Witch Redemption

Legend has it that the northern continent is home to countless strange and intelligent races, such as the Icefield Ape-men, the One-Eyed Dwarfs, and the Dark Elves. These groups almost all live in seclusion, making them extremely difficult to find. Apart from these peculiar intelligent races, the largest group of intelligent beings is actually humans. The only superpower on this continent is composed of 90% humans and 10% of other minor groups.

The soldiers escorting them were at least Platinum level, according to the adventurers' strength ranking system.

They are generally nearly two meters tall, with incredibly exaggerated muscles that give them a powerful and imposing presence. Moreover, the Northerners differ from the humans of the Eastern Continent in that they all have red hair, dark brown eyes, and fair skin.

Another extremely surprising thing is that the soldiers from the desolate ancient kingdom don't wear uniforms or soft armor. Their overall attire and weaponry are quite unique. For example, the soldiers of the British Empire, according to Li Lan's understanding, wear clothing somewhat like European military uniforms from World War I on Earth. If it were the Inquisitors, it would be a bit exaggerated; their clothing even seemed somewhat trendy to him.

And the soldiers of this desolate ancient kingdom, well, they are definitely not dressed in primitive attire like animal skin skirts; quite the opposite.

Li Lan saw traces of high technology in their uniforms!

Rather than uniforms, they were more like "battle suits." The overall color was a grayish-blue, and judging from the shimmering light emanating from them, they didn't appear to be made of fabric, but rather something like synthetic fibers. They were tight-fitting and perfectly accentuated the soldiers' muscular physiques. Furthermore, these "battle suits" had multiple hexagonal, metallic-looking joints neatly arranged on their bodies, creating a striking first impression and prompting questions about how they even managed to put them on.

Even more incredibly, about 60% of these soldiers were wearing helmets, which were integrated with their "combat suits," exposing only the lower half of their faces while the upper half was made of a material similar to sunglasses. While Li Lan was amazed by these sunglasses, she couldn't help but wonder if they were powerful combat strength detectors, capable of easily seeing through any adventurer's nominal strength.

"Strange, the ancient barbaric kingdom seems even more powerful than I imagined!"

Li Lan was secretly alarmed. If the British Empire gave him the feeling of the First Industrial Revolution, the United Principality of Ries was the primitive era, and the Elf Kingdom was the medieval era, then the characteristics that the desolate ancient country was showing him now were those of the high-tech era.

Upon closer inspection, the weapons carried by these soldiers were not conventional swords or knives, but rather strange weapons with mechanical structures. For example, the greatsword carried by one soldier was clearly different from the usual large iron block with a hilt. The hilt's guard was a giant gear, and below the guard was a mechanical blade made up of countless parts. The blade's edge resembled the serrations of a shark, making one wonder if it would be used like a chainsaw to cut through everything in its path.

That's so strange!

Previously, Li Lan had little contact with human society in this world. Much of the information he knew came from the British Empire, and his own intelligence was limited to the empire's territory. He knew very little about other continents.

Today, when he comes into contact with this "technology tree" that may belong to a desolate ancient country again, he feels extremely shocked.

"Be careful. Don't be fooled by their low rank. They're probably only at the Platinum-level adventurer level. Their actual strength is much greater than that."

Franklin whispered to Li Lan, and then obediently followed the detention team with Ruda and Nig.

"You know a lot about the desolate ancient kingdom?"

Li Lan did not resist and obediently followed along with Yu Hui and the Twin Witches.

No matter what, any adventurer who has reached the level of a legendary adventurer is no pushover. The fact that they are all behaving so obediently now is enough to show that they are equally wary of this country.

"Not much. As I mentioned before, the Desolate Ancient Kingdom is a reclusive country. To be precise, in the wild lands of the northern continent, whether it is a superpower or a small country, they all tend to live in seclusion and rarely have any contact with countries on other continents. If it weren't for the death tide that broke out in the Snow-capped Mountains this time, the Desolate Ancient Kingdom would not have come forward."

Franklin stated truthfully, and as he said, apart from the ancient, desolate kingdom itself, no other country in the world knew anything about this great power.

"I only received the intelligence a month ago. The Desolate Ancient Kingdom is very strong. The clothes they wear can boost the strength of soldiers by one or even two levels. For example, these soldiers you see now, aren't their ranks low? And their strength doesn't seem that great? That's because they haven't shown their true abilities yet. Platinum-level soldiers can unleash diamond-level or even legendary-level strength. Isn't that terrifying?"

