Chapter 42 Chapter 41 Prophecy of the Future
Everyone was busy fighting, while Ji Ma promoted her achievements on the battlefield.
However, before long, a sharp arrow whistled and landed right in front of her. This was Eve Frostleaf’s arrow, signaling her to come and assist in the battle. Ji Ma shut her mouth, spread her wings from the pile of ratmen’s corpses, and flew into the sky to join the fight.
The ruins that once were the city gates were now filled with charred bodies, and outside the city gates, there were clusters of fleeing Northerners huddled together. Equipped with thick leather hats, the Kislev hunters on the city walls drew their bows and shot arrows, killing the enemies below.
Wave after wave of arrows fell, with casualties each time, yet there were always still many people remaining.
The frenzied war mammoth, with six deformed tusks, swept left and right, trampling indiscriminately as it raised its massive legs. The only beast tamers capable of stopping the rampaging mammoth were pierced by six arrows, lying on the beast’s back.
A silver figure floated onto the war mammoth; she held a silver bow, continuously shooting at the beast beneath her, trying to slay the terrifying giant. The arrows carried explosive power, bursting open its flesh, but relative to its colossal body, it was hardly more than an adult popping a pimple.
She ran across the undulating back of the mammoth, reaching its head, drawing her bow for a close-range shot, and the arrow buried itself deep into the thick skin and flesh. The war mammoth roared in pain, and with a furious swing of its side, it unleashed numerous black tendrils toward Eve Frostleaf.
Eve Frostleaf quickly dodged a few tendrils, but one tendril swiped at her. She raised her hand and shot an arrow, severing the tendril.
Her long ears perked up as she heard the sound of a tendril attacking from behind. At that moment, Ji Ma’s voice rang out: “Baldy Qiang! Go!”
A large figure in black armor descended from the air, wielding a black sword. With a few swift slashes, he cut through the tendrils and smashed down toward the war mammoth’s head. Eve Frostleaf grimaced in disgust, recognizing her opponent as the Demon King Ji Ma—at least, the exterior looked exactly the same.
“Hi!” Ji Ma spread her wings and flew in front of Eve Frostleaf, waving her hand in greeting, all smug: “No need to thank me, don’t be too polite, it’s my duty.”
Eve Frostleaf shot her a glance, said nothing, and raised her hand to shoot an arrow, blasting away the tendril that was creeping up behind Ji Ma.
Ji Ma turned and tossed a branch axe-spear to Baldy Qiang: “Quickly use the Terrifying Strike!”
Baldy Qiang stood on the war mammoth’s head, unsteady, and just before he lost his balance, he caught the branch axe-spear, which circled with blood and the terrified faces of several people, and thrust it down powerfully. The tip struck the vague wound that Eve Frostleaf had previously created, getting lodged in the thick, tough skull.
Then, like a volcanic eruption, flesh and blood burst forth, drowning Baldy Qiang.
The battle-scarred war mammoth finally couldn’t take it anymore. This beast, nearly three stories tall, collapsed to the ground with its legs giving out, but it was not yet fully dead. It raised its trunk, covered in bony plates, angrily attempting to take its enemies with it.
Afterwards, the two women continued their efforts and killed the war mammoth.
“I’m so tired; it must have been a two-hundred-year-old mammoth,” Ji Ma said, gesturing with her hands and ordering Baldy Qiang around, yet this did not prevent her from picking up a towel to wipe the fine sweat from her forehead: “What a thrilling battle.”
Eve Frostleaf glanced at Ji Ma, noticing that the succubus had only a thin layer of sweat on her pure white neck, while her own surroundings were enveloped in steam, to cool down her elevated body temperature.
Standing atop the massive corpse of the mammoth, Ji Ma looked at the battlefield below, which was essentially in a phase of pursuit. She casually asked, “Is everything going smoothly on your end?”
“No.” Eve Frostleaf looked at a pile of charred corpses near the city gate and asked, “Your handiwork?”
“I thought it was yours,” Ji Ma said. “The power here is much greater than Jenna’s light spheres.”
Eve Frostleaf recalled that green lightning. It was truly a perfect spell; it was her first time seeing such effective random-moving vortex magic: “It turned the tide of the battle.”
At this moment, they were still unaware that it was Chu Luo who had achieved such great merit, nor did they know that their opponent was named Chu Luo. Poor Chu Luo was still resentful of Ji Ma, feeling that she targeted him specifically.
After that, they had no more business to handle.
The winged knights grouped together and went to hunt down the fleeing Northerners, screams and shouts occasionally echoing from the distant darkness.
The following morning arrived.
After a full night’s rest, Ji Ma and Eve Frostleaf pushed open the door and saw piles of silver arrows in the courtyard, the blood on the arrowheads all cleaned off. The Kislevites had cleaned up the battlefield, pulling out Eve Frostleaf’s arrows one by one and returning them to her.
In addition, there was a box of gold and jewels, with some blood that couldn’t be completely wiped off in the crevices, as well as a few magical weapons.
This was customary; the spoils of war were to be shared with the strong who contributed.
Ji Ma didn’t pay much attention to the box of gold; it was too small, and she only glanced at it seven or eight times. Instead, she looked at the foul-smelling Fool.
