Chapter 24: In Love

It was a black mist that emerged from around the corner, dreamlike and illusory, appearing utterly unreal.

Such a disturbance naturally drew Olivia's attention. Something was emerging from within that black fog.

But rather than 'emerging,' it was more like it was flowing out.

It was a black shadow with a constantly shifting outline, seemingly composed of ever-changing angular shapes. It was so surreal it hardly seemed like a creature that could exist in natural reality. Yet, its head—with a protruding jaw that could barely be compared to a wolf from memory—made one aware it was indeed some kind of living being, and one displaying such astonishingly terrifying features.

That bizarre skeletal structure could hardly be found in any known body of knowledge, yet it radiated immense malice, akin to a human's first encounter with a ferocious prehistoric beast.

That fear of the unknown and powerful instantly flooded Olivia's mind, nearly freezing her in place.

But soon, Ying Su's composure took effect.

The feeling of fear was dispelled, and Olivia's rationality quickly kicked into gear.

She retrieved memories from her long lifespan.

Though she was considered quite young compared to those ancient monsters, compared to humans, she was an absolute elder.

From her vast past experiences and knowledge,

Olivia extracted possible information, but it only made cold sweat trickle down her back.

"I thought this was just a legend......... The Hounds of Tindalos......."

"Tindalos?!" Ying Su, who hadn't been frightened by the newcomer at all, exclaimed. She had originally just thought the thing was a bit strange.

But soon, a sense of despair crawled up her spine to her brain.

Ying Su knew what the so-called Hounds of Tindalos were.

The Hounds of Tindalos were beings with bizarre properties, existing along the timeline.

All ordinary creatures live within the curved, continuous flow of time, while they inhabit the deepest parts of completely different, angular, discontinuous time islands.

These "hounds" are immortal. Once creatures from other spaces or times encounter them, they will track them relentlessly at all costs, crossing boundary after boundary of time or space, until they kill their prey.

If the timeline is compared to a vast, ever-flowing river, all creatures are born upon its surface, carried forward mercilessly by the torrent of time. But at the river's edge, in places time cannot notice, exist some reefs left behind by constant erosion.

And the Hounds of Tindalos reside upon these reefs.

They can leap from the reefs to any point in the river of time. The fish that jump up from the river, needing to cross time, leaping to the past and future, become their prey.

The Hounds of Tindalos might not be terrifying creatures capable of destroying heaven and earth, but they will chase their prey ceaselessly.

Even if they fail at one point, it doesn't matter. They can climb back onto the reefs, then go to the future, or return to the past.

If you are strong enough in your middle age, what about when you are old?

If you are immortal, what abilities did you have when you were just born?

They will stare fixedly at everything in the time stream, seize all possible weaknesses and opportunities, and kill their prey.

And now, it had come.

Ying Su's Hound of Tindalos.

But Ying Su felt it was strange because this wasn't normal. If the other party was a real monster existing in this world, then it was definitely because she had jumped out on the timeline.

If that were the case, then clearly, her Save/Load System wasn't about creating a new world from scratch, but directly lifting her from the time stream and throwing her onto a previously set anchor point.

But the problem was, this wasn't her first time loading a save. If the Hound of Tindalos had seen her, it would have started hunting her during the previous instances long ago. There was no need to wait until now.

The only possibility Ying Su could associate it with...

was what happened before her last save load. The Hound of Tindalos might have been... that Director with extreme hostility towards transmigrators... No, they shouldn't have that capability yet.

It had to be higher up.........

The Supreme Council?

Could They summon the Hounds of Tindalos?

Then why didn't they come when she first started loading saves..........

Looking at Olivia beside her, she understood. This was a change.

Before, Ying Su could escape from Olivia's grasp, but in the end, she either died or stayed in the containment facility with Olivia.

And just now, Ying Su had the thought of escaping with Olivia using the reshaping teleportation device.

Obviously, this action caused their future to change.

And this was the point of that change in the timeline.

Thus, the Hound of Tindalos finally noticed her here.

But why would Olivia give up Roland to catch her.......

"........"

Ying Su opened the system interface.

The Favorability system was gone, but the Favorability tasks remained.

〖Olivia: Favorability 77〗

Was this favorability still valid even across timelines?!

This was the reason. Just now, for some unknown reason, Olivia felt this little snot was extremely cute. Driven by hunger that had reduced her to pure instinct, she directly gave up on Roland to catch Ying Su.

With this, Ying Su understood the entire chain of cause and effect.

But what it brought her was only the painful despair of deep-sea suffocation.

How the hell was she supposed to play this!!

Originally, Ying Su's only bit of hope was drawing a better, more suitable system to develop.

But now that was completely useless.

The Hounds of Tindalos existed outside the timeline. Even if she loaded saves countless more times, the other party would catch up.

She took back her previous words.

Even with save/load, this was unplayable.

Forget this being a souls-like game; even souls-like games have a sliver of hope. This was pure shit.

With this combo, no transmigrator could survive.

It was visibly clear. Even if Ying Su loaded a save again, after enduring three weeks of imprisonment, she would come out and get door-camped and killed by the Hound of Tindalos at this exact point.

Her actionable time had been compressed to three weeks.........

But she had no way to break out of the prison. Even if she did, it would definitely attract Big Eye's attention. A monster of Director-level could clearly crush her to death instantly.

No, even if she just did something within those three weeks that changed the future, the Hound of Tindalos would immediately come to kill her.

She was done for.

She had a dead save.

She had no way out.

She would be door-camped and killed by the Hound of Tindalos repeatedly, until all her save/load chances were exhausted.

"Run!!" Olivia knew she was absolutely no match for the Hound of Tindalos and immediately broke into a sprint.

"Its target is me. Put me down. You can still get out alive." Ying Su said this. Facing death's door, she felt an unexpected calm. Perhaps she had died too many times.

When faced with certain death, there was instead a sense of release.

So many predecessors had lost. The opponent was this powerful. Her death wasn't unjust.

But thinking about it, even if she couldn't get out, even if death was certain, then perhaps sacrificing herself so Olivia could escape was also a good choice.

Ying Su quite liked her. Though, more often than not, she was just a comrade-in-arms fighting together. As for that kind of deep emotion, there really wasn't much.

"What are you saying? We're escaping together!" Olivia, not knowing why, spoke these words, as if she should have heard them before.

Ying Su's pupils contracted.

"Heh heh........... Ahahahahahaha——————!"

Ying Su burst into wild laughter, covering her face, hot tears streaming from her eyelids.

"I love you to death!!! Olivia, no, Beatrix!!"

Not feeling anger at the other party directly calling her true name, Olivia felt perhaps it should be like this.

"I......... I love you too........."

This self-perceived high and mighty Royal showed shyness.

That mask-wearing deceiver showed madness.

Thus, two souls struggled incessantly within this endlessly burning, despair-filled, painful cycle of hell.

Until they were burned to ashes.