Witch Redemption

“I’m fed up, Domino! Every single one of you is like this, caring about nothing, blindly following an evil god, doing evil things, and then talking big without ever considering what you’re doing or whether it’s right.”

"But aren't you the same? You are my Lord's spokesperson! You are my Lord's incarnation! Isn't all of this your command, your will?" Domino, enraged, almost lost his mind.

"Yes! That's why I regret it. I'm grateful to my Lord for saving this country and saving me, for making me take this eternal vow, forgetting myself, and becoming a loyal dog. But I can't forgive myself! Domino, I can't forgive myself for the sins I've committed, I can't forgive myself for choosing to accept this order at the last moment, I can't forgive myself for having to choose betrayal at this final moment. What do you know about me?"

Every immortal being regarded him only as a high and mighty representative of the gods, but they never saw the torment in his heart. "Don't you want to know why I concealed my lord's whereabouts and prevented you from carrying out the rescue? Fine, I can tell you, my lord chose death himself!"

"You bullshit!"

"Why would I lie? It was all her order! It was all her will! She had to do this to survive, otherwise the ancient beings who created this world would appear and destroy her and everything she created into nothingness! And what are you loyal lackeys? You are the vessels for her future resurrection. She will feed on your souls and cling to you until the day her resurrection comes again... Domino! Why do you think I am still in so much pain? Because I cannot save you!"

......

The meeting ended badly. After that day, all the undead who were qualified to enter the sanctuary left on bad terms, and Domino was just one of them.

How could anyone believe such an absurd reason?

The supreme god chose suicide? To disguise his suicide as a betrayal by numerous orc tribes?

Domino would rather the traitor Bangusen, the messenger of God, be lying than accept such a ridiculous reason.

Perhaps it was after that that the world of the dead in the entire underground temple fell into complete silence. The reclusive undead no longer interacted with each other and stayed in their respective areas.

During this time, a descendant of the Moon God came to the world of the dead and personally negotiated with the divine messenger Bangusen. They decided to establish an organization called "Restore the Divine Court" to prepare for the future and attempt to overthrow the kingdom created by the orc race, the United Duchy of Rhys.

Domino wasn't interested in the specifics; he felt that none of it mattered anymore.

All he knew was that in the remaining time, he often dreamed of the lofty ancient goddess of moonlight, dreaming of her figure fading away day by day until it finally became blurred.

He was like a moth drawn to a flame, chasing after a glimmer of hope in an endless dream, and then throwing himself into it without hesitation.

the truth?

Does that really matter?

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

Adopting the perspective of this undead being named "Domino," Li Lan witnessed firsthand the chaos that engulfed the entire underground temple after the death of the Moon God, and the process by which these undead gradually lost themselves over the long years.

The conclusion sent chills down his spine. If everything Bangusen, the messenger from these memories, said was true, then it was truly extraordinary.

"The Moon Goddess is still alive. She lives in the bodies of these undead and has been feeding on their souls for ten thousand years."

"She had to do this because creators from beyond the realm, such as Shub Nicholas, needed to carry out a great purge of these ancient gods and directly put many intelligent races in power."

"There are definitely not few gods like the Ancient God of Moonlight. Perhaps all medium and large kingdoms have similar gods!"

This is an incredible conclusion: a large number of ancient gods who should have been confirmed dead are actually still alive, and many more are in a deep slumber, waiting for their followers to resurrect them.

Now, the time for resurrection is drawing near, because the "day of prophecy" is approaching, and the creator behind these gods is about to awaken, so it's time to start a new round of trouble.

“There’s something I don’t understand,” Li Lan had been speculating ever since she learned some information about the resurrection of the Moon Goddess from Celine Bellman. “The resurrection of these ancient gods all require the sacrifice of witches as an important condition. Could it be that these gods who have lost their physical bodies all need the bodies of witches as a vessel? If that’s the case, in the future, witches might become even more sought-after piglets, and we witches who have escaped will be in an even more dangerous situation!”

On the one hand, the situation was a factor. On the other hand, what surprised Li Lan even more was that many great powers treated witches so harshly, wiping out each batch in a bloodbath. Could it be that this was partly to prevent the ancient gods from being resurrected by using witches as sacrifices?

Little did they know, Li Lan's guess was indeed correct!

Tens of thousands of years ago, after all the extraterrestrial creators confirmed that all the ancient gods had died, they continued to slumber. After that, these evil gods who had faked their deaths could be resurrected however they wanted.

