The Novel’s Villain

59. Underworld Conquerors (3)

Hercules exuded extreme heroism. He was dressed in rough-looking leather armor with a bow strapped to his back and a club in his hand, which complemented his stout, muscular body quite well.

He was so huge Jin-woo had to crane his neck back to stare him in the eye.

He wasn’t just big and strong.

Hercules was also the greatest hero to ever exist.

‘Kim Gun-joo had grown, but…’

He was already ranked S, the highest rank avatars could reach. Since his physique, mana, and skills all ranked similarly, it seemed impossible to defeat Hercules. They had too many differences in terms of physical specifications alone.

If Jin-woo insisted he was just as human as Hercules, he could fight with his actual body, but he didn’t want to. He wanted true victory, one that wasn’t tainted by foul tactics. That way, Persephone wouldn’t be able to say anything about it.

Hercules looked confident.

As a hero and the son of Zeus, he accomplished legendary feats. The god of gods decided to impregnate Alcmene to create the best hero in the first place. He didn’t even care that she had a husband.

Jin-woo shook his head.

He found it really stupid.

“It’s better for you to surrender. I am a trial that you will never be able to overcome.”

“You don’t look that strong.”

“Quite cheeky, aren’t you?”

His words made Hercules’s eyebrows twitch. He had never even thought of being defeated since he had always been the strongest.

His participation apparently wasn’t part of Persephone’s original plan, but he still came after she changed her mind and requested his presence. Jin-woo wasn’t as lenient as they thought, though. He had to make them pay the price for breaking the rules.

He observed and surveyed Hercules. He seemed like he’d make for a pretty decent worker, considering his size and strength. Since he was a god, he was basically immortal. That meant he could be used for as many experiments as needed.

It would be best to send him to Prof. Kim Dae-jin to help him and Radius with their work.

“Why don’t we have a bet of our own?” Jin-woo asked.

“What bet?”

“The defeated must become the victor’s slave.”

“Slave…”

Hercules was quite closely related to the word slave.

He served King Eurystheus for twelve years during his lifetime, accomplishing twelve tasks. After that, he became a slave to Queen Omphale for three years.

He glared at Jin-woo.

“How dare you mention slavery in front of me?!” His face flushed with anger. He initially planned on going easy on him, but not anymore.

“You must be punished for angering god!”

“Come at me, but you better prepare yourself.”

An intense aura roared out of Hercules. It seemed similar to divine power.

When the referee signaled the start of the battle, Hercules swiftly raised his club, another weapon Hephaestus forged. Various gods also endowed it with their powers.

It had a fairly high rank, but it didn’t catch Jin-woo’s interest. The upgrades from Sci-Fi World were much better than Hephaestus’s creations. Even the beam sword was far superior to it.

“It’s time to test your skills.”

Hercules swung his gigantic club with great haste, causing a shockwave strong enough to crack the floor.

Jin-woo could barely avoid his attack, and that was only the beginning. His onslaught began to speed up even more. The moment it became fast enough to be unavoidable, he started using his sword to block each offensive.

Quang!

Still, each of his swings had so much force they still sent him flying, tearing apart the skin on his arm and causing him to bleed. If his weapon had been subpar, he would probably have sustained critical damage.

Hercules looked at Jin-woo with a slightly surprised expression, perhaps because he didn’t expect it to last this much.

He glared right back while waving his numb arm. “Um, are you okay?”

Despite the crisis he was in, he remained calm and relaxed.

“Playtime’s over.”

Hercules masterfully equipped his bow, nocked an arrow, pulled its bowstring, and released it.

Just deflecting it caused Jin-woo’s sword to crack, instantly making him regret his action a bit. It was such a waste of a great weapon.

Whoi! Quang!

Nevertheless, it still hit his shoulder, the shockwave of the impact sweeping and shattering the arena, causing dust to rise to the sky. Due to its power, its effects were more akin to a missile than to an arrow.

It smashed his armor to pieces, but it at least kept his avatar unharmed. Wearing high-grade items truly did pay off.

Hercules lowered his bow.

“Both your weapon and armor have been rendered useless. I commend you for holding out this long against me, but this is my victory.”

Jin-woo glanced at Hades and Persephone. Their reactions contrasted each other, with Hades clasping his hands together in desperation and Persephone standing up with clenched fists, clearly certain of her victory.

Hood!

Jin-woo brushed off the remaining fragments of armor attached to his body, then dropped the half-broken sword on the ground. Despair devoured Hades’s expression at that moment, taking his actions as a form of surrender.

But that wasn’t it at all.

“I’m sorry, but I have something even better.”

