I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

Soon, under Hansen's command, the densely packed biscuit soldiers inside the castle increased their patrol efforts. Duke and his companion were extremely unfamiliar with the castle's layout and couldn't find a place to hide, so they had to teleport away from Candy Castle temporarily.

Even after leaving the Candy Castle, they couldn't escape the pursuit of the biscuit soldiers. These things poured out of the castle like a flood and rushed into the forest.

Amber's teleportation spell was difficult to control in the forest, and the biscuit soldiers were as numerous as locusts, making their escape even more difficult.

However, they couldn't keep running away like this. Even if the two of them were fine, the severely injured adventurers couldn't withstand such torment.

"Where are Joseph and the others? Where are they? Why were you captured and taken to Hansen's room alone?" Duke gripped the adventurer's only remaining arm tightly, yelling incessantly to keep him awake. "Hey! Don't fall asleep!"

Duke knew that once this man closed his eyes, he might never open them again.

“They…they were trapped…underground…it was Hansen’s biscuit soldiers who attacked us…Miss Greta helped us escape…but in the chaos I got separated from them…”

The adventurer's voice was intermittent and extremely weak; if Duke hadn't leaned close to him, he wouldn't have been able to hear what he was saying at all.

"Are Joseph and the others trapped in the castle's underground?"

Duke turned around abruptly, exchanged a glance with Amber, and the witch agreed with his assessment. She grabbed his hand with one hand and the adventurer's clothes with the other, and began several short-distance teleports, moving back towards the castle.

Although they could teleport directly to the first-floor lobby that had been marked beforehand, after the accident just now, Amber dared not perform long-distance teleportation without vision again—given the way the biscuit soldiers had swarmed out before, if they returned to the lobby, they would be instantly overwhelmed by the biscuit soldiers.

Amber focused all her attention on teleportation, while Duke calmly tended to the adventurer's wounds.

"Don't sleep. Even if you feel dizzy, don't close your eyes, understand?"

"I...I can't take it anymore...Duke...Put me down..."

Excessive blood loss is fatal, and the sight of bloody wounds exposed to the air is equally terrifying. This adventurer is on the verge of death, and he himself doesn't want to hold on any longer.

“My name is… Austin… help me give this to my family…”

"I'm not helping you. If you have something to say, go and say it yourself!"

Duke anxiously took out bandages and medicine from his inventory and barely managed to treat Austin's injuries with his nimble one hand. However, he couldn't do anything about the excessive blood loss. Even he couldn't conjure up fresh blood to be transfused into Austin's body. But at that moment, he remembered something: the potion that the Potion Witch had given him yesterday.

There were three potions in total. Because his injuries were healing better than expected, Duke didn't take them and left them in his inventory.

[Item Name: Healing Potion]

[Item Description: This potion is made by the Witch of Magic Potions; it is guaranteed to be of the highest quality.]

[Item Effect: Healing.]

The system only described Eve's potion's effects in two simple words. Duke had no idea how effective the treatment would be, but at this point, he had no choice but to take out a potion as a last resort and forcefully stuff it into Austin's mouth.

An astonishing scene unfolded: Austin's complexion improved at a visible speed, and new granulation tissue even began to grow on the wound that had not yet been fully bandaged. However, the drastic changes in his body caused him to completely faint.

Duke swallowed hard.

This was supposed to be a prescription drug he was supposed to take?

"Did I offend Miss Eve at some point?"

"Then you're doomed. Eve is the most vengeful sister."

"..."

In short, thanks to Eve's potion, Austin's injuries have been temporarily stabilized.

Duke and Amber soon returned to the entrance of Candy Castle and hid in the nearby bushes to observe the situation.

Countless cookie soldiers continued to pour out of the castle, and even new types of soldiers gradually appeared—Duke saw cookie cavalry riding candy horses, cookie mages flying in the air with staffs in hand, and even dragon knights riding on cotton candy dragons!

"It doesn't matter. Even without the new unit, we would still be no match for them. It doesn't matter whether we have the Biscuit Dragon Knight or not."

Now, Duke can only console himself with these words.

"Are you three the outsiders who were ordered to be hunted down by your elder brother?"

Just then, a pleasant voice suddenly rang out behind Duke. He turned around abruptly, and a gorgeous cake dress came into his view first, before he could see the other person's face clearly.

Her face bore a resemblance to Hansen's, but she gave off a completely different vibe from that cannibalistic madman. Duke could see a clear look of worry on her face.

"Miss Greta?"

"Yes, I am Gret."

The newcomer was none other than Grete, whom Duke had been searching for. She was standing right behind them, but neither Duke, with his Intuition Evasion ability, nor Amber, with her highly perceptive senses, noticed her presence before she spoke.

Duke secretly pulled a magic scroll from his inventory, a bead of cold sweat forming on his forehead.

He has never wanted to be strong enough as he does now.

If he were truly a legendary professional, he wouldn't have needed to suppress his anger and run away just now; he could have simply killed Hansen. He also wouldn't need to fear Grete in front of him now, and he can't help but speculate about all sorts of worst-case scenarios.

Princess Candy Castle seemed to sense Duke's nervousness. She carefully took a half step back, afraid of upsetting him, and then said softly, "Don't be afraid, I'm here to help you."

Not far away, a white dragon made of cotton candy flapped its wings, raised its head and let out a deafening roar, but in response, the sound of bones colliding rang out—the bone dragon and the white bone dragon knight sitting on it had also arrived in the sky above the forest.

While the Candy Castle faction rioted due to Duke's provocation, the witch's bone army outside the forest also responded accordingly.

The war between Candy Castle and the Bone Witch is about to break out.

They are the two poles that constitute this alien space.

