Millennium Witch.

Chapter 10 - Escape
As the snake king's corpse sank into the water and disappeared, Yvette let out a long breath, feeling as if a great weight had finally been lifted from her heart.

While killing the Serpent King wouldn't drop any equipment, she still considered it the biggest obstacle to leaving Crater Lake.

Now that the obstacles are gone, her path to leaving has become completely smooth.

Moreover, decades ago, her magical pressure reached the rated standard for charging magical devices, and she repaired a still-usable flight board from the rubble.

So if she wanted, she could set off right now and leave this lake prison that had confined her for nearly 200 years.

but……

After thinking for a moment, Yvette turned around and went back into the facility.

One reason is that she wants to summarize the gains from this operation and make improvements to Thunder's Fury.

On the other hand, since one can leave at any time, why rush?

It would be good to do a little more preparation!
……

In the decades following the serpent's fall, the lake area centered around the ruined platform became noticeably quieter. Whenever Yvette appeared in the sunlight, whether meditating or practicing magic, the mutated creatures in the shallow waters would wisely keep their distance.

These low-intelligence creatures seemed to believe, through some primal instinct, that the slender figure had replaced the giant snake and become the new king of this place.

Of course, challengers will occasionally appear.

These challengers have far less exposed flesh compared to ordinary aberrations, and possess unique attack organs such as chitinous carapaces or electric tentacles, making a strong sense of biodiversity.

However, for Yvette, it was all a matter of thunderous wrath.

—The current improved version of Thunder Fury has reduced its mana cost from 240 to 100, but retains 60% of its power. It is an optimization and upgrade that she is quite proud of.

It's worth mentioning that recently, her magic power has been approaching the 500 mark.

In the era of the Origin Civilization, the energy storage core used by a two-meter-tall fully automated magical mech was only of this size.

Therefore, from this perspective, after more than two hundred years of solitary cultivation, Yvette's magical power is quite abundant, and her strongest original spell, "Wrath of Thunder," is indeed of military-grade quality.

"With my current combat strength, I could be considered a top expert even before the apocalypse. In the post-apocalyptic era, resources and weapons will definitely be scarce... Hmm, it seems that this suggests that once I escape this predicament, I can immediately become a top asset to humanity..."

With this small expectation, Yvette became even more motivated to cultivate, as if she could already see herself descending like a divine warrior, saving the collapsing building, turning the tide, and then being admired by thousands and pursued by beautiful women.

Until that day finally arrived.

……

On a misty morning, Yvette stood silently for a long time in front of the closed metal door leading to the eleventh basement level, then shook her head helplessly.

After breaking through the 500-point magic power mark last night, she decided to set off. She had no luggage to take and nothing particularly to miss. The only regret was that she still couldn't open the sturdy alloy door made of some unknown material before leaving.

"Fine, drive it or don't, it's up to you."

With those words, Yvette walked up the stairs, the sound of her heels echoing on the metal steps in the empty shaft.

Over the course of more than two hundred years, she had walked up and down the ruins of the Abyss Base countless times, as if every single bolt was etched into her memory. Although she once regarded this place as an endless prison, sometimes she felt that it could be considered a safe haven, allowing her a moment of peace and tranquility in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by mutated monsters.

Now, she is finally going to personally put an end to this long period of imprisonment.

……

Standing on the water platform, Yvette activated the flight board.

As a simple magical vehicle, this thing's energy storage plate is surprisingly powerful, capable of storing 100 points of magic power and supporting a range of approximately 50 kilometers. In contrast, Yvette, who has 500 points of magic power, can only fly one kilometer even with the help of her proud "Wind Control," making the difference immediately clear.

However, Yvette was not surprised, because she knew very well that as one of the technological achievements of the Origin Civilization, this thing, though seemingly ordinary, actually contained at least a million runes in its magic circuit.

Comparing the effects of Wind Chaser to this thing is like trying to use an abacus against a quantum computer.

