2. Provocation>
The invitation had been lavishly embellished with all manner of flowery language, but in simple terms, it said this:
‘Come to the Lagrang Province, is that it?’
Surprisingly, it did not even say why he was being asked to come, but Sian could overlook that. The sender was more important than the contents, after all.
“No, but why would this woman named Kukutaran send me something like this…?”
He had thought he would never see her again after she had retreated as though fleeing the last time, but at the very end of the invitation, the sender’s name had been unmistakably signed as ‘Kukutaran.’
Under normal circumstances, he would have simply ignored it. He was extremely busy with his training, after all. He had no time to waste traveling all the way there and back.
However, the contents at the end of the letter made that impossible. While everything else in the letter had been little more than flowery language, its final words were very clearly meant to provoke him.
“Haah….”
The highly provocative wording made Sian wonder if the legendary assassin had somehow kidnapped his brother without penetrating the senses of the Alpha within him. He scanned the entire castle, but no one was missing.
Not only his brother, but his family, Miss Stil, his three sisters-in-law, and his eight nephews and nieces were all inside Crotia Castle.
He wondered if they meant to lure him to Lagrang and then rob the empty house, but if he took his entire family with him, such a plan would be pointless. He questioned whether they would really have devised something so clumsy. That woman Kukutaran did not seem like the sort of muscle-bound brute who relied solely on strength.
‘Haah… I have no idea what this is about. Does she just want to get hit…?’
Sian felt uneasy about going, but he also felt uneasy about not going. In the end, he decided to head for the Lagrang Province. He could simply ask what was going on once he arrived. If there truly was something threatening his brother and Kukutaran had contacted him to inform him of it, then he would have to go and resolve it himself.
However, he could not leave this place unattended, so Sian decided to ask Miss Stil to guard it. If Miss Stil was watching over the place, then no matter what tricks Kukutaran might try, his family would not be threatened.
“Miss Stil, could you guard this place for me?”
Stil, who had been deeply immersed in meditation and training at the training grounds, asked back with a puzzled expression.
“Brother, where are you going this time? Are you perhaps going to use Alpha’s power to test your strength?”
Sian shook his head, his expression saying not to utter something so horrifying.
“Good heavens, it’s frightening just hearing you say it. This is Raiona’s territory. What are you going to do if you get caught after using your power?”
“Come on… surely not….”
“‘Surely not’ is how people get killed.”
He did not want to create even the slightest possibility of danger in the first place. The refuge he had prepared was truly his last line of defense. There would be no greater foolishness than scattering Alpha’s energy in every direction under the pretext of training, only to be chased out by Raiona.
“True… It would be best to be as careful as possible. So where are you going?”
Sian answered.
“I’m going to Lagrang.”
“Lagrang?”
“Yes. I received an invitation.”
Stil’s eyes narrowed in an instant.
“Don’t tell me it’s that bitch.”
“‘That bitch’…?”
“That Kuku-something woman.”
“Haah….”
Sian nodded, thinking how astonishing Stil’s instincts were. At that moment, Stil’s expression became slightly fierce before returning to normal.
“Well, take care on your way, Brother.”
Sian felt somewhat uneasy, but he assumed Stil was worried and opened his mouth to put her at ease.
“What could possibly happen?”
The gap between him and his opponent was simply too great for that. He did not even need to use Alpha’s power. If he had been around thirteen years old, he could probably have crushed whatever scheme Kukutaran had prepared through sheer force. Needless to say, that was even more true now.
Sian entrusted his family in Crotia Castle to Stil and shot off toward the Lagrang Province.
‘Well… I have two or three days to spare, so… should I take it slowly…?’
The invitation had clearly given him two or three days of leeway. If he trained as he traveled, he would not lose any time.
Sian fiercely wrung out the internal coefficients within his body and struggled forward one step at a time toward the Lagrang Province.
☆ ☆ ☆
“Why isn’t he coming…? Could it be that he doesn’t care about that child Rian?”
Kukutaran gazed anxiously into the distance, toward where Crotia lay.
If she gave him too much time, he would make preparations, so she had deliberately sent Sian the invitation with only two or three days of leeway.
She did not know exactly how strong he was, but if her guess was correct, it should take him about a day to get there. Considering that it had taken roughly a day to travel from Einkel to Crotia, he should have arrived the day before.
