I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

Cecil pulled the tip of the gun I was thinking of from the barrel and said calmly:

“I don’t know any Bugatti, but if he can get out of the Tower of Babel, I’ll send him to meet you.”

Chapter 239 Birds of Paradise and Neurotic Drugs

"Done, Duke!" Cecil skipped over to Duke, eager to show off. In front of the two near-legendary figures, she was the ruthless and cold-blooded Radiant Witch; but in Duke's presence, she instantly transformed back into the adorable Radiant Sprite. Radiant Sprite, hands on her hips, said proudly, "I did a great job, didn't I?"

"Yes, that's great."

Duke said sincerely that he had never expected Cecil to be able to kill all the escapees. Guangbao completely exceeded his expectations, using the Heavenly Maiden Scattered Spear to kill everyone.

His gaze involuntarily fell on the "I Think" spear in Cecil's hand.

This spear was forged based on the raging silver dragon and the angel of judgment, but in essence, it is Cecil's legendary destiny. After she combined her two primary weapons into this magnificent spear, she essentially made it a part of her own body.

Duke asked curiously, "Aren't there any restrictions on using Legendary Destiny? Can you use it however you want?"

"Not really." Guangbao shook her head, then magically sheathed the spear in her hand. After putting away "I Want," her face turned slightly paler, but she regained her original rosy complexion after catching her breath. "The consumption is much greater than in normal condition, so I can't maintain the 'I Want' state all the time. However, my magical power and stamina are quite impressive among quasi-legendary spellcasters, so I shouldn't have any problems with short-term combat."

Cecil was a true genius witch. Her magical power, mana regeneration speed, and energy control were all top-tier, even in a city like Floating City, a place dominated by spellcasters. If she had chosen the path of a mage instead of a knight from a young age, she would probably be even further ahead.

However, it is precisely because of her experience as a paladin that Cecil has now embarked on her own path as a radiant witch.

It was precisely because of these innate advantages that Cecil was always stronger than other professionals of the same level—her magical power and mana regeneration speed made her attack output a notch above others of the same level, and her meticulous energy control allowed her to easily create many of the most coveted spells. In the past, Cecil rarely worried about getting into a prolonged battle, because there were almost no people who could outlast her in a prolonged fight.

Even Cecil, with her incredible stamina, couldn't sustain the drain of the legendary destiny for long. One can only imagine how much the legendary destiny "I want" consumes—just kidding, Cecil is definitely a super reservoir among spellcasters. If it were another less powerful legendary spellcaster, like the Rainbow Witch, she would probably be drained dry after just one use of "I want."

No wonder the system's counterfeit "I Want" also has a 24-hour cooldown period.

Duke shook his head, but his gaze quickly shifted from Guangbao to the two near-legendary corpses. The veteran hunter Cecil did the same; they exchanged a glance, confirming that the other was an expert.

After defeating a powerful enemy, the first thing to do is naturally to loot the spoils!

The two of them first walked together towards Cheetos.

Chido's body was burned to ashes by Cecil's holy light, but surprisingly, his clothes and props were completely unharmed. His clothes were scattered on the ground, and the ashes of his human body were piled up in his clothes, which were blown everywhere by the breeze that had blown into the conference room.

"How did you do this?"

“I adjusted the Holy Light, turning it into a Purifying Flame that only burns ‘souls burdened with guilt’,” Cecil said with a smug look. “The soul and body are closely connected. When this sinner’s soul is burned, his body will also feel the pain of being burned by the flames, spontaneously combusting from the inside out. But this Holy Light flame will not burn inanimate objects.”

"How come you're so skilled? How many bad guys have you killed?"

"During my years as a hunter, my targets weren't just ordinary monsters. I killed all sorts of bad guys, bandits, and corrupt rulers. I killed quite a few," Cecil said proudly. "And that's not all I know. You see, I'm a Hall of Fame monster hunter, and my main fighting method is like a blazing holy light. Without some tricks to preserve my loot, how could I get rich? I can save inanimate objects, preserve the valuable parts of my prey, and even control the holy light to only burn the brain of my prey, packing the rest of the body home."

“Cow, Cecil, cow.”

Duke sighed, then looked down and began rummaging through Qi Duo's clothes.

This drug-addicted monk was as poor as he looked; there were no magical items in his clothes. Duke only found a pair of boxing gloves and a few bottles of his unfinished psychotropic drugs.

[Item Name: Neurotic Drug]

[Item Description: An addictive drug containing special ingredients.]

[Item Effects: The user will experience a short-term increase in strength and agility of 2-3 units, a significant increase in sensitivity to the soul and energy, and will enter a state of spiritual excitement. This is addictive. Long-term use may cause mutations in the body and soul, and may lead the user into a state of "devout" faith.]

Duke squinted and quickly pulled out another bottle of medicine from his inventory.

