Chapter 101: Monster! (Requesting first subscriptions)

On the road beside the Piekitara family convoy, at the corner of that intersection, there was first a series of explosions and bursts of flame.

Then countless civilians came flooding out in a frenzy, crying and screaming, tumbling over themselves as they fled.

Next, vehicles of every kind, from those weighing over a ton to those weighing several tons, and even yachts that should have been out on the river, were hurled through the air as though they were weightless toys.

Whole cars crashed from dozens of meters above, crushing people into pulp. Flying shards of metal and plastic would then pierce human bodies like dolls.

Not to mention ordinary people: even so-called fighters hailed as "beyond human" would meet no different end beneath that force.

Its killing efficiency was too high.

Before the panicked crowd even realized they could escape into the side streets, blood had already spread across the ground, and the road where humanity had been wiped out sank back into calm.

Or rather, into silence.

Stranded in the convoy by the emergency, large numbers of bewildered civilians stepped out of their cars.

Through that narrow side street, they stared at the newly born flesh-and-blood hell in a country long accustomed to peace.

The atmosphere at the scene was like a taut string trembling on the brink of madness.

Tense, fragile, something no one dared touch, even lightly.

By then, Bai Tangjing and the others had also realized the convoy could not move. They were just about to open the doors and evacuate on foot.

But just as the few with the best footing got out first, and only Wang Senzhengdao was still carefully helping Piekitara Mitado from the car—

even silence was shattered.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

The unimaginably heavy footsteps even shook the earth, as if they would split the eardrums apart.

It seemed the thing that had caused this massacre would bring down its feet while trampling over human screams and howls.

A ferocious, violent stench spread everywhere, as though even the air around them were silently gnawing at their bodies.

All the humans were trembling involuntarily.

As if under the instinctive reaction to encountering a predator, everyone present stiffened for a brief instant, unable to stop themselves from holding their breath.

It was an order issued by the survival instincts of humankind, etched into their genes through ages long past, when faced with an absolutely unbeatable danger: play dead.

But Bai Tangjing, whose dragon-blood inner force had continued to circulate without pause since the incident at sea, kept a clear mind.

"Move, move, move!"

The young man was the first to recover from the fear buried deep within his genes.

He shouted urgently at the others, his expression more tense than even Takemoto Kyuan had ever seen.

Then he yanked Piekitara Mitado, whose upper body was still in the car, free and threw him onto Wang Senzhengdao's back.

Then he grabbed Saeko beside him, greeted his master, and the group was about to flee the street at full speed.

The dazed crowd was also stirred into motion by their departure.

The blank looks on their faces were rapidly turning into shock at witnessing something beyond all reason.

And at that moment, the true body behind those footsteps smashed through the foundation of a building and appeared before the crowd.

It was a gigantic monster, rapidly closing in on them.

No matter what the authorities called it, Bai Tangjing felt that only the kind of name once given to villains in the special-effects shows of his youth could describe it.

Its skin was rough and thick like a dinosaur's, dark yellow streaked with black. Its head, shaped like a fusion of serpent and eel, was four or five meters wide, while its round fish-like eyes looked strangely vacant.

Yet it was precisely that vacant expression that gave it an utterly absurd and suffocating pressure.

When humans hear of killing, whether human slaughter or beasts devouring man, the shock in their hearts is never too great.

But if they hear of insects devouring people, a chill suddenly surges through them.

Merciless, tearless, even somewhat inorganic... such creatures are the nightmare deepest in the heart of any intelligent being.

Was it you?

Was the calamity in Mud Bodhisattva's prophecy really you, damn it?

Within Bai Tangjing's keen awareness, the monster's oppressive presence seemed to press down like the sky collapsing.

And yet, in the midst of that pressure, so suffocating it almost forced the brain to shut itself down, a nearly tangible hatred and fury were growing through the cracks of the young man's heart.

Eight years since receiving the decree of his fated death, living each day in dread.

Eight years of inflicting every hardship imaginable upon himself, all for the sake of becoming stronger!

Was it because of you?

"Roar!"

The monster let out a bizarre howl.

The group gathered together and charged along the street. Their average martial prowess gave this small band a speed far beyond that of the panicked masses around them.

Behind them came the black-suited men from the Piekitara convoy, their skill slightly inferior.

Unlike the others, already stunned senseless by the monster's demon-king aura, Bai Tangjing had once before been shaken by a sea monster beneath the waves, back when the Fist-Wish warship had not yet reached Wish-Flow Island.

While running, he seized Wang Senzhengdao by the shoulder.

"Don't try to outrun it in the direction it's heading! You'll never win! Take the side streets!

"You lead the way!"

Though enormous size made its movements slow, its sheer length meant one stride equaled ten human strides.

The murderous rage in the young man's voice, as though it were about to overflow yet was forcibly held back by reason, jolted Wang Senzhengdao out of the blank, mechanical running that had claimed him.

Compared with the monster's presence, this was but a matchstick beside a volcano.

But it was much closer, and enough to alert Wang, as a top-tier fighter, to the danger.

"Don't be ridiculous! Won't it just chase after us? We're dead! Dead!"

In his tension, Wang Senzhengdao lashed out in a near-rant, screaming like a madman.

Instead, Piekitara Mitado, on his back, struck him hard on the head with his cane.

"Calm down, Senzhengdao! Do as he says, now!"

The old man somehow still retained a fairly clear head at a moment like this.

"That thing doesn't care about humans at all. It's just plowing straight ahead, crushing everything in its path! There are clearly far more people behind our convoy, and far more noise, but it didn't even glance that way!"

Whether Wang Senzhengdao truly understood or merely obeyed his master's command out of habit, in the end, the group still did not dare stop after turning into a side street.

They ran with heads down until, through the gaps above the alley, they caught sight of the burning high-rises in the sky behind them.

Only then did they finally exhale and lean against the walls.

By now, in this small group, besides Wang, who never left Piekitara Mitado's side, Bai Tangjing, Takemoto Kyuan, and Saeko, there were only three or four black-suited men still following.

"R-report in, all units report your numbers!"

Wang Senzhengdao gently set Piekitara Mitado down before speaking into his earpiece.

His physical condition might have stood at the very pinnacle of humanity, yet because the entire ordeal had been so tense, he was sweating and panting as though he had returned to the days when he first began learning combat.

The report coming through the earpiece seemed grim indeed.

Bang.

Wang slammed his fist into the wall behind him, his face full of defeat.

Only after Piekitara Mitado straightened up from his gasping breaths and looked at him did he finally speak, with obvious reluctance.

"Just from coming face to face with that thing, out of the forty-five convoy members..."

Twelve were confirmed dead, and the rest were scattered or missing.

Human beings were too small.

Wang Senzhengdao, who usually spent his days side by side with the head of a world-class conglomerate, had long forgotten such a feeling.