Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 488 Welcome to the Sword Forging Tournament!

The goddess has been gone for a long time.

Hafiz looked at the bright red fruit beside his pillow; it beat like a heart, tempting him every moment.

Once you swallow it, you'll never have to fear the "natives" outside again, and you might even be able to escape Oasis City in the chaos and fly far away.

Hafiz hadn't entirely been unaware of this day coming, so he had a large sum of money deposited in the Lofik Consortium, enough for him to flee to some small country and continue living a life of extravagance for the rest of his life. He had also heard that Ginny of the Demi-human Merchant Guild was currently in the far west, and that as long as he paid a huge sum of money to those Demi-humans and boarded their ship, he could get away from this troublesome place.

but!

Would that evil goddess really be so kind?
Whenever Hafiz tried to reach for the fruit, reason stopped him.

He witnessed firsthand the ominous magic surging around the goddess, bathed in crimson, making her appear more like an evil god.

Hafiz understood the evil god's tricks.

The goddess did promise him that he would gain the ability to escape if he swallowed the fruit, but she never guaranteed him whether he would still be able to maintain his independent consciousness or even his human form by then.

The order to seal off the lower city a few days ago was personally issued by him, because monsters were said to have appeared there.

It was transformed from a human being.

They were all commoners suffering from terminal pulmonary edema, yet they recovered overnight, and their bodies underwent changes.

Their teeth became sharp, their temperaments became violent, and they appeared extremely aggressive. Several security guards patrolling the lower city were attacked by a monster. The four of them were unable to subdue the berserk civilians and had to shoot him to death. The security guard who was attacked was seriously injured and sent to the hospital. Even the priests of the Vatican could not heal his wounds.

The people at the garrison called it "fangtooth disease," and Hafiz ordered that no untouchables from the lower city be allowed to come to their area until the disease was identified.

He also sent a letter to the Holy City overnight, explaining that a rare infectious disease had broken out in the Oasis City, but Pope Carlo has not replied to him yet.

Hafiz calmed down, but another persistent question lingered in his mind.

He recalled the words the goddess had spoken before she left, and a great deal of doubt enveloped his heart.

Who is Larry?

……

Mary from the city hall also asked the same question: "Just who is this Larris?"

Mary didn't understand.

A commoner from the downtown area forced her to return to the city hall late at night to continue working.

To make matters worse, Moriko has disappeared.

If her trusted advisors were here, they would likely be able to offer some insightful opinions.

"An orphan, a vagrant in the lower city, he ate in various taverns since he was a child, and over time he gathered around a group of people in similar circumstances."

This is all that Grave, and the residents of the downtown area, know about Larry.

In fact, before the goddess of life "manifested," Larry was just a nobody in the lower city. In fact, in the eyes of many people, Larry and his gang of cronies were no different from gang members.

This clearly aroused Mary's suspicion.

She sensed that Bazalian had a soft spot for Larry, but so far, she hadn't seen anything different about the downtown gangster.

"Not long ago, I asked him a question."

Graves braced himself with his cane, his breathing quickening at the thought. "I asked him what the officials in the upper town had done to him?"

He considered this issue crucial.

Most of the hatred Grave knew was targeted; it usually only turned into a raging flood when the law and rules could not find a way out for them. But with Mary’s arrival and the first public trial, the common people in the lower city had found a new way out.

They spent their time actively writing whistleblower letters, waiting for the day when the officials who had harmed them would be paraded through the streets in trial.

Unlike Laris.

He told me that the people in the upper town had not done anything to him.

This was the answer that chilled Grave the most, because he suddenly realized that Larry had never intended to seek revenge on any particular target from the beginning, but rather to destroy everything in the upper city.

This means that no matter how Mary or even Oasis City changes in the future, Larry's goal will not change.

"Are you saying that Larry is a madman?"

Mary was extremely confused.

In the past few days, she had read through many whistleblower letters from the Lower City, which exposed the heinous crimes of city hall officials and the harm they had caused them. This hatred was understandable, and Mary wished she could immediately send those officials who had committed numerous crimes to the gallows.

