Chapter 429: Who is the prey?

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

The Dog King began to pull more detailed target information through the time network.

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

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

Images of time began to unfold before the Dog King, like a dynamic, long scroll of history.

It saw Luo En’s growth trajectory starting from his time as an apprentice:

His green, inexperienced appearance when first entering the Black Mist School, his battles with alienated monsters in the dormitory corridors, and the thrilling experience of venturing deep into the Great Abyss just after becoming an official wizard...

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

This young man’s growth speed was indeed abnormal; he was always able to erupt with power beyond reason in desperate situations.

Moreover, information from the Morning Star level onwards was completely obscured by some kind of high-dimensional mist.

He seemed to carry high-level imprints from multiple different domains.

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

The Dog 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 Dog King’s consciousness touched that pocket watch, a familiar yet terrifying scent 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 massive fear from the depths of ancient memories.

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

The Dog King’s body began to tremble violently, its massive tentacles curling up unconsciously, just like a real canine that had been frightened.

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

………………

That was a mundane afternoon in the middle of the Second Era, when the Time Hound race was at its peak.

The Dog King at that time was just an elite hound, second in status within the race only to the Old Dog King and a few leaders.

It had just completed a long-distance hunt and returned, exhausted, to the nest deep within 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 achieve true rest.

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

It was this ill-timed deep slumber that saved its life.

Because while it was sleeping, an unprecedented event occurred within the race.

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

It appeared to be the embryonic form of a Dark Sun-level wizard’s void corpse, floating quietly at the intersection of turbulent time currents.

The void corpse emitted a rich aura of time, but its vital signs were extremely weak, nearly approaching death.

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

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

Especially the void corpse itself, which emitted an aura of time so rich it was suffocating.

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

The Old Dog King was at a critical period of wanting to advance further.

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

It quickly summoned all the elite individuals of the race, 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 Dog King.

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

Under normal circumstances, as one of the elite individuals, it should have received the summons as well.

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

Coupled with the fact that its depth of slumber was extraordinary, it completely shielded all external fluctuations.

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

………………

When the Dog King awoke from its slumber and learned of this, it felt a wave of regret that it had missed this "feast."

But what followed was a deathly silence transmitted through the race network.

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

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

It frantically tried to contact the Old Dog King, but received only void echoes.

Contacting other elite individuals resulted in the same deathly silence.

Panic began to spread in its heart, an unprecedented ominous premonition making its whole body tremble.

The Dog King began to follow the traces of time, tracking the final movement trajectories of the race members.

It discovered that all traces pointed in the same direction.

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

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

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

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

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

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

All elite individuals, including the Old Dog King, were being "preserved" in some unimaginable way.

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

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

Their eyes were still open, with despair still lingering 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 Dog 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 Dog King realize that the so-called "dying wreckage" in the race information had been a trap set by this witch from the very beginning.

She had utilized the greedy nature of the Time Hounds, deliberately displaying a false appearance of weakness to lure the elite individuals of the race to hunt her.

Then, at the most critical moment, she revealed her true strength and wiped out all the hunters in one go.

The Time Hounds were accustomed to reigning supreme in the River of Time, never imagining that they too would 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 race's time essence is quite good, especially this Dog King..."

She pointed to the largest specimen, her tone carrying the pleasure of someone savoring a delicacy:

"Its time core is like an aged vintage, just right for making the special tool I need."

Erika raised her scepter, and the power of time began to flow along the staff.

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

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

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

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

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

Having said that, Erika began to collect her "trophies."

The Old Dog King’s massive 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 skilled, as if she were performing a work of art.

And it could only watch helplessly from afar, not even having the courage to run away.

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

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

Leaving it alive was merely to have it act as a messenger.

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 inside, complex mechanical structures could be seen operating with precision.

"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 serve as a legacy artifact in the future."

Afterwards, Erika left without looking back.

………………

The memory ended, and the Dog King remained immersed in that great terror, unable to extricate itself.

From that day on, it understood a cruel truth:

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

Above them were even more terrifying existences, existences that treated them as raw materials and tools.

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

She clearly knew the behavioral patterns, psychological weaknesses, and even the slumber mechanisms of the race.

It was this understanding that allowed her plans to strike the vital points with such precision.

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

The Dog King thought bitterly in its heart.

After that catastrophe, the Time Hound race fell into unprecedented chaos.