I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

“But now, we can basically figure out the number of playthroughs so far.” Duke waved the Lucky Dagger in his hand, not caring whether the others understood or not (because he omitted a large part of the words about the system, so the others did not understand), “I undoubtedly used the Lucky Dagger in the playthrough where Joan survived, and I was able to use it again in Joseph’s second playthrough, which proves that the two playthroughs you experienced were the third and fourth playthroughs respectively.”

Joseph understood Duke's logic, and he frowned: "Your Lucky Dagger has a three-day cooldown, which means you're on the seventh playthrough now?"

“If it’s a seventh playthrough, then we’ll have to squeeze in the playthrough where you changed the pocket watch’s time, and the playthrough where Bane changed the pocket watch’s time, plus the different routes that Kazuki is currently choosing. Time is too tight.” Duke shook his head. “It will most likely be a tenth or thirteenth playthrough, or even more… Joseph, don’t be too optimistic. Your team strategy may have already failed five or six times.”

Joseph lowered his head in dejection.

He was initially confident that he could save Joan, but when the harsh reality confronted him, he had to admit that... he seemed unable to save Joan.

"Help me, Duke."

Duke glanced at him and suddenly laughed: "Otherwise, what do you think I've spent so much time on this game for?"

Isn't it all about ensuring everyone can safely complete the game?

"I've said it before, watch me clear the game in one life. No matter how many playthroughs I've had before, this is the final one. I'll lead everyone through the game, and neither you, the floating city, nor the world will be in any danger!"

If it fails, just ignore it. Anyway, you won't remember it, and if you don't remember it, you won't feel embarrassed.

Duke smacked his lips, and while the others were overjoyed by his encouragement, he began rummaging through his inventory.

He didn't find any clues left by himself from previous playthroughs in his inventory, which clearly proved that he didn't want to know anything. In other words, knowing too much might interfere with their actions.

However, the "Truth Codex" itself is a clue: why is it the item that increases Natasha's affection? What questions did Duke ask in the previous playthrough, and what answers did he receive?

Duke couldn't give accurate answers to these questions, but the Duke from the previous game was still Duke, and no one in the world knew "Duke" better than himself.

Duke will only ask one question:

What is the "core" of this witch game?

The fact that no answer was left means that Duke's current guess is correct and his solution is feasible. The only problem is how to implement this solution... or rather, how to make everyone live until midnight?

In fact, Duke had already given a hint about this in the previous game.

"So, the simplest and most direct method really works after all?"

Duke pulled out the Lucky Dagger and Neon, used Lucky Strike while reloading his bullets.

Under the effect of a lucky shot, the neon bullets will be arranged exactly as Duke intended.

Then, he took out his pocket watch to check the time before raising the neon sign... and suddenly fired two shots into his own chest!

"Boom—Boom—"

"Huh?" "Holy crap?!" "Duke?"

After two loud gunshots, the astonished voices of his companions rose and fell; none of them had expected Duke to suddenly do such a thing.

The first bullet of the neon was "evolution," and the second bullet was "copying."

Duke previously stated that he would never use "evolution" against himself or his partners.

I'm sorry, that was a lie.

8:59.

In the still of the night, before the wishing tree has even begun to awaken.

Duke began its "evolution".

Chapter Seventy-Nine: A Married Witch is Like Water Spilled Away

In the real world, the power of an "evolutionary" bullet isn't that great.

Its mutation direction is uncontrollable, and its effects exceed human calculations, but overall it's not too exaggerated—it's impossible for an ordinary person to evolve into a legendary destiny simply by firing an "evolution" bullet. Let alone an ordinary person, even a level seven or eight sorcerer like Duke couldn't evolve into a legend.

But this is a world where anything can happen.

Duke's aura suddenly expanded, but his body did not undergo any abnormal changes.

Before the Wishing Tree awakens, Duke can still control the development of "wish fulfillment" to some extent by using his self-hypnosis skills. At this time, he stipulates that the direction of evolution is "the body itself does not undergo mutation".

Then everyone saw that strange runes appeared on his body, covering all of Duke's exposed skin from his arms to his cheeks. These runes were outlined in deep black, and the eyes of everyone staring at them seemed to be drawn into them.

力量20、敏捷20、体质20、智力20、感知20、魅力20。

An incredible improvement was achieved at Duke.

Moreover, he just fired not just one bullet, but also a "copy" bullet, which is one of the two bullets that Duke considers to be the highest potential for Neon.

The "copy" bullet can replicate anything it hits, whether the target is a living being or an inanimate object, and no matter how strong the target is. Moreover, the created projection has no consciousness of its own and acts entirely according to the commands of the neon holder.

Duke conducted complex and comprehensive experiments on the neon, among which the most frequent experiments were on "evolution" and "replication". Through these experiments, Duke basically determined that the "evolution" bullet was truly uncontrollable and he was completely unable to summarize its patterns. The effect of the "replication" bullet, on the other hand, was his true trump card.

Duke once used neon to replicate the hero-level Cecil. Within 24 hours, this projection was exactly the same as the original except for the lack of thinking ability. Even the exaggerated combat power of the Radiant Witch, who could form an army all by herself, was completely copied by the projection.

Of course, in a real one-on-one situation, Duke's manually controlled Radiant Witch would definitely be no match for Cecil in person. The Lightbearer's combat intelligence is about the same as Duke's intelligence in puzzle games, so expecting Duke to use "copy" bullets to take on a hero-level enemy is unreliable.

But in situations like this, a "brainless" clone would be incredibly useful.

After Duke's aura suddenly intensified and the clone Duke appeared, everyone looked at Duke with even more confusion. After realizing that his two shots had not only failed to kill them but had actually made him several levels stronger, everyone stopped being nervous and instead looked at Duke with curiosity, wondering what he was going to do.

