212th Chapter
66. The Dawn of the Magical Beasts and Sand Dunes
211 – The Dawn of the Magical Beasts and Sand Dunes #2
━I can now be called the queen of cats! Hehehe!
Sand was overjoyed as it watched its long tail stretched out to the ground.
“Your wish has come true.”
Ra’s gaze shifted towards Totuga and Jack.
“What is your wish, Stone Dwarf?”
Totuga, the stone dwarf, stroked his bland mustache in response to Ra’s question.
“I wish my beard would grow a little more. Just as much as the others.”
“You too shall have a beard as full as the others.”
As soon as Ra’s words ended, a bushy brown beard sprouted on Totuga’s smooth chin, just like his hair.
“Whoa, awesome! My beard is epic. Can we get some recognition here?”
Totuga couldn’t help but constantly stroke his beard while beaming like a child.
‘What kind of wishes are these?’
It felt a bit too humble to wish for a longer tail or a fuller beard just because a god grants wishes. Is this the difference between me and the creatures of this world?
━I, I….
Jack, waiting for his turn, hesitated before opening his lips. Just at that moment,
“GHHH…!”
Ra screamed loudly and collapsed on the floor. His glowing body began to lose strength and flickered dimly. Moreover, the vast hall felt like it was being suffocated by deep darkness.
“What, what is happening…!?”
Ra was aghast as he saw his fading body.
“True deep darkness can swallow even the bright sunlight. It seems we meet again, everyone.”
A circular red ring appeared high up in the air, and a bony palm, thin arm, and little torso successively emerged from it.
Swish.
Thud.
A shadow fully emerged from the ring, landing softly on the ground, smiling brightly.
“Nice to see you all again. Breaking the coffin and the barrier of Ojimann Dias was proving too much for me alone, but thanks to you, I’ve had less work.”
The shadow brushed off the dust from its clothes. A black ram, Satan, gracefully brought one hand to his chest and bowed politely.
━What’s this, meow…. Where did this come from…!
Sand trembled, wrapping its elongated tail in its hands. I was just as flustered.
‘Where did that come from out of nowhere? Was there some portal that opened or something….’
As I quickly tried to piece the situation together, Ra, lying beside me, growled.
“This place is somewhere no one knows except for me… how!?”
Twist.
Satan smiled as he stretched his lips. His boyish and youthful appearance somehow radiated pure malice like a heat haze.
“Why, there are ways. Say, a gemstone secretly hidden in the mole’s shop.”
Satan’s eyes turned towards the ring on Azidahaka’s thin finger. As Azidahaka looked at his hand, Satan’s gaze shifted to me.
“Or perhaps the magical residue buried with the glacier cat. With a signpost, finding the way would be as easy as riding a lazy sheep.”
‘A signpost….’
I quickly guessed how he had found our location. According to Satan, the gemstones bought from the mole merchant Mogu or the magical residue left while contacting the glacier cat Nebah acted as receivers.
Azidahaka bit his lip in frustration and took off his ring to stomp on it.
Crack, the ring shattered, turning into black hair that scattered in the air.
“You had it in your hands from the start, Satan!”
“Oh, Red Dragon, I somewhat suspected you would arrive at the Desert of Patience. Predicting where you would be and what you would buy wasn’t that hard.”
━So you’re saying we weren’t chasing you, but you were using us?
Satan didn’t answer my question, merely shrugged his shoulders. Then, with pure innocence shining between his thin lips, he extended his hand towards us.
“Huhuhuh, use us? You can think that if you want. For now, I’ll take this.”
“Gah….”
Ra, who was lying on the ground, was sucked into Satan’s small palm, literally getting his neck caught by it.
With one hand, Satan lifted Ra.
“This makes it the third time I’ve grabbed a Divine Being’s neck. The delightful sensation remains unchanged. That smell makes me want to swallow you whole….”
Crack.
With a grip stronger than his boyish frame suggested, he twisted Ra’s neck, making him struggle for air.
“You, no way…. This ability is…. my brother, the magic…. Gah!”
“Shh, that’s a secret.”
Satan curled his empty hand into a fist and lightly snapped his fingers.
Snap.
Whoosh,
In his hand, a familiar Ankh appeared.
‘What’s that, the one I was holding….’
I quickly realized that the nail, which had been in my paw, had vanished. It was as if it had teleported straight to him.
“This is no ordinary item. An amazing treasure that can bring the dead back to life. Perhaps something almost as significant as this very world….”
“Gah…. But my sacred artifact cannot be handled by just anyone…! Only those who sacrifice their loved ones… can be recognized as its master!”
At Ra’s shout, Satan coldly laughed and thrust the sacred artifact into Ra’s chest.
“But I’m not just anyone. I am a vessel granted ‘Skill’ by the Divine Being Hephaestus. Such a tool is a trivial matter for me.”
“Gah…! This can’t be!”
Ra’s body, glowing with a radiant aura, gradually lost its light as it was drawn into the Ankh embedded in his chest.
“With this, the era of the gods truly comes to an end. From now on, it’s the era of beasts. No, my era.”
━Gweeeng….
Yingyi, cradled in Azidahaka’s arms, made a voice that trembled with fear.
The sensitive Cloudring, being Yingyi, might be quivering all over in response to the sinister energy radiating from that black ram.
