Hell’s Handbook - Chapter 182
Chapter 182 – Killing the Demigod
Ennui turned to run, only to find that he couldn’t move at all. His eyes darted about to see a man with a goat’s head staring down at him from above with his bloodshot eyes.
“Mr… Mr. Diablo! Wh-why?” Ennui asked the man with a goat’s head fearfully.
Diablo snorted. “What an embarrassment you are to deities. You agreed to a bet with a mortal, yet you are hoping to escape?”
“But Mr. Diablo, that’s… that’s a weapon made by a real god! It has the power to actually kill a deity! Please spare me, please!” Ennui had fallen to his knees and kept kowtowing to Diablo. The pride and complacent attitude he had toward Team Boning Knife earlier was gone.
“You’re truly an embarrassment to the deities.” Diablo frowned, his bloodshot eyes filled with disgust.
At the same time, Su Jin had released his grip on the arrow. The Roar of the Demon Lord was able to destroy anything, turning everything it touched to powder. Back in the Fairytales of Horror, the demigod Prince Charming was not able to withstand the attack of the Roar of the Demon Lord either and tried to hide from it.
But now, Ennui was controlled by Diablo and he could not move at all, so he had no choice but to face this attack head on. This weapon was also Su Jin’s trump card.
When it came to defense, he had his resilient body and the Stellar Streams Heavy Armor. When it came to offense, he relied on the virtually invincible Roar of the Demon Lord.
The sparkles completely consumed Ennui. After the sparkles had disappeared and the dust had settled, the demigod had also disappeared. He had been wiped out entirely. Su Jin had killed a demigod.
The passengers in the carriage either looked shocked or they nodded their heads slightly. Many of them felt that Su Jin must have a trump card of sorts, otherwise there was no reason why Su Jin would have suggested another battle without any fear. Unfortunately for Ennui, he had been too blinded by the prospect of winning Kano Mai for himself and agreed to Su Jin’s challenge without hesitation. From that moment onward, Ennui’s chances of being defeated were actually more than Su Jin’s.
Su Jin took a few steps forward and picked up the black crystal that was lying quietly on the floor. That was his prize, the Magic Energy Source Crystal. He kept it inside his Handbook.
Diablo waved his hand, and Su Jin was taken out from the arena and reverted to his original size.
He looked curiously at Su Jin and asked, “Did you know if you’d be able to withstand a blow from Ennui right from the start?”
Su Jin shook his head. “No. Ennui was a deity. I had no idea if I could hold up at all.”
“Oh?” Diablo was rather surprised. He could see that Su Jin was telling him the truth, so he asked another question, “Since that’s the case, why… did you ask to go for another round?”
“I did that for my teammate, for my brother,” said Su Jin before heading toward his team’s carriage with Kano Mai’s help.
“Wait!” Just then, the Goddess of the Harvest suddenly broke her silence. She pointed a finger at Su Jin and a green mist entered his body. In just one second, any part of his skin that had not healed instantly healed up and his hair grew out normally again.
“Thank you so much, O merciful Goddess of the Harvest,” Su Jin thanked the goddess. This deity was definitely in the camp of the good deities, so she was kind even to mortals.
The Goddess of the Harvest nodded slightly in response, and the four of them went to their own carriage. After they left, Diablo stroked the goatee on his chin and suddenly burst into a smile.
The team members of Team High Mountain were completely floored by what they just saw. It was already unbelievable that Su Jin had managed to survive an attack from a deity, but that was nothing compared to the fact that Su Jin had killed a demigod with just one arrow.
“He’s really powerful. It’s little wonder he can be the team leader of Team Boning Knife,” marveled Liu Bowen. He started to regret not joining hands with Team Boning Knife. Being allies with such a formidable team would definitely make going through this Level A Challenge a lot easier.
“That Chu Yi was really formidable as well. If that demigod hadn’t pulled such a dirty trick on him, I don’t think he’d have died that easily either,” said the fresh faced girl sitting next to Liu Bowen. Compared to Su Jin, who could kill a demigod with a weapon made by a god, she had a deeper impression of Chu Yi instead. He had fought valiantly, but died a wrongful death.
After receiving the blessing from the Goddess of the Harvest, Su Jin’s body went back to being in top form again. But everyone was still in low spirits. So what if he had avenged Chu Yi? The dead had already gone, and the living could only remember them in their hearts.
They soon found their seats in a corner of the carriage. Just like the previous carriage, the passengers comprised all sorts of weird creatures. Next to them was one that was covered in feathers, but even though it had wings and a head like a bird’s, the rest of its body was human, so it was probably some sort of bird god.
