Elden Ring, my witch is a talkative beautiful girl

Lani was silent for two seconds. "...He actually asked. Is he usually this straightforward?"

"That's a partner's specialty. He'll try to communicate with any creature he encounters." Melina spread her hands helplessly. "Just think of it as a necessary step in the process of using courtesy before force."

Neither of them thought that Miriam had any chance of recovering. After all, he had already started using a large-scale AOE attack, clearly intending to kill all three of them.

Unexpectedly, a crazy laugh was heard from the other side of the circular corridor, and the magician Miriam, the administrator guarding Kalia's study, staggered out of the shadows where she was hiding.

She was wearing the same magic professor's attire as Servis, her face was haggard, her eyeballs bulged outward from her wide-open eye sockets, and her eyeballs were covered with scarlet bloodshot, as if she had not slept or rested for a long time.

"I have seen... the truth of the world. Everything is a lie. Destroy it! Destroy it! Destroy it! Obey the orders of my omniscient and omnipotent master. Destroy everything that is false! You all must die! All of you must die! Ahahahahahahaha!"

He did give an answer, but the answer he gave was completely nonsensical and not human language at all.

The three people had the same feeling after listening to it: How can these words be put together to form a sentence?

Volume 2: The Flowing Stars: Chapter 81: A Story of a Small Town with Simple Folk Customs

After listening to Miriam's crazy talk, the three of them fell silent.

The outline of the matter was very clear. There was no treason or rebellion. It was simply that Miriam herself was mentally confused and her mind was not clear.

"Um, could you translate what she just said?" Melina looked at Lani, expecting her to give an explanation other than her subordinates being potential psychopaths.

Even if the royal family of Kalia was losing its talent and the wizards of the magic academy were planning a rebellion, they wouldn't be so helpless that they would send a psychopath to guard the precious library, right?

"Damn it! Miriam's mind has been affected by the books and she's gone mad." Lani cursed inwardly. "Before I left, I clearly warned that book-loving idiot not to read those forbidden books about the Outer Gods, but she completely forgot my warning."

Melina said with a vacant look, "You're throwing a wolf among the sheep, and expecting her to rely on willpower to not satisfy her desires. Just think about it, you know, if it goes on for a long time, something's bound to happen, okay?"

This is just like putting a stack of money on a table where others can see it, and then telling your children not to take it. The money may not be small once or twice, but after three, four, five or six times, it would be strange if there is not a lot of money left.

"Books of the Outer Gods?" Ah Tui set up a dummy to draw enemy fire, then crawled back over. He just happened to overhear their discussion, "Is there something dangerous like that in the study?"

He didn't know much about foreign gods. The only one he knew was the Scarlet God of Corruption. The destruction caused by this well-known god in the border area was enormous and the impact of the disaster was long-lasting. It was obvious to all.

"It's a long story." Lani rubbed her brow. "Those books were originally placed in the academy's library when it was first built, along with other miscellaneous books to supplement the library's inventory. They didn't describe Outer Gods, but rather the humanities and geography of a simple town."

"You call this... simple folk customs?" Melina looked at Miriam who was firing wildly at the phantom dummy, as if she was avenging the murder of her son and the theft of her wife, and she would never give up until her death.

If he hadn't used his IQ to exchange for the power given by the Outer God, his magic power would have greatly increased while his mind was not very clear, and the three of them would have been in big trouble.

"Don't interrupt. Just listen to me." Lani rolled her eyes at the witch and continued, "But after a while, our ancestors discovered that many of the teachers and students who came to the library to borrow books were experiencing mental problems. They began to ramble wildly and attack their compatriots. They also began to believe in several gods that had never been heard of in the border areas. These unknown gods were even hostile to each other, and the newly established academy was almost torn apart and plunged into war."

Melina couldn't help but complain, "Tsk tsk, these are a bunch of psychopaths who've gone crazy from reading so much. They've beaten their brains out."

"What happened next?" Ah Tui asked further.

Since the Rhea Lukalia School of Magic has survived safely into the modern era and has become a renowned magic school, it means that the "Outer Gods Book Rebellion" must have been resolved by the first principal.

"Later, before the situation escalated, our ancestors acted with swift force to suppress all the teachers and students involved in the unrest," Lani continued. "After dealing with the surface issues, she analyzed the commonalities among all the mutterers to uncover the root cause of their madness. She discovered that they had all borrowed from the same series of geography magazines. The few who regained their sanity described with unspeakable horror what they had seen while flipping through the books. They claimed their consciousness was trapped in a nightmare, and before waking, they had all arrived at the same place: the town named 'Yharnam' in the books."

