Chapter 121 October 17, 2022
Chapter 121 – The All-Ferocious King of Beasts (3)
“Hurry and run!”
Casey ran without hesitation when she saw the auction house’s shaking interior.
Her assistant Betty, third princess Elendil, and Enya the Knight followed her.
Booom.
The walls cracked, and bits of debris fell from the ceiling.
If it kept on like that, it was only a matter of time until the ceiling fell.
It was all because of the battle happening outside.
“We’ll reach the exit soon!”
The four women put a lot of strength in their legs as they saw the outdoor light shining at the end of the dark corridor.
Two people with Knight-class physical specifications and two wizards who could strengthen their physiques…
The four of them were able to safely escape without issue.
Booom!
As soon as they cleared the auction house, the corridor that they’d escaped through collapsed.
They felt goosebumps as they thought that if they were even a little late, they might have been buried under the debris.
However, they couldn’t easily appreciate the fact that they were alive.
—Because, as soon as they got out, the sight before them was overwhelming.
“Wh-what’s that?” Elendil mumbled in a trembling voice.
She was looking at a monster with a huge, black windblown mane fighting with Leathevelk’s Knights.
It had three heads that resembled wolves’ skulls and beast mouths resembling a myriad of boils growing along its body.
“The Beast of Jévaudan?”
Casey’s eyes widened as she recognized the monster almost immediately.
“Pardon? Wait. If it’s The Beast of Jévaudan, then isn’t it the monster who attacked Jévaudan in the Kingdom of Durman five years ago?” Enya asked back in surprise to Casey’s mumble.
“Yes, of course.”
“But how? It was clearly documented that the beast of Jévaudan died five years ago.”
“It definitely died back then because a part of its corpse is still stored in the royal museum of the Kingdom of Durman.”
However, Casey continued her words.
“Unlike the corpse I saw back then, this guy is slightly different if you take a closer look.”
—Especially his two legs that could be described as forepaws.
The Beast of Jévaudan’s corpse that she’d seen was more like a beast than the one in front of her.
Of course, the monster in front of her also had the appearance of a beast, but the overall shape of the thing swaggering about was more human-like in shape.
It was because the forepaws that it was viciously swinging weren’t like the four feet of a beast but were closer to a human’s ‘hands’.
Of course, looking at the beast heads covering its hands, she thought about it more.
‘It’s certainly different from the corpse that I saw. 70% of the corpse in the Kingdom of Durman had been destroyed, but there’s no way I could misremember it.’
The monster who ate many Imperial Knights…
The Beast of Jévaudan that’d created the terrible ‘Bloody Night’ died by the hand of the great hunter, Abraham van Helsing.
And Casey was in the middle of speculating that van Helsing was yet another identity of the person called James Moriarty, whom she was chasing after.
Then…
Was it a coincidence that the Beast of Jévaudan showed up there?
Casey’s head spun.
She was calculating the worst possibilities.
‘Professor Moriarty, what the hell do you plan to do in this city?’
Casey clenched her fist in anger.
Her lifetime enemy whom she had to definitely catch, and the only wall that she hadn’t been able to climb…
He was now somewhere in that city.
‘That man is here.’
Three years prior, Casey had made an excruciating effort in order to surpass him.
—Which was how she’d gained the color title as a wizard.
She had resolved to never let him go if she met him again.
So she had to definitely catch him if he was near.
‘But rather than that, first of all…’
Her gaze headed to the Beast of Jévaudan, which was rampaging like a crazy dog.
It swept away its surroundings every time it swayed his tail.
It wasn’t an organism, but more like a living and breathing natural disaster.
‘I have to suppress that rampaging monster so that there won’t be any greater damage.’
Her ultimate goal had never changed.
—To use her strength to create a better world.
As she followed the words of her late grandfather, she had accomplished everything in her life on the path to honor that person.
Casey moved.
Just then, the Beast of Jévaudan was dropping his huge arm on the heads of people attempting to run away.
Her mana moved, and at that moment, the ‘water’ reacted.
Whoosh!
The sewage gushing out the split ground followed Casey’s will, turned into a whip, and bound the Beast of Jévaudan.
━━━!!!
