<Side Story 83>
Frrr~!
Behemoth's flames spread everywhere, carbonizing the bodies of demons on the barren plain.
Diablo looked at Behemoth, who used his companions as shields to block his sword, and frowned.
"What a dirty move...."
Looking at the pile of demon corpses scattered on the ground, Diablo asked:
"Is that what a king does? Use his comrades as shields?"
-The job of subordinates is to protect their king.
"That's not protecting; it's using them as flesh shields. How many of them do you have to use to protect yourself?"
-Using your people is also a skill of a king. You've always been a king who stood alone at the top.
A king so strong that he had never had anyone by his side.
Behemoth had exploited that nature of Diablo to create the current situation.
"You've become too arrogant, Diablo."
The enormous bull smiled, paying no attention to the small sword marks on his body. He simply kept the flames in his mouth.
"This greedy pig...."
Behemoth's words, hurting his pride, made Diablo's forehead veins swell.
Creak, creak.
Growl.
The horns on his head lengthened, and the form of a demon mixed with his human face.
His eyes, now bright red, shone as Diablo increased his killing aura.
"How dare you lecture me?"
Bam!
Furious, Diablo released the sword from his hand.
Although he had learned to use the sword over the past 10 years, Diablo had lived as a demon all his life.
When his emotions stirred and anger took over, his instinct took control.
Diablo was gradually losing reason.
But at that moment...
Boom!
"Gyaaaah!"
A demon went flying with an explosive sound.
Diablo and Behemoth's gazes simultaneously turned towards him.
"He's not dead, right?"
"I just hit him a bit."
"Baaah!"
A black-haired man looked up at the demon flying like a star, concerned.
Beside him, a beautiful woman with orange hair with eyes shining like the sun and a small creature that looked like a fairy.
It was a unique combination.
And among them, Behemoth was surprised to see the orange-haired woman.
-Pan... dora?
Pandora.
Former member of Olympus, now a ranker who had left the place and lived in seclusion somewhere with a free status.
Considered one of the three greatest beauties of the Tower along with Tsukuyomi and Aphrodite.
Of course, her ranking was not based solely on her appearance.
-Why is she here?
Pandora was a double-digit ranker solely for her brute strength.
Even for Behemoth, fighting her wouldn't be easy.
From Behemoth's perspective, her appearance couldn't be more annoying.
However...
"You, you're that human. You...."
Diablo, however, opened his eyes in surprise at seeing YuWon.
"What are you doing here?"
Unlike other demons, he knew YuWon. He had fought against him when YuWon went to the Heavenly Mountain in search of the Heavenly Demon.
Of course.
The result was a one-sided defeat for Diablo.
"I was just passing by."
"Just passing by?"
"I was heading to the 66th floor. But it was a bit noisy."
Saying this, YuWon looked at Behemoth.
The "largest" creature, the size of a small island.
With Behemoth moving, there was no way the surrounding area would be quiet.
"Are you also... an enemy?"
Diablo looked at YuWon with suspicion and asked.
He judged that YuWon was much more threatening than Pandora, who was by his side, or Behemoth, with whom he had been fighting until recently.
It was natural, as he had recently lost to him.
"If I were an enemy, I would have killed you back then."
"And then?"
"I've come to help for now. There are things I need to tell you."
YuWon said this while looking at Behemoth, who was full of caution.
Behemoth, who couldn't attack openly due to the presence of Pandora.
The sound of heads rolling could be heard from here.
"That guy is out of his mind."
"He's out of his mind, that's for sure. That pig, daring to... talking with that swollen belly."
"No, it's not that...."
It seems that a little more explanation is needed for Diablo, who is excited, to understand.
"He's dreaming."
"A dream?"
"Yes, a dream."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll see if you wait."
Crunch-.
YuWon passed by Diablo and stepped forward.
However, Diablo, thinking that they were bothering him, grabbed YuWon's shoulder.
"Wait a minute. This is a matter between that guy and our people."
"Leave it to me for now."
There was only one thing that could convince Diablo, who was stubborn and proud.
"You don't want to harm your own people, do you?"
Thud-.
Diablo hesitated a bit at YuWon's words.
His people.
Despite his appearance, Diablo was quite weak to these words.
He pretended not to care about the lives of the demons, but he had a sense of responsibility as a king.
"What's the difference if you do it?"
It wasn't a very appealing proposal.
Involving a stranger in a family matter.
However, as YuWon said, Diablo didn't know how to resolve this without killing Behemoth and all the other demons here.
Moreover.
"Give me five minutes."
Five minutes.
It wasn't much time to wait.
"...Fine."
Diablo nodded and turned away, taking a few steps back.
"Five minutes. Do whatever you want in that time."
His gruff voice contained a warning that he would bite his neck if he deceived him.
YuWon nodded in response and approached Behemoth.
Diablo and Pandora stopped, and YuWon took a step forward.
