The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 6 - Chapter 47 - New Developments

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

This is Sunday's chapter. Also, I got the commissioned cover image for book 6 of The Rise of the Winter Wolf from my artist today. I also finally decided on the title of book 6.

The War of the Progenitors.

I put in the commission for the typography earlier today, so the complete cover should be ready within a week or so.

Also, if you're curious, the image in the cover image is indeed set place within the temple.

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

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q6bfQeA-PdHsvpYExBBMWS3iOEUrAyBjMpYuZCsdMUQ/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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Wolf

The bugs don’t end up being too difficult to deal with. Mostly just annoying. Incredibly annoying at that, seeing as their defenses force me to freeze the majority of them and kill them from the inside instead of just simply killing them.

Even the weaker bugs amongst them have terrifying defenses.

It takes us so long to kill them all that over two days have passed by the time we finish them all off. And by then, the entire exterior of the temple is just frozen, with snow and ice coating the forest around it.

The only bright side about all of this is that my level has skyrocketed from all the bugs, and my strength grows as well from my ring devouring the curse elemental energy filling the forest around us. Of which there was a lot.

Was being the key word, because I’ve finally realized why the bugs are all growing stronger.

It’s because they’ve been devouring the curse energy in the forest just like what my ring is doing. So there really isn’t anywhere near as much curse energy left at this point.

I let out a sigh after seeing another level up go by in my vision. Bringing me firmly up to level 7248.

Then I glance at Sapphire to find her snacking on some of the bugs, only to turn my attention to the entrance of the temple. Where I find the entire thing frozen solid with the corpses of the bugs still piling in front of it in the ice. So I move all of the ice to the side before walking up to the entrance and studying it a bit.

I slowly reach out to touch the large circular door while wondering just how I’m going to open it. Since the door didn’t actually open despite the bugs coming out. It just glowed and spewed them out all over the place. But the second my fingers touch the door, it suddenly shines with a bright purple and black light.

Guess I don’t need to figure it out…

To my surprise though, I feel both myself and Sapphire being teleported away instead of what I was expecting to happen. And when the light finally fades, I find myself and Sapphire standing on the edge of some massive white tower amidst hundreds of other massive white towers. Some with space between them and others so close that they’re literally touching.

I narrow my eyes a little as I take it all in.

It’s not just the pure white towers, or the large bugs flying everywhere. There’s the complete lack of any black and purple energy in here.

Such a strange shift…

Where’s the…

My brows furrow as I finally take note of the energy that is in the area. Pure white energy in the form of clouds. Yet despite its appearance, I can tell that the energy is curse energy.

Just that it’s a different type of curse energy.

A variant type of curse energy. And a pure one at that.

It’s like the difference between my old eternal ice element when I had the plain old thing and the eternal ice I saw Fenrir using. The eternal ice from the source.

Well, shit…

I quickly begin to look around for the source of this pure curse energy, but I can’t find anything that could possibly be the source. Which both makes me feel a little relieved and a little worried.

Because it both means that my hypothesis isn’t confirmed yet, but could also still be correct and there really could be some sort of copy of the Progenitor of Curses and Insects here.

And I’m honestly rather terrified of that possibility.

It’s also something I could easily see the System or the Reaper doing. Just making a weaker copy of a progenitor and stuffing the copy into the dungeon.

I can only hope that he doesn’t have permission from Beelzebub to do that.

But if I’m being honest with myself, the fact that Beelzebub’s personal variant elemental energy is here likely means he at least has Beelzebub’s permission to do that. Probably.

Unless he’s just picking a fight with Beelzebub.

And I doubt even he’s stupid enough to do that while he’s already at war with two of the progenitors.

Probably.

Out of nowhere, I find a System Message appearing in my vision as I’m trying to get to a higher tower for a better view of the area.

A very shocking message at that.

One directly warning me that the System has made a copy of Beelzebub and placed him as the Centurion Boss of the three hundredth floor without Grim’s permission.

My jaw drops open after reading the message. Because not only does it imply that the System may be going out of Grim’s control at least a little bit, but it also means I’m going to have to fight a weaker version of a progenitor a bit above my own level. And to top all that off, Fenrir sends another message telling me that Beelzebub is declaring war on the Reaper for this even though it wasn’t even Grim’s fault.

Not that I mind. The Progenitor of Void is an asshole and deserves to be teamed up on by more progenitors than he has on his side.

Fenrir doesn’t seem happy though. Since Beelzebub’s joining the war is apparently making a bunch of other progenitors join the war as well.

Officially turning this into a war of the progenitors instead of just a feud between the Progenitors of Void and Radiance.

I turn my head to glance at Sapphire, where I find her staring at the screens in front of me with a blank look on her face. Then I turn back to those very screens. Just for them to disappear seconds later, leaving me and Sapphire in the relative silence of the ‘temple’ in mid-air.

Except for the sounds of the bugs buzzing all over the place.

I don’t even know what’s going on outside of this dungeon anymore…