Crack!
A tree toppled. It was so thick that even a grown man couldn’t wrap his arms around it.
The sight of such trees collapsing one after another, like falling dominoes, was overwhelming—like witnessing a natural disaster.
Uwooooooah!!!
The creature advancing while knocking down trees revealed its immense presence without restraint.
Moments later, its form—previously hidden deep within the dense forest—came fully into view.
“So that’s it.”
The first thing that stood out were the sharp scales covering its entire body.
When the scales caught the light, they glittered—like blades meticulously honed by a blacksmith on a whetstone.
The creature, its body clad head to toe in blade-like scales, resembled the beast commonly known as a pangolin.
Its well-developed forelimbs bore sharp claws, and behind its long, streamlined body extended a tail covered in scales.
At the tip of the tail was a blade-like spike—similar to the scales, yet seemingly even sturdier.
‘It’s literally a beast wrapped entirely in sharp blades.’
It became instantly clear how it had knocked down those massive trees.
Looking at the path it had taken, everything had been sheared apart as if shaved by countless blades—not just trees, but even large, sturdy rocks.
The gigantic pangolin spirit beast openly displayed its hostility, as if declaring it would not tolerate intruders in its territory.
“Boss. What should we do? Looks like it’s furious.”
Hans had tried every possible way to calm the spirit beast, but once its rage had ignited, it was far beyond his ability to suppress it.
“This doesn’t ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) look like it’ll be easy.”
Veronica also seemed shaken by the grotesque creature she was seeing for the first time.
A massive spirit beast over four meters tall, stretching thirteen meters from head to tail.
Its sheer size was intimidating enough, but the scales—gleaming with the luster of some special metal—looked sharp enough to slice skin at a glance.
Unlike ordinary pangolin scales, which tended to be dark, deep brown, this creature’s scales shone brilliantly—dazzling like diamonds.
Even for someone who had reached the level of Master, a spirit beast was no easy opponent.
If anything, her heightened senses made it all the clearer just how powerful and troublesome this one was.
The spirit beast’s enraged eyes scanned the intruders, but its gaze lingered particularly long on Hans.
‘Is it because Hans carries the factors of a spirit beast?’
From the outset, the creature’s violent reaction had been triggered by Hans spreading his resonance throughout the forest.
From the perspective of a spirit beast that had settled and lived here, it was no different from an external entity barging in and exerting its influence.
Considering how sensitive beasts were to their territory and domains, this reaction was, in a way, natural.
To the spirit beast, Hans was not merely an intruder—but a kind of rival.
Hans himself seemed to sense it, feeling no small amount of discomfort.
“I was just trying to gather some information... but it feels like it’s reacting way too sensitively.”
Seeing it rage like this, Hans couldn’t help but wonder if he’d really done something that bad.
Honestly, it felt unfair.
But it wasn’t something he could deny outright. Hyperborea was an untouched land of wilderness and mystery, untainted by human hands.
Naturally, spirit beasts living here would be far more sensitive to outsiders than those elsewhere.
After all, no one had ever come here from outside—until now.
Uwooooooah!!!
The creature threw its mouth wide open and let out a roar.
The sheer volume was tremendous—but that wasn’t all. Mana was woven into the roar itself.
Hans staggered back without realizing it. Veronica and Casey’s expressions hardened as well.
Just from the roar alone, they could feel how powerful it was.
Boom!
The spirit beast moved. When it took a step, the ground caved in. Its weight was beyond absurd.
‘Is it because of the scales’ material? This isn’t a body made of ordinary flesh and blood. Its entire form is as hard as metal—and that mass comes with it.’
As the blade-like scales brushed against one another, they produced the sound of clashing iron.
At that moment, Veronica drew her sword and charged toward the spirit beast.
Closing the distance in a flash, she unleashed streams of aura from her blade.
Cold-laden aura projected an intense chill across the surrounding area.
Kwang!
Sword and scale collided, producing the sound of metal striking metal.
