Beast Hunting - 2
Nahen first made his way to the scorching desert that lay between the seventh Qliphah, Harab Serapel, and the eighth Qliphah, Samael. The moment he stepped out of the inverted kingdom, fresh screams of agony echoed from every direction. Worse, the malevolent spirits producing those cries were slowly closing in on him. A few even reached out without fear, trying to seize his ankles.
Nahen let out a sigh and scattered his magical power. The spirits immediately released their grip and retreated. His energy was so overwhelming that the mere presence of it sent them fleeing in terror.
They really are hideous.
Every inch of their skin had been flayed away. Most of their hair had fallen out, leaving only a few pathetic strands, and their bodies were a cooked, blistering red—not their natural color, but the result of being scorched by unbearable heat. Even though they were no longer living beings, the sound of their screams alone was enough to turn the stomach.
Nahen watched them for a moment, then continued on his way.
Unlike the Demon Realm, where regions were linked by portals, the Qliphahs were connected by ordinary paths. Vast branches extending from Klipoth—the Tree of Evil that supported Hell itself—formed these roads. As you walked, it became impossible to tell whether you were treading on the branches or solid ground. After all, those same branches contained canyons, wastelands, deserts, and lava fields.
He was just thinking what a perfectly stereotypical fantasy-game sight it was when black mist shimmered beside him.
“Puu.”
“Why are you out again?”
“Puu puu.”
Leviathan jerked its head toward a certain direction. Nahen followed its gaze and soon spotted a stretch of desert that the evil spirits were deliberately avoiding.
“...I see.”
The heat rising from it was so fierce that the air itself shimmered with mirage. That was Behemoth’s territory—the Scorching Desert.
“Leviathan. How much power can you exert in a place like that?”
“Puuu.”
Leviathan shook its head. It clearly couldn’t bring forth much strength.
It was only natural. As a beast of the ocean, Leviathan would be weakened on land—especially in a place where every trace of moisture would be instantly vaporized.
“Then I’ll have to do this alone.”
Nahen approached the desert. The closer he drew, the more ferocious the heat became, forcing him to spread his magical power outward like a thin protective membrane. Not even the searing temperature could pierce it, and he stepped onto the blazing sands completely unharmed.
In his hand he held a sword whose dark-red eye-like patterns gleamed with an ominous light.
It really does look like a demonic blade.
The very picture of one. Nahen gave it a few experimental swings. The grip felt perfectly familiar; it was unmistakably his weapon.
He had taken only a few crunching steps across the sand when the ground began to tremble.
BOOOOM!!!
The vibration was like an earthquake. Each roar sent hot grains of sand spraying wildly into the air.
Nahen glanced down at the disturbance, then slowly lifted his gaze.
A colossal beast stood before him, its enormous frame blotting out the sun that beat down mercilessly on the desert. At first glance it resembled an elephant, yet its four long, razor-sharp tusks and savage claws made any such comparison ridiculous. Its overall appearance was far closer to a predator, and its size—rivaling even Leviathan’s—seemed capable of crushing most opponents through sheer presence alone.
This creature, exhaling scorching breath from its long trunk, was one of the three legendary Beasts of the Apocalypse. It was the beast that symbolized the earth: Behemoth.
Nahen looked at it and spoke.
“How disappointing. You don’t even recognize your own master?”
BOOM!
It stomped lightly, as if telling him to leave. The motion kicked up a swirling cloud of sand. Nahen squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again to stare at the beast.
He let out a dry chuckle. Gripping his sword properly, he fixed Behemoth with a hard glare.
“Looks like you need re-education.”
The moment Nahen revealed his fighting spirit, Behemoth answered with a thunderous stomp.
─────────!!!
The earth shook violently. The tremor was so powerful that an ordinary person could not have remained standing, yet Nahen kept perfect balance on the shifting sand and continued to stare up at the beast as though performing a feat of acrobatics.
“Behemoth.”
