Witch Redemption

At that moment, the two were only two meters apart.

The raised Libra Cross Greatsword suddenly shattered the air with a sharp, explosive sound.

The vengeful spirit, ordered to protect its master, reacted immediately, turning around menacingly and lunging at the suddenly appearing figure.

but!

"Holy Light!"

The pure white orb of light exploded in his left hand with dazzling brilliance, the blinding light piercing through the darkness of the night and causing the two charging black mist ghosts to freeze for a moment.

In an instant, there is the difference between life and death. With the blessing of "divine speed", Li Lan burst out with twice the speed of usual. How could this man possibly withstand a sneak attack?

"Two witches?!"

Karl was horrified. He never expected that his previously foolproof defenses would fail so quickly. He was even more surprised that the witch was so fast. This was completely different from what he had imagined!

Of course they're different!

For witches, race can offer potential advantages, such as the orcs' superhuman endurance, the elves' abnormal healing abilities, and the dragons' all-around combat strength growth potential. Although Li Lan is an elf with severely insufficient strength, elves still have their strengths, namely their recovery ability second only to the elves and their speed, which is the strongest among all races except for the dragons.

Furthermore, the "Swiftness" attribute of the "Elven Priest" is actually incredibly powerful. Although it only provides a speed boost, it would be too easy to use it to ambush and kill a mortal right now.

If Li Lan hadn't activated his "Divine Speed" state, his sneak attack might have been stopped by this man. But with twice the speed, how could anyone possibly defend against it?

Even the two ghostly figures guarding him could barely keep up with Li Lan's speed, so his fate was predictable.

The Libra Greatsword, swung with lightning speed, flashed with a cold light that barely registered in the blink of an eye. As the head flew off, a torrent of blood gushed into the air! The man's burly body, clad in a black robe, crashed to the ground! The massive amount of blood painted a shocking and gruesome picture!

Li Lan, who was highly focused, was still wary of the possibility that this guy had other tricks up his sleeve, and he had a misconception that he was being too relaxed.

How fragile is the human body? This sword strike felt no different than slaughtering a chicken.

From the sneak attack to the kill, it took less than a second. Li Lan's thoughts were clearer than ever before. While he was on guard against the possibility that the corpse might "come back to life," he turned around without hesitation and swung the Libra Cross Greatsword in his hand again.

Because his "holy light" only made the two black ghostly figures pause for a moment. After that, the two troublesome guys pounced on him again, and they were much faster than when they first met!

"Ah-"

The greatsword in his hand passed right through the two black ghostly figures, but it couldn't harm them in the slightest. However, the two figures' claws broke through Li Lan's defenses, leaving a hideous wound on his chest.

"Tsk! This holy light can't harm them?"

Enduring the corrosive pain from his wounds, he reasoned that since his greatsword couldn't harm these guys, surely this orb of holy light would have some effect?

Desperate, he raised his left hand and violently hurled the sphere of holy light at the first approaching black mist ghost.

"Zizi-"

It worked!

However, the pure white sphere reacted violently after hitting the ghostly figure, causing countless white cracks to appear all over its body before it suddenly exploded, turning into countless plumes of smoke and dissipating.

"There's hope!"

"Holy Light!"

With a flick of his left hand, Li Lan, employing the same tactic as before, risked his life once more to eliminate the remaining black mist ghost in the same manner.

Ignoring her injuries, Li Lan glanced at the headless corpse on the ground before charging into the darkness. "According to her talent description, Yu Hui's strength is definitely not that high. Right now, she's drawing some fire for me, but she probably won't last long."

And it's only level one, so how strong can this guy be?

"These ghost-like things are troublesome. For now, we guess that we can't deal with them by physical means. We can only deal with them by these holy light orbs. The little guy definitely can't handle them."

While speculating about the general situation, he also felt a strange unease and fear. "The Empire was something I couldn't handle to begin with. Almost all the mid-level major generals I encountered were freaks. I didn't expect that we would be getting close to the Viana Theocracy now. The Dark Order here is also incredibly powerful."

He recalled the countless documents he had previously sifted through about the Viana Theocracy, which repeatedly mentioned that this small nation was most skilled in dark magic, though without much detail. But today, the man's summoning of four strange ghostly figures suggested that this was likely a form of dark magic.

