Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 324: Episode 322: Fear of the Unknown

Roxy looked down at her lap. Tyara had finally succumbed to her milk-drunk exhaustion, her tiny, fluffy white ears twitching softly as she slept soundly against Roxy’s chest, completely oblivious to the heavy, suffocating tension filling the master bedroom.

Roxy took a slow, measured breath, her fingers tightening around the cold silver of the goblet.

"I am worried, Zarek," Roxy confessed, her voice dropping to a fragile, echoing whisper. She finally lifted her green eyes to meet his. "I am so incredibly worried."

Zarek’s broad shoulders immediately tensed. He took a half-step closer, his massive hands twitching at his sides as if he wanted to physically fight whatever invisible phantom was plaguing her mind. "Tell me. Whatever threat is casting shadows in your sleep, point me toward it, Roxy. I will burn it to ash."

A sad, deeply affectionate smile touched Roxy’s lips. She loved him for his simplicity. For his absolute, unyielding belief that there wasn’t a single obstacle in the universe that couldn’t be eradicated by dragon fire and brute force.

But the enemy haunting her dreams couldn’t be burned.

"It isn’t a monster in the woods, Z," Roxy murmured, setting the goblet of milk down on the bedside table. She carefully shifted Tyara’s weight, freeing one hand to reach out and weave her fingers through Zarek’s calloused ones. "When I was in the Deep Spires... his mother, Queen Nerissa, told me something impossible."

Zarek’s eyes narrowed sharply at the mention of the Abyssal Matriarch. "What did the sea-witch say to you?"

"She told me..." Roxy swallowed hard, the revelation still sounding like a stupid dream to her. "She told me that she was from my world."

Zarek frowned. How was that possible? He actually thought there was only her, but how can the sea witch be a human species just like Roxy?

"Your world?" Zarek repeated, his voice completely hollowed out by shock. "The Earth you mentioned? The place with the metal birds and the glass towers you told us about? The ancient, immortal Queen of the abyss... is a human from your realm?"

Roxy nodded slowly; she gulped, even though she found it absurd. "Yes. She was brought here, just like I was. Long before the Spires even existed."

Zarek was absolutely stunned. He sank heavily onto the edge of the mattress, his massive weight causing the furs to dip. He stared at Roxy, his mind racing to comprehend the cosmic, reality-shattering implications of two entirely different women being plucked from a distant universe and dropped into the center of Beastworld politics.

But while Zarek’s mind spun with the shock of Nerissa’s origins, Roxy’s mind was drowning in a much deeper, far more terrifying abyss.

She had given Zarek a piece of the truth to explain her nightmares, but she couldn’t tell him the rest. She couldn’t tell him about the invisible cage that currently surrounded their entire existence.

Roxy looked at his broad chest, her heart twisting in absolute, suffocating agony.

I can’t tell you the rest, Zarek, Roxy thought. I can’t tell you that I am terrified of the System. The interface that brought me here, the magic that gave me the healing buffs and the inventory... it isn’t just a mindless spell. It is an entity. It is a ’he’.

As crazy as that sounds.

The Architect. Whatever title the invisible force held, it was watching her.

What did he want with her? What was his ultimate aim?

Those two questions were the only things that violently echoed in her head every time she closed her eyes. The System had gamified her survival, turning her life, her mates, and her children into a twisted, magical simulation.

But when she engineered the cure for the Wither-Rot, she knew she had done something she shouldn’t have.

And ever since that day, the System had gone entirely, horrifyingly silent.

There were no more glowing blue holographic screens popping up in her vision. There were no more automated notifications about her stamina or her health.

During her grueling, agonizing labor with Tyara, the System had completely abandoned her, forcing her to endure the raw, biological trauma entirely unassisted.

The silence was deafening. It was the terrifying, heavy calm of a predator holding its breath in the tall grass before a strike.

She wished desperately that she could ask Nerissa more questions. How did the ancient Queen survive the System?

Did she break her own interface?

