“We mean you no harm, if you require help, we might just be able to help you.” I let Mo Na off my neck and then opened my arms to show that I was unarmed. With that gesture of peace, at least it was one in my mind, I slowly approached the Cerberus.
“Grrr…” Instead of reining in its aggression, the Cerberus seemed even more agitated by my actions. The closer I got, the louder it growled.
Seeing that, I was reminded of a saying from Earth, ‘Dogs who bite, don’t bark.’ Clearly that didn’t apply here. Even with a river separating us, the hellhound didn’t let its guard down at all. Realizing its warning wasn’t going to work, it arced its back and a second later leaped into the air, crossing the 10 meter wide gap of lava between us in an instant.
With a hound as large as a bull closing on me like that, I had no choice but to make an emergency dive to the side lest I was rammed into.
“Mama!” Mo Na flew over at that instant and hugged me before helping to pull me out of the way as well.
*Bang!*
The Cerberus crashed into where I was just seconds ago. So forceful was its ram that it took the combined strength of No.3 and Big 4 to finally halt the momentum of its leap and avoid being knocked away. However, because of the sheer power of that leap, the two were pushed back a significant distance before they finally managed to steady themselves.
“You dare to harm the Master? Unforgivable!” Hastily throwing on the Fire Devouring Fish Claws, No.3 lunged at the right most head of the Cerberus.
*Thud*
His fists struck the head with a resounding thud and yet not even the fur on its head was damaged by No.3’s claws.
‘Was this what the legends meant when they mentioned ‘Thick-skinned’ people?’
“Don’t kill it, I want it alive…well, just do your best.” Thanks to the efforts of No.3 and Big 4, I was able to safely extricate myself from danger. I reached out for Shadowfang with right hand just as before. But after giving it some thought, I decided not to draw it in the end. After all, this was the long-awaited encounter with a devil, unless there was really a need to, I didn’t want to kill it.
No.3 and Big 4 grabbed onto right and leftmost heads of the Cerberus, leaving the center one unrestrained to wildly flail about and bite at the other two, spitting fire at them from time to time.
Perhaps it was because it had been spitting fire all this while, but its flames weren’t as hot as I had expected and barely left a mark the flame resistant No.3 and Big 4. As if they were born of steel itself, the two devils stood there like immovable statues and held down the hellhound’s heads. Whenever one of the heads tried to bite, the other devil would apply more apply force and drag the hellhound more to his side. Like that, No.3 and Big 4 rotated between protecting each other while neutralizing the threat of the hellhound.
To prevent any potential accidents, Mo Na took this opportunity to tie down the last head with her darkness whip. At times, I couldn’t help but wonder how an object made entirely of energy was even able to do that; truly marvelous.
With that, the hellhound was completely restrained by us. Realizing that as well, the hellhound gave up on struggling though it still had that fierce look on its faces. Its heads were swiftly pressed down onto the floor, causing its limbs to follow suit soon after.
For now, the Cerberus wasn’t going to be a threat to us, especially since No.3 and Big 4 had their arms wrapped around its vulnerable neck. And yet while all that was happening, I couldn’t help but notice the unusual lack of strength it showed. My instincts were telling me that this shouldn’t have been all that it was capable of.
Naturally, that judgement was based on my experience with Violet Snow and her hellhounds.
Violet Snow once told me that a hellhound only evolved into a Cerberus once it reached the level of Four-stars. Moreover, just because it was a Cerberus, didn’t mean its body would become as huge as a bull.
However, this Cerberus only managed to display the strength of two Four-stars combined despite being the size of a bull. No matter how one looked at it, something wasn’t right. Furthermore, taking into account that it had been spitting fire at a nearby platform…
‘This Cerberus is probably in some kind of trouble.’
“Sweetie, can you fly up to that platform and take a look for me?”
Since I couldn’t fly myself and No.3 and Big 4 were on restraining duty, that left only Mo Na free to check out the platform. Before doing so however, Mo Na channelled even more mana into her darkness whip and lengthened it so as to maintain the binding on the Cerberus while she flew up there.
“Woof wooff…” Seeing her fly up like that, the Cerberus immediately broke its silence once more and began violently thrashing about. It clearly was on its last legs but that didn’t stop it from nearly throwing off No.3 and Big 4 with its last desperate attempt at breaking free.
