Ch.38Chapter 38 – Belial (2)

# One day, a traveler asked the sage:

“What should I do if I meet the Four Heavenly Kings?”

To which the sage replied:

“Kill yourself.

Before despair worse than death befalls you.”

***

Belial fell through the night air. Even the wind rushing into his mouth tasted delicious in the material world. He pointed to the lights on the ground below and requested:

“My Dark Lord! Your army to this place!”

The entity sitting at the lowest level of the “Lower Dimension” gladly obliged.

Five black dots appeared on the ground where Belial’s fingertips pointed. In his falling vision, the black dots rapidly expanded—not merely due to perspective. The dots were actually growing.

Gates were opening.

“Time for the feast!”

A horde of imps poured out of the gates like a flood. The minor demons released into the mortal world scattered toward residential areas, killing fleeing people. Belial eagerly joined the massacre.

“So many gates at once?! This hasn’t happened since the First Gate Incident!”

“B-block them!”

“It’s impossible! There are too many!”

Hunters who responded to the disaster sirens tried to stop the imp legion. But there were too many demons compared to the number of hunters. The imps slipped through the encirclement like sand through fingers.

“It’s okay! The emergency deployment order has been issued. If we hold out a little longer, the military will arrive!”

“Just kill the ones heading toward civilians!”

“That wouldn’t be fun.”

Belial pounced on a group of hunters from above.

“I-it’s a boss!”

“Scatter!!!”

A sharp spider leg pierced through the crown of a slow-moving hunter, impaling his body vertically. The mouth attached to the leg devoured the hunter from the inside. To others, it looked as if the B-rank hunter was being absorbed into the boss’s leg.

“Byungsu! Th-this can’t be happening! A B-rank hunter taken down so easily…!”

A B-rank hunter was a veteran with considerable field experience—not someone who should lose their life so quickly. A status window appeared before the shocked hunters’ eyes. A message announcing the boss’s appearance:

「 ===

Do not speak his name in vain.

The useless, the worthless, the unequal.

The vile one, the dissolute one, the savoring one.

All things become equally worthless before his mouth.

A fragment of your lord,

The First Legion Commander of the Demon King,

The hunter crawling up from the bottom,

Bel-ial.

=== 」

The message was excessively ominous. Sensing the unusual aura, several hunters fled. Why should they protect civilians in the first place? They had only come to make a show of resistance because the Hunter Association would impose severe sanctions for disobeying emergency deployment orders—they hadn’t come to fight to the death.

But the greedy Belial had no intention of letting any escape. For a predator like him, losing prey was humiliating. The habit of always killing targeted prey had elevated him from a mere low-ranking demon to one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

His eight legs danced like blades. The razor-sharp limbs sliced through the fleeing hunters’ bodies, leaving only severed limbs scattered across the road. The demon absorbed the finely minced flesh as if it had been put through a blender. Rich in mana, these victims provided more power than ordinary ones.

“We need to bind his legs! Any magic users?!”

“No! He’s too fa—gack!”

“Aaaaargh!!”

Belial continued leaping around, hunting hunters. Not for his incompetent subordinates who were dying by the dozens to each hunter—as long as imp matrices existed in hell, such mindless demons could be produced infinitely. If he killed strong ones, even stronger ones would come to kill him. The more powerful beings he consumed, the sooner he would regain his original strength.

“Hehe, how delightful.”

Hunting with bare hands after so long was quite entertaining. The lack of weapons was somewhat inconvenient, but it evoked memories of when he was a mid to low-ranking demon. The time when he was merely a crawling spider… The memory of devouring his siblings and parents when he couldn’t endure hunger. Humans tasted just as sweet.

“Hmm?”

As Belial reminisced about the past, he suddenly felt a cold sensation on his leg.

“Citizens, don’t worry! I have arrived!”

“No way, that person is—!”

“It’s Yeo Dongyeon, the Ice Caster!”

