Chapter 555

Chapter 555

Thud! Thooom!

Behemoth was walking across the desert.

Each time its gigantic legs touched the ground, tremendous vibrations shook the earth and clouds of dust shot up.

—Kreee!

—Kyaa!

The monsters along Behemoth’s path panicked and fled in all directions.

Some of them didn’t even dare try to run and collapsed to the ground, wetting themselves.

Behemoth trampled those monsters without mercy.

Thud!

The monster was crushed to death without even being able to scream.

Behemoth was a calamity not only to humans, but also to monsters.

No monster dared to stand against Behemoth.

Every monster on its path was seized with fear.

Not only the medium types, but even large monsters that had built their own territories were no exception.

Just seeing Behemoth appear from afar, even large monsters fled in haste.

Behemoth was an ecological disruptor.

With its appearance, the monster ecosystem that had barely been maintained was collapsing.

Large monsters that fled from Behemoth entered other monsters’ territories, and fights broke out between monsters as a result.

To escape the rampage of large monsters, medium-type monsters moved, and this in turn caused chain movements of small monsters.

The chain movement of monsters naturally had a bad effect on survivor villages as well.

Terrified small monsters attacked survivor settlements.

“Damn it!”

“The monsters have gone crazy.”

Humans who didn’t know what was going on had to fight desperately just to survive.

But Behemoth, the main culprit behind all this chaos, was moving at a leisurely pace.

From Behemoth’s point of view it was leisurely, but from the point of view of Repo and the beastfolk being chased, it was an unbelievably fast speed.

Behemoth looked at Repo and the beastfolk, who looked like ants, with its glowing red eyes.

The first living beings it had seen after opening its eyes were Repo and the beastfolk.

Just as a baby bird imprints on the first creature it sees after opening its eyes and follows it as its mother, Behemoth too was moving with interest toward the first beings it had seen.

When Behemoth first followed Repo and the beastfolk, its mind was nothing but tangled like a ball of string.

It was the aftereffect of sleeping for thousands of years.

Its consciousness was hazy, and its thinking wasn’t clear.

Naturally, it didn’t even know who it was, or why it had awakened here.

It simply followed the first beings it had seen by instinct. But as time passed, its mind gradually became clearer.

It felt like a puzzle that had been shattered into pieces was finding its place again, one by one.

Among those pieces, the first thing that surfaced was its mission.

—I opened my eyes to destroy.

Behemoth itself didn’t know the reason.

But that thought came first.

Behemoth’s huge eyes persistently tracked Repo and the beastfolk.

An unpleasant smell was coming from them.

The stubborn smell of life.

That stench irritated Behemoth’s mood.

It wanted to kill Repo and the beastfolk right away.

It wanted to destroy them and leave not even a trace, but Behemoth forcibly suppressed its instinct.

Because it knew that killing just these few wouldn’t satisfy its urge to destroy.

It had a premonition that if it chased them, it would meet many more beings that gave off that stench.

So Behemoth kept walking silently despite Repo’s pitiful provocations.

At that moment, new figures appeared from the far side of the desert.

They were other races’ warriors who had come after receiving Repo’s message.

At their head was Taboaru, the chief of the Gella tribe.

“B-Behimoth. It really is.”

Taboaru was shocked when he saw Behemoth from afar.

Until he came here, he hadn’t been able to be sure that the monster Repo was luring was truly Behemoth.

Part of him might even have hoped it wasn’t.

If the monster chasing Repo really was Behemoth, then it was no different from the end of the world coming.

Behemoth didn’t distinguish between friend and foe.

The fact that they had all crossed over from Kurayan together meant nothing to Behemoth.

That was because the emotion of kinship didn’t exist in it.

Thud! Thooom!

Each time Behemoth moved, the earth shook as if in an earthquake.

Its breath carried heat as hot as a volcano. Under that terrifying heat, the surrounding sand melted.

It was truly an awe-inspiring presence.

Only then did Taboaru understand Repo’s message.

Before Behemoth took interest in El Harun, they had to turn its attention elsewhere.

To Neo Seoul.

To the city of humans.

Bang!

Taboaru fired magic to draw Behemoth’s attention.

It didn’t deal even the slightest damage to Behemoth, but it definitely caught its interest.

Taboaru and the Gella tribe began luring Behemoth in place of Repo and the beastfolk, who had worked until now.

Thanks to that, Repo and the beastfolk were able to breathe a sigh of relief and rest.

“Huff! Huff!”

Repo looked at Behemoth growing farther away, breathing roughly.

---

“To think such a monster exists in this world.”

Urtian stared wide-eyed at the gigantic monster moving in the distance.

Thud, thud!

Even though it was more than several kilometers away, vibrations reached him every time the monster moved.

At the strong tremors felt under their feet, the faces of Urtian and the Steel Fortress elites with him turned pale.

They prided themselves on having gone through all kinds of hardships, but this was the first time they had seen such a gigantic monster.

It really looked like a small mountain was moving.

If something that big charged in, even Steel Fortress seemed like it would collapse.

When Duduyan had first delivered the news of the giant monster, he had thought there was some exaggeration mixed in.

Common sense said such a gigantic monster couldn’t exist. But Duduyan’s message hadn’t properly conveyed how terrifying the monster really was.