Behemoth raised its foreleg.
“Shut up.”
But at that instant, Nahen’s magical power surged outward and blanketed the area. The pressure was so overwhelming that even Behemoth—one of the Beasts of the Apocalypse—hesitated mid-motion. Even with part of his strength sealed, the power of Hell’s supreme ruler was still enough to subdue such a monster.
Despite the crushing force, Behemoth brought its massive foreleg slamming down.
However, having already faltered once, the attack stood no chance of landing.
KWAAAAAANG!!!
KUGUGUGUNG!!
Behemoth’s foreleg struck empty ground. The impact shook the entire world. It was a display of raw power truly worthy of the title Beast of the Apocalypse.
If that had actually hit me, I’d be in real trouble.
Nahen, having dodged the stomp, landed lightly and adjusted his stance. He tightened his grip on the sword, briefly considering how much damage he should inflict.
No. There was no need to hold back. His opponent was one of the strongest beasts in existence. Going easy would be pointless.
Having failed to crush him, Behemoth charged forward. It was a simple rush, but the sheer mass of a body large enough to leap over buildings, combined with those enormous tusks, left almost no room to evade.
“Tusks grow back anyway, right?”
Nahen did not dodge. He stood his ground as though intending to meet the charge head-on.
Behemoth was shockingly fast for its size. It thundered across the sand without losing balance once, gouging deep furrows as it came.
The instant its massive body threatened to engulf him, Nahen thrust out the hand not holding his sword. At the same time, he swung the blade.
CRAAAAACK────!!!
Behemoth’s movement had stopped completely.
The man who had halted its colossal charge with a single hand slowly withdrew his palm. He had been pushed back a considerable distance, yet he had not been sent flying. Behemoth had already lost its will to fight.
“Behemoth.”
The beast’s gaze was fixed on the ground. Two of the four tusks it took such pride in now lay severed and scattered across the sand, cut cleanly by the sword. Nahen had stopped the charge with one hand and sliced the tusks away with the other.
“That’s enough…”
─────────!!!
However, Behemoth had not lost its will. That had merely been Nahen’s mistake. The beast had only been grieving the loss of its prized tusks for a moment. Now it revealed the rage born from that loss and tried to crush Nahen completely.
“Whoops.”
Nahen threw himself aside with blinding speed. Behemoth plowed forward through the desert sand in another charge. Even after escaping the initial line of attack, the beast’s enormous size left Nahen with no choice but to slip between its legs…
“Ugh!?”
That, too, proved dangerous. He barely managed to roll clear before one of the gigantic legs came crashing down.
With the brief opening he had gained, Nahen gathered the magical power he had previously dispersed. Hell was a world even richer in ambient magic than the Demon Realm. It would not be an exaggeration to say the very air was half magic.
The energy he had spread outward had drawn in vast amounts of external power. A chant flowed from his lips.
“Target designation.”
"Target designation."
"Binding."
⟨ Objéctum Dēsignátĭo ⟩
⟨ Sérvĭtus ⟩
The beast came thundering forward again, stomping wildly. Its charge had the furious intensity of a raging bull. Given its enormous size, that fury felt all the more threatening. Any ordinary person—or even most demons—would have trembled at the sight.
Yet Nahen did not lose focus. He pressed his palms together and completed the chant.
“Target binding.”
"Target binding."
⟨ Objéctum Sérvĭtus ⟩
An ancient spell capable of binding its target for life, depending on the amount of power invested, was completed. Invisible chains instantly wrapped around Behemoth’s gigantic frame.
Yet the beast’s massive body, already carrying tremendous momentum, did not stop easily. It charged forward with enough force to shatter the chains.
“……”
Nahen did not retreat. He remained exactly where he stood, calmly watching Behemoth’s approach.
The beast tried to impale him with its remaining two tusks.
─────────!!!
The tusks stopped dead.
They halted a mere five centimeters from piercing Nahen’s face. The chains had finally taken hold.
