The Final Struggle

Something strange happened before the Beast Horde waiting to be slaughtered: the ferocious bugs stopped killing them.

An ordinary Zergling walked up to the Beast Horde and began communicating through gestures, pointing a bone blade in one direction.

Looking that way, they saw the bugs surrounding the Beast Horde clear a path. The bugs seemed to want the Beast Horde to follow them.

All magical beasts possessed intelligence, and High-Level Magical Beasts were smarter than ordinary humans.

Though they did not understand why the bugs were doing this, being alive offered some hope, compared with being killed and lying cold on the ground.

The few remaining High-Level Magical Beasts took the lead and followed (they had been priority targets throughout and had suffered the greatest losses), then came the magical beasts, and finally the beasts with little intelligence followed their instincts and went along.

There were magical beasts and ordinary beasts that resisted, but before the Swarm could act, the High-Level Magical Beasts took the initiative and killed them.

To survive, even beasts would do everything they could to prove their worth.

Two thousand combat bugs escorted the ten-thousand-strong Beast Horde into the Hatchery through another passage. A simple operation on their brains awaited them.

The Executor had said to raise them, so they would try taming them first. They were unimportant anyway.

The large-scale battle in the underground passages had been settled. The Frost Serpent was difficult to deal with, but it could not escape, either. They would overwhelm it with numbers until it died.

The fighting underground was almost over by the time the Beast Horde on the surface finally reached the defensive position set up to intercept them. More than a dozen even larger Flesh Towers came into view.

These Flesh Towers were not only larger, standing as tall as the Behemoth, but each now had as many as five terrifying spiked tentacles, with organs resembling needle sacs around the middle.

Behind these giant Flesh Towers stood an even larger Flesh Structure. It rose like a small mountain, with quite a few even larger spiked tentacles growing from it.

These tentacles were more enormous still, their interlocking spikes exceptionally terrifying.

"The big snake is in trouble. Before my Bluebird disappeared, it saw a lot of bad things. There are still lots and lots of bugs. They routed the Beast Horde and surrounded the big snake. I don't know whether it can escape, but it's already too deep in."

The Storm Dragonhawk, which had seemed somewhat distracted all along, finally told the Behemoth the truth about what had happened underground after seeing the scene before them.

The battle had begun and ended very quickly. The Storm Dragonhawk had still been preparing what to say when it was all over.

Seemingly unsurprised by the Storm Dragonhawk's words, the Behemoth did not even turn to look at it.

It simply watched the hellish scene before it. Those dozen or so giant Flesh Towers would all be difficult to handle, let alone that mountain-sized thing.

Just watching in silence, the Behemoth could sense a terrifying power brewing beneath this place, making it tremble.

The pressure it exerted was no less than that of Behemoth's breathing, perhaps even stronger.

From afar, several streams of the Swarm could be seen pouring out from the foot of the Meat Mountain. Their long ranks stretched on without end, their numbers certainly exceeding those of the remaining Beast Horde.

"Big bird, go. Me and the big snake can't escape. You've got wings. You might still survive." To make its words more convincing, the Behemoth knocked on the hardened lumps on its body, broke off a piece, and crushed it into powder.

In truth, there was little affection between the Legendary Beasts. They merely knew of one another's existence, rarely communicated, and lived within their own territories.

Behind one another's backs, they even liked to disparage each other. For instance, the Frost Serpent thought the Behemoth was an idiot with muscles for brains, while the Behemoth thought the Frost Serpent was a sinister, cunning coward who liked launching sneak attacks.

The flying Storm Dragonhawk considered itself the strongest Sky Overmind, superior to every creature that ran on the ground.

Never mind friendship; even their feelings for one another were shallow. Had Behemoth not been about to awaken, the three of them might never have met.

But at this moment, as they were about to face a parting of life and death, an inexplicable feeling arose in the hearts of the two Legendary Beasts.

If possible, each hoped the other could survive. Better still, both of them would survive.

In the past, the Storm Dragonhawk would have flown high into the sky and left without the Behemoth needing to say anything.

But now it truly hesitated. That strange feeling made it hesitate.

Just as the Storm Dragonhawk was about to shake its head, refuse, and stay to fight, the Behemoth suddenly rushed forward with extraordinary speed and grabbed it.

This terrified the Storm Dragonhawk. The Behemoth was astonishingly large; once caught, it would surely be doomed.

In a real head-on battle, it would have used attrition tactics. Its wings and ability to fly were its advantages, while the Behemoth's advantage was brutally simple: strength.

Just as the Storm Dragonhawk was about to gather Psionics and take action, the Behemoth lifted it sideways and hurled it toward the Death Forest like a javelin.

"I told you to get going, you stupid bird!" Apart from the wind rushing past its ears, all it could hear was the Behemoth's final roar.

The Storm Dragonhawk quickly steadied itself. After casting a look filled with complicated emotions at the Behemoth on the ground, it transformed into a storm and flew away.

Seeing that the Storm Dragonhawk had finally left, the Behemoth felt reassured.

It turned toward the giant Flesh Towers. Vast numbers of bugs were already prepared for battle, their lines formed, standing as silent as death itself.

Despite their enormous advantage, they still adopted a defensive stance to meet the attack.

The Behemoth spat disdainfully to one side. Since the bugs lacked the courage to attack, it would do so itself.

A thunderous roar erupted from the Behemoth's throat. Roaring, it charged toward the Swarm, toward the giant Flesh Towers, toward bone blades, steel needles, and spikes.

As it ran with all its might, it shattered the hardened mucus on its body, its footsteps leaving great craters in the Creep.

The Behemoth's body grew larger, from eight meters to ten, and finally to twelve.

It was a legendary giant beast in every sense, an undisputed symbol of strength.

Meanwhile, deep underground, the Frost Serpent coiled its body and began to rest. Its surroundings were entirely ice, glittering and translucent. This seemed like a world of ice and snow rather than the dark, dangerous underground.

A sizzling sound of melting ice broke the tranquility of this beautiful frozen world. A hole melted through an enormous block of ice, and a strange Purple Liquid flowed in through it.

The Purple Liquid rapidly corroded the ice, soon eating out a three-meter-long opening. The Frost Serpent roused itself, raised its head, and stared at the opening with murderous intent.

Soon, dozens of Venomspiders crawled inside. The fine hairs on their bodies protected them against the cold, and their jointed legs could grip the ice. Battle was about to erupt.