The Nightmare Demon (5)
Do you know Greek and Roman Mythology, one of those required reading books for elementary school kids? It was almost certainly sitting on a shelf in every school library.
Tales of heart-pounding heroic adventures and myths. Of all of them, I liked Hercules the best. The Twelve Labors of Hercules. Every single one was an incredible feat, but the story of the Hydra left a particularly deep impression on me.
The Hydra was an immortal monster that grew back no matter how many times you cut off its heads. On top of that, it had a deadly, lethal poison. From the perspective of anyone fighting it, the only natural reaction would have been a heartfelt What a bullshit game design.
So then, how do you deal with a monster that regenerates infinitely?
That's right. Fire is the answer.
Against the Hydra whose heads kept growing back no matter how many times they were severed, Hercules cauterized the wounds with fire and stopped the regeneration cold. There's a lesson in that story.
When you meet a regenerating monster, burn it with fire.
If a small fire isn't enough, light a bigger one. Cauterize the wounds, burn it, roast it completely. Wise Teacher Hercules knew this well. Now it's my turn to inherit his flame-like will.
I swapped out the newly purchased skill from the shop for Minor Heal. I still had an unused area-of-effect DoT heal, and there was no need for two healing skills. A new skill that shone with brilliant presence in the skill window.
The grayed-out frozen screen and the monster. I restarted the raid, vowing to show that horrific creature a taste of searing fire.
"Nyaang... pae?"
The demon tilted its head at irregular angles and let out a voice that sounded like it was tearing itself apart. Those who saw it felt not so much terror or dread as a first, overwhelming sense of the grotesque.
The grotesqueness of a creature born a monster clumsily imitating a human. With a body of dripping, blood-soaked meat, it copied human movements and mimicked human speech in a monster's howling voice. Watching people, learning from them, it tried to act as if it were one of them. It kept absorbing human gestures and words, learning and learning.
A monster imitating people.
Kenis felt a cold sweat break out. She understood it on instinct. That monster was dangerous. If they failed to kill it here and now, it would return as a great catastrophe.
Just as Kenis raised her holy sword and prepared to leap in, Demonic shouted.
"Hold! Do not rush in recklessly!"
Kenis's body, on the very brink of launching forward, stopped by a hair's breadth. Demonic kept his blade leveled at the demon and spoke without looking back.
"This is a demon that cannot be handled by ordinary means. It regenerates without end, and it is learning from its opponents. We must finish it in a single, decisive stroke."
In truth, even as the demon was cut and carved apart by Demonic's sword, it was absorbing his swordsmanship like a sponge. The first time it saw a technique, it took the blow helplessly. The second time, it blocked clumsily. By the third, it began to copy it. A truly astonishing capacity for learning. If the opponent had not been a demon, Demonic would have wanted to teach it the sword himself.
"Tch."
Demonic clicked his tongue. They needed to deal with it while the demon's level was still not that high, yet no suitable method came to mind. A demon that kept regenerating and learning from its foes—he had never encountered such a monster in his life.
Where in the world did a monster like this even come from...!
A brief, choking standoff continued. Demonic's mind raced as he searched for a countermeasure—
—Chaaang!
The space around the demon split open in countless circles, stretching and tearing. Beyond those circular rifts lay the black Abyss: a deep, deep abyss where neither light nor darkness existed. Something writhed and burst forth from within it.
"Ki—heeeek?!"
The demon tried to dodge the sudden anomaly, but what erupted from the torn space was faster.
—Charrreuk!
Silver chains shot out of the Abyss, swimming through the air and writhing like snakes. The sharp barbs at their tips twitched like serpents' heads; the silver chains flowed like serpents' bodies, rattling as they moved. Then the silver chains drove those barbs forward like spears and plunged them down.
"Kihik—! Geuhi—eek!!"
The barbs on the chains pierced the demon's body as easily as soft tofu and drove all the way into the earth. Dozens of them. Countless chains skewered the demon—arms and legs, torso and neck. The demon was caught as helplessly as prey impaled on spears.
The slender chains ran it through and forced it to its knees on the ground, the image of a criminal made to kneel.
"Th-this is..."
Ruel's eyes went wide. High-density holy power was woven into the silver chains, and holy power could be felt even beyond the torn space. An unmistakable scene of miracle. Ruel dropped to her knees on the dirt. The gods were clearly aiding them.