Regardless of which side wins, the balance of this world will be completely broken. But with Hansen and the old witch alone, this balance will never be broken, and there won't even be any probing battles.

The arrival of Duke, an outsider, disrupted the balance of this world.

Chapter Twenty-Four: "Hello, Stranger"

Since Duke entered this witch's game, he first burned down part of the forest, causing some direct friction between the witch's bone army and the biscuit army. Then he witnessed Hansen eating people, which enraged him and he ordered a pursuit. The biscuit army's military action directly ended the original standoff between Candy Castle and the bone witch, destroying the fragile balance.

War was on the verge of breaking out.

Now let's look back at the clues given by the witch Cecil:

"Defeat the evil ones who disrupt the world order, eliminate the ambitious ones who covet victory, and rescue the innocent and kind-hearted people."

Judging from the current situation, Duke himself seems to be the one who "disrupted the world order."

Oh no, I've become evil.

The evil one is myself.

But if the so-called evil ones are actually players who came to participate in the witch game, then how can we talk about "defeating" them?

Duke shook his head, banishing the absurd thought from his mind, and refocused his attention on Gretel in front of him.

The princess of Candy Castle looked worried as she gazed at the skeletal dragon riders in the sky, her hands clasped together in front of her chest, seemingly hoping that war would not break out. Soon, she noticed Duke staring at her. Seeing such a handsome man looking at her made her blush instantly, and she shyly covered her cheeks.

Before Duke could say anything, Amber, standing to the side, pouted and interrupted Gretel's embarrassment with a disgruntled tone: "You said you came to help us?"

Gretel seemed to realize something and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, I'm here to help you, stranger."

She frantically raised her hands, made a few gestures, and uttered a few obscure syllables.

Duke glanced at Amber, but she shook her head, unable to discern what kind of magic Gret was using. The magic system used by spellcasters from another dimension seemed completely different from that of their world.

After waiting for a moment, they saw the towering tree beside them change; it grew an old human face and slowly said, "Miss Greta, you've come."

“Yes, Grandpa Tree.” Gray nodded. “I want to take these people to meet the ‘Saint’.”

The ancient tree waved its vines in agreement, and then its trunk mysteriously split open into a large hole, inside which was pitch black and nothing could be seen.

"This is a teleportation array."

Amber, an expert in spatial magic, drew her conclusion.

"Who is the Sage?" Duke frowned. "Where does this teleportation array lead to?"

His tone seemed a bit harsh, causing Gret to shrink back timidly. It took her a while to hear her weak reply: "A saint is a saint, this teleportation array leads to where the saint is."

Your words are truly invaluable.

Duke suppressed his urge to complain, while Gretel seemed to realize he had said something pointless. The taciturn Cake Princess stammered for a long time before finally managing to squeeze out a vague explanation: "In short... in short, the Sage will definitely be able to help you. She is also a stranger in this land."

“Outsider?” Duke paused for a moment, glanced back at Austin and Amber who were unable to move easily, and said calmly, “I’ll go with you alone.”

"Duke? Why?"

“His condition isn’t suitable for traveling with us, and he can’t stay here alone.” Duke pointed to the burden beside him. “Take him to Joseph and the others. I don’t know about the other adventurers, but the second-ranked newcomer won’t be taken down so easily. If nothing unexpected happens, Candy Castle will soon be at war with the witch. You can pass this message on to the other adventurers, or help rescue them…”

"I'm worried about you!" Amber interrupted Duke, her voice trembling. "I don't care if this guy lives or dies. What will you do if you encounter danger without me by your side?"

"It's alright." Duke smiled and reached out to ruffle Amber's hair. "On the contrary, you mustn't forget your magic when you encounter a crisis. Wait for me to come back outside. As long as you don't panic, no one can hurt you, little girl."

Amber pouted and glared at Duke.

She could tell that Duke had made up his mind, and she knew that this man would not change his mind because of her.

Finally, she nodded.

"it is good."

So Duke followed Gretel into the teleportation array that had split open in the ancient tree trunk, and disappeared in front of Amber.

The witch stood there bewildered for a moment before pouting and carrying the unconscious Austin on her shoulders, muttering to herself:

"Hmph, so be it if they die. What's the point of saving these idealistic, naive fools who believe rumors and have no brains? And those adventurers too, what's the point of helping a bunch of blind idiots? Wouldn't it be better if the two of us beat the Witch Game? Then we'll go out and claim the prize money, living the high life..."

"...You have to come back, you idiot."

……

Greta led the way, carrying an oil lamp, while Duke followed behind her.

He pondered the entire course of this witch's game up to this point.

Hansen, the witch, Gretel, and the saint.

Evil people, ambitious people, and good people.

So far, he hasn't been able to match the key figures in the alternate dimension with the clues given by the witch one by one, but he doesn't think it's because he's too stupid, but because he hasn't obtained enough useful information yet. At least in Duke's view, the Hansen and the witch he's met are neither "disrupting world order," nor are they particularly "coveting victory" or "ambitious," much less "kind and innocent good people."

Grete's contact with him was brief, making identification difficult.

But one thing is certain—the so-called saint is definitely problematic!

After passing through the teleportation array, Duke and Gretel arrived at a spacious underground cavern. Although Gretel was wearing a tiered dress that restricted movement, she was a spellcaster and could float without touching the ground, flying quite quickly. Duke, being a nimble thief, quickened their pace, and the two soon reached their destination.

In a small, secret stone chamber within an underground cave, the entrance was concealed by a huge boulder, but Grete quickly moved the boulder away using magic.

"We've arrived. This is the abode of the sage."

Gretel said this, but when Duke followed her into the secret chamber of the cave, he saw no one inside, only a long-decayed skeleton and a few pieces of rags that had once been clothes.