Miss Witch doesn't want to be a diva!.

Chapter 632 Betrayal in the Dark
After one night of getting along, the people in the settlement were no longer so averse to the new family of five. Later, when Sulla again proposed to take them in, Guy remained silent.

With the addition of new members, the settlement in the valley became noticeably more lively, especially the children, who ran around and played, and occasionally helped out by watching the adults work.

That morning, Tilan went to visit the moose leader deep in the cave. Although she was not yet an official member of the settlement, she was already trusted by the people here. Even the taciturn Marula would greet her.

After checking the wound, Tilan found that the moose boss's injury had finally stabilized and had not deteriorated further. He would be able to recover gradually after a period of time if he slowly recuperated from now on.

Seeing this result, she felt a lot happier. After all, after spending some time together, everyone had become familiar with each other, and it was always better to see friends escape from danger.

After getting water into the moose boss' room, Tilan came out carrying an empty bucket. She was now dressed very simply and neatly. If she wasn't familiar to someone, they might not recognize her.

At noon, after lunch, several people discussed things at the entrance of the cave.

"It's already autumn and the weather is getting colder. Should we prepare some firewood?" asked the sturdy man.

"It's time to get ready." Guy looked at the slightly gloomy sky. Even on a sunny day, the sky was not as blue as in summer, but rather gray.

So, after discussing for a while, the strong man volunteered to go outside to find firewood.

"Let's go together. I'm familiar with this area." Guy thought about it and decided.

So over the next two days, they went out together to look for trees and dying shrubs, brought them back for storage, and the children would occasionally follow them.

"I feel it's about right." That afternoon, Fran talked to the girl about his situation.

"The previous gunshot wound is almost healed. If I stay any longer, it will be winter and I won't be able to leave then." He said he would leave in about 2-3 days.

"I need to prepare some dry food and things for a long journey these two days. Can you trouble Miss Heshia to help me?"

"How can I help you?" Heshia has not been very busy recently, and has spent a lot of her free time teaching Ores some common sense and life skills.

"I need a backpack, about five days of dry food, and some herbs and stuff."

"I saw Miss Heshia making clothes before. She should be able to sew a backpack."

"This is indeed not difficult, but how is Mr. Fran going to pay me?" Tilan tilted her head slightly. In fact, she was not short of money, but she didn't want to agree to the other party just for nothing.

"Well..." Fran didn't have many things on him that could be exchanged. He definitely wouldn't want to give away the gun, but the other things were also useful.

"I heard that Miss Heshia wants to go to a big city to find out about her background. How about this? I'll give you a general map of the terrain and power distribution nearby in exchange?" His ability to collect intelligence is indeed good. He even remembers clearly the things that the girl occasionally mentioned.

"Is that so? Deal then." Tilan nodded.

"good~" Fran whistled.

At night, people in the settlement gathered around the campfire again. Today it was Marula's turn to cook. Although he had difficulty walking, as long as they supported him to the stove, and with the help of the new woman, the two of them could basically finish the job.

It's still oatmeal, but there are relatively fewer vegetables because there are not many of these things stored.

After dinner, everyone chatted by the fire. Tilan also sat beside them, sewing a backpack with needle and thread in the light of the fire. Seeing her concentrating and her nimble fingers, Ores watched curiously without blinking.

"Tilan, that's amazing and beautiful." Ores said these simple and honest words.

"Oh, Miss Heshia has such delicate fingers." The blue-skinned woman also grinned and praised. Their race was similar to humans when they were young, but would become much stronger when they grew up. The thinnest little finger among them was as thick as Tilan's two fingers, so they could not do delicate work such as holding a needle and threading a thread.

It is said that the "blue-skinned people" have been living in a tribal way because their skin is too thick, which makes them insensitive and unable to do delicate handicrafts and write, resulting in slow inheritance of knowledge and skills.

Sura, who was happily chatting with several other people, occasionally turned his head and saw Tilan sewing a backpack by the fire opposite, and gave her a thumbs up to praise her.

"Heshia is the trump card of our settlement~"

As the night deepened, the fire gradually became smaller, and the crowd gradually dispersed and went back to their rooms to sleep. Because everyone was now familiar with each other, the night watch was no longer limited to Guy and Shula, but also joined the blue-skinned couple, and the four of them took turns.

In this way, Guy and Sura, who are the main forces of the settlement, can finally sleep well.

late at night.

Heshia and Ores slept in the room. Their beds were covered with double layers of thick, washed cloth and straw mats underneath. In this land, only the upper and middle classes could have such beds.

Because it was just the beginning of autumn, the weather was not too cold, so they only covered themselves with a thin layer of cloth. Ores slept on her side next to Tilan, her slow breathing falling on Tilan's arm. If she was not used to it at the beginning, she would be able to fall asleep gradually in the past few days if tonight was the same as usual.

