Witch Troupe and the Undead

"People who are born and raised here will naturally develop a connection with this land."

"Is there anything I can do in this part?" Roach began to try to find a loophole.

"I'm afraid not."

"Can the power to make a wish be transferred?"

“Hmm…okay, but you two must come here and swear an oath that one of you must voluntarily relinquish this right to you.” The goddess shook her head. “A true divine wish is so precious that it is difficult to persuade someone who knows the truth to voluntarily relinquish this right, whether by bribery or deception.”

"But what about voluntary consent?"

"If someone is really that stupid," the goddess smiled. "It's actually quite easy to handle. Just find a suitable candidate and then induce their desire. But, do you really need the person to pass a test?"

“Yes, unless you can guarantee that the wisher’s wish and everything obtained through the wish are controllable, I don’t want you to make a verbal guarantee, but I need you to make a more reliable guarantee…” A golden silk ribbon hung down from the void.

“If you choose this contract, then I agree. In return, the fate of the one who makes the wish will be tied to yours, and you will bear the consequences of all the gifts he receives from this wish.”

"..." "Do you really want to let me out of here?"

"The main problem is that having such a versatile wish-granting machine here is too easy to get out of control. I'm not someone who likes to rely on fate for everything. It's better to keep some crises within a controllable range as much as possible."

No one knows whether the next group to arrive will be adventurers or something else, or whether there are any Lusterians among them, or what wishes they might make. Even if the goddess can ignore some overly malicious wishes, it doesn't mean it's safe.

“So…” Just as Roach was about to sign the contract, the little witch pushed him away forcefully with both hands, and then the goddess’s face showed visible panic. “Wait, don’t mess around. If you sign, it will have a completely different meaning!” Before the witch could grab the silk, the illusory cloth rolled up, and the short witch jumped a few times but still couldn’t grab it, and her face immediately puffed up.

"Fine, I'll sign it. If the wish is too troublesome, I can just kill it with a single stab when I get out of here." Alessina grabbed the cloth. What she said was indeed a good idea. As long as the other person's wish wasn't something like immortality, then you could make the wish, then stab them through the hole. Of course, a dead person wouldn't cause any trouble.

“But, won’t the goddess think we’re deliberately taking advantage of a loophole?” Leslie finally realized this, and everyone looked at her like she was a silly deer. “What do you think we’re doing right now? Aren’t we taking advantage of a loophole?”

"If you are determined, then I will also give you a small request. There is only one Arrogance Demon in the Royal Palace area. If you can defeat it, I can give you an extra blessing as a gift."

It would be difficult for her to break the rules and directly bless Roach and the others, so she had to take a slightly roundabout approach. Pride is a sin realm centered on self-interest, where the line between confidence and ego is blurred. However, regardless of whether it is positive or negative, it has one characteristic: exclusivity. Therefore, there is only one Pride Demon, which means that the magic of the entire sin realm is concentrated in this one person.

"Of course, if you can't do it, that's fine too." The goddess curled back into her chair.

"Hmm~ Here you go," Livia said, pulling a book out of her backpack and handing it over. "This is..." The pages were simple, and there was no complicated or difficult knowledge inside. It was just a little witch's picture book diary, recording her past journeys and adventures, and pasting some things she found interesting into the pages.

"Is this... for me?"

"Hmm!" The witch nodded, indicating that the other person must be very bored spending all day with no books and nowhere to stay.

"Hmm... this should be a gift?" the goddess said somewhat uncertainly. She had received many offerings and sacrifices, for the purpose of prayer, gratitude, faith, and even love and dependence.

The gifts range from luxurious jewelry to bouquets casually picked by a farm girl, but none of them are for her. These gifts are all dedicated to the "Goddess of Night and Secrets," not for her.

"Only the god sitting on the altar is a god... Do you understand this principle?"

"Ok!"

“Then I’ll accept this gift without ceremony. Hmm… as a return gift, let me think…” The goddess looked at the broken rune sword hanging on Roach’s body, and then summoned the sword to her hand.

He put his pinky finger in his mouth and gently held it. His fingertip slid along the blade, and the silver blade seemed to be draped in a veil of night, quickly dimming and eventually turning into a unique dark blue. In the center of the blade were new runes.

