Witch Redemption

At this moment, the blonde witch who had been clutching her chest gestured for the two short people beside her to stop.

"Looks like we're safe for now..." the blonde witch murmured to herself, her gaze fixed on the distant darkness, as if she could already see countless pursuers.

It was during this moment of slight relaxation that the two small men, whose emotions were on the verge of collapse, let out a sob.

"Senior Edith... Waaah... Your injury..."

They were not adults; they were just twelve-year-old girls. They didn't have the mental fortitude to face this land littered with corpses. Even at this moment when the fairy tale shattered, they struggled to accept such a devastating reality and couldn't believe they had been betrayed by the kingdom.

"It's alright, white antelope, snow antelope, I'm fine."

The ever-cheerful witch senior, Ittissa, lost her smile for the first time in front of them. She had suffered a fatal blow to her chest, but she dared not let her two juniors know for the time being.

“I think we have to split up here. I’ll go that way, and you guys run in this direction. Don’t worry, we’ll be fine as long as we pray to her.”

They had long forgotten the expression on Senior Itissa's face, unsure whether it was regret or despair. All they knew was that it was the first time since they had transmigrated to this world that they felt reality was so absurd.

A large number of witches united to defend the Elf Kingdom from countless raging torrents of darkness, hunting down countless monsters, and ultimately even achieving the feat of repelling the Sixth Apostle, Kalamiti. But in the blink of an eye, the Elf Kingdom turned on them, wiping out four entire groups of witches. Even more absurdly, in order to survive this catastrophe, the witches actually had to pray to their enemy, Kalamiti?

Is the world crazy, or are they crazy?

"Promise me, future generations, never trust any natives in the future! This world itself is a lie, and no matter what happens, we must survive! As long as we live, there is always hope!"

"Let's go, don't look back."

These were the last words of Senior Itisa. Until that moment, she never told them the whole truth. Perhaps it was because there wasn't much time left to explain, or perhaps it was because they were too weak at that time to even deserve to know the whole truth...

In the pitch-black night of madness and fear, the two women, who depended on each other for survival, fled like headless flies into an extremely quiet and remote neighborhood.

They knew that to survive, they had to escape the city. However, the city gates were guarded by countless powerful elven warriors, and there were also countless "ghosts" wandering around. They had nowhere to run.

This place has become a giant cage, and they can only die slowly in this cage.

They kept praying for that name, which was like a lifeline, but they never received any response. They could only drag their heavily injured bodies and continue to move forward aimlessly, never daring to stop. If they stopped, they would only face the same fate as their predecessors.

They had forgotten how long they had been fleeing; the endless darkness had completely engulfed them, plunging them into utter despair...

"Sister Rebecca, they're awake!"

Following the cheerful sound, they opened their blurry eyes and saw an elven girl with long, light blue hair, exaggerated muscles, and an innocent face.

"Okay, keep your voice down! Don't attract the ANBU, or we'll both be in big trouble!"

The blonde elven beauty who was speaking harshly in a low voice also had exaggerated muscles, but unlike the other elven girl, this woman was anything but innocent; one look at her and you could tell she was quite shrewd.

“You two little devils, eat something first. I’ll find a chance to send you away in a while. It’s too dangerous for you to stay here any longer,” the beautiful elf named Rebecca said worriedly. Her attention was focused on the outside the house the whole time, as if she was on guard against something. “By the way, there was also a little girl wearing a mask with you at that time. I don’t know who she is. She gave us a few items and asked you to keep them safe.”

"One is the necklace that hangs around your necks. You must wear this with you at all times. That guy mentioned something about shielding cause and effect, shielding against demonic spirits and such. I don't understand any of that nonsense. Just don't take it off."

As the elfin beauty spoke, their minds were still somewhat confused. After getting up slightly, they looked at their chests.

Sure enough, each of them wore a jet-black necklace, with a jet-black cross decoration on it. The cross had a lot of hideous dark red patterns, like dense blood vessels, giving people a strong visual impact and a sense of disgust.

“Oh, right, she also entrusted this to me,” the elven beauty said, taking out an antique-looking brass key. “She said she couldn’t interfere in your affairs, couldn’t take action, and might die soon, so there’s very little she can do to help. This key is for you to keep because it contains some secrets about this kingdom. Well, only a witch chosen by fate can uncover these secrets. In short, this is also yours, so take it.”

The elf Rebecca didn't act that friendly; she spoke very bluntly and rudely, and even seemed a bit annoyed by the trouble.

Even so, they were deeply moved.

In this abyss of despair, when all the elders they relied on had died, there were still two elves who reached out to them, asking for nothing in return and coveting nothing of theirs.

What could be happier than this? Unfortunately, at this moment, they could do nothing. They were just weaklings who could die at any moment, the heaviest burden on the two elves.

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

"White Antelope, Snow Antelope, Susan and I will leave you here. This is a secret passage leading to the monster area. If you have the chance, you can use this passage to escape to other countries. Of course, this is under the condition of being fully prepared. As you know, the monster area at night is not to be trifled with."

