Chapter 68: Human Greed Swallows the Elephant

A majestic eagle-like warplane was destroyed in an instant.

That black branch was terrifying—faster than lightning; the pilot had no time to eject, and both he and the plane were pierced through, killed instantly.

Not a single soul survived…

Silence.

The livestream fell silent again; inside the government command center, not even a pin could drop; reporters and anchors in the building stood frozen, their emotions still stuck in the previous second.

Everything happened too fast.

So fast that no one could process it, utterly unexpected.

Impossible!!!

Countless hearts screamed in this moment, eyes bulging, unable to believe what they saw, feeling as if they were dreaming, everything so unreal.

But they knew—it was no dream.

Something had survived five full minutes of terrifying firepower, remained unharmed, and even struck back.

Watching the warplanes turn into fireballs and plummet, watching entire building clusters across a ten-mile radius of fire being effortlessly split in half, as cleanly as splitting bamboo.

Countless people trembled.

【What on earth is that?!】

【What is the military fighting?】

【Come on, this is a joke, right?】

【Am I hallucinating?】

“This…” the reporter in the building turned pale.

Until now, he had always believed himself brave, unafraid of death; now he saw he was wrong—he wanted to leave immediately, as far away as possible, even to flee abroad and never return to the land that had given him life.

Five minutes of artillery and missile bombardment—and the target wasn’t killed. What kind of terrifying thing was this? He was living on the same land as such a horror.

Many thought this, their bodies chilled to the bone, their souls trembling.

Suddenly.

Remembering that this thing now stood in their own administrative district, everyone’s bodies and souls jolted violently, all eyes fixed on the sea of fire.

That thing… could it be…

Inside the sea of fire.

Listen closely—there were footsteps.

Amidst the raging inferno, a dark dot grew larger, approaching from afar, emerging from within—faintly visible, a humanoid shadow, walking calmly out of the flames.

Sssss!!

Countless people felt their souls explode, their minds roaring; reporters and anchors on-site collapsed to the floor, terrified beyond measure.

“Mon—ster—!!!!”

The anchor shrieked hysterically, face drenched in terror, lips turned white with fear.

At this moment.

At this instant.

In the livestream, under countless eyes, a figure emerged from the sea of fire.

A creature that looked human but was not—antlered like a gazelle, with six pairs of eyes!

A monster!

It’s a monster!

Unlike the incident at Yunhu Lake—this wasn’t through a video feed or distant observation; this time, they had truly seen a monster, right before their eyes, on the very soil of their own nation.

The six-eyed creature strolled as if walking through its own courtyard, bathed in flames capable of incinerating all, stepping out leisurely.

The camera zoomed in; countless eyes bulged as if about to burst.

Unharmed?!

The six-eyed creature bore not a single wound; its fur, let alone injuries, didn’t even carry a speck of ash.

Everyone trembled, certain beyond doubt: this six-eyed creature was a monster.

Only a monster could withstand artillery bombardment without a scratch.

Recalling the day at Yunhu Lake, when the Lord of Ghosts appeared, commanding heaven and earth to bow, invincible to blades and bullets, one strike rivaling a carrier strike—now, comparing it to this six-eyed creature, enduring all powerful artillery without harm…

Compared thus, whether in terrifying appearance or terrifying power, the two were strikingly similar.

Further, the location—the same, Hara River District.

And the timing—their appearances differed by only two days, a very short span.

“It’s a monster, it must be a monster,” the anchor kept muttering, unsure whether speaking to himself or to viewers, his legs shaking uncontrollably.

…

Tokyo, Japan, Metropolitan Police Department conference room.

Since the plan to establish the Special Response Division for the Supernatural had only been approved two days ago, its headquarters had not yet been built, so the government temporarily housed the division in this conference room.

It was placed here precisely to avoid detection and to use the police department as camouflage.

“Professor Nakata, have you identified this creature? What’s its weakness?”

Chief Saito, now head of the Special Response Division, asked urgently.

Earlier today.

They received a report that villagers from Higashi-Ōku, Hachirin Village in Hara River District had filed a complaint: a monster had appeared on Hachirin Mountain, descended, and slaughtered villagers; the villagers had called for help.

Reports kept coming—villagers kept calling, crying for help; finally, even the local police station in Hachirin Village phoned in, begging for assistance.

As the specialized unit for supernatural threats, they immediately dispatched personnel to investigate and remotely retrieved surveillance footage from Hachirin Village—the footage captured the monster flashing past.

Immediately, Chief Saito ordered the division into Level One Emergency Status.

At first, he tried to communicate with the monster; after all, from the Yunhu incident, not all monsters were bloodthirsty—some were rational, like Cimu-dōji—but this monster killed everyone without hesitation, utterly bloodthirsty.

Saito changed his orders: command everyone present to capture the monster and request military support.

It was unfortunate, yet fortunate—the monster had moved slowly, as if on a spring outing, not rushing, carefully observing every place it passed, searching for humans to devour, giving police time to evacuate residents and wait for military reinforcements like tanks to arrive.

He had thought the military’s arrival would help—turns out he was wrong.

This monster was no ordinary minor demon; it was at least a Great Dōjō-level great demon.

“We’re almost there.”

Professor Nakata and over a dozen demonology experts and analysts were frantically flipping through documents, searching online analyses.

“Hurry up!”

Chief Saito grew impatient—damn it, you were so sharp before, instantly identifying the Great Dōjō—why are you silent now?

At this moment, the operator hung up a call and turned around.

“Chief, the U.S. has called—they’re willing to assist us in attacking the monster, but they… they demand first rights to the monster’s corpse.”

Ever since the Yunhu incident, the U.S. had been meddling, always wanting to insert itself into monster affairs.

Monster research was too tempting a prize; as the world’s strongest power, the U.S. naturally wouldn’t let it slip away.

“Damn it!”

Chief Saito’s temper flared—since earlier, the U.S. had kept calling, demanding involvement.

Humans have selfish motives; the Japanese government didn’t want the monster falling into U.S. hands, wanted to monopolize it. As a high-ranking Japanese official, Saito naturally felt the same—he didn’t want the U.S. to take the lion’s share, wanted Japan to claim it.

So he deployed an entire division, convinced that with its firepower, he could crush the monster in a lightning strike before the U.S. could intervene—after all, it was only one monster, and it didn’t look as terrifying as the Great Dōjō, its body thin and frail.

After careful consideration, Saito clenched and unclenched his fist, finally making his decision.

“Send word through General Suzuki Kū—tell them to…”

His voice suddenly halted.

His eyes, fixed on the screen showing Higashi-Ōku, widened several times.

“This…”

…

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