Chapter 1 Before Being Integrated

Dwarf fiends were originally a subspecies of demons living in swampy areas, before being forcibly integrated by the Alpha Wolf. These creatures, roughly the size of human children, covered in wrinkled, dark-red hide, and with lizard-like faces, were known for their cruel and savage nature. Scholars believed this subspecies of demon wasn't actually a true demon, but a distorted projection formed by beasts corrupted during past Chaos Tides. Others believed that dwarf fiends were a branch formed after goblins were corrupted by dark magic. Regardless of the explanation, there was a consensus regarding dwarf fiends: these terrifying little things were a fairly brutal and fearless race that only obeyed absolute power. Although many of their actions seemed ridiculous, it couldn't conceal the darkness inherent in their nature:

Dwarf fiends felt almost no fear.

However, these fearless little demons were now screaming as they ran out of the depths of the forest. Two of them were covered in blood, staggering as they ran, as if being chased by a terrifying enemy.

Lily rushed over as soon as she heard the commotion. She discovered that the two trembling, terrified dwarf fiends were the scouts she had sent to explore a certain direction in the forest. She had sent out ten in total, but judging from the current situation, the other eight were obviously in dire straits.

"What happened?" Lily asked, standing before the two dwarf fiends and looking down at them.

The two constantly shivering dwarf fiends sensed their leader's aura, or perhaps were awed by the Orderly Light around Lily. In any case, they finally calmed down. They screamed shrilly, clamoring in a grating language that sounded like tearing metal: "The others are dead! All dead!" "A black thing ran out of the forest!" "It's not afraid of fire, or smoke!" "It went right through us and into our brains!" "Then they all died!" "We saw a lot of scary things!"

Dwarf fiends were one of the more intelligent subspecies, which was why Lily sent them to scout ahead: compared to the bear monsters, these guys could at least clearly explain what they had seen. However, after hearing the two dwarf fiends' chaotic report, Lily couldn't help but glare: "What a mess..."

At this moment, Kalasuos also rushed up from behind. As a high-ranking cleric, he had some knowledge of subspecies, so he understood some of what the dwarf fiends said. He frowned: "Could they have been attacked by servants of Chaos?"

Lily twitched her ears: "More of that… Chaos you mentioned? Is that stuff really that powerful?"

Kalasuos couldn't help but want to roll his eyes when he heard this. If it weren't for the self-restraint of a forty-year veteran archbishop, he probably would have rolled them all the way to the top of his head. The high-ranking cleric sighed: "You… are destined to be unafraid of Chaos, but that stuff is an absolute disaster for ordinary people like us. Then again, Alpha Wolf, do you really not know anything about what's happening on the continent?"

"I don't know," Lily said happily, hands on her hips. She didn't know what was so great about it, but she was just that happy. "I woke up and found myself on the island. Heaven knows what happened before that."

Kalasuos continued to sigh, not knowing what to say.

He revered the Orderly Light on the "Alpha Wolf," but he really couldn't accept her worldview and attitude towards Chaos, especially the latter. Probably because she possessed powerful Orderly divine power, this "Alpha Wolf" could almost be said to be destined to be untouched by Chaos. Not only untouched, but within a few hundred meters of her was a powerful field of Order, and the power of the Chaos Tide simply couldn't get close to her. This led to an interesting result:

"Chaos," which was well-known and dreaded by everyone in the Korlu tribe, was a rare thing that the Alpha Wolf would probably never encounter in her life… Of course, saying "life" might be a bit of an exaggeration, since Chaotic forces could break through the Orderly blockade sometimes. But at least for now, this Alpha Wolf hadn't been bothered by the power of Chaos at all.

A deaf person isn't afraid of firecrackers, a blind person isn't afraid of Ru Hua, a fool isn't afraid of setbacks in life, and a husky spirit isn't afraid of encountering Chaos…

At this moment, Lily had finished questioning the two dwarf fiends. After some questioning, it was basically certain that the two unfortunate guys had indeed encountered a Chaotic demon.