But now they are facing a situation where there are too many people, and they have to wait in line even if they are hanged.

"That's not the case."

Grave shook his head. It was only after re-examining Larry's background that he finally understood the problem. "The taverns in the lower city are the most well-informed places. Many people get drunk there, especially when they have been treated unfairly again. Larry... grew up in that kind of environment."

Although the officials in the upper city had never done anything directly to Larry, he was aware of every unfair treatment they had given to the residents of the lower city.

One day we will kill them all.

More than one person has heard Larry say this.

However, for them at the time, this was just an immature idea of ​​a young man, and many of them even found solace in Larry.

This young man spoke out thoughts hidden deep within their hearts, thoughts they would never dare to utter in public.

Therefore, many people will get drunk and pull Larry aside to confide their pain and dissatisfaction. After venting their negative emotions, they can return to their familiar lives the next day after sobering up, until they can no longer bear it and go to the bar to drown their sorrows again.

Repeatedly.

For a long time, the thought of "I will kill them all one day" served as a source of solace for those who drowned their sorrows in alcohol.

The difference is that when the goddess descended, their wishes came true.

"Laris... is a monster born from the hatred in the lower city."

"He won't stop until he achieves his goal," Grave said.

"I see."

This answered one of Mary's questions about why Bazalian had taken notice of Laris.

Even though Bazarian is an unpredictable and wicked goddess, there are clues to how she grants wishes; only those with strong enough obsession and faith can gain her attention.

When the guilty are brought to trial and the unfair rules are rewritten one by one, the common people in the lower city who once could only hope for the intervention of the goddess of life gradually return to reality. They don't even have any unrealistic desires; they only hope that justice can be served.

However, Larry will not change because of this.

What he really wanted wasn't justice, but to kill everyone on the other side of that wall.

This made him, in Bazalian's eyes, the best "chosen one".

Mary felt a chill that went straight to her soul.

Not just because of Larry's story, but also because it was really cold inside the city hall.

She looked out the window. The source of all this was a giant ice crystal tree that had suddenly appeared in the upper city. It was hundreds of meters tall, and the windows of the city hall were covered with a thin layer of frost due to the tree's influence.

Grave also noticed this sudden anomaly and said, his face pale, "That's the direction of Oasis City Prison."

Ethan finally reaped what he sowed.

For the past few hours, he had been trying to use physical means to prevent Winter from falling asleep.

Finally, after the cat's face was covered in lemon ice cream, she broke free from his embrace and transformed back into human form. Even though the ice cream was still stuck to the corners of her mouth, it didn't stop her bright red eyes from radiating a captivating power.

This colossal tree, hundreds of meters tall and created from ice elements, is her masterpiece.

This winter seems a bit unusual.

Not only were his pupils red, but the whites of his eyes were also stained red by blood vessels.

Her gaze and fierce aura seemed to bring back memories of the Winter Witch she once was.

She coldly confirmed, "You said you'd buy me whatever I wanted to eat, right?"

"Of course, whether it's pizza, tomato meat sauce noodles, or hamburgers..."

"I want to eat cherries."

Winter slowly raised her hand, pointing to the branches of the giant ice crystal tree that reached straight to the clouds, "Go and pick it."

Ethan looked up and smiled sheepishly, "Is this some kind of extreme challenge?"

"Do you not love me anymore?"

Winter asked resentfully, "Other men are willing to pluck stars and the moon for their wives, but you're unhappy when I only ask you to pick a few fruits. Tsk, love between humans and witches really can't last long, can it?"

"Okay, I'll go!"

Ethan steeled his resolve, "Where are my friends, the Electric Element and the Wind Element?"

"go alone."

Winter interrupted the spellcasting.

"But... I can't climb trees."

Another roar responded to Ethan, and when he turned around, he was shocked to find a "new decoration" that seemed completely out of place on the giant ice crystal tree.

"walk the stair."

Winter looked toward the dreamlike circular staircase.

Is there an elevator?

"Go quickly!"

Her tone was unquestionable, like that of a true ice queen.

