Chapter 161 – The Surviving Witches

Isloria was overthinking things.

The Undead General was a straightforward skeleton. According to his plan, whether they fought or retreated after rescuing everyone, they would have more options.

But since there was an opportunity to eliminate this powerful enemy, he would seize it and strike them down. The dead were the most reassuring to skeletons.

After all, they were in the wilderness. Deadbone pondered for half a second before dismissing thoughts about the River of the Underworld killing technique and silently criticized himself for getting distracted by skill contemplation.

His gaze swept the surroundings, lingering for a moment on the small team of players in the distance, before he turned and strode off to catch up with his own group.

He left behind several players drenched in cold sweat, stiff as if they’d been fished out of water, frozen in place.

It took a full ten seconds before they suddenly snapped out of it, bending over while gasping for air, their constricted pupils still filled with lingering, overwhelming terror.

They couldn’t stay in this Wicked City any longer!

……

Within the team,

Isloria glanced at Deadbone in the distance, then looked at Dolai beside her.

She had previously tried to indirectly inquire about the strength of Tianyuan’s top fighter. Dolai’s response had been, “Just a little bit stronger than me, just a tiny bit.”

Now Isloria really wanted to seriously ask, “You call this just a little bit?”

Dolai: “Ehehe~”

But Isloria didn’t ask, nor did she continue pondering ‘how terrifying the Undead General is’ or ‘how the Lord managed to cultivate such a general.’ Instead, she focused her spirit, using her intangible intuition to search, her heart pounding with anticipation.

……

Somewhere in the Wicked City.

At the end of a deep alley, descending through a passage barely wide enough for two people side by side, lay an underground space covering about a hundred square meters.

Dim candlelight flickered here, casting faint illumination in the dark, gloomy place.

A girl leaned against the corner, her complexion sallow, brows tightly furrowed, eyes firmly shut. Her exposed arms were covered in snake-like scales.

Another girl had a scar on her face, one arm swollen to an unusually large size.

“The Witch’s Sickness is getting worse, crow.A black crow fluttered its wings and landed on a pile of clutter, trying to appear elegant, though her feathers lacked luster like tattered clothing, and her eyes couldn’t conceal profound exhaustion.

Nearby stood a wolf with grayish-white fur.

She was about the size of an ordinary gray wolf, her coat dull and patchy—thick in some places, sparse in others—resembling a doll hastily assembled from old newspapers.

Even among gray wolves, her appearance would be considered rather unfortunate.

Yet, the voice coming from the gray wolf was clear and melodious like a young girl’s, though it sounded weak and listless.

“Stop adding ‘crow’ to everything, awoo.”

“That’s also a symptom of the Witch’s Sickness, crow. What can I do about it, crow?”

The Black Crow Girl shrugged her wings.

Nearby were also an elk and a curled-up fox.

Similar to the first two, the elk and fox looked equally miserable—this was the Witch’s Sickness… or rather, the influence of the demon blood within them.

In their era, girls who carried demon blood and awakened to power were called Witches.

There were reasons why Witches were viewed with hostility.For one, the war between humans and monsters in the Eagle Kingdom had persisted for a long time, carrying historical animosity; for another, witches who had awakened their monster blood often exhibited some external characteristics—snake scales on their bodies, claw-like hands, fox tails, and so on.

These external features were usually not excessive, but after Black Crow Girl and her companions mistakenly entered the Wicked City, they were afflicted by an inexplicable curse.

The curse stimulated the monster blood within them.

Black Crow Girl and the other three were the most severely affected, though they also possessed the greatest strength.

“How is the situation outside, caw?”

“Still the same, howl. Monsters are encircling us layer upon layer. Though they won’t rush in, we… we can’t get out either, howl. And if we stay any longer, forget the witch’s ailment, we’ll soon run out of food and water, howl.”

White Wolf couldn’t quite articulate why they were still holding on.

Perhaps the essence of humanity is the fear of death.

She looked outside, through the narrow passage entrance, and could see the shadowy, indistinct forms of black monsters crowding at the alley’s main gate.

They were trapped here.

Even if they could break through and overcome the horde of monsters, the Wicked City was vast—how could they possibly escape?

The answer was: nowhere to flee.

No hope of survival.

Especially with so many injured among them.

“I’m tired, let it all end!”

“Let’s just fight these monsters to the death, howl.”

“Wait, the noise outside seems really loud, caw?”

“Maybe the monsters are fighting among themselves.”

White Wolf trudged weakly to the stairs and looked up.

Black Crow fluttered over and perched on White Wolf, gazing upward at the same angle.

Outside the passage, the monsters remained densely packed.

But suddenly, as if drawn by something, they roared and surged backward.

“Boom—”

Flames surged, filling the entire deep alley, yet perfectly restrained within its confines. In just over ten seconds, the horde of monsters—even several elite-level ones—were scorched and melted away.

This was the combined firepower of Dolai and Isloria.

Like a river of flames.

