Chapter 433

"Let me see, what is the true origin of this interesting little thing..."

The Hound King began to retrieve more detailed information about the target through the time network.

The Time Hound race possesses a unique tracking ability, capable of tracing the traces of spacetime fluctuations to backtrack the target's past trajectory.

Through this method, they can obtain detailed data on their prey, including strength levels, behavioral patterns, and even psychological weaknesses.

The images of time began to unfold before the Hound King, like a dynamic, long historical scroll.

It saw the growth trajectory of Luo En starting from his apprentice period:

His green appearance when he first entered the Black Fog School, his battle with alienated monsters in the dormitory corridor, and the thrilling experience of venturing deep into the Great Abyss just after becoming a formal wizard...

As the images progressed, the Hound King gradually became serious.

The growth speed of this young man was indeed abnormal; he could always erupt with power beyond common sense in desperate situations.

Moreover, the information starting from the Morning Star level had been completely obscured by some kind of high-dimensional mist.

He seemed to carry high-level marks from multiple different domains on his body.

"The aura of chaos, the mark of the stars, and also..."

The Hound King's attention was suddenly drawn to a detail.

On Luo En's body, there was an object emitting a faint silver light.

As the observation deepened, the outline of that object gradually became clear.

It was an exquisite silver pocket watch.

The moment the Hound King's consciousness touched that pocket watch, a familiar yet terrifying taste rushed toward it.

It was an aura that made the depths of its soul tremble.

It carried the absolute control of time, as well as a huge fear from the depths of ancient memories.

"No... impossible, this aura!!!"

The Hound King's body began to tremble violently, and its huge tentacles curled up unconsciously, just like a truly frightened canine.

That aura awakened the terrifying past events buried in the deepest part of its memory.

………………

That was an ordinary afternoon in the mid-Second Era, when the Time Hound population was in its prime.

At that time, the Hound King was just an elite hound, with a status in the population second only to the old Hound King and a few leaders.

It had just completed a long-distance hunt and returned, exhausted, to its nest deep in the River of Time, falling into a deep slumber.

The slumber of a Time Hound is different from that of ordinary creatures.

In the deep layers of the River of Time, they need to sink their consciousness completely to the bottom of the time flow and synchronize with the surrounding time fluctuations to obtain true rest.

Once this kind of slumber begins, it is difficult to be interrupted by external interference.

It was this untimely deep slumber that saved its life.

Because just when it was sleeping, an unprecedented major event occurred in the population.

Sentinels of the population reported that a strange "wreckage" had been discovered in a remote tributary of time.

It seemed to be the prototype of a Dark Sun-level wizard's virtual remains, floating quietly at the corner of the time turbulence.

The virtual remains emitted a rich aura of time, but the vital signs were extremely weak, almost approaching death.

Even more tempting was that this virtual remains was surrounded by countless precious time fragments, each containing pure time essence.

For hounds that feed on time energy, this discovery was no different from encountering an oasis in the desert.

Especially the virtual remains itself, the aura of time it emitted was suffocatingly rich.

If they could devour such a powerful time-type wizard, the strength of the entire population would be significantly improved.

The old Hound King was at a critical period of wanting to go further at that time.

This level of "supplement" had a fatal attraction for it.

It quickly gathered all the elite individuals in the population, preparing for a collective hunt of this seemingly dying wizard.

A total of thirteen elite hounds responded to the call, including several top predators second only to the Hound King.

They rubbed their hands, preparing to enjoy this hard-won feast.

Under normal circumstances, as one of the elite individuals, it should have received the summons order at that time.

But the special environment deep in the River of Time interfered with the transmission of the signal.

Coupled with its unusually deep slumber, it completely shielded all fluctuations from the outside world.

Just like that, this "feast" began, while it continued its slumber, completely unaware.

………………

When the Hound King woke up from its slumber and learned about this, it felt a wave of regret that it had missed this "feast."

But what followed was the deathly silence coming from the population network.

That kind of silence was not the usual quiet, but an absolute, hair-raising void.

It was like a beautiful symphony suddenly interrupted, leaving only harsh noise.

It tried to contact the old Hound King in a panic, but all it got was a void echo.

Contacting other elite individuals still resulted in deathly silence.

