The light of the sky lantern shone bright as the morning sun, cool as the full moon.
That mountain-like figure had nowhere to hide amid such brilliance, revealing its true form.
In overall outline, it resembled a silverback gorilla walking on its knuckles, except its forearms were even more robust than a gorilla's. At their ends were not thick, stubby fingers, but heavy plowshare-like claws hooked into the barren gravel. Their tips seemed coated in some matte substance; they showed no cold gleam, yet radiated a chilling aura that made hearts tremble.
Long brown-black fur covered its entire body, as though draping it in a heavy straw rain cape. Only its face and shoulders exposed rough, thick skin. Bone-spike-like protrusions grew behind its elbows and around its shoulder blades, though they appeared to have been broken off, leaving conspicuous stumps.
Its expression was buried beneath layers of wrinkled facial skin. Its eyes were tiny, revealing only two faint red glimmers. That explained why those terrifying eyes could only be seen when it lifted its head and stretched the skin of its face.
At that moment, its mouth was shut. Its lower fangs were like the clamps hunters used to set traps, enclosed by its thick lips, while two upward-curving tusks protruded from the corners of its mouth, strikingly similar to the tusks of an ancient mammoth.
"Behemoth."
"One of the most powerful bloodlines among primordial demons, called the devil's claw, Satan's doorman, and the keeper of hell. It is a symbol of darkness and evil, a monster capable of bearing the earth... It belongs neither to liches nor sea demons, yet it enjoys eating people more than either of those kinds."
"Yes, eating people—including but not limited to ordinary folk, wizards, extraterrestrial emissaries, visitors from other worlds, and so on.