Chapter 470: Restraint

Chapter 470: Restraint

Seeing it for the first time… that made sense, because there weren’t many dragons left on the continent. Augusta’s current behavior… well, he’d also noticed the stares from those church members. Augusta pouted, mumbled something, but didn’t say anything more. He expressed how awful he felt – “just try enduring hundreds of lashes yourselves!”

No, no, they could definitely never withstand that many hits. If it weren’t for his robust Dragon Soul, he’d have died a long time ago. Augusta didn’t want to fight, but that didn’t mean the other dragons felt the same. After observing the battle for a bit, the Black Dragon Sister roared, launching into the air straight towards the Derivative Witch!

Much in this world differed radically from the impressions Zheng Yichen had gleaned from novels, but some situations were eerily similar. A dragon’s color influenced certain inclinations. For instance, like Augusta, a Red Dragon possessed innate enhancements to both Fire Resistance and fire-based magic. A Green Dragon naturally boasted greater Magic Resistance against magic that induced abnormal statuses.

Their regeneration was also notably stronger than other dragons.

As for Black Dragons? While they possessed no specific bias or even a weakness in magic aspects, and instead boasted Magic Resistance comparable to the relative high magic resistance of other colored dragons, their physical strength far surpassed other dragons!

“This woman’s crazy!” Seeing the Black Dragon Sister charge headlong, Augusta hesitated for a moment. He gritted his teeth, snarled, and flew after her. What was just a bit more pain? How few times had he been hit recently anyway? It’s done only once… AAH!!

A grey blade struck his wing. Augusta screamed, plummeting from the sky. The blade pierced his wing without leaving visible bodily harm, but it damaged his Soul. It hurt worse than… well, maybe worse than the lashes. But instead of lingering pain, the agony from his soul was momentary. He ground his teeth and endured it. Yet, once his teeth-gritting was over, an overwhelming weakness blooming from his soul made Augusta realize: his soul was truly injured this time!

Not like before, with merely pain. This kind of damage was the type that ignored all armor and Magic Resistance, even health points, directly shaving down one’s very life force. Augusta felt utterly wretched. Shivering his wing, he frantically released mana until it finally shook the embedded grey blade loose. He looked towards the Black Dragon only to see she was already fully engaged in combat. Her massive frame lacked Deya’s agility, effortlessly dodging the Derivative Witch’s attacks.

In the brief span of less than half a minute, over a dozen grey blades had pierced the Black Dragon Sister. Augusta could see her face contorted in an expression terrifying to behold – oh, terrifying to dragons. The injuries only seemed to drive her, unleashing her insanity. Unlike when she was bound and had to silently endure agony, she was fighting now. After enduring this kind of damage striking directly at the soul, ignoring all resistance, her response became pure frenzy.

Her eyes blazing red, the Black Dragon completely ignored evasion, fighting entirely in a brutal exchange of wounds for wounds. Seeing her frenzy from behind, the Green Dragon Sister gaped before involuntarily glancing at Zheng Yichen beside her. Her gaze questioned: what now?

“What can you do?”

“I know many Restoration Magics,” the Green Dragon Sister murmured softly.

“Then keep casting heals on her! Got anything that heals the soul?” The Green Dragon Sister gave a slight nod.

“I know a bit.” She raised the tip of one claw. “A little bit. Probably useless…”

“Oh… that’s a shame.”

Zheng Yichen rummaged around in his Armory for awhile, finally pulling out a Shark-head Missile.

“What’s that?” the Green Dragon Sister asked curiously, eyeing the Shark-head Missile in Zheng Yichen’s hand. “An Alchemy Tool?”

“Well, you could say so,” Zheng Yichen nodded. He grabbed a wisp of mana drifting from the battle – the Derivative Witch’s mana – and stuffed it into the shark head’s mouth. After the wisp integrated, he disarmed the missile’s safety, pressed a button, and hurled the Shark-head Missile powerfully. This improved version didn’t need a launcher; pressing the switch was enough.

Aiming? As long as he fed it some mana, it could target the source emitting the same mana signature. Until it ran out of fuel or was destroyed, it would relentlessly home in, hitting its target – BOOM!

The Shark-head Missile shot out rapidly and, unexpectedly, actually struck the Derivative Witch!