Yet Sian was nowhere to be seen. As the plan threatened to go awry from the very beginning, Kukutaran’s expression gradually became more and more rotten. Seeing this, Dekaduin hurriedly opened his mouth.
“Your Majesty, please wait. He will definitely come. The investigation report said that he cared deeply for his brother.”
Kukutaran nodded, seeming somewhat reassured. Even without the report, she had gone there herself and confirmed with her own eyes that he cared very much for his brother. It was difficult to believe the investigation report completely, and five years was enough time to change a person, which was why she had gone there herself to settle the matter. This plan could only work on the premise that Sian cared for his brother.
The results had been quite satisfactory, allowing Kukutaran to leave Sian aside and focus on other matters. Now all that remained was for Sian to arrive, but when he failed to do so, Kukutaran grew angry and clenched her hand with a crunch.
The problem was that the head of one of the slaves from her harem was caught within that hand.
Crack!
The slave could not even scream at the sudden pressure exerted on his head before dying instantly.
As though this was hardly the first or second time such a thing had happened, Kukutaran casually shook her hand and commanded the other slaves:
“Take it away and throw it out.”
Rian thought Kukutaran was not a bad person, but that was purely because Kukutaran had imprisoned him and shown him only the side of herself she wanted him to see. And that was solely because he was the younger brother of a Superhuman. Although she claimed that his face had value, Kukutaran was not the sort of person who went out of her way to please others.
The slaves wore terrified expressions as they began carrying outside the corpse of a companion who had been laughing and chatting with them only yesterday. The greater problem was that Kukutaran’s anger had not yet subsided. If this continued, there was no telling how many more would die.
‘Damn that woman… If she was going to act like this, she should have sent the invitation with plenty of time to spare….’
Dekaduin cursed inwardly. If she was going to wait so anxiously, why had she given him such a precisely determined date? She should have told him to come a day or two early. At this rate, perfectly healthy slaves would be dropping dead. Finding handsome slaves capable of satisfying Kukutaran’s tastes was quite a task in itself, so Dekaduin was grumbling inwardly about his increased workload when Kukutaran’s expression began to brighten.
“He’s here!”
Having spotted Sian approaching across the distant plains with a Superhuman’s gaze, Kukutaran smiled so brightly that it was impossible to imagine she was the same person who had committed such a cruel act moments earlier. She was so beautiful that even the slaves who had been trembling in terror forgot their fear for a moment and stared blankly at her.
But Kukutaran soon frowned.
“What is this? Is he disabled or something…? Why is he coming like that…?”
Kukutaran wore an expression of incomprehension as she watched Sian approach, staggering and steaming all over.
☆ ☆ ☆
Seeing Lagrang in the distance, Sian stopped his suicidal training and began pouring all his internal coefficients into recovery.
The blood that had been poison began treating Sian’s body fiercely, like holy water blessed by a god.
His body’s regenerative speed increased at a maddening rate. His muscles, which had been on the verge of tearing, and his bones, which had been about to crumble, began recovering in a stronger state than before.
Before long, Sian had returned to normal and lightly leaped toward the Lagrang Province. Since he could sense Kukutaran’s energy in the distance, he did not bother going any farther and leaped directly in front of her.
Then he asked with a curious expression:
“Why did you call me all the way here? And what did you mean by saying my brother was in danger?”
Kukutaran smiled brightly and opened her mouth.
“Well… shall we go inside first? We still have some time, after all. Let us talk at our leisure.”
“…….”
Sian did not know what they were waiting for that left them with time to spare, but he was curious as well, so he decided to go inside and hear her out.
Once seated, Kukutaran looked at Sian and spoke.
“You really do care for your brother.”
“…”
“Get to the point.”
She had sent him an unidentified, bizarre letter without explaining why his brother was in danger of dying, merely telling him to come to the Lagrang Province. It was obvious that she intended to use him, so there was no way he could respond pleasantly. If she had genuinely been concerned for his brother, she would have included everything in the letter.
Kukutaran shrugged at Sian’s sharp response before slowly opening her mouth.
“Well… first of all, it is one hundred percent certain that little Rian will be in danger if things continue like this.”
“Who is targeting my brother?”
