Chapter 107: [Chord]—Witnessing Hell
“Faster, faster, no time to waste…”
Rosia, the Flame Cat beastkin, transformed into her semi-beast form, her four paws pounding the ground as she raced towards the Wild God Altar.
Flames licked at her feet, leaving a scorched trail behind her.
But she couldn’t maintain this speed for long. It would cause irreparable damage to her limbs.
But she didn’t care. She had to get to the Wild God Altar.
After what seemed like an eternity, she reached the city gates.
But the usually guarded posts were empty, and a sense of dread washed over her.
“Has the ceremony already begun? Am I too late…?”
“No, I have to at least save Dorothy!”
She didn’t know that Dorothy had brought the other association members with her. If she had, she would have been even more panicked.
Dorothy, though not particularly strong, was at the peak of Collapse Class. She could probably withstand the sacrificial ritual for a time.
But the other young beastkin… they would likely die the moment the ceremony began.
Without hesitation, she rushed into the Wild God Altar. She had been here recently, so she still carried the Wild God’s mark and wouldn’t be pulled into the sacrificial space.
She raced towards the offering square.
But then she paused. “I remember… the Blood Spider Patroller said the offering ceremony would be held at the offering square. But which one?”
This was a problem.
There were several squares near her rented house, all in different directions.
If she checked them one by one, the ceremony would be over before she could find them.
“Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll just wake them all up,” she decided, and ran towards the nearest square.
Time was running out. Bai and Eleanor had just activated their magic circles.
When Rosia reached the nearest square, she found she couldn’t enter.
The concentration of bloodlust was so high that it had formed a thick, hazy mist, and the moment she drew near, her own bloodline began to stir uncontrollably.
“They’ve drugged the bloodlust!”
She had used bloodlust for training before. She knew this was different.
If she entered, she wouldn’t be able to wake anyone. She would be trapped, lost in the same euphoric state.
The other beastkin had been inside the altar from the beginning, and had already been in a meditative state when the drug was released. They hadn’t noticed.
Rosia looked at the beastkin in the square, their faces contorted in a state of ecstatic bliss.
But to her, it was a horrifying sight.
“If Dorothy is like this now…”
“Who’s there!”
A sharp voice called out, followed by the sound of approaching footsteps.
“The Blood Spider Patrollers!”
She caught a glimpse of a crimson figure and quickly transformed back into her semi-beast form, leaping away.
But they wouldn’t let her go so easily. They surrounded her, their numbers growing.
She was trapped.
“What do I do… I haven’t even saved Dorothy, and now I’m going to die…”
She was frantic, a sense of despair washing over her.
But just then, a series of explosions rocked the square.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Bai and Eleanor’s explosive circles had activated, a chaotic, yet timely, intervention that had saved her life.
The Blood Spider Patrollers, distracted by the explosions, abandoned their pursuit of Rosia and rushed towards the source of the commotion.
“…Phew!”
The crisis had been averted. Rosia gasped for breath, her heart pounding.
In just a few minutes, she had gone from a desperate rescue mission to a near-death experience, and now, a miraculous escape.
“There’s… another offering square!”
She looked up. In the distance, another square, also shrouded in a crimson mist.
But this one… the mist was thinner, and it was dissipating.
Without hesitation, she ran towards it.
“Even if I can only free one square… it’s a chance, a hope to avert this disaster!”
She leaped into the air, transforming back into her human form as she landed.
She let out a piercing scream, a psychic shockwave meant to jolt the entranced beastkin awake.
But as she recovered, she saw that they were still in their meditative state.
She turned to see a sneering, grotesque face looking at her, amused. Her psychic shockwave had been blocked.
“You… you’re…”
A being everyone in the Wild God Altar recognized.
“Diana, of the Hellblood Spider royal family.”
Rosia stumbled back, collapsing to the ground, a look of despair on her face. “How could this be…”
She had just escaped death, only to find herself in an even more dangerous situation.
“A late little kitty? No, you seem to know something…” Diana said with a smile. “What are you trying to do, save the world? A bit… overconfident, aren’t you?”
“The overconfident one is you, Diana,” a voice, as if speaking through a mouthful of food, said. Another voice chimed in, “Yes, yes, overconfident, overconfident!”
Rosia looked up to see two small little girls.
One, a fox-kin with six tails, her expression grim. The other, her race unknown, her expression a mixture of arrogance and glee.
And behind them, her friends, the members of her association.
“Dorothy, Klara, Cole… you’re all here!”
After activating the magic circles, Bai and Eleanor had immediately sealed off the bloodlust surrounding Dorothy and the others.
Without the bloodlust, and under the influence of the drug, they had quickly descended into a state of madness.
But before they could act, Bai had knocked them all out.
