Ch.97Chapter 97 – Belphegor (1)

In the beginning, when Hell was created.

God breathed soul and demonic energy into Hell’s barren soil to create demons.

God molded the soil carelessly, and thus ancient demons of diverse and unique forms were created.

Among these ancient demons born this way, there was one particularly deformed being.

Its physical abilities were insignificant, and its skin was horrific like a leper’s from birth.

Its frail legs, unable to support its oversized body, made one wonder why they were created at all.

Yet this demon survived in Hell’s harsh food chain.

Not merely clinging to life, but becoming an apex predator.

This was because the demon’s brain was abnormally superior and special.

Due to its deformed brain structure, the demon lived in a different flow of time than others.

While a second passed for others, a month or even a year might pass for it.

Time flowed quickly when the demon felt interest, and slowly when it felt boredom.

This perception of time granted the demon many things.

Judgment, calculation ability, memory…

The demon remembered everything in its life without exception.

The demon even remembered its own birth.

The sight of its soul settling into what was merely a doll of dirt.

That moment when God’s touch breathed life into the dirt doll.

Based on this memory, the demon showed innate talent in manipulating the energy called “demonic energy” flowing within its body and permeating Hell’s atmosphere.

The remarkable talent to kill someone and resurrect someone was sufficient to compensate for its insignificant physical abilities.

Time several times that of others was sufficient to hone its talents.

Its control over demonic energy reached the extreme, and its black magic was unrivaled.

At some point, it had become one of the Four Heavenly Kings leading countless demons.

Its followers called it the progenitor of black magic.

However, an overwhelming amount of time became a curse for an immortal being.

Hundreds of millions of years in Hell became quadrillions of time for the demon.

And since one cannot always maintain enthusiasm for black magic, it was natural for the demon to feel boredom.

The terrible boredom created a vicious cycle that further extended the flow of time.

The demon wandered in search of entertainment to alleviate its boredom, and after exhausting all kinds of pleasures, lost interest in everything and spent time doing nothing.

This demon, doing nothing but being lazy, became the symbol of sloth.

The demon hated the God who created it.

The God who tortured it with the tool of time within the prison of flesh.

The survival instinct engraved by God in its genes wouldn’t even allow escape through suicide.

The name of the demon cursed with life was this:

Bel-phegor.

The prisoner who hates God.

***

Outside the gate. The three hunters who had been defending the gate from approaching undead were taking a rest.

“Thankfully, the air support arrived on time. We almost ran out of ammunition…”

The supply soldier checked his empty inventory and sighed in relief, quietly looking up at the sky. Fighter jets and bombers from Japan, China, and Korea were flying over the gate, clearing out the surrounding undead hordes.

Though not blessed with holy power, the bombs were tearing Death Knights and ghouls to pieces with a force incomparable to handheld grenades.

“We’ve secured our retreat path, so we just need the personnel who entered the gate to return safely…”

As the soldier gazed worriedly at the gate, a radio transmission came through.

-Team A, do you copy? This is Team B. Please temporarily disable the barrier so we can disembark from the helicopter.

“Team B? Understood. Wait a moment.”

Indeed, a helicopter with the Korean flag was hovering above the blue barrier with its door open. When the hunter maintaining the barrier briefly withdrew his mana, several people jumped down from the helicopter.

Thud.

Team B’s hunters, who had fallen without parachutes, massaged their sore knees and exchanged greetings with the three guarding the gate.

“Haha, where did you sell your parachutes?”

“It looks so easy in movies… Damn, it still hurts even with mana reinforcement.”

“I see you successfully retrieved the nuke. Congratulations.”

“It was nothing. The monsters didn’t even understand the concept of nuclear weapons, so there was no security at all.”

“Wasn’t the original plan for you to guard the evacuation point? Is it okay for you to be here?”

“That was the plan. But after you requested support, the higher-ups changed the plan. Thanks to the psychics’ performance, our defense line has some breathing room. That gave us air forces to deploy to Pyongyang, and the helicopter picked us up on the way.”

In other words, since they had gathered enough air forces to reach central Pyongyang, there was no need to take off from the outskirts—they could just board a transport aircraft and escape as soon as they cleared the gate.

“So, how’s the gate assault going?”

“Don’t know. You know electronic devices malfunction inside, right? No way to communicate.”

“Any unusual situations?”

