Chapter 165 – Behemoth – 2

Pahng!

The whip ripped through the spot where my body had just been. A sharp tearing sound echoed throughout the room.

I straightened my posture and observed the Behemoth, who hadn’t moved an inch from its place.

‘Same personality as always.’

The Behemoth was a boss that tried to keep its distance from the player in the game. Maybe it was just being cautious since it hadn’t come out to the human world in a long time.

For a cleric who primarily uses ranged sacred spells, this boss was practically a piece of cake. Just maintain a distance and spam the sacred spells, and it would die on its own.

On the other hand, the melee classes had a tougher time.

The concept of attacking while thoroughly staying cautious was faithfully upheld in the Darkest Light Mod, so there were no patterns where it would suddenly rush or cling to the player.

In other words, as long as I maintained my distance, I’d have ample time to observe its patterns.

“Are you running away like a little rat? Want to get hit harder?”

Since I had just been observing its pattern and maintaining distance, my voice and expression were slowly becoming more relaxed. The hot pink pupils looking at me sparkled with a smile again.

The whip in its hand was shimmering with a red aura. That was a weapon that caused the status ailment ‘Bleeding’ among the various effects in Brightest Darkness 4.

Bleeding was a status ailment that could be inflicted using special enchants, weapons with bleeding attributes, or specific spells.

Once bleeding was inflicted, the player would take damage every time they performed an action like running, swinging a weapon, or rolling for the duration of 15 seconds.

In other words, standing still meant no damage. Theoretically, if one stood still for 15 seconds, they could end the status ailment without taking damage.

Of course, that’s only in theory.

Unless the last remaining enemy died and burst the bleeding gauge, the enemies would be hell-bent on killing the player, so how could one stay still? That would just get them killed.

Especially since the action of drinking a potion would also be considered an action and inflict damage, drinking a health recovery potion while under bleeding status would literally show what it means to bleed profusely.

‘But it doesn’t mean anything to me anyway.’

It was similar to other status ailments. If I got hit by an attack that caused bleeding, I’d probably drop dead before the gauge even burst, so why bother worrying about it?

“Are you scared because I’m holding a whip? Don’t worry, my dear! Look! It doesn’t look painful, does it?”

The Behemoth shortened the whip to the length of its arm and started hitting itself. The whip wrapped around its chest, butt, and thighs, making splat-splat sounds.

Aaah, aahn, a completely absurd moan sound was heard too. It sounded like something you’d only hear in adult films.

As the flesh burst and blood flowed from the spots the whip hit, it recovered in an instant, growing new flesh. It seemed its own attacks were also subject to recovery.

“What are you doing? You’re not just going to watch a woman like me, are you?”

As I stood there still as a statue, the Behemoth twisted itself, emphasizing its chest and butt.

It was surprisingly true that despite facing its violent physique head-on, I felt no excitement. It was probably because its body was just too exaggerated. Too much of a good thing is still a thing.

If we were to talk size, it was far worse than Nix, who had breasts hanging off her torso.

“I’m getting heated, and you’re just standing there?!”

The Behemoth took the initiative and swung its right hand. The black whip returned to its original length and darted toward me like lightning.

I swung the Wingless Nightmare to deflect the whip. As soon as I bounced it away, the next attack came. The black whip and the Wingless Nightmare collided, making a thud! sound.

I concentrated on my arms and shoulders. Since it was a boss that only swung the whip from a distance, as long as I maintained space, there was hardly anything I could call a pattern.

That demon didn’t approach players but just kept swinging the whip from afar. So I just had to focus on deflecting the whip. It was easy.

‘Normal, offbeat, one beat late, normal, normal, offbeat, offbeat, offbeat, normal, and the last is normal too.’

Of course, it came out in a random mix of normal and offbeat, provided I memorized that trash pattern, which even had offbeat hits that were one beat late.

All you could do was get hit and die while memorizing the timing. If you didn’t know? You’d get caught by an offbeat fake or end up bouncing a normal hit as if it were offbeat, getting launched like a statue.

“Are you going to keep this up, dear? Hmm?”

As I deflected all the attacks without batting an eye, the Behemoth’s eyes overflowed with light. The whip split in two and flew towards me slightly slower than before.

I raised my guard to reduce combat fatigue and rolled to the side at the right timing. The whip spun in the air.

That had been a grab pattern. Just because it was a slow attack didn’t mean it was easy. If I tried to deflect it, I might end up caught by the weapon and dragged in, burying my head between those breasts.

And my spine would break, right?

In the game, if you still had HP after being hit by such an attack, you’d get up perfectly fine, but not here. It’d either be death or end up in a state worse than death.

Seizing the opportunity while the whip was returning, I kicked the ground and dashed forward. As with any rapid-fire pattern, if you successfully deflected or dodged everything, there’d be a clear deal time.

Seeing me suddenly try to close the distance, the Behemoth panicked and raised its whip, but I was faster. The Wingless Nightmare glided past the Behemoth’s side.

Kyaaaaaah!

