The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 7 - Chapter 19 - The New Commentator

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Don't mind this fluff. It's so that free readers can't read half the chapter.

So as it turns out, I'm overheating like hell and can't get to sleep right now because of it. Which means I'm just gonna pull an all-nighter tonight and start my Monday early.

Very early.

4 AM early.

Anyways, enjoy.

Click the following link if you want to read this chapter on a googledoc with formatting:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g8TNa1Zu8rLLiB7-zwxhzdirksUpI_ACBhXUH-Kumq0/edit?usp=sharing

Or just keep scrolling down to find the chapter further down this Patreon post without formatting.

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For those of you who are reading this on a website that is not Patreon, please stop. You're reading a pirated version. Instead, if you would be so kind, please click on the table of contents link below and go to my Patreon instead. Or even read it off of Royal Road, which is free.

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Table of Contents

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Arcadian Live

“And the first Progenitor clone of the Beta Dungeon after Beelzebub iiiiiiissssss!!!” Mikaela exclaims as the audience within his viewing room roars their excitement, with the sound effect of drums being hit echoing along with the roars to increase the effect. Only for everyone to blink when The Winter Wolf appears on a strange floor. One looking almost like a dreamland, full of numerous monsters, various types of elemental energies, and a massive amount of confusion. “…what is it?”

The audience quiets down rather quickly as whispers spread throughout the viewing room. With an enormous amount of people whispering about what possible Progenitor could rule over the floor theme.

Even Mikaela finds himself unsure of what to make of this floor.

But a general consensus quickly begins to spread through the audience. One that Mikaela agrees with.

A consensus that the Progenitor clone of the first Centurion Boss theme after Beelzebub is either Eris, the Progenitor of Chaos, or Loki, the Progenitor of Illusions.

Mikaela begins to open his mouth to say that very thing, only to hear someone else speak right next to him, shocking the hell out of him in the process.

“Oooohh, now who could this be? Which Progenitor clone is it?!” an unknown voice exclaims. “It’s so hard to guess! What do you all think?!”

Silence spreads through the viewing room as Mikaela turns and finally gets a look at the owner of the voice. But it’s not someone he has ever seen before.

The owner of the voice looks like a woman with long brown hair and brown eyes floating in place with her arms and legs crossed. Looking absolutely ridiculous in the process even as she nods her head with a satisfied expression on her face.

Pure confusion fills Mikaela at the sight of the woman. Because no one is supposed to be capable of leaving the bleachers in a viewing room without the permission of the viewing room’s host.

But his confusion only lasts until he identifies the woman and finds the result to declare her the Progenitor of Illusions.

Loki.

“Nah, I’m just kiddin’,” the woman says while waving her arm. And as she does that, her form shifts to that of a young looking man with medium length green hair and green eyes still in that same position. “It’s me! Loki the Great! And I’m here to give you some amazing commentary on my lovely Centurion Floors! Aren’t you happy to have me here?!”

Absolute silence fills the viewing room despite there being trillions of people inside of it. All because of the presence of a Progenitor.

And Mikaela feels himself frozen stiff without a single word coming to mind.

This has never happened to him before. Even when he was thrown in front of harbingers or that void creature before, he always managed to retain his calm and do his job.

But now?

In front of a Progenitor?

“Awww, do you all not want me here or somethin?” Loki says as his form turns into that of a kid pouting. Disorienting Mikaela again when he turns from an adult man to a young girl. “Well, too bad. I hope you get used to me! Because this viewing room seemed like a fun place to check out while my clone is having fun in the dungeon!”

Mikaela feels his heart jumping out of his throat when Loki floats up and actually sits on his shoulders while leaning on Mikaela’s head, still in the form of a young girl.

“Now, how about we get on with the fun?!” he says, his high pitched female voice coming from above Mikaela’s head sending chills down Mikaela’s spine. “I’ve gotta show off my masterpiece after all!”

The screen enlarges without Mikaela doing anything, clearly showing Loki’s control over this viewing room.

Or at least, that’s what Mikaela assumes. Until he checks his interface and realizes nothing has changed since earlier.

Which means that Loki is using nothing but his illusions to make things appear this way.

He isn’t actually doing anything.

Wait, does that mean the Loki on my shoulders might be an illusion as well?!

Mikaela’s mind begins spiraling into confusion seemingly without end. But Loki just continues speaking with a strong hint of excitement to their voice.

A voice that now sounds like a young boy instead of a girl, making Mikaela look at the closest reflection to see that Loki has indeed turned into a young boy.

“Now, as should be obvious, my lovely creation is a masterpiece!” Loki continues while swinging his legs despite being on Mikaela’s shoulders. “Very few of the monsters that you can see are actually there! And all the senses are messed up within my lovely little world of dreams and illusions!”

Mikaela drags his gaze back to the screen to see Wolf seemingly attacking air. Only for the illusion to fade away and a monster to appear there, dying to his attack.

“Yes! It looks like the little pup has already figured this out himself!” Loki says while clapping his hands, his voice back to that of a young girl again. “Just because you see a monster somewhere doesn’t mean they will be there! And just because you hear one doesn’t mean anything either! The same goes for every other sense there! But there is one way to figure out where a real monster is hiding!”

The Winter Wolf on screen moves on to dispatch another monster with ease.

“And that’s to focus only on the monsters who appear with more than one sense!” Loki exclaims with a laugh. “This pup is smart! Smarter than I initially assumed! This’ll be fuuuuun!!!”

Meanwhile Mikaela finally begins to feel his heart calm down a bit. Even if he still doesn’t have the nerve to speak right now.

Please let this Floor Theme go by quickly so I can get out of this position…

Never in his life did he think he would have a Progenitor sitting on his shoulders.

And he never wants this to happen ever again.