*BAM!!!* *THUD!*
It was a direct hit! I was instantly brought to my knees!
As the stars spun in my view, all the air in my lungs got exhaled as I groaned. The pain was something I hadn’t felt in a long time and definitely something I didn’t want to feel again. I squirmed on the ground, trying to recover my bearings and endure the pain.
The cause of this situation, the little girl that came with Zeshion, only looked down on me, who was rolling on the ground, with a heartless gaze. That gaze definitely wasn’t something a little girl could imitate. It had a freezing coldness to it, making me hallucinate that I was dropped in the middle of a blizzard with no clothes on.
“Who’s the child of this Zeshion brat and that greenhorn lass? Watch your tongue, kid.”
She walked back to her previous position after leaving those words.
Ember quickly knelt on the ground beside me and checked my state, soothing my back with a worried look. Although I was thinking that patting my back is useless, I can’t ask her to caress my jewels before everyone here, can I?
Soon, I managed to recover enough to sit. However, my legs were still shaking a little. ‘I should train my pain tolerance next.’ Such thoughts went past my mind. As I was contemplating, Zeshion chuckled one last time before speaking.
“Sorry for the late introduction. This lady here is Alpha, my first tamed monster.”
Alpha! She is the only mysterious monster of Zeshion, with little to no information known about her. Not even her appearance. Some even guessed that she must’ve been extremely beautiful and that looking at her face would make a man’s heart stop, forcing her to not appear before the public’s eyes.
“THIS is Alpha?”
In response to my snide comment, Alpha squinted her eyes once more. I felt a shiver run down my spine as she did, making me automatically correct my sentence.
“I mean, is this wonderful lady really that mysterious powerhouse, Alpha?”
Alpha nodded her head slightly, approving of my correction. Zeshion too nodded his head, replying, “Yes, it’s true.”
“I see… So? What’s your purpose in coming here to the northern frontline?”
The southern end should still be under attack. Even for a God Tamer, it would be difficult to clean up everything in such a short time. Even for us as a team, we only thinned the number to an appropriate amount that the rest of the tamers could handle. What reason would these three have to require them to head here in a rush, to the point of leaving their area vulnerable?
Suddenly, Alpha held her temples as she stumbled. She quickly regained her balance and avoided falling to the ground. After shaking her head and chasing away the dizziness she felt, she glared at me once more.
“I really hate you.”
She declared it with all the disgust and anger she could display. I was slightly taken aback by her sudden declaration, but before I could even ask to clarify, she quickly added.
“Ever since you left that small town of yours, Fate kept on changing like a pinwheel. Do you know how much of a pain it was to recompute everything from scratch every time you did something?”
She frowned as she continued.
“You’re like a walking disaster. Destroyer of the Flow of Time, Shifter of Fate. If possible, I didn’t want to get involved with you, but Fate itself made it so that I come here personally.”
Alpha sighed before she turned to Namia and snickered.
“And I finally realize just why Fate did that.”
Namia just closed her eyes in response to Alpha’s provocative smile. Seeing her not reacting strongly, Alpha snorted and continued.
“Anyway, I’m here to guide you to where your Gan? Gun? Whatever you call it, is located. Hey, Greenhorn, come here.”
Responding to her call, Zeta grumpily came forward to her side. It was obvious that she didn’t like Alpha much, given how she was acting. As they stood side-by-side, Alpha touched Zeta’s back.
“I’ll be fixing the coordinates; you open the gate.”
As she muttered so abruptly, the air started swirling around them. It quickly gathered and became turbulent, making us squint our eyes to avoid getting dust in our eyes.
As we did, Zeta started opening a portal before her. It was different compared to other portals, as instead of a black that seemed to suck all colors out of light, this portal glowed in bright white light.
“Great. Will, go in now. This is as far as I can help you.” ．
Without even explaining anything, she said that plainly. I looked over at the girls, seeing their expressions filled with both resolute determination and worry.
“Fina.”
I turned to the last person in our group, who was also the weakest at the moment.
“I won’t force you to come. You can return to the Debauchery Hall where Yorm and Judy are waiting. What do you want to do?”
“Of course I’ll come with you… Or so I would like to say.”
Fina smiled bitterly.
“As I am now, I know I’m just going to hold you back. I’ll head back to the Hall first. Good Luck, Will.”
Fina approached and planted a soft peck on my cheeks. I just smiled at her cute action and pulled her closer, reciprocating her kiss with a kiss on her forehead.
“Then wait for us there. We’ll come back as soon as we can.”
Fina moved a little distance away as the rest of us lined up before the white portal.
“Are you all ready?”
Alpha asked with a soft gaze. All of us nodded firmly. Seeing that, she showed a faint smile.
“Will, one last thing. Just remember it for now, and try to recall it during times of crisis.”
Just as we were about to enter, she shouted something that wasn’t too clear.
“The enemy isn’t in front of you, but behind.”
“…?”
Her cryptic words made me think that Namia would betray us, but I doubt that’s what she was talking about. For now, I just nodded my head as we entered the portal.
A brief flash of light covered my eyes. After passing through, I saw the new area we were in. It’s a world where everything is static, frozen in time.