The Beast of Jévaudan, which hadn’t even budged an inch from the Clockwork Knight Order’s coordinated efforts, stopped in its tracks.
The flowing water suffocated the monster’s body as if it was a huge snake.
“Th-the monster stopped?”
“What amazing ability!”
The Clockwork Knight Order Knights who’d been fighting with the Beast of Jévaudan shouted in surprise.
As the one directing the incredible sight, Casey frowned and screamed.
‘What kind of power…?!’
Her hand controlling the water was trembling.
A large volume of water with over tens of tons was all concentrated into tying one beast.
Even so, his strength gradually pushed it back.
‘If it’s this strong, it could even flip a tank with minimal effort!’
Roaaaaaaarrr!!!
The monster’s left head roared.
A strange wavelength was shot through a horrifying and gloomy scream that permeated the water tying it down.
Boom!
The water tying the monster’s arm exploded.
“What?!”
Casey gritted her teeth and intended to draw more water to use, but the water didn’t easily move according to her will.
‘The water isn’t moving properly. That scream is doing something!’
Casey sharply analyzed the monster’s ability.
The monster’s scream was shaking the mana around it somehow.
In the end, he wasn’t only a guy with a big physique.
On the day five years before, even the wizards were at a loss and couldn’t overpower the Beast of Jévaudan.
‘But if I get pushed back by that, I can’t be called a wizard with a color title!’
Her main magic was ‘water’.
In an environment with water, she could display a strength equal to God.
And the water in that city called Leathevelk was more than plentiful.
The huge Ramsey river across the center of the city, and the water flowing in the sewer pipes that spread like veins everywhere under the city…
All of them were her weapons.
Fwoooosshh!
The stream of water gushing out amidst the cracks became stronger and soon came together in midair and changed into the shape of a myriad of knights in armor.
The water knights with a pair of fairy wings behind their backs rushed toward the Beast of Jévaudan.
“Are those rescue forces?! This is a chance! We should corner him as well!”
The Clockwork Knight Order didn’t let go of the golden opportunity that they’d gained after a long time.
They were Knights, after all.
The sudden magic support was surprising, but they were not amateurs who were only admiring it.
Every time the aura at the tip of their swords hit it, the beast heads in the beast of Jévaudan’s body were cut one by one, and there was dark blood pouring out of the slashed parts.
Rooaaaaaarrr!!!
The Beast of Jévaudan screamed at the pain that it felt in its whole body.
The Clockwork Knight Order and the water-made knights chopped its body from all directions.
The scarlet eyes full of hatred locked onto the wizard controlling the water.
—Its beast instinct was alerting it to the most dangerous person there.
Awooooooo.
The right head opened its mouth wide and howled.
Casey realized that the cry was different from before.
The proof of it was that the water knights that she was controlling were still intact.
‘Is it not a roar to interfere with mana? Then what the hell is it trying to do?’
The answer to that question soon came.
Black shadows were piling up one by one from all over the city.
Casey felt goosebumps along her spine.
“Wh-what’s that?!”
The other people were also surprised as they recognized the shadows.
“Aaaargh! Wh-what’s that?!”
“Rats!”
“Where the hell are this many rats coming from?!”
Huge gutter rats were crawling from the cracks in the street.
The horde of more than thousands of rats was exactly like a black wave.
And there weren’t only rats…
There were also stray cats and wild dogs mixed among the rats.
As if they had become one body, they converged from all directions and rushed toward them.
‘Impossible! He’s calling other animals?’
Casey couldn’t hide her astonishment as she applied mana to wrap her surroundings with a huge water barrier.
The surging crowd of rats rushing toward her was swept away by the water and scattered.
However, the gap was soon filled with more rats.
—It was one of the abilities of the Beast of Jévaudan that had caused the ‘Bloody Night’.
If the left head’s cry interfered with mana operation…
The right head’s cry demonstrated the ability to control all animals.
As he was the king of demonic beasts, he ruled all beasts, and that included cryptids in the form of beasts.
If the ‘Bloody Night’ was an incident that happened by the proliferation of more than countless cryptids, if you dug deeper, in the end, the source of everything was only one being.
—That was the Beast of Jévaudan.
He was the All-Ferocious King of Beasts.