Unfortunately, how could these intelligent beings be vegetarians? Having finally replaced the ancient gods as rulers, how could they possibly return to their former era?

Thus began an even bloodier purge, especially for the ancient British Empire, which was just a small kingdom. With the covert support of the six apostles, it used the most cruel methods to slaughter all the gods' devout followers, destroying their faith and eliminating any possibility of resurrecting the ancient gods from the very beginning.

Logically speaking, the probability of these ancient gods being resurrected is extremely low. Even the Moonlight Ancient God on the border of the United Duchy of Ries faces numerous difficulties in implementing the "Restoration of the Divine Court" under his command.

The reason is that the witches controlled by the United Duchy of Ries are no ordinary beings; any unusual killings will trigger the intervention of the false god behind them. The Restoration Divine Court has tried before, but the result was that the moment they killed the witches, they were targeted by the Duchy's false god, who then uprooted the entire underground branch of the Restoration Divine Court.

The Duchy's surveillance of witches was just as extreme as that of the British Empire, even reaching a pathological level.

The reason why the restoration of the Divine Court was able to achieve one of the important conditions this time was because of Li Lan's arrival. The first witch he killed, Savasi, lost her cause and effect under the interference of the ancient will, Shub-Nicholas, and thus went unnoticed by the Duchy, making it seem as if the witch's existence had been suddenly erased.

That's why the restoration of the Divine Court was able to successfully obtain the witch's corpse.

Aside from the corpse of the witch Savasi, the reason why Li Lan and the other three witches were targeted was actually quite simple: an ancient god who was not yet dead had discovered some of their secrets!

Probing the soul fragments of these immortals is, in a sense, a way of establishing a connection with the sea of ​​consciousness of this ancient god. The more memories one acquires, and the more important they are, the deeper one will sink into the consciousness of this ancient god, and in the end, one may even be directly devoured.

Just as Li Lan was savoring the memories of this immortal, he suddenly felt his entire sea of ​​consciousness plunge into a dark chaos, from which an incredibly powerful and destructive aura rushed towards him.

"This is different from before..."

Just as a strong sense of unease welled up in my heart, I heard hoarse murmurs coming from the depths of darkness and chaos.

"Gotcha! Witch!"

Hunger, the voice contained an intense hunger, like a dark murderer that had been starving for tens of thousands of years, opening its gaping maw to devour everything.

Am I dreaming?

Confused and bewildered, Li Lan stared wide-eyed at the extremely anxious situation, utterly at a loss for what to do.

"Thanks to your ability to infiltrate so deep, now that you've come to my territory, you'll stay here forever!"

Deep, terrifying, boundless, writhing blackness surged forth, as terrifying as the monster-infested area of ​​the night.

"roll!"

"he's mine!"

In the nick of time, two familiar, hoarse voices, like boiling water, exploded like thunder in the dark space!

"Shabu?"

No, it didn't sound like Yu Hui's voice. Unlike the chuunibyou (delusional) tone he used in real life, which was often cheerful and silly, this voice, which came from the soul, carried an incomprehensible majesty. This majesty transcended dimensions and life and death, and almost made everything in the world prostrate on the ground.

This voice represents absolute will!

The true divine protection belonging to the ancient creator "Shub Nicholas" was activated at this moment!

An ancient and powerful voice shattered all darkness like glass wherever it went!

As if from another world, in the blink of an eye, Li Lan had returned to reality, her whole body drenched in cold sweat.

"Servant, what's wrong?"

This is the familiar black-haired Yu Hui, the familiar "Shub Nicholas".

"It's nothing, just an unexpected bonus. I think I've discovered the secret of the writhing darkness!"

Still feeling like she had survived a close call, Li Lan realized that her hands and feet were ice-cold all over.

Chapter 50 Pursuers

As always, she was very assertive; from the moment Li Lan entered the room to the moment she left, it only took her a minute.

"I have to admit, this senior himself is really just average, but his summoned creatures are incredibly powerful!"

Violet, Anne, and Sophia were all incredibly envious. Unfortunately, in their eyes, the three young people beside this senior were extremely aloof; they had known them for quite some time, but it was difficult to have any meaningful conversations with them.

Aside from some conversations about "entertainment," it's really hard to find common ground for other topics.

In reality, these three witches were also quite helpless. In the original world of Yin Anni and Sophia, as girls, they liked Mary Sue or BL literature, which lacked satisfying elements, so they naturally could not win the favor of the black-haired Yu Hui.

Although Violet is from Japan and has read a lot of light novels, the kind of gentle, indecisive, saintly protagonist doesn't suit Kuroki's taste.