Satan smiled at Azidahaka, specifically at the cradled Yingyi.
“Cloudring…. It’s been so long since I saw that existence since the time of Eve. If only that abominable Adam hadn’t been around, I wouldn’t have had to go through such bothersome situations.”
At Satan’s words, I sharpened my claws and asked. Depending on the situation, I was prepared to pounce and rip his throat out if I found an opening.
━Do you know about Adam and Eve?
“I know everything, Alpha. From the time when the World Tree, Laplace, was merely a small lizard to the present. I have been a witness to it all. Or perhaps I should say a bystander.”
Satan, this black ram, pulled out the ring stuck on his hand, which was probably a fire dragon’s gemstone, and gently tossed it to the ground.
“But now… watching is just boring.”
Thud. Thud.
With the sound of a massive heartbeat, the gemstone thrown to the ground began to swell enormously.
━Wha, what’s that…!
Sand shouted in shock at the expanding gemstone, which was beyond comprehension. While everyone was surprised, Azidahaka merely growled in frustration.
“That’s my gemstone. I can’t even say it’s mine anymore.”
‘That’s the real gemstone… no, the Behemoth’s gemstone…!’
My shoulders trembled at the enormity of the gemstone that had swelled beyond belief. It was so much larger than the bone armor of Ojimann Dias I had seen earlier.
‘Is that the Behemoth within that gemstone…?’
Could it really be called a Behemoth? Its colossal size was unimaginably grand and powerful compared to me, from the same race.
There’s no exaggeration in saying it was like comparing a cat to a tiger regarding size.
“This is a sacred artifact that can resurrect the dead. And inside it lies the dead Behemoth, the very first Alpha.”
“Y-You’re not telling me…!”
Just as Azidahaka realized the gravity of the situation and tried to act.
“It’s too late.”
Satan forcibly slammed Ra’s nail into the enormous gemstone.
Crack!
The gigantic jewel, looking as if it could never be broken, cracked as if an earthquake had struck.
Snap, snap.
The gemstone shattered into pieces. From within, a white forepaw pierced through to the world. That size was easily one and a half times bigger than the giant tiger Lao-Hoo I had seen before.
━Wha, what is that…!
━Looks just like the brother, but the size is….
Jack’s eyes, filled with seriousness, darted between me and the Behemoth within the gemstone.
“Now everyone, let’s greet him. The primeval magical beast. The king of all beasts, Behemoth.”
━━!
The Behemoth emerged fully after shattering the gemstone. It let out a colossal roar, unleashing the fury of thousands of years spent dead and imprisoned.
The roar, piercing through eardrums and shaking heads, was stronger and more violent than any I had ever heard.
━King of beasts…? What in the world is going on…? We just wanted longer tails, and now we might all d*e here…
“The end. The end has come…!”
━Brother, what’s happening!?
My companions trembled as if sensing d*ath, their legs shaking.
I was just as scared.
The Behemoth’s size and overwhelming presence dwarfed any past encounters with Beta or Epsilon. Even I couldn’t help but take things seriously now.
━━!!
Once again, the Behemoth let out a thunderous roar and slammed its forepaw down against the ground.
That simple action shattered the gemstone holding it and created an alarming sound as if the very structure of the building was about to collapse.
“Y-You revived that thing! Satan, have you lost your mind!? Weren’t you trying to become a god through the gemstone?”
At Azidahaka’s question, Satan shrugged his shoulders, standing beside the colossal Behemoth.
“A god? What good is that boring life? I merely enjoy watching things burn. If this beast exists, it can truly destroy everything. Even the World Tree.”
Satan’s eyes, looking up at the Behemoth, began to glow red. More precisely, the Behemoth’s fur reflected in his eyes was painted a deep crimson.
The Behemoth, with its fur all stained red, looked familiar to me.
‘That appearance is… rabies….’
A disease that drives beasts into a frenzy. It seems that rage had accumulated within this Behemoth.
‘Can I win?’
The Behemoth, with pillar-like legs planted firmly on the ground, shook its massive body. Its red eyes met mine.
A fully grown Behemoth.
If my level is 21, this creature would probably be around level 30 or even 50. Or perhaps it gained the trait of enormous size through its evolution.
One thing was certain….
‘There’s no way I can befriend this guy.’
It was the instinct born from a life as a wild magical beast. It felt engraved in my mind like a primal drive that one of us would have to defeat the other.
I figured it must feel the same way about me.
━━!
Otherwise, it wouldn’t be howling fiercely and sending its forepaw my way.
Whooosh!
That gigantic forepaw was akin to a natural disaster, rivaling an avalanche or a massive tsunami.
It was a calamity clad in the guise of a beast.
‘Can we win?’
While those calculations spun in my head, I quickly flicked my long tail, pushing my companions away.
━Get out of the way, you fools!
Then I quickly rolled to evade its attack.
Thanks to my skill, “Roll,” my body felt as strong as adamant during such moments of aerial gymnastics.
Of course, timing was crucial, but I was quite adept at rhythm games back in my human days.
Crack!
The Behemoth’s massive paw slammed down onto nothing but empty air. The Behemoth, visibly irritated for missing us, growled fiercely.
‘If I keep rolling and attacking, it might just be possible to withstand it…?’
I sneered mockingly at it.
━Still a bit sleepy? You’re slower than I expected.
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