Chapter 115
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Taming the Phantasmal Species (1)
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“Beee-buuung-!”
A massive roar echoed out.
It shook the entire lakeside with the force to flip the world upside down.
Lloyd, who had been hiding in the grass alongside the White Lancers, felt a twinge of puzzlement.
‘Huh?’
What was that?
Why did the cry sound like that?
Somehow, it felt strangely familiar.
‘That’s totally a phantasmal species cry, isn’t it?’
That was when he had the thought.
Once more, a bellow erupted from beneath the nest in the center of the lake.
“Beee-buuung! Bee-buuung!”
Kwaaaaa-!
The sound was even bigger than before.
The majestic roar sent ripples across the lake.
Even the White Lancer squad members hiding nearby gripped their shovel hafts without realizing it, tensing up.
But Lloyd?
He was different.
He wasn’t tense at all.
No, he felt even greater doubt and curiosity.
The reason was simple.
The cry of King Beaver that had just rung out.
He could ‘clearly’ understand the meaning embedded within it.
“Hang on. Did that guy just yell, ‘Who broke my dam!’? Did I hear that right?”
“Pp dong!”
He glanced into his pocket for confirmation.
Podong, wriggling in the inner pouch, vigorously nodded with a “Pp it!”
“Pp do dong, pp dong. Pp dong dong!”
“Right?”
“Pp dong!”
“Yeah. That’s what it sounded like to me too.”
It was certain.
King Beaver had definitely ‘said’ that just now.
‘It sounded just like a real-time auto-translator switched on in my head. Crystal clear. And this feels super familiar.’
Of course it did.
It was something he experienced all the time.
Whenever he talked with Podong, Bangul, or Hamang, it was always like this.
‘So this must be the sensation I only get when talking with phantasmal species.’
Truthfully, he didn’t know the principle behind it.
It had just always been that way.
Ever since the moment he first summoned Podong.
He didn’t know why, but he alone could clearly understand everything Podong said.
Just like a real-time auto-translator in his head.
Or as if he held a first-class certification in phantasmal species language.
He just understood it.
‘But why is it happening now too?’
King Beaver was clearly a mana beast.
Why did its roar sound like a phantasmal species cry, and why could he sense its meaning?
The question didn’t last long.
Soon, an even greater roar rang out.
“Beee-buuung! Beeee-buuuung buuung buuung!”
Thudukwaaaak!
A explosive boom accompanied the roar.
One side of the nest lurched.
Water sprayed up explosively.
From within, a massive bulk rose.
A round, plump silhouette stood tall.
Shwaaaaa!
A flat, broad tail twenty meters long, resembling the oar of a galley ship, splashed the water.
Its sturdy, short, thick hind legs stood like pillars.
A round, fleshy buttock tensed with power.
Above it, a puffy torso and short forelegs.
And finally, a large, round head appeared.
Covered head to toe in wet, dark brown fur.
It bared square, blocky front teeth between wide-open jaws.
Raising its 100-meter frame, it roared once more.
“Beee-buuung-!”
Kwaaaa-!
The enormous roar echoed dozens of times, shaking the lake and surrounding mountains.
Only then did Lloyd realize.
‘That’s not beaver-like habits. That’s a straight-up beaver.’
Indeed.
The mana beast that had just woken from sleep and emerged from its nest.
King Beaver, finally revealing its 100-meter bulk.
Not only its habits but its appearance was that of a beaver through and through.
It was like someone had just plopped down a 100-meter beaver.
Its actions after finishing the roar were the same.
Puhwak!
King Beaver tilted its raised body forward again.
It slipped smoothly below the surface.
It began to swim.
Toward the spot where Haviel had used Blasting earlier.
Straight toward the section of the dam that had collapsed.
‘Good, just as expected.’
The beaver that showed infinite obsession with the dam he had built.
The plan he had devised based on those habits.
It was working perfectly.
It seemed the creature was heading off to repair the dam.
‘That’s it. Keep going just like that. Hurry and fix the broken dam.’
Lloyd cheered King Beaver on inwardly (?).
He hoped it would keep swimming straight to the demolished dam site.
But the situation didn’t unfold entirely as he wished.
King Beaver, swimming well, suddenly stopped in place.
Then it began looking all around.
It sniffed like it was smelling something.
