Chapter 53: Beast

Do not spread it, do not know it, or disaster is destined to descend.

Do not understand it, and certainly do not borrow its power, unless you wish to become it.

Pray, if you truly encounter it—pray that its colossal foot does not happen to crush you. Pray that its beast tide does not pass through your homeland. If you are truly forced into a narrow encounter, the fool picks up his sword and fights to the last moment; the hero simply gives himself a swift death—and the latter is better for you and your kind.

Among the materials Li En obtained were the warnings left by the earliest researchers.

They said these were rules they heard from the Ancients, iron laws any researcher of the Beast must follow.

But clearly, the later researchers did not take them seriously.

【It is our origin, our ancestor—if it is truly so dangerous, what are we?】

【It brings longevity, it brings power—can you truly resist? What reason do we have not to become superior?】

【It is so benevolent, so generous—ah, becoming part of it might even be a fine choice.】

Even that ancient research journal eventually descended into madness, accompanied by contradictory mutterings.

And the other several records showed no hesitation at all—purely full throttle.

Perhaps, in their eyes, this thing had caused no trouble for centuries—it was merely an “open-pit oil mine,” naturally free for exploitation.

“The ancients did it this way, and nothing major happened—why can’t we use it casually?”

It was much like the feeling of “climate crisis” or “industrial pollution.”

Everyone knew such recklessness would eventually cause catastrophe—but since the bomb didn’t seem likely to explode in their own era, why not play freely?

With limited time, Li En only read the summaries and highlighted key passages written in elegant script—but even that was deeply alarming.

“After all, I know it’s real—and it’s going to explode soon.”

The demon god Elsena—Li En had indeed heard that name.

If his Spirit Codex hadn’t lied to him, that super bomb would detonate precisely in two years.

According to the documents, the minimum outcome would be the complete annihilation of Huicheng, turning the kingdom into a primordial wasteland.

Then secondary disasters would spread to other regions; if mishandled, the next era’s civilization would begin.

“Why does everything turn into an apocalypse?!”

Li En never imagined that simply tracking down a serial killer would ultimately lead him back to the Elsena main storyline.

“Is this the consequence of borrowing the Beast’s power?” Without needing repeated emphasis from the underlined phrases, Heike’s madness and Dina’s despair had already left Li En with an unforgettable impression.

As those ancient maxims stated: borrowing the Beast’s power is a one-way road with no return.

The Horned Ones are companions of the Beast, individuals fused with it, their humanity and bestiality locked in constant struggle and fusion.

One side grows stronger, the other weakens—but how can a human possibly defeat the infinite “origin”? A small fire cannot burn the ocean dry.

No matter how hard they struggle, no matter how much fuel they add to the fire, the end is always inevitable: assimilation by the “ocean.”

Or, before total madness, choosing death—the only escape, as with “Haiya.”

What happens after assimilation?

The Beast has only instinct, and an entity with only instinct

“A monster without heart, without emotion.”

Stepping into the cave, Li En immediately saw Maria smiling.

How could she still pretend to be human?

In his notes, Li En saw that as Experiment #113, she underwent far more extensive modifications than an ordinary Horned One.

She even performed outrageous manipulations beyond even the experimenters’ expectations, making her a top-priority research subject.

No matter how you looked at it, she should have lost all humanity long ago.

“It’s been a long time, Knight.”

The intact head of the former third boss of the slave market lay discarded on the ground.

Half was charred to bone, half crushed into bloody pulp—yet no one cared.

Reattached to the nun’s body, the female head bore obvious sutures.

All this time, her recovery ability had seemed peculiar—or rather, entirely under her control.

But as he watched the nun now bowing with clasped hands in prayer, Li En remembered their first meeting.

The woman who always gently watched the children play at Fuli Academy, welcoming him and Larry in exactly this way.

“You—” Li En’s emotions were tangled; he opened his mouth to speak.

“You—you dared to deceive me!!”

But a hoarse roar came from beside him.

Li En glanced over and gave a faint smile.