I don’t know what time it was in the middle of the night, but a dark shadow walked through the corridor of the cave with slow and rustling steps. He tried to go deeper into the cave, but was unfortunately blocked by the locked door. Currently, only Guy and Sura had the key to the inside, but Sura would occasionally give it to Tilan to use.

After groping for a while and seeing that he could not open the lock and door, the black shadow hesitated for a while, slowly walked away, and then carefully groped to the exit of the cave.

This is usually where the night watchmen sleep. At night, the gates at both ends of the passage at the entrance of the cave will be closed. If someone wants to pass through, they will inevitably alarm the people sleeping inside the gates.

After approaching the fence gate, the black shadow blew carefully and slowly. The slightly heavy breathing was just enough to wake up the person sleeping inside, but not too loud.

Slowly, the figure of the night watchman sat up in the darkness, looking at the dark shadow outside the fence gate, but he didn't say a word.

Just like that, the two of them slowly opened the door.

……

"bang"

Tilan was awakened by the sound of gunfire.

Then there was the sound of heavy objects colliding, strange voices, and finally roars and screams.

"Wake up, Ores." Tilan immediately sat up and woke up the silly ice elf who was still asleep beside her.

"Woo." Ores rubbed her eyes and propped herself up. Although she didn't know why, she still forced herself to cheer up.

"Let's go outside and take a look. Be careful to protect yourselves." Tilan pressed lightly on the center of Orlais' brow with her finger. A cool touch instantly spread throughout her body, waking Orlais up.

"Yeah." She nodded repeatedly, and then Tilan took her hand and pulled her behind.

There were two bodies lying in the aisle, one of them was a blue-skinned creature that had never been seen before, with his head shot out, and the other was Marula, who was lying on the ground, breathless, with blood all over his body. Fran was injured and there was a lot of blood on his face.

Fire spread at the entrance of the cave, and there seemed to be someone outside shouting sharply. There were quite a few people, at least more than ten. After Tilan came out, Guy also rushed out of the room quickly. When he saw Marula dead on the ground, he was furious. He swept his eyes across the passage, glanced at Fran, and then prepared to rush out of the cave, but was forced back by the sweeping flames.

The flames continued to spread inside as people outside instigated them. The suffocating fire waves came towards them, forcing people to step back and avoid them.

"What is this?" Just as Tilan was about to speak, Sura rushed out of the room dragging a hammer without even putting on his shoes.

"I think we encountered some common betrayals in the settlement." Farlan wiped the blood off his face with his sleeve and reloaded his pistol.

"Marula went to the toilet at night. He walked out with a cane. I woke up a little, but soon I heard a fight, so I rushed out. But when I arrived, Marula was already dead. I couldn't see who killed him, but in order to protect myself, I had to shoot."

"The one on guard tonight is..." Sura remembered something and immediately turned his gaze to a room.

"Don't look, there's no one there." Guy frowned as he looked at the oncoming fire and began to feel uncomfortable breathing.

"If we don't rush out, we will all die here."

"But... this fire." Sura looked at the group of people outside who were talking nonsense, cheering, and performing a shaman dance, and felt worried.

"I'll go call Boss Moose." Guy made the decision immediately.

"Who is the moose boss?" Fran still didn't know there was such a person in the settlement.

But he soon found out. Less than half a minute later, a tall and sturdy figure opened the door from the depths of the cave and walked out. Then his steps became faster and faster. His heavy and rapid footsteps were like a chariot. He rushed towards the fire at the entrance of the cave almost without stopping.

The fire was knocked open by the brown-fur covered body, burning wood and charcoal splashed everywhere, and violent sparks flew in the air.

Looking at this scene, Fran opened his mouth wide, too surprised to make a sound. Then, a heavy cow mooing sound was heard outside the cave, and a fierce battle began.

The moose's thick fingers directly grasped the still burning tree and swung it horizontally, sweeping away the people who had gathered outside the cave. The countless sparks that fell also illuminated the open space in the valley, revealing the true faces of the figures inside.

All of these guys were "blue-skinned" with gray-blue skin. Most of them wore simple leather armor, held hammers and clubs in their hands, and some even had tooth necklaces around their necks.

"He is injured, concentrate fire!" an impatient voice shouted in the darkness, and then three blue-skinned people raised their automatic rifles, aimed at the moose, and pulled the wooden bar stuck on the trigger.

Bullets were fired continuously, and the sound of "thu thu thu" rang out in the firelight. A series of blood flowers also bloomed on the body of the moose boss. Although he had thick skin and flesh, he could not withstand the direct fire from the rifle at close range.

"Hurry, let's go up and help." Sura yelled, then rushed out with a rifle, followed by Guy and Fran.