The aura blade struck the pangolin’s scales. Aura wielded by a Master-ranked knight could easily cut steel—but the pangolin’s scales didn’t so much as budge.
The pangolin’s massive body rocked, but that was merely a brief stagger from the impact.
The pangolin turned its gaze toward Veronica.
Shrrrrk!
As it shook its body threateningly, the blade-like scales all shifted in unison.
“My goodness. I did attack seriously—and it’s still completely fine.”
No matter how strong a spirit beast was, it still bruised her pride a little.
But now wasn’t the time for such idle thoughts.
Whip!
The spirit beast swung its tail toward Veronica.
The tail swept horizontally—like a whip, yet far more dangerous than a blade due to the sharp scales covering it.
Worse still, it was so fast that reacting to it was nearly impossible.
If Veronica hadn’t bent her waist backward in time, her head would have been cleanly severed.
The spirit beast attempted to follow up with another attack. Veronica extended her aura to its limit and swung with full force.
Cold-aspected aura burst from her sword, spreading outward in a wide fan.
Crack—crackle!
The cold froze the surrounding grass and ground as it engulfed the spirit beast.
The spirit beast frowned. Each time it exhaled, mist billowed out.
Veronica’s cold seeped through its surface and into its body, dulling its movements.
Against most enemies, this alone would have been enough—but the opponent was a spirit beast.
Fwhooosh!
Mana began to pour out from the spirit beast’s entire body.
A spirit beast wasn’t dangerous merely because of physical strength. What made them truly terrifying was their ability, despite being beasts, to harbor mana and produce magic-like phenomena.
Just like now.
Shrrrzzzzk!
The spirit beast’s scales elongated even further. In less than three seconds, the pangolin-like creature transformed into something resembling a giant porcupine.
The sharp spikes formed of mana glowed bluish. Possessing inherent resistance to aura, the spirit beast could move freely even across the frozen field.
Veronica let out a low sound. It seemed she had judged that holding back would no longer be enough.
Just as she steeled herself for a fierce battle and adjusted her grip on the sword—
“I’ll take it from here.”
She hadn’t even noticed when he approached—Ludger was suddenly speaking beside her.
Veronica’s eyes widened in surprise, but Ludger paid her reaction no mind and slowly walked toward the spirit beast.
Grrn?
Seeing a lone human approach, the spirit beast felt a flicker of confusion.
In this situation, the human should have been wary—afraid. Yet Ludger’s expression was utterly calm.
Feigning bravado to hide weakness was something even beasts did. But Ludger didn’t even have that.
He looked so natural it was as if he had lived around here from the beginning.
Still, the spirit beast knew that wasn’t the case.
Regardless, the man was an intruder—one who had thoroughly provoked it.
It was unexpected that he would come willingly, but that didn’t change what needed to be done.
The spirit beast shook the spikes covering its body and charged at Ludger.
Even just passing by, the mana-formed spikes left crackling electrical energy in the air, sparks snapping violently.
The spirit beast intended to trample Ludger flat—then tear him apart.
“I don’t want to waste time in a place like this, so let’s finish this quickly.”
Ludger murmured calmly toward the charging spirit beast.
His blue eyes shone brilliantly—like stars in the night sky.
At the same time, a shadow suddenly rose behind him.
The monstrous figure, bearing the face of a gigantic raven, was enormous enough to loom over the spirit beast.
The charging spirit beast halted involuntarily. The shadow cast by Ater Nocturnus drained the light from its face.
At the center of Ater Nocturnus’s chest was a vast, pitch-black hole reminiscent of a black hole.
Facing it, the spirit beast felt as if its very existence was about to be sucked in.
But the spirit beast was also the apex predator of this land. Knowing that fear meant defeat, it unleashed its mana even more fiercely.
The scales and the sharp spikes erupting between them glowed blue.
It was like a lone, radiant comet shining brilliantly within endless darkness.
Yet no matter how brightly a star shines, it cannot illuminate the entire universe.
Ater Nocturnus extended a massive arm.