It let out a roar full of suspicion.
“Beee-buuung? Bee-buuung?”
Of course, Lloyd could understand the meaning of this roar too.
It was...
‘...Something smells weird?’
Kking kking!
King Beaver’s round nose sucked in air repeatedly.
A faint but alien body odor in the air.
A scent that didn’t belong amid the earth, wood, and lake smells filling this place.
A fishy, metallic stench wafting from one direction, stimulating its senses.
‘Bee-buuung! Beeee-buuung!’
King Beaver sniffed repeatedly as it thought.
It was certain.
A metallic smell this strong meant humans.
Only that frail yet greedy race carried such a thick, fishy iron scent.
Which meant...
“Beee-buuung! Beeee-buuung buuung!”
King Beaver’s gaze turned toward the dam.
Toward the spot where it had felt the vibrations that woke it just moments ago.
It took in the collapsed section of the dam.
“Bee-buuung!”
Now it got it.
That wasn’t just a collapse.
It absolutely wasn’t due to age or coincidence.
Humans did it.
Those iron-stinking bastards.
They had smashed it for some reason.
Its precious dam!
“Beeee-buuung!”
King Beaver’s large, black eyes filled with rage.
It scanned the lakeside area with eyes burning like flames.
Lloyd had to swallow hard.
‘That guy’s searching for us right now.’
The cry of King Beaver, furious as it bellowed.
Listening to it, the meaning translated automatically, just like with phantasmal species.
‘It’s saying there’s an iron smell. There are humans around. The dam destruction and waking it up seem like human work too... Whew, is that deductive power for real?’
Listening, it was no joke.
This wasn’t the intelligence of a mere beast or mana beast.
It seemed equal to Podong, Bangul, or Hamang, whom he kept with him.
In other words, it possessed human-level intellect and reasoning ability.
‘Guess I need to review the plan going forward.’
Lloyd’s expression hardened.
He organized his thoughts.
‘Originally, I planned to keep damaging the dam. Damage it to wake King Beaver from sleep, make it repair the dam. Once it finished fixing the dam and went back to sleep? Repeat the process like before. Until the monster domino effect ended. For exactly one year.’
Like the beavers in that animal x documentary he’d seen on TV.
Or like Sisyphus in Greek myth, eternally rolling the boulder.
By imposing this repetitive labor, he aimed to force King Beaver into activity.
But now that he saw?
If he stuck to that strategy, they’d be in deep trouble.
‘It’s way smarter than expected.’
He’d thought it was just a mana beast.
Beast-level, like the Gigatitan.
He hadn’t anticipated it showing phantasmal species traits.
‘So repeating the original plan won’t work.’
It might fool it now, but with the reasoning ability King Beaver was showing, two or three more times and they’d get caught red-handed.
That’s why.
‘Time for a tailored response.’
Lloyd’s mind spun rapidly.
The original plan.
King Beaver’s traits and intelligence confirmed today.
He broke down all the puzzle pieces.
Laid them out on the ground.
From the beginning, step by step.
He reassembled them into a new shape.
And finally found the answer.
“Haviel.”
Having finished his calculations, Lloyd turned his gaze.
He looked straight into Haviel’s eyes and spoke.
“You’ll have to play the villain a bit today.”
“...What do you mean by that?”
Haviel asked with a bewildered expression.
Lloyd curled one side of his lips.
“Exactly what I said. You need to act like the bad guy. To that King Beaver.”
“To King Beaver, you say? If that’s the case, then—”
Haviel’s eyes gleamed.
“Should I kill it?”
“No, absolutely not. Never.”
Lloyd shook his head vigorously.
“Killing it? No way. Think about it. If we kill it, huh? Then who’s gonna scare off and block all the monsters that’ll keep coming via the domino effect?”
“Then...”
“It’s looking for someone to blame right now, right?”
“Pardon? Blame whom?”
“To put it more clearly, it’s searching for traces of the culprit who smashed the dam today.”
“So that’s why it stopped before reaching the dam and is looking around?”
“Yeah. See it sniffing?”
“Yes.”
“It’s searching for the source of the iron smell right now.”
“It’s concluded humans are the culprits.”
“Exactly. That’s it.”
Lloyd grinned.
“So, brave, chic, and cool Sir Asrahan. Won’t you represent humanity here today?”
“Why should I?”
