Volume 3, Chapter 87 – The Changed Yeluo

The girl had fluffy, catlike ears.

She also had a slender, furry tail, just like a cat.

As a half-beast, the girl’s appearance was among the most beautiful even within the half-beast race, and from a human aesthetic point of view, she had a face that could make people fall for her at a glance.

Yeluo.

That was the girl’s name.

After secretly infiltrating Stronghold with a special purpose, the catgirl Yeluo had, in secret, met with the leaders of every half-beast settlement.

Using the methods Xingyu Muxi had quietly taught her, and displaying in front of those figures a strength that went beyond common sense, the catgirl very easily gained the allegiance of all the half-beasts.

The reason it went so easily was also because that woman called Xingyu Muxi had said those baffling grand principles of hers, like how in the face of absolute power, all resistance was futile and so on.

Yeluo’s mission in Stronghold was actually to incite the half-beasts to break away from Stronghold.

According to what Xingyu Muxi had said, she would do everything she could to draw the beastmen’s attention, to make them focus on the direction of the Northern Fortress as much as possible.

Yeluo, on the other hand, was to make use of the gap while those “stupid” high ranking beastmen were concentrating all their attention on the struggle over the Northern Fortress and had no energy left to manage the half-beasts inside, and drive all the half-beasts to secretly leave Stronghold’s territory.

According to Xingyu Muxi, this was what they called repairing the plank road in the open while sneaking through the passageway in secret.

“Ah… anyway, she’s a really dangerous woman…”

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The plan was unfolding incredibly smoothly. Under the halo of Yeluo’s powerful strength, and with the half-beast race’s urgent desire to cast off their lowly position within Stronghold…

Under the influence of these two factors, Yeluo’s mission this time, which had looked extraordinarily difficult and dangerous, had instead become very easy…

Because the half-beasts’ position in Stronghold was extremely awkward, and on top of that, the beastmen race now had almost all their attention invested in the Northern Fortress, when it came to the strange behavior of the half-beast race these past few days, the beastmen, who had always been careless by nature, simply did not take it to heart at all.

This was also one of the reasons Yeluo’s operation went so smoothly this time.

“Once this is done… that obsession in my heart… I should be able to let it go too, right?”

At night, alone on the rooftop, the cat-eared girl pulled her cat ears down, quietly gazing up at the starry sky above.

Because it was the beginning of the month, there was no moon in the sky within Yeluo’s field of vision, and the boundless starry sky, without the moon, looked especially empty.

And that kind of sky was just like the emptiness in the cat-eared girl’s heart at that moment, utterly empty, with nothing in it.

“For Xiaoyin’s sake… huh?”

With her memories lost, she had no one to rely on. Without her past, she was like duckweed without roots, not even knowing what she should do next.

Without a past, there was no future.

That was what Yeluo believed.

Even if time went back to that battlefield, to when that paladin named Lancelot was standing in front of her to protect her, she would still, without hesitation, choose to trade for power.

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Even if the price was her own past… because she had been saved by someone…

Yeluo had never once regretted her choice, but that hollow feeling in her heart… only grew stronger as time passed.

According to Xingyu Muxi, the relationships between people in this world, put in simple terms, existed in only two forms.

To need, and to be needed…

As long as one of these existed, a person could live with a goal. Just like herself, back when she still had her memories, she knew there was something that existed, something that she needed.

She needed to accomplish something.

She wanted to do something.

That self chose to move in that direction. That self chose to live her life properly.

But now, what did she need? And what, in turn, needed her?

Back then, the self who had lost her memories… did not know.

Because she could not find her own value, she felt her heart was empty… that was why she felt her life had become meaningless.

But now…

The self she was now… already had someone who needed her.

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Even if that was only something forcibly defined by an existence who had a bit of a connection to that person… even if it was a forced definition… in that instant, Yeluo felt that the darkness that had shrouded her began to show a dim light like dawn.

Yes. Xiaoyin needed her.

Even if Xiaoyin herself did not know… Xiaoyin did indeed need her.

“Xiaoyin… she needs me… and from now on, I only need to do things for Xiaoyin…”

She no longer had a past or a future, and clearly had lost any value to exist, but that version of herself had suddenly recovered a value that allowed her to go on existing.

Xiaoyin needs me.

That was what the cat-eared girl thought.

On the rooftop, the girl stared blankly at the empty night sky, and before she knew it, her heart had been filled with Tianyin’s cute little face.

Silvery white long hair… that smile like an angel when she laughed…

“Everything is just for Xiaoyin…”

As Yeluo muttered to herself like that, her mood slowly calmed.

“The entire half-beast race will be my gift to you, Xiaoyin. No matter how you see the half-beast race, as long as you’re happy, Xiaoyin…”

Without realizing it, Yeluo, who had been given a new goal in life, had already been reshaped by Xingyu Muxi, just using her voice alone, into a cat-eared girl completely different from who she had been before.

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And Yeluo, who was single-mindedly thinking of presenting the entire half-beast race to Tianyin as a gift, would absolutely not allow this mission to fail.

So in other words, Yeluo was a very loyal “subordinate” Xingyu Muxi had found for Tianyin.

However, being too loyal sometimes came with its drawbacks, after all. Everyone understands the principle that anything taken to the extreme will reverse.

……

While this cat-eared girl was thinking about how to perfectly present the half-beast race to Tianyin as a gift, somewhere deep in Stronghold’s territory, a vast beastman army, five hundred thousand strong, had already begun to assemble.

And the one who had mobilized this many troops was precisely the Beastmen King who had forced the prophet of the beastmen to leave seclusion.

At the Beastmen King’s side, apart from the beastman shaman Fuyi from before, there were also three Legendary tier commanders among the beastmen, and adding Fuyi and the old Beastmen King himself made a total of five Legendaries.

“Fuyi, this time I am determined to take the Northern Fortress. But for this expedition, you will be responsible for holding the rear.”

The Beastmen King’s tone was flat, and his gaze did not fall on Fuyi.

Sensing the distance in the Beastmen King’s tone, Fuyi lowered his head slightly.

“Then allow me to wish the king a triumphant return.”