Chapter 363: The Need

Chapter 363: The Need

Crack—

The head of the Alchemical Puppet, which had been reduced to a limbless torso, detached from its body. As if it had practiced a head-flying technique, its mouth opened wide and bit onto that black sphere. In an instant, the entire head turned to ash. This was something Zheng Yichen had not anticipated. He had not expected the black sphere, which was likely the Element Heart, to possess such immense power .

In a split second, it exceeded the limit of the mana assimilation covering the Alchemical Puppet’s head. The mana protection was penetrated, and the force acted directly on the body, turning the head into dust. This exposed Zheng Yichen’s projection, which was being controlled inside the head. The Zheng Yichen controlling the projection stretched out a claw and made a grasping motion in the air, feeling somewhat hesitant.

Although the assimilation strength seemed limitless within his own body, there were limits when it came to things outside his body or projections like this one. It was like having a home-field advantage; once he left his own body, that advantage was lost.

“No matter, I’ll grab it…!”

Zheng Yichen gritted his teeth. The minimized projection rapidly expanded as a large amount of mana was poured into it, causing the projection to fully synchronize with his true form’s size. His enlarged claw reached out and grabbed the black sphere. A bone-chilling cold pierced through the projection, causing Zheng Yichen’s true body to shudder.

The air seemed to freeze in that instant. The sound of countless cracks echoed through the air. Zheng Yichen looked up and saw that the Black Mist lifted by the Undying Witch above him had begun to fracture. Wisps of Black Mist quickly gathered into her left hand, forming a black sphere similar to the one Zheng Yichen held. This sphere carried an intense Aura of Destruction—not the kind of destruction associated with Loris, but a dangerous, all-consuming aura of destruction.

“Uh… Damn it! It won’t fit!?” Zheng Yichen controlled his projection and stared at the growing black sphere in the Undying Witch’s left hand, feeling frantic. He wanted to leave, but if he did, he would have to leave the sphere behind. Fly away? That was a joke. There was no path ahead, and flying overhead was impossible in that environment. Fight his way out? That would likely mean running straight into the black sphere in her hand.

The reason for all this was that the black sphere, which was only the size of an Eyeball, simply wouldn’t fit into his Personal Space. The moment the opening of his Personal Space was created, it was destroyed by the intense and distorted Dark Element surrounding the black sphere.

Zheng Yichen was so anxious. How bad was it to find something valuable but be unable to take it away? It wasn’t just bad—it was a feeling of unwillingness.

Wait! What about using this?

In his panic, Zheng Yichen suddenly thought of a method. He quickly opened his Personal Space and took out something—a transparent sphere. This sphere was originally used to hold Space Fragments. Since it could contain Space Fragments, which would continuously dissipate after appearing, a mere black sphere shouldn’t be a problem.

Seeing the transparent sphere in Zheng Yichen’s hand, the cold smile on the Undying Witch’s face instantly vanished, replaced by a frigid glare. She had watched Zheng Yichen’s repeated attempts to stuff the black sphere into his Personal Space, and she had long recognized his identity. How could a mere projection, with no means of escape, hope to take away something she wanted?

Dream on. Not only that, but she also intended to make Zheng Yichen pay a price he couldn’t bear. The Magic she was gathering in her hand could attack the Spellcaster who released the Projection Spell directly through the projection. If he had any sense and gave up that thing, he could still save his life.

If he stubbornly held on, she wouldn’t mind amplifying the power of this Magic to destroy his Soul directly through the projection. But then, Zheng Yichen actually took out that transparent sphere… The origin of the sphere was unknown. Its only notable feature was its ability to contain anything, even illusory substances. If one could grasp the Power of Fate, even Threads of Fate could be stuffed inside.

However, the sphere’s size was limited, and it couldn’t be used with any form of Spatial Expansion. It could only contain objects that didn’t exceed its volume. Even with special powers, if something like a Fireball Spell exceeded its size, it couldn’t be placed inside. Every bit of the exceeding range, even in length, had to be accounted for.

So, this thing was special but also seemed quite useless—only capable of holding specific items. Yet now, Zheng Yichen was actually using it to store the black sphere. This caught her completely off guard. The black sphere was easily placed inside the transparent sphere… Without hesitation, the Undying Witch crushed the black sphere in her left hand. Concentrated black rays, thorny like brambles, shot towards Zheng Yichen.