[Item Name: Bird of Paradise]

[Item Description: An addictive drug containing special ingredients.]

[Item Effects: The user will experience a short-term increase in strength and agility of 1-2 units, a significant increase in sensitivity to the soul and energy, and will enter a state of spiritual excitement. This is addictive. Long-term use may cause mutations in the body and soul, and may lead the user into a state of "devout" faith.]

When Duke and Cecil first arrived in the underground world of the floating city, they destroyed a small organization that did shady business, and what they sold was an addictive drug called Bird of Paradise... According to the system's judgment, Bird of Paradise and the nerve drug have almost the same effects, only differing in the magnitude of the effect, and both have a very suspicious effect of "putting the user into a 'devout' state of faith".

The leader of that gray organization is a follower of the mute, and the nerve drug faction that sells nerve drugs is even a faction of the mute. In this light, it goes without saying which deity the "devout" state of faith entered by long-term drug use is worshipping.

"What do you mean? The mute deity who guards the floating city, could it be the guardian deity of drug addicts?"

Chapter 240 Indeed, killing and looting are the primary productive forces.

Duke frowned.

He had a strange feeling that most of the people he had met who called themselves "aphasic" were bad guys.

Aside from Carol and Eve, all the Aphasic believers Duke has encountered so far have either been madmen like Talia, riddle-makers like Norton, or drug addicts like Chido. Even Megan was an "ambitious person" who disrupted the normal order of the alternate dimension back then.

When he arrived in the underworld, the mute people he encountered, though from various factions, were all villains.

So, are the mute people supposed to be "saviors of villains"? Gods who specifically protect criminals? Is that why addicts have even developed addictive drugs to make people believe in Him?

This conjecture is obviously unreliable.

The Mute is certainly not a god created specifically for criminals. He not only protects addicts, but every living being in the floating city can contact Him through prayer and receive miracles from Him.

But that's where the problem lies.

The mute deity is in a very bad state.

He was a mute among humans who was elevated to godhood at the moment of his assassination.

It was precisely because of this accident that He was basically an idiot.

This world of swords and magic is filled with gods, who possess both divinity and humanity; essentially, they are simply more powerful beings. Unlike the legends who hone their own legendary destiny, the gods choose to align themselves with the world, wielding the power to control its rules—a path strikingly similar to the legends' own legendary destinies.

Legends and gods are two parallel paths that the strong can choose from.

However, due to an unexpected event during the astute person's ascension, His situation was quite different from that of ordinary deities.

The human side fell, while the divine side was elevated.

Such an unexpected event leaves the aphasic person almost devoid of any clear consciousness or humanity; they become merely a divine responder, mechanically responding to prayers and bestowing miracles. Whether a believer is frivolous or fanatical, they may receive the aphasic person's "favor" and divine blessing.

His judgment was far too weak compared to that of a normal deity.

Just like Bitcoin in Duke's previous life, its anonymity, unlike fiat currencies, made it a favorite of organized crime worldwide, who used it for large-scale monetary transactions. And because the mute's judgment differed from that of normal deities, the villains hidden in the shadows of the floating city coveted its cheap and effective divine power and miracles.

Damn it, how many of these gangsters in the underground world of the floating city who call themselves "the mute" are actually devout believers?

Take the Aphas of the Tower faction as an example. The leaders of the Tower faction, led by Alexander and Millie, are less devoted to the Aphas and more to Talia. Their reason for worshipping the Aphas is solely based on Talia's faith. On the other hand, Talia herself, because she knew the Aphas before she became a god, has some degree of faith (which doesn't affect the extent to which she sold Megan or had a divine avatar restrain Ms. Scarlet).

"How pitiful."

Duke smacked his lips and shook his head.

And these bird-of-paradise and nerve drugs are mostly conspiracies devised by some aphasic individuals. It's unclear whether they're used to create loyal warriors, to make money, or to generate more and bigger news.

In short, it's not going to be a good thing.

Duke has no interest in getting involved in this mess for the time being. His long-term goal is to help Cecil destroy the old order of the underworld, and his short-term goal is to rescue Megan, who is imprisoned in the Tower of Babel. These two goals are only slightly related to the two addictive drugs. He won't waste his energy on irrelevant things unless there are more clues to prove that these two things are related.

"That poor bastard Qido only has this much stuff: a few bottles of potions, a pair of poorly enchanted armor pieces, and what about the Rainbow Witch?"

The spellcaster must be hundreds of times richer than the monk, right?

This is true.

The Rainbow Witch's body was better preserved than in Chitto, and the loot she had previously carried was more numerous and valuable—they even found a storage ring on her hand!

After Duke's approval (because he had the system's inventory), Cecil happily took the storage ring. This thing was not only expensive, but also extremely rare. Even a wealthy woman like Cecil couldn't buy it—she had been carrying a coffin around because she didn't have any storage items to store her various weapons.