Had Kalagul heard this conversation, he would have shaken his head in disbelief. He knew what had happened to the man named Kuntarian after provoking Rian.
Kukutaran shook her head at the question.
“No one. In truth, I am the one whose life is in danger.”
“Are you saying he’s in danger because you’re worried my brother might die upholding his chivalry in your place, since your life is at risk?”
Even if it was his brother, there was no way he would do that. Looking at the overconfident Kukutaran, Sian wore an incredulous expression.
Kukutaran laughed.
“As if. It is simply that if I die, that child Rian will die as well. That is why I said his life is in danger.”
Sian wondered if he had misheard. He even dug a finger into his ear once before glaring at Kukutaran, but she calmly met his gaze.
“What does that mean?”
“Have you ever heard of Silain?”
“…….”
Sian felt an unpleasant sensation slowly creeping up the back of his head.
“Everyone thinks it is merely an ordinary combat-enhancing drug… but the truth is that Baroka’s purpose in creating Silain was not to enhance combat ability. That is merely a secondary effect.”
“…….”
“It is a new drug created using the blood of a certain race from the Great Forest, intended to strengthen their domination. Ah, of course, its combat-enhancing power is not something to dismiss, either.”
“What do you mean, strengthen their domination?”
When Sian asked, Kukutaran smiled and replied:
“It is simple. If the owner of the blood mixed into Silain dies, then, through a curse, everyone who has drunk Silain dies as well. It is an ideal trait for a ruler, is it not?”
“…….”
“Baroka is truly remarkable, is it not? To create something like this. There are probably very few among the armed forces who have not taken Silain. But… what matters more to me right now is that little Rian took the drug, rather than all those people combined.”
Kukutaran spoke to Sian with a beaming smile. Sian’s stiffened expression proved that her conjecture was, to some extent, correct.
☆ ☆ ☆
Kukutaran was always deep in thought about one thing: how to make her rule more secure.
For now, there was no problem, since she alone was a Superhuman. But she had no idea what might happen if another Superhuman appeared somewhere else in the future. History itself proved as much. The twelve Superhumans known to have existed clearly indicated that the birth of another Superhuman was entirely possible.
Even if a Superhuman were born, she would be stronger for having been born first. But if two or more appeared, things would become extremely troublesome. Besides, if a Superhuman were to hide away in the mountains, she would have to live the rest of her life with an itchy feeling at the back of her head. Kukutaran did not want that.
Kukutaran could have avoided such worries by abandoning everything and retreating into the mountains to live, but he had no desire to do that at all. Then, one day, Dekaduin appeared before him.
Kukutaran asked in reply, his face full of curiosity.
Kukutaran nodded. He had consumed it himself and fought countless battles beyond the Great Northern Wall while doing so. There was no way he could not know about it.
Seeing this, Dekaduin continued.
Then Dekaduin told him about the Rosharans, an astonishing race that lived in the Great Forest.
After conducting research with blood obtained from an unknown source, Baroka succeeded in extracting and producing several effective components from it.
As recorded, the original purpose had been to create an immortal army under complete control, but that project had failed. It had not been a complete failure, however. Thanks to it, they had succeeded in creating Shirain.
Shirain was capable of containing one of the functions originally possessed by Rosharan blood. Anyone who consumed Shirain became mystically linked to those who had taken the medicine made by refining the blood of the queen who served as the source. And if the person who had consumed the source blood died, all those subordinated beneath them would die simultaneously.
By now, there were almost no martial commanders who had not consumed Shirain. At the very least, every person who had served even once at the Great Northern Wall had taken the medicine.
Moreover, a rumor that happened to spread around accelerated the process even further.
This rumor became the impetus for even the martial commanders who had shown little interest in Shirain to take the medicine.
Dekaduin had precisely identified Kukutaran’s concern and brought him a proposal, to Kukutaran’s great delight.
Dekaduin shook his head.
Kukutaran was even more pleased by those words and swallowed the medicine in a single gulp.
☆ ☆ ☆
“I thought there would come a chance to use this trait someday, but I never imagined it would come so soon.”
Kukutaran spoke cheerfully as he watched Sian’s expression harden, but Sian was thinking about something else.
‘What should I do with this woman…?’
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind.
They were quickly narrowed down to roughly three options.
