Chapter 351
Chapter 351
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 351
>Chapter Title: What the Fuck, You Beast?
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Dong— Dong— Dong—
The massive bell tolls echoed relentlessly, shaking the development site.
“To your positions!”
“Hurry up! Faster…… Hey, what the hell are you doing!”
Some of the more hot-tempered mercenaries grabbed sluggish laborers by the scruff of the neck and hurled them into buildings.
The laborers tumbled to the ground with sharp yelps, but no one complained.
It was still better than ending up in a wyvern’s belly.
And so, how much time passed.
Probably not even ten minutes.
“……Hoo.”
The mercenaries stood inside jagged wooden fences, spears gripped tight, staring up at the sky.
Even the buildings hiding the laborers were surrounded by sharp wooden harpoons.
Once all preparations were complete.
“…….”
“…….”
A thick silence descended upon the development site.
The wind blew.
But even the chill winter breeze couldn’t cool the sweat beading in the mercenaries’ fists.
No matter how battle-hardened they were, staying relaxed against flying monsters wasn’t easy.
Dropping from those dizzying heights with hundreds of kilograms of mass, slashing the ground with their talons.
That destructive power far surpassed a charge from heavily armored knights.
And that wasn’t all.
One slip-up, and you’d be snatched skyward—either dead or crippled.
So, they had no choice but to stay on edge.
Block it a hundred, a thousand times perfectly, and one single mistake meant the end.
While the mercenaries sharpened their senses, staring at the sky.
Aster overlooked it all from the roof of the tallest building.
‘Indeed…….’
The development site’s mercenaries were elite, worthy of the name.
Tense enough to sweat coldly in their grips, yet not a single one froze up.
After sweeping his gaze over the mercenaries once, Aster turned back to the sky.
“…….”
Above the clouds.
Dozens of wyverns circling the empty air.
But why was it.
They didn’t move rashly. As if waiting for something.
Or, more precisely……
‘……Orders.’
Yes, as if waiting for orders.
At the wyverns’ odd behavior, Aster recalled the strange presence he’d missed earlier.
The presence had vanished the instant it brushed his senses.
As if it had noticed being caught in his detection.
Impossible.
For anything to sense the aura scattered by a transcendent archmage? An ordinary mage would’ve dismissed it as a mistake.
But Aster was certain.
It wasn’t a mistake…… and the presence’s owner was boldly right there among the wyverns in the sky above.
Yet, it wasn’t moving……
‘……A cautious one.’
It was probing.
Wondering if anything here could threaten it.
If so, what then.
Flying up to rip the wyverns apart wouldn’t be hard. Nor would capturing that unidentified presence.
But without knowing the opponent’s identity.
‘Better to play it safe.’
Which meant making it move first……
“Senior.”
“Speak.”
Though separated by distance, Aster and Ahnar conversed as if side by side.
“It’ll come down soon.”
“Prepare.”
Ahnar relayed the order to the mercenaries at once.
Aster watched, then looked back to the sky.
If it could detect his senses, then its stillness was surely due to them.
To make it move, he just needed to erase his senses.
Tzzzz—
Aster withdrew his broadly spread aura. He went further, suppressing his presence.
Reducing it, and reducing it further…… until not a speck remained.
Once Aster’s presence vanished completely.
Kieeeek—!
A chilling screech pierced the silence, echoing out.
Dozens of wyverns burst through the pristine white cumulus clouds.
The mercenaries shouted.
“It’s coming—!”
“Stay sharp!”
As dozens of wyverns dove toward the ground, Aster took in the cloud-shrouded sky.
……The thing was still up there.
* * *
Beneath the sun.
Atop the white clouds.
The black wyvern flapped its wings, gazing down at the ground.
Its already massive body, larger than a normal wyvern, had grown even more overnight.
And it wasn’t just the flesh that had grown.
Its five senses.
Those eyes pierced the clouds, those ears caught even the tiniest sounds. Its regressed sense of smell revived, detecting the humans’ scent below. Taste went without saying.
Its skin even registered the finest air currents.
But the greatest change wasn’t the enlarged body or sharpened senses.
……Aura sense.
Something no monster should have.
The black wyvern, the ‘King,’ swept the ground with its newfound sense.
Though newly acquired, it wielded it as naturally as if born with it.
……Kieeeek.
‘They’re coming! Block them!’
It heard with its ears.
Saw the clash between the old specimen and the humans.
And its aura sense captured every flow of the bizarre energy the humans emitted.
Scattering blood.
The old specimen’s death.
But the King paid it no mind. It merely felt and memorized the bizarre energy from the humans battling the old specimen.
How to describe it.
In this moment, the King felt a strange ecstasy.
Just like the day it first opened its new eyes with power from the red gem.
