I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

In other words, Stephanie doesn't know Ida, and most likely doesn't know the face of the mute person in question, nor does she know the saint Megan.

Did Carol think the secret service didn't need to know about the Aphas's existence, or was it simply that this witch, who was always indecisive and just piled on armor, wasn't qualified to know that the Aphas had been kidnapped by him?

Duke waved his hand, his gaze passing over Stephanie and looking at Annie through her: "So? Let her go?"

"Can……"

In that instant, time seemed to stand still. Duke's consciousness could still think normally in the time-stopped state, but his body was unable to move. On the contrary, little Ida beside him could move freely. She looked around at the world where time had stopped in surprise, and then reached out and poked Duke's stomach, taking advantage of his inability to fight back.

Ten seconds after Duke's perception, a figure descended from the sky and landed heavily on the open ground not far from them, and then the time-stop effect was lifted.

"Duke, Annie is here too?"

The person who appeared in Duke and the others' field of vision was none other than Carol, the lord of the floating city. She smiled and waved to them.

Duke jolted awake and grabbed the armored witch beside him. The nearly ten layers of protective magic that Stephanie had just stacked shattered in an instant before his divine body.

Stephanie: Where are my nails? I just finished stacking so many nails! Does this make sense?!

Duke ignored Stephanie's astonishment, pulled her into his arms, grabbed her by the neck, and then shouted nervously at Carol:

"Don't come any closer, or I'll kill you!"

Leave slip

The first witch game of this volume is about to begin, so I need to brainstorm some ideas for the content. Please give me a moment to think it over.

Sigh, I don't have enough words, so I'll just write a simple little skit instead.

If the previous volume was Guangbao's show, then the question is, who should be the "female lead" in this volume?

First of all, she really likes Duke.

Secondly, she is very mysterious, which is related to the foreshadowing that has never been revealed.

At the same time, she possesses great strength and a striking, distinctive personality.

Last but not least, her position in the floating city is extremely important.

Carol: Then wouldn't that mean...?

Little Ida: That's right, it's me!

Chapter 305 Who are you calling a ruthless killer? How did you know?

Stephanie used magic to report Duke's information to her superior, definitely not directly to Carol. Therefore, when Carol appeared, Duke, Annie, and Stephanie all showed expressions of astonishment. The person who should be here wasn't the current lord of the floating city!

Duke felt like he was in a dungeon, and the main tank had just pulled off the first mob when the final boss suddenly spawned right in front of him, catching him completely off guard.

Why did you have to go against the grain? Shouldn't you have kept sending low-level monsters over to me to level up until I could stand up to a legendary monster head-on before appearing in front of me?

However, Duke reacted much faster than Stephanie. In an instant, he took a potentially useful measure. He grabbed the armored witch, breaking through the ten layers of magical protection she had built up in a flash, and held her hostage, threatening Carol in a stern voice:

"Don't come any closer, or I'll kill you!"

Carol looked at Duke with a half-smile, and before she could even speak, Duke felt a little guilty.

She knew that Duke, given his personality, would not lay a hand on the "innocent" Stephanie. In fact, if he could, he would rather not oppose Carol. If it weren't for Little Ida by his side, he would never have chosen to stand against the floating city.

As a smart man, Duke would prefer to make rational decisions, such as sticking close to the current city lord.

Duke, who had been seen through by Carol at a glance, looked away guiltily and glanced at Annie beside him, giving her a look:

What should I do?

Anne's eyes darted around, and in one swift step, she was beside Duke and Stephanie. She took Stephanie, who wasn't wearing her armor yet, from Duke's arms and jokingly repeated, "Don't come any closer, or I'll kill you!"

Carol immediately became serious and quickly said, "I'll back off right now, don't do anything rash!"

"What do you mean?" Duke glared, his beard bristling. "You don't believe me when I say the exact same thing, but you believe Annie instantly? Where's your manners?"

"What do you think? Knowing your personality, you definitely wouldn't lay a hand on her. What about her?" Carol shrugged and glared at Duke, annoyed. "That's Annie, you know."

"Oh, right, that's Anne."

“Hey,” Annie yelled unhappily, “Don’t make me sound like a ruthless killer.”

"Aren't you one?" "Do you kill people without blinking?"

The necromancer, who had retorted to Duke and Carol's unanimous but similarly pointed rebukes, grabbed Stephanie with one hand and scratched his cheek with the other:

"Okay, I really don't blink. What's the point of blinking when killing someone?"

Stephanie: "???"

The reason this armor-layering witch developed this fighting style is because she lacks a sense of security. As a result, not only was her painstakingly layered armor instantly destroyed (seriously, is this guy cheating?), but she was also captured by the floating city lord and a wanted criminal certified by both the underworld and the police. Stephanie, trembling, felt her legs go weak.

Dad! Mom! Your daughter may never see you again... Waaah, Lord of the City, you must save me!

Of course, no one knew what shameful thoughts this secret service agent with extremely low self-esteem was having, at least Carol didn't know—if she had known, the first thing Carol would have done after rescuing Stephanie would have been to fire this shameful agent!

Carol, unaware of Stephanie's thoughts, regained her composure. A slight smile played on her lips as she looked at little Ida, who was hiding beside Duke. The true face of the Mute had already spread throughout the upper echelons of the floating city through His own saintly lineage. Even though the Mute's humanity at this moment appeared to be that of a girl not even ten years old, Carol recognized her identity immediately.

“Duke,” Carol said softly with a smile, “have you separated the aphasic from your own body?”

