"Help!"
A sharp, miserable scream came from not far away.
Zane had never felt the Fractsidus so friendly at any time other than when they turned into 7-star sounds.
Changli, who had appeared behind Zane, knew now wasn't the time to carry out punishment, so she smiled faintly and shot him a glance, then turned to look in the direction the sound came from.
In their line of sight, several members of the Fractsidus were fleeing in a panic. The finely crafted weapons they should have treated like family were now tossed aside like trash.
"T-this is a trap, we've fallen for it!"
The craftsman's shrill shout echoed through the Mirage Realm, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't buy himself even a second more to escape.
The chessboard hanging upside down in the sky silently witnessed everything. One piece after another was surrounded, then captured.
In the shadows, a leopard-shaped Remnant over four meters tall leaped high into the air, raised its claws, and casually smashed one unlucky member of the Fractsidus to death.
The once-arrogant Fractsidus was no different from newborn infants in front of this creature. Their fully equipped armor wasn't even as strong as a sheet of paper before it.
"Help! This Mirage Realm eats people!"
Bone-chilling frost spread outward from beneath the Remnant's claws, reaching the feet of the other members of the Fractsidus in an instant.
The next second, their bodies, which had been running for their lives, froze in place, turning into exquisite ice sculptures of death.
"It's a Treading Light Beast."
Changli narrowed her eyes dangerously. Flickers of separation fire ignited out of thin air around her, blocking out the howling cold wind completely. Feather-like flames wrapped in blazing fire shot straight toward the Treading Light Beast.
"Wait, isn't this thing supposed to be diffraction-type? How can it use ice?"
Zane took the lead. While the flaming feathers distracted the beast, he dashed forward with two quick steps and punched it squarely in the jaw.
A pained roar burst out instantly. The beast lowered its head and immediately spotted the white-haired man with a smug grin.
"Hey, big cat, surrender now and I'll leave your corpse intact."
Although the Treading Light Beast couldn't understand what the white-haired human was babbling about, that didn't stop it from raising its claw and slamming it down toward him.
Zane didn't dodge. He stood there, watching the massive claw getting closer to his head with a cold smile.
"Don't underestimate the bond between us."
As his dramatic words fell, a shadow arrived even faster, leaping high like a blazing meteor and smashing down hard onto the beast's head.
Who else could it be but Rover.
Holding her blade in reverse, she drove the sharp weapon straight into the top of the beast's head.
But this Treading Light Beast wasn't an ordinary animal. A fatal wound to the head wasn't enough to make it dissipate. It immediately shook its massive head, trying to throw the small figure off.
Rover pressed her lips together, gripping the hilt tightly. The moment the beast raised its head, she used the momentum to drag the blade embedded in its skull.
A harsh, grating sound of steel scraping against bone rang out. Holding the blade in reverse, she cut downward along the spine from the top of its head.
Neither the scales on its back nor its hardened bones could slow her down for even a second.
With an unwilling shriek, the massive body over four meters long crashed to the ground with a heavy thud, completely lifeless.
As for Rover...
She pushed off with both legs on the beast's back, pulled the blade free, and jumped down.
Then she landed in a warm embrace.
"You okay?"
Held in a princess carry by Zane, Rover's small face flushed red, an uncontrollable smile appearing on her lips.
"I'm fine… no, wait, I'm not. My hand hurts." As she spoke, she raised her right hand holding the blade, a trace of pain on her face. "Blow on it."
Even though he knew she was acting spoiled, Zane didn't expose her. Instead, he seriously blew gently on her slender wrist.
The ticklish feeling made the girl giggle, her legs wrapped in black boots swinging excitedly.
If only this could last forever.
Rover couldn't help but think that.
Unfortunately, the peace was quickly shattered. Strange aurora light lit up from the upside-down chessboard in the sky, shining onto the ground.
Three Treading Light Beasts, glowing with a crimson aura, stepped out from the aurora and slowly approached the three of them.
A chaotic frequency screeched in their ears, and the Pangu terminal hanging at their waists flashed a dangerous red warning.
Rover jumped down from Zane's arms, holding her blade horizontally in front of her, her expression serious as she stared at them.
The beasts on the opposite side also seemed to sense the danger coming from the black-clad girl. They didn't rush in all at once to devour their prey.
Instead, they slowly spread out, trying to surround the three small humans.
"Be careful."
Changli looked at the approaching enemies with a grave expression. Her thoughts stirred. At this moment, she seemed to understand what her master's illusion meant by a "dead end" before entering the Mirage Realm.
Just then, a piercing cold suddenly burst from the three beasts, carrying distorted frequencies as it rushed toward Rover at the front.
"Hng...", Clashing directly with the first wave of attacks, even someone as strong as Rover couldn't help but let out a muffled sound. In an instant, a layer of frost covered her slender body.
Changli's expression changed slightly. Their attack method was ice…
Perhaps only her separation fire could counter them.
With that thought, Changli stepped past Rover and walked toward the beasts.
If she burned the entire Mirage Realm to ashes…
But what happened next completely exceeded both Rover and Changli's expectations.
The aggressive beasts were suddenly frozen into ice sculptures by their own frost. At the same time, the entire Mirage Realm began collapsing under the chaotic, noisy frequency.
The upside-down chessboard in the sky shattered as well, revealing the true starry sky beneath it.
Rover cast a questioning glance at Changli, but Changli simply shook her head slightly, indicating she didn't know what was happening either.
Changli thought to herself that perhaps the chessboard her master had set up had deteriorated over time.
As she thought that, the Mirage Realm completely collapsed, and the two of them saw Jue lying flat on the ground outside.
"Jue!? What's wrong with you!"
Seeing this, Rover ignored the faint pain of her frostbite and quickly picked her up.
Hearing Rover's voice, Jue opened her eyes. Seeing the three of them safe, she let out a long breath, then suddenly burst with anger and jumped up from the ground.
"Zane, you *****, I already ******* told you not to touch that chessboard, and what did you do? You went and took half the pieces!"
"If I hadn't ******* risked my dragon life to stabilize the Mirage Realm, you'd still be trapped inside!"
Of course, there was some exaggeration in her words. No matter how her power was split, a Lord of Time was still a Lord of Time.
Stabilizing the Mirage Realm didn't take that much effort.
Besides, she had personally created this Mirage Realm.
Otherwise, how could you explain the dragon-scale-based Wandering Scale Mechanisms, meant to guard the Lord of Time, appearing inside it?
And even containing the power of temporal order?
But no matter what, the complaint had been delivered, and Jue could now lie down completely.
'...Hmph, who told you to go play in the Mirage Realm without taking me!'
Having sensed something was wrong early on, Zane turned and ran. But no matter how fast he was, he couldn't escape Rover and Changli.
Rover, "I'm so hungry, what are we eating tonight?"
Changli, "Meat."