Want to be human, but cube-like

If Alex were to dig slowly, the distance of nearly a thousand blocks would be incredibly long. Putting aside whether the durability of her stone pickaxe would be sufficient, such a slow pace would allow the familiars attracted by Xiangzi's witch's kiss to completely surround them.

These familiars are not the monsters Alex encountered before; they are capable of destroying buildings.

Even though they had moved as fast as possible, the familiars who had reacted still caught up with them outside the tunnel.

As they passed through each room, they could hear the familiars banging on doors and entering the rooms they had just passed, gradually getting closer.

Should we clear out these familiars here before continuing?

Alex had such a thought, but after glancing at the densely packed red dots on the minimap and checking the quantity of weapons and materials in her backpack, she dismissed the idea.

In fact, Alex wasn't very afraid of these familiars. Her katana was more than enough to suppress them, and the familiars, who only used ranged attacks, couldn't harm Alex in the slightest.

Of course, she could also choose to eliminate all the familiars on the spot and then leave with Xiangzi.

However, there were simply too many familiars, and the number of unnamed swords [Puppet] in Alex's backpack was not enough to sustain her until the end of the battle.

It's estimated that by the time they're halfway through the fight, all the swords will have broken off and fallen to the ground. There won't be enough time for Alex to slowly synthesize a wooden sword and then a nameless sword [Puppet] during the battle.

Left with no other choice, after entering the next room, Alex grabbed Xiangzi and ran out of the room.

If they keep digging through the wall so slowly, the familiars will get ahead of them.

"I'll carry you on my back!"

Xiangzi's running speed was much slower than Alex's, and he was also lacking in stamina. Now that the situation was urgent, she didn't have time to ask Xiangzi's opinion. As soon as she went out, she bent down in front of Xiangzi with her back to her.

Xiangzi immediately understood Alex's meaning and without hesitation reached out to wrap his arms around her neck. She carried him on her back, and his legs tightly gripped her slender waist.

This is not the time to be shy.

After feeling Xiangzi hug her tightly, Alex released her hands and slammed the reinforced concrete block she had just dug out onto the ground behind her.

The next moment, several sounds of breaking through the air were heard.

They finally saw the two people behind the tunnel and began throwing attacks at them.

The flying gold coins landed on the block that Alex had just placed, creating several small dents.

"hold me!"

Without even glancing behind her, she ran off in the other direction before she finished speaking.

Behind the two, a large group of familiars were chasing after them.

…………

P.S. I started getting a headache halfway through writing this part of the story. When I first started writing the outline, I was thinking, "I'm a terrifying blocky character who doesn't fall when I die, and I even have a sword! Alice might be the boss online, but I, Alex, am the boss in real life! A mere witch dungeon is a piece of cake! I don't even know how I'd lose!"

Then, as I wrote, I realized something was wrong. Xiao Xiang was too cumbersome. For example, imagine you're in a dungeon, and your task is to protect the villager who's always with you. This villager has a debuff that attracts all monsters to attack her, and these monsters are all ranged and can destroy buildings. You have nothing—just a dozen or so puppets and some logs and steaks in your inventory. You haven't even brought a bed. If you die and respawn outside the dungeon, you'll just leave the villager inside to be attacked. How can you protect her? You can't. Blocky characters aren't good at protecting hostages; they're only good at clearing out the battlefield.

Hopefully, Xiao Xiang can win the revival match.

Waaah, I don't want to write this anymore, I want to see more posts! Damn it, why did I have to torture myself by writing this outline? [Unintelligible characters]

Volume 1: Chapter 49 The Witch's True Face

Alex rarely has the chance to encounter such a persistent monster.

It's just like being chased by zombie piglins in the Nether.

Suddenly, she recalled some memories from the past, when she was still adventuring under her mother's control.

If you accidentally provoke a zombie piglin mother, she will always yell in your ear. Although you will usually have a high-level sword in your hand, you can usually only clear out the monsters around you after a bunch of slashing, buy yourself some time, and then hurriedly build up three or four blocks before you can breathe a sigh of relief.

Finally, such incidents usually end with the mother completely cleaning up the zombie pig spirits in the entire area.

But Alex can't replicate that play now.

The familiars chasing them were not short-armed zombie piglins.

They have remote attack capabilities.

While her mind was wandering, Alex, who had already run a little further away, didn't forget to turn around and slap two blocks behind her, two blocks high, which blocked the gold coins that were shooting at them.

Looking at the mini-map again, the two had already covered more than half the distance.

But the few small red dots directly in front of her, and the huge head in the middle, made Alex's heart skip a beat.

She knew that she might have to face the BOSS soon.

A few seconds later, Alex slowed her pace.

She slowly raised her head.

Shoko, who had been holding Alex tightly, noticed her movement and followed her gaze upwards.

What comes into view is a huge roulette wheel.

It was inlaid with various jewels as decoration, which faintly reflected a dim golden light in the dim tunnel.

As if suspended in mid-air, the enormous size of the wheel filled the upper part of the tunnel, while behind it was pitch black, making it impossible to see what else was there.

Then, the two saw that the roulette wheel had tilted slightly downwards and was facing them directly.

"What's this?"

Xiangzi's voice trembled as she suppressed her fear and asked in a low voice.

"We've always been curious about the witch."

Looking at the name that appeared in her field of vision, overlapping with the BOSS's health bar above her, Alex replied softly.

The Banker Witch

She finally saw the suffix of this witch.

