# Chapter 67: The Terrifying Creature
Su Xiao, riding Bubuteni forward, also felt the power of the explosion as a strong pushing force came from behind.
The fireball behind was as scorching as the sun, but fortunately Su Xiao had already escaped the half-kilometer blast radius.
Sherlock had been scheming against him, and he had been on guard against the other party.
From their first meeting, Su Xiao had sensed something wrong with Sherlock.
Sherlock not only hated alchemists and the royal family, but actually hated all humans. When interacting with Sherlock, Su Xiao had already detected this.
The notification for killing Sherlock appeared, so there was no need to dwell on these matters anymore.
Bubuteni continued running wildly. Su Xiao's destination was the coordinate deployment point, still several dozen kilometers away.
He had to complete the return mission as quickly as possible. Something extremely terrifying inside the "Bilumark Alchemy Proving Ground" was awakening.
To be precise, Su Xiao had released that thing.
The area within several kilometers near the capital was trembling slightly. The battle between the Imperial Army and the Revolutionary Army had stopped, as everyone thought an earthquake was coming.
...
Inside the Imperial Army camp.
Over a dozen contractors with dejected expressions gathered together.
"Everyone, speak up. How do we get out of this now? The main mission was stolen, we're surrounded by the Revolutionary Army, and the return mission requires obtaining 5% World Source. That's no easy difficulty."
A female contractor carrying a shotgun spoke, her expression unpleasant. The main mission failure and -3 to all attributes nearly drove her mad.
"Rather than discussing how to complete the return mission, I want to know how to escape. There's going to be an earthquake here."
A contractor who had gained considerable spoils spoke. Although he also suffered the -3 all attributes penalty, he had completed several side missions, barely offsetting the loss from the main mission failure.
This was the benefit of joining General Bud's command — many side missions.
"We're all going to die. All of us."
Sobbing sounds came. The dozen or so contractors all looked at a young mage.
"This..."
The contractors were dumbfounded. This mage was usually arrogant, but now tears and snot flowed freely.
"Something... is coming out from below. I never thought any creature could emit such terrifying aura."
The mage's voice trembled, his legs as weak as noodles.
"What do you mean?"
The arrogant mage's miserable state made the other contractors' hearts freeze as they questioned him repeatedly.
But at that moment, the ground tremors grew increasingly intense.
Crack, crack.
Fissures over ten centimeters wide appeared in the ground near the contractors. They scattered and fled — when disaster strikes, everyone looks out for themselves.
Boom!
The ground shattered. A millstone-sized hand burst through the earth. The palm was bright red, with joints connected by metal — a hand combining steel and flesh.
The massive hand pressed against the ground, and a body several dozen meters tall emerged from the earth.
This was an upright creature with deep red skin all over, metal structures at the joints and neck.
The upright creature roughly resembled a human, with a bull's head that had no horns but a mouth full of sharp fangs.
This was a modified super-dangerous species. Compared to the Supreme Imperial Artifact, this was the pinnacle of alchemical technology.
"It's been several hundred years since the master disappeared. The surface world... how nostalgic."
The half-metal bull-headed giant spoke, its voice thunderous and booming.
Though imposing in stature, the bull-headed giant's eyes were sorrowful. Several hundred years had passed, and its master was long gone.
"Master, I've always followed your command not to kill the royal family. But where are you?"
The bull-headed giant scanned the terrified civilians around, seeming uninterested in killing.
"Do a few things for me, and you'll be completely free from now on."
A jarring voice appeared — it was the Little Emperor.
The Little Emperor's situation was dire. The lower half of his body was embedded in the bull-headed giant's forehead. Rather than being embedded, it was more like fusion, merging into the bull-headed giant's brain.
This was the price the royal family paid for using the bull-headed giant. Each time it was used, a direct royal descendant would lose their life. This was also why it had been sealed away.
The bull-headed giant had its own independent consciousness. Each use carried risks, and the bull-headed giant had always wanted to escape the royal family's control.
"Hohoho~, little brat of the royal family, I accept your bloodline. I'll do at most three things for you, not one more."
The bull-headed giant stretched its body. With a light stomp, it created a meter-deep crater in the ground.
"Three things... acceptable."
The Little Emperor was enduring unimaginable pain as his body merged from bottom to top into the bull-headed giant's brain.
"First thing, kill three people for me: Minister. Esdeath. Bai Ye."
"No."
"Why?"
The Little Emperor roared, seeming to desperately want these three dead.
"One thing can only kill one specific target. Three people means three things."
The bull-headed giant gave its answer. The Little Emperor lowered his head in contemplation.
"Then... kill the Minister and Bai Ye. Forget Esdeath."
"Acceptable. There's one more share. Speak your wish."
Each time it devoured a royal member, it would help the royal family with three things — this was the promise between the bull-headed giant and its master.
The bull-headed giant was loyal to only one person — the alchemist who activated it. This was precisely why the royal family had executed all alchemists.
"Last wish, huh. Help me destroy this empire. Whether it's the Revolutionary Army or the Empire's other people, let them all die."
A twisted smile appeared on the Little Emperor's face. The Minister's betrayal and subsequent experiences had corrupted the Little Emperor, creating a tendency toward world annihilation.
"Acceptable. Kill Bai Ye and the Minister, destroy this empire. Before completing these three things, I won't completely devour you.
Let's destroy this place first, then go find that one called Bai Ye."
The appearance of the bull-headed giant left both the Imperial Army and Revolutionary Army utterly bewildered, unsure what this was.
But within a dozen seconds, they knew.
This was a monster, a demon, a destroyer.
The bull-headed giant walked slowly, with faint red mist gradually dispersing around it. This mist was very thin, its specific function unknown.
After walking a few steps, the bull-headed giant began to run, accelerating until it became a blur.
Bang.
The bull-headed giant smashed through the city wall as if tearing through paper, arriving at the battle site between the Imperial Army and Revolutionary Army.
"Humans still love internal conflict so much."
The bull-headed giant didn't attack. It simply stood there.
The faint red mist spread outward, rapidly sweeping over the Imperial Army and Revolutionary Army.
Thud, thud...
Everyone fell, faces ashen, eyes vacant, pupils losing all luster.
All these people died, dying silently without even time to scream.
"What the hell is this thing?"
The distant Imperial Army and Revolutionary Army showed terror on their faces. A woman with ice-blue long hair also witnessed this scene.
Esdeath looked at the distant bull-headed giant, hesitated for less than three seconds, then turned and walked away.
"General Esdeath, what do you mean by this?"
The Minister on the city wall shouted loudly.
Esdeath glanced at the Minister and shook her head.
"Although I'm passionate about battle, I have no interest in throwing my life away."
Esdeath didn't want to fight that bull-headed giant because she knew she wouldn't last more than a few seconds before dying before that thing.
This was the crystallization of several generations of wisdom from over a thousand alchemists — a completely different concept from Imperial Artifacts.
...
An hour later, the capital had become scorched earth. The ground was pitted and cratered, with no living creatures to be found. The earth showed signs of burning, with most areas turned to glass.
The bull-headed giant held a person in its massive hand — the obese Minister.
"Your Highness, spare me! I was—"
"Kill you."
The Little Emperor wore a sickly smile.
Squelch.
The Minister was effortlessly crushed into a pile of meat paste by the bull-headed giant, as casually as squeezing a tomato.
"The capital has been destroyed for you, the Minister killed. Now there's just the nearby towns and that human called Bai Ye. Bai Ye is the human who was acting with you earlier, right?"
The bull-headed giant looked into the distance, seemingly able to sense Bai Ye's location.