【The Rise of the Ugly Monster】 The End of an Era

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"BOAAAAAAAAAH!?"

The Land Whale let out a scream.

It was not a roar of anger laced with murderous intent, as it had been until now.

It was a cry filled with pain—and bewilderment.

Those emotions were palpably clear in its voice.

The sheer volume of the cry produced a terrifying shockwave, pulverizing and blowing away the surrounding debris.

"............"

Emi watched the scene intently, maintaining her posture by stabbing her 【Black Tentacles】 deep into the ground.

She crushed and brushed away the debris that occasionally flew toward her with the back of her hand, continuing her analysis.

The Land Whale had screamed like this once before.

At that time, Emi had been in the middle of unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks... but this time was different.

Having sensed an abnormality in the Land Whale, Emi had distanced herself to observe the situation.

And in the midst of that, the scream erupted.

In other words, who was making the Land Whale suffer?

Emi was certain!

"...Dokugegon did it!"

<Ehhh... did he really do it...? Did he deliver a fatal blow? That bird... to this Land Whale?>

Unlike Emi, who nodded slowly and quietly praised Dokugegon, her companion Omake-sama was deeply bewildered.

<Isn't this development a bit too convenient? ...This level of fate-manipulation, perhaps... >

"............"

Ignoring Omake-sama, who was muttering something in her mind... Emi leaped.

Creating a small crater in the ground, Emi vanished.

In less than a second, she appeared directly before the Land Whale's eyes.

"RAAAH!!!"

And Emi unleashed a right straight!

A 【Magic Strike】 delivered by pouring an immense amount of magic power into her fist!

BOOOOOOOM!!!

An explosion echoed, sounding as if it were more than just a punch, and the Land Whale's forehead... was gouged open!

If the Land Whale were as it had been until now, that painful wound should have been healed instantly, accompanied by a plume of white smoke.

But now, it was different.

Healing had certainly begun, little by little... but.

The recovery speed was clearly slow!

"BOAH... BOAH!?"

The wound did not heal immediately, and the pain would not subside.

Bewildered by this unprecedented anomaly, the land whale let out a pathetic shriek of distress!

<Emi, um... I want you to listen calmly, but most likely, Dokugegon is... >

"Omake-sama, the details later."

After punching the Land Whale, Emi kicked off its skin to leap back to the ground. She silenced Omake-sama, who was trying to say something, and raised her right hand.

The 【Black Tentacles】 extending from her shoulders and back coiled around her right hand... growing longer and thicker.

Under the falling snow, a giant sword that seemed to pierce the clouds was completed... the 【Black Greatsword】!

Emi gripped the completed weapon with both hands, holding it high.

"Now, let's kill it!!"

With that shout... she charged toward the Land Whale!

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<<<Don't screw with me, hey!! HEY!!! DON'T SCREW WITH ME!!!>>>

Poisonous liquid was gushing from the Kodoku Organ like a fountain!

Ragi circled the area with a crackling sound, wailing.

<<<What—ugh, what are we going to do about this, huh!? I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!!! I, the great me!!! HUH!!!>>>

But no matter how much he wailed or lamented, the momentum of the poisonous liquid did not stop!

The Kodoku Organ began to melt, emitting puffs of smoke... and eventually, the vast amount of magic power stored within began to erupt!

Like air leaking from a balloon... a wind carrying a golden light blew violently through the stomach!

<<<Aaaah!!!>>>

Simultaneously, Ragi's body began to flicker!

He had used the magic power he sucked up from the Kodoku Organ to create a body composed of lightning and magic.

Therefore.

If the source of magic power was destroyed, the disappearance of his body was inevitable!

<<<DAMMIT!!! DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT!!!>>>

With that final scream, Ragi's body... vanished from the Land Whale's stomach.

However, this did not mean that the entity known as Ragi had ceased to exist at that moment.

Until now, he had used magic to reproduce his former appearance... but his essence was a wraith.

A wraith that had 【Possessed】 the Land Whale's bio-electricity.

Thus, realizing he could no longer maintain his lightning body, Ragi immediately discarded it and rudely fled into the Land Whale's "consciousness."

If he didn't, his very existence would vanish.

