Witch Troupe and the Undead

Perhaps it was the aura of a true god that intimidated them, or perhaps this was indeed a safe zone; apart from being a bit eerie, the dormitory building contained no monsters or dangers.

"How did these people die?" Leslie, who had been called in, took down the skeletons hanging on the fence at the entrance of the dormitory building, threw them together, and had Vilandella, who had transformed into a dragon, be in charge of burning them all to ashes in a while.

“Starved to death,” Roach answered instantly. “I didn’t see any restaurants or similar facilities here, so it’s highly likely he starved to death.” And there were some things he didn’t say, but an old hand like Alessina should have understood.

Most people chose to leave the academy, a small number of them went out but couldn't survive and ran back, dying at the entrance gate. The last group probably locked themselves in their dormitories, confronting each other through the sturdy iron gate.

Those outside wanted to go in and eat the people inside, but those inside dared not come out, and in the end they all starved to death here. This explains why these human bodies almost frantically embedded themselves into these fences.

"Of course, it's also possible that it was influenced by some kind of spiritual ritual or magic, causing it to turn into something similar to a ghoul." Alessina forcefully tore off a piece of withered arm and threw it into the burning pit lit by the dragon girl.

"You all step back a little!" The fox girl took off her greatsword and swung it forcefully. The sturdy iron railings broke like straw under the blade, and she roughly tore them into pieces and threw them aside. After receiving the accessory from the little witch, her strength attribute increased by about 30%.

"So fragile?"

"Yes, the runes on it have all become ineffective, and it's been so many years. Even if it's made of top-quality black steel, it would be brittle by now."

Black iron is a unique type of iron ore in this world. Of course, in Roach's opinion, it's probably not the element "iron," because iron ore doesn't emit light. Smelted black iron is a dark-colored metal with the same mechanical properties as pig iron.

Its only unique feature is that it does not rust, but over time, while its hardness remains unchanged, it will become brittle on its own, eventually turning into a glass-like material with an obsidian texture that shatters easily when hit.

Locals smelt it with wrought iron in a 1:2 ratio to create black steel ingots. This alchemical alloy has an affinity for lightning. When a small amount of jade glass powder is added during the smelting process, an alloy ingot with a natural, slightly lightning-like power is obtained.

Therefore, black steel weapons are probably the best non-magical weapons that novice adventurers can obtain. Being hit by a black steel weapon will cause mild paralysis and electric shock. Black steel fences have a similar effect and can effectively cause electric shock and paralysis to intruders.

However, black steel still has this brittleness property, it just takes a particularly long time, usually decades. But these fences have obviously been there for far longer than the shelf life of black steel, so now they were cleaved in two by Alessina.

"It's very dangerous," the little witch said, touching the fox girl's thigh. She indicated that this action was extremely dangerous. If the runes hadn't failed, the fence would have erupted with a fierce electric arc the moment she swung her sword. The more power she used, the stronger the electric arc would become, until it reached its limit.

“Let’s go in and take a look.” Roach pushed open the dormitory door behind the fence. The double oak door was covered with exquisite patterns and inlaid with stained glass. Unfortunately, the glass had now turned into blurry, waterfall-like crystals. Therefore, there is a theory that glass may not be a solid, but rather a liquid with an extremely slow flow rate.

The entrance to the student dormitory is a long corridor. On the right is the registration desk, and on the left is a small lounge with bookshelves, sofas, coffee tables and lockers. Straight ahead is an L-shaped corridor with rooms located in the transverse corridor at the bottom, while the straight section contains bathrooms, toilets and activity rooms.

The room reeked of a musty smell. The hallway floor and walls were covered with thick chocolate-colored wooden planks about a meter high, and the paint and wax applied at least two millimeters thick kept the decorative wall panels in good condition.

After all, there were no signs of insect activity here, and the fighting power of bacteria or mold was not enough to corrode this protective layer. The wooden boards and carpets on the ground were different; they were completely corroded by microorganisms, and the musty smell in the air came from the thick, rotten carpet on the ground.

"Whoosh~" Golden flames leaped from the oil lamp into the little witch's palm, and slender fire snakes carefully coiled around the rotten carpet on the ground. Without damaging other building structures and furniture, they burned all the rotten furniture and carpet blocking the corridor to ashes, including the equally rotten solid wood floor below.