Panic began to spread in its heart, and an unprecedented ominous premonition made it tremble all over.

The Hound King began to follow the traces of time, tracking the final movement trajectory of the population members.

It discovered that all traces pointed in the same direction.

That remote time tributary where the "wreckage" was discovered.

When it arrived at the scene, the scene before it was almost unbelievable.

The entire area of the time tributary had been completely "purified."

The time turbulence that should have existed had disappeared without a trace.

In the center of this void, a witch was standing with her back to it.

At her feet, fourteen "specimens" of Time Hounds were neatly arranged.

All elite individuals, including the old Hound King, were "preserved" in some unimaginable way.

They maintained their forms before death, but their bodies had become translucent, and their internal energy and essence of existence had been completely extracted.

The once-powerful predators were now like exhibits in a museum, quietly displayed there.

Their eyes were still open, and despair still lingered in their pupils.

The witch seemed to sense its arrival and slowly turned around.

It was a young and beautiful face, but her eyes were as cold as ice.

"There is still one little fish that hasn't taken the bait."

Her voice was soft and pleasant, but to the Hound King, it sounded like the whisper of death:

"It seems my 'performance' wasn't realistic enough, to have let you escape a disaster."

Only then did the Hound King realize that the so-called "dying wreckage" in the population information was a trap set by this witch from the very beginning.

She used the gluttonous nature of the Time Hounds, deliberately showing a false appearance of weakness to lure the elite individuals of the population to hunt.

Then, at the most critical moment, she exposed her true strength and wiped out all the hunters in one fell swoop.

The Time Hounds were used to reigning supreme in the River of Time and never thought that they would also become someone else's prey.

"I am the 'Clock Witch' Erika Lillard, perhaps in the future the wizarding world will call me the 'Queen of Time Sequence'..."

The witch introduced herself indifferently, while stroking the silver scepter in her hand:

"That cluster hunt just now was indeed a bit dangerous.

Fortunately, the quality of your population's time essence is quite good, especially this Hound King..."

She pointed to the largest specimen, her tone carrying the pleasure of tasting fine food:

"Its time core is like aged fine wine, just right for making the special item I need."

Erika raised her scepter, and the power of time began to flow on the scepter's body.

Those rays were as viscous as mercury, emitting an aura that made the Time Hounds instinctively afraid.

"However, leaving one survivor is not bad either."

She looked at the shivering Hound King, a playful look appearing in her eyes:

"You can go back and tell the other population members that the River of Time is not your private territory.

When you think you are the hunters, the real hunter has already aimed at you."

After speaking, Erika began to pack up her "trophies."

The old Hound King's huge body began to shrink slowly under her control, eventually turning into a mass of silver metal raw material.

The specimens of other elite individuals were also processed one by one, their time essence extracted and injected into that mass of metal.

Throughout the process, Erika's movements were elegant and skillful, as if she were performing an artistic creation.

And it could only watch helplessly from a distance, without even the courage to run away.

It knew that in the face of such an absolute gap in strength, any attempt to resist or run away would be futile.

If Erika wanted to kill it, she wouldn't need to spend any effort at all.

Leaving it alive was just to let it act as a messenger tool.

When the last specimen was processed, Erika looked with satisfaction at the exquisite silver pocket watch in her hand.

The surface of the pocket watch was as smooth as a mirror, and complex mechanical structures could be seen operating precisely inside.

"A perfect work."

She stroked the surface of the pocket watch and said with some satisfaction:

"This is my new partner, and it can also be used as a legacy item in the future."

Afterward, Erika left without looking back.

………………

The memory ended, and the Hound King was still immersed in that great terror, unable to extricate itself.

From that day on, it understood a cruel truth:

In this universe, Time Hounds are never at the top of the food chain.

Above them, there are even more terrifying existences, and those existences treat them as raw materials and tools.

And Erika was the most terrifying one it had ever encountered.

She clearly knew the population's behavioral patterns, psychological weaknesses, and even the hibernation mechanism was clear to her.

This kind of understanding was what allowed her plans to accurately hit the vital points.

"I finally climbed to my current position with such difficulty..."

The Hound King thought bitterly in its heart.

After that disaster, the Time Hound population fell into unprecedented chaos.