“None, except for this ominous magical wave. They say it’s a precursor to summoning a boss monster called one of the Four Heavenly Kings… Two S-rank hunters went to stop it, so it should be fine.”

The soldier from Team B glanced at the gate and asked:

“How long has it been since they entered the gate?”

“About two hours… We should be hearing news soon.”

The soldier maintaining the barrier muttered while checking his watch.

Just then, the gate changed. Demonic energy with a faster tempo—and thus more powerful—began pouring out from the gate.

“W-what? What’s happening?”

“What’s going on inside?”

“Did the assault fail?!”

As the powerful demonic energy disrupted electromagnetic waves, the helicopter wobbled in the air.

-This is the transport aircraft, *static* malfunctioning due to magical waves. We’ll temporarily *static* distance from the target. Over.

But the team members aiming their guns at the gate were too focused on maintaining vigilance to respond. The success or failure of the mission would be determined by who emerged from the gate…

“Look! Someone’s coming out!”

There was a hand emerging from the gate. A living person’s hand, not a corpse.

Just as they were about to cheer, the hunter who completely emerged from the gate shouted:

“Damn it, we failed! Couldn’t stop the summoning! Prepare for combat!”

The crowd fell silent as if doused with cold water. Hunters with various injuries emerged one after another, groaning and confirming their defeat.

“We’re fucked…”

The fighter pilot who heard the situation through the radio made a quick decision. He warned the ground personnel through the radio:

-I’m going to use missiles on the target. Move away from the target.

“Everyone get away from the gate!”

The hunters retreated in an orderly fashion while supporting the wounded. As soon as they were sufficiently far from the attack range, the fighter jets unleashed missiles into the gate.

-Fire!

Along with a deafening explosion that made even the awakened hunters’ ears ring, the sound of a cave collapsing came from inside the gate and then fell silent.

Someone shouted:

“Did we get it?”

“You idiot! The gate isn’t disappearing!”

When a boss dies, the gate closes. Conversely, if the gate remains open, it means the boss is still alive…

True to those words, the black, smooth surface rippled and changed. A strange sound was heard.

Rattle-rattle-rattle-

Along with the sound of an old motor, something emerged from the gate. Someone who recognized the object spoke in a puzzled voice:

“An electric wheelchair…?”

What the tense hunters faced was a demon in an electric wheelchair. This bizarre demon was wrinkled like an old man, sickly like a leper, and without muscles like a deformed child. It was obvious that its weak legs couldn’t support its fat body, and it could barely move slowly by manipulating the wheelchair’s lever with its short, pudgy arms.

“Pfft. What is that? Can it even walk on its own?”

“Heheh, is that the demon version of Stephen Hawking? What’s with that disabled thing!”

The hunters snickered at the appearance of this seemingly weak monster. They were too busy mocking its ridiculous appearance to question why or how a monster was riding an electric wheelchair.

Moreover, they couldn’t sense any magical power from this disabled mob. It seemed like they could subdue it with just one finger of their A-rank hunter strength…

Then a system notification sound rang out.

Ding-

“Huh? A system message…”

The hunters checked the system window that appeared in their vision.

「===

Time flows slowest for those who feel boredom.

Here is a demon more bored than anyone else in the world.

Four Heavenly King, Belphegor.

===」

A boss message.

The message was short and concise. It was unusual compared to previous boss messages that elaborately explained the boss’s characteristics or identity.

‘Unless that short, concise message, as if the message writer felt laziness, perfectly expresses that demon…’

Shin Jaehyuk recalled that Belphegor was the symbol of sloth among the seven deadly sins defined by the Vatican. And he focused his mind to not miss even the slightest movement of the demon, wary of what tricks it might be hiding.

“A boss message! Seriously?”

“So that thing is the boss of an S-rank gate… the Four Heavenly King we were warned about.”

The other hunters also noticed the situation and wiped the smiles off their faces. Wasn’t this a common cliché in fiction? A being that appears extremely weak on the outside, but is all the more ominous and dangerous because of it.

The soldiers aboard the fighter jets were also awakened ones, so they understood from the boss message that the demon in the electric wheelchair was the boss. And they also understood that the gate would close only if they defeated the boss.

-We just need to kill that thing! We’ll end this war with our own hands! Give it everything we’ve got-!

With the command jet’s order, dozens of missiles were fired. A barrage of missiles flying fiercely toward the target, ready to leave not even dust behind.

