Starting Out As The God of Beasts

The wild, untamed wilderness surrounding their hideout was known as the Ouyang Forest—a dense, mist-shrouded woodland stretching across the jagged territory connecting four human villages.

Deep within this ancient forest, where thick canopies choked out the moonlight and twisted roots dug into the damp soil, resided a few dozen Beast-stage F-class Abominations.

These were twisted, corrupted beasts born from world’s mana leaks—creatures devoid of reason, driven purely by insatiable hunger and violent territorial instincts.

It was into these dark woods that Duchess Eurenia and Duchess Alisa had quietly ventured, intent on securing a quick, high-calorie meal to replenish their exhausted physical reserves.

Unbeknownst to both Martial Generals, a single silver feather detached itself from the shadow of the banyan tree near their cave.

In a soft ripple of divine transformation, Roy altered his physical form, morphing seamlessly into a silent, elegant Moonlight Bird.

His brilliant gold-and-silver plumage absorbed the ambient dark, making him completely invisible to mortal and spiritual senses alike.

With a silent flap of his wings, he glided smoothly into the night sky, tailing his two followers from the high shadows above.

As he watched their shadowy figures darting between the towering trunks, Roy maintained a watchful, calculating gaze.

Though he was a Divine Spirit and the God of Beasts—a revered entity ascending toward true divinity—he was neither omnipotent nor omnipresent.

He could not read every passing thought in the minds of his subjects, nor could he police their every desire through sheer faith alone.

To lead a kingdom and effectively maneuver his champions across the complex chessboard of the Ten Continents, he needed to observe them in their candid, unmonitored moments.

He needed to understand their deepest ambitions, their instinctual habits, and the boundaries of their loyalty.

Furthermore, as Roy planned the eventual expansion of his divine influence across human territories, monitoring how his highest generals handled unscripted encounters in foreign lands provided invaluable foresight.

For now, his golden eyes remained fixed on the two fast-moving Martial Generals below.

Minutes passed in silent, rapid movement.

After crossing a hidden threshold deep within the central sector of the forest, Eurenia and Alisa brought their strides to an abrupt, instantaneous halt.

Crouching upon a massive, moss-covered branch high above the forest floor, the two Duchesses looked down into a moonlit clearing.

There, loitering over a shattered wooden cart, stood a massive, terrifying creature: a Four-Horned Gigantic Deer.

It was a prime example of a Beast-stage F-class Abomination. Its dark hide was thick as iron plate, and four jagged, obsidian horns curved dangerously from its skull. Its eyes glowed with an eerie, unholy violet light, and its elongated maw was lined with row upon row of razor-sharp, carnivorous fangs.

At that very moment, the monstrous deer was feasting upon the gruesome corpse of an unfortunate young human woman who had crossed its path.

The sickening sound of tearing flesh and crunching bone echoed through the quiet woods, its lower jaw drenched in warm, dripping blood.

Hidden safely within the deep canopy shadows, Eurenia and Alisa exchanged a brief, casual look.

"A Beast-stage..." Alisa whispered barely above a breath, her voice cool and analytical.

Though F-class Abominations had long fallen into chaotic corruption—completely stripped of the ability to gain higher intelligence or speech—they made up for their lack of sentience with terrifying, raw physical strength.

A single Beast-stage F-class Abomination possessed enough sheer momentum to crush ten fully equipped human mortals without a second thought.

Furthermore, they held the innate ability to draw out and instinctively project wild, unrefined mana, making them exceptionally lethal encounters for standard human mercenaries.

In human lands, hunting a Beast-stage beast typically demanded a coordinated raid squad of high-tier Martial Warriors or a veteran Martial Master.

However, once an F-class Abomination crossed the threshold into the Monster-stage, they became anomalies that defied conventional logic.

Monster-stage Abominations possessed a dark, twisted beastial will—a subconscious authority that allowed them to warp the physical world through unique, terrifying abilities known as Traits.

A Trait operated much like an absolute martial skill, dictated entirely by the Abomination’s corrupted nature.

Because of these unpredictable Traits, Monster-stage beasts were strictly handled by elite human Martial Generals.

For Eurenia and Alisa, however, a mere Beast-stage creature held zero threat.

Eurenia’s golden eyes flashed with a hungry, predatory glint. A sharp, arrogant grin spread across her stunning face as she turned to her companion.

"Let me take this one," Eurenia whispered softly, her fingers flexing as her Varanium steel gauntlets clicked.

"I’ll make it quick."

Alisa casually shrugged her sleek shoulders, leaning back against the tree trunk. "Do as you like. Just do not ruin the marrow; I prefer my meat untainted by ruptured bile."

Eurenia offered a single, fierce nod.

SWOOSH!

Without another word, Eurenia vanished from the branch.

She moved at such blinding, supersonic speed that the air behind her didn’t even have time to register her displacement.

Before the Four-Horned Deer could even register a shift in the wind, a dark blur materialized directly above its massive skull.

BANG!

A deafening, violent explosion of raw physical force shattered the quiet of the night.

Eurenia brought her armored heel down in a brutal, descending axe-kick.

The sheer weight of her Martial General power crushed the monster’s skull instantly into absolute dust.

The gigantic deer didn’t even have time to scream—its multi-ton body was slammed violently into the earth, cratering the forest floor and pulverizing its vital organs in a fraction of a second.

RUMBLE...

However, the sheer, unchecked power of Eurenia’s casual strike sent a violent shockwave radiating outward for miles through the soil.

The ground trembled, tearing through ancient root systems and sending a massive sonic boom echoing deep into the uncharted subterranean caverns resting far beneath the forest floor.

Eurenia landed gracefully beside the steaming carcass, tossing her long hair over her shoulder with a satisfied smirk.

"See? Clean and—"

She froze.

High above in the night sky, perched silently upon a swaying branch in his Moonlight Bird form, Roy slightly tilted his avian head.

His gold-crimson flecked eyes narrowed as a strange, unnerving sensation rippled through his divine consciousness.

The shockwave from Eurenia’s strike had shattered an ancient, hidden seal deep beneath the earth.

From the deepest, sunless trench buried miles under the Ouyang Forest, something massive, primordial, and deeply monstrous stirred from its centuries-long slumber.