A piercing scream erupted. The Behemoth staggered and disappeared from my view before reappearing on the opposite wall. It was teleportation.

If it had been a human, it would’ve been a move that made someone’s head spin, but thankfully, there were no patterns using it offensively. It seemed it had no intention of using that as an attack now either.

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!

The Behemoth clutched the spot where it had been cut by my blade. It thrashed around, dropping a few tears, and then, after mouthing for a while, brought its left hand under its chin and spat a huge glob of saliva.

Then it diligently rubbed its spit-covered palm against its side.

“You…!”

“Making a fuss over just a scratch? What a whiner.”

It was sincere, not mockery. Compared to its total HP, that single hit’s damage was nothing. So why was it whining as if it had lost an arm?

The Behemoth glared at me with teary eyes.

“Whining?”

“The judgment is complete, Inquisitor.”

After confirming that the battle nuns under her had finished the ‘heretic judgment’ of the last one, Stella slammed the flail down on the ground. Red blood and brain matter, along with flesh, fell heavily to the ground nearby.

In front of her stood a ratio of about 2:1 of people still alive and headless corpses.

To be precise, it wouldn’t be accurate to say they were alive; they should be called people whose souls hadn’t yet been captured by demons. As long as they fervently sought salvation from the sun and moon, they wouldn’t be dragged to hell at least after death.

However, for those with their heads blown off, it was already too late, and thus they’d been neatly disposed of.

Stella released her grip from the flail covered in various liquids and chunks and turned to Selene. Selene was busily wiggling her arms near a nearby tree.

“Begin the prayer.”

“Yes, Inquisitor.”

The battle nuns bowed their heads toward Stella, placing their flails and shields down. Thud, thud sounds echoed repeatedly. From their waists, sacred catalysts were pulled out all at once.

The battle nuns knelt on the ground, clasping the sacred catalysts with their hands, and began to pray. Brilliant golden sunlight radiated, covering the dazed people sitting there.

Upon confirming that, Stella approached Selene.

“Did you achieve any results?”

“We obtained the desired information.”

Selene, who had her ear close to the monster’s mouth, lifted her body. In front of her lay a large mass of flesh, writhing.

The skin was completely peeled from head to toe, both eyes were gouged out, the nose and ears were cut off, all teeth were pulled out, even the gums were mangled, the mouth was torn to the ears, and substantial muscle tissue was removed from the entire body.

Compared to when it was initially captured, the demon worshipper had shrunk to half its previous size.

The more astounding fact was that despite such a state, its consciousness was still intact. It simply couldn’t express itself properly since all means of expression had been torn away.

“It’s a relief to hear there were results. What did it say?”

“It said that the Behemoth has been resurrected.”

“…Tch, I should have moved a bit faster. Since a demon has been resurrected, should I declare this a purification zone?”

Stella frowned and looked toward the city.

It was, indeed, a tremendously large city. Even with all the battle nuns under the Inquisitor and the Inquisitor alongside, it would still take a while to block this entire area.

She wanted to request support from the Holy Kingdom, but could the regular battle nuns really be a help in fighting demons, as opposed to the elite battle nuns under Stella and Selene?

Now that that filthy monster is gone, it might be another story if the free Pope herself came to support.

Selene slowly shook her head.

“There’s no need for that, Inquisitor. According to the information, it’s likely that it has been resurrected imperfectly.”

“Well, that makes sense. If the demon had truly been completely resurrected, there wouldn’t be anyone left here who hadn’t had their soul taken. So perhaps we’re sufficient?”

Selene’s green eyes focused on the people lying in a golden glow. The fact that so many people had remained behind without having their souls taken meant that the demon’s power was still imperfect.

“So, first, would you enter and ‘judge’ the people inside, Inquisitor?”

“Of course. What about you, Inquisitor?”

Selene’s purple eyes pointed to the ‘interrogation tools’ held by her battle nuns. Stella immediately understood its meaning: they still had matters to discuss with the demon worshipper.

Now, it would be allowed to suffer thoroughly until its last breath, and then it would be thrown into hell with nothing but remnants of its soul.

Stella was confident she knew very well how to torture humans, but compared to Selene’s skills, Stella’s methods were like a baby taking its first steps.

Even the battle nuns under her would be horrified by how cruel and vicious Selene’s heretic interrogation was.

“One person left to unfold the sacred barrier for those here, and the rest follow me. We’ll be entering.”

Stella, shouldering the flail again, stepped through the castle main gate into the city. All but a few battle nuns followed in order.

“Let’s form groups of three to judge the entire city’s people. Two will remain, so follow me.”

As soon as the order was given, the battle nuns stood holding their rapiers vertically in front of their faces or banging their flails against their shields to inject spirit. They then immediately formed groups of three and headed to various parts of the city.

Only the two left behind were men, and Stella turned her body.

“Come on, let’s hurry. We have a place to go.”

“Where will you be heading?”

One of the battle nuns asked. Stella answered with a tone as if it were obvious.

“Of course, to the lord’s mansion here.”