408. Daybreak (5)
408. Daybreak (5)
- 1 -
Silver hair fluttered in the wind.
Beneath a stylish black beard, thin lips were pressed into a straight line.
Fins extending from his back and waist flared like wings, giving him the sharp impression of a middle-aged man.
Hair shimmered with a slowly rippling golden glow.
Nine lush tails grew from her waist.
A beauty with a gentle smile.
'Those are...'
Before the two beings who had suddenly appeared, Tiamat was puzzled yet wary.
Given the situation, they were the ones who had saved her, but she could not let her guard down.
Because the two of them were far too powerful.
Power made anything possible.
As she had lived that way herself, wariness of the strong was close to instinct.
『You... who are you...?』
Moreover, Tiamat could not recognize who the beings before her were.
Having been sealed a thousand years ago, she had never once met any of the Demon Realm's existences.
Thanks to her monster instincts, she vaguely guessed they were demons, but she could know nothing beyond that.
To her, the man leaning on a staff of strange shape in midair opened his mouth.
"Pleased to meet you. Duke of Frenzy."
『Duke of Frenzy?』
The middle of Tiamat's heads tilted to the side.
It was a title she was hearing for the first time. She had never had the chance to hear of it.
"Hehe. It is only natural you hear it for the first time. It is a name given to you only after you were sealed."
Then, the golden woman stepped forward with a kind smile.
It was a smile in which danger and gentleness coexisted.
She placed a hand upon her ample chest and continued speaking.
"First, allow us to introduce ourselves... I am Asmodeus, Duke of Lust. I am one of the Seven Dukes who serve His Majesty the great Demon King in the Demon Realm."
"I am Leviathan, Duke of Envy."
Teo-eong — !!
The air shuddered violently.
The white spear was fast, but Leviathan's staff was already before it.
The deflected spear vanished from midair, then returned to its owner's hand.
"The world is far too full of ill-mannered wretches."
His eyes flowed with a cold green light.
"Let us settle this situation first, then talk."
Grurur...!
The staff carved with a monster writhed as if belching dragon fire.
The maw, having twisted its body once, gradually grew larger, then coiled around and climbed up Leviathan's arms.
Clenching the fists of his two hands, now completely blackened, he faced the attacker directly.
"It has been a while, Morr'is."
『Leviathan...』
In the black eyes of Morr'is as she looked down at him, an ominous light lingered.
A gaze of malice, the complete opposite of the divinity she wore around her.
『A provincial bumpkin from the Demon Realm dares interfere with a divine ceremony. Are you that eager to die?』
"Ha..."
Leviathan swept his hair back with a sneer.
Two strands of hair fell over his eyes, briefly obscuring his sharp gaze.
The smile revealed behind them was even sharper.
"Who was eager to die, the results will tell us."
Meanwhile, the other angel, Edenish, was silently staring at Asmodeus.
The golden woman who wore a bewitching smile, with jade beads floating above all her tails.
She was a beauty whose like was hard to find even among the archangels or Goddesses of the divine realm.
That fact pricked at her pride, but she cooled her expression and opened her mouth.
『For you to come up to the surface. This is a violation of the pact.』
"Pact?"
Asmodeus answered, mockery tugging at her lips.
Her eyes glinted sharply as she caressed her own cheek with her hand.
"You violated the pact first. Only one archangel may descend to the surface under the pretext of divine delegation or judgment. Is that not the pact made between Heaven and the Demon Realm?"
Asmodeus smiled leisurely, stroking her hair.
But the edge of her gaze was honed razor-sharp.
"Though, that pact is meaningless now anyway. For it was you who killed our adorable Demon King candidate."
『That was the work of humans...』
"Surely you aren't telling me to believe that?"
Toward Edenish, who had closed her mouth, she hurled another sneer.
The nine jade beads were dyed a dazzling gold and began to glow.
"What a pity. The tails I've managed so carefully will be damaged yet again."
Two leisurely dukes, and two somewhat tense archangels.
While Tiamat was conflicted between them.
