### Thanks to Everyone for the Comments and Coupons! Episode 139
#### 45. The Disappearance of the Magical Beast and Yingyi #3
Adam had once likened the beasts that escaped from the World Tree’s forest to dandelion seeds. It meant that the beasts fleeing from Mother World Tree were creating new magical nests all over the world.
That Adam—Batus had called me a seed sown by Mother World Tree. I had thought it was just a simple metaphor, but it seemed to be the literal truth.
I truly was a fruit, a seed dropped by Mother World Tree.
━ The Fruit of the World Tree is the Egg of Behemoth…?
I recalled the moment I was born into this world.
I thought back to that day when I broke through the tough, hard shell of an egg and stretched my arms out into the vast world for the very first time.
No matter how I looked at it, I appeared to be a furry mammal. Still, I sometimes wondered how I could be born from an egg, but I brushed it off as just a peculiar reproductive method native to this world.
‘Even the platypus is a mammal but lays eggs. So, I thought it was something like that.’
The existence of an egg meant that somewhere, there was a mother who laid it. I unconsciously assumed it must have been some other Behemoth. I never imagined that the fruit borne from the giant tree was indeed the egg, and that I had been born from it.
What kind of natural law could explain that?
━ Wait a second. So, I’m the fruit of the World Tree, meaning I’m its child. But why is Mother World Tree so eager to k*ll the Behemoths?
With the experiences of evolution to adulthood, from Beta to Epsilon, I learned that all other Behemoths, apart from myself, were killed by the twelve mythical creatures contracted with the World Tree Yggdrasil. Someday, I too might meet a similar fate to those guys.
━ Azidahaka, you were one of the twelve mythical beasts. You must know something Eve and Adam haven’t mentioned. What on earth is the World Tree?
At my question, Azidahaka remained silent and just lay there. Though covered by a blindfold, I assumed she wasn’t asleep during our chat and was likely lost in thought.
The wind rustled, carrying dust and sand that blanketed the quiet campfire. Yingyi, who had been sleeping overhead, stirred, letting out a small sound—“yiing”.
After a moment of silence, Azidahaka began to speak softly.
“First, I should tell you about the past of this world as I saw it with these two eyes. Many years ago, in the distant past, great divine beings lived in this world. Along with the gods, gigantic beasts and spirits settled in valleys and forests… huge, magnificent, and fearsome primordial beasts…”
Azidahaka trailed off, reaching out as if trying to touch the air where she saw her vision.
“However, they were regarded as cattle for the divine beings, like cows, chickens, or pigs. Their fate was to be fattened and eventually devoured. But, there’s no such thing as eternal livestock. Just as you and I have escaped from the restraints, there was a beast that broke free of the gods’ bondage.”
━ Are you talking about Leviathan?
“Exactly, the first dragon. The great sea serpent. The demon of knowledge, Laplace… Call it whatever you like; this powerful monster devoured the gods and absorbed their powers. And thus, strengthened, Leviathan freed those beasts that were destined to be devoured.”
━ Wait, Laplace?
I frowned at the familiar name escaping Azidahaka’s lips. Seeing my confusion, she sat up.
“You seem to know the name Laplace, so you must know my sister, Laplace.”
━ Your sister is Laplace? What are you talking about…
I thought of Laplace, who played a significant role in the experiments on the initial serpent, the magical beast Behemoth.
Everything I had achieved, all my skills, must have something to do with this Laplace.
Sensing that I wasn’t grasping the complex topics, Azidahaka slowly elaborated.
“When the traitorous magical beast, Leviathan Laplace, became a tree and distanced herself from the beasts, two serpents were born into the world. One was the legless serpent, Laplace. The other was the lizard with legs, Azidahaka. We are like the juice that the World Tree refined and extracted. Kind of like shed skin.”
━ So, there are two Laplaces in the world: one is the serpent Leviathan, the World Tree, and the other is your sister Laplace, the avatar created by that World Tree?
“Avatar… that’s one way to put it. My sister and I are both avatars and children of the World Tree. So… where was I? I don’t think I was even talking about this.”
━ You said Leviathan freed the beasts that were destined to be eaten by the gods.
“Oh, right. Leviathan Laplace released all the beasts from bondage. But after consuming the gods and absorbing their powers, she soon faced a large problem: insatiable hunger. She pondered how to solve this hunger. If she devoured all the beasts at once, no food would be left in the world, but she still wanted to eat a variety of beasts…”
━ So, she decided to become a tree?
“Exactly. By becoming a tree, she could use all living beings as nourishment and bear fruit to nurture other creatures, forming a cycle of life. She became the mother of all things and the ultimate predator. In that process, the desires of the beasts sieved out into me and my sister Laplace.”
I felt like I had a rough understanding of how the colossal World Tree came to be.
In this vast desert at the western edge, I could see a towering giant—the World Tree itself. Is that why it’s affectionately called ‘Mother’?
━ But how does this relate to why the World Tree wants to k*ll someone like me, a Behemoth?
“Nutrients that can’t be absorbed are expelled, you see. The powers and magical abilities of the gods that Leviathan consumed flow into the beasts through the pollen and spores of the World Tree. That’s the mysterious power we often call talent.”
━ Hmm.
At Azidahaka’s words, I sharpened my claws. It seemed that the various abilities I had used were akin to an allergic reaction caused by the spores and pollen of the World Tree.