After all, the black-haired Yu Hui is a decisive and ruthless chaotic type, and being gentle is like casting pearls before swine to her.

So Violet was pitifully reduced to a tool in the manga, needing no interaction; all she had to do was draw what needed to be drawn.

At this moment, the three witches were unaware of the changes that had just occurred in the deathmatch arena, but that did not mean that the god-level powerhouse Bangusen, who was watching, was unaware. He keenly sensed that the aura of the Moon God had appeared here not long ago. Although the aura was fleeting, it resonated with his soul.

"Miss Roman, did something unexpected just now?"

Although the tall man's expression was not visible, his voice conveyed a sense of urgency.

"Just now, when I saw off that immortal being, I saw a great being, who seemed to be in a deep sleep."

Li Lan did not explicitly state that he had been attacked, but judging from Bangusen's unusual silence, this powerful figure had probably sensed something.

“It seems we’re almost there…” Bangusen muttered to himself, then glanced away. “Sandra, please take these witch ladies back to the sanctuary. There are some things I plan to prepare in advance.”

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

Are there fifteen undead left?

Originally, the plan was to take advantage of the moment when the black-haired Yu Hui was in high spirits and kill a few more, but the unexpected incident caused Bangusen to terminate today's ceremony ahead of schedule.

And not long after, this powerful man also entrusted his assistant Sandra to deliver a great gift.

The amulet "Ruby Eye," which Bangorsen had mentioned before, a magical item that can shield one's true aura, has finally arrived ahead of schedule today.

There were twenty-five in total, packaged in an exquisite black iron box. Combined with the ferocious arcane patterns on the box, it exuded a strange and evil aura.

Afterwards, Li Lan curiously opened the heavy and huge box, only to find twenty-five strange eyeballs neatly arranged inside. They were probably living eyeballs, with countless blood vessels covering the whites of their eyes, and deep crimson in the center of their lifeless pupils, like flames burning fiercely.

"The Crimson Jade Eye is an artifact crafted in ancient times by a secret assassination squad under my lord. It can conceal one's aura to some extent, making one's actions 'rational.' With the right words, it can convince most intelligent beings. To use it, simply place this eyeball in any concealed area of ​​your body."

This is Sandra's description of this magical item. Unlike the emotional Bangusen, this undead, who often unintentionally exudes murderous intent, is like a puppet that only obeys orders.

So for a long time, Sandra and Li Lan remained like strangers. After giving her the strange box, she quickly left.

"This is a bit strange!" Li Lan held the black iron box that he found somewhat troublesome, and a rare, intense unease arose in his heart. This unease was related to the unusual events that had occurred not long ago.

"Forget it, while we still have time, we might as well explain the detailed arrangements for the follow-up in advance."

With that in mind, Li Lan almost raced against time to summon the three witches, something she rarely does. She had originally planned to wait for Celine Bellman's arrival, but she couldn't think about that now.

"Violet, there are a few things I'd like to tell you in advance."

Li Lan took out a huge map directly from the storage space of the magic book and began to mark the approximate location for each of the witches. "After leaving here, I hope you will go to this area."

This world is so vast that if the witch relied solely on her own strength without any means of transportation, it would probably take her more than half a year to reach the Viana Divine Kingdom that Li Lan had mentioned.

Since he himself came from that area, Li Lan told the group of witches about the general safe route without reservation.

"To be precise, it's in this border city, Kobe. This may be the only place in the world that can temporarily protect you, barring any unforeseen circumstances."

The city of Kobe in the Viana Theocracy has effectively become independent. On his journey to the United Duchy of Ries, Li Lan learned of the dramatic changes in the region from several adventurers. It is rumored that this independence is related to a saintess and two archbishops. The saintess is likely Lachesis, and the two archbishops are probably the fanatical Luciara and Christian, who harbors a deep-seated desire for revenge.

This nascent force is probably one of Li Lan's few remaining bases, and the two sides have a certain degree of close relationship.

"You need to find a woman named Lachesis, right?" Violet, Anne, and Sophia memorized this information.

In fact, they were full of surprise, because in addition to these three names, Li Lan also mentioned his three attendants, Thomas, Cozmo, and Debbie, as well as two elven beauties who liked to show off their muscles.

Is this senior colleague a social butterfly?

"Yes, that's about it. We don't know what will happen along the way, so you need to be extremely careful. Also, bring this amulet called 'Crimson Eye' with you. Make sure no adventurer knows your identities. Kill anyone who knows your identities without mercy, even if they are babies."