"Leo, I never imagined your senses were so keen. I can't feel any sense of dread at all. Still, anyone at full beastification or above seems able to sense it, because we're already close to the Sky Lion Sacred Beast Head. Leo, do you know what a sacred beast is?"
"What is a sacred beast?"
At the eldest princess's question, Merlin paused. He had heard of sacred beasts. According to legend, even in the ancient world, sacred beasts stood at the pinnacle of all giant beasts. They were the strongest of them all.
But Merlin had never really looked into what a sacred beast actually was.
"Lisa, do you know what a sacred beast is?"
Merlin suppressed the dread in his heart and asked in a low voice.
"Of course I know what a sacred beast is. Most people only know that, in the ancient Giant Beast World, giant beasts were so numerous they practically covered the land and sky. They were the undisputed rulers of the entire world. But who knows what came before the age of ancient giant beasts? Before that age, the world was actually a barren wasteland, with only a handful of giant beasts. They were born naturally, directly bearing the world's will, and enjoyed the favor of almost the entire world. Those giant beasts were the sacred beasts!"
"Later, perhaps those sacred beasts felt the world was too desolate, or perhaps their battles with one another spilled their blood onto the ground. As sacred beasts, every drop of their blood possessed unimaginably miraculous power. In time, powerful giant beasts gradually emerged from that blood. They were the descendants of sacred beasts, possessing some of their power, though they fell far short of the sacred beasts themselves. That was how the ancient giant beasts came to