I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

"It's no use. No matter how many times you kill me, I will stand here again." The Pope, now transformed into a monster of holy light, laughed loudly. "Cecil, I will not let you leave! Never, ever!"

He's farting.

Cecil's left hand was suddenly pulled, and then, a sentence suddenly popped into her head, which was filled with negative emotions, and jolted her back to reality.

If His Holiness the Pope kept his word, she wouldn't have made so many friends, met so many important people, or been able to come to the floating city that held such significance for her.

He was actually just a cult leader with no real skills. The only bad thing he ever did was use Cecil's Holy Light talent to create a cult and launch a few "holy wars" to make a fortune. In reality, he never transformed into a Holy Light monster, and he didn't even dare to breathe loudly in front of Carol. Back then, the Time Witch could have easily manipulated him, no more difficult than crushing an ant.

Cecil couldn't understand it, but someone in her mind cursed it out for her.

She lowered her head and looked at her left hand. She could feel a sense of security from the touch of her left hand being held. It was a sense of security that she would have someone to support her no matter what she did, and it was also a sense of belonging.

Cecil once made a grand vow before him to overthrow the order of the underworld—but unexpectedly, this matter was simpler than Cecil had anticipated. After the deaths of the three legends, Norton, Bugatti, and Talia, it was not difficult to destroy the order of the floating city's underworld. She basically completed it in just a few days.

Logically speaking, she should have already entered the legendary realm, but unexpectedly she is stuck outside the bottleneck again. Why is that?

Because... he didn't know.

Cecil stared at his left hand and suddenly laughed happily.

Because she remembered his name.

"Duke, I really want to see you."

Cecil's right hand held the Spear of "I Want," which melted into a radiant holy light that merged into her body. Then, in her left hand, the brilliant light condensed into the power of her wish.

This moment.

The Radiant Witch has completely taken control of the legendary destiny.

Cecil became a legend.

Chapter 380 Right Hand and Left Hand

Duke gasped for breath, the dagger "Mythical Age" in his hand stained with blood. A gaping wound ripped from his waist, as if someone had just ripped a chunk of flesh from it. Blood continued to gush forth, and his face was deathly pale. But the power of a divine body was undeniable; even as blood gushed from his body like a fountain, it did not collapse. Instead, it gradually regained its vitality, and the wound began to heal.

Talia, who had been ruthlessly cut open by Duke, lay on the ground covered in blood. Her twisted body was still struggling, displaying her usual life force that seemed to come back to life and never leave her. However, as a "tumor" that grew out of Duke's body, she lost the protection of Duke's soul and divine body and quickly lost her life force.

"you……"

Talia seemed to want to say something, but Duke, whose mind was completely controlled by various negative emotions, didn't want to listen to her. Ignoring his still bleeding waist, he took two steps forward, then raised his right foot high and stomped heavily on Talia's head.

Torn between rage, hatred, and fear, Duke crushed Talia's head with a single stomp, splattering his filthy black blood onto his face, but it did nothing to awaken the already crazed Duke.

Talia was an enemy who troubled Duke for a long time, and was arguably the most difficult and memorable enemy he had faced since his transmigration. Norton, who was later defeated by Duke, and Carol and Ida, whose intentions were unclear and who were both enemies and friends, were probably stronger than Talia, but none of them gave off the same sense of oppression as Talia.

It's worth noting that Duke couldn't defeat Talia until the very last moment.

However, this once formidable rival is no longer taken seriously by Duke.

At this moment, Duke's enemy is no one but himself.

What can I still believe in?

Can I really trust myself?

Has my memory been altered?

"Who is deceiving me? And why?"

Suspicion is the vanguard that breaks down defenses.

Duke gradually awakens and then fades again, caught between lucidity, confusion, and a state of semi-consciousness, gradually losing his ability to think. Immersed in a sea of ​​darkness, he is constantly overwhelmed by a torrent of negative emotions. If Duke's mental state were impeccable, he could maintain his "God's-eye view" as he did at the beginning, without any emotional fluctuations, leaving these negative emotions to fester and go to waste.

However, that's precisely the terrifying aspect of this Pandora's box.

Even if you have the mental fortitude of someone like Duke before, your defenses will eventually be breached under endless onslaught, not to mention that it will find the points that allow you to break through.

What truly broke Duke's defenses was the fact that he had forgotten his memories.

