Behemoth – 3

“Keuheuk! Cough, cough!”

After coughing up a lot of blood-mixed phlegm, Behemoth widened the distance with a teleport. Then, as it staggered and tried to escape, it collapsed after a few steps. Its entire body was covered in wounds.

I slowly walked forward. Jeobeok, my shoes made footsteps as I stepped between the torn red carpet. The body, now covered in wounds, flinched.

Behemoth looked up at me with a face that was half fear and half desperate struggle.

“You, what the hell are you?! Are you some kind of Inquisitor? What kind of guy are you to do this to me…!”

“There are separate Inquisitors, you know? I’m not even from the Holy Nation to begin with. If you really want to nitpick, I’m probably from the Empire.”

I took another step. “Hieek!” Behemoth let out a shrill scream and frantically got up. Its right hand, holding the whip, trembled violently.

This made me feel like I was the villain. If you were to just take this scene out of context, anyone would see me as a black-clad assailant tormenting an innocent woman.

“That disgusting holy power smell is giving me a headache, and you’re saying you’re not from the Holy Nation? Are you trying to mock me?”

“Disgusting holy power smell,” huh. I couldn’t pinpoint what that meant, but it probably referred to the blessing the Popes had bestowed upon me.

It didn’t appear in the game, so I didn’t know the exact effect of that blessing. Still, it must be something good. Surely the Popes wouldn’t have cast a debuff on me.

Behemoth had an incredibly wronged expression. From its perspective, it probably felt wronged. After all, the first thing it encountered upon resurrection was me. It was truly an unlucky bastard.

Of course, if I had left it alone, it would have committed demonic acts, so I didn’t feel any particular sympathy. If I hadn’t been here, this city would have been utterly doomed from the start.

“Iiik! Die! Just die!”

With a grinding sound of teeth, the whip flew towards me. I carefully observed its movement, then quickly rolled forward and dove in just before the whip could reach me.

The whip lashed the spot where I had just been standing. I righted my posture and waited for the next pattern. If it’s a combo attack, I can deflect it; if it’s a grab, I can dodge it; if it’s neither, it’s damage time.

Behemoth retrieved the whip as it was. It seemed to have been a simple long-range harassment skill. That meant it was enough for me to land a hit.

Closing the distance in one go, I gripped Wingless Nightmare with both hands and raised it above my head. The blade itself began to emit light.

It was the special ability of Wingless Nightmare in its holy attribute state.

Immediately after Behemoth used its long-range harassment skill, if the timing was right, there was enough time to use this special ability. It was a fact verified by countless users.

Moreover, perhaps because its physique was only slightly larger than a human’s, there were no patterns that applied super armor, so I could land a hit with the special ability and escape during the stun.

A brilliant radiance burst forth from Wingless Nightmare. Light, equal in intensity to a small sun, illuminated every corner of the boss room.

A subtle moonlight mixed in with the brilliant sunlight. White light and silver light intertwined, swirling wildly. The entire sword turned pure white.

Although a powerful aura of light, enough to completely cover up to my elbows, was right above my head, strangely, it didn’t blind my eyes at all.

Conversely, Behemoth let out a painful groan and covered its face. In the game, it didn’t act like that even when I used the special ability.

Pushing aside my doubts, I swung my arm.

ㅡKwaaaaaang!

With a tremendous roar, a holy light descended from the sky.

Behemoth was driven headfirst into the ground. The white light that burst forth instantly dyed the surroundings pure white. It was a light so intense that even though it didn’t blind my eyes at all, I instinctively covered them.

The aura of light disappeared in less than a second. Then, Behemoth’s form was revealed. It was driven headfirst into the ground, unable to even make a squeak.

‘……Huh?’

With bewildered eyes, I alternately looked at the Wingless Nightmare in my hand, Behemoth buried headfirst in the ground, and the mansion ceiling with a hole larger than my height.

Through the almost completely shattered ceiling, the blue sky was clearly visible. Even the clouds seemed to have suffered an unexpected calamity, as one part of them had completely evaporated.

Bright sunlight poured into the room, illuminating both of us.

‘What is this? Why is it so strong?’

It was a level of power that even I, the user, was bewildered by.

When I saw it on the monitor, the entire effect was just a white pillar of light descending from outside the screen. The ceiling never broke when it was used indoors.

But now it was different. It was as if the light truly originated from the sky, as all the clouds were torn apart, and the mansion’s ceiling was shattered.

‘No, what kind of weapon did that woman even make?’

I wondered what kind of feat someone with no connection to the Holy Nation had to perform to create such a weapon. Even in the Holy Nation, there would likely be only a few weapons with such power.