It's said that these soldiers aren't particularly strong, but their equipment can directly elevate them to a higher level—a level with its own limits. After all, for all intelligent beings to become stronger, the only way is to awaken their innate power and enter the ranks of true immortals. In other words, their amazing equipment can at most elevate them to a level infinitely close to demigods.

It's impossible for Franklin not to feel envious. When he heard this information, he also thought how wonderful it would be if he had several sets of such equipment.

At the same time, one has to admire the profound foundation of these great powers, which is incomparable to the small countries they belong to.

Moreover, although the power displayed by the desolate ancient kingdom is obvious to all, no adventurer dares to set their sights on the soldiers of this ancient kingdom. To plot against the soldiers of the ancient kingdom and seize their equipment is extremely foolish no matter how you look at it.

No matter what, the so-called great powers have always operated on the principle of "What I give you is yours; if I don't give it to you, you can't take it." Taking it will definitely lead to trouble. Any adventurer with a bit of strength wouldn't be foolish enough to try and steal from a great power, unless they really wanted to die.

“Indeed.” Li Lan agreed thoughtfully. Just like when he was on the run in the British Empire, he had wondered why the empire’s magic crystal technology was so advanced and its magic crystal firearms so powerful, but they just couldn’t be circulated. There must be a difference between firearms and cold weapons. Firearms have their advantages, such as long-range killing power.

Upon closer reflection, one reason was technological limitation, preventing other countries from learning it. Another reason was that the empire would definitely try to prevent the flow of this technology and keep it firmly in its hands. If other countries couldn't seize it, they would have to find ways to develop other technologies.

Take the Orcish Duchy, for example. Many races there aren't very bright; they've focused all their tech on physical prowess, turning themselves into "human tanks." The strong there can even withstand high-level magic without suffering a scratch. If you actually gave the Orcish Duchy a weapon, could they copy it? Impossible, absolutely impossible.

It's like a modern person giving a watch to an ancient person; they wouldn't understand its construction, let alone its principles, and even if they studied it until their death, they still wouldn't know how to replicate it. The cutting-edge technologies of all the world's major powers are like this—products that cannot be replicated by any single country.

The Sixth Apostle, Kalamiti, once mentioned to Li Lan that the Empire should not be underestimated. Besides the magic crystal technology she knew about, the Empire probably possessed technologies even more advanced than magic crystal technology. In other words, the "black technology" displayed by all the nations was still superficial, and their true inner workings had not yet been revealed.

"If it's really like you say, then it doesn't matter whether adventurers like you come to fight the tide of death or not."

Li Lan thought for a moment and reminded him again. He had already hinted at it before; this was probably a setup. Unfortunately, before this, Franklin and his two human adventurers had confidently stated that it was normal for death tides to summon adventurers several times in history, and that as long as the rewards were generous enough, they wouldn't care about anything else.

"This..." Franklin remained silent for a long while before finally speaking slowly, "In your opinion, how old are Ruda, Nig, and I?"

"Around fifty years old."

"At the exact age of forty-five, half of one's life has passed. In this world, those who can awaken their true nature after the age of forty are absolutely gifted, geniuses among geniuses. Most people, like us, will stop at their current level for their entire lives and then slowly wait for their time to come."

Human lifespan is no more than a hundred years. Even legendary adventurers, whose average lifespan is only around eighty years, are still relatively short.

Every race desires immortality, and awakening one's true nature is a necessary condition for achieving it. This explains why these powerful adventurers from small nations are uninterested in witches. They are only interested in the methods and means to awaken their true nature, and they are willing to stop at nothing to achieve this goal, even risking their lives as they have done this time. If they miss this opportunity, they have no idea how much longer they will have to spend figuring it out.

They couldn't let their lives be filled with regrets. If it weren't for this commission, Franklin and the others might have settled all their affairs around the age of sixty, then sought out the rulers of small countries like the Kingdom of Nova, made blood pacts of eternal loyalty, participated in the artifact bestowal ceremony, and pursued that faint chance of awakening their origin.

Moreover, one of the most important reasons why many small countries in the world today possess numerous "artifacts" is that they were once gifts from the sixth apostle, Kalamiti.

Li Lan gradually discovered this fact later, and only recently realized the deeper reason why these legendary adventurers did not act rashly even though they guessed their identities.

