Witch Troupe and the Undead

What follows will be a demonstration of how, in a matter of minutes, humans can shed all traces of civilization and transform into purely instinct-driven beasts.

"Old horse!"

"Here!?" Black Horse didn't realize the seriousness of the situation either. Accidents and scenes like this were nothing to him. However, Roach knew that this was the beginning because he saw the fleeing crowd notice the scattered goods.

This is a street near Sky Plaza, in other words, this is the capital's luxury commercial district. A significant portion of the goods scattered here are high-value jewelry and luxury items. The next second, a brick flew towards a magic item shop on the side of the road.

Of course, it was to no avail. The shop window wasn't made of glass and was enchanted with defensive features; even a catapult wouldn't be able to smash it open in one go. However, this action triggered a chain reaction. Many people fleeing the scene noticed what was happening on the street, as well as the small groups looting the goods on the ground, and so...

Roach saw a man dressed as a junior clerk take off his heavy coat, cover his face with a scarf, pick up a broken piece of wood from the ground, and walk toward the man picking up jewelry from the ground next to him.

"Bang!" The wooden stick struck him hard on the back of the head. He frantically picked up the scattered gems and stuffed them into the bundle made of his coat. However, this joy did not last long before he was pushed to the ground.

Then came the sound of glass shattering a second time, followed by screams from the shop assistants, the sound of clothes being torn, and the uproar of looting. Those who were truly terrified had already run far enough away, while the remaining people were the braver ones. Although their numbers were much smaller than at the beginning, the danger had actually increased.

"Alessina!" Roach threw a silver-gray metal rod at Alessina. The moment the rod touched her, she roughly knew how to use it. With a strong twist of the handle, the entire iron rod stood up like a porcupine with countless sharp spikes, and then turned into a whip blade composed of countless sharp blades.

"This is..." "Professor Wedel gave us a sample. We were originally going to continue the work of mass-producing the Serpent's Tail Sword, but now the work has been taken up by the train. This sample is just a recent, temporary result to fool the client."

"Is it enchanted?"

“No, it’s just a simple alchemical transforming weapon, its strength is only at the level of refined steel. You’d better not use too much force…” Roach drew another sword, a fragment of the Night Glow, “Lulua, is there any blessing we can use at this time?”

"Yes!" Lulua placed her hand on the blade, and the power of the Night God quickly made the entire sword glow with a pale, moonlit color. "Judgment!" Judgment Blessing, one of the common paladin blessings of the Church of the Night, can exert a strong restraining and killing power against creatures with an aura of sin. Of course, the specific killing power is related to the intensity of the sin of the opponent; the greater the sin, the stronger the effect.

"Boom!" A battle also broke out in the direction of the church. It seemed that the church priests and the fanatical believers of the Redemption faction were clashing. The newly ordained saint and the archbishop tried to stop the battle from breaking out, but to little avail.

Therefore, the only option was to first organize innocent and rational other people and believers to take refuge. However, this action was obstructed and sabotaged by the fanatics of the other side and believers and priests of some small sects.

“Something’s not right…” Lilith raised her hand to face the thug who was lunging at her with a crude weapon. A strange light flashed in the thug’s eyes, but his movements did not falter in the slightest. “Something’s wrong with these people. They’ve been incited!”

"A great sin ritual!?" The companion dodged the fleeing ordinary people who were rushing forward with their heads down, and swung a thorny whip to bind the people behind the crowd who were holding knives with ferocious expressions.

"No, it's a spiritual arcane spell!" This is also why Sinners can easily conceal their identities. They can disguise themselves as spiritual arcane spells very well, since Sinner arcane spells are very similar to spiritual arcane spells in many non-physical spell effects.

"It's an inspirational ceremony!" A giant owl circled a few times and swooped down, landing at the entrance to the academy. "Someone has launched a large-scale inspirational ceremony in the capital!"

"Who did this?!"

"Who else could it be?" Elena looked towards the direction of the Giant Rock Palace. "The Imperial Capital's defensive array... who else could activate it?" Encouragement is a buff spell that can greatly enhance a person's mental vitality, boosting their courage and faith. In a city defense battle, this is a powerful enhancement spell, but at this moment...

Courage grants thugs undue drive; conviction strengthens the obsessions of fanatics and mad priests; and finally, the Encouragement spell is a buff spell, and apart from its innate magic resistance, no defensive spell or item can counter its effects.