"This is……"

"A sword powerful enough to sever the night and all secrets. Illusions, ethereal bodies, barriers, or even darkness and evil are nothing before it. This is the greatest blessing I can offer." The blade was automatically enveloped by layers of black matter, eventually solidifying into an unremarkable scabbard.

"Alright, if you're going out, remember to close the door properly. I don't want someone to waste this last wish by the time you come back."

Chapter 168 Swordsmanship is not such an inconvenient thing.

The runic sword eventually ended up in Roach's hands, mainly because Vivi's main fighting methods were breathing dragon fire and using alchemical tools, while Alessina didn't need this standard hand-and-a-half-sword longsword. The goddess's gift was very powerful, but in reality, its effectiveness in combat wasn't very strong. It was more effective against dark and evil creatures, and its sharpness was its primary advantage.

In battle, the sword can deal with any enemy that Alessina can deal with, as can the sword that Alessina has enchanted with the witch's magic blade. And the sword that Alessina cannot deal with can also deal with enemies that Alessina cannot. Even when encountering enemies that use mirror images or protective barriers, there is no difference between throwing a super greatsword weighing over a hundred kilograms with adamantite and anti-magic effects at them.

Therefore, in reality, only Vivi, Roach, and the mermaid need this weapon. However, considering that Vivi's dragon form is much stronger than her human form when facing difficult enemies, this "Fragment of Night Light" is too small for a dragon. As for the mermaid, she could use a Swift Sword instead.

“Starting tomorrow, you’ll practice basic swordsmanship with me,” Alessina patted Roach on the shoulder. “We didn’t mention this before because your stamina is too poor.” Roach’s physique is considered relatively strong among Earthlings, but among otherworldly beings, he is considered a naturally weakling, which is why no one has ever thought of having Roach train his body or practice the martial arts of this world.

Human beings have physical limitations. Even if he trained himself to the limit of human capabilities, he still wouldn't be able to wield Alessina's unparalleled greatsword. Not to mention, this kind of training is not something that can be achieved in just a few days, especially after reaching a certain level.

“My stamina is just as bad now~” Roach put his longsword on his belt, looking more like a proper knight, not considering that the armor itself was bearing the weight.

"It's different. You sensed it too, didn't you?"

"Hmm, very light." Normally, this rune sword forged by the witch would weigh about half as much as a normal hand-and-a-half sword, but now in Roach's hands, it feels like it weighs only as much as plastic.

"And it's extremely sharp, at least extremely sharp when cutting certain enemies, so you'd better learn some swordsmanship, at least so you don't cut your own people." Alessina was referring to the black horse. The thing that would be maximized by this sword's special attack was that old horse.

“I only know the swordsmanship of the beastmen. Hmm, it’s perfect for you to learn.” Alessina thought for a moment and said, “The biggest advantage of this swordsmanship is its simplicity. Even beastmen can learn it, so you can learn it too. Moreover, it’s easy to get started. The only problem is that this swordsmanship requires a lot of strength.”

"Oh, what kind of swordsmanship is it?" Roach immediately became interested. Every man has, or at least once had, a heart that yearns to roam the world with a sword.

“Swing it around and slash,” Alessina demonstrated with another sword, raising it overhead. “Like this, spin around, slash down, and keep swinging it around, slashing as you go. As long as your sword is heavy and big enough, and your stance is stable, it’ll work. Oh, it doesn’t look very pretty.” Because the move was like a humanoid helicopter, with the blade spinning overhead like a helicopter rotor. However, due to basic mechanics, swinging it around like that would indeed amplify the blade’s power to a considerable degree.

Moreover, due to the inherent characteristics of gyroscope motion, the blade will automatically straighten under the action of centrifugal force, so you don't have to worry about the sword surface hitting you in the end. However, this consumes a tremendous amount of physical strength and requires a high level of footwork. Even warriors from another world cannot spin a normal longsword for more than a few minutes.

Just as the fox girl said, the characteristic of this sword technique is its simplicity. Its advantage is that as long as your sword is big and heavy enough, it's like a sword-bladed helicopter swooping down on you. No normal person would want to go up and fight head-on.

