SSS-Rank Bloodline: Wolf Evolution

After about two minutes, the spider woman stopped injecting him with venom. She withdrew her hand and stepped back a few paces. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and directed her full focus toward his body.

She controlled both the venom and the control threads inside him and hunted down the mushroom spores that had penetrated deep into his organs and veins, and eliminated them.

During that time, Arthur felt as though his body had turned into a fierce battlefield, for despite the effectiveness and strength of the venom, the mushroom refused to disappear entirely, and continued to grow and multiply, causing him bothersome pain and itching.

’When will this end?’ He let out a weary sigh, lay down on the ground, and let the spider woman do her work. He stole a few glances at her beautiful face, and found her drenched in sweat, and with every minute that passed, her pure white complexion grew paler.

’It seems she is having a difficult time as well?’ His lips twisted in a small smile, but he showed no sarcasm or schadenfreude, quite the opposite, a strange feeling he was unfamiliar with came over him, a faint feeling of reassurance.

Even though she was his enemy, her standing by his side, and exerting great effort to help him through this ordeal, made him realize that loneliness and oblivion were not necessarily the fate that awaited him in this world either.

His smile faded and he shook his head in disappointment. ’She truly is a very dangerous being, whether she does it intentionally or not, she has managed to affect me a little, unfortunately, I am not immune.’

His thoughts scattered for a moment because of the pain, he let out a muffled groan, then continued thinking: ’The good thing is that my effect on her is much greater, by now, it is clear, she is no longer keeping me alive solely because of curiosity and confusion. I have completely captured her attention, and it has become difficult for her to harm me, let alone kill me.’

Even though he had just gone through an experience that could only be described as horrifying, Arthur did not feel greatly bothered. Quite the opposite, he was in a reasonably good mood.

Because of the unexpected rotting bear attack, he had managed to make very great progress in his plan. He had skipped several stages that would have required weeks of groundwork or at the very least days.

What the spider woman does not know is that his pledging of loyalty to her was not born of despair or a product of the moment, for from the very beginning he had wanted to do that, and all he had been waiting for was just the right moment.

The circumstances the bear had created were more than ideal. Overwhelmed by fear and pain, he had declared his loyalty sincerely, forgetting all the schemes he had devised beforehand, such as the fact that he would remain loyal only under two conditions: first, as long as he continued receiving benefits such as knowledge and protection; and second, if he found no escape from her.

Yes, he could not deny that his plan had not been worth all this suffering that had made him wish for death at a certain moment, but, what could he do, scream? Cry? Or maintain his composure, and exploit the situation despite its harshness and turn it in his favor.

Suffering, how truly sad it was that it had been the title of his life. Whether as a human, or as a wolf, Arthur had not found that happiness he had always wished for, that stability, that feeling of not being just a worthless being.

’Loneliness and oblivion... hah, when thinking about the matter again, they are the fate I will perhaps never escape, as happened in my previous life. How depressing.’ He sighed at length.

He had gotten lost in thought, yet he was not afraid that the spider woman would be able to read his thoughts, for all her focus was directed toward fighting and treating the mushroom, and he had also become somewhat skilled at concealing them.

The matter of the mushroom concerned him more than her, so he emptied his head of all distractions, closed his eyes, and he too directed his full focus toward the fierce battle taking place inside his body.

The venom had already eliminated most of the mushroom spores, and all that remained was a small amount of very stubborn spores that the venom and silk threads had cornered in one spot in his abdomen.

Time passed slowly, and despite the spider woman’s many attempts to eliminate them entirely, she failed, for they continued to resist fiercely, causing her to exhaust a tremendous amount of mental energy.

’This is futile. Whatever the source of this corruption is, it is very powerful, A-Rank perhaps, S? No, that is impossible.’ She furrowed her brows in annoyance. Merely thinking about it made her feel uneasy.

Thanks to her vast knowledge and experience, she didn’t need any evidence to confirm her suspicions, for from the very first moment she saw the bear, she realized it was not the original source of this mushroom corruption, it had been far too weak.

’Tsk, this explains why my instincts have been constantly warning me about the presence of something unnatural in this area, I had not noticed it before because of the damage to my mana sense. It seems the soil here contains a faint trace of Entropis energy.’

This was not a good thing at all. Her expression darkened and she thought: ’Something sinister is taking root in this part of the forest, the only positive thing is that it is far from us and its harm will not reach us for the time being.’

Normally she would have left this area immediately, for clashing with beings that use Entropis energy instead of mana always ends badly as happened to Arthur just a short while ago, but given her current circumstances, and the fact that several enemies were lurking about waiting for her, staying in this place temporarily was the best option.

’Now what am I going to do about this insolent one, it is impossible to remove this corruption from him entirely, wait, perhaps it is better to seal it for now until I recover most of my strength.’

After a little hesitation, she directed the majority of the venom to completely surround the remaining mushroom spores without leaving them any outlet even the size of a needle’s head. She compressed them tightly until they became the size of a small ball, and after that she wrapped them tightly with an extremely thick layer of silk threads.

As for the small amount of venom that remained, since it contained high quality purifying and healing power, it would truly be wasteful to squander it, so she distributed it evenly across Arthur’s internal injuries which caused most of them to heal.

She opened her eyes and let out an exhausted breath. She felt a little dizzy and badly wanted to lie down, but she did not want to show her weakness. She remained standing and said coldly: "Get up now, enough pretending."

Her melodious voice echoed through the vast room. In the next moment, Arthur opened his eyes, and quickly stood up straight. He showed his respect and submission and said: "How may I serve you, my lady?"