Chapter 203: Anarchy
Outside the hive, the world could only be described as anarchy. The corpses of beasts filled the islands and oceans, causing the salty winds to carry a grotesque metallic fishy scent with it that made one"s heart shudder.
As expected, the oceanic creatures had completely lost their minds, rus.h.i.+ng for the Project Hunt Island without any sorts of reservations. Unfortunately, many of them were completely unable to do much of anything on land.
This truth led to a tragic scene. Many animal carca.s.ses lay near the sh.o.r.e. Large and small fish and once majestic sharks lay dead, rotting in the open air. Beside them, even those creatures that could breathe air like whales, eels and dolphins found themselves without the ability to move on land, leaving them completely stranded.
However, this reality didn"t stop them at all. Even now, many were still struggling, madly swinging their tails and fins as they tried to inch just a bit closer to their target.
This scene played out all across the island. Most of the creatures fell near the sh.o.r.e, but some managed to travel deeper, causing the dense forests to be littered with corpses.
All of this alone was enough to paint the picture of the cruel reality wrought by the Force Eruption, but things further in were even worse than this.
Not all the beasts were stalled by their immobility. Among them, there were still creatures like crabs, lobsters, frogs and turtles that made their way through. Many of them were freshwater creatures that still somehow managed to make their way to this place, making it all the more obvious just how wide the effects of the Force Eruption had reached.
Beyond them, there were other creatures who normally wouldn"t be able to make it this far who managed to awaken abilities that broke past their usual limitations. This resulted in scenes of fish swimming through the air, unwilling to allow anything to stop them from reaching their destination.
But, reality only grew more cruel.
Even when these creatures managed to pa.s.s the initial barrier, they were met by yet another. Many creatures died trying to pa.s.s over the valleys. They lacked the intelligence of humans and didn"t even consider trying to find another path forward, only believing they had to follow their senses toward the dense surge of Force.
Corpses began to pile up within the valleys as beast after beasts fell to their deaths, their agonizing screams being the only marks they left on the world in their final moments.
This should have been enough. By now, the number that had died touched the tens of thousands. Many of these beasts didn"t have great abilities or power, they only came here seeking out a chance and they paid for it with their lives… But things still somehow managed to get worse.
There was a small percentage of beasts that did manage to make it through. But, instead of being rewarded for their efforts, they were met by a legion of beasts left behind by Simeon.
Another b.l.o.o.d.y scene was left. How could those beasts compare to the organized a.s.sault of the beast kings? They were just a loose pile of sand, sporadically entering the center of the island without a thought other than getting closer to the source of Force.
Even with the bear king dead and the spider king heavily injured, the beasts were slaughtered one after another. At least… in the beginning.
Though the beast horde couldn"t compare to the beast king legion, what remained true was that there were just too many of them. While each beast king only had a hundred or two under their control, the beasts came in tides of a few hundred each time.
If it wasn"t for the fact the beast kings only had to defend one direction thanks to the valleys and that most of the beast horde couldn"t compare to the beast kings in strength, they would have already been overrun.
Even then, after a week of this, the spider king finally fell to his injuries. A week after that, it was the tiger king who fell.
With each successive death, the protective army grew weaker. The loss of a beast king also meant that their legions would scatter as well, losing their minds just like the horde of beasts that was attacking them.
"This is madness."
A familiar young girl stood on the branch of a tall tree outside the center of the island, looking forward as though her eyes could pierce through everything.
On the opposite side of the same tree, a familiar young man stood as well, shaking his head.
"I knew that a Force Eruption could cause a lot of trouble in a low level world like ours, but I still didn"t think it would be this bad…"
"It can"t be helped, the beasts haven"t fully developed their intelligence yet…" The girl mumbled.
The higher level the world, the rarer and more valuable Force Eruptions were. But, at the same time, it would come with more intelligent beasts who could think and reason just like humans could. In such cases, would they lose their minds like this and charge ahead without thinking of the overall situation? Of course not.
That said, that didn"t mean high level beasts would ignore such events. In fact, it might even be possible for those high level beasts to take advantage of the less intelligent ones beneath them to clear out all opposition.
But still, even in those cases, the scene would be much more controlled.
"Should we go? If we let any more of those beast kings fall, it"ll be even more difficult to want to get them out of that hive." The young man said.
"Don"t you find it weird that these beasts are just standing there? There has to be a reason that they"re the only ones who didn"t lose their minds."
"It might be that one of those Promising Youths has a beast control ability…"
"If they have a beast control ability, why did they run to the hive instead of charging out of the island? With control over that many, it would have been easy. The only logical conclusion is that these beasts are controlled by the Brazinger family people, so we have to be more cautious."
As though confirming her words, the young lady"s eyes narrowed as she noticed a young man wearing an odd monocle walking out from one of the tunnels with his hands clasped behind his back. Just by his red hair and eyes, she could tell that this young man was from that family.
The beasts immediately reacted to this young man"s appearance, taking defensive stances around him.
The young woman sighed. Sometimes she hated being right.
Suddenly, the situation changed once again. Let alone the two Old Hutch had sent, even Simeon looked up with shock evident in his eyes.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The white geyser of Force suddenly concentrated into a fine line. It compressed on itself to the point it became a blinding gold that outshone even the sun hanging high in the skies.
Then, it exploded, sending a rain of gold in all directions.
The raging roars and the b.l.o.o.d.y battle all suddenly came to an end. In fact, everything, including the young man and woman, Simeon and even the beasts, sat on the ground, closing their eyes in meditation.
For those few moments, it felt as though everything in the world was clear to them.