Witch Redemption

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"Revelation!"

"Soul solace!"

In the critical moment, Li Lan had just turned around when she saw the three witches mutate simultaneously, almost turning into three hideous super monsters.

Fortunately, ever since he acquired the "Soul Soothing" skill a long time ago, he had been speculating whether the witch's "deification" would result in her mutating into a monster like Ann Gnath. So he reacted quite quickly, summoning the unique Life Hammer of the Elven Priest with a wave of his hand and instantly applying the "Soul Soothing" status to them.

Soul Soothing is a continuous priest skill; its effect will likely continue as long as the user remains in this area.

The faint emerald light from Li Lan's natal magic book began to envelop the three dazed witches, eventually forming the same green thorn mark on the back of their right hands. Only then did the three unfortunate girls suddenly come to their senses, their faces showing intense fear.

"Senior Luo... Luo Men, just now..."

The shy rabbit-like orc witch, Yin Anni, lowered her head, filled with guilt. She had just felt an uncontrollable killing intent towards this senior, and had almost drawn her sword. This was something she could never forgive.

Sophia and Violet, standing nearby, shared the same sentiment and dared not raise their heads.

"It's nothing, just a minor accident. Don't let your guard down from now on."

Li Lan comforted them a few times, and it was at this moment that he began to notice that the natal magic books floating around the three witches seemed to have undergone some changes.

That is, the gold engraving on the cover contains a faint, almost imperceptible, iridescent glow, flowing freely within the engraving, as if it possesses a living aura.

"Could the so-called Dawn Spellbook be related to the 'deification' of witches?"

In an instant, he grasped the key point and began to secretly judge that the reason why his current level was stuck at level 30 in the magic book was most likely because "Soul Soothing" gave him a stable body that could not be deified, but at the same time it would bring him unpredictable side effects.

This side effect is the biggest shackle that limits his progress!

"In this world, almost every god has a monstrous form and cannot be deified, which means that I am likely to only reach the peak of mortals. It is to be expected that I will stagnate for now."

There are both joys and sorrows; this is Li Lan's assessment. It was at this moment that he suddenly sighed, "Indeed, witches have limits. Do they really have to become monsters to surpass those limits?"

On the other side, alerted by Violet and the others' presence, Bangusen and Sandra quickly approached after closing the spatial gate.

"Ladies, is something wrong? Are you not used to the environment here?"

Bangusen was the host of this area, so how could he not know about the changes in the three witches?

To be precise, all four witches underwent certain changes, emanating an aura of ancient gods. The difference was that the witch known as "Roman" was the first to suppress this aura, while the other witches lost control.

"Indeed, there were rumors in ancient times that the witch summoning was essentially a ritual to create gods, and its products were indeed extraordinary."

Li Lan had no idea what the skeletal man was thinking. He remained calm and said, "There was a small accident. This space is very special, which made us feel a strong sense of longing."

“Haha,” Bangusen laughed to mask his curiosity, and explained, “This is the holy place where my Lord preached. In ancient times, in order to enlighten the ignorant intelligent races, she set up a supreme platform here to impart knowledge and wisdom to all races. To express their faith in and gratitude to my Lord, these intelligent beings began to use their own strength to build this holy place bit by bit.”

In other words, this place is filled with the most primitive and purest beliefs and worship. It is normal that any creature that sets foot here will be infected by this strong sense of reverence.

However, because this is the most sacred place, not just anyone can set foot here. Generally speaking, only truly distinguished guests can be entertained here.

"I see, praise the goddess!"

Although unsure if it was appropriate, Li Lan still clasped her hands to her chest, performing a prayer ritual unique to Christians to express her respect for the ancient god of moonlight.

His way of expressing respect undoubtedly won Bangorsen's favor.

As a devout believer in the ancient god of the moon, Bangusen felt a genuine sense of warmth and appreciation for anyone who worshipped or revered the ancient god of the moon.

Sure enough, even Sandra, who was originally full of murderous intent and whose expression was unreadable but whose distance was clearly felt, underwent a slight change at this moment.

Praise be to my Lord!

Bangorsen and Sandra simultaneously raised their right hands, placed them on their foreheads, and bowed towards the distant podium.

After completing this series of actions, Bangusen raised the skeletal hand again, gesturing, "Ladies of the Witches, please!"

The fact that these two incredibly powerful individuals treated these witches with such courtesy made Celine Bellman, who was following them, grit her teeth in anger. "This is too strange! The organization clearly instructed me to kill these witches no matter what if necessary, so what's wrong with this divine messenger? Even if he's just a figurehead, he can't go against the doctrine of restoring the divine court, can he?"

Upon closer reflection, Celine Belluman suddenly felt that something was amiss.

First of all, she had known from her adoptive father, Jack Van Arin, that the underground temple of the Rune tribe contained countless independent spaces.

