The first torment the Ninetales demon leads D to requires him to painstakingly climb one of the many volcanoes that litter their immediate surroundings. After several hours struggling to climb the nearly-vertical mountain, falling several times, he reaches the peak, where instead of finding a molten pool of lava, he sees that the crater is filled with boiling pitch. The Ninetales, already lounging at the edge of the crater, instructs him to enter. Faced with the choice of following the orders of his personal tormentor, or refusing and having her throw him from the top of the volcano, only to break against the ground and be forced to climb again, he chooses to accept his fate. The fox obediently lowers himself down into the boiling tar, which seeps through his fur to burn his flesh. As he screams in pain, the Ninetales produces a bucket, fills it with some of the tar, and empties it into his mouth to ensure that D is thoroughly burned, inside and out.