Yeo Dongyeon was a hunter who had recently gained fame after appearing on an entertainment program. He was gripping Belial’s leg while emitting cold energy from his hands. Citizens recognized the famous A-rank awakened one and cheered.

“We’re saved! An A-rank hunter is here!”

“Right, I heard his next broadcast was going to be filmed in Incheon!”

Indeed, a man with a broadcast camera was recording the battle while being escorted by hunters, crouching awkwardly. Yeo Dongyeon was hoping to become more famous by having his heroics filmed, while the cameraman was risking his life for ratings. Conscious of the camera, Yeo Dongyeon shouted:

“Freeze!”

Ice crystals formed from his hands like elaborate computer graphics. The magically created ice chunks clung to the boss’s legs. As the ice trapped all eight spider legs, the immobilized boss became unable to move.

“Now’s our chance! Everyone break the legs!”

The hunters brightened as the enemy’s most threatening weapons were sealed. Two or three people clung to each leg, smashing the frozen limbs.

“Argh! This cannot be!”

Belial screamed as his eight legs were shattered one by one. His screams encouraged the hunters further. Victory seemed possible!

“Good! This is the last one!”

Finally, all eight of Belial’s legs were destroyed. The giant spider demon supported his body with just his two arms. The hunters surrounded the boss to finish him off decisively. In front of the encirclement, Yeo Dongyeon proudly shouted:

“This is easy for an A-rank hunter like me!”

He created an ice sword from thin air and repeatedly stabbed the spider’s body. The confidence of a victor was evident.

“Amazing. A monster that can speak!”

The boss speaking Korean had been captured on camera from beginning to end. My name will go down in history books as the first person to converse with a monster! Yeo Dongyeon, the national hero who saved Incheon! Imagining a rosy future, Yeo Dongyeon grinned.

The hunters tightened their encirclement. Yeo Dongyeon approached the unresponsive boss and attempted conversation:

“Haha, without your legs, you’re just a big useless lump. How does it feel to be captured by us despite your size?”

Belial stared blankly at the human taunting him.

“I feel quite good.”

“…You feel good?”

Suspicion outweighed the joy of successful communication. It felt odd. How could he feel good when facing death? Was the first monster to communicate with humans some kind of masochist? The demon kindly answered his question:

“Yes. Because I’m about to enjoy you, now that you’re even more delicious.”

Demonic energy exploded from Belial’s body. The hunters were shocked by the immense mana that was beyond their ability to measure. Meanwhile, flesh began regenerating from the severed leg stumps. New legs started growing like a lizard’s tail.

“Wh-what! It’s recovering! The boss is regenerating its legs!!”

“No! Stop it! Freeze it again!”

But the regeneration speed was too fast—too quick for Yeo Dongyeon to react. Eight blade-like limbs whirled through the stunned humans, turning them into bloody pulp before they could even scream.

“Damn it, Frost Incarnate—!”

Belatedly, Yeo Dongyeon released a blast of cold air. The frost accurately swept over Belial’s legs.

“What?!”

But unlike before, Belial took no damage. Thick demonic energy was protecting his skin. Yeo Dongyeon faltered when he saw the boss unharmed despite his full-power attack.

“Just pretending to be hurt a little makes you so arrogant… Hehehe. How cute.”

He tricked me? Yeo Dongyeon stepped back in dismay. But he couldn’t retreat far—the camera was filming him from behind. If he fled now, rather than becoming a national hero, he’d be immortalized in hunter textbooks as a fool who was deceived by a monster. To Yeo Dongyeon, wealth and fame were as precious as his life.

Obsession breeds foolishness.

“Ugh, die!!”

Desire blinded reason. Yeo Dongyeon bit his lip hard and wildly swung his frost blade. A fierce blade wind like a frosty gale shot forth. Most demons would fall to even such a careless attack, so he expected no different result this time.