Tilan took a look at the situation outside, pulled Ores back to the bedroom, and quickly picked up the sword box under the bed.

"Orlais, just stay here and don't let anyone in. Got it?" she said solemnly.

"I know, Tilan." The ice elf nodded. She could still clearly distinguish the atmosphere and situation. Even though she had lost a lot of memories, her foundation as a singer was still there. "Wait for me to come back." Tilan took out the sword, said to Orles, and then rushed out.

Outside the cave, there was a melee. The moose leader was braving bullets but still wielding a flaming stick, sweeping and chasing. The three blue-skinned men with guns, under the command of the other leader, kept dispersing and wandering around, and asked others to throw flames to stop the moose, as if they were teasing him.

"Hahahaha, you are injured and weak, and I am strong!" A particularly ferocious blue-skinned man stood in the open space in the valley. He held an automatic rifle in his hand and fired from time to time. Although his shooting was not accurate at all, he did not care about it.

"Kill him, here we are!" he said as he continued to encourage his men.

The 30 or so blue-skinned people present made strange cackling laughs, some of them were even close to insanity, not like normal people, and they had black markings on their bodies, which was very different from the blue-skinned people who were taken in a few days ago.

During the battle, except for a few of them who had guns, the others still used bows and arrows and sticks, and made strange screams from time to time to disrupt the spirit of the moose in the battle, making its movements more and more impatient.

On the other side, Guy wandered on the cliff, avoiding the sparse arrows shot at him, and also fought back with bow and arrows, hitting several enemies in the dark. Although Sura also raised his gun to shoot, he was quickly suppressed by the numerous arrows. He dared not show his head and could only hide behind the rocks and worry.

Fran was much smarter. Even in such a chaotic scene, he still observed and remembered the rhythm of the opponent's shooting, and found gaps from time to time to fight back. He shot and killed several moose who were trying to bypass the midfield with sticks to attack the blue-skinned people behind.

At this moment, Tilan came out quickly holding a broken sword as dark red as stone. Seeing that she was also ready to fight, Fran wanted to stop her and remind her, but the girl passed by him like a gust of wind and disappeared.

The dark red broken sword quickly became alive with the infusion of magic power, and then began to absorb the Aigeka particles in the air. When Tilan rushed out of the cave, countless sparks were rolled in the night wind, and together with the emitted faint light particles, they gathered into the broken sword.

"Buzz——" The sword blade began to vibrate, and a strange red light spread and covered it.

[Resonance link successful, combat mode activated]
There were no superfluous words, no patient persuasion, no useless mercy, and wherever the red-glowing sword went, blood splattered. Because of the high-speed movement, the scarf that originally covered the head fell off, and the fluttering hair and blood together reflected a light golden luster in the firelight.

Like a dance between Mars and the night, dark red sword arcs and blood were splashed, lives were lost one after another, and even the seemingly heavy and solid stone clubs were shattered and cut off by the sword arcs.

The third……

Ninth……

The sixteenth...

The blue-skinned people who tried to attack with stone hammers, clubs and bows and arrows fell under the dark red sword blade, and the bullets fired from the rifles never hit the girl in the firelight. They were always dodged by the opponent with great ease, and only hit the mountain wall, becoming an embellishment of the broken firelight.

In less than a minute, almost all the night attack enemies present were wiped out.

There was no time to shout stop. When the blue-skinned leader was terrified and ready to escape, the broken sword with a buzzing sound had already passed in front of him, smoothly cutting the rifle in his hand, and then crossed his chest.

With his toes gripping the grass with all his might, he stopped rushing forward in fear, collapsed to the ground and slid half a meter before finally stopping just in front of the sword. But even so, the sharp, buzzing blade cut a bleeding wound on his chest.

"Artifact, legend, artifact." He shouted in panic, turned his head and crawled on the ground, trying to get away, but he was too scared to stand up and run away.

Looking at this blue-skinned man who was slightly taller than her even when sitting, Tilan was a little surprised. She thought he would be more bold and presumptuous.

But it was understandable, after all, so many companions had died. She turned her gaze and looked at the corpses lying in the open space in the valley, most of which were her contribution.

Shaking her head, the girl slowly put down the sword. The light emitted from the sword dissipated, and the terrifying and weird red light also gradually disappeared.

At this time, the other companions present slowly recovered from their shock.

Half an hour later, Tilan cast a spell, and faint green light particles floated, healing the cracked wounds. On the ground next to the fire, there were bloody bullets that she had taken out with pliers.

"In this case, he should be able to recover after resting for a while, but all the efforts of more than half a month of recuperation beforehand will be wasted." She said and shook her head. This was already the best outcome. If it weren't for her, the moose would have died under the concentrated rifle fire tonight.