Kwaaah!

Whenever it occasionally released heat, the surrounding sand melted like lava.

And that wasn’t even intentional destruction.

It was just breathing, and that happened.

It was a monster whose very existence was a disaster.

It was hard to believe that such a monster existed on Earth.

Blocking or killing Behemoth was unimaginable.

He had a feeling that even if all the Awakened of Steel Fortress rushed in prepared to die, they wouldn’t be able to leave a single scratch on Behemoth’s body.

That was how overwhelming Behemoth’s presence was.

Just watching from afar made his breath catch.

The problem was that Steel Fortress lay on the route Behemoth was heading.

He didn’t know if those luring Behemoth knew it or not, but they were running straight in the direction where Steel Fortress was.

At that moment, a trusted subordinate who had gone out to scout returned.

“Boss!”

“Did you find out?”

“There are three more groups waiting besides them. They all seem to be demi-humans, and it looks like they plan to keep sending them in rotation to lure that monster.”

“So there are more crazy bastards?”

“Yeah! I confirmed that the beastfolk who first lured that monster joined up with them.”

“Hoo! These sons of bitches are making my blood boil for the first time in a while.”

Urtian’s face flushed bright red.

His anger surged to the top of his head, on the verge of exploding.

Whether they knew what they were doing or not, anyone who put Steel Fortress in danger could never be forgiven.

Urtian looked at Behemoth and said,

“I admit it! That monster is beyond our hands. We can’t do anything about it with our power. But the other bastards who are luring it are different. If those bastards are gone, that monster won’t head straight for Steel Fortress.”

“They didn’t look easy, those demi-humans. Wouldn’t it be better to wait for Lord Zeon?”

“And what if that monster reaches Steel Fortress first while we wait for Mr. Zeon?”

“Damn it!”

“We have to solve our own problems. Even if it’s like breaking a rock with an egg.”

“Understood. I’ll get all the Awakened of the fortress ready.”

The subordinate immediately withdrew.

Left alone, Urtian stared at Behemoth for a moment.

Thud! Thud!

The footsteps from kilometers away ominously stimulated his heart.

Urtian forcibly shook off his fear.

If he trembled in fear, his subordinates would be affected too.

Steel Fortress had grown beyond a simple fortress into a small city.

People who heard rumors of Steel Fortress came and settled there, and many children were born.

His own children were there too.

If they couldn’t change that monster’s course, the lives of everyone in Steel Fortress would be in danger.

Urtian approached his subordinates.

“From now on, we’re going to kill all the bastards luring that monster. We’ll wipe them out and lure that monster in another direction ourselves.”

“Is that even possible?”

“Even if it’s impossible, we have to make it possible. Are you going to let that monster trample Steel Fortress as it is?”

“No.”

“Right! Our families live in Steel Fortress. If we fail, they’re all as good as dead. Is that okay with you?”

“No.”

“Then let’s slaughter every last one of the bastards luring that monster.”

Urtian’s eyes glowed red with killing intent.

His killing intent spread to his subordinates as well.

Urtian immediately led his men into motion.

Although they were now focused only on defending Steel Fortress, Urtian and his men had originally been scavengers infamous under the name the Red Storm Corps.

There was no one who knew this area better than them.

They knew every route that allowed them to approach secretly without falling into the enemy’s line of sight.

They ran for a long time and approached the place where the demi-humans from El Harun were gathered.

The demi-humans from El Harun were in the middle of a meeting, not even realizing they had come close.

Kelota, who led the giant dwarves, Repo, the leader of the beastfolk, and Lamore, the second-in-command of the giants who had come in place of Council Chairman Krudu, were gathered in one place.

Kelota asked Repo,

“How long do you think Taboaru and the Zela tribe can hold out?”

“About half a day more. After that, we’ll have to rotate.”

“Only half a day? Isn’t that too short?”

“That’s the absolute maximum. If they’re exposed any longer, they’ll go completely insane.”

“Insane?”

“Yeah! Being exposed to Behemoth’s aura for too long feels like your brain is melting.”

Among the races, the beastfolk had the strongest physical abilities along with the giants.

And yet, Behemoth was emitting an aura so turbid that even the beastfolk found it hard to endure.

When it had just awakened, the aura was weak, so they hadn’t felt it much. But as time passed, Behemoth’s aura grew stronger and stronger.

Now, just being near it for a short while made their minds grow hazy and feel like they’d go mad.

Repo said,

“At first, I thought we were luring it. And we were. But…”

“But what?”

“At some point, I started feeling like it was watching our struggle and finding it amusing.”

“You’re saying a mere monster has that kind of emotion?”

Kelota looked at Repo with a doubtful expression.

It was hard to believe. But this was Repo’s story — the one who had experienced Behemoth firsthand.

There was no choice but to believe it.

Repo said,

“The Zela tribe won’t last much longer, so next time you go out leading the giant dwarves.”

“Grrh… Fine.”

Just as Kelota answered with a resigned expression—

“Kill every last one of those bastards!”

“Waaah!”

Urtian and his men, who had approached stealthily, launched a surprise attack.

“Wh-what is it?”

“Damn it! Humans!”

“Kill them!”

The demi-humans from El Harun and the Awakened led by Urtian the half-elf clashed in the middle of the desert.