“But there’s a limit to what can be expelled. So, Mother World Tree condenses and collects the excessive power of the gods to produce fruit…”
━ Ah, so that’s the Fruit of the World Tree. That would explain how eating it makes beasts so strong.
“Yes, and its form resembles that of the gods. However, its size is only about that of a dwarf or human in a flask.”
So, it seemed that mythical creatures are beasts that once gained the powers of the gods from a long-lost ancient era.
The key to power—the Fruit of the World Tree—is the egg of Behemoth.
This means that I, born from that fruit, was the embodiment of the gods’ powers refined and expelled from inside the World Tree.
“Not only does the fruit contain the powers of the gods, but it also holds the essence of the various beasts Leviathan Laplace has consumed. That’s why we refer to you in the plural as Behemoths (bəhēmōt). You are a legendary magical beast created by the fusion of ancient beasts and divine powers. That’s why Mother World Tree wants to k*ll you. You are akin to the offspring of the gods, just like the dwarves made by them.”
━ So, for Mother World Tree, it’s like she unknowingly gave birth to a child of her enemy. That’s why she tries to eliminate the fruits before they fall and sprout seeds. How entertaining.
The moment when Ilgast was swallowed by the giant roots and was dying came to mind. I remembered when I had mentioned the ‘fate of the fruit thief.’
Stealing the fruit, the egg of Behemoth, and conducting experiments—Ilgast, Eve, Adam, and their likes would indeed be deemed the greatest traitors in the forest.
━ This was a rather entertaining story to k*ll time. It cleared up many of my curiosities. Now I understand why humans caught you and called you the saint. Everything just flows smoothly, doesn’t it?
“If my sister, Laplace of the twelve mythical creatures, were alive, she would have explained things more kindly. She inherited the name and knowledge from the Mother World Tree. I inherited the robust body of the magical beast Leviathan.”
━ Alright, then I guess it’s time to put that robust body to use.
“What… what do you mean? What are you planning to do?”
Azidahaka panicked, wrapping her chained hands around her body. Did she think I was going to do something rude to her?
My gaze shifted past the flustered Azidahaka to the shadows crawling down the dunes of the desert.
Creak. Crackle.
Swarm after swarm of pitch-black creatures with crusty shells were heading towards us, their joints clacking ominously.
Though their size was only about half of mine, they were still sufficiently large for crustaceans, and more importantly, there were just too many of them.
‘Nineteen, twenty… I lost count. Too many.’
I gave up counting after twenty.
I approached Azidahaka, who was tightly hugging herself, and grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her toward the crabs.
━ Hey, open your mouth wide!
“W-What do you think you’re doing?! You can’t just stick something suspicious in my mouth just because I can’t see!”
━ I’m not sticking anything in! Just open up and breathe fire! It’s crab party night!
“…Crab?”
I secured Azidahaka’s head with a firm grip, directing her towards the incoming crabs. Realizing what was happening, she opened her mouth and let out a deep sound.
Crack—she seemed to catch on to the rising clamor of the crabs.
‘Sure, I could breathe fire myself, but that would blacken the meat beyond recognition.’
It’s the same principle as needing to cook food over a moderate flame instead of an all-consuming blaze.
The flames I could unleash were far too powerful, so I decided to keep them sealed unless absolutely necessary.
━ Azidahaka, blow a fiery wind. Hurry!
“Give me a moment! I need time to heat up. Ugh…”
Watching the oncoming wave of crabs sent my tail twitching with impatience.
In just a few seconds, they would likely rush towards us, turning things into chaos.
I had to resolve this easily, without resorting to messy procedures.
━ How long until you’re ready?
“Ugh… it takes about ten seconds right now.”
━ Ten seconds? That’s too long!
“If I rub my head or neck, I can shorten the time.”
━ Rubbing?
I recalled when Batus had rubbed Yingyi’s body with his palm to generate electricity. By rubbing her similarly, somehow, it would speed up the heating process.
I lifted my front paws and began to rub Azidahaka’s back and head vigorously. Sparks flew from her red hair as I continued to rub it.
“Ugh…”
I thought I might be wearing away her head with how fast I rubbed. Soon, Azidahaka let out flames along with a fierce gust of wind.
“Ugh…!”
━ Good! Keep it going! It’s BBQ time!
Whoosh, whoosh!
━ Crab time!
━ Crab crisis!
The flames spewed from Azidahaka’s mouth as they cooked the black crabs, filling the air with a tantalizing aroma.
I held onto the towering horns on Azidahaka’s head to steer her, eliminating crab after crab in one swift motion.
━ Perfect, they’re all cooked now. Crab satisfaction!
“Is it done? Now please let go of my horns! You can’t just handle me roughly!”
Azidahaka let out a small sigh of relief. The last flame flickered and then sizzled out.
━ Yummy.
Awoken by the smell of the perfectly grilled crabs, Yingyi stretched her little body on my head.
━ One fish wasn’t enough, but this is perfect. I’m doing great. So good.
I peeled off the hot crab shells, revealing the succulent white flesh that glistened invitingly.
“Hmm, sniff sniff. Seems like we’ve got black salt desert crabs here. They only live in specific areas of this big desert. I think they’re close to my nest.”
━ Finally…!
Encouraged by Azidahaka’s delightful news, I tore off a crab leg.
I didn’t even need to try hard to get a thick chunk of meat out that was steaming with deliciousness.
Biting into it yielded a delightful burst of flavor, a tangy saltiness, and a nutty taste that danced on my tongue.
‘So tasty!’