The orange-red fire illuminated the faces of Black Crow and White Wolf, casting faint glimmers of light in their eyes.

The elk stepped forward.

The slumbering fox opened her eyes.

They all saw a familiar figure emerge from the flames.

Isloria gazed at her companions from ‘hundreds of years ago,’ as if standing at the intersection of tangled timelines, her eyes moist as she whispered softly.

“Finally, I’ve found you.”

…

Outside the alley, Undead General stood leaning on his sword, while Skeleton Generals cleared away the approaching monsters.

Dolai felt like joining the commotion but was called back by the Lord to help clear the monsters outside. It soon became engrossed in picking up gleaming Soul Sand, instantly forgetting all its worries and confusion.

“Not bad, overall no major surprises occurred.”

Even though many players had appeared in the Wicked City, and they had even encountered formidable enemies like the fugitive ghost people, as long as the mission targets were found and no casualties occurred, it couldn’t be considered a setback.

Mu Yuan looked at the figures in the basement, pondering silently.

He counted—including the four he had glimpsed earlier: Black Crow, White Wolf, Elk, and Fox—thirteen witches remained. However, most were in extremely poor condition, some even struggling to walk. Had they not fortuitously discovered this basement, untouched by monsters, they would have long since succumbed.Even so, based on their current condition, they still wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer.

“Fortunately, we arrived just in time. A few days later and it might have been…”

In the basement, Isloria took out various recovery potions she had prepared in advance, along with precious items like Vitality Spring Water, and gave them to everyone to drink.

Although these couldn’t produce immediate miraculous effects or cure the Witch’s disease, they could at least improve everyone’s condition somewhat.

She looked at the group, wanting to say and ask many things, but Isloria understood this wasn’t the right time for catching up.

“Come with me, I’ll take you away from here.”

“Mhm mhm mhm.”

However, the underground space wasn’t very spacious, and recklessly using an item to tear open space risked causing a collapse.

Deadbone, Dolai, and many elite forces were still outside.

So while maintaining contact with the Lord, she instructed and directed the witches.

“Wait wait wait, since we’re leaving, don’t forget this, caw.”

The Black Crow flew towards an area where the candlelight barely reached, where a black coffin stood.

The Black Crow Girl grabbed the coffin lid with her claws and tried to lift it, but couldn’t move it. Then numerous black feathers drifted out, enveloping the coffin and carrying it along as she flew.

Seeing Isloria’s confused expression, she explained:

“It’s a treasure, caw.”

“Treasure?”

“Although I don’t know its specific purpose, it’s definitely a treasure, caw. Since we’re going to pledge ourselves to the Lord, it’s appropriate to bring some gifts, caw.”

…

After all, even the weakest witches were at Professional Tier. Though severely injured and ill, they could still walk a few steps with support.

Soon, they emerged from the underground space one after another, where Deadbone had already ordered the Skeleton Generals and wraiths to form a protective circle.

Ding!

Prompt: Your Hero ‘Isloria’ has won over ‘Witches ×13’. Will you accept their allegiance?

“So they exist in the form of military units?”

“Perhaps the Witch Bloodline itself represents a tier and profession in this era. Indeed, commoners who change professions in other territories also convert into military units, so there’s not much difference. No, actually, being military units is even more convenient.”

The recruitment proceeded without incident.

Next, he needed to figure out the situation with their Witch’s disease, and then they could enter the era of large-scale construction.

Mu Someone thought.

But suddenly, to him—or rather, to the Camera Falcon’s vision—the ground in the distance began to tremble, and wave after wave of rumbling sounds reached his ears.

Faintly visible, black mist was surging in the city center.

No, it wasn’t black mist—countless monsters were emerging from within the black mist, pouring outward at extreme speed like a black tide.

A player clung desperately to the reins on a griffin’s back. The griffin flapped its wings with all its might, flying outward with every ounce of strength, yet its speed still couldn’t outpace the monster tide. Soon, it was caught by flying monsters, torn apart, devoured, and with one final scream, all signs of life vanished.

“What’s happening?”

Mu Yuan didn’t understand.

Undead General looked towards Isloria, who quickly used an item.

The crescent-shaped item shattered completely, and an unfathomable force tore through space, forming an irregular gate over twenty meters in diameter that spanned the cracked and mottled earth.

The witches quickly stepped through, followed by the Skeleton Generals and wraiths.

Within mere seconds, everyone had crossed through the spatial gate.

But,As the Undead General stepped halfway across, he suddenly halted and looked to both sides. The spatial gateways with edges like saw marks were indeed slowly closing, but their speed… was much slower than before.

It seemed that certain special factors within the Wicked City were interfering with the spatial closure.

This wouldn’t have mattered much.

At most, in several dozen to a hundred seconds, the spatial gateways would completely vanish.

However,

they were already deep within the Wicked City, and now at the edge of their vision, a rolling black tide was surging forth. Further away, at the center of the black tide, a massive shadow with indistinguishable features rode the dark waves as if steering a boat.

(End of Chapter)