Unafraid of any physical attack, only something like "holy light" can kill him. And from the chattering guy, we can tell that he is just a low- to mid-level clergyman in the Viana Theocracy. This glimpse reveals the whole picture, and it's clear that his future days will likely be just as difficult.

“Continuing to hide in the monster-infested area without any food supplies is definitely a dead end. But judging from this guy’s strength, it’s probably not much better to rashly enter the border of the Divine Kingdom.”

The future looks bleak!

Li Lan, who was moving at high speed, soon arrived at the edge of the temple ruins and saw the little guy who had nowhere to escape and was badly injured. Fortunately, the two black mist ghosts were ordered to capture her alive, so neither of them attacked Yu Hui's vital points.

In addition, Yu Hui has indeed undergone some changes. Her eyes, which should have been emerald green, have turned into silver eyes, and the pupils in the center have become enlarged golden crosses, radiating a sacred light.

It was precisely because of these eyes that she seemed to have a premonition, narrowly escaping the all-encompassing encirclement of the two black mist ghosts.

The Eye of the Holy Cross, a legendary eye that can see a brief glimpse into the future, was something Li Lan was seeing for the first time.

...... ...... ......

These black, ghostly figures seem to obey only a single command; they do whatever they are told, just like a puppet on strings.

After Li Lan approached them, they were only focused on capturing Yu Hui the little loli alive and completely ignored him, which led to him killing the two guys on the spot in no time.

"It's alright now."

Li Lan patted the little guy's head with delight, but the willful little guy pouted unhappily.

Li Lan suddenly missed the slime who was far away in the Empire. That little mouth of hers was as sweet as honey, and she especially liked to stick by his side and say all sorts of nice things.

Shaking his head, Li Lan took out a recovery potion and treated the little guy's wounds. The little guy raised his hand and gestured for a long time before Li Lan finally understood what it meant.

She had already seen the two horrifying wounds on his body. This servant was essentially a creation loyal to Li Lan. Although he was a bit willful at times, he would definitely prioritize his master's life if something really happened. Her eyes clearly revealed her worry.

"It's nothing, I'm used to it, it's just a minor injury."

Without further ado, Li Lan began treating the loli servant's wounds, and her memories returned to a distant past.

He had suffered even more serious injuries than he was now, and had even been nearly killed by the slime's predecessor, but he still survived. As long as these minor injuries weren't fatal, he had gotten used to them and could at least endure the pain.

Experienced illness makes one a doctor; having suffered many injuries, one can treat wounds quickly and skillfully.

In just a few minutes, he had finished treating both of their wounds. They would be fully healed in a few hours. It was time for them to go back and check on the man's body and what he had left behind.

From the very beginning, before launching the sneak attack, Li Lan had planned to cripple the man first and then see if she could extract some useful information from him.

However, he immediately dismissed the idea after seeing the strange, ghostly black mist.

Isn't it common in the novels we've read and the movies we've watched?

The so-called villain talked on and on, arrogant and disrespectful, but wasted a lot of time and ended up getting killed himself.

Li Lan considers herself half a villain, since when she goes on a killing spree, there's not much sense of right and wrong, evil and justice; all she does is try to survive.

Instead of interrogating the other party with insufficient information, it's better to strike hard from the start. Who knows what trump cards they have? Who knows if they might retaliate?

In this terrifying world, only the dead can provide a sense of security!

As it turned out, Li Lan's approach was indeed correct. Karl was completely dead; he hadn't even had time to use his many trump cards, such as the Dark Fusion Book he carried in his bosom. If he had been able to successfully utilize the intelligent beings behind him who still had a trace of life, then Li Lan would have been certain to die.

The so-called sealed artifacts are basically those that become more powerful the higher the price paid. It's impossible for something that requires human sacrifice to summon a piece of trash.

Furthermore, if Li Lan's "Holy Light" hadn't truly been able to suppress this black mist ghost, he might have really been in deep trouble tonight.

Of course, he actually had a slight idea of ​​how to deal with these black mist ghosts. They could only understand simple commands, such as capturing the little loli Yu Hui alive. If she didn't resist, these black mist ghosts would probably just stand there indefinitely after completing their mission. For example, the command to protect this man. After Li Lan killed the man, he used his super speed to escape. These two ghosts wouldn't chase after him; they would just continue to guard the man's body.

To put it bluntly, being able to survive is no longer a matter of luck, but a matter of mindset.