“Master, I think it has gone mad…”
Finally, after considerable effort on their part, No.3 and Big 4 managed to restrain the Cerberus once more.
“There must be something really important to it, hidden up on that platform, be careful, make sure not to let it escape.”
“Don’t worry, Master, we aren’t that weak.” As Big 4 yelled out that reassurance, he threw a look at No.3 who returned it as well. The pair nodded before simultaneously leaping onto the Cerberus’s neck and gave each head a resounding punch, forcing the hellhound to its knees once more.
“Mama, there’s a really big egg here but it looks like it’s going to die.” Mo Na came flying down soon after but while she was empty handed when she flew up there, this time she came back with an egg almost as large as her body.
‘I guess it’s an egg? It looks like a chicken egg except for its pitch black shell riddled with intricate red engravings.’
“The egg’s dying? Let me have a look.”
I waved at Mo Na and she obediently handed over the egg in her hands.
Placing my hands on it, I was immediately struck by a slightly chilly sensation which was definitely unusual given where we were right now. By all accounts, one shouldn’t feel cold in Purgatory at all. And yet as I touched the egg, I could almost feel the heat being drained out of it in realtime.
If I wasn’t mistaken, that sensation had something to do with the Cerberus spitting fire at it not too long ago. It was probably trying to keep the egg warm by doing so. However, the egg was most likely unable to absorb the flames within the Cerberus’s breath or it could just be that the flames weren’t able to keep up with the loss of heat.
‘Of course, it could’ve just been cooking the egg…but then, I don’t remember the hellhounds having a habit of eating cooked food.’
“Is this yours?” I slowly walked up to the restrained Cerberus and found all six of its eyes fixed intently on the black egg in my arms. It was as if it was afraid to blink for even a second, as doing so might just cause the egg to vanish from its eyesight. Seeing that pleading look in its eyes, my heart sank; it almost felt like we were committing some sort of atrocity right now.
‘Honestly, I thought it was trying to roast that egg for food, mhm…well, at least now I know that’s a mistake on my part. After all, trying to roast an egg that’s already as black as charcoal is kinda…unthinkable.’
“I know you understand the language of the devil. As I mentioned earlier, we mean you no harm. This is yours I presume, I’ll return it to you but before that I need to make something clear, you are not to attack us once I let you go, got it?”
Creatures categorized as devils knew the language of the devil from birth; it was merely the biological differences between the hellhounds and normal devils that prevented the majority of them from speaking our language. Naturally, Violet Snow was an exception.
Upon seeing it nod its head several times, I gently placed the egg before the Cerberus as if it was some kind of expensive pottery. Having done that, I retreated several steps and then signalled to No.3 and Big 4 to retreat as well. At the same time, I waved my hands to Mo Na, signalling for her to loosen the whip around the Cerberus.
However, that didn’t mean that I trusted the Cerberus entirely either. While a peaceful talk would be best for us, there was no ruling out the possibility that it would not follow our wishes. Thus, as I told No.3 and Big 4 to retreat, I secretly told them to remain on guard for any sudden movements.
Having regained its freedom, the Cerberus didn’t pounce at us. Instead, as I had expected, it started spitting fire at the egg once more after confirming that we held no ill will towards it.
As it continued breathing its fire, I could feel the heat from its flames get weaker with each spit. Yet, it still persevered.
Barring any strangeness, this Cerberus was probably a hellhound that had just given birth and was most likely a Five-stars before pregnancy. For some unknown reason, the egg it gave birth to was the dying black egg we saw before us. Perhaps it was a failed birth from the very beginning or perhaps some other external factor caused it to be as such. Either way, it was an undeniable fact that the egg was unable to hatch and was slowly losing its lifeforce.
Based on that theory…the so-called heat that I felt draining out of the egg, wasn’t heat at all but rather its lifeforce…
‘So that’s why Mo Na said the egg was dying.’
With each breath of fire it spat out, the Cerberus would wail mournfully into the air. Hearing its grief, I couldn’t help but share in its misery and tear up as well. My heart, which wasn’t all that hard to begin with, softened even more. No.3 and Big 4 each threw me a look asking for instructions but I merely shook my head and remained silent. My intention then was to observe for a while more.
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