Ch 16.2

The blue flame-tailed beast, Cemmarott, raced across the continent above the vast forests of the Isle Continent. Its enormous paws struck against the invisible air as it galloped through the sky, each step propelling its colossal body forward. Thick mist poured continuously from its body, falling through the air and mixing with the clouds below, while the blue flames burning at the end of its massive tail left a brilliant trail of light across the sky.

Under normal circumstances, such a sight would have been breathtaking. But the creatures of the forest had far more immediate problems to worry about.

Across the Isle Continent, mana beasts were beginning to enter a frenzied state.

The first beasts affected were those living along Cemmarott's path. They suddenly became violent, attacking anything that moved without distinction. At first, the phenomenon appeared to be nothing more than an isolated disturbance caused by the Broodlord's passing.

But it did not remain isolated for long.

The mist erupting from Cemmarott's body was not ordinary mist. It was dense, unpurified mana, so concentrated that it contaminated the natural mana surrounding it. As Cemmarott continued traveling across the continent, the corrupted mana spread through the atmosphere, carried by the wind and absorbed into the surrounding environment.

Soon, the effects began appearing far beyond the beast's path.
Even docile, domesticated mana beasts began losing control.

A merchant traveling along a village road suddenly found his beasts charging forward without warning. They dragged the cart behind them at full speed, ignoring every command from their driver. The man desperately pulled on the reins and lashed the beasts with his whip, but they did not even flinch.

The animals continued running until the cart slammed violently into a nearby house.

Elsewhere, mana beasts broke out of their stables and attacked the very people who had raised and cared for them. Farmers watched in horror as their livestock suddenly turned against them. Even herbivorous mana beasts became savage, tearing into the flesh of anyone who came within reach.

Panic spread through the villages.

No one understood what was happening. There had been no warning, no obvious source of the disturbance, and no explanation for why creatures that had lived peacefully among humans for years had suddenly become murderous.

At the time, they had no reason to suspect the mana had been corrupted, since it had no effect on beastmen or elves. Only the mana beasts were affected, and it would take a long time for them to realize the truth.

The first villages to report the incidents were those located closest to Cemmarott's path. Their inhabitants quickly realized that the only way to protect themselves was to slaughter their own domesticated mana beasts before they could cause further casualties.

Village gates were reinforced. Barricades were erected. Guards were stationed along the walls in case wild beasts wandered into the settlements.

Unable to determine the cause themselves, the villagers began sending quests to nearby adventurers and the BRAVE Coalition, hoping that experienced adventurers could investigate the strange behavior and discover what was causing it.

But before the first investigations could even begin, reports started arriving from other settlements.

Then more. And more. The phenomenon was no longer confined to the villages along Cemmarott's path. It was spreading across the Isle Continent.

What had initially appeared to be a series of isolated incidents was rapidly becoming a continent-wide crisis.

And somewhere high above the forest, Cemmarott continued running through the sky, seemingly unconcerned by the chaos unfolding in its wake.

The beast had already covered hundreds of miles across the continent when it suddenly sensed something.

Cemmarott twisted its massive body in midair and changed direction. Without hesitation, the Broodlord descended toward the forest below.

The place where Cemmarott landed was the ancient Forest of Tridol, a region renowned for possessing some of the tallest trees in the mortal realm. Their enormous trunks stretched hundreds of feet across, while their towering canopies rose so high that they seemed to reach the heavens themselves.

Beneath those colossal trees, however, the forest was dark and damp. Only faint shafts of sunlight managed to penetrate the dense canopy above.

Countless wild mana beasts inhabited the ancient forest, but they too had fallen into a frenzy. Their roars echoed endlessly between the enormous trunks as they attacked anything that crossed their paths.

Cemmarott paid them no attention.

The Broodlord raced between the gigantic trees as though something were drawing it toward a specific destination. It weaved effortlessly through the ancient forest, its enormous body passing between trees that would have been impossible for ordinary creatures to navigate.

Eventually, Cemmarott emerged into a clearing and descended toward the base of a waterfall.

The waterfall itself was enormous, cascading down from a towering rocky cliff. Despite its immense height, however, the volume of water was relatively small. The falling stream formed a wide, shallow plunge pool before breaking apart into numerous smaller streams that flowed in different directions, nourishing the ancient Tridol trees throughout the forest.

Cemmarott landed directly in the shallow pool.

Its enormous feet struck the water with a tremendous splash, sending ripples racing across the surface. Something about the place was strange.

The plunge pool was almost perfectly circular and unusually wide. Along its muddy edges, several Jade-Toothed Crocodiles lay scattered across the banks. They were apex predators of the region, yet the creatures were currently injured and covered in blood.

