Rama missed his homeland terribly: the Fire-Burning Realm, where the air reeked of filth, thick smoke billowed overhead, and scorching lava flowed everywhere through a cruel and evil land. Unfortunately, he was still too young and had to remain in the Prime Material Plane, where he felt horribly uncomfortable. It was the fate and trial of his race: every juvenile Hell Hound had to leave the Fire-Burning Realm for a relatively temperate plane. A pure-blooded killing race, they grew stronger by killing and fighting, devouring the flesh and life force of the weak—especially humanoids. Once a Hell Hound had fully matured, it was time to return home.
As a Hell Hound nearing maturity, Rama was extraordinarily tall and sturdy, with a hideous, terrifying appearance. Standing upright, he looked like the ugliest blue-skinned Goblin imaginable, enlarged to six feet tall. The evil demon had claimed one of the Hidden Forest's richest, most bountiful territories: a lake formed by a hot spring. Heavy snowfall left the land barren, and only the areas around a few sulfur springs deep in the forest remained lush and green. They drew hordes of hungry animals and monsters seeking food for the winter, and these surviving creatures provided Rama with ample meat. The faint sulfurous scent rising from the hot spring intoxicated him. Apart from killing and feeding, it was his greatest pleasure in the Prime Material Plane, where he was so terribly unhappy.
Rama had always believed—and taken pride in believing—that he was cleverer and more cautious than other Hell Hounds, though it looked more like cowardice and timidity. Whenever a powerful stranger appeared near his lair, he grew uneasy. The deaths of two members of his kind who had arrived in the Prime Material Plane years earlier had made him grateful that he had understood this lesson early, and confirmed it once again: "The demon who sticks his head out is the first to perish."
The two arrogant fools had hunted humans recklessly near Sambada in the North, drawing the attention of powerful beings among the inhabitants of the Prime Material Plane. Someone—though a small number of Hell Hounds insisted it had actually been Dark Elves—had stormed their lair and wiped them out. Whenever any member of their kind, or any demon, brought it up, they all mocked the stupidity, arrogance, and ignorance of the Hell Hound brothers, who had violated the traditions of the trial. The unwritten customs of the juvenile Hell Hounds' trial were these: each young Hell Hound should avoid gathering with others of its kind; when killing, it should ambush and attack by surprise rather than launch a direct assault; and it should avoid drawing the attention of the native creatures nearby.
Rama was a staunch supporter of the trial's traditions. He had chosen the Hidden Forest as his trial grounds, far from the bustling lands of humankind, in the savage, uncivilized frontier. When he was still weak, Rama had disguised himself as a wandering Goblin and infiltrated a Goblin tribe, secretly hunting Goblins from rival tribes, stragglers from his own tribe, and other creatures for food. As Rama matured and grew stronger and taller, his fur changed from yellow to red. The Hell Hound left the Goblin tribe, which could no longer provide him with cover or a hiding place, and transformed into a giant wolf with dark red fur. He infiltrated a Worg pack in the forest and gradually became one of its leaders.
A few months ago, a powerful Winter Wolf from the north moved into the area. While subjugating the Worg pack, it recognized Rama's true identity as his fur began turning blue, and demanded that the demon serve it. Rama was no weaker than the Winter Wolf, but the cunning Hell Hound did not refuse outright. Instead, he gave the Winter Wolf a test to prove it was worthy of his loyalty: kill a young female Frost Giant who had once roamed the area. In truth, Rama knew she was actually a powerful half-giant, and that she had now "submitted" to an even more powerful human.
Looking at the poorly defended village nearby, the Hell Hound lifted a forepaw—though he could take on a humanoid form, Rama felt safer in his beast form—and pointed toward the Winter Wolf. "The female Frost Giant lives in there. There are also three humans: one adult and two children."
"Enough! Just tell me where that cowardly Frost Giant is. There's no need to meddle in anything else! You coward! Get lost!" Faced with the Winter Wolf's impatient rebuke, Rama inwardly grinned at how well his scheme had worked, but put on an angry expression. He bared his teeth and growled threateningly. "Watch your tone, you cold-hearted brute! Don't say kind Rama didn't warn you! Watch out for your opponent. That girl won't be easy to deal with!" He added silently, Of course, that human man is even harder to deal with.
Rama left with an angry "Good luck!" and headed into the depths of the forest. As soon as he turned his back, his wolfish maw stretched into a hideous, terrifying grin.
The outcome was just as Rama had imagined: the Winter Wolf was killed by that human. Though the Winter Wolf had been cautious and cunning, and had tested its opponent several times, it still couldn't escape its fate, because it had never figured out who posed the greatest threat. The Hell Hound hiding in the distance was terrified, too. A Winter Wolf as strong as he was had been killed by Chen Jinyang with his bare hands in a single encounter. That human's strength was terrifying. Rama turned and leaped through a Dimension Door, fleeing far from the area. Whenever Chen Jinyang went out to hunt, Rama even sent his underlings to keep an eye on him, while he himself stayed far away from the human's hunting grounds.
Though Rama feared the human's immense strength, he also coveted Chen Jinyang's flesh. He believed that if he devoured the body and life force of a human with such "terrifying" strength, he would surely complete his trial and become an adult Hell Hound. He might even grow into an even more powerful Greater Hell Hound. (Of course, that was impossible.) Every so often, Rama couldn't restrain his ambition. He would prowl near the village under cover of darkness, then recall the Winter Wolf's death and flee in terror.