Normally, if he did such a thing... the Land Whale would have noticed his presence and erased him in some way.

That was why he had been so cautious, even when hijacking the visual information.

But the Land Whale, overwhelmed by pain and confusion, had no room to pay attention to Ragi's existence.

It hurts!!

What happened!?

Why!?

The thoughts currently occupying the Land Whale's mind were... infantile, primitive, and instinctive screams, completely unbecoming of the sovereign who had reigned over the Plateau of Behemoths for thousands of years.

The Land Whale had been an overwhelmingly powerful existence.

Especially recently, he had not struggled against any opponent he faced.

...Consequently, he was exceptionally weak to pain.

<<<GYAAAAAAAH!?>>>

Ragi, who had fled into the Land Whale's consciousness... ended up sharing the pain the Land Whale was feeling!

<<<IT HURTS!!! IT HURTS!!! GYAAAAAAH!?>>>

However, Ragi was different from the Land Whale, who was merely curling up in pain.

After all, he had "died" once.

That was why he didn't want to die again.

That desire was far stronger than that of the Land Whale.

The terror of feeling one's own ego unravel and vanish into a cold, dark void...

He would never go through that again!

<<<Hey... you big lump!!! Struggle... do something!!!>>>

Not knowing what to do... but desperate to do something, Ragi tried to hijack the Land Whale's body, which was only groaning in pain, and force it to move.

But he couldn't.

The Land Whale's mountain-like body... was supported by vast magic power.

Magic power is produced and stored by the soul.

While that might have been true in the age of myths, modern creatures generally do not possess a soul large enough to maintain a body as colossal as the Land Whale's.

In truth, even the Land Whale didn't.

Instead, he had the Kodoku Organ.

Until just now.

In other words, now that he had lost the Kodoku Organ, the oversized Land Whale could not even maintain his body, let alone move it!

<<<Aaaah!!! DAMMIT!!!>>>

"RAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Despairing at the helpless situation, Ragi cursed... and in his vision—no, in the Land Whale's vision.

Something black entered the frame.

It was Emi.

The human-shaped monster who, together with the pest of a monster in the stomach, had cornered the Land Whale and Ragi to this point.

In her hand, she held a dark, ominous greatsword so massive it looked as if it could cleave a mountain and create a valley.

<<<Aaaah...>>>

He didn't even have to think about it.

That monster intended to use that greatsword to behead the Land Whale.

The Land Whale's body, having lost its vast supply of magic power, could not withstand that blow.

The act would likely be accomplished without any resistance.

The body wouldn't move, and the barnacles clinging to the skin were silent now that their magic supply had been cut off.

The whale lice were too weak to be relied upon.

There were no means of interception.

<<<Ah...>>>

At that moment, a "life flashing before one's eyes" began to flow through Ragi's vision.

His childhood, where he continued to kill every monster he encountered...

His youth, where he indulged in pleasure by slaughtering all the Land Whales of his own kind who tried to cozy up to him...

And his prime, where he acted like a god as the sovereign of the Plateau of Behemoths, continuing to devour the lives of the plateau as he pleased...

<<<Wait, this is the Land Whale's life flashing before its eyes!!! After struggling so hard to rise to the top... is this the end!?>>>

"BOAAAAAAAAAH!?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

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DOGO-OOOOOON!!!

...ZUUUUUUUN...!!

Two sounds echoed across the Plateau of Behemoths.

One was the thunderous roar caused by Emi's 【Black Greatsword】... severing the Land Whale's neck and, with the remaining momentum, carving a deep valley into the earth.

And the other was the sound of the Land Whale's head being caught by the ground.

Afterward, the Plateau of Behemoths was enveloped in silence.

The snow that had been falling stopped abruptly for some reason.

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In the clouds hovering above the Land Whale, a perfectly round aperture had opened up.

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Rising toward that opening, like bubbles welling up from the depths, streamed a golden light that radiated from the Land Whale's entire body.

The giant beasts of the plateau, who usually fought and devoured each other's flesh, stood side by side at this moment, gazing blankly at the sight.

And seeing this scene, every creature, no matter how low their intelligence, understood with their very soul.

That an era had come to an end.