"Just as expected, the power of Chaos is chasing closely behind us," Kalasuos said. "I didn't expect a new surge to occur in the seventh year of the Chaos Tide. The dark side of the Carnos Sea is surging up from the bottom of the world, and a new storm is landing in southern Ansu. We must have caught the leading edge of the storm… In my judgment, the real storm hasn't started yet. It will officially arrive in about three days. But even the leading edge of the Chaos Storm… is quite dangerous."

Lily listened in confusion, understanding only about half of it, but she still knew that things seemed to be getting worse and worse.

The team had been encountering various strange phenomena since entering the forest area: suddenly withered trees, surging soil, animated forest skeletons. These things had appeared more than once, and according to Kalasuos, they were all signs of the approaching Chaos. And today, all the signs had finally reached their peak: members of the group had been directly killed by servants of Chaos.

Although they were just a few dwarf fiends, they had escaped from the floating island with her. As the renowned Dog King of the Southern Suburbs, Lily felt it was her duty to protect her little brothers.

She looked at Kalasuos: "Uncle, you're the expert. Give me some advice."

Kalasuos nodded: "We are probably on the boundary line where Chaos and Order are clashing. This storm has just appeared, so the conflict between the two forces hasn't really broken out yet. The monsters emerging from Chaos shouldn't be erupting everywhere, but concentrated in the most severe conflict zones. We need to avoid the areas with the most intense Chaotic aura, according to the scouts. Our goal is still the nearest Wall of Order—it should be three days' journey from here to the Taros border. If we hurry, we can cut it down to two."

Lily thought for a moment, then suddenly jumped onto a large rock next to her and ordered loudly: "Everyone listen up! Set up camp and rest by the big bonfire! We need to get a good night's sleep tonight, and we'll set off tomorrow!"

Kalasuos nodded slightly after hearing the Alpha Wolf's arrangement, but a normal paladin in the investigation team couldn't help but speak up: "Alpha Wolf, shouldn't we leave immediately? Setting up camp here will waste..."

"It won't waste time," Lily stared at the impetuous paladin. "Everyone has been traveling for days, and everyone's strength is almost exhausted. If we encounter monsters in this state, our ability to fight back will be practically zero. The risk is far higher than the time spent setting up camp. While the light I'm emitting is still pretty bright, everyone should seize the time to rest. Alright, alright, go back to sleep!"

The impetuous paladin was speechless. Kalasuos patted the young man on the shoulder: "The Alpha Wolf is right. The most important thing in a Chaotic domain is to stay calm and not waste energy recklessly. Go back and rest. The real challenge is tomorrow."

The demon beast camp quickly quieted down. The large bonfire burned brightly in the center of the forest clearing, the bright firelight illuminating the surrounding twisted and deep dark jungle. Lily came to her special "throne," lay down, and stared blankly at the dim sky.

A thick layer of animal skins and grass mats were spread beneath her, but these things couldn't give her a comfortable night's sleep.

It was too damn bright...

Lily awkwardly turned over and saw that her tail was emitting a bright white light in the air. Not just her tail, but her whole body was glowing. At first, she found the light quite interesting, but now she only felt that the blinding thing was seriously hindering her sleep, and more seriously... she still didn't know how to turn it off.

"If only the landlord were here," the husky girl thought randomly. "The landlord knows a lot of strange things. He'd definitely have a way."

After tossing and turning for a while, she suddenly heard a strange noise coming from nearby.

Lily's ears twitched, and she immediately sat up alertly and looked around.

Her beast horde was surrounding her, demon wolves, hyenamen, bear monsters, dwarf fiends, all kinds of demon beasts divided into many piles according to their tribes, lying in a circle around the Alpha Wolf's throne. The snoring, heavy and light, and the unique stench of demon beasts drifted throughout the camp. The humans who had been rescued also occupied a corner. These humans, who seemed to be quite high in status, were actually very hardy. They were now camping in the open space next to the fire fox group, where several simple tents were set up.

The tents were carried by the human named Kalasuos. He seemed to have a "portable space" similar to the landlord's.

Lily's gaze wandered between the beast horde and the human camp. The strange noise was wandering around the camp, as if an invisible, strange thing had mixed in here, and the owner of the sound was swaggering over the sleeping bodies, searching for its prey.

Suddenly, Lily's golden eyes narrowed.

She stared at the dwarf fiend encampment, where two figures had gotten up.

They were the two scouts who had escaped back earlier.