"You saved me again." The moose was sitting on the ground at this moment, and answered in a muffled voice.

"It was right to give you that sword." After saying that, he glanced at the dead enemies in the field, and his voice fell silent again, perhaps he was recalling something.

The released Orlais was also walking in the open space in the valley. She squatted from time to time and looked at the dead enemies on the ground. From her appearance, she seemed to be not afraid but only curious and full of excitement.

In the corner of the valley, Suraj, Ibrahim and the other two were silent as they looked at Marula's cold body lying on the ground.

"I should have listened to you." Sura squatted down slowly.

"Ah..." Guy shook his head and said nothing more.

There was a rare hint of nostalgia and sadness in Fran's eyes, and he wrote a few words in the diary in his hand.

"But their boss is still alive. I should be able to learn what happened from him." He remembered something.

Late at night, several people who had not slept took the tied-up blue-skinned leader to the center of the open space for questioning.

"The gun was bought from a passing merchant in exchange for seven slaves." He was forced to speak by several people.

"With guns, we are strong, we can defeat the tribes and get more slaves."

"Not enough food, trafficking, exile, intelligence..." His oral expression ability is relatively weak, and it often takes a lot of questioning for everyone to piece together the truth.

Slowly, the whole process came to light.

What the five wandering blue-skinned guys said before was mostly true, but they also concealed the key part. He did not escape directly, but was released after being caught because he was smart and articulate, so he was considered useful.

"Why is he so loyal to the enemy tribe?" Sura was still puzzled.

"You don't understand their habits." Fran shook his head.

"To these tribal races, even though he was captured, abandoned, and of the lowest status, as long as he brings back information about your settlement, he will be rewarded and become a leader in the tribe."

"What about those relatives in his original tribe who were killed?" Sura still didn't understand.

"Relatives? To them, dead relatives are not as important as their own lives. As long as you defeat their tribe, you can recruit them. Of course, their loyalty is to you as the strongest person in this area. If not, they will betray you in a moment."

"This is what being uneducated is like. It's extremely stupid and short-sighted. I've only seen this description in books before, but I didn't expect it to be true in reality." Fran sighed.

"No wonder these guys can only live in remote areas and never become civilized." Having said that, he glanced at the tall and strong blue-skinned man in front of him with a little contempt.

"Where are those guys now?" Sura was eager to know where the family of five escaped to.

"East, north, big tree, camp..." According to the leader's description, there should be a small camp there, with several people left inside to guard the luggage and packages. After all, they came from dozens of miles away and needed to rest on the way.

"Let Guy and I go this time, and Heshia and Fran will stay here." Sura stood up and clenched the rifle beside him.

"Aren't you afraid that there will be a lot of people lying in ambush over there?" Tilan was still a little worried.

"No, they can't possibly bring so many people." Sura and Guy knew this barren land well. Having so many enemies in the settlement tonight was already the limit. The largest settlement nearby had only a few hundred people, so it was impossible for them all to be mobilized.

"Well, be careful on your way." Heshia watched them walk into the dark night.

In the early morning, Sulla and his companion returned with blood and wounds. Sulla was holding the tall blue-skinned man with wounds on his wrists tied with chains.

When he returned to the settlement and saw the corpses all over the ground, he felt a little scared and panicked, and the slight hope he had originally held on disappeared in an instant.

"Go over there." He pointed a gun at her and led her to Marula's body.

"Do you remember how many servings of his food you have eaten?" Sura pulled the bolt and loaded the bullet.

"I don't remember." He really didn't remember. After all, the blue-skinned people had a low level of education and basically couldn't do math.

"That's a pity." Sura pointed the gun at the other man's back.

"Perhaps your sun has already gone out, but pray that he will make you wiser and more rational in the future."

"boom--"

The crisp sound of a gunshot penetrated the dull flesh and blood. With a painful expression, the blue-skinned man fell to the ground and slowly died.

After doing all this, Sura was not much happier. He just held the gun and looked blankly at the gray sky above his head.

She once thought that in this barren land far away from disputes, she would have a quiet and leisurely life, watching the sunset with her companions, occasionally researching her favorite inventions, bringing laughter to everyone, and gaining achievement and satisfaction.

But now it seems that I am disappointed after all. This is a world abandoned by the gods.

Without those burning great suns, these new races were like children who had lost their parents. They could only wander aimlessly on the earth and survive by following their instincts.

Without goals and meaning, the empty feeling in their minds torments them. They were born to serve the great gods, but now the gods are dead and the void in their hearts can never be filled.

Maybe they should belong to something, but it is definitely not those barbaric and primitive tribes, but a place with a big family and warmth.

It was also from this time that settlements and strongholds of various sizes were born on this land.

(End of this chapter)