1. Pet her a little, then subdue her, fly to Lady Steel, and stuff her inside Karnain.
2. Pet her a little, then burn away every last trace of that source component in her blood.
3. Pet her a little, then leave her alone, not caring whether her family—including her brother—lived or died, since they had the Soul-Reversal Jade.
Option three was rejected first. Even with the Soul-Reversal Jade, it was an extremely precious item that would be difficult to recreate unless he found Ragaophe again. He could not use an extra life for such a paltry reason.
It also sat terribly with him that thousands, tens of thousands of martial commanders would all die. If that happened, the Great Northern Wall would be breached at once, and this place, Ra-
-Sian, would turn into a complete mess.
Above all, Sian could not be certain that they would be freed from Shirain’s control if they were resurrected. Thus, he discarded option three.
From Sian’s perspective, option two was a very attractive solution. He had actually been about to put it into practice, but after thoroughly examining the component flowing through the woman’s body, Sian abandoned that method as well.
‘I’d have to use Alpha’s power…’
He had no idea how the medicine had been created, but due to the spellcraft involved, it had firmly solidified the bond between soul and body. To burn away every last trace of the component that produced its special function, he needed at least the power of an Alpha. Moreover, to burn away only the component while keeping her alive until the process was complete, he would need a considerable amount of energy.
According to Ragaophe, using that power carried some possibility of being detected by the Alphas. Sian did not know how much power would be required, but he still had no desire to take that risk.
‘Rejected as well…’
In the end, the most appealing proposal was option one. It was unfortunate that the woman would have to spend the rest of her life trapped in that space, but it was entirely her own fault.
‘First, I’ll have to tie her up so she can’t kill herself, then beat her down…’
The woman seemed to be making such a proposal and reassuring herself because she still had no grasp of her own strength. It was time to show her that life did not proceed according to one’s wishes.
Sian was slowly loosening his body as he approached Kukutaran when a remarkably familiar sensation suddenly entered his perception. The feeling was so familiar that Sian stopped approaching her and concentrated on recalling where he had felt it before.
Then he remembered a certain race.
‘Hmm… This feeling…’
It was the sensation of the Granains who had once guarded the shell. They had clearly been massacred by his hand, so how were they moving around alive and well?
In particular, the woman standing at the very front possessed an aura Sian could never forget, no matter how hard he tried.
She was the individual with the strongest aura among the three who had fought most fiercely near the Granain shell. He had felt that the individual was female, and now that she had come back to life, she had indeed retained the exact appearance of a female.
Perhaps Kukutaran had also sensed the presence of those approaching, because she wore a slightly tense expression as she opened her mouth.
“They’ve come to kill me.”
Sian’s curiosity was piqued, and he asked a question. He could perform the work from option one at any time, so there was no need to hurry. Once it was finished, he would no longer be able to ask her anything even if he became curious.
“But I don’t sense much killing intent. Why do you say they’re here to kill you?”
Kukutaran smiled faintly.
“Well… ordinarily, they wouldn’t have any reason to do that… but now they’re going to try to kill me.”
The moment she finished speaking, Kukutaran leaped toward the approaching Granain and swung her sword.
☆ ☆ ☆
Long ago, after becoming a superhuman, Kukutaran had wandered through the Great Forest, exterminating monsters, when she discovered some strange beings.
They were an odd race that traveled with an army unable to die or live.
The moment she saw them, she knew that they were the race Dekaduin had mentioned—the race that had become the original material for Shirain.
They were powerful, but they were no match for her now that she had become a superhuman.
Excited at the thought of wiping them out and binding them all to take away, Kukutaran discovered a strange fellow in the midst of the battle. It was a being who was extracting blood from one of the Rosharans and smearing it onto a bone he was holding. While Kukutaran was occupied fighting the Rosharans, he had been secretly doing something suspicious.
He looked quite powerful, but he did not appear to be a match for her. Thus, after grinding the slave race to pieces, Kukutaran approached him to satisfy her curiosity.
“What are you doing?”
“…”
When he did not answer, Kukutaran lost interest and tried to kill him, but she could not.
A change had occurred in the bone he was holding.
After applying Rosharan blood and chanting a strange spell, flesh began to grow over the bone, and veins emerged. The clustered bones were arranged by the muscles and ligaments that had formed, skin was layered over them, and new nerves appeared.
