Mushoku Tensei: Reincarnated as a Beast Race-Chapter 345 - Speedrun to the End of the World

Flying over the snow-covered mountains of the Red Dragon Mountain Range, it was possible to clearly perceive how that ecosystem had been drastically modified.

The battle between the Beast God and the Dragon God, five years ago, still remained engraved in everyone's memory — not only in the lands north of the Central Continent, but also in the Kingdom of Asura. Even the Conflict Zone suffered deep changes after that day.

The day when a second sun appeared in the sky.

A second sun that devastated everything in its path.

Some began to call it the Day of Judgment, especially in the Kingdom of Asura, where a large number of noble families, rotten to the core, fell along with that devastating flash.

For many, it was like a physical sign of liberation, a kind of divine punishment that struck exactly where it should.

There was even a tribe in the interior of the frozen Northern lands that began to worship that Second Sun as a God.

This was because a snow monster that had terrorized them for years was killed by the surrounding destruction caused by the explosion.

Of course, although there were consequences considered "good" by some, the event was not without damage.

All areas near the center of the Spell faced a period of unprecedented drought and heat for several months.

Temperatures exceeded forty degrees for consecutive days. The basic ecosystem was deeply affected.

There were monster stampedes in several regions, collapses in entire food chains, and violent conflicts between species that had previously coexisted with some stability.

As the epicenter of the explosion was in the mountain ranges, the heat was even more harmful to the monsters than to the kingdoms.

Many were nearly driven to extinction by the drought period, the collapse of the ecosystem, and the desperate need to prey upon one another during the chaos.

In addition, it helped enormously that Queen Ariel had mobilized all available funds and personnel to stabilize the Kingdom's security and economy.

There were also some 'miraculous' events occurring. Situations of rivers appearing out of nowhere, fertile areas suddenly reemerging, and even dangerous monsters being found dead without any direct intervention from the Kingdom's military forces.

That chaotic period lasted a full six months, until the heat gradually dissipated and the environment slowly began to return to normal.

Or at least as normal as it could be.

A huge portion of the Mountain Range was completely transformed into rubble, or simply erased from the map by the thunderous magics of the two warriors who fought there.

In any case, Ezkalor was not concerned with any of that.

The powerful Dragon was completely different from when he met Rygar, still a child. His current wingspan reached eighty meters — a colossal monster. However, it was not the size that impressed, but the strength.

Following the methods described in the Guide of the Future, Ezkalor was fed with cores and meat from monsters with high mana concentration.

With proper and constant training, he transformed that excess mana into brute strength and power.

Of course, it was not a strength advancement as fast as the growth of a human dedicated to training, but Ezkalor was a Red Dragon — and one of the most powerful among them.

His starting point was very high; even if he did nothing, he would still be classified as a Rank S or even SS beast.

After so many years, his red scales had become more vibrant and much more resistant. His muscles were denser and faster than those of any other ordinary dragon.

His fangs were sharp thanks to constant hunting. His flaming breath reached temperatures capable of turning even the world's greatest heroes into ashes.

But his strongest point was flight.

Having been forced to constantly refine his aerial capability to meet Rygar's demands, Ezkalor became an exceptional flier.

His natural talent for gravity manipulation was especially good among dragons, making him one of the best fliers in the world.

Overall, Ezkalor was one of the most dangerous beings in the world. Emperor-level warriors would have extreme difficulty penetrating his scales. Only anomalies at the God level could face him with real advantage.

Even so, he was not truly at that tier.

His weapons were limited to fangs, claws, and flaming breath. God-level combatants usually possessed their own methods to neutralize this type of threat.

Proof of this was that Reida could easily deal with the Dragon simply by activating the Deprivation Field. The same applied to some others at that level.

Even so, that did not diminish the value of such a terrible creature.

The few monsters that spotted Ezkalor flying at high speed made sure to hide or flee upon recognizing a superior predator. Not that the Dragon himself cared.

His gaze was… lazy.