[The swordsmanship of a real-world swordsman, such as Geralt's Wolf School Swift Sword Technique in The Witcher, is based on this.]

“However, the weight of your sword is almost negligible for the user, making this sword technique much simpler.” The weight of this “Glowing Shard” rune sword is normal; this unusual lightness is part of its supernatural properties—in other words, when Roach swings it in such a circular motion, it truly has the power of a half-heavy sword.

In addition, its series of bonuses such as magic-breaking, armor-breaking, and anti-evil special attack can also prevent a novice like him from being blocked when facing the right enemy - unless the enemy's weapon is of the same level as this real "divine weapon", otherwise the result of blocking will be that the weapon and the person are split apart.

"Just these two moves?" Luo Qi tried them out and found them rather unattractive. If the sword hadn't been light enough, he felt like he would have fallen. He would turn around and slash down, then turn around again and slash down from another direction.

"You can only learn these two moves in a short time. The footwork is also very simple. Just use one foot as the center of gravity and then turn. If you were a normal beastman warrior, you would have to learn a lot of footwork, but you..." This sword is too light, and with the witch's automatic armor stabilizing your stance, you don't need to practice it specifically.

"It's like a waltz, with the center of gravity shifting alternately. Then the person spins, the sword spins, trying not to use the strength of the wrist, but using the strength of the entire upper arm and forearm to swing. After the blade is aligned while spinning, you can use the strength of the shoulder, arm, waist, and leg to combine and swing down forcefully while spinning."

"Nothing else?"

"No, the greatswords used by beastmen warriors are twice the weight of yours, at least as wide as an adult's palm, weighing about 80 to 90 pounds. With their weight and strength, even the most extraordinary knights among humans wouldn't be able to withstand such a blow."

"What if you encounter a skillful counter-attack?"

"Don't worry, they won't. They're not stupid. They'll just wait for you to run out of energy, then they'll win. They won't waste time fighting you. With that kind of power, their bottom-up parrying stance would only be able to withstand if you had a physique two or three times stronger than you. And with that difference in strength..." it means they're just waiting to die.

"So you really just swung it around and chopped it down?"

“Otherwise?” Alessina looked puzzled. “For these kinds of bladed weapons, swinging them around and slashing is the simplest and most lethal move. You’re not learning to use a swift sword or dagger with a bunch of complicated and fancy techniques. Moreover, complex swordsmanship is a bit… difficult to learn for us beastmen.”

"By the way, you can use an axe or any other weapon instead of a sword for this move. Once you master one technique, you can master all techniques." After all, no matter what melee weapon it is, if you combine the person, arm, and weapon and swing them around to smash down, the power and speed will be the greatest. As long as you smash accurately and fast, you will be invincible.

Even if the blade isn't properly positioned, if this thing is swung at a high-level beastman warrior like Alessina, it can still shatter an adult's (by otherworldly standards) chest cavity and spine into an S-shape.

"Moreover, your weapon is advanced enough that some common countermeasures are ineffective against you." For example, shield blocking, long weapons, etc. As long as there is blade contact, this thing can be cut off by the other person's weapon. At least a high-level alchemical weapon or a magic equipment of the same level can block two hits.

"Besides, you're not a professional swordsman."

"Hiss~ That makes sense!" Roach decided that in the next few days, besides learning basic swordsmanship from Alessina, he also had to make himself a new type of loli hand cannon—swordsmanship is not such an inconvenient thing.

You can swing it straight in a wide arc and slash. If the opponent dodges or retreats, you can use American-style Iaijutsu to follow up. Whether you can take it head-on depends on the level of the opponent's equipment. Anyway, if you get hit by this thing, even low-quality magic equipment will be destroyed.

The dormitory area. The original rifle was disassembled and reassembled with spare parts, and Roach got two hand cannons that use three-round magazines, are powered by rune disks, and cannot fire in rapid succession. They need at least two or three seconds to recharge after firing.

These two weapons are hung on the sides of the waist. With a slash, the arm swings to the side, and the gun can be drawn and fired with a backhand. After firing, the gun can be put back into the holster and the sword hilt can be picked up to continue slashing in circles.

