Chapter 347: Rule Breaker (5)

Kim Minwoo, having completely butchered the stagnant waters of the Demon Realm and returned, headed to the deepest part of his main base, the underground training ground.

In that enclosed space, Kim Minwoo opened his inventory.

Ttuk, degureureu.

A hideous body with all of its limbs cut off and two of its three heads burst open rolled on the floor. It was Baal, the 1st ranked Great Lord who had ruled the Demon Realm for thousands of years, or rather, who had now been reduced to mere livestock for producing elixirs.

“Keuk, keueueuk……!”

Baal opened his eyes while letting out a painful groan.

Before his eyes, Kim Minwoo, with Hell Rhapsody resting on his shoulder, and the Legion Commanders, spewing fierce murderous intent, were looking down at him.

“Oh, you're awake?”

Kim Minwoo crouched down and met Baal's eyes.

“Let's take care of the busy things first. The Lord's legacy. Where is the belt?”

“…….”

Baal's pupils rolled degureureu.

Even though his limbs were cut off and he was captured alive, he was a cunning demon to the bone.

The moment he was madly rolling a negotiation card in his head to somehow escape this situation and prolong his life.

“You're rolling your eyes.”

As soon as Kim Minwoo's chilling voice dropped…….

Ppaak―!

“Keuaaaak!”

Vulcan's kick mercilessly struck Baal's solar plexus.

“This bug-like bastard! Where do you think you're trying to roll your petty head!”

Cedric's spear shaft struck Baal's jaw, and Olivia's shoe heel trampled his remaining eye socket.

Peoeok! Kwajik! Jjeojeojeok!

“Aaak! W-wait! Stop! I will speak! I said I will speak!”

Negotiation?

Conditions?

A mere 10 seconds of beating was enough to realize that such things did not work.

Baal opened a subspace while shedding tears of blood.

Seureureuk. A belt made of black metal engraved with vein-like patterns fell into Kim Minwoo's hand.

[You have acquired the Girdle (Belt) of the Death Emperor!]

[You have collected the Death Lord's legacy! (4/10)]

[Girdle of the Death Emperor]

[Grade: Mythical.]

[A belt worn by a legendary ruler long ago. Maximizes the convenience and survival of the one who rules the legion of death.]

[Effect 1. All stats +200.]

[Effect 2. ‘Fortress of the Dead (Subspace)’ Activated ― Provides a nearly infinite subspace. When the undead legion is stored inside, the summoned state is permanently maintained without mana consumption, and their health and mana gradually recover.]

[Effect 3. Transfer of Death ― Upon the wearer receiving critical damage, 100% of the damage can be transferred to the undead group inside the subspace, destroying them instead. (Cooldown: 1 day)]

[Effect 4. ???]

[The true power of the girdle is still sealed. More powerful power might awaken if specific conditions are met.]

“Wow, crazy.”

Kim Minwoo's jaw dropped. In the game system, belts were treated as accessories that had the stingiest additional effects or stats among armor.

But all stats +200? A single piece of armor was pouring out numbers that far exceeded the total stats of an ordinary Awakened.

However, the real deal was the effects below that.

‘Fortress of the Dead, huh.’

Until now, a massive amount of mana was needed to command thousands, tens of thousands of skeletons and undead.

When a battle ended, he had to reverse-summon them, and when fighting again, he had to consume mana to summon them.

But now there was no need for that. By storing the once-summoned legion indefinitely in the belt's subspace, a 5-minute standby squad was completed, ready to pop out instantly at any time with ‘0’ mana consumption!

‘Even the cooldown for Transfer of Death is merely a day?’

It meant that even if he was in danger of getting stabbed or having his head blown off, a group of skeleton soldiers in the subspace would simply burst instead and that would be the end of it.

Even Ancient-grade necklaces that recovered 30% of health or the Death Emperor's Heart that saved him once if his heart was crushed had cooldowns in units of months or years, but this was a mere day.

To a Necromancer commanding hundreds of thousands of undead, it was no different from an ultimate invincibility skill where one life was refilled every single day.

“This is why he fought head-on with Outer Gods.”

Kim Minwoo put the cheap Legend-grade belt he had been wearing into his inventory with an ecstatic face.

And he wore the Girdle of the Death Emperor, whose vein-like patterns were pulsating red, around his waist.

[Equipping the Girdle of the Death Emperor!]

[All stats explosively increase by 200!]

Huuuuuk―!

From his waist, a horrifyingly massive amount of death mana spewed out and wrapped around Kim Minwoo's entire body.

Crown, heart, ring, and belt.

As the four legacies resonated, the intimidating presence exuded from Kim Minwoo's body had already far deviated from the trajectory of a human.

“It's killer.”

Kim Minwoo, having clenched and unclenched his fist with satisfaction, looked down at Baal who was crushed on the floor.

“You would've been beaten less if you had given it earlier. The locations of the remaining two?”

“O-one is…… buried in the old main castle of that Lich in the Middle Realm…… a dimension whose passage to the Demon Realm was completely cut off long ago……!”

Baal shouted urgently while vomiting bloody froth.

“And the remaining one is…… Cough! Near the territory of the Outer Gods where not even light reaches…… it is sunk at the bottom of the deepest Sea of Destruction, the sea of the abyss……!”

Kim Minwoo's brow furrowed.

“The Middle Realm? The Sea of Destruction?”

The Middle Realm was the dimension that had perished in the past while the Death Lord fought against the Outer Gods, and the Sea of Destruction was the edge of a terrible abyss where even the Great Witch Ananke had said it was difficult to act carelessly.

