-Gigantic Beast
The pitch-black, gigantic beast’s body was completely covering the upper floors of the Magic Tower.
In other words, the summit that had existed only as a hologram was now nowhere to be seen; only that thing was there.
It was so enormous that the portion visible now did not even seem to be its entirety.
‘What the hell is it? I can’t even tell what kind of beast it is.’
After pondering for a moment, I flew even higher with propulsion magic.
Since there was a hole punched straight through the middle of the Magic Tower, it was perfect for moving by flight.
Of course, using magic meant risking being discovered by the black mages, but this was a situation where I had to accept that much.
For now, figuring out the identity of that gigantic beast was more important.
After flying up about two floors’ worth of height, I reached the central section of the Magic Tower. A wide hall and a balcony facing outside came into view. Of course, even there, the wall on the inner side had been torn away.
I saw black mages. The infinite pentagonal shapes of gray energy within them were clearly detectable.
‘Where is Samir?’
I strengthened my stealth magic another level and quietly flew inside. I thought I should take a brief look around before leaving.
None of the black mages in the hall noticed my presence.
It almost felt like a waste that I had gone through the trouble of climbing the stairs.
‘If I’d known it would be like this, I should’ve just flown around with propulsion magic from the start.’
Of course, my stealth magic and barrier were perfect, but the black mages, like the goat demons, seemed to have all their attention focused elsewhere, making them duller than usual.
The black mages were moving toward the balcony as if bewitched.
I flew toward the balcony, almost pressed against the ceiling.
There, Samir stood. He was leaning against the balcony railing, looking upward.
Dense gray energy billowed up around him.
That was not all. It looked as though a glossy black membrane had formed with Samir at its center.
He seemed changed. No, should I say strengthened?
Samir was definitely exuding a far more sinister aura than before.
‘He’s become even more dangerous in such a short time. Did he go to the Demon Realm himself?’
After finishing my observation of Samir, I flew outside the balcony, turned around, and looked up.
I already had a guess as to what Samir and the black mages were looking at.
As expected, it was the gigantic beast.
Its torso was clearly covering all of the upper section above the hole pierced through the center of the Magic Tower, while the rest of its body stretched out toward the front of the tower.
It probably stretched out toward the back as well.
It was difficult to even estimate just how long and enormous it was.
The part visible above the balcony was its head. The gigantic beast had thrust its head out and was looking around at the outside world.
‘What is it? What the hell am I supposed to call a beast like that?’
The gigantic beast had a long body connected segment by segment, and at a glance it almost looked like a dragon.
But instead of feeling any dignity like that of a sacred dragon, it emitted such powerful evil energy that merely looking at it felt horrid and painful.
It was undoubtedly a life-form summoned from the Demon Realm.
Along its back, sharp scale-like protrusions jutted up from every segment, while the surface of its body was black and slick.
Slick did not mean it looked soft. If anything, it seemed harder than iron armor.
Its movements were supple like those of an aquatic creature, yet it floated through the air without the slightest hindrance, despite not being in water.
Its size was terrifying.
Judging by even the parts I could not take in at a glance, its full body length seemed comparable to a multi-dozen-story building laid on its side.
It was also quite thick. Its body was large enough to cover the upper section of the Magic Tower.
It was shocking that such an enormous body could float in the air as though it were nothing.
‘Incredible. To think he summoned something like that. What kind of contract did Samir make with the Demon Realm?’
I carefully extended a detection line and probed the thing’s mana.
As expected, the beast contained an immense amount of mana. It was mana imbued not merely with gray energy, but with pitch-black darkness.
Simply by existing there, it gave off a vicious mana that prickled like an electric current.
Overwhelming power and energy of the Demon Realm. Ordinary people would likely faint on the spot just from looking at it.
Now I understood. The enormous pit pierced through the middle of the Magic Tower had been created when the gigantic beast surged upward.
It had not been long since that thing appeared in Earth’s dimension. It was probably adapting right now.
Even so, it was exploring the outside world as if its curiosity had been piqued.
Soon, it would leave the Magic Tower and burst out into the world.
That would be a calamity.
‘I need to hurry.’
I flew back through the balcony and into the hall.
On the way back to my companions, I quickly examined the structure and security of the Magic Tower’s central section, as well as the number and abilities of the black mages.
But now, investigating the Magic Tower was a secondary issue.
Before we could even strike the Magic Tower first, the gigantic beast and the goat demons would undoubtedly come pouring out of it.
We had to get outside quickly. We had to return to our world and prepare for the calamity.
After roughly finishing my investigation, I hurried back to the floor where my companions were.
I saw Yu Jaeseon and Yantu poking their heads out from among the goat demons, who were still gathered together in one mass and looking outside.
The two of them were using detection magic and detection equipment respectively to scan outside.
It seemed they had been unable to suppress their curiosity about what was happening. While waiting for me, they had been doing what they could in their own way.
When I gestured for the two of them to go inside, they began to move.
Just then, one of the goat demons seemed to sense something and turned its head, waving its hand about.
