Chapter 553

Chapter 553

Repo was a beastman.

Among the beastmen, his true form was that of a weretiger with the greatest strength. Even so, he didn’t often reveal his true form in battle.

That was because he was strong enough to annihilate his enemies without having to change into his true form.

Right now, Repo had transformed into his original weretiger form. But this transformation wasn’t to face an enemy.

It was to escape from the enemy as quickly as possible, even a little.

“Damn it! Behemoth. Of all things, the Calamity Beast….”

Repo turned his head and looked back.

In the distance, a beast as big as a mountain was chasing after them.

A blood-red beast that looked like a gigantic hippopotamus.

He recalled later that its name was Behemoth.

The Calamity Beast, Behemoth.

After spending thousands of years underground, when it awakens from sleep it is active for exactly one hundred days.

Like a cicada that stays underground as a larva for seven years and then lives outside for only two weeks before dying.

There was just one difference: Behemoth, after finishing its short hundred days of activity, goes back into hibernation again.

Thus, it sleeps for thousands of years, awakens, and repeats a hundred days of destruction.

The problem was that during Behemoth’s hundred days of awakening, it had destroyed not just one or two nations.

One hundred days of activity was enough to destroy a single nation.

That was why it had earned the nickname, the Calamity Beast.

Behemoth was a beast on equal footing with dragons. Yet people feared Behemoth even more than dragons.

Dragons have reason and pursue harmony, so they don’t usually cause great disasters.

There are the occasional individuals who cause big trouble, but when they go beyond the bounds of destruction, they are restrained by other individuals.

But Behemoth has nothing like that.

Like the World Tree, there exists only one individual in the entire world.

Because it exists alone, there is no kin to stop Behemoth’s destructive activities.

The only thing that can restrain its destruction is a dragon. But even dragons find it burdensome to face Behemoth.

It is a being that even dragons cannot face without risking their lives. So unless a dragon’s lair overlaps with Behemoth’s area of activity, they don’t bother to intervene.

Repo didn’t know why Behemoth had awakened at this particular timing. But one thing was certain: once it had begun its activity, some nation would have to perish.

The problem was that on Earth right now, there were hardly any places that could even be called nations.

At best, there were only the other races’ city of El Harun and the human city of Neo Seoul.

There were also a few colonies, but most of them were small and couldn’t compare to those two cities.

That meant there was a high possibility that those two cities would become Behemoth’s targets.

Repo clenched his teeth.

Just imagining it was terrifying.

‘The World Tree is already dying, and if we’re attacked by Behemoth, El Harun will inevitably be destroyed.’

If the World Tree were still sound, maybe they could somehow block Behemoth’s attack. But right now, their World Tree was dying.

They didn’t have the strength to stop the Calamity Beast.

‘I have to divert Behemoth’s attention. If there’s a bigger prey, it won’t bother coming all the way to El Harun.’

There was a good target to draw Behemoth’s interest.

It was Neo Seoul.

A megacity where twenty million people lived.

As the pinnacle of human civilization, that place would surely draw Behemoth’s attention.

The problem was how to lure Behemoth there.

Fortunately, Behemoth, for some reason, was chasing after them.

Perhaps, having just awakened, the first targets it saw had temporarily caught its interest.

The two-humped camels they had been riding had been trampled under its feet without leaving a trace.

While Behemoth’s interest still remained, they had to lure it to Neo Seoul.

‘We can’t do this alone. We have to mobilize everyone who came out to search for the World Tree.’

Having organized his thoughts, Repo spoke to a beastman running right beside him.

“Deran!”

“Yes! Councilor!”

Deran replied, forcibly suppressing his ragged breathing.

Repo hurriedly issued him an order.

“We’ll draw Behemoth’s gaze. You slip away quietly and make contact with the others.”

“What?”

“Tell them our plan.”

“What plan?”

“This plan!”

Repo poured aura into the huge spear slung on his back and hurled it at Behemoth.

Bang!

The spear that struck Behemoth’s body exploded on the spot.

It was an attack powerful enough to blow apart most mid to large-sized beasts, but Behemoth took not the slightest damage.

Instead, as if excited by Repo’s attack, it snorted out a huge blast of air.

Puuuuu!

Its snort swept across the area like a storm.

The sand within several kilometers was swept up by Behemoth’s breath and shot high into the sky.

Because of that, Repo and the beastmen running ahead almost lost their balance and fell.

“We’re going to lure Behemoth to Neo Seoul like this, so tell them to help us.”

“That’s….”

“Then do you want Behemoth to head to El Harun? If it goes to El Harun, our race is finished. So we have to turn its attention to Neo Seoul.”

“I understand.”

Deran answered with a hardened expression.

This was a matter that concerned the very survival of El Harun.

If Behemoth really headed to El Harun, the forces left there would never be able to stop it.

In his mind’s eye, he could clearly see El Harun burning.

Up until now, Behemoth had been calmly tracking them. But there was no guarantee it would continue to do so.

Right now, it was lazily chasing them like it was playing with ants. But if it truly went on a rampage or used its authority, the whole area would become hell.

Repo said,

“First, find Taboaru and convey my intentions.”