Nahen had not taken a single step from the spot where he had cast the spell. He rose slowly, gazing at the tusks frozen right before his eyes.
Behemoth thrashed wildly, furious that it could not stab the enemy directly in front of it. But no matter how violently it struggled, the chains held it in place. It could not harm Nahen.
“Struggling is useless.”
“Muuuuuuu!!”
“Those chains cannot be broken by your power alone. Not unless I release them myself.”
While fighting, Nahen had measured the amount of magical power Behemoth possessed and poured an even greater quantity into the chains—combining both external magic and his own. He had nearly exhausted his reserves, but successfully binding the beast made the effort worthwhile.
It was a battle that clearly demonstrated the difference in rank between a Beast of the Apocalypse and an Archdemon. Even with part of his power sealed, Nahen had subdued Behemoth with ease. It was exactly the level of skill one would expect from the master of the three Beasts of the Apocalypse.
“Muuuuuuu!!!”
Yet Behemoth refused to calm its temper. At this point it should have recognized the gap in power and submitted, but the beast was stubbornly defiant.
“Haah… Fine. Rampage until your anger subsides. Let’s see how long that takes.”
Nahen simply sat down in front of the thrashing beast. With a simple spell he cooled the surrounding air, then lay down and promptly fell asleep.
“Muuuuuuuung!!!”
Behemoth continued to stomp and rage in place, but just as Nahen had said, the chains showed no sign of loosening. Nahen blocked all the vibrations and shocks with his power, so he was able to sleep soundly regardless of how much the beast rampaged.
“Muuuuuuuuuuung!!!”
No matter how furiously it threw its tantrum, nothing changed. Several hours passed that way.
“…Yawn.”
“Puu.”
Leviathan, which had come out at some point, pointed to the side with its tail. Nahen turned his head. There stood Behemoth, now lying down obediently.
“So, have you finally calmed down?”
“Muung.”
“Even though I was gone, you tried to run away?”
“Muuuung.”
Behemoth shook its head in denial. The motion was simple, but given its enormous size, it swept up a massive cloud of sand.
“…Don’t shake your head like that.”
“Muuu.”
“There’s something I need your help with. Come with me.”
“Muuuung.”
Having exhausted itself from all the thrashing, Behemoth answered meekly. When Nahen snapped his fingers and released the chains, the beast shrank down to a tiny size, just like Leviathan.
“Muung.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Muuuung.”
Nahen gave a small smile.
“We’re going to catch another runaway like you.”
“…Behemoth has left its territory?”
The news that one of the three Beasts of the Apocalypse had abandoned the Scorching Desert reached the ears of the Queen of Lust, ruler of the ninth Qliphah, Gamaliel. She let out a soft chuckle.
Beasts of the Apocalypse.
They were creatures that ignored commands, possessed ridiculous strength, and were difficult for even Archdemons to handle. The name had not been given lightly. Their power could genuinely destroy an entire world. Released in the Demon Realm, they would erase entire layers. In the human world, entire nations would be trampled. Even the Celestial Realm would require the intervention of archangels to subdue them.
Yet there was only one person in all of Hell who could command such monsters as if they were pet dogs.
The queen smiled.
“You’ve returned?”
She smiled at the thought that she would at last be called by her true name after so long. Normally she was addressed by the same name as the Qliphah she ruled, but there was one name she permitted only those she cherished to use.
Lilith.
Only two beings had ever been allowed to call her that. Tiamat, the ruler of Hell and her official lover. And the strongest being in Hell, whom she secretly adored—■■■.
“Really… that pointless seal keeps even me from speaking the name.”
Lilith let out a quiet, amused laugh. At the sound, the incubi around her laughed as well, raising the mood. Satisfied with her loyal subordinates’ reaction, she smiled.
“Still, at least I’ll be able to see his face. It’s been a long time.”
Lilith rose from her throne. Leading with her voluptuous body, she left the palace behind.