She stretched out her hand, and a transparent handle made of magic took shape in her palm. With a slight forward tilt, the flight board immediately carried her forward, carving a fleeting trail across the deep blue water.

Wherever it passed, the mutated creatures in the lake and shallow water retreated in fear, making way for this aerial visitor.

So, in less than three minutes, she flew across the less than three-kilometer waterway and arrived at the smooth rock face she had gazed at when she first arrived more than two hundred years ago.

Due to altitude restrictions, the flight board could no longer be used here. Yvette lightly leaped onto a protruding rock and retracted the flight board to her waist. Pale blue air currents swirled around her, carrying her soaring upwards along the rock face.

When my fingertips finally touched the highest point of the crater, the whole world suddenly opened up before my eyes.

The azure sea merges with the clouds on the horizon, and the skyscrapers entwined with vines along the coastline have become one with the forest, resembling towering trees. On the nearby foothills, the sea of ​​trees sways, its emerald waves rippling in the mountain breeze.

She subconsciously looked back in the direction she had come from. From this perspective, the once vast crater lake was nothing more than a clear pool of water, with the central metal platform looking as small as a toy floating in a bathtub.

This is the world after the apocalypse… she thought, and then stood there quietly for a long time, until the strong wind on the mountaintop blew her silver hair, making it shimmer with iridescent light in the sunlight.

……

What should you do after you get out of trouble?
Two hundred years ago, Yvette had pondered this question, but couldn't find an answer, as she didn't know what she would see upon emerging. Would it be a desolate wasteland, a purgatory teeming with mutants?

Could there be a group of human survivors who are fighting for survival and rebuilding their homes, and are singing a hymn of courage?

Currently, the answer is no.

……

Following a road whose original traces are still visible, Yvette entered Ish City, the capital of Ish Island.

Compared to the other two human cities on the island that have been reduced to ruins, the scenery here is much more magnificent. After all, it is the location of an important branch of Black Tower Pharmaceuticals. Even from dozens of kilometers away, she can still see the dark tower in the city center that reaches into the sky.

It is painted with a verdant hue, like an ancient sword entwined with branches. Even though its master has been dead for many years, it still stands tall, pointing straight to the sky.

This is humanity's sword, and also the tombstone of human civilization... Yvette looked at the ruins before her, as if she had traveled through time and seen the former prosperity and glory of Ish City—centered on the Black Tower Building, surrounded by towering skyscrapers, holographic advertisements flowing on the glass curtain walls, aircraft shuttling like swarms of bees, and neon lights dyeing the night sky into a dream. Now, all of that has vanished.

Leaping over a clear, dark river formed by collapsed sewers and crossing streets blooming with wisteria, Yvette moved like a ghost through the alleyways.

A butterfly landed on her shoulder and flew away, while a fawn warily looked up from the collapsed shop window. Occasionally, mutated creatures would leap out of the shadows, only to be reduced to charred remains in the blazing inferno.

In this way, she strolled leisurely through countless treacherous streets and arrived at the city center, finding no trace of smoke, footprints, or any human activity along the way.

Then, in the square, she looked up at the mottled exterior of the Black Tower and finally realized one thing: at least on this island, there was no other living human being besides her.

In fact, even setting aside Ish Island and focusing on the three main continents on Origin Star called "Black Tide Continent," "Emerald Continent," and "Silver Mirror Continent," it would be difficult to find any other survivors.

Otherwise, it is inexplicable that, with human technology and wisdom, we have not been able to rebuild our civilization in nearly six hundred years.

After being struck by this realization, she sighed softly. As a visitor from another world, she had thought that stepping out of her cage would open up a whole new world, where she could see all sorts of people and experience completely different customs and cultures. But she never imagined that the long road ahead would still be accompanied only by loneliness, until billions of years later, until the very end when the stars were extinguished.

That being the case...

Then!

How about we start by planting a field?
(End of this chapter)