Chapter 38

Monster Legion

Monsters: creatures born when wild animals mutated under the influence of a factor called Madness.

Monsters never formed legions.

Every monster belonging to the monster kingdom inherently possessed Madness. They retained all their innate ferocity and displayed it without hesitation. Some monsters were known to be docile, but that only meant they did not immediately regard others as enemies and attack first.

They did so to avoid unnecessary fights. In the wild, an injury could be fatal to one's survival. They refrained from attacking for reasons directly tied to survival, not because they were friendly toward humans.

And not just humans. They were no friendlier toward other animals. They even showed aggression toward fellow monsters.

That was why monsters did not form legions. A legion was a group of different creatures subjected to a collective consciousness and ruled by a single leader.

A “monster swarm,” in which members of the same species gathered together, was possible. But a “monster legion,” in which different creatures formed one enormous group, did not exist.

With just one exception: the monster legion led by the Sovereign of Beasts, one of the six Sovereigns who served the Emperor.

'How could the Sovereign of Beasts be here...?'

That was why I was not merely surprised, but appalled.

Of course, the soldiers could have been mistaken. They might have seen a swarm of monsters attacking together, mistaken it for a legion, and reported it as such. But I was certain that was not the case, thanks to the quest floating before my eyes.

==[We Are Legion!] ==

[Description] - Defend the county from the monster legion.

[Reward] - Increased affinity with the territory's residents

[If Refused] - The downfall of Whitewolf county.

The quest explicitly specified a “monster legion.” And the penalty for refusing was severe. Judging by that, the county's current forces could not repel them, even with Kai and Seraphia here.

Which meant the chances of the Sovereign of Beasts being involved in this quest were very, very high.

The Sovereign of Beasts, out of nowhere. I had never known that the Sovereign had attacked the county at this point in time.

But thinking back now... something did seem odd.

'Could that be why the Gelu Drake came down from the summit?'

Why the Gelu Drake had descended when it so rarely left the summit of the snowy mountains. Why a mountain-dwelling Dermexus had been found near the county. Why I had encountered that starving ice troll in the first place. And finally, why the number of monsters in the snowy mountains had plummeted.

'Because of the Sovereign of Beasts?'

Only now were the pieces of the puzzle falling into place, one by one. And if the Sovereign of Beasts really was responsible...

'I can't win. Not a chance.'

Nothing I did would let me clear this quest. A Sovereign's strength was on another level.

The Emperor had indiscriminately slaughtered anyone who was not an imperial subject. He exterminated every living thing on the continent, as though he hated life itself.

If he needed them, he kept them like livestock.

If he did not, he slaughtered them.

In that sense, even the imperial army was livestock the Emperor kept. Rearing or slaughter: any living thing that encountered him faced one of those two fates.

Yet there were six beings whom that madman had neither kept nor slaughtered, but acknowledged. Those were the Sovereigns. He had even granted them sovereignty, allowing them to rule over portions of the continent.

The imperial legion commanders I had dealt with could not even compare to them. Even the heroes of the allied army had been powerless against the Sovereigns. Seraphia had been one of them, too: the Sovereign of Bitter Cold, who ruled over the continent's north.

But not now. Here in the past I had returned to, Seraphia was nothing more than a small, weak, utterly frail woman.

With our current fighting strength, we couldn't win if our lives depended on it. This would be a pointless death. Even as Predator in my previous life, I had been powerless against the Sovereign of Beasts. And now, I did not possess even an eighth of the fighting strength I had back then.

So I had to give up on this Sudden Quest.

I could not die a pointless death here.

* * *

An overwhelming, chaotic sight spread across the horizon of the snowfields. An endless surge of white filled the view, as though waves of snow were rolling toward them.

Enormous monsters led the way, clearing the piled snow to carve out a path. The smaller monsters following behind scattered in every direction, charging at a frenzied pace.

The monster legion moved like a single gigantic organism. As countless claws trampled the snow in their advance, the ground beneath the snowfields shook and rumbled, unable to withstand their weight.

ROOOOAAAR!!

