I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

Duke muttered to himself in a voice only he could hear, stopping in his tracks as he was about to leave. He turned to Cecil beside him and whispered, "Guangbao, go help Ziyuan and the others. Be careful."

Cecil, who was originally prepared to leave with Duke, suddenly had a gleam in his eyes: "Alright!"

After saying that, she picked up the mythical weapon Cecil she had just acquired and ran to help Ziyuan and the others who were cleaning up the crystal.

Duke?

Their original destination was the parliament's location, a condition set by Duke, who requested to meet the Little Prince's true form. Regarding this, Ida hadn't lied; the Little Prince's "true form" was indeed hidden within the world's rules controlled by the parliament, and the chairman had readily agreed.

Their priority was to finalize the deal with Duke as quickly as possible, securing sufficient mythical weaponry. Duke's plan, however, was to abduct the young prince quickly, then see if he could salvage the mess. If not, he'd leave; if he could, he'd deal with it later.

But now, Duke has changed his mind.

"Elder, we can put the matter of the little prince on hold for now."

"Before that, let me experience firsthand the apocalypse that both floating cities will face."

"Let's just treat this as a rehearsal."

Chapter 396 A Good News and a Bad News 3k5

Amber, holding Duke's hand with one hand and Cecil's hand with the other, used spatial magic to arrive in the sky and stand beneath the ceiling of the floating city's underground world.

Zi Yuan and the others had already begun to eliminate the crystal. In the past ten days, the three major forces of the floating city had dealt with these crystals that appeared out of nowhere several times. The method of dealing with them was very simple: every time a crystal was discovered, heavy firepower and energy attacks were used to directly eliminate everything covered by the crystal, burning the ground into a white expanse of earth.

Although this crystal can assimilate all living things and inanimate objects, it is still unable to absorb energy.

However, on the other hand, in this floating city where there are almost no spellcasters, finding a high-level professional capable of large-scale energy attacks is no easy task. Most of the high-level professionals in this floating city are peasants like Norton, with only the occasional borderline professional like Zi Yuan.

In short, just as Zi Yuan was about to spit fireballs to burn all the crystals, Duke stopped her and said to them, "Don't rush, leave this to us."

The first sighting of these crystals was recorded seven days ago. When they were discovered, they had already assimilated a large area of ​​the underground world of the floating city into a crystal-covered scenic area. It took the four major families a whole day to unleash their hidden spellcaster trump cards and barely manage to destroy all the crystal-covered areas. Everyone had breathed a sigh of relief, but unexpectedly, the next day, these crystals were discovered again in other places.

Over the next seven days, these crystals would appear suddenly and then spread rapidly. No one could understand their pattern of appearance, nor did they know how to stop their assimilation. They could only frantically try to destroy the assimilation areas.

Duke learned a brief overview of the creature from Ziyuan and the others, and then had Amber take him and Cecil into the sky.

As for Xiao Hei, it temporarily left. Duke had confirmed with it that Monica was indeed in the underground world of the floating city. In the two weeks it had been there, it had encountered her several times. So, it sent Xiao Hei to find Monica, who was hiding in the floating city, alive or dead.

"Duke, what should we do?"

Amber asked curiously.

Neither she nor Cecil questioned him about why he was meddling. Kind-hearted Guangbao was naturally willing to save the floating city from its crisis, and Amber did not question his decision.

They all believed that Duke could solve all problems, no matter what kind of apocalypse the floating city faced, Duke would find a solution. But despite their trust, Duke was actually unsure—his decision to participate in the apocalypse in World A was merely a preparation… Duke suspected that when they returned to the floating city in World B, they would face a similar apocalyptic scene.

If he could, he would want to save both floating cities. If he had to choose only one, he would naturally value the floating city in World B more, where his companions, friends, and their families were. Although Duke was a rootless wanderer who had transmigrated to this other world, the people and events that allowed him to take root there all happened in that floating city.

He will not let it be destroyed no matter what.

So let's use this floating city in World A as our guinea pig.

"In short, Guangbao, you give it a try first." Duke pointed to the area of ​​the crystal crystal that was still spreading. You could see Ziyuan and the others evacuating the local floating city residents to prevent them from having accidents in the chaos. "Use holy light to burn some of the crystal crystal."

"Huh? Then why did you stop me from taking action before?"

Duke glared at her and said irritably, "Burn a little! Don't burn too much."

"Oh."

Guangbao pouted unhappily, but his hands didn't hesitate at all. He directly conjured a Holy Light Spear with his bare hands, and then threw it towards the edge of the crystal!

Everyone only saw a flash before their eyes, and the holy light struck the edge of the crystal, igniting the outermost layer. Cecil's holy light was her innate ability, one she had used for decades, mastering it to the point of perfect doneness, even when grilling meat. Under Cecil's control, the crystal stopped spreading outwards, remaining stationary, neither expanding nor shrinking.

Duke pulled out the monocle-like "Mirror of Radiance" from his inventory, then put on the Hearing Aid-like Sound of All Things, and finally pulled out the Argumentative Bronze Mirror from his pocket, holding it in his hand. Under the somewhat strange gazes of Cecil and Amber, he was fully armed.

