Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 306: Episode 304: Caspian’s Here?

Caspian didn’t know how he got here, but he was here.

Downstairs, standing squarely on the bottom step of the grand front porch, Drax’s green eyes narrowed into slits. The teenage dragon crossed his arms over his chest, blocking the pathway to the heavy doors. He stared down at the intruder who had just breached their perimeter.

Caspian looked absolutely nothing like the terrifying, untouchable Abyssal King who had once commanded the crushing depths of the ocean.

Caspian looked completely wrecked. His human legs that were currently covered in dirt, scratches, and dried blood. He had clearly walked for miles through the dense, unforgiving forest entirely barefoot, his mortal soles torn to shreds by the jagged rocks and brambles.

He was wearing nothing but a crude, hastily fashioned loincloth. Strapped securely to his broad, heaving chest was the basket holding Zale, fiercely protected from the harsh surface elements.

The Merman was battered and worn. His white hair was tangled with twigs and dried sea-salt, and his lungs wheezed with every agonizing breath of the dry air.

But his silver-blue eyes still burned with the crazed, desperate fire of an Alpha.

"Move," Caspian growled, his voice a hoarse, grating rasp. He took a staggering step forward, the muscles in his new human legs screaming in protest. "Let me through to my mate."

Drax didn’t flinch. The teenager planted his boots firmly on the wooden steps, expanding his chest as he flared his own aura to meet the King’s pressure.

"I won’t let you meet my mother," Drax stated coldly, his jaw locked in absolute defiance. "You have no right to step foot in this house."

Caspian’s hands curled into trembling, bruised fists. A surge of profound, violent anger flared in his chest, his protective instincts demanding he tear through any obstacle keeping him from the scent of Roxy’s distress.

But as he looked at the teenager standing in his way, the anger hit an immovable wall.

This was Roxy’s child.

Caspian could not—would not—raise a hand against a piece of her heart. He was paralyzed by his own repentance, forced to stand at the bottom of the stairs while his mate labored inside.

"Please," Caspian begged, the Abyssal King entirely swallowing his pride, his voice breaking as he looked up at the teenager. "I gave up the ocean to be here. Just let me see her."

Before Drax could issue another denial, a sound completely shattered the tense standoff.

"AHHHH!"

A breathless, tearing scream ripped from the second-floor window. It was a sound of pure, unadulterated agony—a visceral cry that bypassed all logic and struck directly at the primitive core of the soul.

Caspian panicked. The sound of Roxy in that much pain completely severed the last remaining threads of his rational restraint.

"Roxy!" Caspian roared, his silver-blue eyes blowing wide with sheer terror.

He lunged forward, ignoring the screaming agony in his torn feet and burning lungs. He threw himself up the wooden stairs, determined to physically shoulder his way past the dragon-shifter and tear the Manor doors off their iron hinges if he had to.

Drax’s eyes flared violently. The teenager wasn’t going to be pushed aside.

With a deafening, chest-rattling roar, Drax shifted. His human form violently expanded, erupting into a massive, heavily armored crimson-and-black dragon. His leathery wings snapped open, completely eclipsing the sun and entirely blocking the front porch. Drax lowered his massive, horned head, baring rows of razor-sharp fangs directly in Caspian’s face.

GRRRRRR. Drax released a concussive, vibrating growl that shook the floorboards. You are not allowed to pass!

Caspian bared his own teeth, preparing to throw his battered mortal body directly against the dragon’s scales. He didn’t care if he broke every bone in his newly forged human skeleton; he was getting up those stairs.

"Drax! Stand down!"

A booming, thunderous command erupted from the second-floor window above them.

Drax snapped his massive head up. Zarek was leaning out of the master bedroom window, the Dragon Alpha’s face pale and slick with sweat. Zarek didn’t have time for a territorial dispute. His mate was screaming, and the pack needed every available hand. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Drop the shift, Drax!" Zarek shouted down, his eyes locking onto his son. "Let him pass!"

