"Lucien is two kilometers away from us! This man got some issues!" Sue stifled his screams as she carried the squirming white fur ball in her left arm. Her feet were fast as if the devil was hot on her heels – in a way, it was, and the devil was named Lucien.
The wind kissed Sue's cold cheeks. Her gaze fixated on the arrows that appeared immediately at every turn she made.
"Lucien is still chasing me!" Sue wanted to cry from frustration. Every damn time she glanced at the map beside her, the pink dot persisted with a one-kilometer distance from her no matter how fast she pulled!
It was as if he was playing with her!
"I told you. You got yourself a free dog as a bonus reward. Or, in your case, a free wolf," said the Lord System with a tone full of mirth.
Sue could only groan while she rolled her eyes. She needed to get out of there fast!
THE VALLEY OF CLAWS OF THE central plains was already in Sue's line of vision. It was a lifetime ago since she had been here, but for the body she was in ever since her rebirth? It was only two months since she passed through there! And now, Sue was going to run past Valley of Claws again… with the Lupine heir hot on her tails.
Because of the annoying wolf aiming at her, Sue could not fully grasp the shift in her surroundings. Gone were the canyons that surrounded her like a maze, replaced with a foggy area that almost clouded her line of vision. Had it not been for the arrows provided by the World View Skill, Sue was damn sure that she would have been lost.
"I have already entered the swamp area of the Valley of Claws, yet Lucien is still chasing me!" Sue clenched her fist as she gnashed her teeth. Her speed was significantly reduced upon contact with the wetlands. The swamp's mud and waters cut her speed into half while the pink dot indicator signified that Lucien closed the distance between them by half a kilometer!
"What can I say, Sue? You hooked the bestial instinct in Lucien's because of your beauty."
"Please! His instinct is basically a dog. He just needs some pussy to fuck, so why me? Because I have a pair of tits? Does the Beastial Capital City lack boobs nowadays? I don't think so." Sue rolled her eyes as she kept glancing at the pink dot on the World View Skill's screen while running. She continued in an exasperated tone, "This Lucien Lupine has a weird fetish as he grew up, huh?"
"The naughty beast that chases the beauty! What a dilemma," muttered the Lord System.
Ignoring the Lord System, Sue used her tramp card. "System, do you have any method or skill to divert his attention away from me? Anything!" Sue flinched when a branch hidden by the swamp's fog directly hit her left cheek as she dashed through the central plains of the Valley of Claws.
Ping!
[SYSTEM SCANNING THE TREASURY BOX…]
Ping!
[SYSTEM HAS NO SKILL TO ERADICATE THE PINPOINTED TARGET. DO YOU WANT TO CONFIGURE A ROUTE TO ESCAPE LUCIEN LUPINE?]
Ping!
[YES] [NO]
Ping!
[SYSTEM WARNING: BY CONFIGURING THE ROUTE, YOU WILL CHANGE THE TARGET LOCATION OF THE TERIN TERRITORY TO A NEW LOCATION.]
Ping!
After the warning had been displayed, Sue knew the answer. She had to take the bullet named Lucien Lupine. "No. I… I will think of a way on my own. The location is still the Terin Household. I cannot dilly-dally for this long. The rites for the inheritance will soon start, and I need to be there. I need to know my origins."
She was hoping that no one in the Wolf Tribe would notice a red wolf running after her, which would mean complications.
The white wolf's ears perked. "What origins?"
Sue sighed. "You know I was adopted, no, more on picked up by the patriarch of the Terin Household, right? They are the second largest family in the Wolf Tribe and the second influential family in the entire beastmen territory."
The Lord System nodded its tiny head.
"Well, that is the story they kept telling the people until the patriarch died. But now that I am reborn, I don't think my origin is as simple as the patriarch made it seem to be." Sue paused after remembering the desperation of the influential figures in her past life to take her, to possess her! "I don't know what exactly it is, but I am sure I can find bits of it inside the patriarch's will."
"Then what does it got to do with the inheritance? Like any big family, the family's ancestors prepared an inheritance rite to see who among the new generation could keep the family's legacy. You are not a Terin, technically speaking, Sue."
Sue shrugged. "I am not, but I am the patriarch's adopted child. No matter my race, I got a claim on that spot to enter the inheritance site and participate in the claiming rite."
"Why?"
"Because the patriarch's will for me is inside that inheritance," said Sue in a grave tone.
"Hot damn," whistled the Lord System.
The pair reached the inner part of the Valley of Claws. What was an area filled with mud, fog, water, and damp air had now turned the exact opposite.
Hot fume filled the air, so the small white fox in Sue's arms curled up. The visibility cleared when the fog was gone, making her see the crimson lava bubbling at every nook and cranny of the land she was about to step into.
A pond of bubbling lava to her left and right with various sizes and holes, big and small, released combustible fumes everywhere – the inner part of the Valley of Claws was the last defense of the Wolf Tribe against the other tribes. These perfect natural defensive terrains made the Wolf Tribe thrive beyond the prying eyes of the other tribes. And now, after so long for Sue, from both her two lifetimes, she was somewhat familiar yet unfamiliar with the place.
Sue patted the curling form of the Lord System in her arm. "Stay still."
In a muffled voice, the Lord System answered. "Like I have any other choice."
"Well, it would be nice if you could tweak the system and teleport us from here like you did when I had to save that pain of the ass."
It took a minute or two for the Lord System to answer, which meant it considered things. "Dream on."
Sue could only sigh. Her gaze transfixed to the stream-like lava before her, which was the only choice if she needed to continue on her way. Sue knew that she had to leap over the bubbling lava. One wrong move, and she would be dead meat before she could even start her revenge!
"Sometimes, it sucks to be human," Sue remembered that the people who brought her out from the Wolf Tribe's territory only shifted midway through the lava stream. It looked so easy, but with a distance of almost ten feet? That was not easy for her even when she had the system!
Using the wind attribute, Sue used the Killer Slash to focus the wind on her feet to make her body lighter.
"Close your eyes for this one, Lord System." Sue took a couple of steps back to gain momentum in her jump.
With her heart ramming her ribcage and her palms clammy as ever, Sue drew a deep breath to calm herself down in one… two… three!
Sue jumped. Her eyes were transfixed to the other edge of the lava stream.
"Fuck!" Sue screamed upon realizing that she was four to five feet short from her landing point. "System, save me!"
A gush of wind and a warm pair of hands later, a deep voice tickled Sue's right ear. "I don't know who that fucker System is, but my name is Lucien."