Chapter 597 - Kirin

"So out of the three anchors, Indri is the easiest as long as the Kirin is gone? Seems like we should probably scout out the area around the anchor so that we can plan our attack." Shiro said with a smile.

"Well I can do some scouting from this house you know? Like I said, I've been keeping an eye on most of the queens while I figure out how to make an anchor. After all, spending years to do absolutely nothing is idiotic. There's always something that you can do." The older Shiro shrugged before snapping her fingers.

Suddenly, a live footage of the Indri Mountain range appeared on the screen. Large bridges could be seen stretching from one mountain to another while lightning flickered in the dark clouds that hung above the area.

"Wait, this is live footage?" Shiro raised her eyebrows.

"Yup. You know, I've gotten my hands on some pretty interesting materials that could merge with my nanobots to form something that can survive in the strange atmosphere in the sky. Normally, my nanobots will start to corrode at a fast rate the moment you pass a certain height limit but with this new material, the upper limit has been increased so I can hide scouts up there without too many worries." The older Shiro smiled while taking a sip of her juice.

"Naturally, that means I can show you footage of the Kirin too since my drone is flying much higher than it."

"Oh? That'll be quite interesting. I want to see what you're afraid of."

Hearing this, the older Shiro snapped her fingers, changing the view of the camera.

Looking towards the screen, Shiro could see dark clouds looming everywhere while a giant iridescent being could be seen resting on them. His neon blue serpent-like body curled through the clouds as lightning shimmer on his scales. Every breath he took was reminiscent of rumbling thunder, causing the lightning to flicker with each inhale.

Despite the long body that reminded Shiro of a snake, she could see horse-like limbs under his body, Each muscle on his legs were well defined as yellow fur wrapped around his joints.

Looking towards his head, she could see a majestic crown of gold adorned with jade armour around the base.

"Just to show you why I'm not eager to fight him, I'll have a small drone get close to the Kirin's main body."

Pressing a key on her keyboard, Shiro watched as a small drone detached from the camera. Before it could even get within 300 meters of the giant mythological beast, lightning crackled from the clouds and vaporised the drone in an instant.

"And there we go. As you can see, he has an aura that passively attacks anyone that is close unless he chooses to exclude them from the targets. Meaning, just standing around the prick can kill you without him doing anything."

". . .Yeah I can definitely see why you wouldn't want to try taking the anchor unless the Kirin is away from the place. He doesn't look small either, I'm pretty sure his body is either around the size of the mountain range or maybe a bit bigger?"

"Exactly, he is f*cking huge so you can imagine the kind of damage that he can do. His defence is also ridiculous, you know? Unless I hit him with everything I got, I don't even think I can harm one of his scales and even then, he'll probably erase me with a single breath." The older Shiro shrugged.

"If we were to go off of system tiers, what tier is the Kirin?" Shiro asked.

"Hmm… probably around mid to high tier 7? It's been a while so he might be on the cusp of tier 8 for all I know."

"Wait so you're telling me that we're going to be trying to attack a place under the protection of a demi god who might have already attained divinity?" Shiro's smile twitched.

"Yup~"

". . ."

"Don't worry about it, I'll be the one doing the fighting. Anyways, let's go to the closest domain first. Since Thiria is talking with the Lightning Queen, I can assume that they might fight soon. We'll try to make ourselves less suspicious by blending in with the rest of the folk in the city. Hopefully, we'll be able to move around a bit freely after getting to know a few people." The older Shiro smiled.

"If you do that, wouldn't you become sympathetic towards them?" Shiro raised her eyebrow. After all, their goal was to steal the anchor and doing so would definitely put the people there in harms way.

"Of course I will but that wouldn't change the outcome. I suppose the new age has made me a bit cold hearted. In a war, there's always going to be casualties and I have already chosen my side." The older Shiro narrowed her eyes and looked down at her empty cup.

"Meaning, even if I talk to the demi humans like they're close friends when we get there, I will not hesitate to take the anchor should the opportunity arise. After all…" She trailed off.

"I'm the witch that stole the system from everyone."

Looking at her older self, Shiro could definitely see that she was now much colder to anyone who isn't in her circle of friends. She's even willing to act as 'friends' with the people in Indri just to betray them later for the anchor.

"You must think that I'm quite a piece of sh*t right now don't you?" The older Shiro chuckled.

"To be blunt, yes." Shiro shrugged.

"Well I'm not surprised. The new age has been around for a while so naturally, there will be small changes. I've just become a bit more decisive than before. I do hope that it doesn't creep you out too much."

"No it doesn't because I can see why you had to become cold like this. After all, if the situation was reversed, they would leap at the chance to make their enemies weaker. But as always, just because I know doesn't mean I like it." Shiro shook her head.

"Mn, true. That has always been the case. Regardless, let me pack up and get ready. We're going to be moving to the mountain village in Indri and hopefully not get killed on sight." The older Shiro chuckled before dismissing the computer terminals.

Sitting down on the sofa, Shiro watched her older self with a frown.

'There might be some disagreements but it shouldn't be too bad I don't think.' She thought to herself since the fact that her older self didn't mind betraying people after gaining their trust is a little off putting since betrayal was one of the things she hated the most. However, it's not like she'll be here forever so putting up with it shouldn't be too bad.

Once the older Shiro was ready, she picked up her younger self and made a portal. I'm going to make the exit a little further away from the city and piss off a monster so that it will chase us. Naturally, I'm going to get 'beat up' a little just to make it a bit more believable." The older Shiro smiled as she stepped through the portal.

Adjusting her vision slightly, Shiro saw that they were in a cave.

"Right then, let's see… there should be a bunch of monsters here. I need to give them a slight poke so that they get pissed off but I can't kill them." The older Shiro muttered before placing her hands against the walls.

Closing her eyes for a moment, her lips curled into a smile.

"Now before we give them a poke, let me change our scent a little since the demi humans are quite sensitive." She said before waving her hand. Feeling a few light droplets of water sprinkle on her face, Shiro titled her head but didn't smell anything different.

"You won't be able to smell it since it's designed for use against demi humans specifically. Anyways, are you ready?"

"Mn." Nodding her head, Shiro watched as tier 4 magic circles appeared around her older self.

"3… 2… 1… And~ Poke ♡"

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*Yawn~

Rubbing his eyes slightly, a young man could be seen with silver armour on his body. He had a pair of lazy eyes and sharp teeth. He was a demi human with wolf-like ears and a furry tail swaying ever so slightly behind him. His name was Zaun and his main task was to guard the gates to the city located in the Indri mountains.

Today was rather normal as nothing too serious had happened. The city was quiet since tension was at an all time high. Looking down at his watch, he figured that his shift was going to be over soon.

Suddenly, his ears twitched ever so slight as he furrowed his brows.

Sniffing the air a little, his pupils constricted.

Grabbing his spear, he quickly vaulted over the wall before activating one of his skills. His muscles bulged ever so slightly as he stomped the ground, catapulting his body forward.

In the distance, he could see a charming fox woman with snow white hair running away from a pack of frenzied monsters. Seeing the fear on her face, his instincts to help a demi human in need kicked in as he threw his spear as hard as he could.

Skewering the necks of two monsters, Zaun charged in with killing intent.