On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

Lena continued her attack, her powerful abilities transforming the surrounding dark matter into a thorny whip that lashed out directly at Eileen.

This creature behind the scenes, although it rules the world and constantly feeds on newborns to increase its strength, unfortunately started from too low a level and ended up only at around level 80.

Although Lena is level 90, only 10 levels higher, those 10 levels are the dividing line between the Calamity and Disaster levels. Each level represents a huge improvement, let alone a difference of 10 levels.

The difference in strength between the two sides is still enormous; the creature residing in Eileen's body is no match for Lena.

However, just as the next blow was about to completely incapacitate Eileen, to Rena's surprise, a figure suddenly appeared in front of Eileen.

Pfft!

Lena's magical arrow pierced Dean's body. This loyal imperial commander and the emperor's lackey was still willing to risk his life to buy time for his "Lady Irene".

"Quick, run, Ai!"

Dean, enduring excruciating pain, hadn't finished speaking when he turned around to find that his beloved Eileen hadn't even glanced at him and was already fleeing at top speed.

That cold, distant figure seemed to deliver the final blow to Dean.

He couldn't help but recall the Lady Irene, the one who had shielded him from enemy attacks on the battlefield, the one who fought alongside him and always told him, "I'm here for you."

When did it start?

Why, Lady Eileen?

Dean's blind loyalty seemed to have completely enraged Rena. The succubus no longer held back. The powerful force from the "Calamity" level Evil Transformer caused the entire sky to change color, and a mass of dark matter like a black hole appeared in Rena's hand.

Liao Ji recognized it as Lena's ultimate move, which was also his own signature skill—[Annihilation].

"Open your eyes wide."

"That's not your Lady Irene at all!"

The annihilation black hole in Lena's hand caught up with the fleeing Eileen at an extremely fast speed. Then, as Eileen's body was annihilated and swallowed, the creature residing in her body could no longer disguise itself.

It was forced to reveal its true form, which was a huge spider-like creature with twelve eyes.

It emitted a piercing shriek at Lena, struggling to escape the black hole's pull, until it seemed to be begging Lena to let it go.

At this moment, Dean was completely stunned. Without Lena saying anything more, Dean understood everything. No, in fact, he probably had already guessed it subconsciously, but he had been unwilling to face it.

Ultimately, the spider creature was completely swallowed by Rena's black hole, completing the capture.

Lena achieved her goal in this world. Before leaving, the succubus took one last look at Dean, who was still kneeling on the ground with a dazed expression.

The imperial commander ultimately chose to commit suicide, as this was the only way he could find some relief. He could no longer face his former comrades who had been executed or died at his hands.

However, in the end, Dean's face still showed a hint of relief.

That's like saying

fortunately.

Thankfully, that wasn't the real Lady Eileen.

His Lady Irene was still the savior he respected and loved so much.

Dean's image was deeply imprinted in Lena's mind.

And the lessons of this world ultimately led Lena to another idea.

Although she successfully captured the creature behind the scenes, whether she can successfully interrogate it and bring back Lord Ash remains to be seen.

Therefore, Lena needs to be prepared for the worst-case scenario.

She wants

Reduce the influence of "Lord Ash".

Lena would never allow the fruits of their hard work to be used by the Ash Empire to benefit someone else. Such a complete and powerful empire would mean that the creatures behind the scenes could control the world without any scheming.

Similarly, she didn't want to see those "blindly loyal" contractors being used and manipulated by the creature behind the scenes disguised as "Lord Ash".

If that day ever comes

Lena would rather that all the contractors, including "them," were to "hate" Lord Ash, so that everyone could be protected.

However, if interrogation can truly bring back Lord Ash, this strategy will not be affected.

Because the real Ash Lord

Reina became even more certain after reflecting on her own experience.

The real Ash Lord will surely be able to find "them" again.

for sure.

Chapter 303 The Succubus's Great Victory

After capturing the creature behind the scenes, Lena was cautious and did not choose to bring it into her own world. Instead, she chose one of the many "empty" worlds on the World Tree.

Considering what Anno mentioned earlier, these behind-the-scenes creatures might be afraid of the Calamity, so Lena deliberately didn't choose those worlds that were completely corrupted by the Calamity and had utterly "failed".

Even so, when Lena brought the creature from behind the scenes to a world where the corruption level of the turbidity was not very high, the spider-like creature from behind the scenes was released from the black hole and still let out a whimper as if it was enduring some kind of pain.

As the Mother of Turbidity still exists in this world, the concentration of turbidity in the air is at a very high level. The creature behind the scenes keeps shaking its limbs, like a person who has been put into an environment with extremely low oxygen concentration, struggling to breathe and about to suffocate.

Later, it was Rena who released her powers, using a barrier to envelop the creature and slightly isolate it from the high concentration of turbidity in the air, giving the creature behind the scenes a chance to catch its breath.

Lena chose to capture this creature behind the scenes not only because it was not very strong, but more importantly, as mentioned before, this creature had abandoned its "giant" body in order to adapt to the environment and evolved more "intelligence".

This means that the other party is capable of communication.

Soon, the spider-like creature changed its form and transformed back into the appearance of the female player "Eileen" from the original world.

It took the initiative to talk to Lena.

Although, the attitude wasn't very good.