Yes, I was just momentarily weakened by shock. He was one of only twenty-three A-rank hunters in Korea. If I use my full power against a monster like this…

Belial swung his hand with a whoosh. Unlike his earlier playfulness, this contained some seriousness. The swing came faster than a cannonball. By the time Yeo Dongyeon blinked, the bed-sized palm was already in front of his face. Before he could take any other action, he was caught.

“Guhak! Kuluk, kuk—”

“Our positions are reversed… Now it’s my turn to ask. How do you feel right now?”

His despairing expression answered for him. Satisfied, Belial squeezed his hand tight. With all his bones crushed and internal organs ruptured, Yeo Dongyeon died instantly. Belial tossed the result of his capricious game into his mouth.

“Mmm, tastes good. Indeed, cooking the ingredients makes for a more delicious meal.”

Humans became more flavorful food the more they despaired. Belial thought of the premium ingredient he had stored on the rooftop. The supreme foodstuff with potential to become the finest delicacy. Just thinking about that paladin made his mouth water. But to completely break his spirit, more death and despair would be needed…

For now, Belial crunched on the corpse. The demon’s digestive system converted the mana infused in the flesh into demonic energy. Indeed, the previous one must have been quite strong among humans, as he could distinguish the amount of increased demonic energy.

“About one drop. Still far from enough… More, I need more meat!”

Fortunately, a large quantity of meat was approaching from afar. Humans riding in long-snouted iron carriages—tanks, they called them in human language. The army they had assembled seemed cute, considering they would all end up in his stomach anyway.

“To consume that many, I need a proper stage…”

Belial spewed thread—silk woven from human flesh that flew and stuck to the windows of high-rise buildings. Belial climbed up the thread. Then he spewed more thread to another building. He repeated this process.

The demon began creating a spider web among the forest of buildings.

***

Shin Jaehyuk helplessly looked down at the ground, impaled on a lightning rod. Positioning his face toward the ground while skewered on the rod was partly a cooking method to age the ingredient’s flavor, but also Belial’s demonic consideration so he wouldn’t be bored while waiting.

‘No… Incheon. The citizens.’

He needed to regenerate his limbs quickly to stop Belial. But the residual demonic energy in his wounds hindered recovery. He could barely maintain consciousness, let alone move. Gradually, auditory hallucinations became clearer.

It’s all your fault.

He had lost too much blood and his mind was hazy. But even through blurry vision, the battle situation was all too clear.

The escapees were helplessly swept away by the green tidal wave, like a small boat in a typhoon. Where the imps had passed, only bloodstains stuck to the asphalt remained.

The belatedly deployed military fired barrages at the flood of imps. But the more damage they inflicted on the demonic army, the faster they became targets. Belial moved across the spider webs in the air, destroying tanks one by one. Soldiers within the blast radius were annihilated.

People died, and died, and died again.

Shin Jaehyuk’s heart crumbled with guilt. The hell unfolding on the ground was all his fault.

Was it a mistake to go film the smuggling scene at Cha Eunkyung’s request? Was it a mistake to massacre the Black Death Cult members at the laboratory? Or was it a mistake to provoke Ryu Changgeun into performing the summoning ritual?

In the end, it was all his sin.

His mistakes were destroying Incheon.

‘Eloah, please save your lamb. Please…’

In his final moment, the paladin sought his God. He prayed for a miracle. He prayed to save himself, Incheon, and the people. Hoping his prayer would reach heaven.

But as always, God maintained His silence.

For God is often impotent in the most desperate moments.

Shin Jaehyuk’s head dropped lifelessly. He had no options left.

Looking down at the hellscape, Shin Jaehyuk recalled an old saying. A story passed from parent to child, from mouth to mouth. A conversation between a sage and a traveler. The sage had said: “The Four Heavenly Kings are another name for despair.” Shin Jaehyuk could now understand its meaning.

At last, despair settled on the paladin’s face.