Duke understood Carol's expression—her reason for wanting him was truly because the humanity and divinity of the mute resided within his body, and therefore, once she saw Ida exist as an independent individual beside Duke, Carol had no reason to oppose him.

He was overjoyed and was about to speak to confirm Carol's thoughts, but at that moment, Ida, who had been hiding behind him, suddenly hugged his leg in fear, then turned into a streak of light and became a dagger that fell into Duke's hand. It looked much stronger than the tattered Lucky Dagger, and its power could be felt from the blade itself.

Duke immediately recognized that the dagger looked exactly like the golden item he had drawn in his ten-pull. Unfortunately, before he could see the dagger's attributes, it and the other nine items were all corrupted by the mute's humanity and merged into one, forming Little Ida's body.

At the same time, he also felt that the humanity of the mute had fallen back into slumber within his body, and the dagger in his hand was just a dagger without any attributes.

That's right, Ida is not a product of Duke separating the aphasic from his own body, but rather an external body obtained by the aphasic who is still inside Duke's body. "Ida" is just a body remotely controlled by the aphasic's humanity.

Duke already knew this from Ida, but here's the problem: couldn't you just turn back into a dagger in front of Carol and tell her clearly that he and the mute are still inseparable and share a body?

This is outrageous!

Duke's lips twitched slightly, while Carol's smile grew cold, and her tone became playful: "Duke, do you have anything else to say?"

"Yes, we have hostages! If you don't want anything to happen to her, don't move!"

Stephanie: "..."

How did the focus of the issue come back to her after all this time?

"Duke." Annie grabbed the poor armored witch and approached Duke, subtly kicking him with her foot, then gesturing with her eyes to the distance, "There."

Duke subconsciously looked in that direction—there was a portal to a witch game that had been opened. Adventurers who were preparing to participate in the game were already walking through the portal one after another. The host of this witch game was standing at the entrance. They all knew her; she was a researcher witch, and her combat power was not particularly strong.

He immediately understood what Annie meant, and then, in the next moment, he activated the Omnipotent Trick!

A violent explosion erupted, sending thick smoke billowing out and engulfing everyone. Duke, emerging from the smoke, pulled out a pocket watch.

[Item name: World. 】

[Item description: "...and then time began to flow."]

[Item Effect: Stops time for 9 seconds.]

He stopped time in front of the Witch of Time.

Chapter 306 The Little Mermaid

During Carol's time stop, although Duke's soul and consciousness could maintain a normal flow, his body was still unable to move due to the time stop, while Annie was unable to even perceive the time stop itself.

After the experiment, only Ida among them could move during Carol's time stop; the others couldn't... Perhaps Cecil, after further growth, would have a chance to resist Carol's abilities, but she can't now.

Faced with this domineering time stop, the hostages they captured were meaningless. Carol could have easily snatched Stephanie from Anne's arms during the time stop, then wiped them all out, and finally leisurely made a cup of coffee before undoing the time stop.

This is the elegant fighting style of the Time Witch.

However, this does not mean that Duke and the others had no choice but to surrender when facing Carol.

Duke's answer was the World Pocket Watch.

Once he stops time first, he can naturally move within his own time stop. No matter how powerful you, Carol, can only move freely within Duke's time stop. You can't stop time twice at the same time, right?

That makes perfect sense!

So, amidst the smoke created by the omnipotent trickery, Duke put the Mute's Dagger into his inventory, paused time, and then picked up Annie and Stephanie, whom she was holding tightly in her arms, and carried them away.

He only had nine seconds; there was no time to separate Annie and Stephanie. So, carrying both of them on his back, he leaped towards the portal at the end of the street.

In the next instant, in a frozen world where time could only be confirmed by physical sensation, the smoke was easily torn apart.

Even without her greatest weapon, Time, Carol remains a legendary witch standing at the pinnacle of the floating city. Though she cannot control time, she still possesses the physical abilities to rival Duke, who has a divine body.

A cryptic smile played on her lips as she followed Duke at a leisurely pace, her high heels shattering several paving stones, forcing him to relentlessly push the limits of his divine body.

Five seconds left!

Four seconds!

three!

two!

One!

In the last second of the nine-second time stop, Duke took a deep breath, his soul once again drawing power from his divine body. His feet did not touch the ground, but rather the air... or rather, the ripples of space, allowing him to leap forward an astonishing distance. For the first time during the time stop, he widened the distance between himself and Carol, landing in front of the spatial portal leading to the Unknown Witch Game.

Duke pushed aside the adventurer in front of him without hesitation, then carried Annie and Stephanie into the Witch Game.

Then, the effects of the World Watch ended as Duke and his companions entered the portal's range. In the final moments, Duke heard the witch hosting the witch game behind him utter her unremarkable blessing:

"I wish you all good luck."

Then, they left this world.

Carol was a step behind Duke and also landed in front of the portal. At the last moment, she actually had the opportunity to stop time and keep Duke and the other two from rushing into the portal, but she did not choose to do so. Instead, she watched them enter the witch game in front of her.

She shrugged and turned to the witch hosting the event beside her to confirm, "What kind of witch game is this?"

"Eh... Eh? Lady Carol?" The host witch was stunned. She was first startled by Carol's sudden appearance, and then she became excited, as if she had met her idol. She hurriedly replied, "It's the witch game 'The Little Mermaid'!"

"Okay, let's get back to work, sister."

Carol nodded. She already knew what the witch's game was about to take place; she was only asking to confirm. After asking, she turned and left, with no intention of "guarding the corpse" again, muttering to herself as she walked:

“I hope this ‘Little Mermaid’ is really similar to the fairy tales you and I have told each other, Duke.”