The trajectory of destiny

Following the queen's words, Oreius' heart skipped a beat.

He forced the bone dragon to charge forward, evading the queen's attack at an incredible arc. A deep scratch was left on the right dragon wing.

When I get back I'll have to find the profiteer to exchange it for a permanent flying ability!

The red-haired young man swore solemnly in his heart. Nidhogg angrily spit out hot dragon breath. The queen casually dispersed the flames and crossed her forelimbs in front of her chest, showing a wonderful elegance.

"You must have equal strength to hurt me, but you can't do that now."

He did not bring the Zerg army with him in order to block the opponent's assimilation ability. Oleus' ability is now ineffective against her. The queen chuckled jokingly: "Is this the extent of your ability? Your Majesty values ​​you so much, I thought there would be something special."

"Weren't you very powerful before? You can't beat me just by charging forward with your abilities or just by your fighting skills."

He was right. The god had spent thousands of years to hone his deadly fighting skills, and each attack could target the weaknesses of Oreius. However, no matter how hard he tried, the gap between him and Oreius was too big to be crossed. Coupled with his limited abilities, the situation became increasingly critical.

Another collision, and the flaming spear in Oleus's hand dissipated. Hearing Rex's reminder, the red-haired young man quickly looked at the queen, trying to find something wrong with her.

The Queen is indeed very strong. Her fully released monster form enhances her physique and speed, and her combat awareness is extremely excellent. After paying the price of numerous wounds, Oreius finally made a new discovery.

Every time he attacked the queen's chest, she would dodge it intentionally or unintentionally. This tiny detail did not escape the young man's eyes, and he suddenly said, "I know your weakness."

"A man who only knows how to brag will not be popular."

The queen smiled, as if mocking his presumption, but Aurelius saw clearly that the other party's evasion was more obvious.

"Really?"

He no longer hesitated and launched a concentrated attack.

The queen frowned slightly, revealing a trace of a tear under the opponent's reckless attack. Flames grew into her chest, and red patterns seeped into it.

This time, Oleus finally saw it. A glimmer of light flashed across the queen's chest, and the wounds on her body disappeared along with the blessing of the [Holy Arms].

When he noticed this, the sleeping World Tree rustled, as if responding to him. A faint light rose from the leaves, calling out something.

In a flash, Oreius, despite the pain of being hit on the right half of his body, stabbed his opponent's chest with his left hand.

This was an absolutely impossible move, but at the moment the other party made the move, the queen's head buzzed, as if something had hit her. In this less than a second of stunnedness, the pain of the broken bones was forcibly ignored, and Oreius grasped the beating thing.

"You are just undead, and you dare to attack me?!"

The Queen of Insects was furious, and her high-pitched insect chirping crashed into the submerged sea of ​​consciousness. The figure of [Luo]'s will slowly dissipated. The souls that had suffered heavy damage suddenly dimmed a lot, and were forced to curl up in the depths of the sea of ​​consciousness.

"Ancestor, we can only help you once. Please be careful."

Even this time is enough.

The red-haired young man yanked hard, trying to pull the thing out. The sharp limbs pierced his arm, trying to cut it off.

"Let go of your hand! There is only one thing I can never give you, let it go!"

“Hmm…!”

The Queen's voice became panicked for the first time, and Aurelius gritted his teeth and pulled it out with force. The worn-out pocket watch was stained with blood, which gradually formed fine red lines.

No, we can't let him take this away! Otherwise, the Crown Prince will be angry!

The queen's heart was filled with unprecedented fear and a trace of jealousy that she was not aware of. Even though this was something given to her by the goddess of fate, she knew that she only had the right to use it and could not control what it did. In addition, the power of the artifact was exhausted at that time, so she handed it over so readily.

But this human's power can actually contaminate the artifact. If he takes away control...

Thinking of this, the Queen's attack became more fierce. Her sharp limbs penetrated the human body, and blood splashed every time she pulled them out. She wanted to cut off the opponent's hand, but when she was halfway through, the blood stopped her action.

"Let it go! Let it go! This is not something you should be holding!"

This damned human still held the pocket watch firmly and unwaveringly, spitting out large mouthfuls of blood while looking at Him fearlessly. There was a fire burning in the depths of his eyes. If it were normal, the Queen would definitely look forward to the moment when this flame went out. But now, there was only anger in his heart.

It’s abominable, abominable, extremely abominable!

Are mere humans qualified to look at gods with such eyes?!

At the owner's strong will, the stagnant pointer jumped back one step at a time.

Gradually, the hands began to spin rapidly backwards. The rust on the surface of the pocket watch faded.