The classic case of "not worrying about scarcity but worrying about inequality" stems from the fact that each small country possesses numerous divine artifacts, and the process of bestowing these artifacts is unimaginably dangerous, a near-death experience. This is why these more powerful individuals have lost interest in hunting witches. If they truly desired them, they would sacrifice their freedom to pledge allegiance to a particular small country, entrusting their entire lives to that country, and receiving whatever divine artifacts they desired, provided they could survive the likely death hurdle.

Only those dreamy, unrealistic, low- to mid-level adventurers who lack the ability to participate in the bestowal of divine artifacts would consider witches a coveted prize. They either intend to hunt witches to gain benefits for their great nations or to seize the divine artifacts from witches in hopes of becoming gods overnight. This is the real reason why Li Lan and his companions were repeatedly hunted down when they encountered so many low- to mid-level adventurers before.

To put it bluntly, it's a problem caused by a lack of information and different social circles.

"Don't worry, I don't think the Ancient Wasteland wants to harm us. You see, they didn't hurt us at all during the whole process." Franklin, who had spent a whole night in prison, filled with fear and unable to sleep, finally found a reason to comfort himself.

Hearing this, Ruda and Nig couldn't help but chime in, "Yes, maybe the small country doesn't have enough places to live, so the ancient country has resorted to this drastic measure, sending us all to the designated location again today."

If there aren't enough places to live, it's not like they can't sleep on the streets. What's the point of sending them to jail? Besides, adventurers aren't helpless; there's no need to use a large force to escort them now, is there?

Seeing the three human adventurers' somewhat presumptuous expressions, Li Lan opened her mouth, but ultimately couldn't bear to discourage them.

However, he remembered one thing: the desolate ancient kingdom was not simple at all! Extremely complex!

If given the chance, he would love to see what kind of "technology" this country has. As one of the future enemies, it would be extremely dangerous to have no understanding of it. Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you win every battle.

Information asymmetry brings nothing but despair.

"Fine, let's go with them first. We have no choice but to accept our fate this time. Besides, it's already confirmed that this country will send us into the snow-capped mountains. This is an opportunity!"

An opportunity to investigate "The Destroyer of a Kingdom" with peace of mind!

Chapter 9 Barrier

Over the course of a week, a large number of adventurers were escorted from the Kingdom of Fenyan to the outskirts of the snow-capped mountains.

Previously, Li Lan had only heard that after the outbreak of the death tide, the desolate ancient kingdom had taken action to seal off this large area. At first, Li Lan thought that a large number of soldiers were stationed on the edge of the area to block the large number of undead creatures in the mountains.

In reality, the actions of this superpower far exceeded his expectations. What was presented to everyone was not a snow-capped mountain pass, but a giant wall nearly a thousand meters high, extending endlessly to both sides.

The massive, dark gray wall possessed a unique metallic sheen, not only isolating this area but also creating a no-fly zone above it, preventing any creature from flying over. In essence, this place was now a completely sealed-off giant cage, and the only way to enter or leave was to overcome a massive fortress that appeared only at long intervals.

Right now, a large group of people, including Li Lan, are being escorted by the army of the desolate ancient kingdom. They have crossed this fortress, which is garrisoned by a huge number of soldiers, and have finally arrived at the other side of the giant wall, which is their next destination.

"Food can be replenished here once a month, and your task is to do everything you can to weaken the death tide here, understand?"

The middle-aged officer in charge of the team spoke in a cold voice, then began to signal his men to drive the people away.

"Wait, this isn't what we agreed on..."

Several legendary adventurers immediately changed their expressions and questioned loudly, but they were only given a few short sentences in response.

"So what if it's different?" In the end, how could they possibly fool so many unlucky souls into coming here without a simpler reason? The officer clicked his tongue. "Stop talking nonsense. Do what I tell you now. Don't even think about leaving until the death tide is dealt with."

After their stern words, the soldiers of this desolate ancient kingdom drove them directly into this vast expanse of white snow-capped mountains. Several adventurers had originally intended to resist, but after seeing the army stationed here, they ultimately abandoned this unrealistic idea.

Franklin received his share of rations, the area map, and the information card. His face was ashen. If they still didn't realize they'd been tricked at this point, they were complete fools.

The Adventurers' Guild had made it clear from the beginning that these adventurers were only there to scout the area, and that they would only need to stay there for three days to complete the quest.

But what are these soldiers from the desolate ancient kingdom saying now? They come here once a month to collect supplies, which means they're just supposed to stay here until the world's coalition arrives?

"Are you kidding me?"

The number of the dead tide is at least in the millions, or even tens of millions, while how many of these adventurers are there?

