Chapter 374

Chapter 374

“Look at this.”

The man wrapped in a robe stood atop a high sand mountain and looked ahead.

The Black Forest entered his field of vision.

He had wandered the desert so much, but this was the first time he had seen a forest preserved entirely in shape while carbonized. But what surprised him more than that was the enormous Rock Crocodile and the existence called Zeon standing against it.

“A fusion of a crocodile and a Golem? So monsters can be born like that too. Interesting!”

A smile settled on the lips revealed beneath the hood of his robe.

Acquiring new knowledge was always enjoyable. But what pleased him even more was the existence called Zeon, who was fighting the Rock Crocodile that had split into hundreds of pieces.

The existence called Zeon, who had summoned hundreds of Sand Soldiers to counter the Rock Crocodile’s wave tactics, drew his interest.

“He can handle sand like that?”

The power of each individual Sand Soldier was not especially strong.

Compared to the Rock Crocodiles, they were incomparably weaker in mass, size, strength, and hardness.

BOOM—!

When a Rock Crocodile slammed into one with all its strength, a soldier made of sand collapsed in an instant.

Seen up to that point, the Sand Soldiers were nothing special.

The frightening thing about Sand Soldiers was that they could regenerate the moment they were destroyed.

BOOM—!

A Sand Soldier was destroyed in an instant with an explosion. But the sand grains that had scattered in every direction clumped back together as if it were a lie, restoring the soldier to its original form.

The restored Sand Soldier clung to the Rock Crocodile again and attacked. When the Sand Soldiers restrained the Rock Crocodiles, the Dark Elves and human Awakened attacked and destroyed them.

BOOM—! BANG—!

Rock Crocodiles were being destroyed here and there.

Unlike the Sand Soldiers, the small Rock Crocodiles did not regenerate once destroyed. But there were so many of them that several individuals succeeded in infiltrating the Black Forest.

The Rock Crocodiles that entered the deep forest headed straight for the place where the cocoon was.

They were instinctively sensing the place where the spirit was being born and running toward it.

The Rock Crocodiles moved so quickly that it was hard to believe they were moving on short legs.

“Damn it!”

The Dark Elves tried to catch the Rock Crocodiles that slipped through, but they had already vanished into the forest.

The Rock Crocodiles that broke through the defensive line reached the place where the cocoon was in an instant.

“So they finally broke through?”

Briel bit her lip hard when she discovered the small Rock Crocodiles.

The cocoon was pulsing and emitting a strong light.

The spirit was trying to be born.

If this moment was interrupted, no one knew what would happen.

Whoosh!

Briel sent Wind Cutter flying at the Rock Crocodiles.

Wind Cutter wielded tremendous power against humans, but unfortunately, it did not inflict much damage on crocodiles whose entire bodies were made of rock.

The Rock Crocodiles charged toward the cocoon without hesitation.

Among them was one with an especially large body.

It ran with unusual speed and opened its huge mouth wide. It intended to swallow Briel and the cocoon whole.

BOOM—!

At that moment, Zeon slammed down onto its head.

Just like when he killed the wyvern, he attacked the Rock Crocodile with his entire body.

The Rock Crocodile staggered for a moment from the tremendous impact.

Zeon, standing atop the Rock Crocodile’s body, muttered,

“As expected, the main body was on this side.”

If it was a Golem, it was only natural for it to have a core.

Unless the core was destroyed, it would regenerate endlessly.

That was also why the Rock Crocodiles destroyed by the Dark Elves and others could not regenerate.

Since the main body possessed the core, the others could not regenerate.

It was impossible to distinguish the main body among hundreds of Rock Crocodiles.

That was why Zeon had deliberately loosened the Sand Soldiers’ defensive line.

Loosened it enough that the main body carrying the core could break through and infiltrate.

Just as Zeon had expected, several individuals, including the main body, had reached the place where the spirit was trying to be born.

Zeon thought the largest individual among them, the one at the very front, was the main body. There was no way it would allow some mere clone to devour the spirit.

Roooooar!

The main body, interrupted at the decisive moment, roared in rage.

It thrashed to shake off Zeon, who was standing on its back, and the clones launched a combined attack.

Those actions gave Zeon certainty.

The individual he was standing on was the main body.

Zeon injected mana into the Gauntlet of Extreme Heat and struck the main body’s back.

BOOM—! BOOM—! BOOM—!

After three consecutive blows, the main body’s back was completely destroyed, revealing its interior.

Between the shattered rocks, a red jewel could be seen glowing.

It was the main body’s core.

The moment the core was exposed, the main body went even more berserk. But no matter how violently it moved, it could not shake Zeon off its back.

Zeon reached out and tore out the main body’s core.

Crack-crack-crack!

The core fused with the stone was ripped out by the roots.

In that instant, the main body that had been thrashing madly came to a halt. At the same time, the clones also hardened like stone statues and no longer moved.

Rumble!

The stones, having lost cohesion, collapsed.

Having lost the core, they had returned to ordinary rock.

THUMP! THUMP!

The red jewel in Zeon’s hand beat like a heart.

He could feel its craving.

Even after losing its body, it still wanted the spirit.

“That won’t happen.”

Zeon muttered coldly and clenched his fist.

The jewel, so hard it had seemed unbreakable, shattered helplessly once he invoked the authority of the Gauntlet of Extreme Heat.

Crack......

The Golem’s core turned to powder in Zeon’s hand. But in the next moment, something astonishing happened.

The powdered Golem core did not scatter, but was absorbed into Zeon.

At the unexpected situation, Zeon frowned in surprise.

He wanted to figure out what had happened, but he was not given time to do so.

Flash!

At that moment, the cocoon erupted with a light more intense than anything it had emitted before.