The two were too busy fighting for ownership to notice this, but Rex was the only one who noticed it. He endured the piercing murderous aura coming from the queen and reached out to Oleus: "Oleus! Be careful, that pocket watch--"

As he spoke, the hands of the pocket watch turned back to the last second.

A strong white light burst out from the pocket watch, submerging the figures of the two people.

"Oreius!"

Ricks rushed forward to grab him, but was blown away by the strong wind and almost slipped off the dragon's back. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reach the other person.

"Damn..."

When the white light disappeared, the two people who were fighting disappeared.

Rex finally got up, with a bloody scratch on his cheek from the broken armor. Nidhogg was also anxious, and looked around anxiously: "Why is Oreus missing? Could he have fallen into some kind of trap?"

"It looks like something happened, hopefully nothing serious."

Ricks wiped his face in frustration: "I failed to protect the people around me again this time... Damn it, now is not the time to think about this. Where did they go?"

I have to take action and be useful. Now I am no longer a person who is powerless against anything. Think about it, what else can I do, Rex?

The man frowned, staring at the place where the two people disappeared, thinking quickly in his mind.

Then, Ricks made a difficult decision: "I want to go back to Bug City."

Nidhogg's face was full of confusion: "???"

"Although I don't know where they went, the Insect Heart told me that the Queen's aura is very far away from here and is almost no longer in this world. Even if they come back, it will take time."

"In that case, as long as I return to the Insect City, I can use the Insect Heart to control the insects and rescue the others!"

As long as the queen doesn't come back, he is the king of the City of Insects.

Relying on those insect people, they can cross the obstacles of the black fog and bring those who are lost in the insect city back to the human realm.

Even if humans sent a large army, it would be difficult to organize such a strong escort team. Doing so is risky, but if successful, he can send those people home.

If there are problems in the City of Worms, it will definitely have an impact on the Queen, and this is what he can do now.

"Can you take me back to Bug City?"

"My armor needs to be repaired..." Nidhogg muttered, shaking his wings. "But the thrusters are fine, are you serious?"

Rex's crazy brainstorm: "You just need to send me back, and then you can come back and continue to wait for Oleus. The queen must have killed a lot of monsters on the way here. The insect heart has the same aura as them, so they won't bother us."

Nidhogg was finally persuaded. He could also sense that Orelius's presence was not here and that there was no danger for the time being.

In that case, it might not be a problem for me to help out a little, right?

Ricks filled it with energy liquid. The thrusters lit up again, and the dragonfly carried the other party away quickly.

Behind them, a low chuckle seemed to come from the void.

......

The red-haired young man realized that he was surrounded by a strong white light.

The world was stretched into a stagnant frame. Everything was resolved into an image made up of countless lines in this frame. And in these endless lines, a woman stood with her back to him.

She was wearing a solemn black veil, the black veil could be vaguely seen blown by the wind. Her long silver-white hair fell on her shoulders, making her look quiet and dignified.

With Him as the center, all imaginable timepieces in the world float in the void. The hands move in a random order. The "click, click" sounds intertwine, as if pulling at the pulse of the world.

The goddess stretched out her hand and plucked the bell strings. The sound was gentle, as if she was whispering to someone.

"Destiny is a never-ending river."

"Countless tributaries converge in the river, rushing together to the distance, and then branching out again in the distance... This is how it should be."

"But when I ascended to the throne and looked at the end of destiny, I saw that all the tributaries converged in one place. No matter how hard I struggled, this was the only possibility."

"[The road to this world has been cut off]."

"There is only one future I can see, and that is a path into a bottomless black fog."

The goddess who controls fate sighed silently, lowered her eyes and said, "Therefore, I made three prophecies."

"The first prophecy is that the Age of God's Favor will definitely end, and the gods will exalt their kingdoms and leave this land."

"The second prophecy predicts that the world will face a great disaster, an unprecedented crisis."

“The third prophecy predicts that when mankind falls into despair, new heroes will inevitably emerge to lead them out of the predicament. This will be a road full of blood and death, but no one will retreat.”

Another voice asked, "What should we do then?"

“I left some medium for the future.”

The goddess raised her hand, and a pocket watch fell into her palm.

"These are artifacts made from the leaves of the World Tree. They are powered by destiny and will start to function once they receive enough destiny support."

"It transports the holder to the past, but not necessarily to this world's past."

"...What do you mean?"

"In the beginning, all rivers came from the same place. Different choices gave rise to branches. And the countless branches lead to only one ending, which is the fate I see. After this ending, it may undergo countless changes, but I cannot know it now."

"You know what, kid? The future determines the past."

The respondent was confused: "I have only heard that the past determines the future."