The entire corridor was covered with a layer of clean, soft ash. Under the witch's command, the ash was naturally spread out and compacted, just like a new, several-centimeter-thick gray-white cashmere carpet, soft yet firm to the touch.

No one wanted to deal with the completely rotten staircase and the dense, finger-like mushrooms growing on it, since it was only a temporary residence. Roach threw a small alchemical device into the stairwell as an alarm, poured a few drops of powerful alchemical potion from the Mystic Sorcerer to kill the bacteria, and then left it alone.

Alessina brought in the broken black steel and the heavy stone lanterns and benches from outside, and blocked the stairwell again to make sure nothing would come down from upstairs silently in the middle of the night.

The first floor has 5 rooms, 3 facing the corridor and 2 with their backs to the corridor. At the end is a broken window, the glass of which is missing and has been blocked from the inside with wooden boards and debris. So, following the same method as the corridor, Roach pasted a green box on each side of the corridor wall, with the words "This side faces the enemy" written on the front.

Then they strung up several tripwires haphazardly to block off the section of the corridor with windows, and also stuck these tripwires to the doors of the three rooms that might also have windows.

The little witch then took out several incantation strips and stuck them on the door like seals. These witchcraft items were obtained from the foreign warriors who attacked them. These adventurers or spies from foreign lands had obviously misjudged the type of "Sin Demon".

They probably thought it was something like a demon or ghost, just like how they targeted Gluttony as a regular Mountain of Flesh. These spells only work on demons or ghosts; they would manifest the moment they came into contact with the demon and cause a powerful sealing and imprisoning effect.

Roach carefully connected the cursed belt to his tripwire, so that if any ethereal creature passed through the wall, it would pull the belt and trigger the trap. Even if the trap failed, it would at least wake people up—and if anyone couldn't wake up in such an explosion, Roach suggested that their ear could be donated to someone in need.

"Not bad. The student dormitories in these colleges are much better than when I was in school." Luo Qi pushed open a dormitory door, and the space inside was much larger than he had imagined.

It was even divided into two rooms, an outer room and an inner room. The outer room was a lounge with cabinets, low tables, four sofas, a fireplace on the side, a built-in bookshelf opposite the fireplace, and a low cabinet with a vase next to it.

Passing through the partition wall between the inside and outside of the room, you enter the bedroom, where four large beds with sheer curtains are arranged in a fan shape. There are not only bedside tables but also foot tables at the foot of the beds. On each side of the walls are two large solid wood wardrobes, and the floor is covered with a thick oval carpet.

“This is practically a noble lady’s boudoir!” Leslie exclaimed. “The place I used to live in at the Poets’ Academy was nothing short of a pigsty.”

"Whoosh~" The blonde witch gently blew on the flame in her palm, and sparks floated up to the ceiling, illuminating the iron chandelier. Surprisingly, the furniture here was still relatively intact. Apart from the textiles on the wardrobe and bed being ruined, the main bodies of the furniture, which were covered with thick paint and looked like mummies, were intact. This allowed Livia to clean the room with just simple magic and then lay out the bedding and blankets they had brought.

“The fireplace chimney is fine, and there’s an iron intrusion-proof mesh.” Alessina carefully inspected the fireplace, making sure there were no hidden passages and the flue was clear, before throwing the prepared kindling and the dismantled, rotten furniture into the fireplace and lighting them.

The roaring flames quickly spread warmth throughout the enclosed room, dispelling the chill of late autumn and the supernatural, eerie atmosphere that lingered around the building.

“Yes, there are people starving to death both inside and outside the house. Such resentment can indeed create a spirit field, but it shouldn’t be enough to give birth to a demon spirit.” Alessina checked the room with a lamp, indicating that it should be safe.

The little witch also said that this chilling aura came from a tragic past experience. Some of the negative spiritual energy had seeped into the brick and tile structure of the building. Dispelling this level of aura was too easy. Fire was one of the most common and cheapest solutions, though not the most effective.

