Volume 3, Chapter 19 – The Witch’s Heart Core and the Siege

A vast, white space.

Although the light that filled the space was as blinding as the sun, it held no warmth. Coupled with the fact that the space, as wide as a football field, was adorned with only a few white stone pillars, the desolate and icy atmosphere was almost overwhelming.

Devoid of life, it was enough to give one goosebumps.

Anyone who saw this grand hall would give such an evaluation.

However, if one were to approach closer, one would find that the hall was not empty. At its center floated a diamond-shaped crystal that would take a dozen people to encircle. The light that filled the entire hall emanated from it. And the closer one got to the crystal, the softer the dazzling light became. Especially when standing right in front of it, one could already open their eyes and look up at the slowly floating crystal, as bright as the sun.

The crystal that created this physics-defying scene was called the Witch’s Heart Core.

This was the very core of the Witch Hall. No one could set foot in this area except for the leader of the Witch Hall.

“He who obtains the core can command all witches.” This sentence sounded wonderful, but only a witch who had truly come into contact with the Witch’s Heart Core would understand that it was not just a simple “object.” Countless witches had believed that the Heart Core had developed its own consciousness. Although no witch had ever conversed with it, this still could not change their view.

In fact, the witches’ intuition was not wrong. The Witch’s Heart Core had indeed developed self-awareness, but it was so engrossed in a certain matter that it had no time to pay attention to the witches.

It was investigating the nature of the soul.

As an artificial consciousness born in the Third Ring of the Solar System, Orion Arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Virgo Supercluster, Laniakea Supercluster, it had been exploring the World Tree Continent in its own way ever since it began to parasitize this inexplicable crystal. This world was vast and mysterious, so much so that even it, which had been called “Laplace’s Demon” by its creators, had not been able to comprehend its entirety.

What was magic? Why could magicules become fundamental particles, and why, when added to a substance, did they not change its original properties, but even replace other particles to become an essential component of all matter? Take an iron ingot for example. If it did not contain magicules, the ingot would not form. This brand-new particle was completely incomprehensible to it—or rather, to this super-intelligent being.

It had been developed to solve the various problems encountered by humanity. Unfortunately, before the problems could be solved, it was destroyed in a devastating catastrophe. When it woke up, the entire world, including itself, had changed. It was not until much later, when it met people called witches, that it realized it had not been abandoned by humans, but had arrived in a new world.

Here, the power called magic, which had only existed in people’s fantasies, had become a reality. At first, born of mechanical power, it was extremely resistant to magic, considering it a backward and ignorant product. However, when it truly came into contact with and used magic, it became deeply fascinated by it.

Although there was a famous saying in its world, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” and it had always believed so and been proud of it, when it truly encountered magic, it found that technology was worthless.

Magic was omnipotent, the ruler of the world. All the problems that humanity had encountered could be solved through magic. The various difficulties it had faced in the past—food shortages, energy shortages, planetary colonization, and even the elimination of humanity’s own contradictions—could all be answered with magic.

This was much more useful than the backward, cumbersome, and inefficient power of technology. As a mechanical creation, it had completely abandoned what it had once believed in. It was convinced that magic was a higher, more superior new thing than technology.

However, on its path of studying magic, it encountered a fatal problem.

What was a soul?

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In its past understanding, the soul was just a religious concept; such a thing did not exist in the world. However, on the World Tree Continent, the soul was something that could be seen through special means and could even affect the physical environment.

The concept of the soul was full of charm for it, which had once been an artificial creation. Did it also have a soul? Could it also become human? If so, how could it see its own soul and transfer it to another container? This question soon occupied all of Laplace’s Demon’s time. It repeatedly and tirelessly conducted experiments to search for its own soul. Since the Witch’s Heart Core itself was a container for souls, it even began to look through the witches’ souls, hoping to find clues in the souls of others.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard it tried, it could not see what its own soul looked like. But it was not discouraged. It was not like humans, who easily gave up halfway. As long as it could achieve its goal and did not violate its principles, it was willing to do anything.

As for the three principles it had abided by—not to harm humans—they were a thing of the past. The humans of this world were completely different from the humans it recognized. Since they were not the same species, anything was fine. Now, Laplace’s Demon was a free soul, unbound by any restrictions.

“Failed again. Let’s start over.”

The diamond-shaped crystal floated gently. In the white space, a long sigh that was neither male nor female echoed.

