Starting Out As The God of Beasts

"But..."

Yaller opened her mouth to press further, desperate to ask how a fortified border city housing tens of thousands of human soldiers could simply cease to exist.

Before another syllable could escape her throat, the words dissolved in her mouth.

The world went violently silent.

It began not with a sound, but with a sudden, suffocating shift in the fabric of reality itself.

A pressure so vast, so immensely primordial that it defied every law of nature descended upon the Nosa Forest.

It was a power far beyond the realm of mana—an ancient, divine force that made the dense energy of Martial Generals feel like a drop of water compared to an endless ocean.

THOOM!

The ground beneath their boots shuddered, not from physical shockwaves, but from the sheer weight of the authority descending upon the earth.

Even though Roy had unleashed merely a tiny fraction of his divine essence over the city center, the atmospheric bleed was enough to paralyze every living creature within miles.

The seven beastman scouts fell to their knees in unison, their weapons clattering onto the dirt.

Barely breathing from the intense pressure.

Yaller clutched her chest, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird, while Agos gasped violently for air, his falcon ears ringing with an agonizing, high-pitched hum.

Their souls whimpered under the cold, absolute weight of an entity that transcended mortal life.

Beside them, even Eurenia and Alisa were not spared.

Though neither general showed terror on their faces, their athletic frames trembled visibly.

Their S-class bloodlines vibrated in deep, instinctual reverence, their gazes locked onto the distant skyline of Kaelos City as their Master unsealed his divine presence.

"Ah..." Eurenia whispered, her emerald eyes trembling with awe. "The Master..."

Then came the light.

FLASSSSSSSSH!

Without a single sound, a blinding, absolute wall of crimson light erupted over Kaelos City.

It did not flicker like normal fire, nor did it cast soft shadows.

It expanded exponentially, stretching over miles within the span of a single heartbeat, dying the night sky, the clouds, and the surrounding mountain peaks in a terrifying, blood-red hue.

The dark canopy of the Nosa Forest was instantly illuminated as if a crimson sun had detonated upon the horizon.

What followed next was pure, absolute annihilation.

RUMBLE... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The sky screeched as the concentrated orb of divine essence exploded above the city center.

A devastating shockwave of divine crimson fire burst outward, rolling across the landscape like a celestial tidal wave.

The heat hit the edge of the Nosa Forest instantly, scorching the leaves off the high branches and baking the earth into cracked clay.

Within the city boundaries, the destruction was absolute.

Grand stone spires, multi-story guildhalls, iron-reinforced watchtowers, and sprawling residential blocks did not merely collapse—they melted, disintegrated, and vaporized on impact.

The thousands of human citizens and soldiers still trapped inside the walls were swallowed instantly by the roaring sea of crimson flames.

Their screams were snuffed out before the sound could even travel past the outer gates, their flesh, bones, and armor turned into microscopic ash in less than a second.

The sky roared, the earth split open into deep chasms, and the entire city was submerged into a blinding cauldron of divine judgment.

"RETREAT!" Alisa’s sharp voice suddenly snapped through the suffocating aura.

Sensing the thermal blast wave sweeping across the outer plains, Alisa didn’t hesitate for a single second.

She grabbed Yaller by the collar of her tunic, hauling the stunned leopard warrior to her feet.

"Return to the deep caves immediately!" Alisa commanded, her voice cutting through the panic. "Move! Unless you wish to be turned to cinders!"

Instinct took over.

Driven by pure survival, the small squad scrambled back onto their feet. Nobody questioned the order; nobody looked back.

Yaller, Agos, and their scouts sprinted through the burning treeline, their light footfalls blurring across the forest floor as they retreated deep into the heart of the Nosa Forest, fleeing the expanding sea of divine flames.

Nearly an hour passed before the terrifying heat finally began to recede.

The oppressive divine pressure that had smothered the continent slowly faded into the atmosphere, leaving behind a cold, eerie silence that hung over the charred forest.

Driven by a mixture of lingering terror and intense, unstoppable curiosity, Alisa, Eurenia, and the small scouting party cautiously navigated their way back through the blackened treeline, stopping at the edge of the rocky ridge overlooking the plains.

When they looked out over the landscape, every single beastman froze.

Agos dropped his bow into the dirt. Yaller’s cat-like eyes widened until they nearly filled her sockets, her mouth agape in total, unadulterated disbelief.

Kaelos City was gone.

The towering granite walls that had stood for generations were nowhere to be found.

The sprawling estates, the bustling market plazas, the administrative palace, and the massive outer gates had vanished entirely.

In their place lay a colossal, smoking crater stretching over miles of barren land.

The earth within the crater was no longer dirt or stone; it had been baked into a glowing, smooth lake of liquid glass and black slag.

Plumes of pale white smoke rose lazily into the night sky from the barren pit, carrying with them the soft, floating cinders of a vanished civilization.

Not a single stone remained standing.

Not a single wooden beam survived.

Not a single trace of human existence was left behind.

All that remained... were the cold, quiet ashes of a forgotten city.

Yaller slowly turned her head toward Alisa and Eurenia, her entire body shaking as she looked at the two generals who stood watching the smoldering abyss with absolute calm.

"What... what kind of power was that?" Yaller choked out, her voice barely a whisper in the silent night.

Eurenia turned to her, a cold, majestic smile gracing her sharp wolf-like features as the wind ruffled her long silver hair.

"That," Eurenia murmured, her voice filled with quiet, absolute devotion, "was the divine hand of our God."