“Hmph?!” Deya raised an eyebrow in surprise, watching the Derivative Witch wounded in the explosion. The blast was massive. Though most of the damage was deflected by her defenses, a portion pierced through the Derivative Witch’s protection and injured her. More importantly, Deya noticed a weakness: the Witch could predict living opponents with deadly precision but seemed passive against flying objects!

So far, whether it was the Black Dragon Sister’s attacks or the advancing Red Dragon, the Derivative Witch had managed precise counters. Especially Augusta, knocked out mid-flight, face-first into the ground, still not recovered. The Black Dragon Sister had closed in, fighting wildly, tragically her frenzied attacks were utterly useless – Miss! Miss!…

Deya’s own attacks fared no better. Yet, bizarrely, that Shark-head Missile Zheng Yichen had thrown from afar had worked. The Derivative Witch had only noticed it when it was very close! Her perception for lifeless flying projectiles was dull!

Realizing this, Deya flung her White Moonlight longsword. The spinning blade flew in an arc, stabbing towards the Derivative Witch’s back. Unsurprisingly though, this strike missed. Snatching the returning sword, Deya parried several grey blades released by the Witch, incidentally shielding the Black Dragon Sister from others.

“Still useless?”

Gazing at her sword, Deya thought flying objects weren’t much use… no, hers weren’t useful, Zheng Yichen’s had been. Soul Perception? Zheng Yichen was using an Alchemical Puppet; its soul fluctuations were so weak the Derivative Witch couldn’t precisely read his movements. Conversely, they were whole existences, souls fully present. The Derivative Witch’s powers stemmed from the Undying Witch; although incomplete, specific aspects were enhanced.

Under these conditions, their attacks proved terribly passive.

“Huh? It actually worked?” Zheng Yichen, who hadn’t expected such a good result, pulled out a whole rack of Shark-head Missiles from his Personal Space.

“…” Though her eyes remained vacant, this didn’t hinder the Derivative Witch from realizing the ploy. Noticing Deya’s gaze, she followed it and saw it too. Deya inwardly swore. This Derivative Witch could perceive souls to an almost mind-reading degree! Her brief glance towards Zheng Yichen was detected.

Those vacant eyes seemed to narrow momentarily. She lifted a hand, sending several grey blades flying straight at them. The blades bypassed the Magical Protection the Green Dragon Sister barely raised, passing right through the Alchemical Avatar Zheng Yichen was using…

“What the?!” Deep in the Underground Base, Zheng Yichen jerked his eyes open, bewildered, just in time to meet Annie’s gaze; she was staring at him, deep in thought. Seeing he was awake, she casually dismissed a vaguely glimpsed shimmer she’d been gathering in her hand.

“What happened?”

“I died.”

“You’re lying perfectly fine in front of me,” Annie examined him. He seemed perfectly alert and unharmed. “What’s going on? Joining forces with the Church’s Saintess against a Derivative Witch should have gone smoothly.”

“It wasn’t smooth! That Witch seemed scarier than the Undying Witch ever was.”

“Oh? Tell me the details,” Annie’s interest was piqued.

“Couldn’t you ask about my plight first?” Zheng Yichen grumbled.

“You already said you died.”

“Tsk. Focus on what matters,” he was momentarily speechless and recounted the fight. After listening intently, Annie pondered. Zheng Yichen’s description was detailed enough for her to grasp the Witch’s characteristics, leading to a conclusion mirroring Deya’s.

Then she looked back at Zheng Yichen, uttering words that made him feel uneasy: “There’s bound to be more than one Derivative Witch like this!”

“What?!”

“Don’t worry. As long as it’s not this type, they’re generally manageable. You just encountered the worst. Soul-based perception trumps simply observing a body to gauge actions.” Annie elaborated. Zheng Yichen recalled the battle: the Witch had seemed impossibly evasive, effortlessly dodging Deya’s powerful attacks while finding plenty of chances to strike back.

“So… what if attacked by something without a soul?”

“That won’t cripple her either. She’s mindless, but not stupid. A visible threat wouldn’t be ignored. Attacking with an Alchemical Puppet bypasses her Soul Perception, countering her… but she can equally counter the Alchemical Puppet.”

Zheng Yichen’s mouth twitched. Talk about a stalemate. Yet what Annie said was true. That Derivative Witch had dispatched his Alchemical Avatar with just a few grey blades. Once the connection was severed, he’d completely lost sense of the construct…