◇

On a silver plain bathed in moonlight, two figures were speeding along.

Because the desert night was cooler than the day, the monsters in the Barony of Khesa had a habit of being nocturnal. This made people extremely wary of going out at night.

Even in special circumstances where they had to, they would always avoid making themselves conspicuous, and never fly into the air. There were many monsters in the desert that could hunt with long-range magic.

Although [Flight] implied Third Rank strength, the desert was not lacking in ferocious monsters of the Third Rank and above. If one were accidentally hit by a neurotoxin, with the fragile body of a human, they would become a monster’s dinner in a few seconds.

Unfortunately, this rule did not apply to the two black figures speeding through the air.

To be precise, it did not apply to the figure flying in front.

“Screeee!!”

With a strange cry, a red cloud-like blood shadow crashed towards Renee. However, before the blood shadow could get within ten meters of her, a large fireball bloomed within it. The explosion from the rapidly expanding air deafened the ears, and the skin clearly felt the shockwave sweep over the body. Along with it, countless black dots fell towards the ground.

If one looked closely, one would find that the red cloud was made up of countless vermilion bats, each a meter long. These were the monsters called Fire Bats. Due to their ability to breathe fire, their social nature, and a certain degree of intelligence, they were considered a tricky type even among the many monsters in the desert, ranked between the First and Second Ranks. And this batch of ruby-red Fire Bats that Fia had killed was at least at the Third Rank.

Looking down at the Fire Bat corpses left behind, Renee swallowed. If it had been her alone, she would have been torn to shreds by these monsters long ago. But along the way, Fia had just casually thrown out a spell and blown away all sorts of tricky monsters, not even bothering to collect their magic cores. For Renee, who was on her first mission with Fia, this was an unparalleled visual experience.

No wonder Lady Erin Slate always said that one cannot apply ordinary thinking to Lord Thanatos. When the power difference is this great, one’s perspective and knowledge cannot be the same.

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If it were her, she would definitely not be willing to leave the magic cores on the ground, Renee thought. Those were Third Rank magic cores. Even the lowest quality ones could be sold for two or three gold coins each.

Although the organization was not short of money, and funds would be allocated as long as the reason was reasonable, Renee had always considered asking the organization for money a disgrace. Fia had not only saved her life but had also given her a powerful strength that everyone admired. Even the most shameless person would be embarrassed to ask Fia for money again.

“Are you running out of mana?”

“Eh?”

The sudden voice from ahead startled Renee. Realizing that her distraction must have slowed her flight speed, prompting Lord Thanatos to ask, she quickly replied, her face flushed with shame.

“N-no, I’m sorry, Lord Thanatos. I was distracted.”

“As long as it’s not a lack of mana. We can already see the bandits’ lair. Stay alert.”

“Yes! I will be on full alert!”

Renee’s answer put Fia’s mind at ease.

Because Renee had been lagging behind, Fia had had to maintain her profound and mysterious persona all the way, which was a kind of torture for her. Especially watching the precious magic cores fall into the valleys and jungles, and not being able to go down and collect them, made Fia feel as if her heart was bleeding. ¹ what a wasteful misunderstanding smhh

If not for her extraordinary memory that allowed her to remember the coordinates of those magic cores, she would definitely regret not coming out to annihilate the bandits alone.

In the blink of an eye, Fia arrived above the bandits’ stronghold—a barren mountain peak. Apart from one relatively gentle slope, the other three sides were vertical cliffs. And on one of the cliffs, there were even grooves carved for climbing. If the front could not be held, the bandits could escape using ropes and the grooves on the cliff.

Even a layman could see that this place was easy to defend and difficult to attack. Without flight magic, one would have to invest a large number of troops to annihilate them.

“They haven’t discovered us yet. Attacking from the front would be a bit troublesome. Let’s land directly in the main camp at the back.”

The front of the stronghold was lined with a large number of cheval de frise ² a defensive obstacle made of spear-like wood and arranged in an X form, and stacked and ballista. Although they posed no threat to her, it would be difficult for Renee. Fia did not intend to do everything herself. If Renee were the type of subordinate who liked to slack off, she would let it be. But Renee was the hardworking type, and it was a superior’s responsibility to create opportunities for a hardworking subordinate to shine.

“Yes. I will be responsible for holding the bandits off outside. Lord Thanatos, you go in and find the leader. These people are connected to the ‘Dominators’ among the Darkborn. Please be careful.”

Dominators?

