◈ Episode 472. Great Beast (1)
I knew it would come to this.
“How trite.”
As if refusing to lose to me, Granfell adds a word of his own.
“It does not stray a single inch from expectation.”
Now that the original story, in which the Shadow God was to be reborn as the greatest mastermind of the Arcana Continent, has been twisted because of me, Lee Hoyeol, the only thing Raymon Sean can do is adjust the balance through an emergency update. ‘So the stand-in for the Shadow God is the Great Beast.’ Great Beast referred to the monsters of the Arcana Continent that had not submitted to demons even amid the Cataclysm and the flooding of the Demon Realm.
To put it simply, each individual one of them was at least on the level of a boss monster from the Zero Mountains. ‘At minimum, level 1,000.’ My assessment of that overwhelming level was simple and clear.
“To think numbers are all you have to put forward. How pitiable.”
Pitiable, my ass.
We’re the ones who are truly pitiable, being forced to fight something like that the moment the high-ranking Demon King Paimon withdrew. Arcana, reality, and the players had already been thrown into an uproar by the emergency update.
Click.
Even at this moment, as I walked the stairs of the Magic Tower, ceaseless conversations were reaching my ears. And those whispers did not belong only to the players.
“If it’s a Great Beast, there was an incredible one passed down as a legend in my hometown too! A huge bird that emitted brilliant light…… No, this time I’m really not bluffing, Miss Jibril?!”
Beyond Marcelo and the senior mages, it seemed even the skilled mages had grown accustomed to exploring the Strange under “someone’s” teachings. That must have been why.
A strange tension flowed through the Magic Tower as well.
“We have been waiting for you, Chief Lee.”
Exactly on time for the appointment.
When I entered the Crystal Hall, the Tower Master, Marcelo, greeted me.
Compared to the past, when he had been skin and bones, his complexion had improved quite a bit, Marcelo.
Of course. ‘He’ll be busy enough to become skin and bones again soon.’
The Crystal Hall.
I stepped onto the platform and looked over the audience.
The senior and skilled mages of the Magic Tower.
The AAU branch directors.
And even the players of the Holy War Alliance.
The atmosphere in the hall was unbearably heavy.
You might ask whether we were making a fuss for nothing after having hunted Demon Kings and great evils far worse than Great Beasts. You would be right. To be honest, Great Beasts were almost welcome. ‘Leaving aside spoils and experience points, it will be valuable experience.’
Boss mobs were rare, and experience in boss raids was even harder to accumulate.
Not only would it directly help the Holy War Alliance, but the mages of the Magic Tower, who inevitably lacked real combat experience, and the AAU would also be able to acquire a great deal of information through it.
But the real problem lay elsewhere.
With my temperament that never beat around the bush.
I spoke bluntly.
“The reason you have gathered here is simple.”
Of course, in Granfell’s way of speaking.
“It must be because you encountered a question during your exploration of the Strange.”
……
As I have said many times, exploration of the Strange is a grandiose expression for surfing the internet. Several skilled mages, unfamiliar with my manner of speech, flinched.
I flinched along with them.
“Exploration of the Strange? I don’t know what that is, but it sounds incredibly impressive, doesn’t it?”
Ahem. I continued before they could figure out the detailed meaning.
“The Transcendent, Oxidin.”
Oxidin.
I had not forgotten that name.
No, I could not forget it. ‘How could I possibly forget?’
Even setting aside the fact that he had schemed up that sinister game called the Transcendent Alliance.
He was an Arcanian who had stolen a player’s class.
That’s right. The result of that had been revealed to the world.
Nam Cheolmin.
An analyst of the Great Alliance.
He displayed the materials he had prepared as a hologram.
“If you look here……!”
A vast screen appeared in midair.
The official website of Arcana Continent Chronicle came into view.
The screen changed, and the player rankings were updated. ‘Seriously, it was a good thing I changed mine to private early on.’
To prevent my shameful full name from being exposed to the whole world.
From the earliest days after awakening, I had immediately changed my ranking information to private.
After briefly letting out a sigh of overwhelming relief.
Nam Cheolmin.
He opened his mouth while looking at his blood relative, Nam Taemin, who wore a deeply displeased expression in the audience.
“……As you can see, first place in the official player rankings has changed.”
──────
1. Oxidin : Lv.1,280
2. Nam Taemin : Lv.706
3. Hisagi Kazuma : Lv.692
4. Leoni Bellucci : Lv.665
5. Skal : Lv.664
6. Jesse Heinness : Lv.642
……
──────
Under ordinary circumstances, the world might have heated up.
