Inside the hell passage—
Marcus walked through the tunnel, the tearing aura formed by his Maim ability continuously cutting down surrounding demons.
The Tigris in his hands spat flame after flame. As demons fell one by one, the power of decay accumulated on Marcus's body grew more intense.
"Earth's pull on hell is really something. Just this small passage is drawing in so many demons."
The lesser devils were manageable—not too difficult for humans to handle—but those larger, more powerful demons were beyond what ordinary people could fight.
As he spoke, the Tigris spewed flames again, striking a demon with a massive eye in its mouth.
The body was instantly blasted through, then turned to black mist and dissipated under the cutting force of decay.
Facing the endless stream of demons, Marcus began a wholesale slaughter as he strode toward the hell realm on the other side of the passage.
As he continued advancing, vast numbers of demons died under the tearing aura formed by his power. He didn't know how much destructive energy had accumulated on his body. This power completely enveloped his form—from a distance, he looked like a walking disaster that brought death to everything.
"So you're the strong one on the other side? No wonder you can suppress my power," a horned demon observed the growing force of decay and murmured. "However, my strength in hell won't be like it was in that passage."
All demons drew their power from hell itself, and a high-level demon like him would be greatly enhanced within hell's realm.
Even if Marcus could fight him on Earth, here in hell, Marcus was definitely not his match.
As soon as those words left his mouth, raging flames ignited in the horned demon's hands, and the surrounding lesser demons died instantly, turning into streamers of light that flew into his palms.
"Worthless scum—the only value of your existence is to become material for spellcasting."
The demon looked around at the lesser devils who'd fallen to the ground, being trampled into paste by the following horde, and spoke with a disgusted expression.
Soon the souls of thousands of lesser demons were gathered in his hands. Watching as more souls continued flowing toward him, this demon aimed at Marcus, who was radiating destructive power.
A streak of black energy spread from the flames. Terrifying fire erupted from his body, and even the area around him was completely transformed into a churning pool of lava.
The devil swallowed the flame that had condensed countless souls, and his body suddenly began to swell, cracks appearing all across his form.
Hot magma flowed from the fissures, and the demon now looked like a massive lava monster.
"Let the flames burn everything!!!"
Accompanied by the lava demon's roar, magma shot skyward, rushing toward Marcus like a flood.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The magma swept forward, and demons caught in its path were swallowed by the lava, making the molten tide even larger.
This earth-shattering scene was naturally visible to Marcus. Faced with such a display, his expression didn't change at all.
When he'd entered the hell tunnel, he'd already anticipated this situation. Never mind controlling lava—even if his opponent was manipulating mountains to attack, he wouldn't be surprised.
"Finally showing yourself? Perfect—saves me from having to hunt you down."
Looking at the approaching magma, Marcus smiled and reached to his waist, where two silver amplitude crystals appeared in his hand.
North Wind
These were amplitude crystals that bestowed freezing damage on melee weapons. Facing the sweeping high-temperature magma, nothing was more suitable than this sub-zero enhancement.
The Tigris transformed into an energy blade in his hand, and in a blink, the amplitude crystal fused with the energy blade, countless ice crystals spreading from the weapon.
Then he raised his hand to catch the returning War Blade, and the other amplitude crystal also fused with it, covering the weapon in ice crystals.
Marcus hurled the War Blade toward the magma while swinging the energy blade to cut down demons.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
With continuous strikes from the energy blade, large numbers of demons were chopped to pieces, turning into countless frozen fragments that fell to the ground.
BOOM!!!
The moment the War Blade flew over the magma, it released an energy explosion under Marcus's control.
Frozen energy spread outward, instantly solidifying the viscous molten rock.
In just an instant, the rolling magma was replaced by solid stone that had been frozen solid and radiated waves of cold air.
"Not bad."
Seeing the effect caused by the War Blade's explosion, Marcus nodded appreciatively, and the energy in his energy blade suddenly surged wildly.
Under Marcus's horizontal slash, the surging power transformed into sword energy wrapped in terrifying cold air that flew toward the magma.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sword energy plunged into the magma, splitting it in two. Everything the blade passed through turned to solid rock.
Marcus, who had fought his way through the demon horde, jumped up when he saw the magma that had turned to stone due to the freezing temperature.
"There you are!"
After landing on the magma-turned-rock, Marcus spotted the lava demon in the distance that had been controlling the molten attack.
Pushing hard off the stone, Marcus flew toward the lava demon like a cannonball.
Along the way, he periodically caught the returning War Blade and hurled it with force, constantly creating frozen stones he could step on to maintain his rapid advance.
Seeing that his magma hadn't stopped Marcus, the lava demon ceased controlling the molten rock and instead pulled a giant hammer, also made of lava, from the surrounding pool.
"Die!!!"
With the swing of the giant lava hammer in the demon's hands, surrounding magma erupted like fountains, wrapping around the weapon as it slammed down toward Marcus with devastating force.
BOOM!!!
The terrifying giant hammer engulfed Marcus with countless streams of lava. The moment it struck the ground, the earth began to churn, turning the surrounding area into a lake of molten rock.
"Good power, but unfortunately... too slow!"
Following that voice, a frozen sword energy shot out from the air, and Marcus's figure reappeared.
Seeing that his attack hadn't harmed Marcus surprised the lava demon greatly. After spotting the frozen sword energy, the creature's body shook, and the surrounding lava erupted, forming a molten curtain to block the ice attack.
The frozen lava turned to rock and sank into the lava pool along with the molten stone, and Marcus appeared directly in front of the lava demon.
"So you're the one preventing me from closing the passage."
Marcus spoke in a cold voice, and the power of decay on his body erupted.
Maim
Several blue energy lines appeared in Marcus's hand, and the moment he pulled them taut, the destructive power that had accumulated on his body spread out instantly.
The force of decay condensed from slaughtering countless demons immediately acted on every part of the lava demon's body.
This terrifying destructive power made the lava demon's form begin collapsing rapidly—even the lava giant hammer in its hands instantly turned to powder and dissipated completely in the molten pool.