The Witch Conquest System wasn't initially called that. It only revealed its name after Duke completed the "Newbie Series Quests" and finished the "System Initialization." But here's the problem: before that, it hadn't hidden its true name—the Star Chart System.

However, Duke forgot about this important information because of the "Little Prince" witch game.

He simply didn't have the energy to think about the connection between this "Star Chart System" and the "Star Chart" he received from Lady Scarlet. Under the influence of the Dark Sea, when Duke gave up maintaining his sense of self and began to ponder the philosophical question of "whether he could trust himself," he lost—the Dark Sea swallowed his soul.

Will he one day regret what he is doing now?

Will he one day realize that everything he has is meaningless?

He was already alone in this world. If he couldn't even trust himself, what reason did he have to live?

Duke bent over in pain, overwhelmed by a sense of depression mixed with loneliness, fear, and self-abandonment. He clenched his fists tightly, not knowing what he wanted to do, but instinctively trying to make his fists, only to unexpectedly feel resistance.

He encountered resistance of varying degrees from his left and right hands.

Duke was slightly taken aback.

The two different sensations jolted him awake from his pain and made him look down at his hands.

soon.

A sensation of being soaked in water washed over his right hand, and then a torrent of knowledge rushed into his body, cleansing away the negative emotions and replacing them in Duke's mind. Meanwhile, a brilliant holy light shone in the palm of his left hand. This light, as if possessing its own soul, slightly twisted towards Duke, who was looking at it, as if in salute, before plunging into Duke's body.

A warm feeling filled Duke's soul. He closed his eyes comfortably. The holy light drove away the remaining negative emotions, making Duke feel more relaxed than ever before. It also made his soul as clear and transparent as a newborn. The sea of ​​knowledge was also washing over this clear soul. Useful and useless knowledge began to accumulate and pile up like a mountain.

Duke slowly exhaled.

He himself may not be trustworthy, and his memories and the personality formed by those memories are all questionable, but in this world, he is no longer alone.

Duke extended his right and left hands, which respectively held Cecil's left hand and Amber's right hand. In the boundless, dark sea, no matter where the currents swept them during their unconsciousness, they would never be alone.

"Hope lies at the bottom of Pandora's box."

Witch games always have a "core," and as long as you can reach that "core," there are countless ways to "beat the game." This principle holds true in Duke's world, and it also holds true in parallel worlds, in this floating city intricately intertwined with other dimensions.

At the heart of this Pandora's box lies a faint glimmer of light hidden deep within the dark sea, a "hope" obscured by endless negative emotions, disasters, and chaos.

"Let's go."

Duke opened his eyes.

The pitch-black tide appeared in his field of vision. Apart from the faint light on the seabed, he could see nothing. Even Amber and Cecil, who were right next to him, could not be seen because of the dark tide. However, their hands were still clasped together, and Duke could feel their presence through his sense of touch.

He gently tugged at them and quickly received a delighted response from them, indicating that they had regained consciousness much earlier than he had.

That's great, they're all safe and sound.

Dukean made up his mind and moved towards the faint light deep in the sea, intending to convey his purpose to the girls through this action:

"It's time to go."

Chapter 381 Skipping class is fun for a while, but skipping class all the time is even more fun

Duke, Cecil, and Amber held hands and swam into the depths of the dark sea.

However, the three of them were in similar yet different situations. Duke held Amber and Cecil's hands tightly, feeling incredibly vulnerable. If he couldn't feel the warmth in their hands, he might be swallowed up by the negative emotions of the Dark Sea again.

Amber and Cecil, on the other hand, don't have this problem.

It's fair to say that in this witch game, these two girls have far more advantages than Duke. Amber is swimming around with ease thanks to the gift left to her by her "future self." Although she can't see the way forward in the dark sea, she is completely unaffected by negative emotions.

At this moment, the seductive elf was pondering the spatial magic she had just learned. Compared to her previous time magic, her talent in spatial magic was obviously much stronger. She might pay a heavy price for using time magic once, and continuous use would turn that price into permanent damage. However, she did not have such worries when using spatial magic.

Even now, she can use it easily without worrying about any side effects.

This lewd elf, lost in her own thoughts, even began to wonder if this time-manipulation technique could be used in marital harmony—if she does this when Duke is initiating, could she make Duke do that, and then make herself do that too… or, when she's on top, could she use it to help Duke do this and that…

The imagination of the lewd elf can only leap so far on this level.