Nature: Speculation

Alex, having just drawn the nameless sword [Puppet], hadn't yet figured out how to deal with the behemoth before her when several familiars, who seemed to have been wandering nearby, spotted them from below the roulette wheel.

Almost without pause, the gathered familiars collectively shot gold coins at Alex, which she easily deflected with her sword, slashing them all against the wall.

The trouble with these familiars lies in this: if you can't be sure you can kill them in one hit, and you inflict damage on them, you'll enter a very difficult second phase.

She could only choose to avoid fighting as much as possible.

In those few seconds of delay, a large group of familiars behind them gradually approached.

Maintaining the frequency of her sword swings to block the coins, Alex had no choice but to try to rush past the witch from below.

"Boom--!"

Suddenly, a loud bang was heard, and Alex, who was startled just like Xiangzi, almost failed to block the gold coins that were thrown at her.

She glanced sideways, distracted, and saw a huge hand wearing a white glove landing not far behind her.

"Alex! You...look up there!"

Xiangzi, who was on her back, let out a gasp.

Alex was startled and quickly slapped two cubes in front of her before looking up at the giant hand.

At this moment, Alex and Xiangzi realized that the giant roulette wheel was actually just the witch's head.

Its body was that pitch-black curtain. Because of the narrowness of the tunnel, the curtain could only curl up, with its limbs crouching low, and slowly crawl forward on the ground.

So, Alex and Xiangzi watched as the four enormous hands, like spider limbs, supported the vast black curtain and the giant wheel in front of it, passing over them and heading into the tunnel behind them.

　"It...ignored us?"

Alex asked in confusion, while also glancing at the minimap again.

The BOSS icon above is indeed red and in a hostile state.

"The familiars behind are catching up!"

But Xiangzi noticed that below the banker witch, the familiars spontaneously avoided the witch's palms and then charged towards them again.

If this continues, they will be caught up sooner or later.

"Xiangzi, hold me tighter. You might feel a little dizzy later. You can close your eyes."

Alex spoke softly, glancing at the distribution of red dots ahead on the minimap, as well as her current coordinates, before closing the minimap.

"Ah."

Without asking any questions, Xiangzi simply nodded slightly. She tightened her arms around Alex's neck, buried her face in Alex's hair, and closed her eyes.

Once again, Xiangzi's nostrils were filled with the fragrant grapefruit scent emanating from Alex. Feeling her body temperature, a sense of security rose in her heart, making her forget the dangers outside and entrust her safety entirely to Alex.

Then, in the next instant, a feeling of weightlessness came over me, followed by a violent gust of wind in my ears.

A faint blue light flashed continuously. In the deep tunnel, Alex, carrying Xiangzi on her back, locked onto the familiars in front of her one after another. Using their bodies, she used the Phantom Sword to teleport even further ahead.

All that remained behind him were translucent blades piercing the familiar's body.

The familiars, whose bodies had been cut open, began to tremble as they saw the brownish-red rust beneath their golden coating, preparing to enter the second stage.

With her slender, black-stockinged legs, Alex stepped on the end of the Phantom Sword and kicked it hard into the body of the familiar. The moment she landed, Alex turned around and kicked the foremost familiar far behind her, knocking down another trembling familiar.

She didn't stop and continued running forward, occasionally using Instant Step to accelerate and blink several meters away.

After reopening the minimap and checking the distribution of familiars ahead, Alex glanced at her own saturation level.

We've run this far, and there's still half a bar left. Now, we'll start to consume our hunger points.

There are still more than two hundred squares to go to reach the destination.

However, at this moment, Alex suddenly noticed that on the minimap, in a room next to the section of tunnel they had just passed through, there was a neutral unit icon.

That was the appearance of a middle-aged man?

Alex, filled with doubt, was about to speak.

But the next moment.

"—!"

An indescribable shriek rang out, causing the two to immediately furrow their brows in shock.

Alex looked back.

She's a banker witch.

It went berserk.

…………

P.S. These familiars aren't really strong. Alex's two previous mishaps were due to being killed on the first encounter. This time, it was purely because she was carrying a burden, preventing her from fighting freely, and her weapon reserves were insufficient, which made her look quite pathetic. If she had just upgraded her nameless sword [Puppet] and gotten a higher-level katana that could break blades, she could have wiped out all the monsters in the entire witch's barrier, including the witches.

Thank you all for your suggestions, but actually when I posted the last chapter, the initial battle with the witch was almost over and we were in the final stages of the fight.

I was just complaining about how silly I was when I was writing the outline, so I'm really flattered by all the thoughtful comments.

Volume 1: Chapter 50 Dancing on the Edge of a Knife

Why did the banker witch suddenly get angry?

The answer isn't hard to guess.

After all, Alex only did one thing.

They harmed those familiars.

It seems that the injured familiar will not only enter the second stage itself, but will also cause the witch to enter a state of rage.

It's really troublesome.

Fortunately, Alex did not choose to eliminate the familiars first; otherwise, she would have had to face the witch head-on with all her materials exhausted and unarmed.

However, it is pointless to delve into the reasons now.

The banker witch suddenly turned around, smashing the narrow tunnel so hard that it cracked open, and a deafening sound rang out. At the same time, the entire tunnel began to shake continuously because of the witch's action.

The only good news was that after the witch went berserk, the familiars in the tunnel, including the large group of familiars that had been relentlessly pursuing Alex and her companions, as well as those familiars that were preparing to enter the second stage, all began to scatter and flee, disappearing into the rooms on either side of the tunnel.

Now there's no need to worry about Xiangzi being harmed by the familiar when he acts alone.

"Xiangzi."