“Geh?”
Every now and then, there were individuals with unusually developed senses like that.
Fortunately, however, that was all.
The creature, which had been waving its arm as if shooing away a fly, found that nothing touched it and nothing was visible, so it once again became absorbed in looking outside.
Yu Jaeseon and Yantu had already avoided it with movements as supple as liquid.
I also flew over the heads of the goat demons as smoothly as flowing water and entered the corridor.
We headed for the stairwell we had used earlier.
“What is it? What appeared? It looked like something incredibly huge came up.”
As soon as we entered the stairwell, Yantu quickly grabbed my arm and asked.
“That’s right. An incredibly huge gigantic beast is covering the entire upper section of the Magic Tower. It’s definitely a Demon Realm life-form, but I don’t know what to call it.”
When I briefly described the gigantic beast’s appearance, Yantu spoke as though sighing.
“It’s Leviathan……”
“Leviathan? Wasn’t that a beast that lived in the sea?”
“It used to be. A very long time ago. But in truth, there’s nowhere it can’t travel—whether the sea, underground, in lava, or up in the sky. As it lived that way, its outward appearance gradually changed too.”
“Judging by your description, it does seem to be Leviathan.”
Following Yantu, Yu Jaeseon also confirmed the gigantic beast’s name.
Then both of them let out deep sighs. They were realizing anew that an extraordinary beast had appeared.
“That bastard Samir must have summoned it from the Demon Realm, right?”
“No doubt about it. A gigantic beast of the Demon Realm wouldn’t have crossed dimensions on its own. And just look at how it came up through the Magic Tower and is adapting there.”
Ever since interdimensional migration began, the dimensions had been forming agreements with one another.
Crossing into another dimension without permission was regarded as an invasion. Especially when it involved a gigantic beast.
Moreover, crossing dimensions was impossible without a mage being involved. And contact with the Demon Realm was monopolized by black mages.
“Summoning that many goat demons was bad enough, but now Leviathan too. It seems Samir has decided to bring calamity to Earth.”
Yu Jaeseon spoke with a grave expression.
“Terror, destruction, chaos. Those are the things black mages want, after all. Once Earth is ruined like that, they plan to gobble it up for themselves.”
Yantu replied. His face, too, was heavy.
“We won’t let that happen. We have to stop it.”
I spoke while recalling Leviathan’s form in my mind.
It would not be easy, but stopping a single Leviathan was not beyond me. The goat demons were numerous, but they would not have power on Leviathan’s level.
I did not know what kind of contract Samir had made with the Demon Realm, but the Demon Realm would not be able to violate the interdimensional agreements without limit either.
Perhaps this much was the limit of what Samir could obtain.
If so, we had a sufficient chance of victory.
“Instead of standing around like this, let’s hurry outside. We’ll go and make preparations.”
At my words, Yu Jaeseon asked,
“What about investigating the Magic Tower?”
“I’ve finished roughly as much as we need. And now, preparing for the beast to come outside is more important than investigating the Magic Tower.”
“That’s true. Neither Leviathan nor the goat demons will stay in the Magic Tower forever.”
“What happened to the mages who went left down the corridor?”
“I don’t know. I’ll go find them and bring them back.”
Saying that, Yu Jaeseon immediately left the stairwell.
A moment later, he returned with all the mages.
“Did anything happen?”
“Uh, well, nothing serious. There weren’t any black mages on this floor. But the lackeys were carrying some heavy-looking cargo, so while we were checking what it was, we had to knock them out for a bit.”
Thor said with a slight frown. He spoke as though it was no big deal, but it seemed to bother him.
“You touched the lackeys? Then they’ll know we’ve infiltrated.”
“Like I said, there weren’t any black mages here, so no one came chasing after us. But a few goat demons must have sensed something suspicious, because they were wandering around looking, so we had to hide in an empty room for a while.”
In the end, it meant our presence had been discovered.
But it was not a major problem. We were about to leave the Magic Tower and return anyway.
“Let’s get out of the Magic Tower quickly.”
Saying this, I took the lead and descended the stairs.
There would be time to talk later. Moving quickly came first.
The mages also understood my intention and moved swiftly.
It would have been nice if we could open a portal right here, but that was impossible because of the Magic Tower’s complicated security system.
We had to leave through the place we had entered.
The gap in the spatial magic was only there.
As we were descending the stairs, the sound of a door opening came from above. It was the floor we had just been on.
It seemed the unconscious lackeys had woken up, or a black mage had appeared to search for us.
“Hurry and find them!”
“No one is visible down the stairs!”
“Then did you think they’d go around advertising that they’re here? Move! You were attacked and you still haven’t come to your senses.”
The black mage clicked his tongue as he spoke.
He did not seem to be anyone particularly skilled. He extended detection magic downward, but it could not pierce our barrier.
We were about to ignore him and continue down when, in that instant, I sensed a movement like the wind.
It was a goat demon.
I could not even properly see how it moved, but it leapt down the stairs as though flying and was already right in front of us.