Zheng Yichen had just raised his hand when the black rays reached him. With no other choice, he gathered all the mana he could use through the projection and concentrated it in front of him, forming a special Mana Barrier. Defensive Magic? He didn’t know any Dark Element defensive Magic. In this environment, any Magic would be useless. Who knew how the Undying Witch could forcibly draw and wield the normally untouchable Dark Element?

Thinking about how she had lifted the thick Dark Element from the surrounding area, it seemed she didn’t find it difficult at all?

When the black rays touched the Mana Barrier Zheng Yichen had erected, their tips were immediately affected by his mana properties, causing intense collisions. The Undying Witch raised an eyebrow slightly—this again…

She remembered a previous encounter with Zheng Yichen vividly. Back then, he was still weak. The reason he could slightly affect her was because he used Ice Crystals and Fire essences, along with his peculiar ability. At that time, part of the power she used for defense was influenced. Although it retained the properties of her power, she could no longer control it!

The same thing happened now. When the black rays touched the Mana Shield, the foremost part lost control and rebounded, colliding with the rays behind. Even though the Mana Shield in Zheng Yichen’s hands was thinning quickly, a shield with such effects should have been shattered instantly. But instead, it bought him a brief window of less than two seconds.

As the Mana Shield shattered, the remaining black rays struck Zheng Yichen’s projection. The projection didn’t even struggle. Its originally dark color turned ink-black, then dissipated into pure Dark Element.

“…”

The Undying Witch snorted coldly. With a hook of her hand, she forcibly gathered the small amount of Zheng Yichen’s remaining Mana lingering nearby. She lowered her raised right hand. With the black sphere taken away, the Dark Element gathered in the area lost its core, and its density plummeted. The previous movement restrictions no longer affected her. She left the depths of the Deep Valley, and the Black Mist slowly seeping from the bottom of the Canyon now surged outwards like a Volcano erupting.

The Undying Witch glanced at her right arm. Blood droplets gathered spontaneously in her palm, which she then used to form Rune Patterns in the air. The surging Black Mist was drawn towards her, not a single wisp escaping. Once all the Black Mist from the depths of the Canyon had disappeared, another black sphere, similar to the one Zheng Yichen had taken, floated before her.

Although they looked the same, the Undying Witch knew exactly how different they were. The black sphere Zheng Yichen took could fully satisfy her needs, while this one… was nothing but a poor substitute!

Her mood was foul after having something so important stolen. But upon sensing the characteristics of the strand of Mana she had collected, her spirits lifted. The effects attached to this Mana seemed to align even more with her needs!

Based on the traits of this Mana, the Undying Witch immediately recalled the Corpse Puppet she had lost control of before. Logically, she had absolute control over Corpse Puppets. Before that one appeared, there had never been any exceptions. Yet, an exception had occurred under Zheng Yichen’s influence.

If it was because of this Mana’s assimilation trait, it wasn’t surprising. If it could assimilate even her own power… then perhaps it could also eliminate points of conflict between other opposing forces?

This strand of power was far too little, nowhere near enough for her needs. Zheng Yichen had just been a projection, and she couldn’t trace the location of his true body. Capturing him… The Undying Witch very much wanted to do this, but there were other Witches by his side. If she acted, she wouldn’t be facing just one Witch.

She already knew Zheng Yichen had helped Loris survive a Witch Hunt. She had also experienced how Dan Marina had tricked her once for Zheng Yichen’s sake. One was a Witch unparalleled in support abilities, and the other was a top-tier Witch in destructive power. Both were troublesome. Even if she found Zheng Yichen, she might not achieve her goal.

In that case, she’d change her target… If the Mana was insufficient, she’d find a special vessel. The Undying Witch stored away that strand of Mana. She had tried using certain tracking Arcane Arts to locate Zheng Yichen through this strand of Mana, but its innate assimilation trait ignored such Magic. She could forcefully crush the Mana with her own power to suppress its assimilation effect, but that would be a violent method yielding nothing.

A moment later, a faint layer of gray mist surrounded the Undying Witch. Within the mist, countless twisted human faces surged and churned. She pulled a figure from the gray mist. The figure stood in place with a blank expression for a moment before slowly turning its body and looking in a certain direction. It floated forward slowly, like a child eager to return home. The next instant, the Undying Witch retracted the figure.

“Time is a bit short. Let’s make some other preparations first,” she said, staring at the black sphere in her hand. Now that there was a better substitute, and she confirmed it was truly useful, this thing was no longer needed. It might as well serve some other purpose.