Drax hesitated, a puff of black smoke exhaling from his nostrils in deep frustration. But an Alpha King’s order was absolute. The massive dragon dissolved into a swirl of red mana, instantly shrinking back down into his human form.

Without a backward glance at the Merman, Drax spun on his heel, threw the heavy oak doors open, and raced frantically into the house, desperate to check on his mother.

Caspian staggered up the remaining steps, his vision swimming with exhaustion. He stumbled through the doorway, his lungs burning like fire. Every single step up the grand sweeping staircase felt like he was dragging a boulder chained to his ankles.

The physical limitations of his new mortal body were horrifying. But the scent of blood, sweat, and lavender wafting down from the second floor fueled his desperate ascent.

Upstairs, the master bedroom was a scene of terrifying, primal reality.

For the first time since Roxy had arrived in the Beastworld, the System was completely absent.

There was no glowing blue interface. There was no sudden injection of a Pain-Nullification buff, and no Tiger’s Vitality aura to magically soothe her torn muscles.

It was agonizing.

He was purring frantically, a deep, continuous vibration meant to ground her, but the sheer volume of her pain was overwhelming his feral senses.

Fuck I have never given birth before, how am I to do this alone?

"Breathe, Roxy, breathe!" Zarek calmly spoke, kneeling at the foot of the bed beside Kaelen, his hands shaking as he held a white cloth.

Dena, the young wolf-shifter girl who helped around the estate, was hovering anxiously at the side of the bed. Her hands trembled violently as she dipped a soft cloth into a wooden basin of cool water, wringing it out and frantically patting Roxy’s flushed, tear-stained face to wipe away the thick, freezing sweat plastering her dark curls to her forehead.

"You’re doing so good, Queen Roxy," Dena stammered, her voice thick with panic. "Just keep breathing."

"I can’t!" Roxy sobbed, her fingers digging so deeply into Torian’s forearms that she drew blood. "Fuck, it hurts! It hurts so much!"

Another massive, bone-crushing contraction seized her uterus. Roxy arched her spine off Torian’s chest, her teeth grinding together as a strangled, guttural groan tore from her throat.

Tearing pressure in her pelvis felt like it was going to split her in half.

Now she realized how terrifying giving birth was like.

Just as the contraction hit its agonizing peak, a shadow fell over the bedroom doorway.

Caspian collapsed against the wooden doorframe, his chest heaving violently. His silver-blue eyes swept over the chaotic room, past the frantic Alpha Kings, past the bloody linens, and locked directly onto the radiant, agonizingly beautiful woman thrashing on the bed.

"Roxy," Caspian wheezed, his voice entirely devoid of its former abyssal resonance, reduced to a fragile, mortal whisper.

Roxy’s head snapped toward the door.

Through the blur of hot tears and the dark spots dancing at the edges of her vision, she saw him.

A wet, choked sound escaped her lips. Roxy coughed a breathless, tearful laugh, her heart swelling until it felt like it was going to burst from her chest.

She weakly pulled her left hand away from Torian’s arm, ignoring the trembling in her muscles as she extended her hand toward the doorway.

Caspian didn’t hesitate. He pushed off the doorframe, his weak, mortal legs carrying him across the floorboards. He fell heavily to his knees at the side of the mattress, completely ignoring the territorial glares of the other Kings.

He gently unhooked the abyssal basket containing Zale, setting it safely on the rugs, before he reached out and took Roxy’s trembling hand in both of his own, pressing her knuckles frantically to his lips.

"I am here," Caspian wept, hot tears tracking through the dirt on his face. "I made it to the light. I am here."

Roxy shifted her hand, her fingers gently cupping his battered, exhausted face. She stroked his cheekbone, her thumb brushing away a smear of blood and sea-salt. He was no longer a god of the deep. He was just a man.

"Am I dreaming?" Roxy whispered, her eyes swimming with overwhelming, boundless love as she looked at him. "You look like a beautiful dre—"

Oh Fuck! Here it comes!