Before long, the bones disappeared, and a beautifully formed woman stood there.
To be precise, she was not a woman, but a female. She was not human, after all.
The newly born female ignored Kukutaran and immediately approached the strange man to speak with him. Kukutaran was angered by the female’s disregard, but she could not move. She knew at once.
That female was far stronger than she was.
“Rodeval, you’ve done well. Thanks to you, I have been brought back to life.”
“It was nothing, Your Majesty.”
“But… there isn’t nearly enough blood from these Rosharans to resurrect our entire race.”
The female who had been called Queen frowned. It would have been ideal to bring the Rosharans into Dragona’s territory and raise them there, but Dragona would never permit them to bring in creatures living in Krona’s territory and carrying its scent all over them. The Queen’s people had only barely been granted permission themselves.
Nor could they simply release the Rosharans and tell them to increase their numbers elsewhere. They knew the creatures would go deeper into the forest and hide.
As the Queen pondered, a human caught her eye. One of those whom humans called superhumans.
However, he must have only recently reached the superhuman realm, for his strength was still weak. The instant she saw him, an excellent idea came to the Queen.
“Human.”
“Yes?”
Kukutaran had thought that, after becoming a superhuman, she would never again be forced to meekly submit to someone because of their strength. Now that she found herself in this position, she was so furious she could have gone mad, but she had no choice. The weak had to obey if they did not want to die.
The Queen could plainly see what Kukutaran was thinking, but she ignored it and continued.
“Take these Rosharans, feed and raise them well, and increase their numbers. Then we will come and take their blood.”
The Queen’s choice was simple. If they could not bring the Rosharans into their own territory, they would have the human race before them raise them and then collect the blood. They could not travel outside Dragona’s territory for long, but it would not take much time to come and collect blood.
“What will you do for me?”
When Kukutaran asked, the Queen snorted.
“I will let you live.”
‘You damnable bitch…’
This was why being weak was so miserable. The Queen was making such an absurd proposal, yet Kukutaran had no choice but to listen to her without protest.
“…”
“All right.”
“You lot… I will come once every year according to the human calendar. I will go to the Lagrang region, so wait for me there.”
The Lagrang region was very close to the Sky Mountains, where they were staying. Meeting there would make it much more convenient to obtain a supply of blood. It would be inconvenient for the human woman, but that was none of the Queen’s concern.
After finishing what she had to say, the Queen extracted more blood from several Rosharans on the spot, applied it to the bones Rodeval had been carrying on his back, and resurrected several of her kind. Then she flew toward the Sky Mountains.
Watching this, Kukutaran ground her teeth.
“You goddamn bastard…”
Without strength, she could not even rebel. From what she could tell, the blood of these Rosharans was extremely important. She briefly considered killing them all then and there, just to spite the Queen, but Kukutaran shook her head. If she did that, the Queen would never let her live. She would certainly die.
It appeared that the Queen’s activity time was limited, so she might not be found if she hid. But that meant abandoning everything she possessed and living in hiding somewhere. Unable to give up the sweetness that power had brought her, Kukutaran eventually took the Rosharans and hid them beneath the Lagrang region, gradually increasing their numbers.
She squeezed just enough blood from them to keep them from dying and supplied it to the Queen whenever she came each year. Every time, Kukutaran’s rage only grew stronger. The fact that she could do nothing about it made her even more furious.
Then a superhuman named Sian, Rian’s younger brother, appeared.
There was no need to hesitate any longer. She would use this Sian to kill that arrogant Queen and ask him to kill the rest of them as well.
He would have no choice but to listen to her. Kukutaran did not know how strong Sian was, but it was certain that he looked stronger than the Queen. She could sense something from the woman called Steel and from the Queen, but she could not sense Sian’s strength at all.
Trusting in that, she charged forward. If she died, her brother would die as well. She would charge at the Queen with the intent to kill, and once that happened, the Queen would have no choice but to kill her.
Then Sian would have no choice but to fight in her place.
Kukutaran smiled and swept toward the woman called Queen standing before her.
No—she was about to sweep toward her.
Smack!
“Ugh…!”
While flying through the air, Kukutaran suddenly felt a powerful impact to the back of her head, followed soon after by excruciating pain pounding throughout her entire body. As her consciousness grew hazy, she heard a muttering voice.