The gods do not give trials beyond what one can bear—truly the heart of a parent. The faith welling up in her chest poured out as prayer.
"In the day of my fear I will put my trust in the Six Gods. O Six Gods, those who know Your name will put their trust in You—"
"Hey, hey. Cut it out. Get up already."
"Uwaaagh."
Friga grabbed the nape of Ruel, who was rattling off the prayer at machine-gun speed, and hauled her upright. Looking around, she saw soldiers and knights alike offering prayers at the miracle unfolding before their eyes, without exception.
Friga stared at the silver chains. The demon, pierced through in every place, knelt motionless, utterly defenseless. If it was now—
Couldn't I kill it in one hit?
Friga put the thought into action at once. She gripped the Dragon Hunter's Axe in both hands and shot forward like the wind.
"Wai—"
Demonic's belated shout was scattered by the wind as the axe fell like lightning toward the kneeling demon's neck.
—Kaaang!
"Ugh!"
She had brought the axe down on the demon's neck, yet the feeling that came back through her hands was like hammering a wall of steel. Friga shook out her reddened hands and retreated.
"Ow. My hands hurt. What the hell? It didn't look that tough a minute ago."
"My lady! Are you all right?"
Kenis hurried over in alarm. Friga gave an awkward smile and showed her red hands.
"Nah, I'm fine. I just thought maybe I could kill it in one go right now..."
Forget killing it—the axe blade hadn't even bitten in.
"Huh. Weird. Watching your dad carve it up earlier, it didn't look like a tough one."
Demonic approached and spoke.
"It was not a lack of strength or technique. It seems to be because of those chains."
"The chains?"
"I cannot be certain... but those chains may not be mere restraint. Sealing, or stasis—something of that nature, holding the demon in place."
"Stasis? Like time stopped or something?"
"It is possible."
An absurd notion—yet the gods had worked a miracle, so Kenis found it entirely plausible.
Demonic led the party toward Caesar. Having used the scepter's power twice in a single day, Caesar's complexion looked somewhat worn.
"Sir Demonic, and... the Apostles as well."
"Your Majesty. What is your assessment of that demon?"
"Preposterous. A monster that grows stronger the more one fights it."
Demonic nodded. Brief as the clash had been, he had felt the demon's danger keenly. Given time, it could become a calamity that threatened the entire continent.
"Your Majesty. Please withdraw the troops."
"...For what reason?"
"It is a demon that learns from its enemies and grows. The greater our numbers, the faster it may grow—that is my concern."
"..."
"We need only the Apostles, myself, and a handful of knights. We will face it with a small elite force."
Caesar sank into deep thought. Many of the knight-commanders around him agreed with Demonic's view. It made sense. Even in that short exchange with Demonic it had clumsily imitated his swordsmanship—what if it stole techniques from a host of people? An immortal regenerator armed with high-level skills could be born.
"Would it not be better simply to leave it sealed as it is?"
Caesar looked at the silver chains. Facing a near-immortal demon with a small elite force and no army? Better to leave it sealed like that...
"Th-that may be difficult..."
Priest Ruel spoke in a trembling voice. Every gaze snapped to her at once. Startled, Ruel hid behind Kenis and continued.
"Th-those chains... the holy power is weakening, little by little. They probably won't hold it for long."
The atmosphere grew heavy. Why would the gods release that wicked demon again?
"The gods..."
Kenis spoke.
"The gods do not give us trials we cannot bear. They are like a parent. What parent would place upon their child a trial beyond their strength?"
Therefore, without doubt—
"We can slay that demon."
Certainly, and without fail.
"We can do it."
Kenis's eyes were firm.
—Hwaruk!
A ring of fire formed above Kenis's head. Bright and warm, yet searingly hot.
"Trials and adversity are what make us grow."
Wings slowly sprouted from Kenis's back. Not wings of feathers. Wings that blazed with scorching fire and flame. Wings of sacred fire burned bright. Matching her red hair, the wings grew larger and larger. At last she took the form of an angel wreathed in flame.
Radiant and hot, yet warm.
She would burn the wicked and give the good the warmth of a campfire.
"We will be victorious."
Kenis's eyes held embers. A flame that would burn every evil in this world flickered within them.
"Without fail."