But Roxy deeply doubted the System would ever let her communicate with the Spires again. The magical communication pearl had conveniently shattered the moment Caspian made his mortal sacrifice. The entity was isolating her.

Even the true, ancient gods of the Beastworld seemed to sense the shifting cosmic tides.

The benevolent deities who had previously communicated with her through the System’s quest logs had recently settled on speaking directly into her mind, bypassing the blue screens entirely, as if the System’s network was no longer safe to use.

Roxy was worried about the absolute worst that was to happen. The System had the power to transmigrate souls across universes. What was stopping it from simply deleting her?

But she didn’t tell Zarek all this. She couldn’t.

To tell the Alpha Kings that their entire world, their fierce battles, and their profound loves were potentially subject to the whims of an invisible, digital god would completely shatter their sanity.

They were warlords of this world; they could not fight the sky. She had to carry this terrifying, crushing burden entirely alone to preserve their reality.

And her reality.

She just worried about it, the silent terror eating away at her core.

Zarek, noticing the deep, vacant terror swimming in her green eyes, immediately shifted closer. He abandoned his shock over Nerissa’s origins, his protective instincts violently surging to the forefront.

He reached out with both of his massive, calloused hands, gently framing Roxy’s pale face.

"Hey," Zarek murmured, his deep, rumbling voice incredibly gentle as he forced her to meet his gaze. His thumbs softly brushed her cheekbones, anchoring her firmly to the physical, present moment. "Do not spiral into the dark, my Queen. Breathe." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Roxy blinked, pulling herself out. She took a shuddering breath, the scent of smoke and pine radiating from his skin instantly grounding her.

"Everything is going to be fine," Zarek swore, his eyes burning with an absolute, unbreakable conviction. He leaned his forehead against hers. "I do not care if the Abyssal Queen is from your world, or if the stars themselves fall out of the sky. You are the Matriarch of the Iron-Wood. You are my mate. You are safe here."

Roxy closed her eyes, leaning into his warm, solid palms. The sheer, immovable certainty in his voice was a balm to her frayed nerves.

Zarek paused, his brow furrowing slightly in thought. "If this involves the ancient history of the deep, do you want to talk to Caspian about it? He was the King of the Spires. He might know more about his mother’s past, or the magics she brought with her."

Roxy immediately shook her head, her dark curls brushing against his wrists.

"No," Roxy whispered firmly. She opened her eyes, the terrified, trembling woman instantly replaced by the fierce, unyielding General of the pack. "Caspian has given up enough. He sacrificed his eternity and his kingdom just to stand in the sun with us. I will not drag him back into the shadows of his mother’s past. I will not burden any of you with this."

She reached up, wrapping her smaller hands over Zarek’s massive wrists.

"Whatever it is that wants to happen," Roxy declared, her voice vibrating with an uncompromising, absolute matriarchal vow. "Whatever tries to come for this Manor, or this family... I will protect you all. I swear it, Zarek. I will tear the world apart before I let anything harm my mates or my children."

Zarek’s breath hitched. The sheer, overwhelming power of her devotion struck him directly in the center of his heart. He shifted his hands, sliding one down to interlock his thick fingers securely with hers, giving her hand a tight, bruising, desperate squeeze.

"Then we will protect you too," Zarek vowed, his voice a dark, concussive rumble of absolute devotion. "With our fangs, our magic, and our last breath. With everything that we have got, Roxy. You will never fight alone."

Roxy smiled, a warm, genuine expression that reached her eyes. She squeezed his hand back, leaning forward to press a soft kiss to his jaw.

"I know, Z," Roxy whispered, her heart aching. "I know."

But as Zarek wrapped his massive arms around her, pulling her and the sleeping Tyara securely against his chest, a single, terrifying thought violently echoed in the darkest, most isolated corner of Roxy’s mind.

I know you would die for me, Zarek.

She rested her chin on his broad shoulder, staring blankly at the stone wall of the bedroom.

But if the System wants to remove me... You guys would never see it coming.