Both were different dimensions completely diverging from the Heavenly City or the Demon Realm, where even approaching was tricky.

“One is a neighborhood we can't go to because the passage is completely blocked, and the other is a fiery hell that even the Great Witch said was tough to enter. You aren't lying to me right now telling me to go die, are you?”

“I swear it is not……! What do you want me to do about that crazy Lich bastard scattering his legacies in such dangerous dimensions……!”

Seeing the sight of Baal shedding tears of blood in unfairness, it didn't seem like a lie.

‘True. It's a legacy meant to reorganize the new order, there's no way he would have buried it at a mineral spring on the mountain out back.’

Kim Minwoo pulled up the corners of his chillingly curving lips. It was a sweet fruit of having obtained all the information he wanted.

“Good. You're spilling it out very smoothly.”

Kim Minwoo, having obtained all the information he wanted, nodded his head in satisfaction.

However, Baal's hell was truly beginning from now on.

Kim Minwoo brought up the title in the status window.

[Title: Master of the Balrog King.]

[Effect 1. Can subordinate various demons. The subordinated demons can reach their ultimate forms.]

‘Subordination, huh. How do I do it?’

No conditions were separately written down.

If so, there was only one answer.

He just had to make the target perfectly submit from deep within their heart and offer their neck out on their own, right?

“Cedric, Vulcan, from now on extract some of his elixir materials. You know, right? Bones, teeth, hair.”

“Kuhaha! Just give the command!”

Vulcan drew out his flame whip with a cruel smile.

“Wh-what…… You bastard worse than a demon! Kill me! Just kill me instead!”

Baal threw a fit, but Kim Minwoo leisurely opened his inventory.

Wareureureu―!

Highest-tier recovery potions, calling for hundreds of millions of won per bottle, poured onto the floor like a mountain.

“Kill you? I have to run the elixir factory, how could I kill you.”

Kim Minwoo casually gestured with his chin while popping the cap off a potion with a tik.

“Begin.” 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

From that day on, a terrible hell where dying would be preferable began for Baal.

Uddeuk!

Vulcan shattered and ripped out his ribs.

Olivia tore out his hair, and Cedric pulled out all of his remaining teeth with the tip of his spear.

“Kkeuaaaaaaaa!!”

At the pain of his limbs being torn away, Baal howled like a beast.

However, Kim Minwoo did not bat an eye and poured the highest-tier potions like pouring water over Baal's wounds.

Chiiiiik―!

“Keuheok! Heok!”

The massive recovery power forcibly reattached the torn blood vessels.

Even though he had lost the special ability called regenerative power while having the elixirs taken away, form is temporary but class is permanent; the persistent life force inherent to a demon Great Lord remained.

When highest-tier potions were poured onto that, the torn flesh sprouted, and the pulled-out teeth and bones began to creepily grow back.

“Oh, they're growing little by little. Maybe because he's a demon, he takes potions well too.”

Kim Minwoo smiled cheerfully while tossing away the empty potion bottle.

“When they finish growing, extract them again.”

“Yeah, Minwoo!”

Uddeuk! Peoeok! Kwajik!

Extracting, pouring, pulling, pouring.

The beating and harvesting of biological resources continued mechanically along with hundreds of bottles of potions.

Baal felt like going crazy.

No, his mind had already collapsed dozens of times over.

Day 1. He cursed Kim Minwoo.

Day 3. He begged for his life.

Day 5. He shed tears and prayed for them to please kill him.

And Day 7.

‘Why…… why am I in this state…….’

The 1st ranked Great Lord who had reigned at the apex of the Demon Realm for thousands of years. To think he, who was the incarnation of fear that no one dared to even meet eyes with, was trapped in the basement of a mere human and treated like an all-you-can-eat meat vending machine.

Even the cruel tortures Baal had committed up until now felt like child's play in front of the efficient and mechanical butchering this human was conducting.

One who was more like a demon than a demon.

That was a true monster wearing the mask of a human.

“Kkeueueuk…… keuk…….”

By the time the bones in his entire body had been shattered and regenerated about hundreds of times. Finally, even the shred of pride and arrogance that had settled deep within Baal's soul crumbled like powder.

“Stop…… it…….”

Vulcan, who was raising his whip, came to a sudden halt.

Baal, while crushed on the floor, frantically began to rub his cheek against the top of Kim Minwoo's military boot.

“I surrender…… I will surrender……! I lost…… please stop……!”

“The words asking to be killed have completely disappeared, huh?”

“Please spare me……! I will become your dog! I will become the maggot you command! So please, stop this terrible pain…… oh great Master!!”

It was the moment the ruler of the Demon Realm, who had lived for thousands of years, cried loudly beneath a human's feet and begged for loyalty.

At the same time, a cheerful message popped up before Kim Minwoo's eyes.

[The conditions have been met!]

[The Master of the Balrog King effect is activated!]

[The Great Lord who was ranked 1st in the Demon Realm, ‘Baal’, has perfectly submitted to you and requests subordination!]

[Will you accept Baal as a summon?]

“Kya.”

Kim Minwoo grinned with a soft face without a single drop of sweat formed on it.

It was a sweet fruit obtained after wielding the rod of love for a week.

“Of course I should accept.”

[Great Lord Baal is incorporated as your summon!]

[Baal's loyalty is fixed at 100!]

It was the perfect victory of the Rule Breaker, who tamed the strongest lord of the Demon Realm into an elixir vending machine and a loyal dog.