Chapter 154  

Frowning, Zephyr led Cinnamon’s subordinates to Lee Shin and his group.

"Go straight, you punk! If you’re thinking of fooling us, be prepared to die," said one of Cinnamon’s subordinates.

"Yes, yes, I got it," Zephyr replied.

After getting the back of his head smacked for the nth time, Zephyr gritted his teeth but held himself because he did not want to cause any more trouble. If he tried to fight against them, he was sure that all the subordinates around him would gang up on him.

‘Damn it, should I still give it a try, though? I feel like I could win if it's a one-on-one fight.’

However, Zephyr could not put his thoughts into action.

"How much further do we have to go?" one of the subordinates asked Zephyr, seemingly annoyed.

"You’ll see those bastards soon,” Zephyr replied.

The subordinate glared at Zephyr as if he did not like how Zephyr replied. The subordinate gestured to him to make it sound more polite.

"Sir," Zephyr added at the end to make it sound more polite.

Crunch—

Zephyr pushed his patience to the limit, clenching his teeth.

‘Ugh, Cinnamon, that damn bastard and his lackeys! Well, it's better this way. Those human bastards are quite strong, so if things turn out well, they may kill that wretched Cinnamon.’

Zephyr promised himself that if things turned out this way, he would definitely kill these subordinates himself. Since he could do nothing now, he decided to obediently lead the way to Lee Shin without causing any trouble.

They soon arrived at the lobby of a relatively large inn. They saw Lee Shin and his group having a meal when they arrived.

"Hmm... Even devils cook quite well," said Vuela.

"I know, right? I thought they only ate garbage-like food," Alice replied.

"These guys have more refined taste buds than I thought," Vuela added.

"I agree with you," said Alice.

Vuela and Alice engaged in a light conversation while eating.

"Haha,?you guys seem to have forgotten that we’re in the devils’ nest.” Lee Shin chuckled and shook his head.

Lee Shin didn’t have to look to sense the gazes of the devils focusing on them. After all, his group wasn’t whispering—they were openly discussing demons in front of demons. Suddenly, with the creaking sound of a door opening, a group of devils entered the room.

"Kek."

A devil suddenly approached Lee Shin’s group and overturned their table. The table collapsed, spilling the food on it all over.

"Oh my!" Startled by the sight, Zephyr shrieked but quickly covered his mouth.

Vuela and Alice, who had been enjoying their meal, frowned.

"Our food is not to be wasted on humans like you,” said one of the devils mockingly.

This devil was in the group here to take Lee Shin’s group.

"So, was it you guys who dared to seek Mr. Cinnamon— Ugh!" The devil couldn’t speak further because an intangible force had started to choke him.

He tried to use his demon power, but Vuela—seething with rage—punched his abdomen.

"Kueek!" The devil gasped in pain.

“Don’t you know that you shouldn’t bother someone while they’re eating?” Vuela shouted.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

Suddenly, dishes flew from all directions and pierced and riddled the devil. Not only Vuela but Alice was also furious. They had not had a proper meal in a while and were finally enjoying good food, so being interrupted like this made her anger flare up.

"Kruaaaak! How dare... how dare a mere human... Ahhh!" the devil shouted.

The devil was barely a commander-class demon, so he couldn’t stop the joint attacks, and the incessant one-sided beating continued.

"Do you think you’ll be safe after doing— Keugh!” One of the devils tried to fight back but soon collapsed.

"This guy is quite persistent," said Vuela.

"I'll have to step on him harder. I feel so tired because I couldn’t complete my meal before,” said Alice.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

"Kraaak! Stop! Stop!" shouted the devil in pain.

“What do you mean, stop, you bastard?! Ha… It feels so nice to step on your face like this!” Zephyr shouted.

Without anyone noticing, Zephyr had been gleefully trampling the face of the devil next to Vuela and Alice.

"Have humans always been such cruel beings?"

"They're terrifying. We did well not to meddle."

"Ah! Even if we have business in the human realm, we should never go there!" The onlookers, also devils, started to leave the place in droves after witnessing the fierce sight.

"Stop it," Lee Shin said to the three.

The three of them finally stopped beating the devils.

"Uuuhhhh..." It seemed like the devil was about to lose his consciousness.

The devil looked at Lee Shin, his vision blurry.

"So what brings you here,” Lee Shin asked.

"..." The devil did not speak.

"Speak up quickly!" Zephyr shouted at the devil.

The shout forced the devil to gather his thoughts quickly.