"Ya...Nan?" The moment he heard this name, several scattered images flashed through Ah Dai's mind.

Under the full moon, villagers armed with dung forks and hunting rifles hunt witches; in the cemetery, a half-human, half-beast priest falls into madness; in the star clock tower, the redeemer wakes up from a nightmare.

These images flashed by, and he couldn't even recall where or when he had seen them before.

"It was a cursed town. From clues later discovered, our ancestors deduced that the townspeople had once held a ceremony to summon an alien god."

Lani's voice brought Atai back to reality. He calmed down, ignored the images in his mind, and continued to listen to the girl's narration.

"They succeeded, but they also failed, because from the stars above, more than one Outer God cast his gaze upon the town. They constructed an eternal dream, gave birth to offspring and dependents, and dragged the consciousness of the townspeople into an endless cycle of nightmare. It was not until many years later that this nightmare ended due to the intervention of outsiders."

"After reconstructing the whole story, the ancestors realized that the gods who descended on Yharnam came from a more distant starry sky unknown to us, and those books were stained with their power. Readers would be unconsciously affected, and eventually their consciousness would be transported to the ruins of Yharnam in the dream world."

The story about the town of Yharnam ends here. A'tai and Melina also understand why reading can make people crazy, but there are still a few questions that need to be answered.

"Why didn't your great-great-great-grandmother bury or burn such a dangerous thing?" Melina asked speechlessly. "Do you think it's fun to keep it as a collection?"

"Burning the books is a simple matter, but no one knows the consequences," Lani replied. "Perhaps nothing will happen, but it's also possible that the gaze of the Outer Gods will be cast upon the borderland due to the annihilation of this trace of power. Considering many factors, our ancestors ultimately isolated all the problematic books and sealed them deep within this Kalia Study."

In addition, there is another speculation that Lani did not say.

The fate of the royal family of Kalia is tied to the stars, and the Outer Gods' star is no exception.

Perhaps the leader of the stargazers, the founder of the magic academy, was also unconsciously influenced and made the decision to keep the books.

The past could no longer be verified, and her speculations could not be confirmed to be true or not. The most important thing at the moment was to deal with Miriam who was going crazy on the opposite side. If she continued to bombard the room, the study would be razed to the ground.

Ah Tui asked the core question: "Did any of the original deans leave behind any countermeasures for this situation? Perhaps special magic, or treatments to restore the victim's sanity?"

"Yes," Lani replied, swinging her staff like a baseball player. "Aim for Miriam's head and hit her hard. Physically modify her memories of this period and make sure she forgets everything she read in that book. This is the most effective solution in the current situation."

Well, after going through so much trouble, I still have to use the old method to solve the problem.

Is it true that the most powerful and reliable magic is physical magic?

(PS: The people of Yharnam are so hospitable.)

Volume 2: The Flowing Stars: Chapter 82: Eat my door!

After listening to Lani's talk about "physical trauma therapy", Atui decisively replaced the various weapons in his hands with a sword skeleton greatsword.

A strike on the back with this giant sword weighing hundreds of kilograms is no less powerful than a sledgehammer. It can not only knock a person into the ground, but also leave a unique logo on him, creating a unique artistic atmosphere.

But things did not develop as smoothly as expected. When A'tai and Melina advanced for the first time under the crossfire and were about to approach the weak mage, Miriam stopped shooting and flashed away to 50 meters away.

Leaving behind two people staring blankly, they continued to face the endless repetition attack.

Magic, Miriam's disappearance!

A secret magic technique that allows one to teleport and disappear instantly.

The assault failed, and the two men, realizing they didn't have enough concentration to continue holding the line, retreated decisively and returned to the defensive area where Lani was.

The Dark Moon Princess scattered star fragments with her left hands to restore her teammates' concentration, and with her right hands she controlled multiple sides to cast a "magic shield" to block the magic arrows that attenuated with distance.

Despite her multitasking, she still had the energy to ponder the magical technique Miriam used during her hit & run. "Is that magic supposed to interfere with space? No, it's more likely to vaporize itself briefly, returning to its original state the instant the movement is complete. So it can't be maintained for too long, or there's a risk of it being lost."

The Snow Witch's genius in magic was fully revealed at this moment. Even if it was a new magic she had never seen before, she could figure out the principles behind it with just a few glances.

