A Transformed Landscape
Nahen left the fifth Qliphah, Golab, and headed toward the final destination he needed to visit in Hell. Behind him, two Beasts of the Apocalypse continued to make half-hearted noises.
“Puu.”
“Muuung.”
He was on his way to meet the last of the three Beasts of the Apocalypse, Ziz. Like Behemoth, who had resided in the scorching desert, he had heard that Ziz guarded its own domain called the Misty Skies. He figured he could simply go find it and subdue it with force, just as he had with Behemoth. The only concern was…
‘It’s probably in the sky, isn’t it?’
Since it was a beast that symbolized the firmament, it would naturally be flying through the air. The name of its domain, Misty Skies, was also quite telling.
“This is going to be annoying.”
Using magic wouldn’t be a problem for him, but fighting in the air meant he wouldn’t have the same freedom of movement as he did on the ground. After all, unless a creature was born with wings, it couldn’t move freely through the sky.
Nahen stood still for a moment, lost in thought, when a sudden realization made him mutter to himself.
“Wings?”
He remembered the massive wings that had sprouted from behind Gamaliel’s back. If an Archdemon like Gamaliel had wings, then perhaps he did too? Whether the memory was sealed along with the rest of his past or not, he couldn’t recall how to summon them or even if he had ever possessed them. Still, it was a possibility.
With that thought in mind, Nahen turned to the two beasts trailing behind him.
“Hey, you two.”
“Puu?”
“Muuung?”
“Did I have wings before?”
“Puu puu.”
“Muuuung.”
Both beasts nodded as if to say yes. Nahen pondered for a moment how to bring them out. Then he directed the available demonic energy within his body toward his back.
Whoosh!
A pair of enormous black wings unfurled behind him. The sensation was surprisingly pleasant. Nahen, who had expected it to feel strange, was fascinated by how familiar it felt and twisted them this way and that.
“Puuu!”
“Muuuung!”
The beasts behind him cried out in clear displeasure. Looking back, he saw that his wings were flapping around and smacking them repeatedly.
“Ah… sorry about that.”
“Puu.”
“Muuung.”
Nahen dispersed his demonic energy. The wings lost their shape and vanished.
‘With these, fighting in the sky shouldn’t be a problem.’
If he had wings, he would be able to move freely in the air. That meant the disadvantage he had worried about when facing Ziz was gone.
Nahen set off toward the domain of Ziz, which lay along the path to the fourth Qliphah.
Some time later, both Leviathan and Behemoth nudged him at the same time. Nahen already knew why.
“Is that it?”
“Puu.”
“Muuuung.”
Indeed, it was a place worthy of being called the Misty Skies. The sky above the area Nahen was looking at was not red. Hell’s landscapes were always a blazing crimson that truly made one feel like they were in the underworld, but this place was different. The sky was dark. It was all because of the thick fog that blanketed the entire area.
He could tell it was fog rather than clouds because if those had truly been clouds, rain would be pouring down or lightning would be striking. It made no sense for such pitch-black clouds to produce nothing at all.
“There’s fog here. Leviathan, can’t you fight in this?”
“Puuu.”
The black mist was also Leviathan’s means of transportation. That was why he had asked, but Leviathan shook its head vigorously. It seemed that, separate from that ability, its power weakened inside another beast’s domain.
“I see.”
Then he would have to handle it alone. With that thought, Nahen stepped into Ziz’s domain.
The moment his foot crossed the boundary, the previously still fog began to churn violently. It seemed the master of the domain had sensed his presence and was stirring.
“Just like with Behemoth, the reaction is pretty fast.”
The fog was clearing. Not naturally, but being forcibly pushed aside by someone’s movement.
“…Well, damn.”
Nahen was genuinely surprised. The size of the shadow he had glimpsed was… far beyond even Behemoth or Leviathan.
From between the pitch-black mists, the final Beast of the Apocalypse revealed itself. A body as long as a serpent coiled and undulated through the fog, covered entirely in feathers. Its face resembled that of a lizard, yet the massive beak at the end belonged to a bird of prey.
Nahen immediately voiced his impression.
“It really is just a mishmash of every mythical monster.”
Ziz, the King of the Skies. The last Beast of the Apocalypse that Nahen needed to reclaim.
Nahen let out a dry chuckle. Ziz’s size was overwhelming. Even Behemoth, Leviathan, and the Colossus Golab he had just met were so enormous that the word “giant” felt insufficient, but this…
“…That body alone is filling the entire sky.”
