[Vol. 8] Chapter 34: Black Stone
"Tairnak, old friend… why are you here to see His Divineness too? I thought he didn’t summon anyone this time."
"Yeah, I just felt a bit uneasy, so I came to check. Soren, brother, how are things going right now?"
The elephant-man, Soren, who was the chief of his tribe, let out a worried sigh. His eyes glanced around the area. He noticed that over a dozen other chiefs were also watching with uneasy looks. He had no choice but to quietly explain everything honestly.
"To be honest… things aren't looking good. We’ve met the food supply demand, and the divine envoys just left again to look for more food. But it seems His Divineness is still not happy..."
Tairnak’s brows tightened slightly, as if he had a bad feeling.
"And so?"
"And so, the divine envoys basically said we should offer up every imperial person inside the fortress, including the captured prisoners, as quickly as possible to His Divineness. If that’s still not enough… we might have to spread the infection even further."
"What?! That’s madness!"
Tairnak shouted angrily, and the nearby chiefs instantly fell silent with fear. Soren quickly raised a hand to signal him to quiet down, his face filled with panic.
"Shh, shh, calm down, brother! His Divineness is just behind that door. Be careful what you say!"
"......"
Realizing he had lost control, the Behemoth tribe’s chieftain forced himself to calm down and lowered his voice.
"On the way here, with all the civilians, soldiers, and unrelated people we've passed… His Divineness has already devoured hundreds of thousands of lives. It's like a swarm of bugs destroying everything! No, even worse, like the Abyss Disaster a few years ago. Nothing survives where he goes. This kind of thing is against heaven and hated by all!"
"At first, we could barely justify it by saying it was a military strategy, to hide our actions and prepare a surprise attack. But now we’ve already taken Iron Ridge, and the Austre Empire has lit the war fires. The war has officially begun. Do we still need to…?!"
"Sigh, I agree. Fighting is one thing. We’ve got deep hatred with the Austre Empire, so killing their soldiers isn’t a problem. But if we keep endlessly killing innocent people, and in such a cruel way, eating them all, this has gone way too far. If you ask me, His Divineness probably never really cared about…"
Suddenly, Soren stopped talking. He seemed to sense something and quietly turned his eyes toward the strange "door" made of dark red, organ-like flesh. His face grew serious, and he lowered his head.
Sure enough, a moment later, the door opened on its own like it was alive. A figure quickly walked out and spoke in a deep voice to the chiefs, who immediately stood straight and showed respect.
"Come inside. His Divineness will see you now."
The creature that stepped out from the fleshy door was a huge upright insect, covered in thick dark-gray armor. It had eight legs of different lengths, standing tall. Two long antennae grew from its head, and its compound eyes looked like dark red gems stuck into its face. The strongest leg held a long, sharp double-bladed axe. The weapon gave off a chilling glow, clearly a blood-soaked weapon that had killed many enemies.
The moment this giant insect appeared, all the chiefs who had been whispering went completely silent. They looked at each other nervously. No one dared to speak first. In the end, it was Tairnak, the most senior among them, who stepped forward and respectfully tried to speak.
"Honored Divine Envoy, we will go see His Divineness right away, but could you maybe tell us just a little bit about…"
Even though Tairnak had spoken with great respect, the giant insect-like warrior didn’t let him finish. It didn’t even look at the Behemoth chief before coldly turning around and walking back inside. Its hard, shell-covered face showed no emotion at all, making it impossible to guess what it was thinking.
After being ignored, Tairnak and Soren looked at each other helplessly, then glanced at the other nervous tribal leaders. Left with no choice, they followed the insect warrior into the strange room that looked like it was made entirely of living flesh.
"Krrrrkkk…"
Once all the leaders had entered, the dark red flesh-like door shut behind them by itself, as if it were alive. Even though this wasn’t their first time here, Tairnak, whose heart was as tough as his large body, still couldn’t stop a shiver from running down his spine. He felt a mix of fear and awe rise from deep within, something he couldn’t control.
This fear didn’t come from his mind, nor from logic. It came from the blood of the Behemoth flowing in his veins.
The room, which also seemed to be made of dark red living tissue, wasn’t very big. Other than the axe-wielding insect warrior who had led them in, there were no guards, no decorations. Only a strange, unevenly shaped black stone several meters tall. It looked like it was growing out of the ground, constantly pulling in rings of glowing energy that spread out in waves.
The moment they saw it, all sixteen tribal chiefs and leaders instantly dropped to the ground, lying flat and worshipping the strange, living black stone with loud, united voices:
"We greet the [God of Wilderness and Savagery], the Son of the Ancestor God!!!"
As if reacting to their arrival, the crystal-like black stone slowly stopped absorbing energy. Then, something unbelievable happened. This solid stone began to twist and change shape like soft clay. In just a few seconds, it turned from a shapeless lump into a figure.
It had arms and legs, a long and tall body, and looked almost human. But it had no male or female features. It was like a long stone had suddenly grown limbs and a head. Its face was unclear, and from its forehead grew a strange, thin, pointed horn, much like that of a beetle. It looked as if someone had pulled on a piece of soft stone until it stretched into a sharp tip.
What was even stranger, even though the whole body was made of black crystal, the long horn on its head could move like a tail, twisting and swaying in the air. If someone hadn’t seen this with their own eyes, they would never believe such a bizarre creature could exist, even in myths.
But Tairnak knew what this being was. He had already learned about it before.
Just like they had shouted during their greeting. It was the Son of the Ancestor God, a truly mythical creature that wasn’t supposed to exist in the real world.
Even though both Behemoths and Dragons were considered legendary beasts, rulers of the land and sky in ancient times, there were major differences between them.
The Dragon Gods of each generation had reached their power by mastering themselves and rising from the mortal world to become divine being.
The [God of Wilderness and Savagery], Bister, was a born god. Revered as the Ancestral God by the ancient wild tribes, He possessed two aspects, [Wilderness] and [Savagery]. These aspects were like the Ancestral God's avatars, and their power was said to be comparable to, if not surpassing, that of the Dragon Gods passed down through generations.
As the representative of the Wilderness lineage, the Behemoth giants, their natural leader, was [Wild], one of the two sons of the Ancestral God.