Even I Was Surprised by My Own Strength
The beastmen were exhausted from one battle after another with the ghouls.
The True Ancestor’s servants, who had burst into the village without warning, were weaker than the beastmen, but they came in such numbers, and they were creatures that knew neither fear nor hesitation.
They were beasts that would trample even over the corpse of a fallen comrade if it meant reaching their goal.
For the beastmen, who had been facing ghouls that reeked of rotten flesh as they closed in on them, there came a moment when their resolve began to break.
If this continued, every single one of the beastmen would die here today.
Just as the hands gripping their weapons slowly began to lower—
"Everyone, pull yourselves together!"
The army of lizardmen had arrived.
At the head of them stood Lizardrin, armored and spear in hand.
She raised her sharp voice and shouted at the beastmen.
"The True Ancestor’s attack hasn’t even really started yet! What are you going to do if you’re already breaking now?"
The beastmen only looked back in confusion.
Why were the lizardmen here? Just recently, because of a difference of opinion over Behemoth, they had clearly parted on bad terms.
"Li, Lizardrin-nim…."
"Why are the lizardmen here…?"
Lizardrin took a deep breath.
She had something she wanted to say to the beastmen.
After sorting her thoughts in her head, she opened her mouth and spoke loudly.
"We’re not exactly close enough to risk our lives for one another, are we? We’d always thought of ourselves as one category called demi-humans, but like water and oil, we were the sort of people who could never truly mix."
Those had been the words Lizardrin had once spoken at a regular meeting the beastmen had not attended.
Before Behemoth appeared, demi-humans had hardly ever tried to mingle with one another at all, aside from dwarves and beastmen.
The great ancestors had taught them as much, and the demi-humans had treasured that teaching and followed it.
But—
"As you live, your mind always changes. With Behemoth’s appearance, the demi-humans began to communicate with one another. It’s still only a little, but I’m sure that one day we’ll become far closer than we are now."
The stubborn dwarves, who valued art above all else, had given up their own space in order to protect the savage goblins and orcs.
And as a result, dwarves, orcs, and goblins had joined forces and were giving the ghoul army a real fight.
The proud and haughty elves, too, had not forgiven those who worshipped nature while destroying it, yet they had helped the beastmen who were trying to build a shrine for Behemoth, even going so far as to cut down trees for them.
The times were changing.
And the one who had set that change in motion was Behemoth.
"We lizardmen intend to take the first step right here and now."
Lizardrin believed that this was an opportunity to make the future of the demi-humans, who had been defeated in competition with humanity and exiled to the great forest, a little happier.
The reason she was so certain was….
"Lord Behemoth…."
"It’s Lord Behemoth…."
"Lord Behemoth has revealed his true form…."
Because Behemoth had revealed his true form.
Not as the beast of calamity carved into the prophetic tablet, but as the guardian of the great forest, standing against the True Ancestor.
The black-armored dragon Behemoth, shaking heaven and earth, was crushing the pitiful ghouls beneath him as he advanced.
"When the great Behemoth himself is fighting with everything he has to protect us, it wouldn’t be right for us to just stand here and watch, would it?"
The prophetic tablet had only ever said to beware Behemoth and exercise caution.
And yet the wise lizardmen had firmly believed Behemoth to be the guardian of the great forest.
Maybe the reason is that, even without the prophetic tablet, I get the feeling things wouldn’t be all that different for you people.
Because right now, it was an undeniable truth that he was fighting the True Ancestor to protect the demi-humans.
"Han-ah."
Lizardrin walked over to the chieftain’s daughter.
"I misunderstood Lord Behemoth. I’m sorry for being so harsh back then. I apologize."
Han-ah only smiled and took her hand as Lizardrin bowed her head.
"Thank you for helping us, Lizardrin-nim. And thank you, too, for apologizing for what happened back then. I’m truly grateful—and I’m sorry as well. I wasn’t exactly in the right either."
With that, they finished their handshake of reconciliation.
Then Lizardrin bared a ferocious smile.
"For the artist dwarves, there are the most battle-capable orcs in the world and the goblins, who are brilliant at scheming. For the wise elves, there’s the demon priestess who serves Lord Behemoth at his very side. And…."
Lizardrin raised her weapon high.
The marshal who led the wise cold-blooded kin made her declaration there and then.
"The most intelligent lizardmen in the great forest, and the brave beastmen, are here together! From this moment on, I will not allow the death of a single demi-human!"
The morale of the beastman warriors surged.
"The most intelligent lizardman has come!"
"The bravest beastmen are here!"
"The deaths of demi-humans will not be tolerated on this land!"
The demi-humans roared and thrust their weapons into the air.
