Volume 3, Chapter 36 – A Dramatic Infighting?

“Indestructible, huh…”

Fia softly repeated Lianne’s words, but a completely opposite thought arose in her heart. Lianne’s statement was much like a soldier about to go to war telling his childhood sweetheart, “I’ll come home and marry you after this war is over.” The ending was often that they never came back.

Of course, Lianne did not know what Fia was thinking. She merely glanced at Milu and sighed.

“The ability of immortality is truly enviable… Although Stellacrysts can live for a thousand years, it’s still different from true immortality. Have you not investigated why this young lady named Euphimilu possesses immortality, Lady Fia? I imagine it has something to do with those terrifying eyes, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t know.”

Fia answered honestly. If she knew the connection, she wouldn’t be trying to get the details from Milu’s master. However, Lianne had reminded her of something else. She chose her words carefully and said tentatively.

“Compared to me, the people of your Witch Hall know more about Milu’s secrets.”

“Oh?”

Lianne let out a questioning sound, just as Fia had expected. Fia explained further.

“Last night, Milu told me that three witches captured her, wanting to use her blood to concoct a potion of immortality. They said that because you witches undergo the ritual, your lifespans are shorter than ordinary people’s, and you need a potion of youth more than anyone else. As long as they succeed, they can use the potion to control the Witch Hall.”

Fia was recounting the conversation she had overheard at the bandit fortress. Those three witches were currently locked in the single-person dungeon in the inn, having been fed a sleeping drug by Renee that would keep them unconscious for two or three days.

Since those witches believed that it was Thanatos who had captured them, Fia had relayed the story through Milu to avoid revealing her identity. Of course, Fia knew that those three were simply foolish. Even if they really did create a potion of immortality, with their strength far inferior to Lianne’s, they would have no chance of controlling the Witch Hall. They would even be used as tools for producing the potion by the other witches, forced to make it day and night. Fia chose to bring this up to make it clear that “witches had tried to harm Milu.”

Milu’s grip tightened slightly. She looked up at Fia in confusion. Fia winked at her, signaling her not to expose her.

“To think such a thing happened—I can probably guess which three fools they are. I apologize, Lady Fia. That group of witches is used to being unrestrained. They don’t see outsiders as their own kind. May I ask where they are now?”

“I don’t know. Milu said they were taken away by Thanatos.”

“Taken away by Thanatos?!”

Fia’s words made Lianne fall silent. Thanatos was a saint; he would not let three witches who had targeted a child go. Lianne could guess the fate of those three—they were probably dead, just she didn’t know how.

“Were they thrown into a Fire-striped Frog nest to be dismembered… Although they deserved it, it’s still a pity.”

Lianne muttered to herself.

Fia couldn’t help but be curious. She tilted her head.

“They might still be alive, right? Why specifically dismembered by Fire-striped Frogs?”

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Lianne sighed lightly.

“Alas, the Witch Hall has been rooted in Byrne City for two hundred years; we are well-versed in the distribution of power in the surrounding area. When the Flame King drifted here from the sea seventy years ago, he was already followed by three or four thousand subordinates. After so many years, those Fire-striped Frogs and Fire Bats have long since multiplied for who knows how many generations. Conservatively speaking, even after accounting for those who died of old age, there are at least three to four hundred thousand Fire-striped Frogs living in the desert now.”

“Now that the Flame King is dead, they should have come out of the desert to take revenge on humans, yet there is no movement outside at all. This means that a new king has been born there to replace the Flame King, and the only person with strength comparable to him can only be Thanatos himself. I imagine Thanatos also guessed that if he didn’t deal with the Fire-striped Frogs, they would attack humans, so he took the Flame King’s place. In this situation, feeding the wicked to the frogs would be the most effective deterrent.”

“Is that so…”

Fia awkwardly averted her gaze, focusing her attention on the three to four hundred thousand Fire-striped Frogs Lianne had mentioned. After she had accidentally killed the Flame King, a large number of them had indeed appeared at the edge of the desert, seeking revenge and chasing the carriage. Although that batch had been dealt with by her [Mental Shock], at most, there had been no more than ten thousand, and most of them were of low intelligence. If Lianne’s speculation was true, then there was a ticking time bomb buried in the desert.

I should find an opportunity to go and see. Three to four hundred thousand Fire-striped Frogs are more than the population of Byrne City. If they all rushed the city, it would turn this place into a living hell.

While Fia was thinking about such things, Friede, who had been following behind, had a look on her face as if she had something to say.

“Um… Miss Fia, a-are you really the First Princess of Silvar?”

“Yes. Due to some matters, I set out from the Milcandis Holy Kingdom a while ago, intending to return to Silvar by land. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… It just doesn’t feel real. Last night, I described you as a great noble of the Elf Kingdom. Why didn’t you correct me?”