There are several separate spaces within, known as the "World of the Forgotten," which is ruled by the divine messenger Bangusen. Information about this place is scarce. If Celine Bellman hadn't previously accepted the mission to send these witches to slay the pillar god Vipa, she wouldn't have known that this world, the lowest level of the temple, contained a one-way teleportation array leading to the main temple.

According to the original plan, after Celine Bellman successfully escaped to the lowest level of the temple, she should not only avoid provoking the immortal knights there, but also find the nearest gatekeeper as quickly as possible and then notify the tomb guardian stationed at the entrance to come and guide her.

This is the safest first method. If it is inconvenient to use this method, the second method must be adopted, which is to take a shortcut to "overcome all obstacles" and then cross the "world of the dead" to enter the real world of the living. Only then will there be a chance to return to the real Rune tribe above.

The strange thing is that, since the divine messenger "Bangusen" clearly governs this area and is nominally under the Restoration Divine Court, why can't we "open a back door" through him?

Thinking about it carefully, this place is indeed a mysterious "forgotten" place with unbelievably little information. Moreover, it is said that no matter what decisions the Restoration of the Divine Court makes and wants to inform the divine messenger Bangusen, it must entrust a special person to enter this place. Does this mean that the divine messenger Bangusen is unable to leave this place?

"Damn it! What should I do? At this point, I still have a lot of information to hand over to the organization, so I absolutely cannot stay here for too long. Moreover, I must find an opportunity to kill these wretched witches. This can't go on like this."

"By the way, perhaps I could have the Divine Envoy help me heal my injuries first? Then I could risk being punished by the Divine Envoy to attack them? Or perhaps I should inform the Divine Envoy of the information and have him pass it on to the organization?"

Just as Celine Belluman was lost in thought, the group had already turned a corner of the church and entered another quiet reception hall.

Chapter 32 An Irresistible Request

In the dimly lit reception room, after everyone had taken their seats around the circular table made of bluish-white jade.

"Let's make a long story short..."

Bangusson never showed his face, but judging from his words and actions throughout, this man exuded a gentlemanly demeanor at all times.

The word "gentleman" here is a compliment. This gentleman's elegance, humility, and etiquette in all aspects reminded Li Lan of the European aristocrats mentioned in many literary novels in her previous life.

Bangusen began to explain in detail what this place was, without hiding anything.

As expected, the underground temple of the Rune tribe is a domain left behind by the ancient god of moonlight, and the territory that Bangusen currently governs is a part of this domain, located at the lowest point of the entire temple pyramid, and should now be called "the world of the dead of the Forsaken".

In ancient times, this place had another special name: "the ideal land favored by the gods." All beings who had a strong faith in the ancient god of moonlight would be favored by the ancient god of moonlight after death, becoming near-immortal beings who would forever guard the ideal land of the ancient god.

"The Undead" and "The Undying Knights" are the titles given to these eternal believers.

"In ancient times, this place was full of light and hope, but alas..."

Bangusen remained calm, as if he had long accepted the fall of the Moon God, and there was no emotional fluctuation in his words. "The fall of my Lord will cause most believers to lose their beacon of existence, and even those of us who have long been immortal will be affected."

"The wavering of faith leads to the loss of memory and the collapse of reason. This began as early as ten thousand years ago. As you can see, the undead who guard this land have lost their former glory and gradually decayed. Now they have become nothing more than walking corpses."

Li Lan nodded upon hearing this. Indeed, along the way, the numerous skeletal warriors around the branch had revealed their decayed and mottled bodies. They clearly looked like they had turned into undead, but his priest-specific class skill "Holy Light" had no effect on these skeletal warriors.

"What Mr. Bangusen wants us to help with is..." Li Lan thought. Could this extremely powerful guy want them, these witches, to help restore light to the world? Or make these corrupt believers like they were in ancient times?

This is an extremely difficult task no matter how you look at it, and I have no idea where to even begin.

"Don't worry, what I want you to do is just a small thing. You can do it without any guilt. Moreover, after it's done, I will not only personally send you away from here and back to the real world, but I will also give you a certain reward."

Bangusen admired the witch known as "Roman." She was calm and composed, which was rare for someone as weak as her, and it showed how astonishingly courageous she was.

"Well, the reward is one thing, and it would be best if we could help. I just don't know how small this matter is, so I can judge whether we can afford it."

Li Lan tried to be as tactful as possible, after all, this was something that even a god-level being couldn't handle, and for them, a bunch of useless newbies, to come to this place like this was truly out of helplessness.

In fact, if it were any other guy, he would probably have been planning to haggle from the start. This witch's attitude once again surprised Bangusen.

"It is like this, I intend to initiate the 'Knight's Oath' once again. The one who presides over this ceremony must be an emissary recognized by my lord, and as an undead, I am unable to preside over this ceremony, and can only act as a referee."

"The Knight's Oath?"

