105: Chapter 88: Dragging You to My Side 105: Chapter 88: Dragging You to My Side The ancient mystics each harboring their own plans, one by one, they vanished from the secret realms of heightened sensory experience, and within Farosa’s consciousness, it was as if the candles around her were being snuffed out one after the other, their unique light and fire growing dim and disappearing altogether.
In the end, only three remained.
The Forest Master appeared in an indeterminate state until Farosa’s observation fixed its current form.
Now it resembled a massive beast draped in multiple layers of fur, its mouth gripped a frozen deer with long, curved horns.
The myriad furs covering its body belonged to a menagerie of different mammals, including polar bears, mammoths, and ancient bovines, which it had appropriated to ward off the cold, indicating how frigid its current location was.
“Thanks to you, I have the miracle of the oath at my disposal.
I thought you would be the first to fall,” Farosa cautiously observed the Forest Master.
As soon as Farosa joined the pact, the Forest Master was aware of her revival.
It had prepared for this meeting long in advance, summoning the remnants of its strength to make a faint noise.
“The extreme north of the Winter Plains, you still have a long time to get through there,” Farosa mocked, “save your energy for speaking.”
“The weight of the oath…
“That’s the foundation of our cooperation,” Farosa said meaningfully, gazing at the ancient, enormous beast, “The oath allows me to accomplish many things.”
and the humans, they…” The Forest Master wanted to share more about its recent condition, to discuss the research stations built upon its true form, but it was too cold, too much in pain, and soon faded from Farosa’s senses.
Farosa turned towards the next light that had not departed, her expression subtly changing.
It was an armored figure with six wings and a robust form, a Faceless Angel known as the Envious, Dilnai.
One hand held a sword, the other cradled its pet viper, which bit down on a torch.
In the past, it was among the ancient mystics as a foul woman skilled in sowing discord, which even Farosa found quite despicable, or rather, feared.
“What’s up, got something else?” Farosa asked softly.
Even Farosa did not want to draw the attention of this being.
“It seems you still hold some reverence,” teased Dilnai, “After devouring that weakened ancient god, I thought you had gotten carried away with yourself.”
Its voice emanated from behind the featureless façade, echoing in the abyss of Farosa’s heart, unceasing for a long time.
“Your realm is New Taixi State, if I recall,” Farosa remembered, “After the fall of the gods, people developed quite a bit on the lands you possessed.
Doesn’t it bother you one bit?”
Before, only the ocean separated my territories, now they have voluntarily isolated themselves from the outside with shields, built rather fine pieces of art and pleasing cities.
My incarnations are treated by them as their own kind, enjoying lavish treatment,” Dilnai laughed coldly.
“Stop enjoying it, only by killing them off will you stand a chance at Ascension.”
“On the contrary, I won’t be manipulated by you, Little Witch.
I’ll bring you to my side, and then we’ll see how you perform,” Dilnai vanished from Farosa’s perception.
The more Farosa thought about it, the angrier she became.
Why can’t everyone be kind and friendly with each other.
The last remaining point of light in Farosa’s consciousness, she was very familiar with.
“Yan Duo, Yan Duo…” Zenith was a gargantuan giant that burnt constantly, shining like the sun.
As a member of an extraterrestrial race, it had descended to the planet a long time ago, living near the Archipelago Continent, “Yan Duo, Yan Duo…”
From its rambling, Farosa discerned its intent, having interacted with Zenith a thousand years ago.
“Are you saying you’ve been captured by people?
They bomb your head daily with deep-water explosives?
And they’re mining from your body?”
“I’ll save you when I have the time,” Farosa said offhandedly.
Yan Duo!” It was very pleased and quickly left.
Dealing with these scoundrels really was a waste of time.
Farosa opened her eyes, returning to the present.
Now she could feel the weight of her own muscles and bones again, heard the subtle noises from every corner, and her chest began to rise and fall once more.
One energy-sapping task followed another, and Farosa felt joy for her new power, but the sudden sense of responsibility and pressure also brought her to the verge of collapse.
She needed time to calibrate her thoughts.
After devouring the god, the memories about the deity also became hers to use, yet the consciousness of the god was like the sea itself, and Farosa’s thoughts became a tiny palace suppressed at the bottom of the ocean, where any external contact would be swallowed by the infinite darkness and crushing pressure.
But having taken such an action, it was impossible to expel this sea of memories again, it had to be integrated, even if that meant wrestling with the dead entity’s immense will during the process.
The worst part was that ancient vixen, Dilnai, who must have secretly infiltrated the Lighthouse Core, getting to where it was today would not have been possible without her help.