"Big sis, is now the time to study magic? That scoundrel is almost tearing down your family's library!" Melina was furious as she watched her prize slip away. "Teleportation magic plus long-range sniping magic, plus bottomless concentration, how are we supposed to fight this endless kiting tactic?"

Although Miriam is indeed crazy, a madman is not the same as a fool. She can switch between attack and escape, escape and attack very smoothly. If a normal soldier were to come, he would probably have only two options: run away or be exhausted to death in the study.

"Am I not trying to find a way to break his teleportation magic?" Lani waved her hand impatiently.

"How long will that take?"

"I guess... it will take another three or four hours, provided you don't bother me anymore."

"Oh my god!" Melina nearly fainted on the spot. "My dear lady, do you understand what's going on? We don't have the time to study for you to slowly figure out a solution bit by bit. We can't just go over to the lunatic over there and say, 'Hey, we want to have a meeting and have afternoon tea. Can you wait for us for a few hours?'"

"Perhaps the solution isn't as complicated as we thought." Ah Tui, who had remained silent throughout, joined the conversation at just the right moment. "This magical synergy is indeed powerful, but it's still a human who casts the magic. Even flawless magic can inevitably develop vulnerabilities depending on the user's situation and mindset."

After these words were spoken, both of them seemed to be thinking about something.

"Hehe, I understand what partner means."

"Thinking from a different perspective, that's how it is."

Melina reacted first, but Lani, a little slower, also understood what Ati meant. Their goal was not to break the magic, but to deal with the person who cast the magic. She accidentally got stuck in a dead end and couldn't get out.

No matter how fast Miriam's casting movements are, there will be a certain interval between two teleportations.

Moreover, the study's narrow terrain and the limited distance that magic could move limited her options for landing.

You can't just flash in the opposite direction and hit the faces of Ah Tu and the other two, right? If the Sword Skeleton's greatsword comes down on them, wouldn't that just kill them?

After thinking clearly about the weakness of Loretta's longbow combined with teleportation magic, the rest is easy.

Ah Tui regained his full concentration, and with a few star fragments from the bag given by the rich boss, he drew full hatred from the front and attracted Miriam's continuous firepower.

The two sides advanced and retreated, maintaining a stalemate for several minutes. Then, Miriam's fourth transmission experienced an unexpected change.

As he kept retreating along the circular corridor, muttering to himself, he didn't notice until then that he had circled the study. At the approximate landing point of the next transmission, an elegant girl was staring at him eagerly.

Giant sword formation, shining sword circle formation, pyroxene magic gravel... brilliant pyroxene magic surrounds Lani, waiting for the master's order.

Once Miriam teleports and moves according to the previous pattern, the moment she releases the fog state, she will be stabbed into a hornet's nest by countless shining swords.

The wizard's instinct to avoid danger made him change direction while teleporting and cast a teleportation spell towards the door of Kalia's study.

And this action of hers was the reason why Lani maintained a deterrent posture but did not take direct action.

Just as Miriam finished teleporting and appeared at the gate, the calm air began to fluctuate unexpectedly, and a huge, rugged sword fell sideways on her head.

The witch who had been waiting for a long time delivered a shocking blow: "Ah, give me more!"

A Tui's overt assault was a bait, and Lani's smiling deterrence was an open conspiracy. The existence of the two was to cover up the third party who was quietly hiding in the ambush site. Melina was the real killer of this operation.

The crazy mumbling stopped on the spot, and Miriam fainted without even having time to utter a sound.

If Melina hadn't been holding back, she would have been hit by a dimensionality reduction attack and turned into a 2D paper man.

"Phew... I'm exhausted." Having accomplished her task, Melina leaned against the Sword Skeleton Greatsword and wiped away the nonexistent beads of sweat. "I can't normally lift anything heavier than a fork, but this time I'll treat it as a special case and give it special treatment."

Lani retracted her tons of spells and casually said, "That fork of yours is probably taller than you are."

In order to prevent her men from causing trouble after waking up, Lani took strict precautions and cast several binding spells on the unconscious wizard, tying Miriam up like a twisted dumpling.

After re-activating the seal of the Forbidden Library and notifying her men to handle the follow-up matters, she led A'tai and Melina to the study on the top floor of Kalia's study.

Lani pulled out an hourglass-shaped object from her bosom. "There's going to be a big noise soon, be careful not to fall."

The air around me was like "falling down..."