"Yeah, I know it sounds strange. Fate is a complete cycle, nothing suddenly appears. If you write the later story, the previous story will naturally appear. It's like a novel, the protagonist is a paladin, then people will be curious about his past. What kind of training he received, what kind of family he came from. These stories continue to circulate, and eventually shape a [person]."

"The same is true for the future determining the past. Suppose you have already engraved your story into fate. No matter how you do it, fate will definitely complete it. For example, if you write on the leaves of the world tree that something will happen in the future, then it is the result that will definitely happen; conversely, since you have already written this thing, the cause that causes this thing to happen will definitely appear in the past."

“Perhaps someone inadvertently made some strange associations, and everyone accepted them; perhaps you returned to some key points in the past and filled in the gaps; perhaps everyone believed that you did something, and when this thing spread and became the truth among people, you might [really did this thing] in everyone’s memory, leaving a profound impact.”

The listener seemed to understand: "What's the use of this?"

"The power of the world is limited, the amount of good and evil thoughts is limited, the position of gods is limited, faith is limited, and the things that can be obtained are also limited. But you can get these things from different destinies, and then gather them together in the future to become a greater power."

“The most important props are these watches that symbolize time.”

The delicate pocket watch moved with a click, responding to the goddess' voice. She said softly: "The biggest problem in this world is that we only have one choice left in the future. No matter what path we choose, we are destined to walk into darkness. But by gathering all the strength of the past, we will surely reach the destiny of victory."

"So, I have something to ask of you."

"That is..."

The goddess' voice and figure disappeared into the void, leaving behind a sigh-like ending. The world was changing, and the pocket watch in the goddess's hand became tattered, with red patterns all over the surface, and finally fell into the palm of the young man.

The Queen of Insects’ voice came vaguely from far away, as if she had also been swept up in this transmission: “How hateful! How hateful! I will never forgive you two!”

——Then, the world shattered.

The red-haired young man fell down, down, and kept falling down.

The void is inlaid with countless timekeeping instruments. Hourglasses, sundials, pocket watches, standing watches, wall clocks, brand new, worn out, moving, and stopped...

The pocket watch in my hand seemed to have finally found its target, and the clock pointed somewhere. The goddess' voice came intermittently, like a series of short messages recorded by these times and choices.

"If the original humans had not chosen to differentiate into other species, and humans were the only species left in the world, would our future be correct? ... No, in the end, we still killed each other because of internal strife, triggering negative activities in the world, and the dark fog spread, dragging the future into the quagmire."

"If the last original human beings had not chosen to seal the negative emotions, but instead gradually guided everyone to change their thoughts, would our future be correct? ... No, the situation at that time was too critical to allow for any change. The consequence of doing so was that more than 80% of the human race was killed or injured, triggering a drastic change in the world environment. In the face of new disasters, people finally learned to unite again. But by then it was too late, and everyone was struggling to survive."

"If the gods who originally became the Twelve Gods changed..."

"If we change the way of development..."

"If Christine chooses to stay and become the thirteenth god..."

"If this world is controlled by a foreign god..."

"If the Robot City had not developed advanced technology..."

Hypotheses were proposed one after another, and then overturned one by one. The red-haired young man with the pocket watch rushed deeper, and finally, they rushed into a dim clock.

The hands of the clock spun, and the goddess' voice echoed in my ears, speaking softly.

"If this world is the world of the future, what would it be like?"

White light enveloped him, followed by a strong feeling of falling.

Aurelius fell heavily to the grass, and almost at the same time he bounced up suddenly from the ground.

Unimaginable intense pain burst out from his blood vessels, and the blood stimulated his body like needles. He hissed and covered his wrist.

The dripping blood was like a living thing, twisting into different shapes. If you look closely, you will find that the blood that formed the runes is corroding this body. Oleus struggled to get up, but fell back heavily the next second.

It hurts so much, it hurts so much....

It was like tap dancing on the nerves, fiddling with every nerve called pain. The grass soaked in blood broke under the heavy burden, having its vitality prematurely overdrawn.

I don't know where the Queen of Insects was thrown to. They should all be affected. The red-haired young man tried to get up from the ground again. This time he succeeded and had enough energy to observe the situation.

This is an abandoned hillside. There are traces of farming on the ground not far away, and it looks like it has been there for quite some time.

As for the reason for the abandonment, it was probably because of the appearance of wild animals. Even in this dire situation, Oleus still keenly noticed the footprints of wild animals on the ground. They were as big as an adult's palm, and it looked like a powerful big guy.

He became alert, took out the things on his body and counted them, cut open his clothes with a knife, and bandaged his right shoulder. The blood was like sulfuric acid injected into his body, sizzling and burning his blood vessels.