In one corner of the cave, the half-dead “Volcanic Howl” Kveirduf gasped heavily, his appearance horrific.

His right arm was gone; the boiling magma around him had cooled; one eye was blind, the other fixed rigidly on Li En.

His entire body had fully transformed into a sub-dragon form, lying there like a deformed little tyrannosaur with a grotesque human head, covered in wounds.

The severed tail, at this moment, was bitterly ironic.

The mighty boss struggled to rise, mouth gaping, but seemed to lack strength.

And the one who reduced him to this state was nearly as broken.

The last Horned One lay here, both his human and beast heads drooping, his body radiating the scent of roasted flesh.

He was Tian Ba (Eight), the leader of the Horned Ones, and a fully transformed Sky-tier (SKY) being.

Elsena was called the boundless beast that governed the boundary between sky and sea; Horned Ones used “Sky (SKY)” and “Sea (SEA)” to mark their degree of transformation, and only the completed Sky-tier bore numbered designations.

This name implied the cult had bred at least seven others.

Unlike Heike, who forcibly evolved and bit off his secondary head, Tian Ba’s two heads were both his own—regrown from nothing—signifying his complete evolution from human to beast.

The documents noted that such monsters were not on the same level as newly transformed Horned Ones.

Li En didn’t care how strong he was—now, the strategy of driving the wolf to devour the tiger had succeeded; he had no need to know the enemy’s full strength.

The unfortunate soul similarly ruined by Li En now stared fixedly at him.

He had only his upper body left; his lower half remained submerged in magma, his entire form reduced to half a shoulder, two heads, and one arm—yet he still lived.

“Aren’t you Carlo Hilda, Young Master? Do you know your family is gone?”

Li En replied with the newly acquired information.

“Roar roar roar (My family? What happened to my family?!).” The beast, still somewhat rational, grew frantic upon hearing it.

“How pitiful—you can’t even speak?” Li En, who clearly understood beast-tongue, pretended not to.

Li En didn’t even look at him; his gaze turned to his old acquaintance—Kveirduf, who had nearly driven him to death just two days ago.

“How could I deceive you? We’re on the same side. The Hilda family has been branded a heretical cult, hunted down by the Huicheng Guard—they’re enemies of the entire city. How could you believe an enemy’s words?”

Li En walked forward with a smile, as if to rescue his ally.

Kveirduf remained skeptical, his single eye still wary.

But the next moment, he couldn’t look away.

“A little gift.”

A moderate healing potion—perhaps exactly what Kveirduf needed most right now.

And the other item made his eyes bulge.

It was a red gem, like blood, like a heart, radiating brilliant light.

“Hero’s Blood!”

Before the artifact, the dragon’s greed instantly clouded his vision; his gaze followed the thrown gem up and down.

“With this, I can not only fulfill my duty—I can tear off a piece and evolve!” For Kveirduf, a pseudo-dragon unable to integrate his own abilities, Hero’s Blood was vital to replenish his foundation.

In truth, if he hadn’t urgently needed it himself—and hadn’t planned from the start to keep a portion—he wouldn’t have come down here personally.

He didn’t even care about the healing potion tossed his way; knowing Li En was willing to cooperate was enough.

His remaining arm shot up eagerly, ready to grasp the floating gem.

“Judgment of the Sin Realm.” A whisper, yet murmured.

“Detect Evil.” A red glow surged toward him.

“Slay the Heretic.”

But accompanying the gem came also the calm declaration of war—and the silver flash of a strike.

Who knew how much evil and corruption Kveirduf had accumulated? At this moment, his evil surpassed every record Li En had ever witnessed.

And the “Slay the Heretic” technique, fused into the battle sword and armor, unleashed its maximum potential.

“You—”

Even now, Kveirduf’s face was filled with utter bewilderment—he couldn’t comprehend what had happened.

Why cut me? Why not cut the one over there?! Didn’t you say we were allies?! Don’t Holy Knights never lie?!

He stared wide-eyed, face filled with disbelief and incomprehension.