The existence that had reigned over the nightmare night was that kind of monster.
“Heek!”
Casey, who saw a rat approaching her ankle, made a gurgling sound.
It was a secret to the others, but she really didn’t like rats.
Well, it was more like she was scared of them.
Because the woman who was known for having a strong heart actually had musophobia.
“G-go away!”
As she lost all the strengths in her legs, Casey dropped on the spot.
Even after she screamed like that with a teary face, the water she was using to assault the Beast of Jévaudan didn’t stop.
Because if she stopped there, the monster would brutally eat the other people.
Casey bit her lips.
Then the rats climbed uper her calves and reached her thighs.
“Casey!”
Betty stepped up.
Betty roughly grabbed the rats hanging on Casey’s body and threw them far.
Whenever Betty’s slender legs moved, the waves of rats burst out.
As it seemed lacking, her two hands ripped pieces of debris from the destroyed building and used them to swat the rats.
Her appearance as she swung the huge steel pillars that were larger than her physique looked akin to the Hercules seen in mythology.
“I will help you as well!”
Elendil also stepped up and protected Casey with her magic.
Enya, beside Elendil, also raised her sword and slaughtered rats.
“Thank you for helping me!”
Casey could focus entirely on the Beast of Jévaudan thanks to them.
The water knights that exploded one by one as they got beaten up by the claws and tail of the beast permeated the wolf’s wounds with their residual wetness.
At the same time, the wetness became a myriad of thorns and damaged the beast’s organs.
Roaaaaarrr!
The Beast of Jévaudan screamed in pain.
The city’s animals reacted to the King’s shout. The crowds of rats, wild dogs, and stray cats that had been about to attack people rushed toward Casey.
“Casey! I think you made the monster properly mad?! The animals are flocking together!”
“Endure it, Betty! The safety of the citizens is the most important!”
“We’re going to die!”
Casey ignored Betty’s appalled scream while glaring at the Beast of Jévaudan.
They just needed to stall for time until the citizens who hadn’t been able to evacuate safely yet found their way out.
However, would she and her colleagues be safe in the end?
They would probably die.
Still… if they could save people…
Right when she was having those thoughts…
‘What?’
All of a sudden, the Beast of Jévaudan raised its head and stared in another direction.
At the same time, the waves of animals which were surging as if the waves were about to smother them stopped moving as if time had stopped.
“O-oh? The rats are suddenly…”
“The monster stopped?”
Its murderous intent that had flooded out and smothered the atmosphere to the point that people had trouble breathing disappeared like a mirage.
When she saw the beast who had glared as if it was about to kill her a moment ago change its behavior as if flipping its palm, Casey got confused.
‘Why all of a sudden…?’
It possessed a wild animal’s sense that allowed it to recognize who was the most dangerous to it.
Which was why it had glared at her while ignoring the Clockwork Knight Order even while they were slicing apart its body.
And the beast that had such a sense had turned its interest from her?
Then, there was only one reason…
—An apex predator whom it thought even more threatening than her had appeared.
Grrrrrrrr.
The Beast of Jévaudan growled low.
It was a miserable crying voice contrasted to the sonorous cry from a moment before.
Casey’s amazing judgment caught a hint of subtle feelings within its cry.
—Anger and irritation.
Also…
‘Fear?’
Fear?
Casey, who had been subconsciously analyzing the situation, was confused for a moment.
It was because she thought it was impossible for the monster who could be said to be a nightmare in itself to hold fear.
As if Casey was possessed, she stared in the direction the Beast of Jévaudan was looking.
The clouds in the sky split, and delicate moonlight poured down.
A black shadow was shown in the glinting moonlight.
To be precise, a person whose body was wrapped with shadow.
He had a black cape fluttering over the shoulders of a black suit, and a raven’s beak mask over his face.
Holding a huge cane in one hand, he looked like an actor on a well-organized stage.
Casey, who recognized him, widened her eyes. Her pupils constricted and her lips trembled.
How could she not know him?
How could she?
Even though he’d covered his face and wrapped his body in shadow…
She could never forget the distant existence she’d encountered back then.
“James Moriarty…!”
The greatest and longest-lasting foe of her life showed up right then, at that moment.
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