, Belphegor, Mamon, Asmodeus…

Those were all names he already knew.

If he thought about it, that made no sense.

If the Hell of Nine Skies was a world that wasn't related to Earth in any way, that wasn't something that could happen.

'If those names being transmitted as myths is because of the influence exercised by another world…'

Maybe those beings that appeared in myths were beings from another dimension.

If the gods that appeared in Japanese myths were beings that lived in another dimension…

The ability of Kurosaku Yurie could be described as this:

'The ability to summon the ability that a being of another dimension has.'

He was finally starting to organize the puzzle that was all scattered away.

If that was the case, he could understand Lilith's summoning.

'It wasn't that the Gaia System had suddenly weakened that much.'

It wasn't like it had become weak enough that they were able to summon Lilith, a great demon from the 9th hell.

The Demon Cult members had figured out the truth behind Kurosaki Yurie's abilities and were trying to use that to summon Lilith.

"Let's go to Japan."

KangWoo stood up.

Since Kurosaki Yurie had been kidnapped, it was a fight against time.

They had to save her as soon as possible and stop the summoning.

"You're overly enthusiastic. Okay, I'll gather the guild members…"

"No, you’ll probably have to go alone."

KangWoo turned around to Jang HyunJae after saying that.

"Right?"

"Oof… You're better than what I had heard."

"What do you mean…?"

"The Japanese government is trying to hide that the Maiden of the Skies has been kidnapped. They're probably going to announce it after they've saved her."

Considering Japan's current state, people would panic if they heard that the Maiden of the Skies had been kidnapped.

"We can't ask for large-scale support. If they could do that, they wouldn't have tried to gather people in such a secretive way."

The more people there were, the faster the rumor would spread.

"How many people can we bring?" KangWoo asked Jang HyunJae.

"Seven."

"It seems like we have space for two more."

Then he had a good candidate.

"Let's leave in 30 minutes. Is there a plane ready?"

"Yes, it's waiting at the airport."

"The airport is too far. Let's ask Echidna."

"Echidna…?"

Chae YeonJoo and Baek HwaYeon's faces turned pale after hearing her name.

"You control a dragon as a summoned monster…?"

He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

KangWoo ignored his question and took out his smartphone. They didn't have much time.

"I'll call her immediately, so wait for me in front of the base in about 30 minutes."

"W-wait. Do you even know where we have to go?"

KangWoo answered shortly at Jang HyunJae's flustered question.

A plan to summon a great demon from the 9th hell…

It wasn't hard to guess where such a thing would take place.

"Hokkaido. Since the SS-rank Gate appeared in Sapporo, the exact place is Hokkaido, Sapporo."

"Woah…"

Jang HyunJae was surprised.

It was the correct answer.