The Rainbow Witch's storage ring contained a vast amount of spellcasting materials, ranging from expensive diamonds to the blood of various creatures, as well as saltpeter and sulfur. There were also several staves of different attributes. Duke, a half-spellcaster, chose a useful short staff as his weapon, while Cecil kept the rest for the time being.

[Item Name: Source of Pain]

[Item Description: "There is no pain in nightmares; pain keeps you away from nightmares."]

[Item Effect: Enhances the effects of Enchantment spells and enchants the 7th-level Enchantment spell "Lawful Torment" (causes a wave of intense pain to a visible creature within range, causing it to suffer intense pain for the next ten seconds) (Cooldown: 1 hour).]

Tricksters are generally more skilled in enchanting and illusion magic, and this staff is perfect for Duke. As for the other staffs, they seem to be developing in the direction of the powerful and explosive Evocation magic. Unfortunately, among the witches Duke knows, there doesn't seem to be any Evocation magic casters. The one that most resembles an Evocation magic turret is the Lightbear, which has its own unique style. Otherwise, all these staffs could be given away as gifts.

Besides the staff, Duke also found an item in the Rainbow Witch's storage ring and took it directly from Cecil.

[Item Name: Rainbow Core]

[Prop Description: Seven colors of rainbow light—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet—reflect the myriad aspects of the world.]

[Item Effect: The Rainbow Witch's greatest masterpiece. Although it appears as just a seven-colored crystal, it is actually an extremely powerful weapon. Infusing magic into it and casting spells will imbue the spells with a "rainbow" effect, resulting in random variations.]

Duke tried it out, using the crystal to cast a level 0 spell, "Fire Arrow," which perfectly highlighted the green light—then, the fire arrow he released turned into a green magical poison, acid arrow.

"This thing is fun."

He happily put away the Rainbow Core. The item he got from killing those two near-legendary figures was almost as good as the item he got from the system lottery. He held the Rainbow Core and grinned foolishly at Cecil, looking rather happy and carefree.

But just then, Noel's polite and calm voice rang out behind them:

"Mr. Duke, Miss Cecil, have you finished packing up the spoils?"

Chapter 241 Internal Strife

"Mr. Duke, Miss Cecil, have you finished packing up the spoils?"

Noelle's first appearance before Duke and the others was incredibly elusive; aside from Lightbear, no one noticed him before he spoke. This time, even Cecil was surprised to find him silently creeping up behind them, giving them both a fright.

Why do you walk so silently, like a cat?

"Meow!"

The little black creature, which had somehow reverted to its original form, raised its paws in dissatisfaction, indicating that the cat should not spread rumors or slander it. The cat had just been startled by this elusive human.

"Feel sorry."

Noel said without any apology that he appeared to be a very polite young man, but in Duke's opinion, he was essentially an arrogant person who did not think he was inferior to anyone. His politeness was less a pretense and more a cold indifference that kept people at a distance.

“All packed up.” Duke raised an eyebrow and asked somewhat coldly, “Is there anything else? You’re not trying to say that we were able to obtain these spoils thanks to the silent members of your Tree of Life faction, are you?”

“Of course not. These spoils are the reward for your powerful strength. What do they have to do with us?” Noel shook her head. “I just want to ask the three of you when you plan to depart for the Tower of Babel.”

Duke had originally planned to pack up his spoils and head to the Tower of Babel, but Noel's urging made him rebellious. He immediately retorted, "It's not now, anyway. We're not some shady organization like yours. We have a good relationship with the floating city officials. We can go anytime."

"With a fragment of Talia's soul in your possession, you probably can't cooperate with the floating city's officials, right?" Noel said with a half-smile. "Besides, without knowing what Norton is planning to do at the Tower of Babel, can you really sit back and relax? What would your reaction be if I told you that Mr. Norton is planning to use Saint Megan to bring the true form of the Mute to the floating city?"

Duke witnessed the battle between the mute's divine avatar and Lady Scarlet in the Sleeping Beauty world; it was a clash of gods, leaving mortals to suffer. If that battle were to be replicated in the Floating City, it would probably send the city crashing down from the sky!

Even so, Duke still didn't want to go along with Noelle's pace. Besides, if the sky were to fall, there were always higher-ups to watch over it. Even if the Mute Ones really did descend like gods, there were still Lady Scarlet, Carol, and Eve to fight them, right? So, Duke was about to continue making excuses, but then he heard Noelle's next words:

“Mr. Duke, Miss Cecil, I hope you can kill Norton inside the Tower of Babel.”

Upon hearing this, everyone present was stunned. Duke narrowed his eyes, while Guangbao's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you Norton's nephew? Why do you want us to kill Norton?"