MDPS 21

Episode 21

My Dark History Is Too Strong 

50th Floor (4)

On the way to the corridor.

The narrow passage stretched on until it opened into a wide chamber.

From that central space branched out several paths.

There were five in total.

Only one of them led to the corridor.

Cross that path, and you enter the corridor—secure the key inside, and then it’s straight to the boss battle.

Which means, preparations had to be finished before the fighting began.

“Caligo.”

“Yes, Sage!”

“Take this artifact.”

“Oh! The Holy Grail, is it?”

“It suits you well.”

Among my summons, Caligo was the only one who possessed non-combat skills.

Which meant this artifact could only be used by him.

“Let’s move. Beyond this passage lies the corridor that leads to the Audience Chamber.”

“Overwhelming gratitude, Sage!”

The Corridor of Blood would soon be a battlefield.

They would desperately try to stop me from reaching the Audience Chamber.

But strangely, I felt no tension.

《You are entering the Corridor of Blood.》

Because right now, inside this place were Lucifer and his subordinates.

* * *

The Corridor of Blood was nothing less than a gallery of terror and madness.

Endless red pillars stretched from ceiling to floor, resembling a forest drenched in blood.

‘Right, this is how it was. Disgusting, even after so long.’

The air in the corridor was suffocatingly heavy, sticky.

The stench of blood stung my nose, and the ground squelched wet beneath every step.

And ahead, countless soldiers formed their lines.

Clearly, they had dragged their entire force here in panic.

Surveying the area, Hertia spoke.

“Master, as expected, the door to the Audience Chamber is not visible. A trick, surely.”

“Indeed.”

The entrance to the Audience Chamber was, of course, hidden.

To reveal it, a gimmick had to be solved—three statues at the center of the corridor, each standing with empty hands.

The task: place the correct weapon in each statue’s grip.

Fail to find the right weapons among the countless held by those soldiers, and a penalty would be inflicted. A vicious trap.

“Hert.”

“You called.”

“Kill the archer captain at the center, the one with the golden trim. Take his weapon. Once secured, throw Iron into the spearmen.”

“…Yes!”

For me, this was hardly difficult.

Next orders followed seamlessly.

“Caligo, you and Temina take the head of the swordsman captain in the front line.”

“Heh, just what I was waiting for!”

The moment my command fell, all four summons charged into battle at once.

Hertia led the assault.

Ssshhhhh—

With my order, she raised a finger.

The air quivered, and a black shroud spread like mist from her body.

A faint smile curved her lips.

“Let’s play hide-and-seek.”

Snap—!

The black mist spread among the soldiers, swallowing the light and blotting out their sight.

Bodies vanished one by one into the fog without even a scream.

The archer captain, panicked, raised his glowing bow, trying to draw attention to himself.

But when he tried to command his men, his body would not move.

Watching his fear, Hertia smiled.

“Pitiful.”

She directed threads of the shroud, piercing straight through his heart.

“Khugh!”

“Offer it. My master desires your bow.”

A violet-black flame surged down the threads, burrowing into his chest.

Without resistance, the archer captain fell.

Thud!

《Gatekeeper Archer Captain has fallen with a fatal wound.》

The death of their commander sent shock through the ranks.

With no clear orders, they faltered, and Hertia moved first.

Snap!

A storm of swirling darkness tore through clustered soldiers, grinding them apart.

“Uaaaghhh!”

“Haha! What lovely screams. But I shouldn’t indulge too much.”

Her eyes sharpened.

Stretching out a hand, she used the artifact’s power to hurl Iron toward the end of the corridor.

Iron rushed forward like a cannonball.

“R-run! Get out of the way!!”

He plowed through swordsmen, smashing straight into the spearmen’s formation.

They leveled their spears to defend, but the moment the tips touched him, the steel bent.

Kwaaang!

He charged straight until slamming into the far wall, only then stopping.

So much heat radiated from him that the very blood on the floor boiled into steam.

“Kyaaahhh!”

Terrified, the soldiers scrambled back.

Before them, their captain lay broken like pulp, his body shattered.

《Gatekeeper Spearman Captain has perished without escaping ‘Shock’ status.》

Meanwhile, Caligo slipped through the front ranks, heading straight for the swordsman captain.

“Hahaha! A perfect chance to test my new power!”

Green flasks scattered from his hand, arcing through the air.

“Shower time!”

Temina’s bullets struck them midair, bursting them open.

Fwooshhh—

Toxic liquid rained down on the swordsman captain and his men.

Ssszzzzzt—

Armor and flesh alike melted, fusing together.

“Uwaaaghh! My body!!”