Taboaru, the head of the magic race, the Zela, had a special means to contact the elites of El Harun who had come outside.

“Understood.”

Deran bowed his head in reply and broke away from the group.

Just then, Behemoth suddenly opened its mouth wide and expelled a massive breath.

Kwaaaaa!

They called it breath, but from the beastmen’s perspective, it was no different from a real storm crashing into them.

“Ugh!”

“Hup!”

The beastmen caught in the blast let out groans.

The heat contained in Behemoth’s breath felt as if it were searing their lungs.

Even so, all the beastmen had tough bodies and regenerative power, so they endured it. If it had been others, just being touched by Behemoth’s breath would have cost them their lives.

Perhaps it was precisely that toughness of the beastmen that had drawn Behemoth’s interest.

From Behemoth’s point of view, Repo’s group was a toy that didn’t break easily. Of course, once it got bored of playing, it would truly smash them—but it didn’t seem to have that intention yet.

Repo shouted,

“Everyone, get a grip. No one is allowed to die before we reach Neo Seoul.”

“Yes!”

“Ghk—yes!”

The beastmen barely answered, enduring the heat that was cooking their lungs.

Their hell was only just beginning.

From here to Neo Seoul, they would have to run for more than half a month.

During that long distance, they had to make sure Behemoth didn’t lose interest.

---

“Yaaawn!”

Duduyan stretched with a big yawn.

She was at a recently discovered survivor village.

It was a village located two hundred kilometers from the Steel Fortress.

The newly discovered survivor village was nestled deep inside a canyon.

The canyon itself was in such a secluded place that it had gone unnoticed until now.

The discovery of the canyon was accidental.

Monster hunters from the Steel Fortress had found it while conducting a drive hunt.

Out of curiosity, they entered the canyon and discovered hundreds of people living inside.

Having survived independently for a very long time without any contact with the outside, they were wary of the Steel Fortress’s monster hunters.

Because they had lived in complete isolation, their level of civilization had regressed to before the Middle Ages.

They had long wanted contact with the outside world, but their forces were weak, so they hadn’t dared to send anyone out.

After making contact with the monster hunters, they wanted to join the Steel Fortress.

To help with their relocation, Duduyan had come to this canyon with awakeneds.

“Load it up.”

“Handle this one really carefully. It’s an item you can’t replace if it breaks.”

Awakeneds from the Steel Fortress and the villagers were loading luggage onto carts.

The village chief, unusually, was a woman in her late forties.

Broad-shouldered like a man, she was both an awakened and a blacksmith.

Everything the village used had been made by her.

Thanks to her outstanding ability as a B-rank blacksmith, the village had been able to survive until now.

The Steel Fortress recognized her exceptional ability and was trying to recruit her. Right now, awakeneds like her were exactly what the Steel Fortress needed.

Her name was Estelle.

She was also a mother with a young son.

Estelle loaded the anvil she had made onto a cart.

Thud!

At the tremendous weight of the anvil, the cart swayed. But Estelle herself didn’t show the slightest sign of strain.

As a blacksmith, moving even heavier metal than this was commonplace.

At last, having loaded all her equipment onto the cart, Estelle wiped the sweat from her brow.

“So, are we leaving now?”

She took one last look around the place where they had lived for over a hundred years.

Staying here for so long hadn’t been her choice.

For her son’s sake, she wanted to move to a place with a better environment. But since blacksmithing wasn’t a profession suited to combat, she hadn’t dared to attempt it.

Now that a good opportunity had come, all she could think about was moving for her son’s sake.

Suddenly, Estelle’s gaze turned toward the dark elf perched atop a cart.

It was Duduyan.

“That dark elf is also a member of the Steel Fortress. It means that if you have ability, you’ll be valued regardless of race or status.”

It was an environment her son absolutely needed right now.

At least for her own son, she wanted him to grow his abilities freely in a proper place, not in such a barren environment.

Estelle said to her young son at her side,

“Let’s go to the Steel Fortress now.”

“Yeah!”

Her son replied with a face full of excitement.

Even though they were leaving the home they’d grown attached to and moving to a new place, there wasn’t a trace of fear on his face.

That meant he was that tired of life here, and that hopeful about life in a new place.

When Estelle and her son climbed onto the cart pulled by two-humped camels, everyone was ready to depart.

Just as they were about to set off—

“Wait!”

Duduyan, who had been keeping watch, shouted urgently.

“Why is that?”

One of her subordinates looked up at her with a puzzled expression. But instead of answering, Duduyan muttered blankly,

“Th-that… what is that?”

Where her gaze was directed, a huge mountain was moving.

It wasn’t a mountain.

It was a beast as big as a mountain.

A gigantic beast that looked like a hippopotamus—Behemoth.

Duduyan’s face turned deathly pale.

Because the place Behemoth was heading toward was the Steel Fortress.

“Shit! Where did a beast like that come from?”

She shouted urgently as she jumped down from the cart.

“Everyone, throw away all unnecessary luggage and run to the Steel Fortress at full speed.”

They had to arrive at the Steel Fortress before Behemoth and prepare countermeasures.

The fate of the Steel Fortress was on the line.