"What means?"

Ah Tui and Melina were both confused and stepped on the solid wooden board under their feet. Could there be a trap hidden underneath that would suddenly open and cause people to fall into?

"You'll understand soon. Remember to hold on to the nearest handrail." Lani reminded them a second time, and skillfully embedded the "Inverted Statue of Kalia" into the gap on the table. Then she operated the mechanism. As the hourglass turned upside down, a violent vibration came from all directions of the study, and the gear mechanism began to deform on the spot.

(ps: The puppet's clockwork is responding.)

Volume 2: The Flowing Stars: Chapter 83: I'm worried about you after reading this

Half a minute later, A Tui took down Melina's hood which was hanging on the wall.

The miko complained angrily to Lani, who was floating five meters away, "Why didn't you just say the house would turn upside down? Is this whole riddle about the house transforming into a giant puppet really that fun?"

"I warned you beforehand. It was you who reacted too slowly." Lani slowly adjusted her position in mid-air and smoothed out the wrinkles on her anti-gravity skirt. "Look, isn't A-Tie okay?"

Ah Tui replied, "I didn't expect the house to suddenly turn upside down. It's just that past experience reminds me that houses equipped with special mechanisms will always have unexpected changes, such as hidden attics."

When the house fell over, A Tui grabbed the protruding wooden frame on the wall in time.

Melina's hood of her clothes got caught on the wooden frame, avoiding the experience of a 360-degree rotation and free fall without any safety measures.

"As far as the results are concerned, I'm glad you're all okay." Lani glanced at the shrine maiden's comically messy hair and raised her sleeve to cover the corners of her slightly raised mouth. "Come with me, this way."

Even if the two of them didn't grab the support in time, she would use gravity magic to ensure that they didn't fall. She just wanted to playfully scare the two of them.

The moment the hourglass turned upside down, the mechanism built into Kalia's study was activated, and the entire library turned upside down from the outside to the inside. The top floor where the three people were originally located now became the bottom floor.

Some mechanisms that could not be used in the normal state of the house were opened. The exquisite elevator passed through the study, broke through the mist, and carried the three people straight to the top floor of the building.

The scene reflected in their vision was the bridge connecting to the Divine Tower on Lake Lienia.

Melina craned her neck and peered out, "The Divine Tower. I never thought this study would lead to here."

"That's the place you mentioned, where the demigods activated the Great Rune, right?" A'ti asked as they walked.

Melina nodded lightly. "Indeed, the Divine Tower was built long ago on the borderland. Later, it was renovated and rebuilt by the followers of the Golden Clan, and erected in various places that had received divine grace. After the Elden Ring shattered, the fragments flew to the demigod kings of various places. They climbed to the top of the Divine Tower and resonated with the power of the laws within the fragments with their own will, gaining the power of the Great Rune."

They had seen the same tall tower building from afar in Nimgfu and Gelid.

I heard that Galid's God-given Tower was transformed by Latarn into a military training ground. The people of the Red Lion Legion had to climb up slowly from outside the tower through various training facilities, and if they were not careful, they would fall and suffer comminuted fractures all over their body.

If you are a real man, dance and have fun, dance a hundred times!

"That man built the Tower of Divine Gift in Lienia while he was at the academy." Speaking of the red-haired hero, Lani still refused to refer to him by name or title. "It was also here that he bestowed the Great Rune upon the Mother of the Unborn."

The beautiful memories have become the past, and now all that remains here is sadness.

"Lani, I remember you also owned the Great Rune." A'ti could vaguely guess the purpose of the Dark Moon Princess bringing them here.

"As you all know, I have no interest in the Elden Circle. The fragments of laws from the past are of no use to me." Lani paused before the door of the Tower of Divine Bestowal, her glittering eyes shimmering with the light of the stars. "So I have abandoned my body and the fragments of the Circle here, to embark on my own path as a dark god-man, and to create a brand new law... one that transcends the old times!"

Behind the opened door, a charred corpse lay quietly on the top of the tower, the ominous breath of death spreading like ripples, and the body had been corroded by the death rune to the point that its original appearance could not be seen.

There is no doubt that this is Lani's original body, and the curse mark engraved on it is the most powerful evidence.

"It's completely black, like barbecued meat pulled from Mount Mustafar." Melina curled her lips. "You're truly cruel. You actually carved the death curse into your own body. Just seeing this horrible sight hurts me."

Hearing is one thing, seeing is another.