CHAPTER 242: AGAINST BEELZEBUB’S DOGS

At that moment, Atlas’s Holy Sword Delusion rose to its feet, and Atlas shouted, ’ATTACK!!!’

Juliet immediately covered each Sage with her spell and tried to push them out of the barrier, but each of them, led by Cordelia, stopped her.

There was no way they could escape from here at that moment.

Atlas charged forward without even glancing at the Sages or his sister and the aura masters. Within seconds, the area had once again turned into a battlefield.

Atlas managed to attack a different demon every second, but he still couldn’t avoid taking damage. Occasionally, he managed to inflict a few shallow, superficial cuts.

The demons in front of him weren’t as powerful as the ancient demons, but they were still incredibly strong.

Aveline was right beside Atlas, incredibly angry, using only her claws to split the demons’ bodies in two.

It was an incredibly disgusting sight, but despite being incredibly disgusting, it was also incredibly refreshing.

Seeing the demons fall one by one was truly joyful.

Atlas realised he couldn’t wait any longer, so without a moment’s hesitation, he activated the ’Dead Plains’ ability Gaia had given him.

He managed to instantly boost the strength, agility, and endurance of every person he considered part of his unit by 15%, and did the opposite to the demons, reducing their strength, agility, and endurance skills by 15%.

There were dozens of soldiers within thirty metres, and although the ability was not great, it was still useful because as he used it, the number of demons around him began to decrease.

There were still thousands, tens of thousands of demons on the battlefield, but at least on one side of the battlefield, their numbers were gradually decreasing.

They were not yet destroyed, at least they were managing to survive on the friendly side.

Aveline, who had managed to gain a buff from the opened area, looked even more terrifying than her father, Cosmo. Of course, Aveline wouldn’t forgive the demons who had captured her son Constantine and were trying to harm her other son, Atlas.

Atlas, whose body was healing automatically, was trying to run towards the area where the demon gate was located.

Perhaps hundreds, perhaps thousands of runes would be needed, but in the end, Luke himself knew... This gate could be shattered and reduced to pieces.

Everything could end successfully before Beelzebub returned. It was possible.

Despite only a few minutes having passed, each of the Sages seemed to have returned to the battle. Their power was greatly diminished; it was clear that Beelzebub had inflicted immense damage on them. Fortunately, their magical rings remained intact, but they were so severely wounded that even their best efforts were only a fraction of Atlas’s power.

Even Bellatrix, who was the weakest after Juliet in her previous state, would have been a hundred thousand, perhaps two hundred thousand times stronger than Atlas.

Still, their current state was enough to make them the strongest individuals in the area, of course. In just a few minutes, the number of demons in the area had dropped to a third of the number that had emerged from the demon gate.

Even at the moment when the Sages were perhaps at their weakest in their entire lives, what they were able to do was terrifying and awe-inspiring.

The action intensified. The commanders advanced alongside the soldiers still entering the barrier, eliminating the demons one by one while casting spells around them.

Everyone was doing their utmost to get Atlas to the demon gate as quickly as possible.

This had been successful.

After only twenty minutes of battle, Atlas had indeed managed to reach the demon gate.

Still, the demons continued to emerge from the passage, and Atlas couldn’t kill them all alone.

But there was no need to even try.

As he prepared the Strike and Destruction runes, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his leg.

Still, he continued to fall into the ground next to that devil’s gate. Slowly and steadily.

’An illusion...’ he suddenly said to himself. He was trying to think and figure out how to escape from there.

Even if he escaped, what would he do?

Was he going to destroy this huge devil’s gate, which even someone like Constantine couldn’t break apart, with just two runes?

Who did he think he was?

How old was he?

How much experience did he have?

All these questions began to run through his mind. His head was racked with pain, and everything suddenly fell silent.

He saw a figure in front of him. A figure staring straight into his eyes. A figure that was perhaps ten centimetres taller than him, with bright red eyes, hair, and skin, and symbols on his face.

Atlas knew exactly who this figure was. He had fought this figure twice before. Once when he was weak, and the other just before Atlas died.

’Beelzebub,’ Atlas had said, merely murmuring his name.

’Oh... You know me? That makes everything easier,’ the Ancient Demon had said suddenly, and with that, he had pulled Atlas out of the ground as if he were a piece of candy from a store shelf.

Aveline and the Sages, who were both fighting and watching the demon gate, were shocked.

Atlas had been pulled into the demon gate by Beelzebub.

"ATLAS!!!" Aveline had shouted, and as she said this, she had tried to jump toward the demon gate. Still, it had been to no avail.

A force prevented Aveline from entering the demon gate.

Aveline ignored the demons around her and repeatedly punched the demon gate while they tried to harm her.

’BOOM!’

’BOOM!’

’BOOM!’

’BOOM!’

’BOOM!’

Even though Aveline had struck the demon gate repeatedly, nothing had changed.

The scene on the other side of the demon gate was completely different.

Beelzebub had thrown Atlas to the ground, and when Atlas managed to get up, he looked around. Everything was engulfed in flames. No trees, plants, or anything else was visible. It was a complete wasteland.

A sea of lava stretched out ahead, with rain falling from the sky as fire onto the lava sea, and much more... along with countless demons that Atlas couldn’t even count.

’Welcome to hell,’ said Beelzebub.

When Atlas heard this, he looked fiercely at Beelzebub, who was standing a little way off in the air, and then said, ’I suppose you mean fake hell?’

Atlas was not afraid. He had already managed to harm Beelzebub in his previous life, and his current power was incomparable to that of his previous life.

Still, he was worried. Because there were countless demons around him. In his previous life, Atlas had already killed thousands of angels and demons and even found time to refresh his meaning among their corpses.

So he had fought Beelzebub almost at full strength.

Now, however, he possessed a power nearly ten times greater than that full strength.

Fear was probably the last thing on his mind.

’Haha...’ Beelzebub chuckled softly.

’You could say that,’ he added to his own words, and then said, ’You know what? I’m very, very angry with you.’

When Atlas heard these words, he tilted his head and asked, ’So?’

’Come on, young man. You already caused the others to die, and I impaled the other two with my spear; they are busy dying in the outside world. The only thing standing between me and victory is you, who stands between me and gaining access to all the power of this fake hell by taking Lucifer’s rank.’

After Beelzebub’s words, Atlas looked at him carefully and then asked, ’The others are dead, and if you were already on the brink of death, you should have attained this rank long ago. Why am I necessary?’

Upon hearing these words, Beelzebub replied, ’Contracts cannot be broken, young man. Even we, the demons, who are symbols of injustice, illusion, deception, and death, cannot break contracts. Especially if these contracts are made on our lives.’

"And according to the contract, betraying the others was not wrong, but according to the contract, I must hunt down the heroes, like trophies. This naturally makes you, the greatest hero in the current world, my primary target," the Ancient Demon added to his own words.

Atlas prepared to speak after these words, as he had no desire to fall without a fight. However, the following words were what truly troubled him:

"When you die, the contract will be fulfilled. I will take Lucifer’s place as the leader of this fake hell and keep him there, simply to utilise his power. Then I will emerge from this fake hell and slaughter every living creature in the outside world. From there, I will conquer the real hell, and after that... who knows? Perhaps I will visit the fake heaven and take Michael’s head."

When Atlas heard these words, he immediately covered his body with his aura. He had no choice but to fight here, kill the countless demons around him, and then attack Beelzebub.