Roars and thunderous noises erupted on all sides, vibrating through the frigid air. High atop the walls defending Whitewolf county, Seraphia involuntarily stumbled backward.

“M-my goodness!!”

... They could not handle this. Seraphia knew it the moment she saw them. The county could never emerge unscathed against that legion, an assembly of every monster in the snowy mountains and snowfields.

She bit down hard on her lower lip. Closing her eyes calmly, she drew a deep breath and steeled her resolve, again and again.

When she opened her eyes at last, her red irises were shining pure white.

EEEEEE!

A strange sound rang out as a razor-edged chill bloomed all over her body in strokes of ink. Just as those lines began spreading wildly, encroaching on everything around her...

“You mustn't.”

Kai rushed over like lightning and stopped her. The spreading ink strokes of cold subsided, gathering back into Seraphia. Only after he had confirmed that they had vanished entirely did he speak.

“You must not use your ability.”

“But—!”

“Put your trust in me and the soldiers.”

At his words, the soldiers behind him nodded solemnly. Their resolve was palpable; they were prepared to risk even their lives.

And not simply for Seraphia. Their families, friends, and lovers lived in the county. The soldiers were prepared to protect them even at the cost of their own lives.

In the end, Seraphia involuntarily bit down on her lower lip.

“... All right.”

Only after hearing her answer did Kai turn around. The soldiers followed his lead, tightening their grips on their weapons. Even then, the monster legion continued to draw closer.

SKREEEEE!!

Bestial howls mingled with a chaotic chorus of roars. The chilling sounds grew closer and closer, heralding the imminent battle.

“Hah...! Hah...!”

The soldiers' breathing grew ragged.

They were prepared to die, but shaking off their fear in the face of such an enormous threat required tremendous courage. Seeing them, Seraphia renewed her resolve. If the situation grew dangerous, she would use her ability without hesitation.

Not because she did not trust Kai and the soldiers. She simply felt the same way they did. She, too, was prepared to lay down her life to protect the people of the county.

The monsters closed the distance in an instant. At the very front was a Rex, the fastest monster in the snowy mountains. It charged ferociously, baring its enormous teeth and claws, while countless monsters surged behind it in a seething mass.

Shoving at one another's backs and shoulders, the monsters advanced relentlessly toward the county's walls.

“All units, prepare for battle!!!”

At Kai's booming command, the soldiers on the walls gritted their teeth.

“Come on, you bastards!!”

“You'll never get over these walls while I'm alive!!”

Each shouted to overcome their fear. But they could not dispel the dread lurking within them entirely.

Would they survive?

Just as that despair began to spread...

“Everyone, out of the way.”

A figure shot past Seraphia and the soldiers in a blur.

* * *

To be honest, I had intended to refuse this Sudden Quest.

Leaping down from the wall—

BOOM!

I seized a Rex climbing up it and slammed it straight into the ground.

I raised my nails, enhanced by Dragon's Claw[A], and tore out its heart. The Rex's hide and flesh ripped apart like paper, yielding its heart to me intact.

SPLURT!

Crimson blood sprayed in every direction. As the world turned scarlet, the first thing I saw was a matching pair of red eyes. Seraphia's eyes. They trembled violently as she stared at me.

I stuffed the Rex's heart into my mouth and looked around. The eyes of the monsters pouring toward us blazed red. Viscous saliva dripped from their mouths, and their entire bodies glistened with bloodlust and Madness. Yet beneath it all, they were filled with fear of me.

That was the effect of the title <Master of the Snowy Mountains>. It terrified every monster inhabiting the snowy mountains, inflicting a -15% stat penalty on those stricken with fear.

G-GRRR...!

KI-KIIIEK!

Because of that, the monsters did not dare rush me recklessly.

Honestly, I had no particular attachment to Whitewolf county. But I needed it until Ian returned. I still needed it as a base for the Predator Merchant Company, too.

More importantly, there was so much genetic material here for Predation[S+] to consume. It had all gathered before me of its own accord, sparing me the trouble of searching the snowy mountains. If I consumed them all with Predation[S+], fully evolving my abilities would be a breeze.