“She was completely out of her mind… What was she thinking? Honestly, there are so many people who need a beating… Hoo…….”
☆ ☆ ☆
“Hmm… It seems something has happened. Rodeval, let us go.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Kel-Lusha, queen of the Granain who led her people, became curious when a commotion broke out where the woman she had arranged to meet was waiting, and quickly headed there. This was her third visit, but it was the first time she had encountered such a disturbance.
An unexpected sight unfolded before Kel-Lusha.
“Over there… Didn’t that woman say she was the emperor of the empire when she introduced herself?”
“…….
That is correct.”
“For someone like that, she certainly is taking quite a beating.”
Kel-Lusha frowned as she watched the woman being pummeled all over her body. If the person who was supposed to keep their appointment was being beaten like that, it would be difficult for them to take away the blood they were meant to receive.
“But… that man looks familiar somehow……”
Kel-Lusha furrowed her brow and searched her memory. Then she remembered.
‘That man… He’s the one who fought against us within Dragona’s shell…….’
The man who had beaten down and subdued them while they had been granted the power of immortality. At the time, Kel-Lusha had been mindlessly controlled by the shell’s power, but the memories engraved upon her soul remained vivid.
Once she recalled those memories, she could understand why the emperor of the human race called Kuku-something was being beaten so thoroughly. That man was far stronger than she was. Moreover, judging by his movements, he seemed to have grown even stronger than when he had faced her. He was only beating up a weak opponent, so he was not displaying the full extent of his abilities, but each of his movements was somehow different from before.
‘I should wait.’
Kel-Lusha did not want to interfere for no reason and become entangled in something troublesome, so she decided to wait quietly from the side. If she provoked him and ended up being beaten as well, the loss would be enormous.
At that moment, Kel-Lusha felt a throbbing pain in her head. It felt as though some enormous being was forcing its way into her mind.
Kel-Lusha knew exactly what that feeling was. As she felt her soul being searched through in its entirety, she gritted her teeth.
Then, a tremendous voice seeped into her mind.
At once, Kel-Lusha felt a string of vicious curses surge up from her mouth.
But she could not refuse. The being before her was frightening, but the being rummaging through her mind was even more terrifying.
At that instant, Kel-Lusha felt all control over her body slipping away.
☆ ☆ ☆
Deep within the Sky Mountains. The highest peak of that lofty mountain range, where no one ever came.
Atop that peak, a creature lay coiled upon itself.
The enormous being, covered in tens of thousands of crimson scales like armor refined by a master craftsman, lay quietly atop the summit as though it were a part of nature itself.
Though it remained still, its massive body, stretching over several hundred meters, radiated an oppressive presence simply by existing.
The ruler of the Sky Mountains, Dragona.
Dragona, who had been lying atop the mountain and quietly increasing its strength, suddenly frowned. One of its subordinates had abruptly transmitted an emotion of surprise.
Dragona quietly focused its mind. This place was optimal for increasing its strength, but it was dreadfully boring. Every now and then, Dragona would look out upon the outside world through its subordinates, hoping to find something entertaining. Now, it connected to the leader of its subordinates to discover the source of that emotion.
The source of the subordinate’s surprise was a man. More precisely, an individual who appeared to be a male of the Ro species.
Dragona knew that individual. It had accessed the subordinate’s memories several times and read through them.
His roots seemed to be those of a ‘Ro,’ but he was far too powerful. When Dragona had read the memories before, it had found it curious that he was quite strong, but since he was not worth paying attention to, it had simply ignored him. Yet the figure seen through the subordinate’s eyes after such a long time was on an entirely different level.
The subordinate could not properly grasp his level, but through its own eyes, Dragona could see it clearly. Something different from what had existed in the subordinate’s memories before was evident in each of the man’s movements. Unlike back then, it appeared that he had broken through several more barriers.
However, because the subordinate’s level was so low and the difference in strength between the man and the subordinate being beaten was so vast, Dragona could not accurately determine the male individual’s level.
Dragona made a simple decision.
It did not expect the subordinate to be a match for him. Even if Dragona helped, the outcome would not change. The subordinate would not even be able to scratch him.