"I've made up my mind, let's go with the simplest and most direct method."

"Brother Duke," Joseph, looking somewhat dejected, raised his hand, "what's the simplest and most direct method?"

"It's simple—knock everyone out."

Joseph: "?"

"You talk too much nonsense. Let's start with you."

Joseph: "???"

As Duke landed, his clone, whose body was also covered in runes, lowered his center of gravity, gripping the copied "Lucky Dagger" and Neon in his hands. He rushed towards Joseph in one step, obeying Duke's command without hesitation, and punched Joseph.

Clearly, Joseph was completely unprepared for Duke's sudden attack, and with the added boost from the strange runes, Duke and his clones gained combat power far exceeding Joseph's ability to resist. If Mad Song had been in combat mode from the beginning, he might have been able to mount an effective counterattack, but unfortunately, he wasn't.

The clone Duke punched Joseph squarely in the left cheek, followed by a clean left hook that knocked Joseph to the ground.

"Joseph?! Duke, what are you doing?!"

Joan screamed; her injuries hadn't healed, yet she still struggled to use her unique spell, but the clone Duke suddenly raised his hand, lifted the neon gun, and pulled the trigger on her.

The third bullet is "Sheep Transformation".

"What?"

The transformation spell only lasts for 5 minutes, but during those 5 minutes, Joan really does turn into a little lamb. After instantly defeating the Dream Witch, the clone Duke swiftly appeared next to the little lamb Joan and knocked her unconscious with a chop to the ground.

Then, the clone Duke looked at Bane.

"Hmph, you think you can mess with me?" Bane sneered. Although he had lost an arm, he was still one of only two hero-level professionals present. Duke and his clone could easily handle elite-level Joseph and Joan, but dealing with him wouldn't be so easy. "You brat, I'll teach you a lesson today—"

“Cecil, Amber,” Duke turned to the girls beside him, “help.”

"what?"

Guangbao had already taken precautions and prepared to deal with Duke's attack when she saw him suddenly attack. However, upon hearing Duke's cry for help, she instinctively raised her hand and gathered several beams of holy light.

"Holy crap, no way?!"

Upon seeing this, Bain's sneer immediately vanished—even in his full strength, he couldn't defeat the Radiant Witch through pure violence, let alone now that he was missing an arm and couldn't even use a bow and arrow.

"Lord Cecil, what kind of spell did this brat cast on you? Why are you helping him?"

"Ah, no." Cecil quickly dispelled the holy light, waving his hands in a panic. "It was just an instinctive reaction, I didn't mean to..."

Before Cecil could finish his attempt to cover up his misunderstanding, Amber grabbed the clone Duke and teleported behind Bane, successfully backstabbing her brother and helping Duke easily knock Bane unconscious.

“Well done, Cecil.” Amber gave Lightbear a thumbs up. “You’ve completely captured Bane’s attention.”

Cecil: "..."

That's your own brother! How could you actually do that?

"Is this what they call 'a married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl'? Tsk..."

Of course, Guangbao spoke very softly, otherwise she would have seriously suspected that the two treacherous lovers would knock her out next—unfortunately, with the rune's enhancement, Duke still heard her words.

He glared at Cecil, making Guangbao feel a little guilty, then looked at Amber somewhat awkwardly: "Sorry for asking you to help backstab your brother."

"It's okay, I believe you."

Amber looked at Duke without flinching; her amber eyes held a clean and pure emotion—trust in him. She asked softly:

"What's next? Knock us both out too? I can knock Cecil out for you (Cecil: Why do you sound like you've been looking forward to this for a long time, my dear sister?), and then let you have your way."

"Need not."

Duke shook his head, then waved his hand, and the replicant Duke beside him chopped him on the back of the neck with a chop, knocking him unconscious.

Chapter Eighty: Take it off! Take it off! Take it off!

Amber and Cecil were stunned to see Duke knocked unconscious by his own clone with a single chop to the ground. It all happened so suddenly; from the moment Duke fired two shots at himself to the moment he knocked himself out, the entire process took less than a minute. When Duke lost consciousness, it was just exactly nine o'clock.

The two witches were simply unable to adapt to such a rapid reversal.

Congratulations to Duke for achieving the milestone: 'I'm dizzy with my own dizziness'

Just then, the Duke clone suddenly spoke, startling Amber and Cecil from their daze, and said in a tone more playful than usual:

"Greetings, two beautiful witch ladies. I am the minister entrusted to you by Duke."

"what?"

Amber paused slightly. She did trust Duke quite a bit, but this clone who had just "insubordinated" made it difficult for her to trust him much. She even began to suspect that the clone Duke had been...

"Hey! Don't think about it any further."

The clone Duke coughed loudly, interrupting Amber's train of thought. His tone and mannerisms were very similar to Duke's, but Amber, who had been interacting with Duke intensely these past few days, still realized that he was slightly different from the Duke she knew:

"This clone has no ability to think. What I'm saying now is all pre-programmed by Duke. However, because I was thinking intensely throughout the dialogue setup, the clone's words might reveal some of my true feelings. I hope you won't worry too much about it, Amber. As for Lightbear... well, she won't notice anything wrong anyway."

"I see."

It's normal for one's inner thoughts to differ slightly from their actual daily behavior. Just like a certain perverted elf, not everyone can casually pull out a manga for appreciation.

Amber breathed a sigh of relief, while Cecil, standing to the side, complained somewhat irritably, "What does this mean?!"

She didn't have much of an opinion about being called Guangbao.

"Don't be angry, Cecil." Amber quickly turned around and comforted Guangbao, who was being persecuted again. "Look on the bright side, Duke has decided that we are the two 'beautiful witch ladies' in his heart."