Behemoth, who had been watching them, had a perplexed expression upon seeing YuWon's unfamiliar face.
-Who are you? What relation do you have with Diablo?
He seemed to have doubts after seeing Diablo and YuWon talking a moment ago.
However, instead of answering Behemoth's question, YuWon simply looked at him and commented:
"You're still ugly..."
-Ugly...?
As if those words touched a sensitive nerve, Behemoth raised his leg.
-How dare you say that!
Bang-!
Zzzzzz-!
When his foot hit the ground, the ground sank. He didn't use any special ability, but the force emanating from his body was the greatest among the demons.
Of course.
"You're still as impatient as ever."
In terms of strength, YuWon was also confident.
[The strength of the Giant resides in your arms.]
YuWon, now behind Behemoth, used Gigantification.
Strength against strength.
'With impatient demons, you have to crush them first and keep them down.'
With that thought...
Zzzzzz-!
Thud-!
YuWon's fist hit Behemoth's back.
-Kueeeek-!
The sound of bones crunching could be heard. As his body sank, the ground supporting Behemoth groaned under the strain.
The demons trapped in confusion dared not move even though their leader had been attacked.
A stranger who had suddenly interfered while fighting Diablo.
That stranger had subdued their leader Behemoth with a single blow.
-Kuh... You... what... kind of guy...
"There are only 4 minutes left, so let's hurry."
There's no time to waste talking and satisfying this guy's curiosity.
YuWon cut off Behemoth's question and put his hand on his back.
At that moment...
From Behemoth's back, a black stream began to spread around him.
-W-what, what are you doing?
"I'm not trying to kill you, I'm trying to save you."
YuWon's gaze turned towards Diablo, who was watching with interest from afar.
"From that guy."
If he left it as it was, Behemoth would surely die at the hands of Diablo.
However, if things went as he wanted, Behemoth could live, although there would be some consequences.
"So shut up and stay still."
Zzzzzz-!
[The 'Teeth of Amorphous Chaos' show their teeth.]
Numerous teeth appeared around Behemoth.
Devouring YuWon's Divine Power. The grown teeth seemed about to swallow the enormous Behemoth in one bite.
-Hiiiik!
Terrified, Behemoth shook violently.
Rightly so.
With so many teeth aimed at his neck, it would be stranger if he stayed still.
As if he had foreseen it, YuWon raised once again the fist he had prepared.
Boom-!
Zzzzzz-!
Behemoth, trying to get up, fell back to the ground.
A crunching sound, like bones breaking, echoed.
Only after receiving two blows did Behemoth realize.
That no matter how large his body was, there was no way he could defeat YuWon, who was riding on top of him.
"I'm not going to eat you, so don't be scared."
[The 'Teeth of Amorphous Chaos' say they also have preferences.]
[The 'Teeth of Amorphous Chaos' say that the 'Demon King Behemoth' doesn't taste good.]
Perhaps it was due to the increase in YuWon's Divine Power?
Somehow, the communication seemed richer than before.
Thus, YuWon calmed Behemoth, who was terrified by the Teeth of Amorphous Chaos.
"You don't taste good."
-I-is that so?
Behemoth asked with a bit of joy.
Obviously, it was not a compliment.
YuWon's words, constantly saying that he was ugly, resonated in his head.
Anyway.
'Isn't this guy the one who wants to eat.'
The reason why Behemoth was subdued.
The reason why the teeth surrounded the enormous guy was not out of greed for his tasteless body.
What Amorphous Chaos truly craved was one thing.
[The 'Teeth of Amorphous Chaos' have found an 'Ancient Dream Fragment'.]
It was a fragment of the Great Name residing in the guy.
YuWon felt the Name fragment within Behemoth through Amorphous Chaos.
'It's small.'
No matter how great a Name is, if you divide it into thousands, millions, or billions of parts, its size inevitably becomes small.
Moreover, this wasn't a complete dream spell.
It was a dream.
It was no different from another self that existed deep within him.
"If it weren't for Diablo, I could be the king..."
A voice echoed from deep within Behemoth.
"Damn it. How can I defeat that bastard?"
Everyone has ambition for power.
However, most simply look at it without reaching for it, believing it's an impossible tree to climb.
But everyone knows.
The fact that there is a sweet fruit at the top of that tree.
However, the tree is too high to climb just for the sweetness of the fruit.
But...
"You can do it."
Someone whispered that he could climb that tree.
It was Behemoth's own voice.
"Until when are you going to live as Diablo's lapdog?"
"Think about it, Behemoth."
"You can do it. You can become the King representing the Demons."
"First of all, Diablo, that guy only has brute strength and lacks the qualities to represent the race, your race, your people."
He knows it's an impossible tree to climb.
He also knows he shouldn't climb it.
But despite that.
[An 'Ancient Dream Fragment' infiltrates your dream.]
Behemoth was climbing that tree.
Tags:
LWTG (Novel)