"Mr. Cinnamon has requested your presence," the devil replied.

"Oh really? Then, lead the way," Lee Shin said.

"Yes, Sir!" The devil quickly regained his bearings, stood up, and moved quickly.

“I knew that brat would get beaten up by these people,” Zephyr muttered.

As Zephyr muttered to himself, Vuela slapped the back of his head.

"Ouch! Why did you hit me?" Zephyr shouted.

"Mind your own business. It’s all because you did not stop him properly. If you had, that brat couldn’t have overturned our table," said Vuela.

"Well, that was..." Zephyr muttered.

"Stop mumbling and walk faster," said Vuela.

Zephyr found it unfair and felt that he was being mistreated.

'Ugh, but they deliberately let that table incident happen!'

If Zephyr had stopped the table incident from happening, Vuela and Alice would undoubtedly have been angry with him.

‘Ugh, all these bastards! Just go and get your ass kicked together with Cinnamon!'

"What are you doing! Hurry up and come," Alice shouted.

Startled by Alice's complaint, Zephyr quickly followed them.

"All right! I’m coming, Miss!” Zephyr replied.

***

Meanwhile, Cinnamon was venting his anger after hearing that humans had attacked his demons.

"How dare those humans do that to my guys...!" Cinnamon shouted in anger.

Crack!

Cinnamon looked out the window and cracked the window frame in frustration. There was a commotion outside; those humans were almost here.

"I will make them pay the price for attacking my subordinates...!" Cinnamon, after relieving a bit of his anger, went outside.

Meanwhile, Lee Shin and his group, who had arrived at Cinnamon's territory, encountered a gatekeeper guarding a massive gate.

"Open the gate," Lee Shin ordered.

"Don't act so arrogantly, human. This is not your land," the gatekeeper replied.

The gatekeeper, having heard the rumors of the inn fight and seeing the injured devil before him, displayed a hostile attitude toward Lee Shin and his group.

"Aren’t you the one acting arrogant?" Lee Shin said coldly.

"What did you just say?" the gatekeeper glared at Lee Shin.

"How dare a mere gatekeeper try to block our way and lecture us?" Lee Shin said.

The gatekeeper frowned, seemingly ready to attack anytime.

"You arrogant—" The gatekeeper couldn’t finish his sentence, and a loud noise echoed.

Thud!

"Urgh...!" Suddenly, the gatekeeper dropped to his knees, trembling on the ground before Lee Shin’s group.

When their other devils around them saw that, their demon power surged instantaneously.

“What a weakling…” Lee Shin muttered.

As Lee Shin passed by, exerting his psyche power to crush the gatekeeper, he muttered something.

"That's how you should welcome us."

The gatekeeper trembled, his face filled with shame.

"Wow! Just as I expected! He’s so impressive," Alice muttered.

Alice walked behind Lee Shin, blushing. Zephyr, trailing behind them, openly smirked at the gatekeeper. He found it satisfying because the gatekeeper had ridiculed him when he had visited this place earlier.

"Know your place, you dumbass," said Zephyr.

"Krr... How dare you say that to me…!” said the gatekeeper.

Lee Shin was no longer using Psychokinesis, so the gatekeeper stood up.

"Huh? Why? Are you trying to fight back?" Zephyr mocked the gatekeeper when he saw him move.

The gatekeeper was furious but could not attack Zephyr, as he still remembered Lee Shin’s might.

"Kieek!" Looking at the gatekeeper, Zephyr laughed. The sneer was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

"You damn bastard!" The furious gatekeeper rushed toward Zephyr.

"Ha!" Zephyr’s demon power, lingering above his fist, flew toward the gatekeeper's abdomen.

Baaam—!

"Keugh!" The gatekeeper flew back and crashed into a wall.

"Again, know your place. If you hadn’t bothered me, you would not have suffered!” After showing off his power, Zephyr turned around and followed the rest of the group.

Although many devils around them were eyeing Lee Shin’s group with hostility, none dared to attack. Not only were they clearly outmatched in terms of power, but they also could not challenge the ones summoned by Mr. Cinnamon.

Besides, the gatekeeper hadn’t even been trying to pick a fight. He had wanted to warn them, but things somehow turned out like that.

"Oh, you’re already here," Lee Shin muttered, looking at Cinnamon.

Cinnamon was enormous, with three horns protruding from his head. The demon power lingering around him was much stronger than anything they had encountered before.

