Witch Redemption

Joseph was bewildered. His worldview had been severely shaken in recent days, and he couldn't understand his feelings.

This Roman Hydra is special; she possesses a unique charm. Joseph desires her, but not through underhanded means like he usually does—he seeks her approval.

He suspected he was going crazy.

What am I thinking?

Frustrated, she raised her hand to cover her eyes, trying to calm herself down a little.

When I'm with her, my heart races, I unconsciously become concerned about my personal image, I look forward to her response, and I feel... possessiveness, which is more than just possessiveness!

As Joseph rounded the corner of the ruins, his mind in turmoil, he was startled by the horrifying scene that came into view.

"you you......"

He wanted to ask what he was doing, but the words stuck in his throat. Then his eyes widened in shock, and his mind went blank.

Li Lan, who was cleaning up the mess, did not expect that a familiar figure would suddenly appear not far away. After all, the "Silent Isolation Domain" is to isolate all sounds within the area, turning it into an independent zone. Similarly, external sounds will also be isolated and cannot spread into this domain.

That's why he didn't notice the arrival of the others.

"I was careless..."

A sense of foreboding washed over her, but Li Lan, still expressionless, simply tossed the last corpse in her hand into the temple ruins. The body, which should have been alive, writhed in the darkness for less than a second before being devoured of all its flesh and blood, leaving only a pale white skeleton.

It was thought that Joseph would most likely turn around and greet the others, but to everyone's surprise, he just watched and stood there waiting.

To be honest, just to be on the safe side, Li Lan felt a murderous intent towards the young elf for a moment.

As he stepped out of the "Silent Isolation Zone," his right hand had already reached for the Libra Cross Greatsword in his spatial pouch. "His figure is currently hidden by this broken wall. If I want to kill him, I must strike him dead in one blow."

Despite thinking this, the young man remained completely unguarded. "Sorry, I saw you were gone for so long, I thought... Are you alright? Let me cover for you what happened just now?"

Joseph was an experienced man; he couldn't possibly be unaware of what Roman Hydra had recently gone through. Even he himself wasn't exactly a saint and had done similar things.

This time, however, he unusually wanted to reform himself.

"It would be best if you could help cover it up, but it's really not a big deal."

After thinking it over, Li Lan ultimately decided not to take action, but began to maintain a safe distance from the elven youth.

“Oh, oh,” Joseph scratched his head somewhat awkwardly. He hesitated for a long time before finally mustering his courage, “I…I’m different from them, I wouldn’t do such a thing to you…I, I…Do you believe me? Actually…actually, I really like you! I hope…”

Although he looked comical, the young man showed unprecedented sincerity.

"I'm sorry!" Li Lan was truly stunned. In his previous life, he had never been confessed to by a girl, but he had encountered it after transmigrating to this world? Moreover, the person confessing to him was not a beautiful girl, but a tall and handsome elf.

"Why? Is it because of your ex-husband?" Joseph felt a chill in his heart, but he was unwilling to accept it.

"..." Li Lan was at a loss for words; this was the first time he had encountered something like this.

Joseph assumed Roman Hydra was tacitly agreeing, and added, "Even if you still can't forget your ex-husband, I won't care. Rather, I hope to take his place. I..."

"I'm sorry, you're a good person, but we're not a good match. Besides, I'm attracted to women, not men."

Not wanting to leave the other person with any lingering thoughts, Li Lan told the truth: just give them the hair clip and that's it.

He still longs for the day he can return to Earth, the day he can regain his former body, and return to his former ordinary life. He will never fall into depravity in this other world because of this.

"You like women? Women?"

Dejected, Joseph's mind went blank. He simply stood there, watching Roman Hydra's figure pass by.

How absurd is this?

In the Elf Kingdom, a country where people are generally very good-looking, it is only known that some men are attracted to male beauty, but it is never known that women are attracted to female beauty. What is going on?

"I like her uniqueness, I like her beauty, I like her cooking, I like her... but..."

As if the sky had fallen, Joseph, experiencing heartbreak for the first time, was in a daze and didn't even know how to speak.

