Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 348 No one can go home
Today is a good day for the villagers.

Their leader, Van Fleet, brought back news that after many hardships, he had finally found a way to leave this hellish place, and that they would soon be able to go home.

Upon hearing the news, everyone stopped what they were doing. They couldn't believe it was an April Fool's joke. For those residents who had strayed into this place earlier, they had long since lost the will to go back.

This is a day worth celebrating.

Van Fleet called on everyone to hold a grand celebration, where they would no longer have to be frugal and could bring out all the food to enjoy their last lunch in this godforsaken place.

This is the scene Ivy and Valerie saw when they returned to the village, where people were immersed in the joy of the celebration, each holding a pot of exotic stew and talking about their plans for returning home.

This left Ivy and Valerie stunned. They had thought Van Fleet would go all out, mobilizing all the villagers to falsely accuse them of being lackeys of the "Red Eyes," and ordering all the witchers to take up their crossbows and shoot them at the village entrance. Accompanying them were the sacrifices who had been betrayed by Van Fleet to the "Red Eyes," and they were prepared to expose Van Fleet in public.

The two spotted Van Fleet in the village; he had clearly also noticed them returning.

He acted as if nothing had happened, raised his voice, and introduced the two returning men to all the villagers, "Our great heroes are back! They are the ones who can take you home!"

His face was beaming with a smile, and he looked every bit the part of a competent leader.

Could it be that he finally had a change of heart?
Ethan spared his life at the castle, which also awakened his conscience as a human being deep within him.
The villagers who had returned with the two were also stunned. Reason told them that they should rush up and give VanVleet a good punch.

"No, that's not right."

Looking at the smiling faces of the villagers, Ivy and Valerie realized the problem at the same time—everyone they saw was holding a bowl filled with fragrant meat broth, and the large pot of broth was placed in the center of the village, surrounded by villagers.

They didn't even glance at Ivy and Valerie, their eyes glued to the broth in the pot.

Just then, Van Fleet walked over carrying a bowl of soup. "Heroes, welcome to this celebration."

What did you put in the pot?

Ivy felt a sense of foreboding. In reality, no one in the village paid any attention to their conversation. Even going home no longer seemed to hold any appeal for them. All they wanted to do was continue eating. A primal hunger overwhelmed them. Instead of feeling full, they grew hungrier and hungrier.

“Many of these people haven’t had a good meal in a long time, so I added some special ingredients to the pot for them.”

A commotion arose from the crowd gathered around the pot not far away.

The smiles on their faces vanished, replaced by greed and anger at having their seats taken by others. At first, it was just pushing and shoving, but when one of the villagers had his bowl smashed to the ground, and he roared as he lunged at the man who had knocked the bowl down, pinning him to the ground and biting his neck, the situation completely spiraled out of control.

The smell of blood permeated the village, acting as a catalyst.

Ivy noticed signs of mutation appearing on some people; their eyes were becoming bloodshot. This wasn't the ghoul plague she was familiar with. It was spreading too fast. According to the book "Take You to Understand 100 Dark Creatures," even directly consuming human flesh wouldn't cause such rapid mutation; it would take at least 3-5 days.

"You are not the only ones who explore."

Van Fleet's smile gradually twisted as he slowly took out a black flower from the inside pocket of his clothes. "I don't know what it's called, but just a small petal is enough to instantly transform the user. Those 'red-eyed' people in the castle used it to complete their transformation."

However, not everyone can successfully complete the transition.

In fact, only a very small number of users can survive the transformation process. After that, they will be accepted by the Blacklev family, while the losers will become one of the lower-ranking ghouls.

"Out of 20 people, only one person made it through."

Van Fleet completely dropped his pretense. He wasn't worried at all that the conversation would be overheard by the rest of the village, because soon most of the villagers would become dark creatures who could no longer understand human language, and those who were lucky enough to survive would never be able to go home.

Ivy immediately guessed the identity of the survivor.

In the Bracklev family, there was an old man who didn't fit in with Morgana's children. He was more like a servant and hardly communicated with them. He locked himself in his room every day, fiddling with something.

There is only one purpose to this experiment.

Van Fleet was no longer content to be a sheepdog; he wanted to transform into a "red-eyed" man and become a member of the Blackleaf family. He may have somehow learned about the convenient facilities in Mirror Furnace City, where the living conditions were much better than in this dilapidated village.

But the one in twenty probability made him hesitate.