Belphegor pointed his index finger at the metal projectiles rushing toward him. Then he pointed at the fighter jets and transport aircraft in the sky, and the hunters on the ground, one by one.

“You, you, you, you… and you too.”

Forced teleportation. In the blink of an eye, the fighter jets and missiles that had been soaring through the air vanished. At the same time, all the hunters beside Shin Jaehyuk, except for the Sword Ghost, disappeared somewhere.

The sight of seemingly annihilating allies with just one finger. Shin Jaehyuk broke out in a cold sweat.

‘Large-scale spatial transfer without incantation… so this is a black magician at the peak of power… But why leave only me and the Sword Ghost?’

Just as he reached this natural question, one of Belphegor’s two mouths—the one on his cheek—exclaimed cheerfully:

“Whew! Finally, an environment suitable for conversation. Yes, you’re Longinus! The madman who caused trouble in Baal’s territory 400 years ago! Haha, you have no idea how much I laughed when Baal told me about it! I’ve been wanting to meet you!”

“…??”

The tone was excited and frivolous, like a passionate fan meeting a famous movie star. Shin Jaehyuk was bewildered by the cheerful greeting that didn’t match the weight of the name “Four Heavenly King.”

“Above all, I enjoyed your story with my servant, Iscariot! I was bored at the time, and when I heard humans calling themselves the 12 Heroes were coming to Hell for a visit, I ordered Iscariot, who belonged there, to interfere!”

“…What?”

“Ha! Actually, I didn’t expect much even after giving the order, but he did a good job! The betrayal by the black magician who was believed to be a father, and then the holy knight’s revenge…! It’s classic, but such entertaining stories are rare! Truly, there hasn’t been a story as interesting as yours in the 400 years since.”

Belphegor was extremely talkative. So talkative that he rattled off trivia that Shin Jaehyuk didn’t want to know.

“Story?”

“If your life had been made into a movie, it would have been a hit! Like a fantasy version of The Truman Show. Don’t you feel it would be a blockbuster?”

Shin Jaehyuk felt dizzy. What is this guy babbling about? So, Iscariot’s betrayal, the massacre of his comrades, all of that was done to satisfy this demon’s interest?

The mouth in the normal position on Belphegor’s face spoke in the voice of a dignified old man:

“Come forth, my excellent actor. You deserve my praise.”

-I am honored, my lord…

Iscariot, who appeared from the gate, bowed humbly. Beside him, Kyle Leonhardt, Iscariot’s subordinate, also paid his respects.

“Ah, yes. The Emperor of the Empire. Your fight was interesting too.”

“…”

“I thought it would be a one-sided battle, but that old man fights well for a swordsman these days? Hey, swordsman. Oh, is there a language barrier? I heard languages differ by country here… Iscariot, which country is this human from?”

-Please wait a moment. I will bring you a book.

Iscariot quickly dispatched a subordinate lich to procure a Japanese language book from a bookstore. Belphegor rolled his eyes and rapidly devoured the book. After learning Japanese in just one minute, Belphegor addressed the Sword Ghost:

“Swordsman, can you understand me?”

“Japanese? Can we communicate?”

The Sword Ghost couldn’t close his mouth from surprise. But he quickly regained his composure and gave Belphegor a wary look.

“You! What have you done to my guild members?”

“Don’t worry, I’m conditionally merciful. I didn’t kill them. I just moved them far away. To a place where they can’t interfere with our conversation. Of course, what happens next depends on you…”

The threatening tone was thick. The Sword Ghost glared at Belphegor with fierce eyes and gripped his sword hilt.

“What do you want?”

Belphegor answered with a grin:

“Fight this Death Knight. If you win, I’ll spare you and your lackeys.”

“…”

“You wanted to fight anyway, right? Let’s be honest. The strongest Death Knight in Hell? Doesn’t your blood boil? Don’t you want to settle your unfinished duel? Right?”

The Sword Ghost couldn’t deny it. Instead, he asked with an uncomprehending tone:

“…Why are you doing this?”

“Because… it’s fun. It’s only natural to wonder which is stronger—the Sword Master from 400 years ago or the modern Sword Master, right? Hehehe.”

“Huhuhuh…”

Belphegor’s two mouths took turns laughing. One laughed in the voice of a gentlemanly old man, the other in the voice of a chatty middle-aged woman, but both laughed with the same childlike innocence. The Sword Ghost felt a chill. Conversing with the demon was like facing pure malice. Like a child pouring water into an anthill out of curiosity…