This was a term unfamiliar to Li Lan; perhaps it referred to a religious ritual?

"Yes, the last time this ceremony was held was 12,700 years ago."

The Knight's Oath was a grand ceremony held every few centuries in the ancient kingdom of Lanno. During each ceremony, the Ancient God of Moonlight would lead numerous divine messengers to test the will and strength of all the undead. Each ceremony was presided over by over a hundred divine messengers who would engage in one-on-one duels with the undead. All undead who passed the test would once again sense the power of the Ancient God of Moonlight and be reborn in the Sanctuary.

“Mr. Bangusen means…” Li Lan frowned upon hearing this, a strange sense of unease rising within her.

“Indeed, I need the witches to preside over this Knight’s Oath ceremony, and in one-on-one duels, to kill all the undead here.”

Are you kidding me? Li Lan immediately had the urge to question this. Who knows how many undead are here? How long would it take to kill them one by one?

Moreover, why must we kill these undead? Is it possible that, just like in ancient times, killing them and giving them trials will allow those undead who still hold devout faith in the Moon God to be resurrected?

"I am worried that we are not yet capable of handling this task."

To be honest, it wasn't that Li Lan lacked confidence, but rather that he wanted to gather more information.

Although he really wanted to go to the Elf Kingdom on another continent as soon as possible, he was also open-minded about it for the time being. If he really had to stay here for a long time, he might not be unable to accept it, but the growth of his own strength would probably stagnate.

"Don't worry, they no longer possess the strength they should have in ancient times. You have a great chance of winning. Furthermore, I will tell you the weaknesses of each of them and teach you many lost sword techniques from ancient times. Use your full strength to deal with them."

No matter how you look at it, it sounds like betraying one's own allies and attacking them. Bangusen's enthusiasm made Li Lan and the three witches around her feel a little doubtful about life.

"The ancient gods of moonlight have already perished. If they die in this ritual, they may never be able to be resurrected. Is that really a good thing?"

"For them, it's more like a relief. If they lose their obsession, it means they've lost the right to be immortal. Accepting the trial and offering their loyalty is the purpose of the knight's oath."

Bangorsen said this calmly, as calmly as a cold machine.

Li Lan couldn't see the man's face, nor could he discern the emotions behind his words. He only sensed that this powerful figure was concealing something.

Of course, noticing Li Lan's hesitation, Bangusen offered several more bargaining chips. "I know a little about the plans of the Restoration of the Divine Court to resurrect my Lord. Whether it's killing the Pillar God Vipa or using the witch's corpse as a medium, I know it all. Unfortunately, I can't leave here, nor can I interfere. What I can be sure of right now is that you won't be able to leave this world of the dead in the short term, and the war outside is about to begin. If I want to protect you, you'd better stay here for a while longer. When the time is right, I will naturally inform you."

This massive organization beneath the Ruen tribe is about to launch its first major retaliation against the United Duchy of Ries in nearly ten thousand years!

It's unclear how long the war will last, but Bangorsen is certain of one thing: if these witches are allowed to return to the real world now, they will likely be completely swallowed up by the impending war.

Having plenty of time is one thing, but there's another very important point: Bangusen will give you a great gift. "I won't force you. If you can fulfill my wish, I will not only impart all my skills to you, but I will also give you a precious amulet. This amulet is specially made by my master and can help you conceal your true aura to a certain extent, hiding the fact that you are witches."

Law of cause and effect items!

Although Bangusen was confined to this area, he still heard a lot of information about the outside world. For example, he knew that these witches were pigs waiting to be slaughtered by many great powers, and that if they wanted to travel safely across the continents, they had to hide their identities at all times.

Currently, the amulet that Bangusen can provide can even conceal all false gods in the world.

Li Lan could easily discern the goodwill in those words. After a moment's thought, he didn't immediately agree but instead asked, "Mr. Bangusen, the one presiding over this ceremony must be an emissary recognized by the supreme ancient god of moonlight, and we..."

“You are qualified. You have killed my lord’s lifelong enemy, the pillar god Vipa, and fulfilled the long-cherished wish that we have been unable to achieve for tens of thousands of years. You are qualified to inherit my lord’s divine weapon, the Moonlight Greatsword, and are qualified to be treated with the respect due to me, a lowly undead. This is my true feeling and my sincerity. Furthermore, whether you accept this impolite request or not, for your safety, I will not allow you to leave during this period. Your safety must be guaranteed.”

"..."

After a long moment of surprise, Li Lan finally managed to stammer out, "Excuse me, could we discuss this for a moment?"

"Of course."

The mysterious man, Bangusen, who was completely concealed, nodded, then gestured to Sandra beside him, and the two temporarily left the reception room.

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Do you think he's trustworthy?

This was the first thing Li Lan said after Bangusen, this powerful figure, left, and his voice carried a certain degree of unease.