The source of their high spirits was partly Lizardrin’s natural charisma, but the greatest reason was surely the overwhelming tremor that could be felt every time the great Behemoth took a step.
The beastmen and the lizardmen prepared for war against the ghouls.
Meanwhile, in a place a little removed from the noisy village, Soho, having bitten through the throats of several ghouls and now taking a brief rest, looked up at Behemoth.
An all-too-familiar girl’s silhouette stood on Behemoth’s massive shoulder.
Lucy.
Soho climbed to the very top of the tallest tree and began to watch the miracle they were about to create.
As a child, I used to light up every time I watched videos with giant monsters in them.
Giant monsters were terrifying, sure, and they put a real sense of pressure on you, but there was always something about them that stirred up a person’s sense of romance.
Overwhelming power that could destroy a city. A cool, fearsome body modeled after the dinosaurs that once lived in the Cretaceous period. Things like that.
It wasn’t just my own opinion.
I could feel the gazes of the creatures living in this land.
They were looking at me with expectation.
They were pinning their hopes on the monster who would defeat the villain tormenting them.
"Aren’t they going to find me scary?"
Lucy, standing on my shoulder, answered me.
"Not at all."
"Why?"
"Because big things are the cutest."
What, was I some kind of giant dog?
How did you make the full moon in the night sky?
"The Master taught me. It’s only a model, but it seems to feel like the real moon to my friend."
The full moon hanging in the night sky was Lucy’s work.
The reason I’d called myself a giant monster all this time was because on nights when the full moon rose, I grew thirty times larger under its light.
One step was enough to devastate everything on the ground, so on full-moon nights I always stayed holed up in a cave without meeting anyone.
This was my true form.
The power I’d kept suppressed until now was surging up in a violent flood.
Even if my opponent was a Chosen who had once terrified people in the distant past, he would not be my match.
Usually, in movies or anime, a monster like this is the villain and a hero shows up.
A giant monster who protects people—what kind of irony was that?
I loved this new life I’d been given as a monster.
Even if I had to bear the penalty of living in a body I wasn’t used to, I was satisfied with this life, one where I cherished each day as it came.
I was satisfied with this life, where I spent my days taking care of small troubles as they appeared before me with precious friends, and enjoyed simple happiness.
I loved this ordinary monster’s life, where the people who had once feared me accepted my gifts, and eventually even listened to my requests.
The Gehenna Great Forest was a huge part of my life.
All the life living in the great forest was also part of my life.
So.
I would not forgive anyone who tried to destroy a part of my life.
That was why I had become a monster whose body obscured the clouds and whose footsteps shattered the earth.
"You can keep going straight like this. Don’t worry about the ruins ahead. They’re the village of the goblins and orcs that was destroyed by the ghouls, and it looks like everyone managed to evacuate safely. Yep, yep."
Lucy helped me from the side so that I wouldn’t do any pointless killing.
She kept me, with all my overwhelming power, from allowing life to be wasted the way the Chosen of old had once done.
"Thanks, Lucy."
"It’s okay. I’m happy I can help my friend. More importantly, there are an enormous number of ghouls ahead."
I looked down.
Then I saw the ghouls spreading across the wasteland as they lumbered forward.
Their number was roughly ten thousand.
It was an absurdly immense force, beyond anything I could easily imagine.
"It feels almost like an army…."
Seen from above, the ghoul horde looked like some single living organism writhing across the land.
They were so densely packed together it was grotesque.
"Lucy, get ready."
"Yes."
I wasn’t scared.
To me, the ghoul army was no different from ants.
What kind of human would ever be afraid of mere ants?
Especially a prepared human in full protective gear, with a flamethrower in hand.
A blue flame began to surge up from my chest.
I spewed the high-temperature fire filling my mouth down onto the earth.
Fwoooosh—!
Behemoth’s breath swept in like a tidal wave.
The rocks in the wasteland melted away, and countless ghouls vanished, turned into blackened ash.
The landscape changed.
The once-beautiful wasteland of reeds and stone flared like a corner of hell, burning without end.
And onto that blazing wasteland, I breathed fire once more.
The ghouls could not withstand the heat of the blue flames, and they were all wiped out.
It was like cleaning a blackboard that had been chalked over white with an eraser.
"This is overwhelming…."
Lucy, her whole body protected by a barrier, looked down at the ground and spoke.
There was nothing left on the ground that even hinted the wasteland or the ghouls had ever been there.
The rocks had flowed down like lava, and the wind drifted aimlessly through the void, carrying ash and searing heat with it.
Rain began to fall from the night sky.
As the cold rain lay itself over the hot earth, steam rose and spread around us like mist.
I moved forward.
Toward the True Ancestor watching me from beyond that burning expanse.