"The holy light destroyed the structure of the crystals, melting and vaporizing them... Hmm, could it be that they turned into gas and drifted away, which is why they're popping up in all sorts of strange places? Cecil, reduce the firepower a bit."

The obedient Cecil immediately controlled the Holy Light, reducing its intensity to prevent it from melting the crystals instantly. Even after the intensity decreased, the crystals, still burning under the Holy Light, began to stubbornly spread outwards, albeit very slowly.

The "Mirror of Radiance," which displays a large number of parameters and even has a slow-motion playback function, allowed Duke to see the crystals within the holy light. They were resisting the burning of the holy light, especially the newly formed crystals, which were forming very slowly under the burning of the holy light. Every time a brand new and perfect crystal was formed, the holy light would cause it to fail.

But this slowing process also allowed Duke to understand the formation process and principle of these crystals—something similar to a living organism devours the matter of living and dead things, discards and destroys the souls, and transforms them into these crystals.

In other words, these crystals are alive.

Of course, the conclusions drawn by the Voice of All Things and the Bronze Mirror are even simpler and more direct.

A cacophony of sounds emanated from Duke's Voice of All Things. Most of these fragmented sounds were meaningless murmurs, but many of the sounds Duke could recognize were the cries of the floating city's inhabitants—humans who had just been assimilated by these crystals.

Their souls were not yet destroyed; their wails stood out starkly amidst the fragmented, incomprehensible murmurs. But even clearer was the resolute voice of the steel-framed bronze mirror in their hands:

"Those monsters are disgusting, those monsters are disgusting, those monsters are really..."

Duke glanced at the image in the bronze mirror. In the mirror, the crystals were no longer beautiful crystals, but a large number of twisted soul stitched monsters, brutally fusing living beings and dead objects together to form terrifying and unique fusion monsters.

Is this what the crystal looks like?

No, perhaps they are the souls of those monsters.

However, as long as it's not an insurmountable world rule, it's fine; otherwise, the only option is to use legendary destiny or divine fire to fight it head-on.

"Alright, stop repeating yourself." Duke reached out and gently tapped the surface of the bronze mirror, causing the image in the mirror to disappear instantly. "Since you're not pretending to be dead anymore, can you tell me what you are, and what those things are?"

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know..."

Duke thought he might be mistaken. The bronze mirror wasn't repeating itself; it was just creating an infinite number of "echoes" with each sentence it spoke. To Duke, who was wearing the Voice of All Things, it sounded as if the mirror was repeating the same words over and over, but in reality, it only said one sentence.

"You mean you don't know what you are? And you don't know what those monsters are? Then do you know how to kill those monsters?"

"I don't know, I..."

Duke's lips twitched slightly, and he put the bronze mirror away again. The theme of the system's limited-time event, "Beyond the Mirror," seemed to have been concealing from Duke what crucial role the bronze mirror had. So far, it had only been somewhat useful in dealing with that mud tentacle monster; otherwise, it was either a nitpicker or a broken record.

"Fine, I'll have to do it myself."

The key to clearing the Witch Game lies in the "core," which essentially involves manipulating the core of the world's rules and severing the connection between the alternate dimension and the floating city. These actions directly affect the core of the crown-level alternate dimension of the floating city, which is undoubtedly the part that has entered the floating city.

Now that we've determined that these crystals are essentially beings with souls, they're much easier to deal with.

Duke took out the Neon Revolver, raised his hand and casually emptied the remaining magazines, then used Lucky Strike to confirm the magazine order and aimed it at the Crystal Crystal.

The first bullet loaded in the magazine is called "Soul".

"boom--"

A crisp gunshot rang out.

The "Soul" bullets hit the main body of the crystal very smoothly, and then expelled their souls from the crystal. Under the effect of the "Soul" bullets, the monsters' souls slowly and continuously left the crystal.

The crystals, stripped of their souls, became ordinary objects. They lost their ability to expand outwards, and their original resistance to the Holy Light crumbled at the slightest touch. They were defeated by the Holy Light, and even without Cecil controlling the Holy Light to press its advantage, the crystals, having lost their souls, began to collapse on their own.

Such a massive and infinitely proliferating body must be controlled by the soul; once it loses control, collapse is inevitable.

However, the souls expelled from their bodies gradually rose into the air, occupying a large area of ​​the sky in front of them.

The underground world of the floating city was already small, and when those crystal souls appeared in droves, it suddenly occupied the entire simulated sky. It... was not them; all the crystals shared a single, unified soul, and its form was a Frankenstein's monster, a stitched-together composite of everything it had assimilated.

The souls not only rose from the small crystal crystal in front of Duke and the others, but also gradually rose from all parts of the underground world of the floating city, until they were about to cover the entire ceiling of the underground world. Duke and the others, who were originally in the air, saw that something was wrong and quickly returned to the ground.