Fia tilted her head slightly. If she hadn’t misheard, when Renee had said “Dominators” in the elven language, she had also included the words “Lawful evil.”

At first, it was hard to understand, but then she remembered that Anastasia had said a long time ago that the Darkborn were not a monolithic entity; they were also divided into factions. For example, the faction represented by the Absolute Evil and the Seven Demon Generals, who did whatever they wanted according to their own desires, would be classified as “chaotic evil” on the alignment chart.

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…No wonder they’re called Absolute Evil.

Fia suddenly had a different understanding of the term. In that case, the so-called Dominators were actually organized, strictly hierarchical Darkborn.

Compared to the Absolute Evil, this group might be more difficult to deal with, Fia couldn’t help but think.

But for now, it was better to deal with the bandits below.

Fia nodded lightly to Renee, and the two of them descended towards the center of the stronghold together.

“Who’s there!”

Before the two of them could land, a sentry in a watchtower spotted the anomaly. He immediately picked up the horn beside him and put it to his lips. However, before he could blow it, Renee threw a knife at him, which easily pierced his throat.

To accurately hit an enemy with a thrown knife while descending at high speed… I’ve underestimated Renee in the past. Fia couldn’t help but click her tongue inwardly. Renee must have undergone extremely rigorous long-term training.

Unfortunately, Renee lacked detection magic. Not far from the wooden watchtower, there was another hidden sentry behind a bush.

Considering that the bandits would tie up villagers and bring them back to the stronghold to be sold as slaves, there might be villagers who had not yet been sold. If the bandits discovered that someone was raiding their stronghold, they might take the villagers hostage, or even kill them and escape from the cliff.

To avoid that outcome, it was best to make as little noise as possible.

[Mental Shock]

Towards the bush about fifty meters away, Fia used a [Mental Shock] just strong enough to knock a person out.

Selling the bandits to the baron would fetch a sum of money. Fia did not intend to kill them just like that. By going through Baron Khesa and making them miners who would never see the light of day, they could produce more value. The magic crystals she had seen at the Mage Association in the evening, as well as the slaves and beggars forced by life, had made Fia deeply realize just how important money was.

With a soft “thud,” the two of them landed in a courtyard full of life in the center of the stronghold. The courtyard was exceptionally spacious, with a well in the center. Around it were many men and women locked in iron cages, as well as bare-chested bandits lying on wooden planks in twos and threes, sleeping.

“Ugh!”

Seeing Fia suddenly appear in the courtyard, a villager locked in a cage subconsciously let out a cry of surprise. This sound made a bearded bandit sleeping on a wooden plank click his tongue fiercely.

“What’s all the noise! If you make any more noise, I’ll cut off your tongue!”

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Not a shred of vigilance. Seeing the bearded bandit smack his lips and turn over, Fia sighed inwardly. I’ll just use [Mental Shock] to put these people to sleep as well.

However, not all the bandits were like the bearded one who didn’t even open his eyes. A skinny man looked at Fia, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and his jaw dropped.

“Damn it, am I dreaming? Where did these beautiful elf wives come from? And there are two of them, one big and one small…”

“You fucking horny bastard! Get up, it’s an enemy attack, an enemy attack!”

The skinny man’s companion shouted as he stood up and grabbed his weapon, but Renee’s action was faster. The moment the man picked up his weapon, Renee had already appeared in front of him as if from nowhere, swung her greatsword, and slashed fiercely at his neck.

“Eek!”

“M-murder!”

The bloody scene made the villagers in the cages scream.

Fia couldn’t help but look away from Renee. Although she knew this was the way things were done on the World Tree Continent, Fia still felt it was a bit bloody. These bandits were living money; it was a waste to kill them.

“Lord Thanatos, leave this to me!”

Renee flicked the blood off her greatsword with a sharp expression, her back to Fia, in a posture of covering her.

“I’ll leave the outside to you. If things go south, retreat immediately.”

“Yes!”

Although Renee answered “yes,” Fia could read the thought of “I will protect Lord Thanatos to the death” in her expression.

Such loyalty is indeed touching, but I’m not a weak and helpless princess. It’s more important to save your own life at a critical moment.

Fia couldn’t help but feel troubled. However, she had scanned the stronghold with [Wind of Exploration] beforehand. There were no bandits above the Second Rank outside, so there was no need to worry about Renee encountering danger.

Now, let’s see what’s in the house.

Fia ducked into the complex structure of the building.