He couldn’t even begin to imagine how long the serpentine body that coiled through the mist truly was. It was larger than even Golab.
‘Is this one the strongest?’
Among the Beasts of the Apocalypse that followed him, Ziz might be the most powerful. The sheer scale made that thought come to mind immediately.
Ziz opened its massive beak and let out a roar. It was clearly wary of Nahen. Its refusal to welcome its former master who had intruded upon its domain was similar to how Behemoth had reacted.
“These guys can’t even recognize their own master.”
Suddenly, Behemoth and Leviathan stepped forward beside Nahen and cried out.
“Puuu!”
“Muuuuung!!”
Though their voices carried zero dignity, Ziz seemed to react to them. It stopped roaring and turned its gaze toward the pair.
“Puu!”
“Muuung!”
Thinking Ziz was listening to them, Leviathan and Behemoth slowly approached. However…
BOOOOM!!!
“Puuu!!!”
“Muuuung!!!”
Flames erupted from Ziz’s maw, blasting both beasts away. Nahen stared at the scene, utterly dumbfounded, and muttered.
“…Why did you even step in?”
They had taken a fairly strong hit, but both beasts were incredibly durable. They would be fine. Without worrying about the two who had been sent flying, Nahen took a step forward.
“Ziz.”
Ziz’s head fixed its gaze on him.
“If you agree to follow me again, I will forgive all the rudeness you’ve shown so far.”
Nahen drew his sword. The blade, with its gleaming white eyes, made Ziz’s breathing grow heavier.
“But if you continue to refuse, I’ll have no choice but to beat you into submission and drag you back. Just like I did with Behemoth, whom you just blew away.”
Ziz did not hesitate for even a second at Nahen’s kind offer. It answered immediately with a roar that would instill terror in every living creature.
──────────!!!
Nahen felt every muscle in his body tense up. To think a mere roar could make even an Archdemon like himself feel this way—it was exactly like the “Fear” effect from the dragons in old fantasy novels.
“…Alright. I understand your answer perfectly.”
Nahen spread his massive wings. The enormous wings, pitch-black all the way to the membranes, inspired fear in their own right.
“Looks like you need to be properly educated before you come to your senses.”
Ziz spewed flames from its maw. Nahen lightly flapped his wings to dodge, then charged straight toward Ziz, who was hiding within the mist.
Fwoooosh!!
Ziz unleashed another torrent of fire. But this time, it was different.
“!”
The flames did not stop. Unlike the previous bursts that had ended after a single shot, this time the fire poured endlessly from Ziz’s beak. Ziz swung its head, and the flames incinerated everything in their path.
Nahen flew swiftly to distance himself from the blaze and let out a dry laugh.
“This isn’t even a proper game pattern.”
He adjusted his flight path so that he was heading directly toward Ziz. After all, it couldn’t very well breathe fire at its own body. As expected, Ziz stopped spewing flames.
The colossal body that had been coiled within the mist began to move slowly. Nahen quickly raised his sword, but in that instant, Ziz’s beak had already closed in right in front of him.
CRAAAASH!!!
‘As expected of a beast that symbolizes the sky.’
Nahen blocked Ziz’s beak with his sword. He had only been able to react because he had anticipated the movement. Had he tried to respond after seeing it move, he never would have made it in time.
“Fast.”
Even though Nahen had blocked its attack with his sword, Ziz showed no sign of stopping. It continued to push with all its might, as if trying to drive Nahen straight into the ground.
──────────!!!
The roar that made it difficult for Nahen to react properly was just the icing on the cake. In reality, Nahen’s entire body had gone rigid, leaving him unable to put up much resistance. And just like that, Ziz’s beak slammed him into the ground.
KWAAAAAANG──!!!
Ziz judged that even Nahen would not be able to withstand such an impact. To finish him off for good, it kept pressing down on him with its beak.
Crack!!!
However, Ziz immediately regretted its decision. It could see cracks forming on its own beak. Ziz hurriedly lifted its head, but Nahen had already grabbed the cracked beak with his bare hand.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Ziz gathered flames in its maw. It planned to spew fire to break free, but Nahen had no intention of letting it.
Crunch!!
Nahen’s sword stabbed into the gap in the beak that had opened to prepare the flames. Because Ziz was so enormous, its beak was also massive; the sword did not reach far enough to injure the interior. However, Nahen left the blade inside the scorching flames and channeled his demonic energy.