With the fireplace, chandelier, and candles lit, the atmosphere in the room had at least returned to that of a normal hotel, except for the lingering musty smell that was difficult to dispel.

The hay used to make the bed had long since rotted away, and now a thick layer of ash lay on the bed, taken from furniture in other rooms. This ash, burned by the golden flames summoned by the witch, had a strange smell—not exactly fragrant, but definitely not foul either. After laying down the thick blanket, it was much softer and more comfortable to sleep in than a camping sleeping bag.

"I checked outside and found a small storage room in the first-floor manager's office. It was full of corpses and empty cans, probably a place to store food."

Unfortunately, after eating the last bit of food, the teachers and students trapped here, facing their classmates and colleagues who were starving outside, and the desperate situation of the city being sealed off by a huge barrier and endless evil demons, had no choice but to leave this world in an acceptable way and with dignity.

"I cleaned up their bodies," Alessina said calmly. This wasn't the first time she had done something like this. Among the beastmen and orc tribes, due to food shortages, it was common for families to be burdened with huge debts. The husband would use his last bit of money to buy the last bit of food, and then mix highly poisonous herbs like aconite or other poisonous plants into the porridge.

First, feed the child, then drink it yourself, and finally the whole family is together.

Because this kind of death is considered extremely unlucky by the locals, and they are also afraid that it will cause a plague or give birth to "demon spirits" born out of despair, mercenaries like Alessina are the ones who handle these corpses.

In human society, it's similar, except that this job is handled by professional corpse collectors hired by the local church, who usually perform simple purification and exorcism.

Nobody wants a rotting, stinking demon to crawl out from under their bed and share a bed with them for the whole night—but if you do encounter this, don't be disgusted, because the next day it will be two demons lying together.

Chapter 165 Ancient Safety Manual

Streets near the college.

“We’re almost there…” Roach glanced at the stone that served as a marker, gave Alessina a look, and the latter nodded, drew his rune sword, gripped it in reverse, and slowly crawled along the red tiled roof. Not far away, a gluttonous demon was guarding a small square, behind which stood a standard Gothic tower.

"Livia?" Roach looked to the other side. The little witch stood panting on an open-air balcony, her hands on her knees, her light golden hair sticking to her cheeks, and her whole body seemed to be steaming. It seemed that running from the first floor to the fourth floor was a very tiring thing for her.

"Hmm~" The blonde witch tried to catch her breath, then gave Roach a no-go sign.

"Get ready, attack!" Vilandella was the first to go. The gray dragon raised its neck and unleashed a breath of dragon fire at the Gluttony. The ash dragon flames quickly burned into the flesh along the thick skin, rolling and burning beneath the skin.

"Flame~" The witch's clear voice spread through the air, as if singing in everyone's ears. Roach even had the illusion that the soft breath was right behind him.

With the activation of the spell and the witch raising her staff, along with a catalyst made from her own hair, a triangular ritual field of light appeared between the houses, with the three vertices precisely corresponding to the three houses where Roach, Livia, and the Dragon Girl's teams were staying.

"Dance! Burn! Flow! Grow!" The ritual effects represented by the four runes were activated one after another. The dragon flames, which had been almost completely devoured by the Gluttony, reignited violently, raging beneath the skin, igniting the fat, and growing and spreading wildly, giving the Gluttony even greater power.

"Your turn!" The arrow pierced the Glutton's skull, shattering its small head. Then Roach fired healing bullets, which caused the Glutton's body to continuously regenerate and tear apart, only to regenerate once more.

The constant rebirth and growth resulted in an ever-growing host of superfluous creatures. The Gluttony Demon, which had initially taken on a human form, began to transform into a deformed and twisted monster, as if it were made up of countless tumors.

At this moment, Alessina suddenly rushed out and slashed at the Gluttony with the rune sword in her hand. Each wound made by the rune sword would burst into a ball of emerald green flame, and this flame would be transformed into pure life force and injected into Alessina's body through the ritual field of "Holy Fire Ritual" set up by the little witch.

“Vampire counters vampire, huh?” As the wounds multiplied, the tumors on the Gluttonous Demon withered away, revealing its massive, dry skeleton. “Here!” Vivi tossed a new rune sword to Alessina.