The Fool was still wearing simple monk’s robes, but they were covered in blood and filth, and her disheveled hair was clumped together. Not even the winter of Kislev could suppress the stench emanating from her.
Ji Ma wrinkled her nose and pinched it shut, while the Fool merely smiled.
“I have blessed your glass eyeball.”
After saying this, the Fool reached into her filthy clothing.
Ji Ma said, “Wait a minute.”
With that, Ji Ma turned back to the room, brought out a basin of wash water, and said to the Fool: “You can just drop the glass eyeball into here.”
The Fool continued to smile as she took out the glass eyeball wrapped in a clean handkerchief, gently peeling back the handkerchief to reveal a smoky white glass orb, pristine and clean.
Ji Ma casually tossed the basin aside, spilling water everywhere. She reached out to pick up the orb, eagerly placing it in front of her eyes, trying to see its contents.
The glass eyeball sparkled with colorful lights, forming images that flashed by, but they were unclear. Nonetheless, it was much better than seeing nothing before.
“Great, it’s usable,” Ji Ma said as she tucked the eyeball away and turned to Eve Frostleaf, “Once I collect these rewards, we’ll set off immediately.”
Eve Frostleaf walked up to the smiling Fool and gave a slight bow to the foul-smelling figure.
“By the way, we’re still missing a spoil of war,” Ji Ma said. “Where’s the war mammoth’s tusks? I want to make a souvenir.”
The bearded winged knight replied, “It’s outside.”
Ji Ma followed him out, and the bearded winged knight suddenly leaned in closer, summoning his courage to say, “Demon, I have a request.”
“Go ahead.”
“Do you have any strong liquor left?” the bearded winged knight asked. “Those damned Northerners didn’t bring much alcohol!”
“Are you not afraid it has my saliva in it?”
“You can’t celebrate victory without fine wine,” the bearded winged knight said. “Even if it contains the demon’s spit.”
Ji Ma rarely let him off easy, and she readily made a deal.
By midday, Ji Ma was flying toward the clear sky, holding Eve Frostleaf, continuing toward the capital of Kislev.
Outside the city, the land was strewn with corpses that had yet to be collected, attracting crows. Even in the cold of Kislev, there were these scavengers that seemed unafraid of the chill.
One crow hopped away from the group, lifting its head, and suddenly a third eye opened on its forehead, its dark, shiny eyes reflecting the blue sky and the figures of Ji Ma and Eve Frostleaf.
…
…
Can the future be foreseen? If it can, can it be changed? If it cannot be changed, what significance does the prophecy hold?
Ji Ma contemplated this question.
As someone with three centuries of experience, Ji Ma believed that the future could be altered. Otherwise, the ability of the followers of the Master of Change to foresee the future would be meaningless.
In her previous life, she had killed many of the Master of Change’s followers, and she could feel that her attacks could be anticipated and evaded by the enemy.
What are we waiting for?
Ji Ma stared at the “glass eyeball” before her, sensing a mysterious premonition that this “glass eyeball” would soon reveal fragments of the future to her.
But is this part of a great conspiracy?
The glass eyeball abruptly transformed into a rainbow of colors. Ji Ma coiled her tail around it and brought it up to her eyes, taking a deep breath to prepare herself mentally.
She saw George’s handsome face, solemn in expression, as he spoke: “I hate Demon King Ji Ma. If he were still alive, I would kill him again.”
Behind him was the palace of Kislev, the iconic rainbow spire, far too conspicuous.
Ji Ma’s expression didn’t change; she had known this long ago.
The image became blurry again, the seven colors mixing together, but soon after, it cleared up once more.
This time, she saw George with blood on his face, filled with hatred and anger, gripping a sword and aggressively stabbing toward his own eyes, piercing the glass eyeball, bringing it to her face.
She gasped, her tail releasing the glass eyeball. It fell to the grass, its colors fading, filling with white smoke.
Eve Frostleaf approached and asked, “Ji Ma?”
Ji Ma regained her senses, and her first words were: “The Master of Change’s conspiracy.”
“What?”
“I encountered the Master of Change’s conspiracy,” Ji Ma said with a smile on her face. “Fortunately, I saw through it.”
That night, as Ji Ma slept.
She could faintly hear, under the cover of darkness, the sounds of crows in the woods, as if they were laughing.
In the morning, Ji Ma heard Eve Frostleaf’s cold voice reciting:
“That night, a strange flame burned in the air, intertwining green, purple, pink, and silver flames. Strange birds with flaming wings…”
Ji Ma jumped out of bed, running her hand through her messy black hair, and said:
“Frostleaf, I never imagined you had a passion for recitation.”
“I want to find ways to combat the Four Dark Gods in the epic.”
“Oh, what was that you recited just now?”
“When the first Elf King went to draw the Cain sword, the Four Gods were terrified and went to dissuade him.”
In Ji Ma’s somewhat confused mind, news about the first Elf King popped up. To summarize, the Elf was a mighty figure descended from the heavens, who, enraged after the death of his wife and daughter, went to draw the sword, frightening the Four Dark Gods into urging him to turn back…
“Did you find anything?”
“Ignore them, be impartial.”
Ji Ma said, “That makes sense.”