This is a sewer that can breach the walls of Skander's city. Stepping out of this sewer leads to the moat outside Skander's city.

According to Rebecca, Skandar's moat is also a disguised monster zone, inhabited by a large number of "monster puppets" made by the powerful figures of the Elf Kingdom, forming a protective network with the characteristics of the Elf Kingdom.

If they become strong enough, they can try to break through the moat and then escape to other safe zones through the long monster-infested area.

"I'm sorry, Susan and I can't take you with us."

The two elves rarely showed remorse. The reality was as they said: the entire elven kingdom was under martial law to a pathological degree, making it impossible to send the two witches out of the city through conventional means. Moreover, it wasn't that they didn't want to take the two witches through this secret passage to escape together; it was simply that they were too weak, and crossing the moat together would be tantamount to suicide.

Furthermore, time was running out for these two muscular elven women; barring any unforeseen circumstances, Rebecca's recent killing of an officer was about to be exposed.

Passing the trials of the Elven Sanctuary and infiltrating the expeditionary force to leave the Elven Kingdom has become Rebecca and Susan's only chance to survive. If they miss this opportunity, death awaits them.

"That's enough, thank you, Rebecca, Susan."

The older snow antelope spoke first. Even though she was young, she didn't forget the principle that one shouldn't take without giving. She already owed these two elves countless favors, and she didn't know if she would ever be able to repay them in this lifetime. Now, all she could do was pray for the future of these two benefactors, praying that everything would go well for them...

After that day, time flew by, and they began to use this secret passage as a base, hiding in the slums of Scandinavia.

They grew stronger by hunting "monster puppets" in the moat outside the city, but due to extreme scarcity of resources, they were forced to eat the corpses of the monsters they hunted. It was this morbid lifestyle that brought a new nightmare upon them once again.

Witches' bodies are inherently different from ordinary people's. Consuming large quantities of monster corpses will only cause their bodies to mutate to a certain extent, eventually causing them to gradually lose their inherent humanity and even turn into mindless monsters that only know how to slaughter everything.

Having realized this situation, the Geminis link their consciousness and lives together in order to save themselves. As long as either of them retains human consciousness, they can awaken the other to some extent through "soul resonance" and prevent the other from falling into eternal despair.

Originally, if they continued to feed on the corpses of monsters, even with such a method, the twins were destined to perish.

Fortunately, the god of fate never abandoned them from the moment they successfully survived the kingdom's siege. Instead, just when they were about to sink into darkness, it brought them another ray of light to live.

They encountered an elf girl who had escaped into a secret passage.

The elven girl's name was "Fu". When we first met her, half of her head had been destroyed by a sharp blade, and it was a miracle that she was still breathing.

Gemini's original idea was to eliminate all potential threats and expose their whereabouts. Unfortunately, despite experiencing many hardships and being away from society for too long, their mental age remained at the level of a teenager. Their undying innocence and compassion not only prevented them from harming her, but also led them to save her in an unprecedented way.

It was because of this rescue that the elven girl became their new lifeline. They stopped eating the monster corpses and obtained normal food through the elven girl. Even if they could only eat once every few days, it was far better than becoming mindless monsters.

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

Suddenly awakened from a chaotic dream, the twin sister named "White Antelope" abruptly opened her eerie green beastly eyes in the darkness. "Sister, I..."

"Had another nightmare?"

The elder twin sister, "Snow Antelope," opened her blood-red beast eyes in the darkness. Even though her voice had long since turned into the gurgling sounds unique to monsters, she remained as gentle as ever.

"Yes, besides the dreams about the past, there was another one that wasn't very good."

Every time I close my eyes, I dream of that bloody scene, of those witch seniors falling into pools of blood, of their狰狞 faces before they died.

However, the nightmare I just had was different from the ones before; it contained some really bad things.

The white antelope dreamt that "Fu" and "Natalie" would both die soon and turn into black sludge that pollutes the earth after their deaths.

"We haven't seen Fu and the others for several days, and this has happened often before. Maybe we don't need to worry too much?"

Xue Ling offered a few words of comfort, but deep down she herself felt extremely uneasy.

"Probably," Bai Ling remained silent for a while, and finally could only put aside these complicated thoughts. After all, given their current status and appearance, they dared not leave this place. "Sister, it's your turn to rest. I will wake you up when it's almost time."

The two, who depended on each other for survival, had long been accustomed to this kind of life. In order to prevent one of them from becoming a monster, their sleep schedules had to be staggered to prevent any unforeseen circumstances.

"Hmm..." Xue Ling responded. Just as she was about to fall into a deep sleep, suddenly, a large amount of abnormal energy appeared on the ground above.

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

Sure enough, no sooner had Li Lan left the dilapidated house than a large number of invisible things followed him closely, tracking his every move.