Frustrated beyond belief, Li Lan, as usual, concealed her identity and once again stayed at the entrance of the area with the four little ones to keep watch. However, the atmosphere tonight was likely to be a bit awkward, since Joseph, who was so lost that he was almost dispirited, was leaning against the wall not far away without saying a word, his eyes looking somewhat empty.

"Um, servant, what did you do to him?" Black-haired Yu Hui asked curiously.

"I sent him the card."

"What do you mean?"

“One way to reject a confession is... You know, I'm a grown man, how could I possibly accept this guy's confession? Isn't that a joke?” Li Lan said honestly, though she was also a little at a loss.

"But when I confessed my feelings to you..."

"Is that what you call liking? You're just lusting after my body! I definitely won't agree!"

Would a true god like a mere paramecium-like intelligent being? Li Lan believed not. The deeper she came into contact with these true gods, the more she realized that she couldn't use human standards to judge these true gods who resembled outlaws.

Their power is currently being restricted by special means, but what will happen when they return to their original forms? Ants will always be ants, and as long as ants can please them, they will not take their lives.

Li Lan respects Hei Fa Yu Hui and Leviathan and would never do anything out of line to them, but that doesn’t mean he’s not afraid of them. All he can do is try to maintain a balance in their relationship, please them as much as possible, and give them a different kind of spiritual experience.

"Tch—" With a slightly annoyed pout, the black-haired Yu Hui continued to write furiously with his pen in hand. "Sometimes you really are a bit boring. Oh well, I forgive you."

"Yes, it'll be midnight soon, you'd better be careful."

"Oh?"

“There’s something in the darkness, something that has been following this group for a long time.”

Chapter 7 The Beast Invasion

"Where are Collier and the others?"

When Uncle Jian, an elf, was counting heads, he discovered that five elf warriors were missing, and his face immediately darkened.

"Commander, I'm sorry, I don't know."

The elf man who was asked the question didn't dare to raise his head; he even felt a little uneasy.

In any case, those guys from Kolif had informed them before the operation, so they were essentially on the same side. Therefore, no matter what happened to those guys, the male elves involved would help cover for them.

At this point, Ji'an glanced at the entrance area of ​​the temple ruins and muttered, "It should be about time. If we follow the characteristics of these rock-devouring beasts, tonight might not be so easy to get through."

Ignoring the five missing figures for the time being, Gian began issuing a series of orders, demanding that the elven warriors guarding the various positions be on high alert.

Soon, it was almost midnight, and the only sound in the silent temple ruins was the crackling of the campfire.

Suddenly, a series of noisy sounds rang out from the darkness outside, coming from all directions. These strange sounds, resembling the cautious crawling of some animal, sent chills down the spines of all the elven warriors present, causing them to focus their attention intensely.

"Regimental...Regimental Commander..."

"It's nothing, just a rare monster attack, something like the Crimson Night Torrent. Such things rarely happen in the temple ruins of the monster-infested area. Hold on for a while, and they will naturally retreat."

For the time being, Gian could only appease his men. He knew that if he told them that they were about to face a terrifying abyssal monster, the blow to their morale would be enormous.

Everyone knew that none of the people present had the ability to face an abyssal monster alone.

The three anxious merchants had gathered around Gian. One of them, named "Marvin," asked in a low voice, "The defensive formation won't hold for long. Is there a way to kill it directly?"

"I'll hold out for as long as I can. They'll retreat on their own when it gets light. If that abyss monster appears early, I have a secret magic scroll that can damage it. I'm not sure if I can kill it, but I'm confident I can severely wound it and make it retreat."

After offering a few words of comfort, Gian's expression became more somber than ever before. At that moment, who would know that he was actually lying?

If there really were a magic scroll capable of severely injuring abyssal monsters, how outrageously valuable would that item be? With Gian's current wealth, he could afford to buy it, but the value of such an item would be almost equivalent to three-quarters of his net worth, which is no joke.

So he was gambling that the defensive magic used by the team could hold off these "rock-devouring beasts" for one night. As long as they could hold out until dawn, given the special habits of these monsters, they would definitely not linger around the temple ruins. Tomorrow, they would be safe as long as they went to another monster area.