In New World, Kim Gun-joo suffered from multiple restrictions since he was a celebrity. Here, he was free from such limitations.

The Underworld Conquerors already knew his true identity, too.

When Jin-woo stretched out his hand to the side, One-Handed Swordsman grinned.

“He’s finally using that, huh?”

“Oh, hey. Our leader finally decided to take this seriously.”

“He’ll turn that musclehead to minced meat.”

“Fufufu, I’m looking forward to this.”

Jin-woo didn’t really want to make this grand, but he felt obliged to. Kim Gun-joo was the leader of the Underworld Conquerors, after all.

All he had to do was withdraw what he needed from his subspace, but he knew how important the directing was for this moment. Hence, he created a magic circle on the floor and released Kim Gun-joo’s blue mana first.

Hercules faltered, forcing him to step away.

“H-Hercules! What are you doing? Attack him now!” Persephone, witnessing the scene, shouted anxiously.

Jin-woo simply smiled bitterly. After finding out about her situation, she was no longer as despicable as before.

Hercules charged at him, only to stop abruptly when something huge appeared from the space that opened above the magic circle.

As it fell on top of him, he hurriedly jumped back to avoid it.

Boosh!

A huge black object landed on the ground, causing a thick layer of dust to rise.

“That’s… the Dark Emperor, a planet-destroying weapon.” One-Handed Swordsman spoke lowly.

With it, Jin-woo would be able to exert strength that far exceeded his avatar’s limitations.

“What in Zeus’s name is that?” Persephone asked, clearly bewildered by the Dark Emperor’s majestic appearance covered in dark red mana particles.

She gulped and trembled, her fear swallowing her alive. Just looking at it made her feel as if her body was slowly being paralyzed. Even Hercules couldn’t help but look at it nervously.

Shooosh!

Jin-woo boarded it as soon as its cockpit opened.

Jiying!

Infusing it with mana, it began to move.

[The Dark Emperor has been activated.]

[Welcome, Great Emperor. I am Darky, in charge of the Dark Emperor’s system. I am here to help you control it through a direct connection.]

“Good to know.”

It stood up, revealing its full size to be much larger than Hercules. Compared to it, he looked like a dwarf.

More importantly, it had clearly been upgraded.

“Let’s go.”

The Dark Emperor began to move.

Despite its large size, it was incredibly fast. Hercules couldn’t even keep up with it.

Its fists stretched forward.

[Dark Sphere activated.]

Its arm guards opened, causing red mana particles to gush out and turn into a huge spear.

“Ugh!”

Jin-woo struck his opponent, pushing him back.

Hercules used the club as support, preventing himself from falling. He gritted his teeth. Blood flowed from his mouth as he was enveloped in so much pain he felt as if his entire physique was being crushed.

The Dark Emperor stretched its arm sidewards, unsheathing a huge beam sword from a subspace, its dark red color seemingly symbolizing ruin and destruction.

Wheeik!

When their weapons collided, Hercules’s club burned down. The beam sword easily cut cleanly through it.

Hephaestus and other gods helped in its creation, but it was nothing but plastic in front of the beam sword’s overwhelming power.

Shocked, Hercules retreated away from it and raised his bow, shooting as many arrows as he could.

[Mana Shield Energy: 4.64%]

[Expect more mana shield damage due to insufficient mana supply.]

[Protection system activated.]

The Dark Emperor’s shoulder opened, launching a red beam that shot down all the incoming projectiles, melting them out of existence.

“Wow!”

Hercules dropped his bow and ran towards him instead when his ranged attacks didn’t work, engaging in melee combat.

Grappling with each other, they entered a power struggle.

Koo!

Hercules’s legs dug deep into the ground.

“You’re amazing.” Jin-woo admired his powers, which lived up to his high rank. He was strong enough to be labeled an Emperor.

[I have finished scanning your opponent’s body. After he sustains a certain amount of damage in his current state, he’ll become moribund.]

“That’s great.”

Since he wouldn’t die no matter how much he attacked him, Jin-woo no longer had any reason to hold back.

The Dark Emperor threw Hercules away, causing him to crash against the arena wall at great speed.

He thought it would be better to end this bout splendidly, feeling the need to completely imprint the Underworld Conquerors’ image in Persephone and the other gods watching.

He’d be going to the World of Gods in the future, after all.

Jin-woo cast a spell, summoning a being to the underworld.

Quaggagaga!

Black flames soared outside the arena. The Black Flame Dragon appeared soon after.

[Inducing coalescence.]

It merged with the Dark Emperor, creating the Dark Flame Emperor. It had been quite a while since he last saw it.

When its huge wings spread, Persephone sank and collapsed.

“That’s just too much.”