“Because you’re handsome.”
“...”
Haviel shut his mouth, and Lloyd laughed wickedly.
“Look around. Anyone here handsomer than you?”
“No.”
“Oh, didn’t even take a second to think about the answer.”
“It’s a clear fact.”
“Right? So you have to step up as the representative.”
“What do you...”
“More precisely, I want you to show up in a spot where King Beaver can easily see you. Draw its attention. Act like you’re the villain who smashed the dam today.”
“You’ve got something in mind, I see.”
“Yeah, I do. And you’re the one who actually did smash the dam, right?”
“But everyone here was together in...”
“You landed the finishing blow, didn’t you?”
“...”
What a dirty, sneaky young master.
Haviel glared at Lloyd with resentful eyes for a moment.
But soon he accepted the situation and nodded.
“Very well. I’ll do it. But I have a request for you too, Lord Lloyd.”
“A request?”
“Yes.”
“Rejected.”
“...”
“What? In a situation like this, you think dropping a dramatic request line will make me just hand it over on a platter?”
“Sigh, never mind.”
“See? Good call. Now, get going. Don’t forget to fight only along the shallow lake edge so no waves kick up.”
“Understood. Then.”
Whatever you’re attempting, please don’t put yourself in danger.
...That’s what he’d meant to request.
Haviel lowered his body with a sigh.
He crawled through the grass.
He moved stealthily for a long time.
He put over three hundred meters between himself and the group.
He climbed onto a conspicuous rock by the lakeside.
Shring!
He drew his sword and raised it high.
He activated the Asrahan Heart Method.
He fiercely clashed his two circles.
Thwishak-!
A powerful Blasting shot from his raised sword.
It crossed the sky above the lake amid a boom.
Up until then, King Beaver had been looking around.
Its head snapped toward him.
It instantly spotted Haviel.
“Beee-buuung-!”
It’s you!
King Beaver remembered clearly.
Just before it woke, in the midst of deep sleep, it had vaguely heard an explosion.
The very boom that had smashed its precious dam.
It was the exact same sound.
It was certain.
So, the silver-haired human standing across the lake with sword raised was the culprit who destroyed its precious dam!
“Beee-buuung! Bee-buuung!”
It unleashed a roar of fury.
It dove beneath the cold surface.
It cleaved through the water with its massive body, crossing the lake.
Chwuaaaaaak!
Its huge size made the movement look ponderous.
But the reality was different.
The flat, broad tail like an oar.
Each swing of that tail whipped up an enormous volume of water.
It propelled the 100-meter body surging forward.
Thanks to that, King Beaver covered the distance to Haviel’s lakeside in just a few tail strokes.
“Beee-buuung!”
Chwaaa!
It thrust its head up, shattering the surface.
Immediately, it smashed down with its short, thick forelegs toward Haviel.
Kwaaaang-!
The rock split under the blow weighted with its massive body. No, it shattered entirely.
King Beaver panted as it inspected the broken rock.
But nowhere could it find the loathsome enemy’s corpse.
That was when.
“Over here.”
Suddenly, a cold voice came from about twenty meters away.
At the same time, a fierce shockwave shot straight at it.
Thwak-!
The fired Blasting grazed past King Beaver’s head.
King Beaver flinched in surprise.
“Beee-buuung!”
Whoa, that startled me.
The surprise soon turned to greater rage.
“Beee-buuung! Bee-buuung!”
That was the start.
King Beaver rampaged with even fiercer momentum.
It unleashed its wild instincts to kill the vile culprit(?) who smashed the dam.
But each time, Haviel annoyingly dodged like a fly. He even deliberately fired Blastings that missed.
As a result, King Beaver’s gaze fixated even more obsessively on Haviel alone.
The more Haviel dodged attacks.
The more he kept fleeing as if mocking it.
All its senses and nerves focused solely on Haviel.
“Beee-buuung! Beeee-buuung buuung!”
Thus, King Beaver grew ever more ferocious as time passed.
Thanks to that, it remained utterly oblivious, even in its dreams.
‘Good, perfect.’
Before they knew it, Lloyd was sneaking up behind King Beaver.
And in Lloyd’s hand was the trump card he had drawn to subdue King Beaver, gripped firmly.
The elixir that made phantasmal species docile.
Blue sunflower seeds.