[A genuine, practical sword technique, a smooth slash followed by a draw of the spear. Yes, that's how Isshin Ashina killed you. You think this is just the recovery animation? — American-style iaido to send you on your way.]

After the weapons were ready, all that was left was to practice until they were second nature, or even instinctive. With the little witch's stamina potion, Roach completed the training in about a week. After all, his swordsmanship was mainly about quick learning and quick, human-eating reactions, like American Iaijutsu, without any complicated moves. At the same time, there wasn't much room for improvement in his physical fitness.

During this time, Livia also began to create trigger-based magical items and combat potions, which was quite rare for her. Compared to the adventurers who slept in the ruins, Roach and his companions slept in the academy dormitory, which was very comfortable. After a week, apart from eating almost all the food, they hardly felt the fatigue of the adventure.

Following the side road of the academy leads to the royal city. The ancient castle is covered with vines, and the wide road leading to the academy is littered with abandoned roadblocks and dried-up corpses. It seems that at the last moment, some survivors retreated towards the royal city while fighting against the demons that appeared out of nowhere, and then they all died on this road.

"Whoosh~" A gust of wind blew by, and the trees on both sides made a mocking rustling sound. The gate of the royal city ahead was not completely closed, with a gap large enough for one person to pass through. Beyond that was the royal city's courtyard.

As Roach and his group approached, the sound of clashing weapons, along with the cacophony of fighting and shouts, could be heard from inside the courtyard. However, when they stepped into the courtyard, there was nothing there but a mountain of bones piled up on the ground.

The hollow eyes on the skull stared intently at the intruder, with lush vines spreading from the eye sockets. In the center of the courtyard was a tattered knight's armor, one arm armor missing, the withered arm dragging on the ground, connected to the shoulder only by a thin, dry tendon. The other iron hand, encased in the arm armor, gripped the head of a corpse, its fingers even crushing the skull and piercing deep into the cranial cavity.

"I suspect this thing will come to life and beat me up," Roach said with a serious expression. In this scene, he even had to turn around to see if a fog gate had appeared behind him. It seemed that a moment later, grand religious-style organ music would start playing, along with human chanting, plus a health bar the same width as his field of vision, and then a string of golden words would appear in front of him.

However, nothing happened until they bypassed the corpse. The only sounds were the mocking laughter of the lush trees in the courtyard. They slowly ascended the blood-stained black steps and arrived at the gate of the throne room.

"Ada!" With a flying kick, the black horse sent the door flying, along with the steel bar behind it that was at least as thick as a thigh. The broken bolt bounced a few times on the ground before slowly rolling down the steps of the throne, crashing into the white marble steps with a crisp clang.

Inside the throne room, there was only a golden throne inlaid with rubies and lapis lazuli. A mummified corpse wrapped in a magnificent robe sat on the throne, and next to the throne were several other equally ornately dressed corpses.

Sunlight streamed in through pre-designed openings in the roof, and through intricate mirror reflections, focused the light around the throne, lending the mummified body a touch of the sacred.

"Another BOSS battle scene..." Luo Qi complained. This time, it was exactly what he wanted. Countless bright red thorns twisted from behind and sealed the door tightly.

"Hmm!" The witch nodded seriously, gripping her staff with both hands. A magic circle was slowly taking shape beneath her feet. The black horse also showed a rare serious expression, unloading its luggage and standing at the front of the group in the form of a horse-headed demon.

"..." Red light gathered in mid-air, and a slender body gradually took shape. A tattered black and red solemn dress wrapped around the body, with a tear revealing a large area of ​​snow-white skin.

The spiked iron chain pierced deep into her skin, yet no blood flowed. A pair of large bat wings spread from her lower back, while another pair of fleshy wings spread from behind her head, obscuring her eyes and revealing only the lower half of her exquisite, goddess-like face.

"This is much better looking than the previous demon!"

"Arrogance is predicated on having some skills, okay!" Leslie hid behind the others, took out the most powerful magic arrow made by the little witch, and nocked it on the bowstring.

"The lack of background music is a flaw."

"What is background music?" Alessina asked rhetorically. They weren't doing this comedy out of leisure, but because the pressure emanating from the demon who looked like a beautiful young girl was too great. If they didn't relax by cracking jokes like this, their minds would soon break down under the pressure.