Completely inconsistent with his swift flight, which made him look like a living calamity crossing the skies, Ezkalor was not very focused on the surroundings. He did not worry about possible opponents.

And he did that because, on his back, were two beings even more terrifying than he was.

After flying for so long without interruption, the Dragon finally spotted his objective. A terror even for a Red Dragon.

Even so, he flew in that direction without question.

In the distance, beyond the towering mountains around and some Red Dragons roaring threateningly, it was possible to see a colossal crater.

Anyone observing from the edge would easily think they were facing the end of the world.

Stretching for kilometers, the surrounding mountains seemed insignificant before that titanic hole.

It was as if it pierced the entire world.

Even Ezkalor, with his eighty-meter wingspan, was no more than a small red dot as he approached the Labyrinth.

Looking carefully into that vast dark and rocky expanse awakened a strange — almost compulsive — desire to dive into it as quickly as possible.

That was how the Labyrinth swallowed several Red Dragons that flew over the death zone without realizing the danger.

But Ezkalor was protected by a magic cast by Rygar.

Thus, he approached without worries, under the eyes of predators that did not even dare to come near.

Little was known about that Labyrinth.

As happened with all the Three Great ones, despite being treated as the ultimate objective and told as urban legends among adventurers, there were few in the world who truly dared to cross the inhospitable regions that led to those Death Zones.

On the Dragon's back, Rygar and Eris were finishing their preparations.

Although the trip had been fast thanks to the teleportation circles, they had still spent several hours in transit.

Rygar wore a full black armor — only the helmet still off.

It was the Sköllvindr Armor, Transcendent Version.

Unlike the Ascendant version, this one had runic inscriptions at key points of the armor. Aesthetically, the most visible change was the Beast God symbol engraved in silver on the chestplate and pauldrons.

He was currently checking a bracelet attached to the armor.

This was the most recent technological advancement of the Kingdom of Gaia.

A spatial bracelet.

When he first saw it, Rygar was genuinely amazed.

He even made a joke saying that it should have been one of the first things he would obtain if he were following the pattern of stories from his previous world.

In fantasy stories like that, a Spatial Storage was usually one of the first things a reincarnated person obtained, but Rygar took more than twenty years.

Even with clear limitations regarding what could be stored and the storage time, it was still, undeniably, a Spatial Storage.

He observed it with curiosity and interest, touching one of the small runes with the tip of his finger to check the interior.

Meanwhile, Eris was tying her hair again.

She had created the habit of doing that whenever she prepared for combat.

The movement caught Rygar's attention.

He looked his wife up and down.

She already knew this, but he found Eris extremely charming with her hair tied in a ponytail.

Eris had not yet finished when she noticed her husband's gaze. When she raised her eyes, she saw him blow her a kiss.

A shamelessly bold behavior.

She immediately blushed.

She huffed silently and turned her face away, although it was obvious she had liked it.

Which drew a provocative chuckle from Rygar.

After that, his expression changed, becoming more serious.

He turned his gaze to the enormous crater in the distance, which was drawing closer and closer.

He had already put on Sköllvindr since the beginning of the trip, as this would be an invasion focused on efficiency and speed.

Eris was also completely equipped, ready to accelerate.

The two had finished, a few minutes earlier, their likely last peaceful meal in a long time.

From today on, they would probably no longer have room to worry about superfluous things.

As Ezkalor approached the colossal abyss, his wings slowed until he began gliding toward the ground.

The air around vibrated with the displacement of his gigantic body, whirlwinds of snow and dust being dragged by the wind.

Rygar spoke one last time:

"Eris, remember to NEVER leave my side."

Eris clicked her tongue, irritated.

"Come on! This is already the hundredth time you've warned me about that!"

Rygar laughed as Ezkalor landed on the mountainous terrain, only fifty meters from the entrance of the Labyrinth.

Eris jumped off the Dragon's back.

At the same instant, Rygar jumped beside her and pulled her by the waist, making their bodies stay very close and forcing her to turn her face toward him.

He looked at her up close.