"This is not good! If we don't think of a way to deal with this invisible thing, things will probably get very difficult later on."

The initial assessment was that these invisible things did not pose any threat at the moment. Li Lan initially thought they might be ghosts or something, but unfortunately, his holy light could not affect these intangible things or reveal their traces.

"So this is the predicament that Rebecca and Susan faced before, and they warned me many times not to enter this place because these invisible things are too terrifying."

Because once something unusual is detected, this invisible thing will stick to you like a persistent leech, which will definitely expose your location in no time, leaving you vulnerable to attack.

"Although I'm a little unwilling, this situation is really troublesome for me. No matter how much I plan or how many tricks I have up my sleeve, it's all meaningless."

Realizing this, Li Lan, who was extremely calm thanks to her "courage," simply took a step and ran wildly towards the direction she remembered.

As a cautious person, Li Lan had been busy ever since entering this border city. She had planned her route well in advance, so her escape was now going very smoothly.

On the other hand, Li Lan, a witch with a level 34 magic book and belonging to the Elf race known for its speed, was currently running at an incredibly exaggerated speed, like a high-speed off-road vehicle. In just over ten minutes, she had already found the area where the two elves, Rebecca and Susan, had lived.

Because they had been missing for many years, the dilapidated dwelling had been taken over by other slave classes.

Li Lan came here for two purposes: one was to find a keepsake left behind by the two elves in their old home, and the other was to confirm the direction.

“Rebecca once said that if you stand in the area where they live and look in all directions, and you can see a faint red aurora in any direction, that is definitely the direction where the secret passage is located.”

Sure enough, to the northeast, a strange red light could be seen on the gloomy gray horizon. It was less like the aurora and more like a crack in the sky, like a broken space.

"Then, the location of the token is..."

Suddenly kicking open the door of the dilapidated house, the startled elf uncle stared wide-eyed. But before he could react, the ruthless Li Lan swung her hand, and the Libra Cross Greatsword in her hand pierced through the unfortunate man's head, dragging him several meters and pinning him hard to the wall.

Now that their whereabouts have been exposed, they will face an unprecedented storm, and their future is uncertain.

Then Li Lan no longer needs to pretend to be a gentleman. If he doesn't show his true nature as a "brute" at this point, he may very well meet his end today.

"I don't know who I am, or where I am. All I know is that today I'm going to smash everything!"

Chapter 20 Tokens

Li Lan pried open the floor tiles in the corner of the house. Her movements were swift and decisive. She quickly cleared away the thick, damp soil and unearthed a rusty iron box.

“Dr. Roman, it wasn’t just Susan and I who saved those two witches. The two of us alone couldn’t possibly withstand the Dark Division’s search. It would have been too risky for them to stay with us for long.”

"So initially, Susan and I only decided to temporarily rescue the two witches and then sever ties with them as soon as possible. However, we didn't expect a powerful figure to suddenly arrive and help us. It happened about an hour after we brought them back to our lodgings. A mysterious woman came to our door. She was wearing a mask, so we didn't know what she looked like, but she acted very kindly..."

"The mysterious woman didn't like beating around the bush and told us very directly that she knew the two girls were witches, and that she could help us if we were willing to save them. So she left us four items, one of which was a key, which she said contained some secrets about the elven kingdom. She asked us to give it to the two witches for safekeeping, and explained that only the witches chosen by fate could uncover the secrets."

"The other three items are three strange necklaces that have the effect of shielding cause and effect and protecting against demonic spirits. It was these necklaces that helped us get rid of the crisis from the Dark Side, which allowed us to hide them and deal with dozens of searches by the kingdom's army. In the end, we were even able to send them to a secret passage that few people knew about."

"We gave two of the necklaces to the two witches, and kept the last one for ourselves. I was the one who saw them off when they left. However, since we were planning to join the kingdom's conquest, I hid the necklace in the basement of our residence before leaving to avoid unnecessary trouble, and I didn't take it with me."

"So, Dr. Roman, if you insist on entering the Elf Kingdom, you will need to find this magical item. Hopefully, it can help you."

Li Lan still remembers Rebecca's words perfectly, which is why, when faced with countless "ghosts" and feeling helpless, he prioritizes taking this magical item.

Inside the iron box was indeed a necklace that looked ominous. It was pitch black and had a similarly deep cross ornament attached to it. The cross had a lot of hideous dark red lines, like dense veins, giving people the most instinctive sense of fear.

"Is this the necklace Rebecca mentioned? It shields cause and effect, and protects against demonic spirits."

The so-called "cause and effect" is an ethereal thing that is difficult to explain in words. Li Lan only knows that as long as he knows the witch's "true name" and the corresponding "cause and effect", he can keep track of the witch's whereabouts.

The "spirit guards" that Rebecca mentioned are most likely these "ghosts" that roam the city.

"Ok?"

The moment my fingers touched the necklace, a pain as sharp as an electric shock shot through my fingers and surged wildly toward my brain.