Starting Out As The God of Beasts

A shadow fell across the sunlit canopy of the Nosa Forest as three immense, suffocating pressure points manifested high in the upper atmosphere.

The three Martial Generals of the Glorious Mythical Sect hovered in mid-air above the ancient woodland, their flowing robes snapping violently against the gale.

The air surrounding them brimmed with raw, violent mana, warping the light around their figures and causing the mountain breeze to screech like wounded steel.

Their cold, merciless gazes swept over the sea of green foliage stretching for miles below.

SWOOSH.

A second later, Priest Arnold materialized at their side, stepping out from the empty air with unnatural grace.

His white-and-gold priestly robes remained pristine, but his icy blue eyes burned with a dark, calculating intensity as he looked down at the mist-shrouded forest.

”Destroy it,” Priest Arnold ordered, his smooth, melodic voice cutting through the whistling wind with absolute authority.

”Leave no stone unturned, no tree standing, and no creature breathing. If anyone is hiding within the depths of this forest, erase every hidden site, every cavern, and every sanctuary they possess.”

The three Elders exchanged sharp, ruthless glares and nodded in unison.

”Understood!”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Like three falling meteors, the Martial Generals descended from the sky at lightning speed, breaking the sound barrier as they plunged toward the forest floor.

The strike began in an instant.

Heaven’s Honored Elder, a master of the lightning element, thrust his glowing broadsword directly toward the earth.

Dark, unnatural storm clouds materialized instantly above the canopy, crackling with purple and silver electrical arcs.

THUNNNNDER-CRASH!

A catastrophic lightning storm erupted over the northern quadrant of the forest.

Hundreds of thick, blinding bolts of raging lightning rained down simultaneously, blasting ancient oak trees into splinters, shattering granite boulders into dust, and turning the damp soil into roaring craters of superheated plasma.

To his left, Peerless Supreme Elder, whose elemental affinity lay in the ferocious path of wind, extended both hands and swept them upward.

WHOOOOOOSH!

A violent, catastrophic torrent of wind burst from his palms, rapidly expanding into colossal tornadoes and roaring hurricanes that tore through the central forest.

The razor-sharp wind blades sheared through three-foot-thick tree trunks as if they were dry straw, uprooting entire groves and tossing tons of timber and stone into the wild vortexes above.

The devastation was absolute.

Thousands of wild animals that had called the Nosa Forest home for generations—stags, wild boars, mountain bears, and flocks of forest birds—were slaughtered without a shred of mercy.

Horrified by the sudden cataclysm, beasts scattered wildly across the forest floor, running helter-skelter through the falling timber and exploding earth in a desperate, futile effort to find shelter.

Yet, nothing could evade the unleashed fury of three Middle-enlightened stage Martial Generals.

Animals were sliced to pieces by the wind blades mid-stride or instantly vaporized by the falling lightning storms.

Watching his two colleagues go completely berserk amidst the woodland, Divine Scarlet Elder stood hovering near the southern canopy, a slow, wicked smirk carving its way across his face.

It had been decades since he had risen to the esteemed rank of a core Sect Elder.

For years, his position had bound him to tedious administrative duties, diplomacy, and strict sect regulations that heavily restricted the use of his destructive powers.

He was barely ever permitted to unleash his full capability in open combat.

This was his rare, magnificent chance to go completely all out.

”Let the world burn!” Divine Scarlet Elder roared with dark, euphoric laughter as he plunged downward into the chaos.

He unleashed his dense, scarlet fire mana in a torrential flood.

Waves of liquid, white-hot flames erupted from his chest, sweeping across the dry underbrush and lower tree branches.

Within seconds, a roaring, uncontrollable wildfire caught the howling winds generated by Peerless Supreme Elder, fanning the inferno into a towering, multi-mile wall of absolute destruction.

It was chaotic. It was terrifying.

The agonizing cries of dying beasts and shattered timber soared into the sky from every direction, merging into a sickening chorus of destruction.

Yet, the three cultivators did not care in the slightest.

To them, these living creatures and ancient woods were merely insignificant ants beneath their boots, collateral damage in their relentless pursuit of sect vengeance.

Hours passed.

The frantic roars of the wind, the thunderous booms of lightning, and the crackle of the raging fire slowly died down, replaced by a heavy, suffocating silence.

The entirety of the sprawling Nosa Forest had been reduced to absolute nothingness.

The lush, ancient woodland stretching over miles was gone, replaced by a vast, smoldering plain of blackened stumps, scattered ash, and scorched earth.

Not a single tree remained standing; not a single animal survived.

Everything had been systematically hunted, crushed, and incinerated by the three Elders.

High above the ruined plain, Priest Arnold slowly descended from the sky.

His boots landed softly on the charred earth, kicking up a small cloud of pale grey ash.

Seconds later, three air-distortions flashed beside him, and Heaven’s Honored Elder, Peerless Supreme Elder, and Divine Scarlet Elder materialized behind their leader, their armor soot-stained and their breathing slightly heavy from hours of continuous mana output.

Priest Arnold stood directly before a jagged, collapsed pile of burnt granite—the exact location where the entrance of the main subterranean cave had once existed before being caved in by the lightning strikes.

He knelt down, pressing his palm flat against the warm, ash-covered ground.

”What did you find, Priest Arnold?” Heaven’s Honored Elder asked, his heavy eyebrows furrowing as he stepped forward.

Priest Arnold slowly retracted his hand and stood up, his face darkened, his icy blue eyes colder than winter ice.

”It is just as I feared,” Arnold spoke softly, his voice trembling with a rare, faint trace of foreboding.

”This... is truly the work of divine power.”

”What do you mean by that?” Peerless Supreme Elder demanded, taking a quick step forward. ”Did you locate the entity that was hiding here? Did you find the ones who destroyed Kaelos City?”

Priest Arnold let out a long, heavy sigh, slowly shaking his red-haired head as he looked up at the grey, ash-choked sky.

”I cannot locate a clear trace of this divinity anymore,” Priest Arnold answered, his forehead creased into a deep, troubling frown.

”The aura lingering in these subterranean rocks is merely a cold residue, an echo left behind after a hasty evacuation. Whoever was sheltered within this cavern was moved far beyond our reach long before we ever set foot in this valley.”

He turned his back to the collapsed cave entrance, his handsome features tight with intense apprehension.

”It seems...” Priest Arnold whispered, his voice echoing eerily across the barren, smoldering wasteland. ”...a God’s Apostle has officially made a move upon this continent.”

The three Elders stiffened, their breath catching in their throats at those ominous words.

”A God’s Apostle?” Divine Scarlet Elder swallowed nervously. ”What does that imply for us?”

Priest Arnold looked at them with a somber, unreadable expression.

”It means that our crusade is no longer a simple territorial expansion or a regional sect dispute,” Arnold stated quietly.

”Something terrible, grand, and absolute is about to befall these lands... and a holy war has already begun.”

’I need to report this to the Cardinal’