She couldn’t even begin to explain how she felt.

Even Hades blanked out, finding the scene that unfolded beyond his ability to understand.

Black air currents erupted from the Dark Flame Emperor.

‘It’s time to finish this.’

Kim Gun-joo wouldn’t be able to maintain its current form for prolonged periods of time since it was tailored according to the Great Emperor’s specifications.

It stretched its arm forward, its gauntlet opening to let black mana surge in front of it. Just as Hercules got out of the wall he had been buried in, Jin-woo fired the huge beam he had been charging up at him.

Quaggagaga!

The ground quaked and the arena crumbled as the impact caused a huge explosion.

“Ugh!”

“Damn!”

The shockwave was so powerful it blew away Hades and Persephone.

The beam hit Hercules, then spewed out into the air, destroying a part of the tower and creating a huge hole in the sky. All the warriors staying in the Tower of Hades looked at the scene in utter confusion.

[Mana: 0%. Dark Flame Emperor has stopped functioning.

[Fusion terminated.]

Jin-Woo got off the robot, returned it to his subspace, and looked around.

The colossal arena had completely disappeared, and the referee that was supposed to make the final decision remained stunned.

As expected, it was difficult to control the Dark Flame Emperor using Kim gun-joo.

Hercules now looked translucent, having entered a state of moribundity.

They didn’t even need the referee’s verdict to confirm this as Jin-woo’s victory at this point.

“Oh?”

He found Persephone lying amid the rubble with Hades right on top of her. He was holding on desperately, trying his best not to fall onto her.

“Ugh!”

On the other hand, Persephone just stared blankly at him.

Smiling, Jin-woo snapped his fingers.

“Ugh!”

“Ah!”

Wreckage dropped down on Hades, leaving their bodies pinned against each other.

They looked quite great together in their own way.

* * *

Jin-woo logged out of his avatar, returned to the arena, and gave the Underworld Conquerors free time since they wanted to visit the Tower of Hades. It was an opportunity for them to popularize strange fashion in the underworld.

[Hercules has become the Great Emperor’s slave.]

He sent Hercules to Prof. Kim Dae-jin immediately. He should prove much more useful than Radius and his warriors. That caused an uproar in Olympus, but he couldn’t care less.

He approached the pile of debris that kept Hades and Persephone together.

“J-Jin-woo! Help me!” Hades cried, looking at him with pleading eyes.

“Give me the operating rights of the underworld first.” He smiled.

Persephone handed it over to Hades, who then transferred it to him.

[You have conquered the underworld! The underworld now belongs to the Sanctuary!]

[The Tower of Hades is now known as the Tower of The Great Emperor.]

[Hades’s power has now been absorbed by the Great Emperor, who now owns its source!]

[You have conquered all twelve Emperors!]

‘Finally.’

Jin-woo stretched out his hand, grabbing the black shards that appeared. As a reward for completing his quest, he was given the Demon Fragments.

Unleashing the power of domination, he absorbed them and put them under his control.

[You have absorbed the Demon Fragments!

[A large amount of experience has been acquired. Breaking through your limits, your rank has risen significantly.]

Finally reaching SSS+, his physique adjusted accordingly, providing him the necessary physical abilities to fully maximize his newly unlocked potential.

As a result, Jin-woo had turned into the closest being to becoming the Devil.

All he had to do was absorb the fragments.

‘If I absorb all of the Demon Fragments…’

He had no idea how strong he would become.

Jin-woo was now capable of entering the World of Gods, the place where the rest of the Devil’s powers were sealed.

He wasn’t all that unfamiliar with it. He had met Hades, Persephone, and even Hercules, after all.

“Are you done?” Hades asked cautiously. When Jin-woo nodded in reply, his eyes began to beg him to free him.

Hades was weak and didn’t have the strength to lift the wreckage. Persephone might be able to, but she chose to silently wallow in his arms instead.

“I can’t move. I think I’ll have to stay like this for quite a while.” She said, her ears burning red.

Looking at them, Jin-woo thought they would make quite a good couple.

For Hades’s sake, he ignored his earnest gaze. They had to clear up the misunderstanding between them, and the best way to do that was for them to spend time with each other to have a serious conversation about their relationship rather than for him to intervene himself.

Even on Earth, many couples refused to communicate with their partners properly.

“I think it would be better for you two to talk sincerely first.”

“Huh?”

“Well, I’ll see you in four weeks.”

“H-Hey! Wait!”

They were gods. Leaving them alone for that long should be alright. Jin-woo grabbed the large debris beside him and covered them with it, giving them privacy to focus on each other more.

‘If they can’t resolve their misunderstanding in four weeks…’

He thought of locking them up together until they did.