The cluster of light was so powerful it could blind the eyes, and Zeon had no choice but to close them.

It was then.

Kyuu!

A mystical sound rang in Zeon’s ears.

Just hearing the sound made him feel as though his body and mind were becoming clear.

The feeling was not an illusion.

The fatigue accumulated while fighting the Rock Crocodile and the others actually vanished, and all the mana he had consumed was restored.

When Zeon carefully opened his eyes, he saw a small cluster of light floating through the air like a butterfly.

“A...... spirit?”

“That’s right! A child with tremendous life force.”

Briel answered.

She stared blankly at the spirit drifting through the air.

The spirit was circling around a beautiful woman who looked to be in her early twenties.

Zeon recognized the woman’s identity at a glance.

“It’s Har.”

“It’s been a long time.”

Har answered with a smile.

Eight years had matured Har.

From Har, who had given birth to a spirit, flowed a mystical atmosphere that could not be described in words.

It was enough to make one think that if a goddess existed, she would look like Har right now.

When Har reached out her hand, the spirit landed on it as if it had been waiting.

“This is Yuri.”

“Yuri?”

“That’s this child’s name. Isn’t it so pretty?”

“It is pretty.”

“Thanks to you, Zeon, this child was able to be born safely. Thank you. Ah, and thank you too, Briel! Thanks to you, I was able to find strength.”

Har also showed Briel a radiant smile.

Briel reached out and held Har’s hand.

“You worked hard! To give birth to such a beautiful child. Har, you did something great.”

“I didn’t do it alone. It was possible because everyone helped. Right, would you like to greet Yuri?”

“May I?”

“Of course. You’re a noble existence.”

No sooner had Har finished speaking than Yuri climbed onto Briel’s hand.

“Hello, Yuri. I’m Briel.”

Flutter!

At Briel’s greeting, Yuri trembled.

“I’m happy to meet you too! You’re such a beautiful child. Please take good care of Har unnie from now on.”

As if pleased, Yuri circled around Briel’s body.

Each time, fine particles of light scattered in every direction.

“Huh?”

“Good heavens!”

The Dark Elves and Awakened who arrived belatedly lost themselves at the sight.

They, too, instinctively realized that the cluster of light was a spirit. But the astonishing things had only just begun.

The loose ground where the particles scattered by the spirit settled suddenly turned dark brown. It had changed into soil filled with life force, not sand.

Green leaves rose from the changed soil.

Sprouts were blooming.

At the change that happened in an instant, Floa and the Dark Elves shed tears.

Because they were more sensitive to spirits than anyone, they knew how tremendous this change was.

As if delighted by the newly appeared Dark Elves, Yuri joyfully flew around them as well.

Whenever Yuri passed nearby, the Dark Elves trembled with a fullness they had never felt in their lives.

Something they should naturally have possessed.

It felt as though that something, which had been lost long ago, was being filled again.

“Hic......!”

“Ah! So this is a spirit......”

The Dark Elves wept aloud, overwhelmed with emotion.

It did not matter even if it was not a spirit contracted to them.

Simply seeing and feeling a spirit right beside them made them feel whole. Unable to withstand the sensation they were experiencing for the first time in their lives, the Dark Elves could not collect themselves.

The human Awakened were shocked in a different sense.

What they were looking at were the sprouts blooming from the ground.

They were not sprouts that had bloomed from carbonized trees.

They were sprouts of nameless blades of grass.

The green blades, which had grown enough to cover their ankles in an instant, were more than enough to fill them with awe.

In that way, everyone was moved by the first spirit born on this land.

Zeon’s eyes followed the spirit’s movement.

As if the Black Forest was fascinating, the spirit moved without pause, examining every corner. Then, as though it had discovered Zeon, it flew over and circled around him.

Seeing that, Har said,

“Yuri wants to see that child.”

“That child?”

“She says there’s a child connected to you, Zeon.”

“You mean Gaia? Yuri knows Gaia?”

“Mm! She says Gaia is a being like herself, yet different.”

“Is that so?”

Zeon wore a troubled expression.

Right now, Gaia was asleep while digesting the Reaper’s Scythe. Until Gaia awakened on its own, there was no way to bring it out of subspace.

“Yuri, Gaia is......”

Zeon stopped speaking and suddenly looked outside the forest.

It was because he felt an immense presence from outside the forest.

Someone with an overwhelming presence, incomparable even to the Grade S monster Rock Crocodile, was approaching the Black Forest.

Flutter!

Yuri must have felt that presence too, because it trembled and hurriedly fled into Har’s arms.

“What’s wrong?”

Instead of answering, Yuri burrowed even deeper into Har’s embrace.

Har looked puzzled, unable to understand why.

At that moment, a man wrapped in a robe appeared in the Black Forest.

Until the man appeared, no one except Zeon had noticed his presence approaching.

Not even Levin, who had been floating in the air.

That was how abruptly the man appeared.

The man looked at the spirit held in Har’s arms and opened his mouth.

“A sp......irit? A spirit has finally been born on this land too.”

The man’s voice trembled on its own.

It was the first time in decades that he had revealed emotion like this.

That was how much of an event the birth of a spirit was to him.

At that moment, Zeon stepped in front of Har and the spirit.

At Zeon’s appearance, the man did not hide his displeasure.

“Hey! Sandmancer. I would appreciate it if you did not stand in my way. You are ruining my good mood.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. Yuri is wary of you.”

“Yuri? If it has a name, does that mean the contract has already been completed? I was one step late. Still, it should not matter. Breaking a freshly formed contract is no trouble at all.”

At the man’s cold voice, it felt as if the temperature in the area rapidly dropped.

And that was by no means an illusion.