Around them lay the corpses of several other crocodiles. They had butchered their own kind after entering their frenzied state. One of the surviving crocodiles suddenly noticed Cemmarott.

With a furious roar, it lunged toward the Broodlord. The instant it reached Cemmarott, its entire body disappeared in a flash of brilliant blue light. The crocodile vanished without leaving so much as a trace.

Cemmarott remained alone in the shallow pool. But the broodlord was staring at something else that stood out in this pool. At the exact center of the shallow pool stood a wooden signboard.

The crude plank had been driven upright into the ground beneath the shallow water, with a wooden arrow pointing downward. Strange scribbles had been carved across its surface.

The words read: 'Place it right here.'

Cemmarott stared at the signboard. Then its glowing blue eyes shifted at the edge of the board.

A string of prayer beads rested atop the wooden plank. An unusual concentration of mana emanated from them, energy unlike anything naturally occurring in the forest. And yet, somehow, Cemmarott recognized it.

The beads had ultimately guided the Broodlord to this location.

Cemmarott slowly stepped toward the signboard. Its massive head lowered slightly as it glared at the crude wooden message.

"That impudent brat..." The deep voice echoed across the clearing.

The next instant, both the signboard and the prayer beads erupted into blue flames. The fire consumed them instantly. Within seconds, the wooden plank and the beads had crumbled into ash.

Cemmarott stepped forward and positioned itself exactly where the signboard had stood. Its enormous tail began pulsing with blue flames. The flames grew brighter. Its eyes began glowing intensely. Then the mist pouring from Cemmarott's body suddenly intensified.

A tremendous wave of dense mist erupted from the Broodlord and spread throughout the surrounding forest. Within moments, a thick blanket of fog covered the entire area, obscuring the enormous trees and surrounding landscape from view.

It almost resembled a protective barrier. The only place that remained completely clear was the shallow pool itself. Cemmarott stood at its center.

The beast slowly stepped forward onto the surface of the water. Yet its feet did not sink. Its legs remained suspended above the pool as though an invisible platform supported its enormous weight.

Cemmarott's eyes began glowing once again.
A sudden breeze swept outward from where it stood. Ripples spread across the shallow pool. The waterfall behind it suddenly began to tremble as well. The falling stream of water bent sideways, its trajectory subtly shifting as the surrounding mana responded to Cemmarott's presence.

Then the mana in the air began to stir. Something emerged from beneath the water.

A single block of perfectly cut white stone slowly rose from the bottom of the pool. It floated upward until it reached Cemmarott's suspended feet and locked itself into place beneath the beast.

The moment the stone touched Cemmarott's feet, something extraordinary happened.

The single white stone multiplied. Four additional blocks emerged from its sides. Then those four became twelve. The twelve became thirty-six. The thirty-six became one hundred and eight.

The process continued at an accelerating rate, each new stone generating more stones around itself. Within moments, hundreds upon hundreds of perfectly cut white tiles had spread outward from Cemmarott's position.

The stones eventually formed a massive floating platform that covered almost the entirety of the shallow pool. It resembled a colossal white-tiled ritual stadium suspended just above the water. The beast stood at its exact center. Then the platform ignited.

Blue flames erupted across the white stone, racing along its surface like living veins. Wherever the flames passed, intricate magical runes were carved into the stone. Ancient symbols appeared one after another, spreading across the entire platform alongside inscriptions written in an ancient language that had long since vanished from the mortal world.

The flames continued racing across the white tiles until the final rune was completed.

Cemmarott slowly glanced down at the completed formation. Its glowing eyes narrowed. Satisfied, the Broodlord allowed the blue flames to disappear. The ritual ground fell silent.

He remained standing at the center of the floating platform, slowly scanning its surroundings. Before it stood the enormous rocky cliff from which the waterfall descended.

Behind the Broodlord, far beyond the riverbank, the gigantic Tridol trees rose through the fog like ancient pillars reaching toward the heavens. Their immense trunks were barely visible through the thick blanket of mist.

Cemmarott’s gaze swept across the area before its tail ignited, releasing brilliant blue flames. At the same moment, a blue flame appeared on the enormous cliff ahead, burning within the waterfall without being extinguished.

More flames appeared around the clearing, along the riverbanks, and on the branching streams. One after another, twelve blue flames formed a circle around the shallow pool. They did not flicker like ordinary flames. Each remained fixed in its position, burning in place like an enormous blue torch, unaffected by water or wind.

Then white stone pillars began emerging beneath the flames. Twelve enormous pillars rose from the ground, towering over the ritual platform. Each pillar bore a torch burning with blue fire.