"So you guys are the ones scuttling in my territory like headless chickens,” said Cinnamon referring to Lee Shin and his group.

Cinnamon, Amduscias’ subordinate, was an important figure of the third realm. He was the de facto ruler of this city. He stood in front of Lee Shin’s group.

"Cinnamon, I’ve heard that you know where Sayr’s subordinate is. Tell me," Lee Shin said.

Lee Shin’s lack of nervousness hurt Cinnamon’s pride, so he gritted his teeth.

"Are you giving me orders?" Cinnamon glared at Lee Shin.

"Yeah. So hurry up and tell me if you don't want to get beaten," Lee Shin replied.

"Oh my!" Startled by Lee Shin’s confrontational words, Zephyr tried hard to hold himself from screaming.

Vuela and Alice, feeling tense, prepared themselves for the incoming fight by activating their mana. Zephyr’s eyes quickly scanned the surroundings, and a faint smile spread across his face.

"I wanted to take you as my slave, but now I feel like that won’t be the best use of you. I guess I'll have to offer your corpse as a feast for my demonic beasts," said Cinnamon, looking at Lee Shin.

"Well... I don’t even need your body. Give me Sayr’s location and just die,” Lee Shin replied.

"An insolent bastard until the end... Fine! If you can win against me, I'll call Sayr for you. But if you lose, your comrades over there will live their whole lives as my subordinates!" Cinnamon said.

Cinnamon's gaze shifted from Lee Shin to Vuela and Alice standing behind him.

"They seem decent. It'll be fun to play with them," Cinnamon muttered.

"You crazy bastard! Where are you looking at with those filthy eyes?" Alice shouted.

"I'll poke out those eyeballs myself, Lee Shin," Vuela said angrily.

Lee Shin slowly activated his mana. He could sense ten intermediate commander-class devils in Cinnamon's nest.

‘It's not as large-scale as I thought.’

Lee Shin decided to use as few undead as possible to ensure Vuela and Alice fought for themselves as much as possible, keeping the rest for something more dangerous.

"I’ll turn you into ashes...!" Cinnamon shouted.

As Cinnamon opened his mouth, the demon power inside his mouth surged.

Baaam—!

The demonic power flew toward Lee Shin, who immediately drew Marty to deal with it.

"No way!” Cinnamon said.

Lee Shin had effortlessly cut the demonic power, so it disappeared. Cinnamon opened his eyes wide and glared at Martyr. The pure white sword felt similar to the holy sword used by the saint he had encountered in the human realm.

"So you're also a holy sword user. Were you also one of them, a warrior?" Cinnamon asked Lee Shin.

"A warrior? No, I'm not a warrior," Lee Shin replied.

Lee Shin looked at Martyr. He then thought of Saintess Belle, who had sacrificed everything. She had poured all her power into Martyr—a life-giving sword created to save others.

‘I am not the hero; it is this sword itself.’

Lee Shin believed he was not qualified to be called a warrior. He was merely a challenger climbing the Tower to seek revenge on the gods who considered humans insignificant, using them like toys. He just wanted to protect the Earth.

He had made others sacrifice for him and compromised on many things. However, Lee Shin believed sacrificing a few for the greater good was inevitable. Due to the Power of Death, death wasn’t all that significant of a phenomenon for him. Compared to Saintess Belle, he was far from being a warrior.

- Master, you are more than capable of being a great warrior.

Martyr seemed to have sensed Lee Shin’s sentiment.

"I am merely an adversary," Lee Shin muttered.

The mana swirling in Lee Shin’s body moved abruptly. The atmosphere around him changed in an instant. Time slowed down for him.

Lee Shin’s black mana appeared on his index and middle fingers.

.

Pizz—!

As his death aura and thunderbolt combined, a fierce crackle rang.

"What… on… earth… is… going… on…" Cinnamon sounded dull because of time slowing down.

Cinnamon’s pupils started to tremble, and the muscles on his face stiffened. The black thunderbolt instantly extended dozens of meters and became a sword. Then it swung powerfully along the trajectory created by Lee Shin’s index and middle fingers.

Wooong—! Swoosh!

Cinnamon's left arm was severed, falling slowly to the ground.

"Kraaaaack!" Cinnamon screamed in pain.

As the scream echoed, time returned to normal. Cinnamon dropped to his knees, failing to comprehend what had just happened.

"Ha… ha…" Cinnamon trembled uncontrollably as a sense of oppression and helplessness overwhelmed him.

‘I’ll… never… be… able… to… win…’