The hideous and terrifying monster souls remain a unified whole, even though they may have come from different bodies. This is why crystals keep appearing. These tiny, swarming creatures actually share the same soul, just as ants are commanded by the same queen ant.

As long as a single crystal remains, it is not completely destroyed; it can slowly devour living beings and inanimate objects to grow stronger again.

“I have good news and bad news, so I won’t ask for your opinions. The good news is simple: I’ve found a way to deal with the crystal crystals. Right now, all the crystal crystals in the floating city are probably collapsing. As long as we don’t let that soul in the sky return to its body, the crystal disaster in the floating city will soon be over.” Duke shrugged and said to his companions, “The bad news… we need to figure out how to deal with this Frankenstein’s soul. If we don’t destroy it, even if all the original crystal crystals collapse and are destroyed, it can rebuild at any time.”

The president, Zi Yuan, and the others stared in disbelief at the stitched soul that covered the entire simulated sky like dark clouds, finding it difficult to comprehend Duke's words.

How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!

Chapter 397 Clearing the Clouds to Reveal the Divine

Those who live in the underground world are all citizens of the floating city.

Unlike the lower classes living on the ground, the citizens of the floating city should live with dignity, in a safe environment, enjoying abundant resources, and without worrying about being exploited by the four ruthless families who "eat people without blinking an eye," because they themselves occupy the position of exploiters, maintaining their dignity by exploiting the lower classes on the ground.

But in just ten days, the common sense that the residents of the floating city's underground world had always held was easily shattered.

The ever-emerging alternate dimensions have linked with the floating city, and all sorts of malevolent monsters and anomalies threaten everyone's lives. Even the three major forces that protect them are struggling to survive, and the once peaceful underground paradise has suddenly become a living hell.

This stark contrast instilled a deep sense of despair in everyone.

And at that very moment.

The simulated sky that always operated in the underground world, the simulated azure sky and bright sun on the ceiling... were obscured by the dark clouds formed by the ugly and hideous stitched monster souls, and the last bit of blue and bright, warm sunlight that maintained everyone's hopes also disappeared.

despair.

An even greater sense of despair permeated the underground world.

It wasn't just the unsuspecting ordinary residents who felt despair; even the president, Zi Yuan, and others who witnessed Duke release such a monster felt genuine despair. They even felt that letting the crystal crystals develop in the dark was the right answer—at least this would prevent the opening of Pandora's box and the release of the ugly soul that now covered the entire sky.

It seems even more terrifying than the crystal that can assimilate everything.

The natives of World A were somewhat discouraged, but the visitors from the parallel world, led by Duke, seemed to have little negative emotion and were even eager to try.

"This thing is so big, it must feel really good to handle," Cecil Mo said, rubbing his hands together. "Don't try to take it from me."

Amber rolled her eyes and said irritably, "That's a soul, you know. How can you have any 'feel' when you're actually fighting it?"

"Hey. Didn't Talia have much of a feel for the game back then?" Cecil turned to Duke. "I remember she was a spirit too, right?"

"That's a legendary soul. As long as she wants, she can do anything that a living person can do with her soul."

"Huh?" Upon hearing this, Amber's eyes darted around, and she exclaimed excitedly, "Can it do anything? Could it even be... Waaah!"

"Be mindful of the consequences." Duke's lips twitched slightly as he covered Amber's hand, who was about to start a sexual encounter. Duke knew perfectly well what the lewd elf was trying to say. "There are outsiders watching."

Didn't you guys consider the impact when you were making a scene? Honestly, you guys seemed a little too relaxed.

The president and the others, who had been staring in disbelief at the Stitched Soul, were now staring in disbelief at the interaction between Duke and the others. The lack of any tension in their conversation and interaction made the tense crowd feel a little absurd.

Why are they still able to play around so easily under these circumstances?

Logically speaking, the situation in the floating city of World B is better than that in the floating city of World A. However, compared to the intensity of the trials they face, the floating city where Duke and his group come from is much more intense. In World B, even a new generation of backbone forces like Zi Yuan have not actually experienced much training. Perhaps they only occasionally try to control the suddenly appearing world rules. How could they be like Duke and his group, actively participating in the witch game?

From the earliest crown-level witch game Cinderella, to the later battle between Sleeping Beauty and Talia, to the fall of the new city in a world ruled by dinosaurs, to facing legends and gods in the Tower of Babel, to breaking the cycle of reincarnation in a virtual world, and to being directly immersed in malice in Pandora's Box...

Duke and his team have seen it all; what they're facing is just an ugly, enormous, stitched-together soul. Is it as troublesome as Talia, who is also a soul? No matter how difficult it is to deal with, how much more difficult can it be than the mute messengers of the gods? No matter how big or bizarre the formation is, can it be more bizarre than Cinderella's all-powerful wish-granting machine?

Duke and others have long been trained to have mental fortitude as strong as steel.

“Let’s finish this quickly. The effect of the ‘soul’ bullet won’t last long. If it returns to the still-intact crystal body, all our efforts will be wasted,” Duke said softly, then snapped his fingers: “Cecil, make your move.”