Chapter 40: Demon’s Hound
Back in his university days, Roy had secretly raised a French bulldog in his dormitory. This kind of dog was really cute. Although it was small, it was simple, brave, and very loyal. He even made under-the-table deals with his dormitory supervisor for that little dog… After he graduated, he regrettably had to give it to his friend to raise due to work commitments. However, he would visit the little guy from time to time. The little guy could still recognize Roy as its original owner, no matter how long it had been, making Roy very emotional.
So when Roy thought of pets now, the first thing he thought of was naturally a doggy…
But Roy could not just draw a little puppy naively. Don’t forget. He was in the Abyss of the Demon World. The sense of aesthetics here was completely different. The cute little French bulldog would basically be courting death here, and only a fierce appearance would lower the chances of him being bullied. Roy might want a pet to accompany him, but he did not want it to be killed soon after it was born.
Therefore, the dog drawn by Roy was a ferocious-looking three-headed hellhound!
In Greek mythology, the hellhound Cerberus guarded the entrance to the underworld for Hades. Roy did not know if there were any similar demons in the Abyss, but it would not prevent Roy from giving it that name.
Logically speaking, using Gabriel’s soul fragment to create a holy creature would be the best, but that would give rise to the same problem as earlier. He was in the Abyss, and a holy creature would stick out like a sore thumb and taunt all the demons in the entire Abyss. As such, Roy could only choose something like hellhound even though the attribute was not right.
The hellhound he drew had extremely strong limbs and sharp claws. Its skin was covered with obsidian-like cuticles to enhance its defense, and it also had a viper head on its tail. The three heads looked more like wolf heads than dog ones, and they had sharp fangs in their mouths.
Creating a creature was not complete with only drawing. It also required 3D modeling and synthesizing some of its basic motions and gestures like running, walking, biting, etc. It was rather complicated, and Roy patiently worked on it for seven whole days in the nest before all of the materials were complete.
He then defined the various attributes and definitions of this three-headed hellhound: Loyal, fierce, obedient, curious, passionate, and smart for its personality. It was basically the same personality as the French bulldog he had raised. He set its height to around 130 to 140 centimeters, about the size of a small calf, and left its weight, strength, and speed for the system to optimize. However, Roy specified the same skill for all three heads—Breath!
All three heads could carry out breath attacks, but there were individual differences. From left to right, they were Fire Breath, Frost Breath, and Venom Breath. This way, all three heads could help Roy in combat in the future.
Also, because Roy had demon wings and could fly, he was worried that the hellhound would not be able to keep up with him, so he also gave the hellhound a pair of demon wings and the Flight attribute.
This was equivalent to a magically-modified three-headed hellhound. After giving it these definitions, Roy gave it some thought and finally added one more attribute to it: Can Grow!
He specifically added this to prevent the system from fixing and limiting its future strength. After deliberating over the multiple attributes, Roy could not help but feel conflicted. He did not know if this holy soul fragment was enough to create this hellhound. He felt that this hellhound seemed to be quite strong, and the soul fragment might be from Archangel Gabriel, but it was only a small piece after all. The most valuable part of this soul fragment was its quality, not its soul power…
Forget it. Let’s try it out first. I’ll modify it again if it can’t materialize.
After he chose to save all the materials, the system interface changed. The drawings Roy drew fused together into a swirling light, something that had never happened when Roy used the system to customize. Interestingly, it was also the first time that the system did not give an immediate judgment on the degree of completion, but a prompt came: “Generating customization… 1%… 2%…”
The loading process was very slow, which caused Roy to become a little nervous.
After some time, it finally reached 80%. Roy did not know if it was an illusion or something else, but he found that the nearer it was to completion, the slower the loading speed.
This is probably a sign that it can’t be completed, Roy thought. He had already decided what to modify.
However, what surprised Roy was that even though it was loading slow, it finally finished in one shot. After the swirling light in the system interface disappeared, Roy felt a weight in his hand. He looked down and found a little black ball of meat in the center of his palm.
This is a hellhound… puppy?!
Roy: “…”
F*ck! Where did my hellhound Cerberus go?! What’s the use of a puppy?!
The eyes of the puppy opened slowly under Roy’s watchful gaze. It tried to support its chubby body in Roy’s hand and stood up with some difficulty. It looked around cautiously at first before all three heads gazed collectively at Roy.
This is our master! After confirming Roy’s status through their gazes, the little tail of the hellhound started wagging immediately, and the eyes of all three heads showed joy.
Then all three heads made their sounds toward Roy.
Left: “Aw!”
Middle: “Woo!”
Right: “Woof!”
Roy: “…”
Roy, at two-meters tall, was sitting cross-legged, holding a little puppy about ten centimeters long. He did not know how to respond to this little guy sticking his tongues out to greet him. The scene was rather funny.
He could not understand why the mighty three-headed hellhound he had set became a chubby little puppy. However, he was certain that it was the one he drew when he saw that little demon wings on its meaty back!
What the hell went wrong?
Roy opened his system interface and found an icon of the puppy at the foot of his main page. Just like him, this little puppy had its own attribute panel as well.
Three-headed Hellhound
Name: Unnamed
Attribute: Dark
Race: Unknown, Customized Creature
Ownership: Host
Lifespan: Unknown
Strength: 23
Speed: 20
Magic Energy: 15
Activity: 17
Skills: Fire Breath, Frost Breath, Venom Breath
Loaded Materials: Demon Wings
Talent: Holy Resistance
Explanation: Since this dark creature was created from a holy-attribute soul, it is innately resistant to holy power. All damage due to holy power will be reduced by 10%. The strength of this innate ability will increase with the growth of the creature.
Items: None, not specified
Explanation: Special creatures customized by the host have absolute loyalty to the host.
Looking at the talent of the hellhound, Roy seemed to understand a little. It appeared in the form of a puppy probably because he specified that it could grow.
Or perhaps the soul fragment was not enough for the original hellhound to appear. However, it seemed like the system compromised because he specified that it could grow. The system materialized this hellhound in its infant form, and it would slowly approach the form that Roy specified as it matured.
After understanding what happened, Roy was finally relieved. It was good enough to materialize. In any case, his demon lifespan was very long, so he had the time to wait for it to grow up.
He stretched his finger out carefully and rubbed the heads of the puppy. It was not afraid of Roy’s sharp nails. All three of them scrambled to take turns to be rubbed by Roy, and their coordination was rather good.
Looking at the little guy’s reliance on him, Roy could not help but feel fuzzy inside. His choice was right.
Feeling its master’s happiness, the little hellhound puppy bounced twice on his palm and barked.
“Aw!” “Woo!” “Woof!”
How did these cries come about? Roy had a weird look on his face. He remembered that he had not set the sound for the puppy. Why do they sound like a husky when they bark in unison?
He felt that he should give this little guy a name, so Roy chewed on it and looked at its chubby body. He decided immediately.
“You will be called Fat Tiger from now on! Remember, only you can bully others in the future, and never the other way around. Understood?”