Monsters have a sense of territory, and unless something special happens, they rarely cross boundaries and rarely fight with other types of monsters.

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

"coming!"

As soon as Hei Fayu Hui finished speaking, pairs of crimson beast eyes suddenly lit up in the writhing darkness. Countless strange beasts rushed towards them like a tide, making the fragmented and dense sounds grow closer and louder.

What is this?

Li Lan was stunned. Looking at the sheer number, it was simply outrageous! Tens of thousands, countless in number. Then, the black-haired Yu Hui told him that this many people had followed the caravan for an entire day? And yet, no one had noticed anything amiss all day?

"This is the entrance to the temple. If we are attacked, we will be the first to be hit."

Without hesitation, Li Lan quickly stood up and tossed the Moonlight Greatsword to the black-haired Yu Hui. After all, the genuine Yu Hui and the counterfeit Yu Hui could only unleash their strongest combat power by cooperating. If necessary, the demigod-level power of "Crescent Moon Sky Slash" might be able to resolve a small part of the crisis.

He then took out two ordinary adventurer longswords, keeping one for himself and tossing the other to Leviathan, saying, "Back to back, we'll see how things go."

Although the broken walls of the temple ruins were an excellent choice, and the cover would provide a great sense of security, the cautious Li Lan also knew that behind these walls were blind spots, which could often become the entry point for death. Therefore, trusting no one and keeping an eye on all directions was the best option at the moment.

In addition, Li Lan and the two Yu Huis and Leviathan have cooperated countless times, so they are now quite skilled at their work and very adeptly protected Juliet, the little fairy princess, in the very center.

“Mr. Joseph, I advise you to retreat into the temple immediately, otherwise I cannot guarantee what will happen.”

Although she had given the young man a card, Li Lan still showed some goodwill and offered him a few words of advice.

A rather dejected Joseph, seemingly unable to accept the situation, simply nodded numbly, managed to utter a curt "Be careful," and then, with a heart full of despair, retreated back into the temple ruins.

It was at this moment that the countless monstrous beasts that had charged forward finally came into full view.

Rock-devouring Beast, a mid-level monster, is a social monster that looks like a hyena!

These monsters, which appeared in their true forms outside the temple ruins, made all the elven warriors present feel as if they were facing a formidable enemy, and some even turned pale.

"A Rock-Swallowing Beast! It's a Rock-Swallowing Beast!"

"How is that possible? There are way too many!"

"What do we do? What do we do now?"

Amidst the cacophony of voices and widespread anxiety, Jian, still standing at the very center of the temple ruins, spoke up. His booming voice was like a reassuring balm.

"Everyone, proceed according to the original plan! Form up the defensive formation!"

At the command, the warriors reacted swiftly and unleashed their defensive magic at their designated positions. Whether it was high-level earth, fire, water, or wind magic, it all blossomed brilliantly under the unique magical enhancement of diamond-level adventurers, layer upon layer.

"Joseph, come here! If any monsters break through the first layer of the barrier, you must command specific members to snipe them!"

Gian hadn't expected his son, who had voluntarily gone to the entrance area of ​​the temple ruins, to suddenly change his mind and return to his side. Since that was the case, he, as a father, wouldn't miss the opportunity to take advantage of him.

Joseph was stunned for a moment, looking at the multicolored, layered magical barrier that protected the interior but kept Roman Hydra and her daughter outside. Then he realized, "What about them? Should we...?"

"Joseph! Put away your mercy!"

Ji'an was both stern and stern.

"You knew from the beginning, didn't you? You planned to arrange it this way from the start, didn't you? For..."

Before Joseph could finish speaking, Gian leaned in and slapped him hard across the face. "For no reason other than to obey me if you don't want to die, then you can leave now and die with her!"

Gian glared at his son and said coldly, "Tonight is no ordinary night. If she's capable, she might buy us some time. Besides, why do you think I agreed to let her join the team even though I didn't know her in the first place? If this team is short of someone to fill in, then in some situations you'll have to lead a certain number of people to their deaths. Do you think I've been joking with you all these years of taking you back and forth between the two kingdoms? Do you really think the wills you were made to write when you left the kingdom were fake?"