Cemmarott stood silently at the center of the formation, surrounded by the twelve white pillars and their unnatural flames.

The Broodlord’s glowing eyes swept across the completed formation. The twelve pillars stood around it, their blue flames burning in place. Then the ancient runes beneath its feet began glowing faintly, one by one. The ritual was about to begin.

Cemmarott's eyes suddenly flared with brilliant blue light. At the same moment, a thin cut appeared across the center of its forehead. The wound slowly widened, and from within it, an a vertical eye emerged directly above its two existing eyes. A third eye had opened upon on the Broodlord's forehead.

An ancient symbol was etched into the pupil of the third eye, while strange energy continuously leaked from within it and spread across Cemmarott's forehead. The Broodlord slowly raised its head toward the sky, and the third eye blinked once.

The instant the third eye opened again, an enormous magic circle appeared among the clouds above the forest. A large, hollow triangle occupied its center, while ancient runes lined the circle’s circumference and the points where the triangle intersected the outer formation.

The enormous formation remained suspended high above the clouds. For several moments, nothing happened.

Then the symbol within Cemmarott’s third eye changed. A second magic circle appeared over the first, its central triangle angled differently. The triangle slowly rotated until the two shapes overlapped, forming a massive star at the center of the formation.

The entire magic circle began glowing with an ominous blue light. A deep hum resonated through the clouds as the distant roars of frenzied mana beasts echoed across the forest, adding an eerie undertone to the ritual.

Cemmarott brought its two forelegs together and raised its head toward the formation. As its third eye began to close, mana surged through its body and gathered within its jaws. The air surrounding its head distorted under the growing concentration of energy.

Cemmarott opened its jaws, unleashing a tremendous torrent of blue flames that expanded into a colossal beam of concentrated mana. The waterfall behind it began evaporating from the intense heat, turning into clouds of steam before the water could even reach the pool. The surrounding streams rapidly dried beneath the tremendous heat.

The beam shot toward the heavens. However, before it could reach the magic circle, a golden barrier suddenly appeared in its path. The protective formation had been concealed high above the forest, hidden from view until the moment the attack struck it.

The barrier fractured upon impact. Golden cracks spread rapidly across its surface, branching outward in every direction as it struggled to withstand the tremendous force. Moments later, the entire structure shattered, scattering fragments of golden energy across the sky.

The blue beam tore through the remains and struck the enormous magic circle.

Instead of shattering, the formation absorbed the entire attack, drawing the torrent of blue energy into itself as though it were an endless void. The surrounding clouds were violently pushed away, leaving the enormous magical structure completely exposed against the sky.

Yet the formation remained intact.

Cemmarott continued its assault for nearly twenty-five seconds, maintaining a colossal pillar of blue light that stretched from the forest floor into the heavens. The beam illuminated the surrounding forest, casting brilliant blue reflections across the waterfall and the ancient trees as the tremendous energy surged upward.

Throughout the assault, the magic circle continuously absorbed the incoming mana.

At the same time, the twelve flames surrounding the ritual platform began burning brighter. The ancient runes beneath Cemmarott’s feet glowed intensely as the entire formation responded to the immense influx of energy.

Finally, after nearly twenty-five seconds, the beam began to weaken. Cemmarott slowly closed its jaws, and the pillar of blue light vanished from the sky. For a moment, the forest fell silent.

Steam continued drifting upward from the dried waterfall, while faint traces of blue light lingered across the ritual platform.

Cemmarott stood motionless at the center of the formation, its glowing eyes fixed upon the enormous magic circle high above. The formation continued to hum ominously among the clouds for several seconds before gradually fading from view until nothing remained in the sky.

With the ritual apparently complete, the Broodlord finally rose onto all fours and began walking across the floating platform.

As Cemmarott moved, the white tiles beneath its feet began to crumble. One by one, the perfectly cut stones disintegrated and fell into the shallow pool below, where they dissolved into dust before touching the water. The blue flames atop the twelve pillars flickered briefly before being extinguished, and the pillars themselves began collapsing into piles of debris that quickly withered away.

Everything Cemmarott had conjured during the ritual began to disintegrate. The floating platform vanished, the twelve pillars crumbled, and the intricate runes carved into the stones faded into nothingness. Even the last traces of blue fire disappeared, leaving no evidence that the ritual had ever taken place.

Within moments, the clearing had returned to its original state, as though the Broodlord had never set foot there.

Cemmarott approached the edge of the shallow pool before suddenly leaping into the air. Its enormous paws struck against the invisible surface of the sky, propelling its colossal body forward as it resumed its journey across the continent.

"Now I'll hunt as I please," the Broodlord muttered in its deep voice.