Kwareureureung———!!!
The clash of the four beings began.
- 2 -
『It hurrrrrrts——!!!!』
- Ku-aaaaaargh——!!!!
Of all the screams so far, the greatest and most intense cry shook the entire plain.
Though its head had been forcibly torn open, Behemoth had not died.
"... Ha."
'Eye of Fomalhaut' was a spell created by strengthening 'Ash and Dust.'
It was made by condensing flame and lightning to their extremes within a sphere of darkness-attributed magic power, then reversing the explosive and dispersive directionality inherent in those two attributes to destroy the target.
On top of that, 'essence' was mixed in, and 'faith' was overlaid to further strengthen its power.
By design, I had been confident it would be the world's highest level in single-point destructive capability...
Yet even after a direct hit from that spell, Behemoth survived.
"... Right, I suppose you'd have to, to be given the name Archduke of Gluttony."
To be precise, she had transformed into a new form.
- Keuk... haaah...!
As a result, before my eyes now stood not a giant bull, but a small 'girl.'
A child with a lovely appearance at a glance.
Clear ash-gray hair fell short to just above her shoulders, and her eyes, clouded with pain, were as pitch-black as jet.
The worn-looking pale gray one-piece dress was, if you looked closely, the remnants of the power she possessed manifested outwardly, and a large shadow spread beneath her bare feet.
The tiny, charming horn on her forehead looked cute.
A very small body.
But a powerful and vicious strength.
To my eyes, she looked far more dangerous now than before.
"Master...?"
Evangeline seemed to have realized that as well.
Her voice was tinged with unease.
The current Behemoth was close to a new, unanalyzed enemy.
"Do not relax your vigilance."
After giving that order to my close aides, I slowly stepped forward.
- Hurts... hurts...!
Unlike the ancient language she muttered in her monster state, what radiated from her now was will itself.
She seemed unable to vocalize properly yet in human form, but that likely would not be a problem.
If will can be conveyed directly, trifles like language are a secondary concern.
The real problem, however.
"Ugh...!"
Was that the will itself was so intense, it was harming the surroundings.
Esther faltered and stepped backward.
- Hik...!
When I raised my hand to block the wave, Behemoth flinched and trembled.
She seemed to recognize that I was the one who had caused her such terrible pain.
Sarak — !
I paid it no mind and swept my hand horizontally.
A black veil spread in all directions, blocking the waves emanating from her.
- Grrrr...!
As I drew a little closer, Behemoth bared her teeth and showed her wariness toward me.
The sound and gesture were like those of an untamed beast cub. But it would be troublesome to forget her power.
Tududuk!
A light growl. Yet the world reacted to it.
The surrounding boulders began to rise, and giant old trees swayed from their very roots.
This was, literally, a 'monster.' A young monster.
Tok.
"Calm down."
Nonetheless, my steps toward her held no hesitation.
I was confident. Because I had already perfectly defined what she 'was.'
Once I understood what the opponent was, all that remained was strategy.
- 3 -
'Wasn't it said to be a monster of rootless gluttony?'
As I slowly approached Behemoth, I recalled the history recorded about her.
Behemoth had no origin.
The history books defined the meaning of her name merely as a 'great and powerful monster.'
Of course, that was not a proper definition.
It was simply the name of a monster in the most similar-looking myth that was attached to her.
Literally, a monster that appeared suddenly as if fallen from the sky or sprung from the earth.
That was Behemoth.
'For a being capable of doing whatever it pleases, social functions are unnecessary.'
In other words, she was a 'gluttonous monster from birth.'
Meaning, Behemoth growing up 'immature' was inevitable.
Because she had absolutely no social or environmental nourishment for the growth of her ego.
'She is young.'
This was the first weakness of this existence.
Also...
- Hungry... stomach hurts...!
'She was devouring humans indiscriminately.'
This was also a question.
Because a powerful being like her had no reason to fill her stomach by eating anymore.
'Same principle as why a Dungeon Lord has no need for ingestion.'
- Grrr...
Behemoth let out another warning sound.