His throat and half his jaw had been severed, only the nape and membrane still clinging.

Li En’s blade was drenched in blood—he too was surprised. You Kveirduf had no demon regeneration; how could you still be alive?

“Slay the Heretic!” Then, strike twice more.

“Stop! I—” The mighty slave trader boss still tried to reason!

And at this moment, the noble Holy Knight behaved like a seasoned bandit.

One slash, then another—like a cheerful lumberjack, the cheerful Holy Knight cut harder and harder.

“Crack.” With a snapping sound, the last membrane and bone were severed.

The “Volcanic Dragon’s” iron-hard skull finally fell, its face still frozen in shock and utter disbelief—even in death.

“Why kill me?”

“Aren’t we on the same side? Don’t we have no grudge against each other?”

“Why!!!”

But no one would answer him.

Even at the moment of his death, his only arm still clutched the ruby tightly.

In fairy tales, powerful evil dragons often die from greed, arrogance, and underestimation.

This death for a false dragon might be quite fitting.

Li En no longer looked at the corpse, turning instead to the remaining two “beasts.”

As for Kvielduv? Like Eugene, he was important in life, but after death, no one cared.

After the third boss, who managed equipment sales, and the fourth boss, who managed accounts, died, the slave market lost its grand boss who ruled over all.

Predictably, the sole remaining second boss—the one overseeing surveillance—could not control the situation; the slave market would descend into prolonged chaos and unrest.

During this time, they could barely maintain their own business and trade networks. The changes in the dock district, the rising powers—of course they had neither time nor inclination to care.

He was alive, always a major nuisance; now that he was dead, it was good for Li En and the entire dock district.

So, they killed him.

“His death makes things much easier for Dimon and me. While the slave market is in chaos, we’ll establish legitimate businesses in the dock district. People there will live better, especially the children, who will grow up with honest livelihoods.”

Li En calmly stated his motive for murder, and to onlookers, the scene was absurdly comical.

A sentencing paladin explained his reasons for murder to a serial killer.

Maria, who had silently watched all along, still merely smiled.

“I knew you didn’t care.”

Li En sighed; he never intended to convince his opponent—that was impossible.

Perhaps he was simply saying what he needed to say.

Perhaps he was speaking to the Maria who once was a “Mother Superior.”

Now? The figure before him was merely a vessel possessed by a demon.

The original person had long been gone.

But perhaps, one could treat it as a tomb, a symbolic grave?

The Li En of now was, in truth, visiting a grave.

“Aaaaaa!! (Damn it!)”

At that moment, Tiba, whose attention had been drawn, was pierced through by a wooden short sword, still faintly glowing with flame.

Flesh around the wound rapidly turned to wood; the mighty demon, already on the brink of death, was swiftly transformed into a grotesque, writhing wooden carving.

This was pine resin, literally a calming incense.

It was said that in the Age of Beasts, Elsena loved to lie at the edge of pine forests after wildfires, breathing in the pine scent as she slept peacefully.

Because of this habit, when its Beast Factor came into contact with pine resin, it became utterly inert, slipping into a dormant state.

Those unfortunate souls who had been implanted with the Beast Factor would also be dragged into eternal slumber within their wooden flesh.

For beasts, this was an aid to hibernation; for ordinary humans who accepted the Beast Factor, it meant eternal sleep.

The mighty Sky Beast was thus slain in a single strike, struggling helplessly.

Even Talia, who had delivered the thrust, wore a face of shock.

This was the advantage of intelligence—and thanks to Shaliman sending this wooden blade via her familiar, it proved invaluable.

Li En had no desire to see what other tricks the Sky Beast might have had.

“Don’t you care about anything?”

In response to Li En, the false person merely smiled.

She had watched it all—the death of the false dragon, the assassination of the Great Horned Disciple—still smiling.

Li En sighed, drawing his sword again.

At that moment, the silent Spirit Tome suddenly offered an unsolicited prompt.

【Detected evolution material: Shattered False Dragon Soul (Gold). Absorb?】

(End of Chapter)