Chapter 103: The End of the Road(1)
Although the chaos of the river of time had allowed Bai’s dream body to truly travel to the past, she couldn’t change the course of history.
Even when she had tried to tell Green Lolita her true name, a strange, dangerous feeling had washed over her, a warning that if she had spoken it, her dream body would have been instantly destroyed.
So, she had finally understood why the ancient texts, and even High Priestess Nimora, had called her “Little Fox.”
Her brief conversation with Green Lolita hadn’t yielded much information. She had only confirmed that the Fairy and Elven races had a deep connection to the Promised Land, but it was now a place of legend, its history lost to time.
And she still didn’t know if the Divine Advent had already occurred at this point in time.
Of course, there was a way to find out.
—The Savage Lands.
The battle at the Wild God Altar was a vivid memory. Queen Arachne, fused with the Wild God, had reached the World Ender Class.
Although a pale imitation of a true World Ender, she had still been more powerful than Azakana, who had sacrificed his soul. And Bai, at the time, had been no match for her.
And the Wild God, its very existence, was a key.
From its reaction to her, its recognition of her, she knew it was from the Promised Land, from after the Divine Advent.
Or perhaps, it was an ember of its race, passed down through the Queen’s hands.
Because from the very beginning, even as a corpse, it had never truly been under her control. It had subtly influenced her, had pushed her down a path of obsession and madness.
So, to know the current state of this timeline, she had to go to the Savage Lands.
But…
She looked down at her fading hands. “Even if I could go to the Place of Divine Advent now, what could I change?”
“Perhaps… what I perceive as change is just a part of a predetermined fate…”
But some things had to be done.
…
At that time, in the Savage Lands.
The Savage Lands of this era were even more chaotic than after the battle at the Wild God Altar.
It was a land of pure, unadulterated survival of the fittest. Every day, countless races were wiped out, their blood and gore a constant, gruesome sight.
The beastkin had not yet formed tribes, had no concept of bloodlines. They lived in scattered settlements, hunting everything they could find.
But that was about to change.
The first tribe, united by a shared bloodline, had appeared. Their strength, their organization, was a crushing blow to the other, more primitive, settlements.
They called themselves the “Hellblood Spiders,” and their leader was “Na.”
She had another name. Queen Arachne.
Wherever they went, they left a trail of death and destruction. She would conquer the Savage Lands with blood and fire.
She believed she was invincible, that she would sweep across the continent, even to the distant, unknown forest (the Bewildering Forest).
—Until that day, when she met her lifelong nightmare, the one who would confine her to the Savage Lands, to her Crimson Nest, for the rest of her long, miserable life.
It was an ordinary day. She was, as usual, watching her army slaughter another settlement, a gruesome, yet satisfying, spectacle.
But then, a small, pink figure appeared before her, nine large, fluffy tails a striking sight.
“Phew… finally found you, Queen Arachne. Took me long enough,” the figure said, her accent a strange, almost comical, sound, her expression a cool indifference, as if she were oblivious to the carnage around her.
“A fox-kin from the north?” the Queen asked, her eyes narrowed. She motioned for her guards to stand down. “A cute little sister. What do you want?”
Just a juvenile fox-kin. No threat at all.
Just a bit of entertainment. She could kill her later, when she got bored.
The Queen smiled, a predatory gleam in her eyes.
“I want something from you,” the figure said, her tone flat, yet arrogant.
The Queen’s smile faded, her brow furrowing.
But she was curious. What could this little creature possibly want from her?
So, she suppressed her anger. “Tell me what you want. Perhaps, if I’m in a good mood, I’ll give it to you.”
“Whether you’re in a good mood or not, you will give it to me, Queen Arachne,” Bai said, her patience wearing thin. She had only been polite out of habit. “I want… the Wild God. Oh, no, it’s just a corpse now, isn’t it? Let me borrow it.”
At the mention of the Wild God, the Queen had been confused. But then Bai had said “corpse,” and her eyes had widened.
It was her deepest secret, the reason her tribe had grown so powerful, the reason she could conquer the Savage Lands.
—She had found a corpse, a corpse with an immense bloodline, and a wealth of ancient knowledge.
And with Bai’s calm, yet arrogant, tone, her killing intent flared.
“Don’t worry. I’ll give it back,” Bai said. After all, the Wild God had appeared in the future. She couldn’t change that. “And I won’t borrow it for long. I just want to ask it a few questions—”
Before she could finish, a flash of blood-red light, and the Queen’s spider leg had torn through the pink figure.
“Hmph…” the Queen sneered, then, with another flash of her spider leg, she killed the surrounding guards.
The “Wild God’s” corpse was her greatest secret. Until she had full control over it, she couldn’t risk anyone knowing.
“But how did that little creature know about the corpse…?”
She frowned, and then, she realized. The world around her was… tearing, like a canvas.