The corrosive venom seeped deeper, eating into lungs and organs.

“Ghhkk…!”

One by one, they collapsed foaming blood.

The captain, in rage and terror, glared at Caligo.

“Ahaha! Don’t be bitter. The foes you meet in the future will die far more painfully than you!”

Amidst fire, rot, and screams, Oh Hyunwoo strode calmly toward the statues.

His summons brought the collected weapons.

“The bow.”

“Yes, Great One.”

Creak.

“The spear.”

“Y-yes…!”

Clack.

“The sword.”

“Here, Sage!”

Thunk.

Once each statue held its rightful weapon, they rotated with a grinding rumble, then rose, transforming into a spiral staircase leading upward—to the Audience Chamber.

Rrrumble…

Caligo trembled with excitement.

“At last, the Audience Chamber! I can’t wait to see how long the next specimen survives!”

“The so-called king we’re going to face is a usurper. We’re not here for your amusement.”

I glanced back at Hertia and Caligo, who were already bickering again, and quietly said:

“Let’s go. You can argue after the battle.”

* * *

50th Floor Audience Chamber

Barg trembled with unease.

The crimson air of the Audience Chamber, which usually magnified his majesty, now felt ominous.

“Could it be…”

The thought slipped off his tongue.

“…Lucifer has returned?”

Lucifer—the demon he had feared above all in his long life.

He still remembered the agony when his eight legs were torn away in the vortex of hell where Lucifer’s crimson wings raged.

‘If not for my master, I’d have been finished then.’

It was Carmar de Labl, the Creator, who resurrected him after Lucifer tore him apart.

Without that grace, he would have vanished like dust, like the rest.

But the fear of that time still coiled deep inside him.

“…No. Lucifer is gone.”

Barg tried to steady himself.

‘This isn’t the same world as then. That demon couldn’t have followed me here!’

Yet the suffocating dread would not leave him.

Even if he tried to dismiss the intruder as ‘just another adventurer,’ fear gnawed at him.

At that moment—

Bang!

The chamber doors burst open, and a commander rushed in, frantic.

Barg was taken aback.

“Why are you here? I ordered you to kill those intruders in the Corridor!”

The commander shook, bowing low.

“F-forgive me! The battle in the Corridor is over, I came to report…”

“What? Ah, so they were nothing special after all. You’ve done well.”

For a brief instant, Barg felt relief.

After all, the corridor had housed hundreds of his best troops—elites of the tower.

For the fight to end in less than ten minutes must mean his worries were needless.

But the commander’s next words twisted Barg’s face.

“…It’s the opposite! The corridor’s forces are annihilated! The enemy is now heading here, to the Audience Chamber!”

“W-what!?”

His voice shook violently.

“Hundreds were stationed there! Stronger than the archives’ forces! Annihilated—how!? Who are they!?”

The commander’s face twisted in horror.

“The enemy is… i-it’s, gghhkk—!”

But he never finished.

He convulsed, violet-black flames erupting from within, and exploded into blood.

Splatter—

As Barg stood dumbfounded, too shocked to even wipe the blood from his face—

Clack…

The sound of heels echoed through the chamber.

A woman in a black dress strolled in, stretching lazily as if bored.

“So this is the Audience Chamber? Filthy.”

She wrinkled her nose.

“Well, I suppose… it suits a king of insects.”

Following her came a red-haired man, chuckling.

“Even insects can be useful in my experiments. Especially vampire spawn. Don’t you agree, Barg?”

The Witch of the End, Hertia. The Liberator of Death, Caligo.

Faces Barg could never forget.

‘Damn it… damn it!’

Still, he forced down his trembling.

This wasn’t the worst-case yet.

The Seven Deadly Sins were eternal rivals, forever at each other’s throats.

Without a unifying core, there was always room to exploit.

He steadied his breath, then sneered.

“…The Witch of the End and the Liberator of Death, together? What an amusing sight.”

He curled his lips into a vile grin.

“Did you know, Hertia? Caligo once—”

“Enough.”

Hertia cut him off flatly.

“I’ve no time for your petty provocations. Soon, He will arrive.”

“He…?”

Barg’s heart seized.

‘Someone she calls Him… Could it be—!? No, impossible!’

Then, a man stepped forth, holding a red parasol, with a towering golem at his side.

His face was unfamiliar, but his aura unmistakable.

The man spoke slowly, voice gentle—yet terribly familiar.

“Long time no see.”

With a soft smile, he greeted him.

At that instant, Barg knew.

That demon resided in this man’s body.

The Lord of Pandemonium. Master of Ten Thousand Demons. The Undefeated.

“Lucifer…”

The nightmare of vampires had truly returned.