The latter tossed aside the rune sword in his hand, which was almost worn down to a worthless iron bar, caught the new rune sword, and plunged it into the body of the Gluttonous Demon. Then, the huge sinful demon slowly turned into nothingness in the flames of life.

The things it had swallowed but hadn't fully digested fell to the ground with a clatter. "Nothing of value..." They were just weapons and armor that had been corroded beyond recognition. However, Roach and his companions weren't there for these spoils of war.

The academy's library is no longer of any value. Fortunately, the academy is the core of the campus, surrounded by various magical workshops, shops, and mage towers. This is the Arcane Academy, so there will definitely be plenty of bookstores, restaurants, material stores, and various service facilities to serve the students.

From shops that make custom robes to tool shops that sell alchemy and spell tools, to alchemy shops that specialize in buying and selling magical equipment and potions, and even entertainment venues catering to young apprentices.

"The Night of the Succubus...they actually summoned succubi?"

"Of course, succubus summoning is a very important part of the Great Sin Ritual. After all, reproduction and normal love between the sexes are not things to be blamed for, unless people can grow out of the ground like mushrooms. So, this part is both sinful and fundamental. Many Great Sin Mages used this summoning spell to open the eyes of their apprentices back then."

Roach flipped through the large book given to him by the Goddess of Night. The Great Sin Ritual and the Church of Night were inseparable, but it was not divinely bestowed power and knowledge. Rather, it was separated from this knowledge. The later Gemini Goddess faith was also born during this period.

However, now the main god tells you that there is only one god, and there is no such thing as a goddess of desire or a twin goddess. Those are just the imaginations of mortals, just like mortals think that the Holy Lord has the appearance of wisdom. To be honest, Roach trusts this statement more—when you are put on a pedestal by a group of people, the right to interpret is no longer yours.

Furthermore, based on the simple theological knowledge gleaned from the book, God does not readily respond to human calls or accept prayers; gifts are more like a passive capacity for receiving. In this book, the goddess explains in detail the principles of gifts and the origins of divine favor and talent.

There are always some people who share some kind of spiritual or physical similarity with God, and this similarity can become a bridge in this world filled with idealism and symbolic power, allowing them to receive God's power.

The release of power by gods is both instinctive and passive. No god can stop themselves from releasing power because they are part of the structure of this world, a node that maintains or monitors the operation of the world. This power permeates every corner of the world.

Roach understood it as the relationship between Wi-Fi and a router. God was like the router, the cornerstone God was like the base station, the stigmata and divine favor were like the Wi-Fi password, and the gifts received were like network traffic. There are always people with better signals who can receive this traffic, and the more people use it, the slower the network becomes. Therefore, the church will do its best to cover up this information and call obtaining this power a test of faith.

Actually... it doesn't matter whether you believe it or not, as long as you can connect with this god. However, according to the Goddess of Night, it doesn't matter whether you believe it verbally or not, but if you can receive that power, it means that you truly believe it in your actions.

“The Great Sin Ritual is not a divinely bestowed power, but a ritual developed by humans themselves based on doctrine. However, it can also be considered to have originated from the Church of the Night. Hmm, do you know why they created this Great Sin Ritual?” Roach asked, and Leslie shook her head.

"Simply put, the doctrines of the Church of the Night are closely related to everything that happens in the night. The night embraces everything, like a mother's embrace..." Luo Qi waved the half-finished church book he found in the dormitory. "This embrace, in addition to the literal meaning of embrace, also has another meaning, which is to make evil and other ugliness disappear in the night."

“Covering up the traces won’t make evil disappear; it will only be exposed when the sun rises, so…” “Exterminate evil?” Alessina asked in surprise, this was truly unexpected.

“Yes, so the Church of the Night is composed of a dedicated hunter unit. Hunters are the verb, and people are the noun.” “Damn!” Leslie instantly understood what it meant for people to be the noun.

"They will operate in the darkness, sniffing out the scent of evil and annihilating it, but the question is, how do we define evil?"

"Therefore, some priests and scholars conducted research on this basis and expanded the Church's own gifts and divine rituals related to the night hunt. What was born was the Great Sin Ritual. The Great Sin Ritual is not something completely evil. You can tell from Livia, right?"