“Devour it.”
Gŭla lupus
Nahen’s sword transformed into the shape of a giant wolf’s head. Ziz’s beak was forced wide open, and the wolf swallowed the flames in a single bite.
The moment Ziz was left vulnerable, Nahen raised his now-empty hand. He clenched his fist and then—
CRAAAASH───!!!
He struck the beak he had already cracked with his sword. Ziz’s tough beak shattered with a loud crack.
Ziz thrashed wildly in agony. Watching it, Nahen thought, ‘Beaks grow back anyway.’ Breaking it once wouldn’t cause any real problems.
Whether the destruction of its beak had been a tremendous shock or not, Ziz shook its head violently in pain.
“Want more?”
When Nahen asked, Ziz immediately lowered its head in submission. It must have hurt quite a lot; its massive body trembled so violently that the sky itself shook.
Nahen looked at Ziz, who was writhing in pain from its shattered beak, and let out a sigh.
“…If you had just listened from the beginning, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Some creatures only learned their lesson after getting beaten. Nahen ordered Ziz to shrink down. Still whimpering from the pain in its beak, Ziz obeyed.
The shrunken Ziz looked like a small feathered dragon. Seeing it clutch its beak with its front legs, Nahen asked.
“Does it hurt?”
“Pee…”
Ziz looked up at him with eyes that seemed to ask if he could heal it. But its hopes were soon shattered.
Nahen smirked and said, “That’s your karma.”
“Pee-ik…”
“Puu.”
“Muuung.”
Leviathan and Behemoth—who had returned at some point and were, of course, completely fine—circled around Ziz as if to comfort it. Nahen thought their behavior showed they had warmer hearts than he expected, but…
“Puu puu.”
“Muuuung.”
“Pee-iiiik!!”
They weren’t comforting it. They were teasing it. Behemoth even kept poking Ziz’s broken beak with its trunk, clearly provoking it.
‘…Do these guys not get along?’
Watching the beasts behave in such ridiculously childish ways, Nahen let out a light laugh.
“Time to go.”
“Muuung?”
“Pee…?”
“Puuu.”
He had finished everything he needed to do in Hell. It was time to return to his original place.
Nahen looked up and murmured, “I wonder how everyone’s doing.”
Time became meaningless while in Hell. It wasn’t that Nahen had stopped paying attention; this place simply had no concept of “a day.” For Archdemons, a day merely referred to the period between activity and sleep, not a twenty-four-hour cycle like elsewhere.
Since Nahen hadn’t slept even once since arriving in Hell, by Hell’s standards, not even a single day had passed.
‘…I have no idea how much time has passed outside.’
He would find out once he returned. Still, considering how long he had been moving, it probably hadn’t been more than a month.
With that thought, Nahen tore open the space beside him with his demonic energy.
“Gate.”
"Līmen"
⟨ Spatial Gate ⟩
The space was ripped apart by his power, and a passage opened. It was time to return to his disciple, who must have been waiting desperately for him.
“…Huh?”
Because bringing the beasts along in the Demon Realm would be troublesome, Nahen had sent them back ahead of time. Upon arriving in the Demon Realm, he tilted his head in confusion. He had definitely opened a gate to the 69th Floor, yet what lay before him was not the Demon King’s castle but a ruined wasteland of charred debris.
“Where is this?”
Nahen didn’t know. He didn’t know why the gates connecting to Hell only existed on the first floor of the Demon Realm, or why the Archdemons and demons strictly followed that rule. Since it wasn’t a setting that had been revealed in the game, Nahen, whose memories were sealed, had no way of knowing.
It was to prevent being trapped by the flow of time when traveling between Hell and the Demon Realm. The reason was unknown, but such phenomena occasionally occurred when traveling between Heaven and the Human Realm, or the Demon Realm and Hell. To avoid this, both Heaven and Hell had created fixed passages.
If they weren’t bound by such restrictions, there would have been no need for Heaven and Hell to create those passages in the first place. Why would the Archangels and Archdemons bother creating doorways into worlds inhabited by races they considered inferior?
Unaware of any of this, Nahen had torn open his own gates both when traveling from the Demon Realm to Hell and from Hell back to the Demon Realm. He had indeed arrived properly at the 69th Floor. The landscape he was seeing now was…
“…What is this?”
Due to two incorrect transitions, eight years had passed, and the 69th Floor had been completely transformed.