“Because I didn’t think it was necessary?”

She didn’t particularly like doing things that seemed like showing off, and the identity of the elf princess was very conspicuous.

Friede bit her lip.

“To be honest, I had long heard that the First Princess of the Elf Kingdom was exceptionally wise and had reached the Seventh Rank before even coming of age. But I never thought that such a genius would be the Lady Guided One… If the apprentice witches knew that the First Princess of the Elf Kingdom was the Guided One, they would surely be overjoyed. It’s just that, in that case, we…”

Friede did not continue.

She wanted to say that if Fia was the First Princess, recognized by the Elf King as the Crown Princess, then their value would be greatly diminished. At first, she had thought that even if Fia was the daughter of a great noble, whether a prince or a grand duke, the witches would be a force to be reckoned with in her hands, stronger than a noble’s private army. But when the perspective was enlarged to the entire Elf Kingdom, the witches, especially since they were only a part of them, were not powerful enough.

Did they really have any value to be helped by Fia? No wonder she had refused outright last night when she had proposed the reward that all of them would follow her and obey her command.

If Fia was not the Guided One chosen by the Witch of Hope, but a partner like the Flame King, it would have been fine. But she was the Guided One. Everything Friede had done over the years was based on the premise that she believed the Witch of Hope could bring them hope.

If Fia was unwilling to lead them—now it was more appropriate to say, take them in—she did not know how to proceed, let alone how to face the apprentice witches who followed her. Those apprentices had been willing to endure so much hardship with her precisely because they believed in the words left by the Witch of Hope.

If only I had never met Fia, never met the Guided One, how good would that have been.

At this thought, Friede lowered her black-eyebrowed eyes and quietly clenched her collar.

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Crack, crack—

Abruptly, a strange sound appeared in the bottomless vertical shaft. It sounded as if someone was forcefully bending a wooden plank, and the plank, on the verge of breaking, was groaning in pain, ready to shatter at any moment.

Instinctively, everyone frowned and stopped, listening for the source of the sound.

“What’s that sound?”

Friede asked subconsciously. Although she had reached the Sixth Rank, her body was still that of a human, and her five senses were not as sharp as those of other races. If she had to say, the strange sound was coming from both the entrance of the shaft above and from below.

“I don’t know,” Lianne, who was walking in front, stopped. If she had facial features, her expression would be extremely solemn. “There can’t be an outsider here—could it be a witch experimenting with magic up above? But how could it affect the deep shaft?”

“In the walls.”

“In the walls?”

“Enemy attack.” In response to Lianne’s question, Milu’s eyebrows shot up. She pulled Fia’s hand downwards. “Master, weapon.”

Although she didn’t think there would be a need for Milu to act, Fia still handed her the dull red two-handed sword just in case. Immediately after, the strange cracking sound grew louder, soon reaching a point where it could not be ignored. Fia could even feel the wooden stake under her feet trembling, and dust fell from the edge of the shaft, as if the entire underground was shaking.

“We can’t use [Flight] here! If the stairs collapse, we’re done for! Friede, you go back up! I’ll go down and see!”

“What about you?”

“I don’t have a physical body. I can float without [Flight]. Hurry!”

Urging Friede with a scolding tone, Lianne stopped descending the stairs. Her black mist-like body plunged straight down the shaft.

However, with a loud “bang,” the walls of the shaft, as if they could no longer hold, were instantly covered with dark cracks. Before the rubble and dust could fall to the bottom, a strange sound of flowing slime entered everyone’s ears. Then, countless black slimes that seemed to have a life of their own gushed out from the cracks in the walls, and the entire shaft was instantly plunged into darkness.

“What is that?” Friede was the first to ask.

“Chaos,” Fia, who had seen it countless times, answered in a deep voice. “And a difficult one at that.”

Back in the underground of the temple in Aurora City, Fia had discovered that Chaos was also divided into levels. Ordinary Chaos would turn to ash as soon as it saw fire, while the more difficult kind would take several seconds to disappear even when roasted by [Fairy Fire]. In addition, in [Wind of Exploration], ordinary Chaos appeared as a low-mana purple, while the difficult kind appeared blue.

The slime covering the walls quickly discovered Fia’s group. Like a hungry wolf that had smelled flesh and blood, the Chaos instantly formed thick vines and swept towards them on the stairs.

They were more like the tentacles of an octopus than vines, at least three meters in diameter. This level of Chaos was not something Milu could interfere with.

I shouldn’t have given her the weapon.

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Thinking this, Fia first patted the shoulder of Milu, who had taken a fighting stance. Then, amidst Milu’s soft cry, she swept her up into a princess carry.

Although she had interrupted Milu’s action, from her flushed cheeks, she probably wasn’t angry. Milu rarely showed her emotions, making it difficult to guess what she was thinking.