Did she receive a direct revelation from a god or something?

“Kkeoeok…… Kkeok…….”

A desperate gurgling sound leaked from Behemoth’s mouth. Its hair below the shoulders had all burned away, turning into a bob, and the remaining parts were charred black, completely changing their color.

Its entire body was close to gray. It was a severe burn, enough to cover all the lacerations I had made. Even looking at it again, it was absurd.

I idly swung Wingless Nightmare a few times in the air. Even after doing it, I wondered if this was right. I had only expected to hit it just enough to hurt.

I had not expected to practically burn Behemoth alive like this, shatter the mansion’s ceiling, or summon a pillar of light strong enough to punch a hole in the sky.

“You… th-this…”

Behemoth, which had been writhing with its head buried in the ground for a while, lifted its head. Its face began to slowly melt.

‘Ah.’

As soon as I saw that, my mind snapped back.

It wasn’t too late to think about how this situation came to be after completely dealing with Behemoth. For now, dealing with it was the priority.

Behemoth, seeing me walking towards it, gripping Wingless Nightmare, tried to writhe and escape, but its body was so broken that it was nothing more than a futile action.

“No! Don’t come! I hate it!”

A weak scream burst from its mouth. Its voice was cracking in real-time. An unpleasant reverberation, like metal scraping against metal, mixed in with its delicate, alluring voice.

I ignored it and approached. As its melting skin covered its mouth, its words became intermittent.

“How could, I just… came to the human world, but…”

The speed at which its face was collapsing accelerated. Its skin, which had been a faint pink like a ripe peach, gradually turned dark and mottled.

“Now, it’s time to show your true form.”

“…….”

I aimed for Behemoth’s neck and raised Wingless Nightmare. The blade, split half in gold and half in silver, shone brilliantly under the sunlight.

Seeing that, Behemoth made a final struggle. Hideously grown fangs were visible between its parted lips. The blood flowing from its body slowly turned black.

I brought Wingless Nightmare down. Seogeok, its neck was cut off with surprising ease. Conversely, I was bewildered.

It’s not easy to cut even a human’s neck in one go, let alone the neck of a demon, which is fundamentally tens, if not hundreds, of times tougher than a human’s.

Yet, I cut it without much effort, as if slicing a cake with a knife.

‘Is it because of the holy power?’

Perhaps it was due to the holy power residing in Wingless Nightmare. I wasn’t entirely sure myself, though.

Degurureu, the head, separated from the torso, rolled towards me. I kicked it back. The head landed next to the torso again. Both eyes were wide open.

Suddenly, its appearance began to change.

Its absurdly large chest, its waist so slender it seemed like it might break, and its plump thighs disappeared, and various parts of its body swelled up.

Its skin tore in a hideously unsightly manner. It was skin that felt similar to alligator hide. But it was far more hideous than alligator hide.

Its physique was no exception. Its figure, which boasted an unrealistic voluptuousness, changed into a figure that boasted an unrealistic voluptuousness in a different sense.

Its appearance, which one might have believed was taken from some eroge, disappeared, and an appearance resembling a pig that had been bloated in water for several days emerged.

Its head was similar. Its face, which was beautiful enough to be called a beauty even in this world where women’s appearances had been significantly leveled up, was nowhere to be seen, and it had transformed into a goat’s head of a strange color.

“Ugh.”

I frowned deeply. It was far worse than expected. In the game, it was just “disgustingly ugly,” but here, just looking at it made me feel unpleasant.

‘Helga’s enchantment must have been broken, right?’

I diverted my thoughts. Since Behemoth was dead, the enchantment on Helga would probably have been broken.

Now, all that remained was to have our purity verified by the Inquisitors and Interrogators of the Holy Nation, who would undoubtedly come here upon hearing the news of a demon’s descent.

I would be fine, but Helga or the regular members, if they were truly unlucky, might be “saved” under the pretext that their souls were captured by a demon.

Even I couldn’t stop that.

ㅡBbeeggeok….

At that moment, the door opened very carefully. I sensed a presence beyond the door.

‘Is that Helga?’

It seemed the enchantment had indeed been broken. If she had regained her senses, she would have been able to easily untie the knot.

“Helga, are you… huh?”

I turned my body, looking for Helga, then paused when I saw an unexpected person. Just like me, the person who opened the door and entered seemed not to have expected me to be here, and froze stiff on the spot.

We stood there, frozen and facing each other, for a long time. After standing for a long time, the other person finally managed to open their mouth first.

“……Honored Guest-nim?”

The person who opened the door and entered was Stella. And she was utterly dumbfounded.