At first, it seemed only large enough to grasp the spirit beast’s head—but as it drew closer, it grew larger and larger.
The spirit beast felt its sense of perspective distort.
The hand, reaching out from right before its eyes, grew large enough to engulf its entire body.
It struggled with all its might—but it was futile.
Boom!
A crushing pressure slammed down on the spirit beast.
Its sharp spikes and blade-like scales were useless.
Like Sun Wukong trapped beneath the Buddha’s palm, the spirit beast was slammed flat against the ground, crushed within Ater Nocturnus’s grasp.
Crack—boom!
The ground split apart, gouging deeply. The spirit beast struggled, but it was meaningless.
In desperation, the spirit beast activated its final trump card.
The spikes covering its body shot outward in all directions like missiles.
Some of them curved midair as if guided, homing in on Ludger.
Ater Nocturnus was a magic beast—so if it could take down its master, Ludger, that would be enough. It was an instinctive judgment.
“Not an incorrect judgment. Unfortunately.”
Ludger raised his index finger toward the air.
Then he drew a line with it—from left to right.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
The mana-filled spikes flying toward Ludger detonated spectacularly in midair.
Condensed mana reached its critical point, erupting into blue, spherical flames in the air.
Seeing that sight, the spirit beast’s eyes widened.
Then its body was lifted high.
Ater Nocturnus had seized it and raised it into the air.
Ater Nocturnus’s blazing eyes met the spirit beast’s gaze.
For the first time, the spirit beast felt true fear.
Its scales drooped limply. Its expression, as if it had given up resisting, was almost pitiful.
Ater Nocturnus extended its left hand toward the spirit beast.
The spirit beast flinched, trembling in terror.
Ater Nocturnus reached out with its brutal hand as if to squeeze the spirit beast to death—
Pop!
It plucked a single blade-scale from the creature, then gently set its body back down on the ground.
The spirit beast seemed utterly stunned that it hadn’t been killed, remaining frozen in place.
Indifferent to that, Ater Nocturnus handed the scale to Ludger, then melted into his shadow and disappeared.
The area, which had been shrouded in darkness, brightened once more.
Ludger approached Hans—who had been staring blankly—and held out the scale.
“Take it.”
Hans accepted the scale. It was less that he wanted it, and more that it was handed to him.
“...Boss. I’m curious—why are you giving this to me? What am I supposed to do with something like this now?”
Hans was no longer active in the field. He had little need for things like a spirit beast’s fangs.
Even without that, the spirit beast factors within his body were more than enough.
“Didn’t we just come across a rare spirit beast? Since we ran into it anyway, we might as well take what we can.”
“...What am I, some kind of genetic repository?”
“So what? Doesn’t hurt to have it.”
Ludger looked at the spirit beast, which had finally grasped the situation.
When it met Ludger’s gaze, its body visibly flinched. The creature bowed its head.
Though a proud spirit beast, it had realized that Ludger was an overwhelmingly superior being.
Ludger nodded in satisfaction.
“Since it’s come to this, let’s put it to use. Hans, can you communicate with it?”
“Yes. When it was furious, it wouldn’t listen—but now it seems possible.”
“Then tell it this. Guide us to the ancient ruins deeper inside.”
The Ironclad Mountain spirit beast could not refuse the proposal.
And so, it became the forest’s guide.
“This is actually pretty convenient.”
Casey muttered, watching the Ironclad Mountain carve a path ahead.
The forest was dense—but wherever the spirit beast went, a road formed. Trees and rocks alike were ground away.
Other beasts fled on sight. As the apex of the region, even powerful creatures instinctively avoided it.
Then the spirit beast stopped and looked back.
“What’s going on?”
As Veronica voiced her confusion, Hans answered instead.
“Looks like this is another one’s territory from here on.”
“Another one? You mean there’s another spirit beast in this forest.”
“Seems like it. Boss, what should we do?”
Since it was effectively Ludger who commanded the spirit beast, Hans asked for his decision.
Ludger conveyed his will to the spirit beast.
“Bring that one here as well.”