But winning was not what mattered. All Dragona needed to know was whether that individual had been reborn as a being completely identical to itself. If even the slightest trace of it was present, Dragona would notice. It did not need to draw out the other party’s full strength to know. By observing him from closer up and feeling the trace clinging to each of his movements after being struck directly, Dragona would be able to tell.
If he was not a reborn being, but something beneath that level, then he was not worth pursuing to the point of clashing with Raiona.
But if—truly, if—he was a reborn being, then even if he was within Raiona’s territory, Dragona could never let him go. He was prey that delicious. Fortunately, Raiona did not yet seem to know of his existence. If it did, it would never have left him alone like this.
In that case, whoever ate first would claim the prize. And Dragona was confident.
The moment it reached its decision, Dragona immediately commanded its subordinate.
Then Dragona seized control of the subordinate’s body and began manipulating it directly.
All of the Granain under its command.
☆ ☆ ☆
“…What is this supposed to be now……”
Sian stared in disbelief at the Granains, including their leader, as they suddenly charged at him while he was beating Kukutaran.
Moreover, something was different from before. Earlier, the Granains beside their leader had appeared capable of reason, even speaking among themselves. Now, however, they looked entirely bereft of reason, as though being manipulated by something.
What was even more absurd was that their levels themselves had changed.
He did not know what method had been used, but they were no longer ordinary superhuman-level beings blocked by a barrier. Judging from the way they were violently changing their internal coefficients and drawing out their strength, it seemed they had leaped over two barriers in an instant.
The other Granains had also suddenly risen by one or two levels, and every last one of them was charging toward him.
‘Does this make any sense at all…….’
It went without saying that they posed no threat whatsoever. He could subdue them with ease without even needing to draw upon Alpha’s power. They could not possibly threaten him at barely Beta Level 2.
Sian instantly beat down and subdued the woman who appeared to be the Granains’ leader, then threw her onto the ground. Afterward, he broke the arms and legs of those charging at him and tossed them aside one after another, piling them up neatly.
Yet Sian could not shake off his unease as he examined the Granains, unable to believe this bizarre phenomenon.
Something was gently needling at the back of his mind. Not once had anything good happened when he had felt this sensation.
Every being around him at present was hopelessly weak. There was not a single entity capable of making him feel this way, and the situation itself was not dangerous. Yet he was still experiencing this feeling.
‘Their sudden increase in strength is extremely suspicious too… Unless something intervened…….’
And whatever had intervened could not be some shoddy being. Unless something tremendous—something unimaginably powerful—had intervened, forcibly raising their levels like that was impossible.
At that moment, Sian instantly understood what this unpleasant feeling was.
The Granains.
Dragona’s sentinels.
Dragona, which lived in the Sky Mountains.
The intervention of a transcendent existence.
Weaving all these things together in his mind, Sian inferred a single conclusion.
“Damn it……”
He had hoped he was wrong, but considering his luck up until now, it was probably one hundred percent certain. Just as Sian ground his teeth, the mouth of the Granain leader, who had been silently swinging her sword until then, opened, and a bizarre voice spilled out.
“Oh my, you noticed.”
A voice mixed with the clang of metal emerged from the beautiful woman’s mouth, making the sight deeply grotesque. It sounded as though a beast coiled inside the woman’s belly were howling in her place. Moreover, the voice was not coming from only one location. The same bizarre, bestial voice seeped from the mouths of every Granain lying piled together.
The moment those words were spoken, all the Granains in the heap began melting throughout their bodies and died on the spot. In a way, the result was only natural. Merely enduring Beta Level 2 movements with bodies that had barely been able to overcome their barriers was an immense strain. The other Granains had been pushing themselves just as far. Regardless of what method Dragona had used to help them, their deaths were inevitable.
But that was not what mattered to Sian. He could not feel anything yet, but he knew it instantly.
The greatest crisis of his life had arrived.
The sensation that had helped him time and again until now was sounding an alarm throughout his entire body.
And there could not be much time left before that crisis arrived.
“Ha… Figures. My life… Hoo…….”
Sian sighed at the thought that he already had to use his refuge. Then, as he looked at Kukutaran sprawled before him, he ground his teeth.
“Ha……”
That woman had dragged him into this situation. If he had not appeared before that race called the Granains, there would have been no reason for him to get caught up in this at all. Sian glared at the woman with an indignant expression. He wanted to beat her some more, but there was little time left now. If Dragona flew here at full speed, it would not take long to reach this place, no matter where he was.