"So, it was originally created to distinguish what constitutes 'sin.' Some so-called 'evil' acts cannot be described in black and white terms, thus distinguishing between sinful mages and normal great sin mages. And this succubus... well, it was a means for mages at the time to prevent their apprentices from falling into the abyss of sin."

Roach pointed to the extremely flashy sign nearby. Since the entire building had collapsed to the point of collapse, the once decadent hall was now only filled with bones, bloodstains, and the color of precious metals among the rubble.

"Huh, what does that have to do with anything?" Leslie looked blank, but Alessina, as a mercenary, immediately understood and slapped her on the head. "Don't you understand? After using succubi to introduce their apprentices to sex, they won't be so easily swayed by desire. At most, they'll go out and find succubus places to spend money, instead of forcing ordinary women or doing petty theft."

"The Sage Time..." When Roach saw this term, he could only say that even in another world, men still shared the same views on this matter.

To prevent the young students in the school from fighting over women like a bunch of roosters in heat, or causing any scandals, let's use a succubus to make you completely sage, so you can calm down and do serious things.

"What if there are people who don't like succubi?"

“Look over there~” Luo Qi turned the mermaid’s head and made her look at another place across the street. “Angels, beast-eared girls, or whatever else, we can make them all out for you. They’re all summoned mimicry monsters.”

According to the definition of a Great Sin Master, this behavior is no different from doing one's craft, so it is naturally not a sin. On the contrary, it is a legitimate and justifiable way to vent one's desires, and it does not affect one's mastery of the Great Sin Ritual.

Watching the group of people chatting happily, Livia glanced at the towering mage tower in front of her and the guys talking loudly about the ruins. She couldn't help but sigh, then kicked the black horse next to her that was doing the work. The horse gave an awkward smile, then raised its fist and banged the door open with three punches.

A musty smell wafted over, forcing the Dragon Maiden to unleash a burst of dragon flames. The witch controlled the dragon flames, burning all the decaying things and the dense blue mushrooms growing on the corpses on the first floor of the tower to ashes.

"Come here, everyone!" After finishing her spell, Livia called Roach and the others over quickly, because the Gluttony Demon was constantly approaching from afar, and the battle had alerted the big guys in the nearby neighborhood.

"Rise!" The golden-haired witch raised her palm, and the ritual site she had prepared beforehand was activated. A wall made of rubble and building debris blocked the Gluttony Demon's path. After wandering around for a while without finding a way out, the enormous demon turned and left.

"Phew~" The little witch let out a breath, her face showing a tired look. Then she looked at Roach and the others who were already searching inside the building, sighed again, and sat down by the door with her staff in her arms.

"Mom, this thing really is tiring on both ends~ right?" Weiwei exclaimed seriously, "Smack!" She got a whack on the head.

"Have you found anything here?"

“There’s a secret room down there,” Roach pointed to the ground. “The stairs up are broken; you’ll probably have to fly or climb up.”

"Mystic Furnace~ Below is the Mystic Furnace~" This is a magic furnace system belonging to the Mystic Sorcerer. After all, in the era of the Kingdom of Guluster, Mystic Sorcerers were not completely hated by everyone, and some of their equipment could still be used. This magic furnace system is not completed using the Mystic Sorcerer's own abilities, but the specific principles are unknown and have been lost.

"Dig!" Roach drew a construction area on the ground with chalk, and then the fox girl took out her witch-enchanted greatsword and started digging. The greatsword, with its enchanted blade, cleaved through the rock as easily as splitting tofu, quickly creating a hole at least two meters deep and four meters wide. She then hung a rope ladder on the head of a water-dripping beast in the hall, lowered it down, and jumped down. Soon, the sounds of fighting came from below.

"Don't worry, it's just a gargoyle!" Alessina replied, kicking a rock against the wall as he watched Livia's small golden head appear at the cave entrance. Gargoyles are commonly found in mages' defensive golems; they're not very powerful and can only deal with ordinary thieves or intimidate farmers.

These are common in rural magic workshops and sorcerer mansions. After all, you can explain to important people in the city what's in the workshops and laboratories, their value and dangers, but you can't explain it to an old farmer in the village.