But now the Hell Hound had to run for his life. An even "stronger" monster had appeared in the Hidden Forest, and Rama hadn't even seen what it looked like. A few days earlier, he'd heard that a terrifying monster had driven the owner from a nearby hot spring. None of the animals around the spring had escaped, except for their former leader. Ever since then, the Hell Hound had been restless. Even now, the cowardly Hell Hound shuddered at the memory of that terrifying scene.
One pitch-black night—though the moon was actually high in the sky—the Hell Hound was sound asleep beside the hot spring, lost in a beautiful dream. He dreamed that he defeated that loathsome human, tormented him, tortured him, and tore into him, then slowly ate him alive as he screamed in despair. Then the "great" Rama grew even greater, becoming the mighty king of Greater Hell Hounds—King Rama, or Lord Rama.
Rama was delighting in his newly reborn, stronger, gigantic body—no, Lord Rama was—when he suddenly felt a jolt. The ground shook with a roar, and a foot as big as a small hill landed in front of the "Hell Hound King." Rama stared blankly at the enormous sole, his head rising little by little like a machine. A giant with its upper body hidden behind the clouds lowered an utterly colossal head from the sky. Its mouth opened, an abyss with a bottomless maw, and came crashing down with a "ROAR—!"
It was him! The human he had just eaten! "Ah! Ah! Aaaah!" The Hell Hound, scared out of his wits, woke from his nightmare with a string of unconscious screams. He slammed headfirst into a rock beside the hot spring. Then, his pupils unfocused and eyes rolling back, Rama instinctively opened a Dimension Door and fled the scene with a terrified shriek. Perhaps because he had been so preoccupied with humans, he unknowingly directed the Dimension Door toward Gnome Village. The demon, driven mad with fear, felt as though terrifying monsters were chasing him from behind—they were actually just tree trunks. He ran faster and faster with all his might, leaving a faint trail across the pristine snow.
As Rama fled in a frenzy, he suddenly saw a huge "monster with a human face" lying in wait ahead of him. Its face was four or five meters tall, and its body, dozens of meters wide, was more than ten feet thick even lying flat on the ground. With "ambushers" in front and "pursuers" behind, and his one daily use of Dimension Door already spent, the Hell Hound was at the end of his rope. At last, despair drove him to fight back, and the demonic savagery flowing through his veins awoke.
If there's no way out, then you're not getting off easy either! With the fierce resolve of a man ready to risk his life to bring down an emperor, Rama instantly activated Rage and Levitate. He sprang into the air amid a storm of flying snow and flashed toward the "monster's" eye. The effect of the flash spell instantly cleared Rama's head, but it was too late. The momentum of his high-speed run, the full-force leap in his enraged state, and the effect of the flash spell sent him hurtling forward like a small car racing at two hundred kilometers per hour, straight toward the cliff ahead. The poor little Hell Hound saw only darkness before a hard, sharp object pierced his head. Then his whole body slammed into the "giant face" like a meat patty. With a crash, the "face" and whatever was connected to it shattered across the ground. The "brave" Hell Hound's little body trembled a few times before collapsing among the broken ice, silent. And so the most humiliating death in Hell Hound history finally came to pass. Truly, no one had come before him; may those who followed strive to do better.
Chen Jinyang was dozing, nestled in Phinia's ample bosom, when a muffled thud woke him. He lazily shifted and burrowed a little deeper into the giantess's arms, then fell asleep again, snoring.
At daybreak, Chen Jinyang got Alos and little Mishaer up for their morning exercises. When they came out of the cellar, they were surprised to find that the ice fortress near the entrance had collapsed into a heap of rubble. The little girl stomped on the broken ice, looking crestfallen, and said, "How awful! It took me more than ten days to make William's face, and now it's gone just like that!"
Alos grumbled beside her, "Yeah! It took me ages to make those wooden spikes into eyelashes and put them in place."
Though Chen Jinyang was puzzled that their fairly sturdy "ice castle" had collapsed, he still comforted the two little ones. "All right, all right. The weather's getting warmer, so it's no surprise the 'ice fortress' isn't holding up. At least we won't have to take it apart ourselves. We'll just spend today clearing away all this broken ice."
The two little scamps' faces fell, and they drooped off to find tools for hauling away the ice. Alos stepped onto the "crunching" broken ice, intending to gather up the wooden spikes they'd stuck in earlier. Suddenly, the ground beneath his foot gave way, as though he'd stepped on something soft.
"William! There's something here!" Alos called his brother over to take a look. When they cleared away the layer of ice, a huge blue wolf's corpse appeared before them. Its head was hideous, terrifying, and grotesque. Several of the wooden spikes the children had used as eyelashes for the ice face had pierced the giant wolf's head and throat, leaving it dead in a ridiculously pathetic way.
Chen Jinyang stared at the giant wolf's corpse, speechless. So last night's sound had been real; he'd thought he'd heard it in a dream. So it was that one! It was one of the two strange beasts that had roamed near the village with the Winter Wolf and the Brown Bear a few months ago, only its fur hadn't been so blue back then.
"Come on, let's carry it inside! What a fine pelt delivered right to our door!" Chen Jinyang reached out and grabbed the Hell Hound by the scruff. One child took a hind leg while the other grabbed its tail, and together they dragged the corpse to the little building they used for butchering.
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