They might have said a hidden old-timer who had kept his ranking information private all this time had appeared.
Perhaps they would have caused an uproar, saying a rival of mine had emerged.
However, the name of the Transcendent, Oxidin, had already been mentioned on the website.
And not just anywhere.
In the details of this emergency update.
One of the AAU branch directors.
Representing them, the United States branch director, Joshua, raised his hand and asked for my permission. When I nodded, he began reading the materials he had prepared.
“Both before and after the Cataclysm, the official rankings were like proof for players. In other words, there is absolutely no reason for a player to deactivate ranking information that can prove their abilities.”
……
Is that really so?
Branch Director Joshua.
You’re only saying that because you don’t know my circumstances……!
I looked at Joshua with that meaning in my gaze.
But of course he could not know the thoughts hidden behind my shameless face.
Joshua nodded and continued.
“That is correct. Unless one has reached a level where even proof is unnecessary, like Yusra Chief Director Lee Hoyeol, there is no reason to deactivate one’s player ranking. In that sense……”
……
In any case, I am sincerely grateful that you think of it that way.
After I expressed my quiet gratitude inwardly for a moment.
Joshua presented the AAU’s conclusion.
“It is the conclusion of our AAU that Oxidin is undoubtedly an Arcanian. If there is any further evidence, it would be Oxidin’s name, which can be found in the emergency update details.”
The thoughts of those other than the AAU did not seem very different.
Of course, I agreed with that opinion as well.
As I said, I already knew exactly what kind of person Oxidin was.
I opened my mouth.
“Your conjecture is correct.”
This time too, I went straight to the point and immediately presented the answer.
“Oxidin is an Arcanian who stole a player’s class.”
“?!!”
Their expressions seemed to ask how it was possible to steal a class.
I didn’t know the details either.
But one thing was certain.
“The class he stole was Monarch.”
“……Monarch, you say? Could it be?”
Voices came from Nam Cheolmin and the Holy War Alliance.
“That is correct. He stole Liu Zunqun’s crown.”
Only then did the AAU seem to have their doubts completely resolved.
“……The ‘Monarch’ of the Great Beasts! Now that I see it, his identity had been stated from the beginning. In our Arcana Continent Chronicle, the modifier Monarch is not attached without reason, is it?”
Then, toward me on the platform.
Gazes poured in, as if asking how I knew even that.
Even under those burdensome gazes, my shameless face maintained the same expression.
But I, Lee Hoyeol, could not do the same. ‘Oxidin, level 1,280, huh.’
I checked the status window.
[Name: Granfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo]
[Title: Last Adventurer, Noble One, Transcendent, Dark Dragon, Heaven Beyond Heaven, Master of the Ten Seats, Grandmaster of the Strange, Savior of the Mastermind]
[Class: Demon Hunter]
[Level: 1,061]
[Stats]
Strength: 230 / Agility: 236 / Magic Power: 960 / Luck: 16 / Aesthetic: High / Tenacity: 25 / Charm: Present
[Unspent Points: 10]
I did not think level was nothing more than a number like “someone” did.
But I had learned through experience that level was not everything.
However. ‘What if Oxidin has entered the realm of the Strange?’
The Transcendent, Oxidin, was strictly an Arcanian.
However, now that he had stolen Liu Zunqun’s class and his name had appeared in the player rankings, wouldn’t it be fair to say that Oxidin had entered the realm of the Strange? ‘To be honest, I can’t size him up at all.’
The reason players could be active on the Arcana Continent?
It was safe to say that everything was thanks to the [System]. Even Raymon Sean could not interfere with the System, which had helped players grow through status windows, quests, and all kinds of warning messages.
In that sense, everyone must be worried.
Needless to say.
I, who knew the whole situation, was worried as well. ‘An emergency update meant to replace the Shadow God, who had been the mastermind.’
If so, Oxidin was the new mastermind of the Arcana Continent.
It meant that even if all the players rushed at him together.
He would be an enemy who would not easily fall. ‘……Honestly.’
How are you still tormenting me even after death, Liu Zunqun?
In that sense, just this once, Granfell.
I ought to receive at least a word of thanks from you. ‘If I had been alone, my body would definitely have suffered.’
He had been reborn as the Monarch of Great Beasts. I didn’t know how many Great Beasts he would bring along, but on this side, too, we had plenty of monster-class forces who could be called Great Beasts themselves.