The flows of energy humans created were fascinating. And among them, the most intriguing was the phenomenon from the old human.
Creating water in empty air, raising the earth.
The art of manipulating nature was mystical in itself, but the King focused not just for the mystery.
Most human energy was hard for the King to wield……
……But that one was possible.
No one told it, but the King knew.
With its new sense, it could create a similar phenomenon to what the old human made.
It wanted…… to see more. More……
But.
The King shook off the intense temptation.
It wanted to gaze endlessly at the flows of energy humans created.
If it could etch those flows into its eyes and mind, it wouldn’t mind sacrificing every one of the hundreds of wyverns under its command.
However, the King knew.
Down there…… something dangerous lurked.
Flying toward the humans’ nest, the King had definitely felt it.
……A colossal presence.
Overwhelming.
The first terror it tasted since opening its new eyes with the red gem.
It had even considered.
Fleeing.
But the King’s years as King numbered decades, and its bloated ego as King wouldn’t allow flight.
Even if fleeing, it needed to identify the existence to plan for the future.
The King’s goal was to cross the mountains, head to that continent overflowing with tasty humans.
To spawn its offspring there, revive its bloodline.
……The colossal presence had melted away like snow, but the King didn’t let its guard down.
Hiding one’s presence was something it could do too, so surely that colossal being could as well.
Thus, the King hovered in the air, overlooking the ground.
……To confirm the colossal presence with its own eyes.
And that will soon imbued its emitted energy, altering its form.
A far more sensitive aura sense.
The form astonishingly resembled Aster’s—natural, since the first one it saw was Aster’s.
As the King probed for Aster……
[……?]
The King flinched, halting its wingbeats, narrowing its eyes.
Its yellow pupils contracted and dilated repeatedly, fixing on one building.
It hadn’t found the colossal presence—Aster.
What the King found was…… a familiar energy.
The red gem.
Something of the same kind it held.
[…….]
The King flapped its wings, gazing down with complex eyes.
Was that energy below truly the red gem’s? The energy that birthed its new self.
After a time.
The King concluded after deliberation.
[……Yes.]
Minuscule and feeble compared to the red gem’s energy, but undoubtedly the same kind.
……No, not the same.
Though small and weak…… the King knew.
If the red gem’s energy was dead, the energy in that being below was alive.
What did that mean.
[……If I devour it.]
If it took that.
Instinct told it.
It could open new eyes once more.
……Irresistible temptation.
The King’s yellow eyes dyed with greed.
The object of greed was the sleeping ‘wyvern.’
* * *
Greed arose, and the King’s mind filled with one desire.
Predation.
It wanted to eat that existence.
Desire arose, and instinct sought methods.
What was the method.
The magic the old human, Ahnar, had deployed.
The King instinctively analyzed Ahnar’s magic.
How mana flowed from Ahnar’s core, how the emitted mana orchestrated ambient mana.
Extreme desire accelerated thought.
In accelerated cognition, the King endlessly read the magic, read and read again.
Once read enough, it deconstructed the process.
Mana emission, mana manipulation, activation, manifestation.
Upon grasping that far, the King naturally realized.
‘Mana emission.’
It had no mana to emit.
And simultaneously……
[……Unnecessary.]
That process was unnecessary for it.
Mana was a tool to move ambient mana in place of ‘will.’ And the King could move mana with will alone.
A natural realization.
Then, what remained was……
Execution.
Crackle, fizz!
Fizz!
Water droplets formed around the King, taking shape. But imperfect. Duration barely a second.
However.
Fizzzzzzz!
The King endlessly willed, correcting errors. No, beyond correction—it innovated the magic anew.
Opportunity…… only once.
Before the colossal presence noticed, strike in one go and snatch the target.
To seize that one chance, the King refined the magic to the optimal form.
And finally.
Keeeen—!
A single spear rising into empty air.
Razor-sharp.
And the intent contained within……
Destruction.
Magic born of extremely compressed malice.
Something humans could never create or imitate.
With all preparations complete, the King didn’t hesitate, diving toward the ground.
No, not diving—launched. Ambient mana heeded its will, boosting speed.
Faster than ever.
The King intuited.
Its attempt would succeed.
Ten seconds to target.
9 seconds, 8, 7……
To the target point.
……1 second.
The King smirked, filled with ecstasy.
Feeble, but taking that living energy would rebirth it greater than now.
Greater existence.
But why.
[……?]
The King sensed something wrong.
Its body wouldn’t move.
Target point right before it……
A voice rang out right then.
“What the fuck, you beast. It really was a wyvern?”
At the same time, shwoooosh!
A colossal presence erupted, enveloping the King.
The King realized.
……Something had gone wrong.