Winter crossed her arms and watched Ethan's figure disappear into the distance. As this troublesome fellow embarked on his journey to the treetop like Sisyphus, she finally transformed back into a ragdoll cat with a "thud," curling up on the chair into a soft white ball.

Hafiz, in his cell, also heard the roar.

He didn't know what was happening outside, but he had been waiting anxiously at the cell door ever since.

It turned out that the prison was not an impenetrable fortress after the new acting warden took office. He successfully bribed a prison guard to deliver a segment of fruit to the hospital room of the attacked police chief.

Hafiz heard footsteps approaching from afar.

The scent of blood drew ever closer, and the footsteps sounded incredibly heavy.

A piercing alarm blared in the prison, but Hafiz stared intently into the darkness of the corridor.

The footsteps grew closer, and a figure, whose outline could only be barely discerned, gradually emerged from the deep darkness into his sight.

It was draped in a loose human skin, its upper body was naked, and it had a fixed and chilling smile on its face, a smile that looked extremely unnatural.

Hafiz recognized the monster's identity; the wound from the knife stabbing was still faintly visible on his abdomen, now filled with new fleshy growths.

This is the head of the local police station, or rather, he used to be the head of the local police station.

The bureau chief took his advice and ate the piece of fruit.

This was an experiment, and Hafiz certainly couldn't allow himself to become the subject of the experiment.

It turns out the goddess was indeed up to no good.

The tall, thin monster walked straight ahead without looking to either side, heading towards the prison area that had been completely sealed off after the alarm sounded. The monster reached out and grabbed the bars, tearing the cage in front of him to shreds as if tearing off a piece of parchment.

Hafiz also heard gunshots, followed by screams from prisoners and guards.

A prison riot triggered by an unknown monster.

"Sector C2 has been breached!"

"Bullets have absolutely no effect on that guy!"

The acting warden was also awakened from his sleep. He had a premonition that the prison would not be peaceful in the next few days, so he stayed behind, but he did not expect that a riot would break out that night.

He had never heard of such a monster, impervious to swords and spears, capable of tearing apart a prison cell with its bare hands.

However, as the acting warden, he had to fight to the last minute to ensure the trial could proceed normally and could not allow these officials to escape the law!
He drew his sidearm and ordered, "Go and inform Ms. Mary immediately."

He was heading to Sector C2 to do everything in his power to stop the monsters before Ms. Mary arrived.

"Very brave, but lacking in wisdom."

After the prison guards left, a emotionless female voice reached the ears of the acting warden. He stopped and looked in surprise at the blue-haired girl who had appeared by the window at some point. The girl was holding a parchment book with an illegible cover, and her beautiful eyes were quietly watching him.

"They've already reported to you that the bullets have no effect on that monster. Do you think your bullets are any different from theirs?"

"That's my job."

The acting warden had piercing eyes and was fearless in the face of death.

"That's why a friend of mine asked me to give you some tips."

The blue-haired girl stared at the holster on the acting warden's waist. "Take out your sidearm."

Despite his doubts, the acting warden did as he was told.

"Then there are the kerosene lamp, quill pen, sacred text, and handcuffs on the table. You must remember that the synthesis ritual requires five offerings. Place them on the core of the pentagram array..."

The acting warden did as instructed. He guessed that the blue-haired girl was Mary’s ally left in the prison. With Mary’s intelligence, how could she not have foreseen the possible riot in the prison?
The five objects placed at the center of the array transformed into specks of white light as offerings. The holy light merged together in this alchemical ritual, then turned from white to a dull gray.

Under the astonished gaze of the acting warden, the combined object finally revealed its true form.

As the object appeared, the smell of ketchup wafted into his nose.

The reverence and expectation in his eyes vanished, and he glared sharply at the blue-haired girl, waiting for her explanation.

"Congratulations on winning the 'leftover hot dog'."

What does "leftover hot dog" mean?

The warden slammed his fist on the table in anger, shouting, "Where's my gun?!"

"It's a pity you were unlucky; the synthesis failed. Please try again next time."

(End of this chapter)