In that sense, I could not give up on this Sudden Quest. And, well, I had gone on at length about all these reasons, but the biggest one was actually this.

“Haha...”

The joy and ecstasy piercing my mind right now. I simply could not shake them off. This exhilaration was on an entirely different level from what I had felt when facing the Gelu Drake.

In my previous life, I had waged war against the Sovereign of Beasts. And a war against a Sovereign was no small affair. It had been so fierce that the allied army had to commit all its forces and stake its very survival.

Ian and every one of the allied army's heroes had fought the Sovereign of Beasts. Every battalion commander had been deployed, and I had been there as well.

After a brutal battle in which countless lives had hung in the balance, the Sovereign of Beasts had finally fallen. In the end, the Sovereign had knelt before Ian's sword.

And I had not consumed the Sovereign of Beasts.

Of course, I had known. I knew that consuming a Sovereign's heart and absorbing its abilities would make me immensely powerful. So it would be more accurate to say I had been unable to consume it.

[“You mustn't consume a Sovereign's heart, Adrian.”]

Because Ian had warned me not to.

[“Your mind won't be able to withstand it, Adrian.”]

First, he had feared that my mind would collapse completely. In my previous life, I had been unable to control Madness. Every time I used Predation, I inevitably succumbed to it, and even the Saintess's miracles could not cure me.

Only Ian could keep me under control. By beating me until the Madness was gone.

Likewise, there was no doubt that consuming a Sovereign's heart would drive me mad. And given that it belonged to a Sovereign, that Madness would undoubtedly surge to unprecedented heights.

And so Ian had feared he would be unable to handle me.

[“I can't handle that.”]

I would become vastly stronger after consuming a Sovereign's heart. And I would rampage with my mind utterly shattered.

[“I'm not certain I could subdue you without killing you.”]

Ian had feared that he might have no choice but to kill me. He had been wary of the possibility that he would no longer be able to control me.

[“You mustn't consume a Sovereign's heart.”]

That was why Ian had opposed my consuming a Sovereign's heart. And I had agreed with him.

If I could not control the Madness, I would be no different from a monster. It would be the same as creating another Sovereign. Uncontrollable power was nothing short of a calamity.

In the end, I had not consumed the Sovereign of Beasts. Nor had I consumed any of the other Sovereigns.

But things were different now. Now I could control and restrain Madness. Ian's ability, Player's Will[EX]. As long as I possessed it, Madness would never engulf me.

I did not have to worry about the Madness within a Sovereign's heart destroying my mind, either. Ian had been far stronger than any Sovereign, and his ability would keep the Madness in their hearts perfectly under control.

In other words, I could now consume a Sovereign's heart with Predation[S+]. I could obtain the abilities and power of a Sovereign that had been beyond my reach in my previous life.

How could I possibly—

“Hahahahaha!!”

—not feel a thrill coursing through my entire body?

Of course, that conclusion rested entirely on the assumption that I could defeat the Sovereign of Beasts. Naturally, my current strength was nowhere near sufficient, but the Sovereign would not be the same as before, either.

Just as Seraphia had yet to show the qualities of the Sovereign of Bitter Cold, the Sovereign of Beasts would be in a similar position now that I had returned to the past. At the very least, the Sovereign would not possess the same strength as in my previous life.

In that case, it was worth a shot. If I made use of Kai and Seraphia, I could even expect fairly good odds of victory.

'I don't see any monster that looks like the Sovereign of Beasts right now.'

There was only an endless mass of monsters, more than worthy of being called a legion.

And as they say, even the strongest can be beaten by a mob. Even small fry were a real headache when they gathered in numbers. But the monsters here were no small fry. So it was unwise to exhaust myself when I might have a battle with a Sovereign ahead of me—

I turned slightly and addressed Kai, Seraphia, and the soldiers gathered atop the wall.

“Nobody interfere.”

Actually, this was perfect. Along with fully evolving my abilities, this was an excellent opportunity to test a technique I had yet to perfect.

My own way of fighting, in which I did not fight as a human—and must not fight as one.

◆Activating combination skill, 'Metabolic Overdrive[U]'!

There could be no better opportunity to complete that unfinished combat system.