It's fortunate that Duke can't see in the Dark Sea, otherwise, he would have known from Amber's slightly flushed face that this lewd elf was thinking about something lewd again.

Meanwhile, Cecil, on the other side, was doing quite well in a completely different way. She was not immune to the negative emotions of the Dark Sea, and these evil things were still trying to invade her body, but she used her legendary destiny to resist them. At the same time, her gaze could penetrate the waters of the Dark Sea and see her companions who were right next to her.

Guangbao looked at Duke's profile, his face even redder than Amber's, who was blushing. He would steal a glance at Amber every now and then to make sure she couldn't see him, and then continue to be captivated by Duke's profile.

She made all her wishes come true, whether it was the wish to "meet Duke" or to go even further...

Cecil glanced at Amber again, noticing that she had simply closed her amber eyes because she couldn't see or hear her companions. Upon seeing this, Guangbao was secretly delighted. He gently pulled Duke's left hand closer to him.

Then, like a chick pecking at rice, she gently touched Duke's cheek with her lips.

The kiss was too quick and too light for Duke, who was still in the dark sea and affected by a large number of negative emotions, to feel at all. So he continued forward as if nothing had happened.

Upon witnessing this scene, Cecil was overwhelmed with mixed feelings.

On one hand, her little "action" went unnoticed by Duke and Amber, which suited her perfectly. She had told Amber long ago that she wouldn't steal her man, so why was she now going to kiss Duke? Cecil liked Duke, but she didn't want to break up with Amber because of this.

On the other hand, now that she had mustered the courage to act, she naturally didn't want Duke to remain completely unaware. She wanted this to be a secret shared by both of them, rather than her being the sole keeper of the secret.

but……

Cecil's gaze quickly shifted from the cheek he had just kissed, moving down to his thin lips.

As it turns out, humans are indeed incredibly greedy creatures. Guangbao, who was just blushing from being kissed on the cheek, immediately thought of taking it a step further.

Now she dares to think about kissing her little mouth. I don't even want to think about what she'll want to do once she leaves Pandora's box.

Of course, Duke had no idea what Amber and Cecil were thinking or doing. He didn't even feel Guangbao kiss him, which meant he was at a great disadvantage.

All he knew was that the girls had given him the strength to pull himself together, and that he needed to complete this witch's game and lead them out of Pandora's box.

First, the connection between the alternate dimension and the floating city in this parallel world is completely different from that in "Witch Game." This is closer to a "Crown-Level Witch Game," where the rules of each different world directly affect the floating city. Therefore, this dark sea is different from ordinary Witch Game; it is not an alternate dimension, but rather the interior of Pandora's Box.

In other words, if they were in a normal witch game, Pandora's Box would be the core of the alternate dimension, and they could complete the witch game by destroying Pandora's Box.

Unfortunately, being trapped inside Pandora's Box, they couldn't easily dismantle it by force. Therefore, the traditional solution for clearing the witch's game using the "core" was to cross the Dark Sea and reach the location of the Light of Hope. However, they had been submerged for a considerable time, and their distance from the Light of Hope seemed unchanged.

As the saying goes, "Looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death, and looking at the light makes Duke University die."

At the same time, Amber cannot be allowed to use spatial jumps with them. Not only is it impossible to communicate verbally now, Duke cannot accurately express his meaning to Amber, but Duke also will not allow Amber to use spatial magic in this dark sea; it would be far too unsafe.

It wasn't that he didn't want Amber to take risks (otherwise she would get angry), he just felt that this operation would drag all three of them into danger.

So, are there any other ways to achieve a rapid descent?

Duke began to examine the two gifts he had just received.

The knowledge gained from immersing oneself in the sea of ​​knowledge, and that glimmer of holy light that seemed to be the legendary destiny of Cecil.

The knowledge Duke gained seemed unrelated to his current predicament; it was a method to help the gods ignite their divine fire. For Duke, who was neither a god nor wanted to become one, it seemed to be of no use whatsoever… But here's the question: what if it could directly break the deadlock?

The "core" of the alternate dimension, simply put, is something related to the world rules of this alternate dimension's core. It is precisely because it is related to the core world rules that various actions taken against the core are necessary to pass the Witch Game.