Oreius endured it, this was a natural rejection reaction after arriving in a world without pollution. You have to know that the paradise of Canaan has been sealed for such a long time, and a more bizarre bloodline will naturally take longer.

After bandaging it, he looked around for traces and headed towards a water source.

Before long, he found a long stream. Strangely, there were not many fish in the stream or living things around it. Most of the animals were very cautious and only used this place as a place to replenish their supplies.

Aurelius soon found out the reason for this. There were footprints of some large wild beast near the stream. It seemed that this was the enemy's territory, so there were few animals.

The good news is that as long as he doesn't run into the owner of this place, he can have a good rest.

The bad news is that he can occupy an entire stream by himself, so the beasts here are probably quite powerful.

Thanks to the knowledge that Pica had taught him, Oleus successfully found food and herbs and polished a stone knife for himself. In order to prevent the water source in the wild from being unclean, he collected some dry firewood and lit a bonfire.

The warm flames on his body finally restored some of his body temperature. Oleus chewed up some herbs and applied them to the wound. He was sweating profusely after doing this. The red-haired young man looked at the ring on his hand. The pollutants from the Black Mist Era could not play a role in other eras. Now it has become a pure decoration.

I don't know how long it will take to recover. The young man smacked his lips in his heart, and after finishing his meal, he found a tall tree nearby, climbed up it, closed his eyes and took a rest.

In the second half of the night, the red-haired young man opened his eyes quietly and silently grasped the stone knife in his hand.

Will-O-Wisp stayed outside the Insect City during the fight with the Queen, and now he only had the knife in his hand to rely on. In the darkness, he heard the sound of the beast approaching.

The other party did not hide it, and the sound of the bushes rubbing against each other was faintly heard, approaching where he was. Oleus opened his eyes, without a trace of sleep in his eyes. The other party's footsteps lingered around, as if he was looking for something.

Through the gaps between the dense branches and leaves, Oreius finally saw the person coming.

It was a huge black bear with flame streaks on its fur and sparks shooting out of its muzzle from time to time. It was because of its presence that the stream became a restricted area for those who did not know.

The smell of blood attracted the bear's attention. It kept circling the tree, looking up from time to time to scan the treetops, as if observing the hiding place of its prey. The red-haired young man hid in the tree motionlessly, and only breathed a sigh of relief when the bear finally left. He closed his eyes and dozed for a while. When the first ray of dawn passed through the gaps between the leaves and fell on his face, Oreius turned over and got down from the tree.

The wound was still painful. He went to the stream to find some water to drink, and when he found no game, he picked some fruit.

The red-haired young man washed the fruit by the river and was about to put it in his mouth when he suddenly felt something was wrong.

So quiet.

Although there are few animals around here, it was not as quiet yesterday as it is today.

...it was almost as if a safe place for him to eat was specially provided.

As soon as this thought came to his mind, Oleus came back to his senses. When people are eating, they are at their lowest level of vigilance. The bear is plotting against him!

The sound of heavy running came from behind. Many people think that bears are clumsy creatures, but in fact, bears are predators at the top of the food chain. The huge body was like a small armored vehicle, rushing straight towards the red-haired young man squatting by the water.

Damn it, the injury had made his observation skills worse.

Oleus cursed inwardly and dodged the collision neatly. This action caused his wound to bleed again. The red-haired young man had a cold face and held the stone knife to face the monster.

The intelligent fire bear looked at him with great contempt. Even an enchanted weapon might not be able to penetrate its fur, let alone a stone knife?

It opened its mouth and spit out scorching flames, intending to burn the opponent to ashes. The air temperature rose sharply, and the grass and trees withered under the high temperature. But after the flames went out, the opponent disappeared.

The Flame Bear immediately realized that something was wrong. It turned its head alertly, but it was too late.

The sharp stone knife stabbed into its eye socket, and it violently shook left and right. No matter how hard it struggled, it did not let go. The huge monster wailed and finally fell to the ground. Only then did the human jump off its back.

“Hoo…Hoo…”

Oleus' legs went limp, and he knelt before the corpse of the fire bear. Sweat soaked his bangs and eyelashes, and dripped into his eyes. The intense exercise made his body worse again, and his head was dizzy. At this moment, new footsteps approached again.

"Uh uh..."

No, not yet...

"Hey! Hang in there. Are you okay?"

A vague voice came from the front, with a hint of worry.

The voice sounded somewhat familiar, but the red-haired young man no longer had the energy to think about where he had heard it before.

After confirming that the other person was a human, he closed his eyes and passed out completely.