Hellhound

The Hellhound was apparently running amok inside the Demon Castle.

“Oh, I am so terribly sorry…”

Stella was looking completely dejected.

“That crown is a precious heirloom passed down through generations of Demon Lords. To have it stolen on my watch…”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get it back right away.”

Especially for the sake of the moping Stella.

“Tell me where the Hellhound is.”

“Understood.”

Stella nodded and opened her third eye. She was searching with her Clairvoyance.

“It’s currently on the third floor of the royal castle. It looks like the guards are chasing it.”

“Alright, I’m heading over.”

When I reached the third floor, several soldiers were sprinting down the corridors. Hm, where’s the Hellhound?

“This thing is fast!”

“Surround it! …Wait, it vanished!?”

“Stay calm, it’s repeating high-speed movements—Ouch! It bit me!”

The soldiers were in an absolute uproar. Looking closely, I caught sight of something like a black flash darting between them. Is that it? Is that the Hellhound? It was moving so fast it left afterimages. The guards couldn’t keep up with that speed at all. I suppose this overwhelming velocity is how it managed to infiltrate the castle so easily.

Suddenly, the Hellhound came to a halt. It was a dog covered in pitch-black fur. It was less than a meter long and held the golden crown in its mouth. Stella had called it a demonic beast, but it looked just like a normal dog. Round and quite cute.

“Leave this to me, my Lord!”

Rilim stepped forward. It seemed she had been commanding the soldiers to corner the beast.

“I’m definitely going to catch it!”

She seemed fired up. Go for it, Rilim.

“I’m stretching even further than usual~!”

Rilim elongated her slime-morphed arm like a rope. The arm slithered out, closing in on the Hellhound at high speed. However—

“…No way, it’s too fast!?”

The dog accelerated instantly, slipping right through Rilim’s grip. It could go even faster? I was barely able to follow it with my eyes, but the other soldiers couldn’t react in time. Rilim’s slime arm ended up grabbing nothing but thin air.

“Dammit, catch it!”

“Recover the Demon Lord’s crown!”

The soldiers chased after it in unison. The Hellhound slipped through them effortlessly, as if mocking their efforts.

“Shelter.”

I used my mana to create a dome with a radius of several meters. The Hellhound’s movements stopped.

“Now you can’t run.”

I slowly closed the distance while simultaneously shrinking the size of the ‘Shelter.’ No matter how fast it was, once I limited the space available for high-speed movement, it was no big deal. I managed to catch it without much effort.

Or so I thought, until—

“Woof!”

With a short bark, the Hellhound’s body lifted off the ground.

“This thing…?”

In the next instant, while still in my grasp, the Hellhound began to fly at incredible speed. Straight toward the mana wall. Is it planning to ram its way through? I hurriedly deactivated the Shelter spell. A wall made from a Demon Lord’s mana wouldn’t break from a mere head-on collision, but the Hellhound might get hurt.

“Gauuu!”

The Hellhound flew right out of the castle window with me in tow, heading in a straight line through the air.

“Hey, where are you going!?”

I held on tight so I wouldn’t be thrown off. I deployed a mana defense field to protect myself from the wind pressure and friction heat. The Hellhound kept flying. It soared to an altitude of about a thousand meters and then surged forward, accelerating further and further.

“Is this guy planning to fly until I fall off?”

I wanted to bring it down to the ground while I had it, but I couldn’t find a suitable spell in the moment. Meanwhile, the flight speed continued to climb. The surrounding air began to glow red with heat, and we streaked across the sky, trailing a glowing crimson tail.

Before long, the scenery below began to change. The endless grasslands gave way to wasteland. Then, we reached a frozen plain that looked like a reservoir of darkness, where black mist pooled.

“What is this place…?”

Everywhere I looked was the white of ice and the black of mist. My Demon Lord’s robe seemed to have a cold-resistance function, as I only felt a slight chill.

“Looks like we’ve reached the outer rim of the Demon Realm.”

A voice spoke. The Hellhound was looking at me.

“You can talk?”

“Who do you think I am? I’m much smarter than your average demon.”

The Hellhound gave a haughty sniff. Its voice and tone sounded like those of a teenage boy. It slowed its flight speed and eventually came to a halt in mid-air.

“The outer rim… you mean the edge of the Demon Realm? So this is what it looks like…”

It was the first time I had seen this place. Simply put, the Demon Realm is a massive diamond-shaped landmass. The four regions—North, South, East, and West—spread out to surround the Royal Capital. I’d heard that the outer edges were mostly unexplored and filled with mysteries.

“Wait, you don’t know? You’re the new Demon Lord, aren’t you?”

Well, it hasn’t been long since I became the Demon Lord. There’s still a lot I don’t know about the geography.

“Hm… that scent. Could it be… you’re a former human?”

The Hellhound narrowed its golden eyes. I stiffened.

“Aha, I hit the mark! Hmmm…”

The Hellhound let out a low “grrr.”

“Besides, you’re hiding a divine power inside your body. I can tell by the scent.”

“Divine… power?”

What was it talking about?

“I actually intended to come greet the new Demon Lord,” the Hellhound sniffed again. “I only stole the crown because I wanted to lure you out.”

“Why bother going through all that trouble?”

It could have just come to see me normally.

“Just a little bit of mischief,” the Hellhound said bluntly. “But I’ve changed my mind. I am the proud, exclusive mount of the Demon Lord. I can’t let a former human ride on my back.”

“…I see.”

Well, there was no point in forcing it.

“There’s a spare magic dragon back at the castle, I’ll just use that.”

“Wait, what? Are you seriously okay with that?”

“Well, you’re the one who said you didn’t want to let me ride.”

“No, no, no! This is the part where you’re supposed to try and persuade me!” the Hellhound insisted. “You should be saying stuff like ‘You’re the only mount for me!’ or ‘Please let me ride, my lifelong partner!’ You know? Don’t you?”

“I can’t exactly force someone who says they don’t want to.”

“You have to persist! Try harder! Cling to me! I’m begging you, I’m begging you~!”

The Hellhound’s attitude was becoming increasingly desperate. Is this guy… a total attention-seeker?

“I know! Let’s do this: I’ll test you to see if you’re a talent worthy of being the Demon Lord.”

“I’m not really interested.”

I wasn’t feeling it.

“Even if you were once human, you are still the Demon Lord who inherited the Crest. Therefore, show me your power and prove you can make me submit…!”

“Listen to me when I’m talking…”

“Alright, let’s start!”

In the next instant, a massive amount of energy radiated from the Hellhound’s entire body.

“Tch…!?”

The sudden pressure blew me away.

“Wind Vernier.”

I used a wind spell in mid-air to stabilize my posture. I slowed my falling speed and landed gently.

“That is—”

Looking up, the Hellhound was enveloped in a pitch-black aura. While scattering red sparks, its body began to grow gargantuan. A massive frame covered in black scales. Membrane-like wings. Sharp claws and fangs.

“You are—”

“I am the Emperor Dragon of the Abyss, Bel-ga-Elfieda.”

The creature formerly known as a Hellhound, now a jet-black dragon, spoke in a solemn tone.

“I am the strongest of the dragon kin—the one who served successive Demon Lords and soared across countless battlefields as their mount.”