It's not about any deliberate incitement; it's just normal. They think the things growing in your flowerbed are pretty good, so it's perfectly normal for them to casually pluck a handful of your decades of research findings.

Of course, you can hire guards or set up powerful protective magic, but these are expensive and can easily cause conflicts, making it difficult to live in nearby towns. Mages also need social interaction and daily needs!

Therefore, gargoyles are very useful. There are no mercenaries like Alasina among the old farmers and idle villagers. Gargoyles can intimidate them without them even lifting a finger, ensuring they won't dare to step into the workshop.

However, as for combat power... "This kind of thing doesn't have much combat power. If it really gets attacked, a burly warrior in armor with a stonemason's hammer can take care of it." Alessina patted the lime on his hand, indicating that Roach and the others could come down and that there was no danger here.

Gargoyles are a cheap and convenient defense mechanism, which also means... no one expects them to be effective against professional warriors, who of course know what a mage's workshop is and wouldn't dare to rush in unnecessarily.

The basement was covered in dust. Against the wall was a row of metal shelves, on which were dried plants and expired magical materials. In the center of the basement was the structure of the Secret Source Furnace.

Unlike the arcane furnace, which is simply a small, controllable ritual site that summons magical flames from another world, the Mystic Furnace is closer to the shape of the "furnace" in Roach's memory. It is like a huge metal gourd, with a pipe that tapers from thick to thin extending from the gourd's mouth, connecting to the bottom of a huge metal sphere suspended from the ceiling. The metal sphere then spreads out pipes of varying thicknesses in all directions like a spider spreading its web.

Hanging from a nearby steel pillar was a rusted iron plate. After carefully wiping away the rust, the contents recorded on it were faintly visible. "Ether Annihilation Furnace Management Regulations," Roach read out the title word by word.

"1. Clean the furnace base three times daily, during the Dragon Hour, Radiant Hour, and Star Hour."

"2. The weekly shutdown for maintenance is during the peak of the week. During maintenance, the 'Three Ones Principle' must be followed; otherwise, the entire week's salary will be deducted."

"3. There should be no magic dust residue in the magic dust box. If residue is found, the current batch of magic dust should be replaced and stopped immediately. The furnace should be shut down and restarted only after subsequent inspections."

"4. The pressure relief port should be checked at least once a day, and the deviation of the 'mist' value should be measured. If it is blue, the main valve should be closed immediately, and the annihilation furnace control lever should be adjusted to the 'low' position."

"5. When cleaning the pipeline, all valves should be closed and the safety relief port should be opened."

"6. At least three people must be present during maintenance, shutdown and cleaning, and at least one person must guard the upper packing platform."

"It's a very professional management manual... Although I can't see the later parts very clearly, it means that the technology must be very mature," Roach said, stroking his chin. The longer and thicker the safety manual is, the more mature the technology is.

Every word of these is a bloody lesson, especially point six. Roach is certain that at least one particularly serious safety accident resulted in deaths caused by some idiot on the upper filling platform throwing fuel into the pipes during cleaning and maintenance.

Just like when an electrician is doing maintenance, there must be someone responsible for watching the switch. Otherwise, we don't know if 220V electricity can kill a 250V electrician, but industrial electricity above 380V certainly can.

"This safety manual is engraved on iron, and there are five copies... It must have really left a deep impression." There is one at the entrance, one next to the equipment, one next to the shelf, one at the filling port up the metal steps, and the last one is hanging in a small room through a wooden door, which should be the stoker's office.

If it weren't for the profound impression and the serious consequences, they wouldn't be so anxious to ensure that everyone, whether they were maintenance workers, sweepers, or packers, could see the safety manual at any time. According to Roach's understanding, most of the time, these people wouldn't even read a single word, let alone follow it.

For example, the so-called "magic dust box" he pulled out from the bottom had a thick layer of sediment inside, which showed that it was not the result of a single day's work. Therefore, the stoker at the time must have been nonchalant and continued to use what was probably inferior magic dust catalyst or fuel, since it was all the same thing anyway.

Even if the operators and designers follow the safety manual and understand the consequences, the purchasing department might not! Everyone understands this kind of thing.