Van Fleet glared at the two men with a fierce look. "I built this place. I provided them with a safe haven, and you want to take them home? This is all your fault, for that boring truth, just like that old man."

The same change also happened to VanVleet.

This is the last thing he wants to do: to transform everyone, including himself.

"You want to know what happened to him here? I can only say that the old man came at the wrong time, just in time for the delivery day."

Van Fleet grew increasingly excited. He could feel the transformation approaching, as if his blood was on fire. His vision was veiled by a red mist, and Ivy and Valerie's figures appeared in multiple overlapping images in the fog.

Will he be one of the 20?
This issue is no longer important.

The important thing is that he decided the fate of this village. This is the place he created, and everyone here should be in his hands. The only result of a group of outsiders who appeared out of nowhere trying to take over this place is that they can only bring back a group of man-eating monsters. Then they will be identified by the church as followers of evil gods, tied to the stake, doused with oil, and burned in front of everyone into several charred corpses.

That is their future.

"That old man is very sensitive to dates. He actually deduced the delivery date and even planned to tell his people about it."

Van Fleet's vision blurred, and his narration seemed to transport him back to that night when he saw Fisher sneaking out of the village and disappearing into the mist, seemingly to warn the patrols that were routinely exploring the village outskirts.

"So I followed him. He was a third-order believer, but I shot him through the throat with just one arrow."

He laughed maniacally, which became his last means of preventing his consciousness from being devoured. "I watched him fall into the grass. He was very resilient. His mouth opened and closed, and he didn't die completely for a long time. So I dragged him into the ghouls' territory and watched him be overwhelmed by them."

Van Fleet could no longer maintain his standing posture; the soup bowl in his hand fell to the ground. He bent over, lay prone on the ground like a ghoul, and with his last strength, looked up at the two men. "Where's Ethan? Why didn't he come with you? You can tell him that no one can go back with him!"

"You crazy person!"

The villagers who had followed the two back to the village could no longer tolerate it. The two at the front rushed forward and kicked Van Fleet to the ground. When they wanted to further attack Van Fleet, Ivy stopped them.

"Stay away from him, so you don't get scratched or bitten."

Here, all faiths of the path are obliterated by the mist, and the ghouls are far stronger and more agile than humans.

More and more villagers lay prostrate on the ground, exhibiting characteristics similar to those of ghouls.

Van Fleet simply lay flat on the ground in the village, a victor's smile on his face.

These people are doomed.

This ghoul plague is unique, and the methods left behind by the Witcher Augustus have no effect.

A strong sense of drowsiness washed over him, and in his mind's eye, Van Fleet heard footsteps approaching from afar. Although his vision was completely filled with red, he knew it was Ethan.

Unfortunately, he couldn't see the other person's expression at that moment. He felt that the other person must be filled with regret, regretting why he hadn't killed him in the castle.

Van Fleet disliked Ethan from the beginning.

Because he saw the young man's thoughts in his eyes—he wanted to find a way to rescue everyone in the village, and not only that, he dared to venture alone into the territory of the Blackrev family.

He couldn't do these things back then. When the "Red Eyes" approached him, he almost immediately agreed to their proposal and felt it was like a windfall. The number of people to be sacrificed was not large and was well within the village's capacity.

"Get ready, it's time to go home."

Van Fleet also disliked Ethan's tone. He didn't understand why Ethan could remain calm after witnessing the changes in the village, as if everything was under his control.

Still don't understand?
Augustus's methods couldn't save these people, not even the goddess of life could!

In his dazed state, Van Fleet sensed a door appearing in front of him, as if someone had forcibly torn a gap in space.

Immediately afterwards, he heard people screaming.

They returned to Darkforge City, where the familiar smell of burning iron filled the air.

Immediately afterwards, his consciousness was drawn into an endless vortex, where Van Fleet saw a ground covered in flesh and blood, and a waterfall formed of blood, with a woman beneath the waterfall.

A woman with seven eyes, her skirt was alive, and tentacle-like fleshy buds poked their heads out at him.

Van Fleet struggled to his feet and lunged at the strange woman.

These are his flock, and no one but him can decide their fate!

But before that, an arrow pierced his head.

Before his consciousness faded into darkness, his vision cleared for a brief moment.

In reality, nobody is paying attention to them.

No one paid him any attention for even a second longer.

The one who fired the arrow was one of the villagers who was offered as a sacrifice; he was holding a crossbow in his hand.

He shot and killed a ghoul that was about to attack, and that was all.

(End of this chapter)