But the force was weaker than before.
I slowly reached out my hand to her.
Normally, the magic power of a core is at a level that is more than sufficient to sustain the Dungeon Lord's body.
One could say there's no particular need to eat other food to produce energy.
That production level is such that it even generates 'surplus' magic power.
And that surplus is usually used to construct and expand the dungeon.
'The reason early Dungeon Lords ingest is ultimately to increase this 'surplus'.'
But once they reach a certain point, even that ingestion becomes unnecessary.
Because mere breathing becomes enough to meet the metabolic energy requirements to sustain the body.
That point is elite grade for a Dungeon Lord. For a normal creature, it's fully matured high rank or above.
From then on, eating becomes nothing more than a 'pleasure.'
Eating a lot does eventually increase the surplus, which is nice, but...
'The effort of eating becomes tedious to that extent.'
One must eat at least 10kg of food to create a meaningful surplus, and how easy is that labor?
This is the case even for an ordinary elite-grade Dungeon Lord.
What about Behemoth?
The magic power this 'Archduke of Gluttony' emanated just by breathing was enough to exert physical pressure on her surroundings.
Sallang.
You could tell just by looking at the flowers blooming around Behemoth.
She did nothing, yet the magic power she exuded was enough to fill the surroundings with life force.
So to speak, she was a living great tree of the magical realm.
In other words...
'She has no reason to be hungry, yet she is starving.'
This was another hint for the strategy.
And with these two hints, what I had to do was already practically decided.
A being seeking to understand itself.
The only being she would have met was 'Tiamat' alone.
"It's alright."
And that was exactly what I was aiming for.
- 4 -
On a hill somewhere in the Holy Kingdom.
"It would be best to escape from here, my lord."
Ose, a beautiful female knight with a red leopard pelt draped over her shoulders, whispered in a loyal tone.
Her master was in the most dangerous place in recent memory. She could not be left like this.
But the master herself was in a situation where she could not hear her words.
"Haha... hahaha..."
The laughter spilling from the corner of Astaroth's lips was chilling.
Rage soaked in despair, resignation tinged with frenzy, flowed out from her throat.
'How did it come to this?'
Not long ago, everything had been optimistic.
She had been on the verge of seizing everything in the Holy Kingdom.
Though Libertas had been charging forward in the center of the continent, even that was within the expected range.
The Holy Kingdom's overwhelming influence remained, and the power she had planted in the clergy was slowly turning them into puppets.
It had been an excellent plan. Arrogant enough to call it perfect.
The clergy, maddened by desire, were to become her immensely useful slaves.
But...
'... Was it the saintesses that were the problem?'
The images of the three saintesses flickered through Astaroth's mind.
The saintesses' individual abilities were not that strong compared to the archbishops, but they were the beings the Goddess most closely watched.
So Astaroth had deliberately targeted the other humans, excluding them.
She had planned to leave the saintesses alone and deal with them one by one later.
If she could just imprison them anywhere, the 'blindfolded Goddess' would do nothing.
'I should have made sure they could never escape...'
That was one of the saintesses she had left alone.
After the incident of Esther escaping the Holy Kingdom, everything began to twist.
The Holy Kingdom became excessively obsessed with Esther, and obsessed with Libertas who had secured Esther.
Yes. 'Obsessed.'
The emotions she had amplified as she intended began rampaging out of control.
And... everything fell apart.
"This can't be..."
A voice leaked from the lips of the woman sweeping back her black hair.
Not the usual noble and beautiful one, but a low, seething voice.
She had to gain something. Anything...
"... Ah."
What caught her eyes were two things.
A being floating blankly, staring at the sky just like her.
Tiamat. The being who had originally been her target.
The allied army maneuvering the Holy Kingdom's forces on the surface.
The army led by Libertas.
"Haha."
'... Right.'
In Astaroth's two eyes, bearing a faint smile, a faint gleam began to flicker.
It was not over yet.
The possible actions were two. The card in her hand was one.
If luck was on her side, she could gain more than two.
If luck was on her side.