A head-on confrontation is something only a fool would do; stabbing someone in the back is the only right thing to do, and it should be done swiftly and decisively, with a single, fatal blow.

As the saying goes, "No poison, no manhood." If you want to survive in an unreasonable world, you have to be ruthless. Li Lan has this awareness, and she must have it!

Once again, they arrived beside the headless corpse. Sure enough, this guy had no more tricks up his sleeve; he was truly dead beyond any doubt.

"Let's see if there are any good finds, preferably books or something..."

Chapter 7 The Dangers of Sealed Artifacts

The guy Li Lan had chopped down was very strong, about 1.8 meters tall. The black robe he wore was very smooth, probably made of high-quality silk, and had many strange tadpole-like patterns on it, giving it a strong religious feel.

Wrapping her fingers with a pre-prepared strip of cloth to prevent herself from leaving any fingerprints, Li Lan first searched the man and found a leather wallet on him.

Inside were twenty-three banknotes bearing an inverted triangular emblem, with a total face value of over a thousand. These banknotes were likely the theocratic currency circulated in the Viana theocratic state.

Besides banknotes, there were also two cards in the wallet, about the same size as the bank cards and ID cards he had handled in his previous life.

"Karl Nassas, the Child of Darkness..."

One of the cards features a crooked, wavy script that has a rugged, violent aesthetic.

Fortunately, witches are born with the talent of "translation". Apart from ancient languages ​​and scripts, they can instinctively understand most of the language systems that are still in use in the world today.

He had noticed this similar situation as early as the first day he transmigrated to this world.

Having roughly figured out the identity of the guy she had killed, Li Lan only took out the banknotes and then tossed the leather wallet and cards aside.

"One of them should be an ID card, and the other might be a membership card or something? I don't know if these things have been tampered with, and carrying them with me might bring some instability."

However, there's no such concern about money. Normal people generally wouldn't tamper with money.

However, considering that each banknote has a unique serial number, Li Lanzhen should probably think twice before spending this money.

After thinking it over, he ultimately decided not to keep the money on his person, but instead put it directly into the storage space of the magic book. "After all, it's stolen money. The safest way is to spend it when I'm about to leave this area. Until then, it's best to be careful."

I was hoping to get some of the Dark Order's doctrines or maps from this guy, but I got nothing. All he had on him, besides the wallet he was carrying, was a strange short knife tucked into his waistband and a bizarre book.

He had witnessed the power of this strange book before; it was extremely evil. He didn't know the specific conditions for its use, but he vaguely learned its identity from the conversation between the two men. It was called the "Book of Dark Fusion".

"Could it be a sealed artifact left behind after the witch's death?"

The raised fingers of my right hand lightly touched the book whose cover was covered with numerous "vein" marks. Suddenly, a pain like an electric shock shot into my brain!

...... ...... ......

"After paying such a high price, all we got was such a useless witch?"

"Bishop, please calm down. We bought this witch from the United Duchy of Ries with great difficulty. As you know, the other two human kingdoms would never sell her. Otherwise, we wouldn't have bothered with those orcs. Fortunately, they were willing to sell her, so isn't that enough?"

"But you bought the weakest one. What skills does she have? Besides this useless fog spell, what else can she do?"

"this......"

"Fine, since we've already bought her, let's use her as an experimental subject. You continue to communicate with the Duchy and take advantage of their instability to extort some money from them."

A middle-aged man wearing a black robe and with a large belly drew a ceremonial silver-white dagger from beside him.

Immediately afterwards, the two attendants guarding the cage opened it for the important figure who held the status of a bishop. In the corner of the cage, a naked girl was squatting, her hands and feet tightly bound by chains. Her fearful, beast-like eyes and sharp, short ears foreshadowed her identity as a witch.

"According to the Duchy, all we need to do to obtain the artifact is kill this witch, right?"

"Yes, that's what they say, but there's a certain probability that her grimoire will mutate into a sealed artifact."

"Isn't this just like a lottery?" The middle-aged fat man uttered another extremely harsh rebuke, and it took him a long time to calm down. "This guy's artifact is probably useless. It might be better if it mutated into a sealed artifact... Hmph, let's let it go this time. You guys hurry up and buy a few more stronger ones. By the way, don't miss the handover with the Sixth Apostle this year. Try your best to satisfy her. Maybe she will give you a few more artifacts, and we won't have to go to such lengths to buy them."