Making them survive in this godforsaken place for so long, and then having them fight against the tide of death, is just sending them to their deaths.

Moreover, the Death Tide is not so simple. Any intelligent creature killed by the Death Tide will become part of the Death Tide, continuing to strengthen its power. Franklin absolutely does not believe that the Desolate Ancient Kingdom is unaware of this information. If they knew this, why would they let them in like this? It might just be a trap to send them to their deaths.

Now that they've broken their promise, even if they manage to get out alive, they probably won't get the promised reward.

No, given the practices of those major powers, even if they manage to survive this mission, the other side might still betray them and wipe them all out.

"Franklin, what do we do next?"

Ruda and Nig looked terrible. They weren't stupid; they had been able to comfort themselves before, but after hearing the other person's words, their last guesses were shattered, and they had to face reality.

This is very likely a trap, but they seem to have no other choice.

"Let's take it one step at a time. The best we can do is try to unite as many people as possible; we must unite them today!"

Franklin suddenly felt a little glad that he had won over these witches from the beginning. They were a very strong fighting force, and with their assistance, things would probably be much easier in the future.

"Besides, I remember that several other groups of adventurers arrived early. How about we go and check with them to confirm the information?"

After Franklin finished speaking, he turned his head and looked at the three witches beside him and the blonde girl who hadn't said a word.

"I have no objection; we can follow your orders for the time being."

Li Lan has never been the type of leader who enjoys wielding great power; instead, she prefers to be a guide or a henchman. Knowing that this situation likely requires uniting more adventurers, and that her identity as a "witch" is too sensitive, she can only leave the overall coordination to these adventurers themselves.

"We need to find out what's going on around here first, and we also need to consider teaming up with other adventurers. We need to determine the division of labor as soon as possible. Let me think about it."

As expected of a legendary adventurer, although he was angry for a moment, he quickly calmed down and prepared for the upcoming adventure in an orderly manner.

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

This super barrier, which surrounds an area of ​​thousands of kilometers, is indeed extraordinary. It is beyond the limits of human capability. To be precise, its existence is a miracle!

The British Empire possesses the world-renowned "Steam Magic Crystal Technology," the Elf Kingdom has the strongest "Magic Spirit Technology" in the region, and for the ancient, secluded kingdom, the strongest technology is the "Wild God Barrier."

The so-called "Wild God Barrier" does not refer to a kind of defensive magic, but a magical substance. This substance is created by using special monster materials and witch materials, combined with a part of the domain of the present god of the desolate ancient kingdom. Everything that is given the "Wild God Barrier" will exert a part of the present god's "domain power".

For example, by simply constructing a large number of isolation fortresses around the entire snow-capped mountain range, such an exaggerated isolation barrier can be created out of thin air between the fortresses, completely isolating the entire area. Even those god-level beings trapped within this barrier would not be able to leave so easily.

For example, the battle armor worn by these ancient soldiers contains the power of the gods of the present world, which can maximize their strength and make them the strongest below the level of demigods.

Looking at the current gods of various superpowers around the world, each group has its own distinct characteristics. The current god of the British Empire is aloof and delegates a great deal of power, while the current god of the Elf Kingdom is autocratic and controls everything. The ancient wasteland, on the other hand, is the opposite. The current god delegates power but is not aloof; he even personally infiltrates the people, doing his utmost to enhance their strength in order to combat a powerful crisis that may come in the future.

Unlike other nations, the witches summoned by the Desolate Ancient Kingdom never covet the magical artifacts that await them after they have grown up. If other nations treat witches like piglets, fattening them up before slaughtering them, then the Desolate Ancient Kingdom is far more terrifying, killing the witches from the very first moment they are summoned.

In contrast, the witches of the desolate ancient kingdoms faced despair from the day they were summoned, and these transmigrators died in confusion or even shock.

Their bodies and their blood all became important materials for the "Wild God Barrier".

This is the biggest difference between the gods of the Desolate Ancient Kingdom and those of other kingdoms. They have never regarded the witch as a savior, but only as an inanimate object, requiring neither pity nor deception. What divine artifacts? Sealed objects? Nonsense. Throughout the Desolate Ancient Kingdom, whether gods or all participating citizens, a certain degree of information transparency has already been achieved. A shared will has long existed: for their future salvation, they will become stronger in their own way, and everyone will become stronger together!

Why has this ancient, desolate kingdom remained hidden from the world for so long?

That stems from the arrogance of this country, its disdain for other nations, and its refusal to associate with them.

......