And if she decided to hunt Farosa now, Farosa couldn’t fend her off right away.
She pushed the door open, and the light outside was a bit dazzling.
“Farosa,” Xu Yang greeted her, “How are you feeling?”
Farosa didn’t say a word, simply smiling, but she seemed different to Xu Yang; before she had been a bit mad and conceited, but now she seemed unfathomable.
“Together, we can accomplish many things,” Farosa said slowly, “a great many.”
“Your power has fully recovered; that truly calls for congratulations,” Xu Yang replied.
“Yes,” Farosa walked towards a Ratman corpse in the corridor.
Its body was large, its fur pitch black; it was highly decomposed, emitting a nauseating smell, with entrails exposed and swarming with maggots.
Body fluids leaked from its abdominal cavity, its blood dried up, its tail stiff, and its eyes had turned into pits.
The wounds from sharp weapons on its body were a ghastly sight, as if it had been killed with a single blow.
Farosa raised her hand.
“Law of Recovery,” she said.
In an instant, the Ratman returned to a living state, reviving on the spot, shaking off all the maggots and poison eggs from its body.
It had a thick fur, a slightly hunched body, bared its teeth in a snarl, glaring with its bright yellow eyes, looking around in confusion, emitting a sharp and hoarse sound as if it could not accept the fact of its own rebirth.
“Harvest Life,” Farosa said.
The next second, the black-furred Ratman was sent flying, as if struck by a force head-on, slamming into the wall behind it.
At the moment of impact, its body burst into pieces, turning into seven or eight soft chunks that fell to the ground, with blood spraying out, flowing over the floor, overlapping with the dry bloodstains left by other dead Ratmen.
Seeing this, Farosa let out a burst of laughter, almost doubling over.
A monster, an ancient monster from a millennium ago, buried underground by its own kind to sleep forever, undisturbed.
But all that had been disrupted, and the monster had come back.
The doors of the Shrine swung open, and Xu Yang walked to the edge, peering inside the scene.
The Shrine was very small, probably only big enough to accommodate a single statue.
Now it was completely empty, with only the wooden backboard left, exuding an ancient and strange smell.
It was a wonder how Farosa had managed to squeeze in before.
“Are you afraid of me?” Farosa asked hauntingly from behind Xu Yang.
“Not at all,” Xu Yang said, “we share an oath.”
“What if my power could surpass the oath?”
No matter how strong your power is, it’s limited.
If you were truly omnipotent, you wouldn’t have been sealed underground but would have established a thousand-year empire that lasted until today.”
“The oath has no binding effect on me now.
“I’ve already learned that you’re very skilled at telling lies; I won’t fully trust you.” Xu Yang closed the doors of the Shrine.
“Why would you lay a hand on me?”
Before he could turn around, Farosa embraced him tightly from behind, pressing close to his back, brushing against his ear with hers.
“Stay by my side,” she said with an intense longing in her voice, “I want you with me, you said you know what to do, you know there’s a better way, then you must teach me.”
“I understand,” Xu Yang turned and kissed Farosa, “I will take care of the things you can’t handle.”
Her heart was racing.
“I’ve heard that the Corporate Alliance has a global monitoring system for magical fluctuations,” Xu Yang said, “and you must have already attracted attention.
If you’ve truly recovered to an incredibly strong level, the whole world is probably shaking.”
“I anticipated that might happen,” Farosa said, “so I concealed my presence.”
“That’s not one of the miracles you’re capable of, is it?”
“It’s a little trick Witches rely on to survive.
I always have new methods, and the gods have taught me many things too.”
“Seems you’re quite familiar with your god.”
“Oh, I know far too much about gods.
Just a brief contact just now was enough to delight me.
Actually, gods are very generous, sharing many abilities and wisdom with me.
All of this, I’ve discovered from their vast and generous bodies…”
Tears suddenly streamed down Farosa’s face.
“What we’re going to face will be even more difficult, the crises we’ll encounter even more terrifying…” she said, “I don’t want to be alone again like I was in the past.”
“With your temperament, nobody will stay by your side if you keep this up.”
“I really have many things I want to do, I want to become a completely different person, I can’t do it all by myself…
Help me become a better Farosa, will you?”
“I understand,” Xu Yang consoled Farosa, “although I know you’re lying again.”
“It’s her factory setting,” Lila shook her head.
“There’s no lie in what comes next—I do indeed have a certain emotional dependence on you,” Farosa said, looking tenderly at Xu Yang.
Xu Yang’s presence filled a long-standing emotional void in her, a feeling she had been seeking from her youth to the present day, unable to define exactly what it was.