The Arrogant Demon's weapon was a blood-red scepter. She gently raised it and pointed it at Livia, the strongest person in the crowd. The Arrogant Demon's attack sequence was the simplest. She would only attack the strongest person. If that didn't work or if she succeeded, she would attack the second person, then the third, and so on.

The witch pulled out four test tubes and held them between her fingers, watching the arrogant demon's movements warily. "Kneel down... or... die!" Unlike the other demons who couldn't speak, the arrogant demon uttered incoherent words, and countless red snakes of light at the top of its scepter lunged at the little witch.

"Snap!" The witch flung out all four test tubes, leaned on her staff with her left hand, took a small half-step back, and forcefully thrust the staff into the center of the magic circle beneath her feet. She wasn't good at fighting, but she was very good at "magical combat." As long as she had a competent front-line fighter, and the enemy wouldn't rush at her, and she had enough time to prepare, then the little witch's combat power was indeed the strongest among this group.

The ruptured test tube released a chilling aura, and layers of eerie white frost seeped into the body of the light serpent. Then, a giant rock golem rose from the ground, swinging its fist to block the light serpent's bite. The light serpent, wrapped in blood-red light, threw a punch at [Arrogance], but could only swing at empty air.

Because she had already appeared in front of the black horse, her seemingly small bare feet kicked the old horse's arm that was protecting him, and she used the momentum to do a backflip. Then, a large number of blood-red light bullets completely engulfed the horse-headed giant's body.

“A bit…troublesome~” The black horse shook its head, tearing off the rotting flesh and dead skin on its body. The wounds healed within seconds. Next, Pride targeted Vivi. Having learned from the previous experience, the Dragon Girl had already held her breath and unleashed a powerful breath that covered most of the throne room, forcing Pride to choose Alessina as its target.

"Clang!" The Sword of No Friend blocked the light blade extending from the scepter. "Now!" Roach pulled out his hand cannon and fired a shot. The bullet hit the bat wings that [Pride] suddenly used to protect itself, leaving only a negligible mark.

This delay allowed Alessina to quickly regain her footing. After spinning once with the opponent's power, the Unrivaled Sword struck from the side. While [Arrogance] parried and suppressed her with power far exceeding Alessina's, Roach rushed over.

[Arrogance] casually raised her left hand to prepare to unleash a light bullet attack. "Whoosh!" A magic arrow shot from another corner. The magic arrow made by the witch was clearly more powerful than Roach's slash. Therefore, [Arrogance] decisively changed her target, aiming her palm at Leslie. "Whoosh whoosh whoosh!" The blood-red magic bullet and the golden light bullet annihilated each other and disappeared.

The little witch rubbed her nose, gave a thumbs-up to [Pride], and then flipped it downwards.

Before the Demon of Sin teleported away, the blade of [Fragments of Night] sliced ​​across her bat wing as if it were slicing through a rag, instantly tearing a huge gash. At the same time, the originally dull and gray blade began to flash rhythmically, as if to warn Roach of a powerful enemy nearby or the enemy's movements.

The demon, having changed its target, looked down at its shattered bat wing. White smoke rose from the wound, and it healed completely in an instant.

"This is a bit tricky..." Don't be fooled by the fact that the exchange just now only lasted a few moves and there were no sound or light effects. If it were a weaker opponent, the little witch's opening combo would have been enough to take them down. Not to mention that this guy's strength is enough to go toe-to-toe with Old Ma, except that his speed isn't very fast.

"The Arrogant Demon's abilities are based on the enemy's abilities." Black Horse spat. "Her magic power is equal to that of the strongest young lady among us, her strength is about the same as mine, and her reaction speed is similar to that beastman." However, since there are no high-speed combat units among this group, the accuracy of the opponent's ranged attacks and the speed of their surprise attacks are not very fast.

"She can't copy your power, but she can copy your speed too?" Old Ma's speed is also very fast, not to mention that as a great demon, his attributes are all over the top.