Now to deal with the Chaos—no, someone had already reacted.

Raising a short staff that looked like a withered branch, Friede finished her chant at a speed that was impossible to hear clearly.

“—[Spatial Shockwave]!”

If space were compared to the water in a deep pool, then the magic Friede had cast was like throwing a huge stone into it. The tentacles rushing towards the three of them, like rippling water, shattered without warning and fell to the bottom of the shaft like a downpour.

The strong wind kicked up by the spatial fluctuation made it hard to open one’s eyes.

“Miss Fia, let’s go to the surface!”

“It’s probably too late.”

“What?”

Friede’s voice was filled with surprise and a hint of fear. She subconsciously looked up, but what she saw was a huge “lead block” falling from the sky.

Of course, it was not a real lead block, but a monster formed by Chaos, its surface covered with spikes. As if to crush everything in the shaft, the spiked lead block soon filled the entire shaft. With a heavy scraping sound like a stone door being dragged, it plunged straight down towards the three of them with a suffocating sense of oppression.

If it were just a stone falling from above, Friede would not have found it difficult to deal with. But the problem was that the Chaos had also destroyed the stairs on the walls, which meant they could no longer walk out of the shaft.

The possibility of destroying the lead block and creating new stairs with magic did not exist. To prevent intruders from finding a loophole, the inside of the walls was inscribed with a mana-absorbing ward. Anything created by magic would be shattered by the immense suction force as soon as it touched the wall. If an apprentice witch were to touch the wall without any protection, there was even a risk of her life force being drained after her mana was depleted. Even though Friede had reached the Sixth Rank, she could not guarantee that her mana would not be instantly drained.

Can we only go down and meet up with Lianne, and then think of a way?

Just as the thought appeared in her mind, Friede felt herself being pulled—to be precise, something had wrapped around her waist. She subconsciously thought it was the black tentacles she had just shattered, but the voice that followed made her stop the thought of cutting them.

“Down we go! The actions of this Chaos are very purposeful. Someone is commanding them!”

How does the elf princess know this in such detail? Shouldn’t Chaos be something that stays in the abyss, existing only in legends?

Wait… what is that?

Friede’s gaze fell on Fia’s back. From her exquisite and complex black formal dress extended huge and magnificent golden wings. A holy and transparent brilliance dyed the entire shaft gold. The disordered elements, as if they had found an outlet, all rushed towards Fia.

What magic is this?

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“Don’t move. I’ll take you down.”

“Uh?”

Fia did not give Friede time to think. After confirming that there was no problem with her [Flight] magic, she first threw a maximized [Wind Blade] at the lead block above her head, then used a hand formed by [Telekinesis] to secure Friede, and, holding Milu, plunged straight down. They were not far from the Witch’s Heart Core; Fia could already see the people in that room through [Wind of Exploration].

Counting Kallen ¹ i dont even know… 算上卡莲 , there were two Sixth Rank individuals, one Seventh Rank, and also a huge, green crystal in the room.

Seventh Rank, appearing at the same time as the Chaos. Another demon general?

The image of the Despair Demon General appeared in Fia’s mind. Although she didn’t know what these Darkborn were up to, one thing was for sure: the appearance of a demon general was always accompanied by disaster.

It seems this one’s luck is not very good, to have run into me.

Fia couldn’t help but smile inwardly. Then, a deafening metallic roar came from above her head. It was the sound of [Wind Blade] cutting the huge lead block that was falling to the bottom of the shaft into several pieces. Fia did not look back. Her gaze was fixed on the passage Lianne had just entered, a corridor at the bottom of the shaft that led to a room.

That was the place where the Witch’s Heart Core was stored.

She nimbly slipped in.

Her vision suddenly changed from pitch black to a dazzling white. The strong light that greeted her from the hall made Fia subconsciously close her eyes, but this process only lasted for a moment. She soon opened them again.

The sight before her made her tilt her head.

The black mist-like Lianne was standing by the door, and in the depths of the spacious hall, two headless demons were engaged in a fierce battle. They were clearly focused on their fight and had not noticed anyone approaching them. In fact, they had no spare attention to notice. Both of them were covered in blood. To save their little remaining mana, they had been forced to fight with their physical strength, panting as they wrestled with each other. It was clear that they had been fighting for a long time before Fia’s group had arrived.

What are they doing? Infighting?

The scene was too dramatic. Fia, who had been prepared for battle, was at a loss. She put down Milu and the still-shaken Friede and sought answers from Lianne.

“What are they doing?”

“I don’t know, but… let’s subdue them first. I’ll take the one with the spear.”

“Then I’ll take the one with the book for a head.”

Having divided the tasks, Lianne and Fia joined the battlefield.

No one noticed that the huge crystal in the room was faintly flickering, like a child afraid of being seen by its parents.