JAKYEONG.
WHY DO YOU SUPPOSE BEAST HUNTERS CHOOSE NOT TO KILL BEASTS,
BUT TO MERELY SEAL THEM AWAY?
BECAUSE THEY PITY THEM?
DID YOU PITY THE BEAST THAT DEVOURED YOUR MOTHER?
NO.
THEN WHY ANSWER SO?
BECAUSE HOWEVER DREADFUL A BEAST MAY APPEAR,
IF IT CRIES SORROWFULLY AND PLEADS FOR ITS LIFE,
BEGGING NOT TO BE KILLED...
ONE CANNOT HELP BUT HESITATE.
THAT'S JUST HUMAN NATURE, IS IT NOT?
SO YOU BELIEVE HUMAN COMPASSION IS WHAT SPARES A BEAST FROM DEATH?
IS IT NOT?
NO.
HUMANS ARE FAR LESS MERCIFUL THAN YOU IMAGINE.
THERE ARE PLENTY WHO WOULD TEAR THE CLAWS FROM EVEN THE SMALLEST OF BEAST CUBS,
SLIT ITS THROAT,
AND LEAVE THE REMAINS SCATTERED BEFORE ITS MOTHER.
WAS THE RESTRICTION TO ONLY USE SEALING PUT IN PLACE
TO PROTECT BEASTS FROM SUCH EVIL HUMANS?
THAT SEEMS TERRIBLY STRANGE...
JAKYEONG.
TO KILL A BEAST MEANS ACCEPTING
THAT A GOD, TOO, CAN BE KILLED.
AFTER ALL, THERE IS ONLY A FINE LINE BETWEEN A GOD AND A BEAST.
ULTIMATELY, RESTRICTION IS IN PLACE TO PROTECT THE GODS.
I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.
YOU WILL, IN TIME.
MASTER.
I STILL FIND THOSE WORDS DIFFICULT TO GRASP,
AND THE WEIGHT THEY CARRY GROWS HEAVIER WITH EACH PASSING DAY.
IF THE GODS ARE HEAVEN'S GIFT TO MANKIND,
THEN BEASTS ARE ITS CURSE.
THE HEAVENS DO NO MORE
THAN SOW THE SEEDS UPON THIS LAND,
AND WHATEVER THEY MAY GROW INTO
IS FOR HUMANKIND ALONE TO BEAR.
THE SAME POWER THAT CAN DESTROY A BEAST
CAN ALSO DESTROY A GOD.
IN THE END, EVERYTHING...
DEPENDS UPON THE HEART.
THE ART OF ORIGINAL SIN.
IT SHOULD BE ABLE TO HEAR AND SENSE THE DIVINE TONGUE,
YET FOR A CREATURE THAT DEVOURS GODS,
IT SEEMS TO BE STRANGELY DULL...
THE ART OF ORIGINAL SIN
ANSWERS IN PROPORTION TO A BEAST'S TRANSGRESSIONS.
THE HEAVIER THE SINS IT CARRIES,
THE DEEPER ITS COLOR BECOMES.
AND FOR IT TO APPEAR LIKE THIS...
JUST AS I THOUGHT,
IT IS AS VILE AND WICKED AS THEY COME.
THERE IS NO NEED TO HESITATE ANY LONGER.
AH?
MY PLAN DEPENDED UPON THE ODDS FALLING IN MY FAVOR.
THE ART OF ORIGINAL SIN
WOULD ONLY WORK IF I PROVED STRONGER THAN THE BEAST.
TYPICALLY, WHEN A NOCTURNAL BEAST FEEDS UPON A GOD,
IT DOES SO TO RECOVER ITS STRENGTH RATHER THAN AMASS MORE OF IT.
THAT MEANT IT WOULD LIKELY RETREAT TO ITS HOST THE MOMENT IT WAS INJURED.
AND THAT
WAS PRECISELY WHAT I WANTED.
THAT WAS EMBARRASSINGLY INEFFECTIVE.
DID I STRIKE THE WRONG PLACE?
IN THAT CASE...!
?!
SURELY,
I HAVE NOT MISSED THE MARK AGAIN—
I HAVEN'T!
AAHHH!
HA...
AAAHHH
IT IS SLOW-WITTED,
AAAHHHHH!
AND IT BAWLS LIKE A CHILD. IT MUST BE A BEAST CUB...
!!!
AAHHH
IS THAT HOW IT INTENDS
AHH...
TO DULL THE PAIN?
THEN I SHALL BIND IT WITH SOMETHING STRONGER.
THE THIRD MOVEMENT OF SEALING...
AHH
!!
OW OW OW OW!
IT WORKED!
IT IS TRAILING ITS ENERGY BEHIND IT, SO TRACKING IT WILL BE EASY ENOUGH...
STILL, THIS IS PECULIAR.
FOR A BEAST AUDACIOUS ENOUGH TO DEVOUR A DEITY,
IT SEEMS RATHER WEAK—
UGH!
WHERE...
IS THAT IMPOSSIBLE STENCH COMING FROM?!
IT IS A STENCH I'VE ENCOUNTERED MANY TIMES BEFORE.
THE PUTRID ODOR OF FESTERING, ROTTING FLESH —
THE FOUL STENCH OF A CORPSE.
AT LAST...
I HAVE FOUND THE BEAST'S HOST.
Jakyeong recalls a memory in which he questions his master about why monster hunters seal instead of killing; it is explained not as mercy, but as the thin line between gods and monsters and the rule to protect the gods. In the present, he confronts the god-eating monster with the Art of Original Sin, wounds it and binds it with the third movement of sealing, and follows the smell of rotting flesh to find its host.