The senior mages of the Magic Tower, led by the Tower Master, Marcelo.
Players on the verge of entering the realm of the Strange.
And even the major figures on the Arcana Continent.
Therefore, this was not careless boasting.
With my own mouth.
I could declare it proudly.
“Wait there.”
The problem was that Granfell was the same.
“The king of all creation shall personally come to you.”
Dragons are the kings of all creation.
And I am the Dark Dragon.
This time too, it was not wrong, but.
Look at all these gazes pouring down on us, Granfell.
Please……!!
Let’s choose the time and place before speaking, shall we……!!
*
Former elder mage, Yugwid.
The gentle giant wandered the Arcana Continent. Her earth magic was one of the magics most needed by the devastated Arcana Continent.
“Hmm.”
She had restored the ruined village.
But this time too, she was not at all satisfied.
Yugwid recalled Hoyeol’s reversal magic, which was close to a divine skill.
Goooo.
However, she failed in the process of probing it.
“I suppose it’s too much for this old woman’s hardened head after all.”
To calculate the manifestation process in reverse and manifest it again. How could Chief Lee so easily manifest such absurd magic? Once again, Marcelo seemed remarkable to her.
“It is fortunate that I did not sit in the Tower Master’s seat.”
If it had been me, I surely would not have recognized Chief Lee’s talent, Marcelo. Needless to say, there was no sign of people near the village that had already become ruins.
“May you find rest.”
Even so, Yugwid restored the ruins and covered the plainly exposed bodies of the victims with soil. The reason? Since she was no longer an elder mage, perhaps she could give a plausible answer as a single earth mage.
“Because now is the time to level the ground.”
Someday, on the ground she had leveled, seeds would take root again, and flowers of prosperity would bloom. All the old mage could do was silently level the earth.
It was then.
“Is that so? You heard such news?”
Yugwid conversed with an earth spirit she had met by chance.
It was not a spirit in its natural state.
It was a contracted spirit—more precisely, a spirit that had formed a contract with a mage of the Magic Tower.
Yugwid’s eyes calmly sank.
“I wonder.”
A mid-ranking earth spirit, Clay.
What the well-informed spirit had conveyed was a rumor about the Shadow Mercenary Corps. The news that the Shadow Mercenary Corps had disbanded and disappeared from the Arcana Continent was a major incident, enough to stir the entire continent.
Yugwid looked up at the sky where the Shadow Corridor had vanished.
“I suppose I cannot be certain until I face them.”
Yugwid had yet to settle her ill-fated ties with the Shadow Mercenary Corps.
It was the moment she spoke meaningfully.
……
Thud.
Suddenly, a massive vibration shook the earth.
Moreover, the vibration had come from the direction of the small village.
The very village she had restored only a day ago.
Goooo.
Yugwid instantly teleported and faced the source of the vibration.
It was a gigantic “something.”
A bloated Great Beast so enormous that it was difficult to take in at a glance.
Thud……!
With its blunt foot, it completely trampled the village that Yugwid had painstakingly restored, scraping together every last bit of her aesthetic sense.
At that moment, the gentle giant awoke from sleep.
Her ruined homeland.
The news of the Shadow Mercenary Corps’ rehabilitation.
They caused an earthquake within Yugwid’s already turbulent heart.
“I do not know who you are, but you chose the wrong opponent.”
At the same time her magic power surged, an incantation was recited.
“Rise, enraged earth.”
*
The Magic Tower.
The research room of the Spirit School.
In that place, where only the sound of the glutton Feiyan chewing could be heard.
“S-Senior Feiyan!”
The skilled mages of the Spirit School burst in.
They had summoned contracted spirits from the Strange space, the rifts.
And in the process, they had learned of the situation on the Arcana Continent.
After receiving the news from them, Feiyan’s face turned deathly pale.
“……I understand, everyone.”
Then, she swept a quill pen across a sheet of parchment.
Ssssk.
Her handwriting did not end with a single line.
──────
Great Beasts have appeared on the Arcana Continent.
The number of Great Beasts currently identified is approximately ten.
Many orc warriors of the Orc Auction have died in battle against the Great Beasts.
The Great Sage, Rise, has been gravely injured in battle against a Great Beast.
──────
Gnaw. Feiyan bit her lip.
──────
Former elder mage, Yugwid Lufeng, missing in action during battle against a Great Beast.
──────