“No, she only copies the ability of the strongest person in a single item, and she only copies the strongest attribute of a person,” Old Ma shook his head. So, this guy won’t copy Vivi’s dragon flame and dragon magic, because Vivi is not the strongest in this ability, and her magic attribute is also lower than that of the Little Witch.

"Fortunately, intelligence and creativity are not the kind of things that can be copied. Even if they were copied, it would be impossible to make those props in a short time." Roach also felt that this was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

Chapter 169

【Arrogance】Hovered in mid-air, the scepter in her hand hung low, and the wounds on her body healed at an astonishing speed. Almost in the blink of an eye, all the damage caused to her by Roach and the others disappeared.

This is the only Sin Demon in the Sin Domain, which means that one-seventh of the great sin magic power gathered in the entire ritual is on this one enemy. Whether it is beheaded, cut in half at the waist, or blown to pieces by the witch's magic, it will reassemble in the next second and there will be no sign of weakness.

"Die!" [Arrogance] raised his scepter again, and crimson missiles collided with the light screen formed by the test tubes thrown by Livia, instantly turning into a sky full of blood-red fireworks. But this time, Livia's expression became very serious.

"Hoo~" The witch let out a soft breath, her face covered with beads of sweat. The intense battle was a great physical burden for her. The situation of Roach and the others was not much better. Vivi was no longer able to breathe fire. Fortunately, as a dragon, she had amazing drug resistance. After drinking several bottles of Dragon Breath potion, her physical strength was still maintained at around normal levels.

The potency of the [Tide] potion they drank earlier was visibly waning, and the healing speed of the wounds on the dragon scales had also slowed down significantly. It seemed that the standard of three bottles of magic potion per person was still a bit too little. Vilandella alone drank more than half of the team's healing potions and stamina recovery potions.

The remaining half was drunk by the warrior Alessina. Her wounds healed at a fairly normal rate, considering that the [Tide] potion provided her with an excessive amount of life force compared to the dragon.

"Clang!" The scepter and the greatsword collided, producing a sound like church bells. Roach, who had already spun halfway around, swung down with all his might, but only managed to strike empty ground, almost causing him to stumble and fall.

"She's getting used to our moves," Black Horse said, blocking the crimson blade hurtling towards the witch with a punch. "Everyone be on high alert, we..."

"Boom!" A violent explosion rang out from the main gate, tearing apart the crimson thorns and revealing three adventurers. "I told you this alchemical bomb I bought was really useful, right? Look, it just ripped the door open... Holy crap, what's going on!?"

The boastful young adventurer promptly rolled away, but his teammate carrying a large shield behind him wasn't so lucky. He was immediately entangled by the crimson whip swung by [Arrogance]. In a single pull, she appeared in front of him, followed by a "death embrace." Bat wings wrapped around her, and a mangled corpse fell to the center of the hall.

"..." "..." It's good that someone came in, but it was unnecessary to give the other side a speed boost as they came in. [Pride]'s speed was clearly increased by at least 100%, and they appeared in front of Livia in an instant.

Fortunately, the dark horse reacted quickly, turning around decisively and delivering a chop to send her flying. He then appeared in front of Weiwei. Before she could react, the dragon girl could only turn her head to the side, and a wound at least a meter long was cut open where her shoulder and neck connected, with dragon blood splattering everywhere as if it were free.

"Roar!" Amidst the dragon's mournful cry, Alessina, guided by instinct, decisively used the greatsword as a shield. "Clang!" "Sizzle!" The scepter, transformed into a scythe, pressed down hard on the greatsword, and the fox girl was visibly pushed away until Roach and the black horse launched an attack from behind, at which point she instantly disappeared.

“Okay, let’s leave first.” Livia glanced at the location of the gate, where the blood-red thorns were still gathering and healing. “Click!” Roach threw out a few small gadgets and stuck them into the healing thorns, then slapped the rune plate. “Boom!” The gate, which was already distorted by the explosion, became even more distorted.

Black Horse scooped up the witch and placed her on his shoulder. Vilandella, who had returned to human form, was carried on the fox girl's shoulder. The group quickly withdrew from the battle area. Before leaving, Leslie kicked another archer who was standing dumbfounded at the doorway inside. Then, the crimson thorns closed up again, sealing off the battle area.