“Don’t dwell too much on it. We’re in a Handbook Challenge after all, so… it’s really normal for people to die here,” Wu Chen tried to counsel Su Jin. He had gone through a few dozen Challenges and had seen countless owners die before him, so he wasn’t too affected by losing a teammate.
Su Jin didn’t want to talk. He knew that any of them could leave at any moment, and nobody knew how many of them could even survive this current Challenge. But when faced with actually losing someone, he still needed time to get over it.
“Jin, we… we still have the Key to Immortality, so we might still be able to get Chu Yi back,” said Kano Mai suddenly. Her gaze was very solemn, as if she was making an oath.
Su Jin looked back at her in surprise for a moment before a smile spread across his face. She was right. Wu Chen told them before that Hell’s Handbook had a way to revive the dead. They had the Key to Immortality, which was an item that was needed to possibly bring Chu Yi back to life.
At the same time, Wu Chen’s eyes widened. He was sure he had just heard the words “Key to Immortality”. He immediately asked Su Jin and Kano Mai, “Did you two just… just say the Key to Immortality?”
Su Jin decided there was no point in keeping this a secret from Wu Chen anymore, and he had more than one Key to Immortality anyway. He nodded and said, “That’s right. We have the Key to Immortality, the item that’s needed in a Gods’ Ceremony to revive the dead.”
Su Jin took one out from his Handbook and Wu Chen’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. If they weren’t already team mates, Wu Chen was certain he would have made a grab for it.
He started breathing heavily and his eyes turned red as he asked Su Jin, “How much are you selling this for? I want one!”
“I won’t put a price tag on it. As long as we all get out of this Challenge alive, I’ll give you one. How’s that?” said Su Jin very generously. He had a number of these things, so he didn’t mind giving one to Wu Chen.
Wu Chen was ecstatic and suddenly seemed like a different person as he said confidently to Su Jin and Kano Mai, “Don’t worry, I’m going to go all out to make sure all of you get through this Challenge alive.”
Su Jin sighed and said, “If we all help each other, I think we’ll be able to survive, even if it’s a Level A Challenge.”
Time slowly passed and the brightness outside the train windows slowly dimmed. They couldn’t see anything else, however, so they had no idea where they were going at all.
In no time, everyone started feeling very sleepy. This puzzled Su Jin. His body was so strong now, he could go an entire month without sleeping, never mind just a few hours. It was the train that was problematic.
After a while, none of them could keep their eyes open anymore and they fell into a deep sleep. Team High Mountain and Team Red Dragon were in the same predicament in their respective carriages. None of them could hold up against the sleepiness they felt.
Meanwhile, Diablo was sitting with the Mad Hatter and Pinocchio in the frontmost carriage. He glanced at Mad Hatter and laughed. “You’re truly a free fellow. Even the powers of the Challenge don’t affect you anymore.”
The Mad Hatter laughed as well. “Lord of the demons, I’m sure you’ve got a way to break free too, right? I really want to know why you…”
“No, no.” Diablo shook his head and sighed. “Mr. Mad Hatter, you underestimate the power of Hell’s Handbook. As gods, we can sense his presence but we cannot fight back. I’m not affected only because I’m someone in your Challenge who can ignore the change in day and night. I’ve got to maintain order in this Train of the Supernatural, after all.”
“Besides, you’ve also underestimated your own power as well as the power of the World of Fairytales. Among the worlds you already know about, there aren’t a lot who have so many gods and treasures like the World of Fairytales does. Also, the worlds that remain have a problem – opposing forces,” said Diablo as he sighed again.
“Every world has opposing forces, like the World of Mythology I belong to. Light versus darkness, or angels versus demons are the most obvious example of opposing forces. We will never allow the other party to make use of our own powers. But the World of Fairytales is different. That is an almost perfect world where everybody is willing to sacrifice themselves for another. That’s how you were able to take control of so many godly treasures and you’ve got the innate ability to move between dimensions too. That’s why you were able to break free.”
The Mad Hatter nodded. He knew that Diablo was right. The World of Fairytales used to be a wonderful place. Everyone was willing to sacrifice themselves for their world, which was how he was able to break free after obtaining several godly treasures.
But other worlds were different. Even for the sake of breaking free, the light and darkness of the World of Mythology would never work together. That was something rooted deeply in their minds.
“Oh, night has fallen. The daytime that belongs to the gods has ended, while the night that belongs to the demons has begun.” Pinocchio wasn’t interested in the conversation between the other two. He was more interested in the changes happening inside the train right now.
The deities in the dim carriages disappeared, replaced by the smell of fresh blood and decaying flesh. The day had gone and the night was here!