"Insects, get out of this filthy world!!"

The creature behind the scenes roared, but its first words weren't about Lena attacking it; instead, it urged Lena to leave immediately.

Seeing the other person's anxious expression, Lena also noticed that in just a short while, some brownish-red spots had begun to appear on the other person's skin, which were the veins of the Turbid Calamity.

At the same time, the concentration of turbidity in the air also increased, as if the turbidity had also "discovered" the creature behind the scenes and thus began to swarm in, and the sky of the whole world turned even more blood red.

Immediately afterwards, a faint, distorted sound came from afar. Lena recognized this sound; it came from the deepest part of the Abyss of Turbid Calamity, from the Mother of Turbid Calamity.

The creature behind the scenes had only been out for a few breaths when it attracted the attention of the Mother of Turbid Calamity in this world.

Lena even had a premonition that if she didn't use her power barrier to protect the creature behind the scenes and just left it there, the Mother of Calamity might crawl out of the abyss within minutes to devour it.

To verify this conclusion, Lena slightly opened her barrier, letting out a hint of the creature behind the scenes.

Sure enough, the turbidity in the air suddenly surged again.

The murmurs and cries from the Mother of Turbidity grew clearer, like a shark smelling blood.

After the experiment, Lena quickly resealed the barrier, and the abnormality in the surrounding area was slightly relieved.

After all, she still had to keep the creature behind the scenes alive for interrogation.

The creature behind the barrier was also quite frightened by Lena's attack. It seemed to have finally realized the situation. Although its way of addressing Lena remained the same, its tone was no longer so arrogant and haughty, and it became much more obedient.

"You worm, what do you want?"

“Tell me about the World Tree, the Calamity, the Savior, and your existence. I want to know the truth about it all,” Lena said succinctly.

The creature behind the scenes seemed somewhat surprised, not expecting that Lena, as an "insect," possessed so much knowledge. However, it quickly regained its arrogance, raising its head and saying:

"I am the source of the World Tree. It is because of us that your world, 'leaf by leaf,' came into being. We cultivated the World Tree. I am your master, the creator of the world!"

"The Creator would turn into this in the face of the Turbid Calamity?" Lena sneered coldly.

This enraged the creature that called itself "Source," which roared furiously, "The World Tree betrayed us! It used you filthy, lowly insects to create toxins! It tried to drive us away, tried to get rid of us, but how could that be possible? Does it really think we have no way out? How laughable!"

From the intelligence gathered by the creature behind the scenes, Lena roughly pieced together the truth.

These creatures, being "sources," should have a symbiotic relationship with the World Tree. However, it seems that the World Tree later developed a disagreement and conflict with these symbiotic creatures, which led to the creation of the toxin "Turbid Calamity" to eradicate them.

As for the method mentioned at the end by "Source" to combat "toxins"

“We have found beings from another dimension to become our projections, what you ants call our saviors. Because we are not in the same dimension, they can leave their memories as coordinates and search for ways to remove the toxins for us an infinite number of times until they succeed.”

"Memory. Coordinates? Infinitely?"

"In your words, it means being able to go back in time. For them, it's just returning to a certain memory point in the past. So the savior you think of is nothing more than someone who has more chances to start over and some authority that we have given them. That's all."

The creature behind the scenes made a point of repeating itself at the end: it had no respect for the "savior" whatsoever. In its view, most of the higher-dimensional beings who were supposed to be saviors were not even as good as worms.

The only value that can be utilized by these "high-latitude beings" is time travel.

“I think I understand what you’re trying to do. Give up. From the moment the source of the toxins was eliminated, their ‘memory points’ in the world disappeared. Moreover, judging from your strength, the level of toxins in your world is probably several times higher than in other worlds. Such a world can only accommodate a smaller number of memory points, perhaps only one. You have even less chance of finding him.”

The mastermind behind it all wanted Rena to give up.

Even in his slightly softened tone, there was a hint of wanting to befriend Lena.

Because it wasn't stupid, it realized that Lena's world was likely still an "unclaimed" world, not yet possessed by its kind, and in the stage where the savior had just left.

The fact that such a powerful native being as Lena could be nurtured speaks volumes about the strength of this world. If Lena could take it to that higher world and possess the body of its "savior," it would be a remarkable achievement.

Thinking about the creatures behind this, my heart burned even hotter.

It originally intended to continue belittling the savior while simultaneously trying to win over Lena, promising her various benefits. However, unexpectedly, Lena suddenly asked again:

"What if there's only one memory point, and you accidentally place the memory coordinates in a certain death situation along the way?"

Lena's strange question made the creature behind the scenes frown slightly.

It didn't quite understand why the succubus would ask this, but wanting to win over Reina, it quickly replied, "There's nothing we can do. In this situation, he can only abandon this world and move on to the next one."

"So, the choice of memory points should actually be very careful, because if you're not careful, all his previous efforts will be wasted, right?" Lena pressed.

The entity behind the scenes remained silent.

It sensed that when it had just used the "memory point" ability, the succubus opposite it had clearly wavered somewhat in its belief in the "savior".

For some reason, as the questions continued, the succubus's expression became more and more relaxed, and even the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile.

Yes, why is that?

Lena may never say these words aloud in her entire life.