"Then you'd better remember, once again, don't leave my side, girl…"

He brought his face closer to hers, almost brushing their lips.

"We're going to conquer a Legendary Labyrinth. Actually… we're even going to do a speedrun of this Labyrinth..."

Eris's eyes shone.

Since childhood, she had nurtured an adventurer's fascination for exploring Labyrinths and defeating powerful monsters. Conquering that Labyrinth — and still at Rygar's side — was like touching the sky.

Even if the path led directly to hell.

Rygar noticed her enthusiasm and, for a moment, he also smiled. But the smile disappeared as his arms tightened the embrace, making it firmer.

"But I brought you for a reason, Eris. I feel that what we're going to find in this Labyrinth is not as simple as we expect, perhaps even the knowledge we have about it won't be of much help in this new problem…"

Her excited smile faltered upon noticing the seriousness in his voice.

"You felt it…?"

"Yes."

She lowered her tone a little.

"Then why did you still come?"

He answered without thinking much.

"I simply felt that I should. It doesn't matter anyway, we are here. Our focus is to take the item from the final boss and return as quickly as possible. I won't ask you to retreat when you see me in danger, I know that would be impossible."

He looked at her seriously.

"What I want is for you to trust me above all else... and I will also trust you."

Eris looked into Rygar's golden eyes for a moment, while he stared into her heterochromatic eyes — one green and the other red.

She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss.

"That's obvious…"

Her face was slightly red.

Rygar smiled.

Then he turned to Ezkalor.

Initially, he had considered taking the Dragon inside the Labyrinth.

But upon realizing that the mental attraction emanating from the crater was much stronger on the Dragon than on him and Eris, he decided not to risk it.

Inside the Labyrinth, that influence would probably intensify, and Ezkalor could be in danger that way.

Besides, his concern with those who remained in the Kingdom of Gaia was still greater.

He spoke to the beast:

"You can go back now, big guy. Follow Aisha's orders and protect everyone. If I find out you slacked off…"

His voice became more threatening at the end, and his eyes narrowed.

Ezkalor kept his usual lazy look, but shuddered slightly upon hearing the ending.

He let out a grunt in acknowledgment.

And then immediately took flight.

The wind exploded around them, stones being dragged and snow rising in violent spirals. In a few seconds, the enormous Red Dragon was only a distant point in the gray sky.

Rygar remained watching the vast expanse of the mountain range.

The wind struck them strongly; even secured, his and Eris's hair whipped violently.

That was when a chill ran down his spine.

He slowly turned his face.

A few hundred meters away, on an apparently ordinary mountain — on the side opposite the crater — something caught his attention.

He made a silent gesture for Eris to wait.

He activated his Demon Eyes and extended his senses.

On that specific mountain, he could clearly feel that someone had passed there.

Even if it had been weeks or days ago, he was certain.

It was a very faint and hidden residual presence, but unmistakable to him.

However, after scanning kilometers around, he found nothing but Dragons and smaller monsters.

No aura and no recent sign.

And he could not determine the origin of those traces.

In fact, it was already impressive that he could detect something like that at this distance, without any visible clue. That was only possible thanks to his supernatural senses.

Even without answers, Rygar knew that was important; he felt it in his core.

It was not a coincidence.

He looked at Eris.

"I'll tell you on the way. Let's go now."

Eris nodded, tightening the grip on the hilt of her blade more than necessary.

And then both crossed the fifty meters separating them from the edge in an instant.

Without hesitation, they jumped together holding hands.

The crater swallowed them.

A Barrier formed around them during the fall, isolating their bodies from the wind rising from the abyss. Darkness quickly enveloped them.

Even with his enhanced vision, Rygar could not see anything.

No wall.

No bottom.

No reference.

Only an infinite void.

The wind seemed similar to a breath.

What he could feel — vaguely — was as if something was watching him.

Someone.

Ancient, immense, and hungry.

He felt that he had voluntarily thrown himself into the mouth of a monster as ancient as the world itself.

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