He had already been discovered, and he was now in a situation where he had to leave. He had no hesitation about putting his earlier Plan No. 2 into action.
No—now he absolutely had to use Plan No. 2. If he left this woman behind and she died somewhere unrelated, that would be troublesome.
The moment he made his decision, Sian drew up from within himself the enormous power he had not used even once since being reborn as an Alpha.
Crack!
He placed his hand atop Kukutaran’s head and began pouring all the power he had gathered into her.
“Gueeeeee…….”
It was an enormous force, powerful enough to make Kukutaran’s body burst from the slightest touch. Yet Kukutaran did not die. If she died without first having the traces of her original body washed away, tens of thousands of people could die simultaneously. Knowing that, Sian deliberately controlled his strength as he chased down and erased every trace of the bizarre sorcery embedded throughout Kukutaran’s body.
In the process, the body that had made Kukutaran a superhuman was also utterly ruined. Once this process ended, Kukutaran would probably still be alive, but she would return to being an ordinary woman. That was not Sian’s concern.
Crack, crack.
The cleaning of Kukutaran’s interior was completed in an instant. The power that surged from Sian’s entire body like a raging tempest swept through Kukutaran’s insides in a flash, erasing every trace of sorcery.
‘Raiona must have noticed it too…….’
He had used his power despite knowing that fact. No—he had used it so ostentatiously because he wanted Raiona to notice his traces. According to his calculations, it would actually be more advantageous for his escape if Raiona knew as well.
The moment he finished, Sian gritted his teeth and spoke his final words to Kukutaran, who lay sprawled on the ground. He still could not sense anything through his extrasensory perception, but he felt an overwhelming sense of crisis. There truly was almost no time left.
“You will no longer be a superhuman. You will have to live an ordinary life. Live the rest of it in repentance.”
After leaving those words behind, Sian hurriedly launched himself into the air to head toward his refuge. Then he singled out one of the people nearby, pointed at them, and shouted.
“You there! I’d like to ask you a favor!”
“Me?”
Sian nodded as he looked at a man who appeared to hold a fairly high position.
“Please tell the Romanga family that I may be going on another journey.”
There was no time to leave a message and go. He had to flee as quickly as possible.
Sian did not know whether his words would reach them, but it was better than leaving nothing behind, so he shouted loudly enough for everyone else to hear. And with those words as his final message, Sian vanished from the spot like a ghost.
Once Sian disappeared, the surrounding slaves, who had been unable even to breathe, slowly began gathering themselves and getting to their feet.
“Ugh… Just what in the world happened…?”
“More importantly… Is it true… that she lost the power of a superhuman…?”
Even amid their astonishment, one sentence rang clearly in their ears.
Those were the last words left behind by the monster who had swept away Kukutaran and the other strange races like a storm.
That meant the being who had bound them was gone.
And, more importantly, it meant they had been given a chance to take revenge.
But Kukutaran’s existence had been so terrifying that, despite glaring at her, they all hesitated and could not bring themselves to act. Then one of them bravely rushed forward and kicked Kukutaran.
“You damned bitch!”
He was a nobleman who had been close to the man whose head Kukutaran had burst apart earlier. Even if Kukutaran eventually recovered her strength, he felt he would be unable to endure it if he did not kick that filthy bitch while he had the chance. Thus, the nobleman Kerdon fearlessly ran over and began kicking Kukutaran in the stomach and head.
Though Kukutaran flinched and trembled, she could not resist. She remained fallen on the ground, taking the beating.
The slaves, emboldened by the sight, also rushed forward and began pummeling Kukutaran like mad. Having lost the power of a superhuman and the ability to control the coefficients within her body, Kukutaran was now nothing more than a female warrior with a somewhat sturdy body. And the harem slaves held captive here had all once been accomplished warriors themselves. They had merely been captured because Kukutaran was so overwhelmingly powerful that they had been unable to resist.
Had Dekaduin been there, he might have stopped them, but the moment Kukutaran began to be beaten, Dekaduin sensed that everything had gone wrong and fled long ago.
Thus, Kukutaran, who had become empress and ruled the entire Rasian Continent with an iron grip for three years, met a miserable end.