"Dean, a large group of thugs are rushing over, shouting slogans to purify heretics."

“I knew it…” The church and the academy didn’t have much of a conflict, after all, the church needed the academy to teach necessary occult and potion knowledge, and there were even seminary students in the academy.

But it's different in the eyes of those dogmatic fanatics, especially now that they've been swayed by the inspiration spell. Elena knows this kind of spiritual magic, and that omnipotent, self-assured mental state will greatly amplify the obsession and courage of these fanatics at this critical juncture. Even if they're not extreme normally, they'll become extreme now!

“However…” Elena looked at the group chanting slogans, led by a priest from a neighborhood church, and chuckled, “They seem to have absolutely no idea what power a ‘witch’ represents!”

That's something with the same title as the Church's "Saint" or "Cardinal," and even the title of Cardinal in the Church isn't as prestigious as that of a witch.

The pale gray robes fluttered violently, and strange limbs swelled up beneath them, their flesh and blood resembling mud. The mud and rocks rising from the ground also resembled flesh and blood. "Roar!" A terrifying monster, a fusion of the images of hundreds of demons, appeared on the street.

The Hundred-Faced Witch, Headmistress Elena's battle form: "Hundred-Faced Chimera"

"Whoosh~" A strong acidic airflow swept across the street like a hurricane. The divine power shield was on the verge of collapse in the storm. Then, a snake-like tail suddenly lashed out and sent the first two rows of people flying. The coiled snake head bit the leading priest and injected him with venom. In the blink of an eye, his flesh and blood dissolved into a puddle of pus.

Witches and saints alike can be overwhelmed by sheer numbers, but they don't have enough people, their equipment isn't good enough, and most importantly... Dean Elena isn't fighting alone. Behind her are dozens of mid-to-high-level arcane mages and alchemists, as well as hundreds of students with the title of apprentice arcane mage.

Do you remember the characteristics of arcane magic? Given enough people and enough time, even an apprentice can unleash forbidden magic!

"Storm!" Arcs of electricity appeared out of thin air and converged at the end of the shaking bell. Professor Wedel swung the ritual implement forward with force, and the arcs of electricity fanned out, capturing all the thugs in front of him and turning them into worms that twitched on the ground.

"Construct Transmutation: Wall!" With the help of dozens of alchemy students, several professors quickly completed the preparation of the transmutation array and ritual. The street suddenly rose up and, with the help of elemental arcane mages, quickly formed a wall shape. Then, enhanced by alchemy, it was transformed into a true enchanted city wall, and the magical items and stones thrown by the fanatics hit the wall.

"We have magical items. Prepare an anti-magic ritual. Treat this as an extra midterm exam!" The still-shaken students, under the guidance of their respective professors, quickly set up the ritual site, identifying the items and types of spells used by the other side, as if it were a situation they might encounter in the future, testing each person's understanding of magic and mysticism.

"The medicines are all here!" The potion-making students brought out medicine boxes, while the general studies students organized civilians to take refuge. The square in front of the academy was the best place to take refuge.

One side of the street was blocked by Dean Elena, and the other side was blocked by an earthen wall. Only the intricate alleyways across the street were not completely sealed off. The small groups of thugs were no match for the guards. Instead, these alleyways became important passageways for civilians to take refuge and escape.

Residents living near the college flocked to the streets and small square in front of the college, many of them injured, indicating that the situation was spiraling out of control.

Chapter 233 Chaos

The streets surrounding the dome square in front of the cathedral have fallen into complete chaos. Perhaps it started as just a small group of fanatics who were unhappy that their faith had been challenged, but now it has developed into a completely different situation. Many cunning individuals are either taking advantage of the chaos to loot or seeking revenge.

The only good news is that no one has set fires yet, and the surrounding area consists of high-value shops with adequate security measures in place. Only a small portion of the area has been looted.

However, this chaos also presented an opportunity for the priests, who, of course, did not want to lose their vested interests. Such chaos could prove that the "saints" were indeed "saints," but those who followed the saints were not necessarily devout and kind believers.

In other words, a saint who is all alone poses no threat to the church. Even if you put a horse's head in the main hall, it's fine. After all, the horse's head is the point of least contention between the two sides.

The real problem lies in the demands of Odvija and other priests who "received the Lord's grace," which include reforming the church, abandoning luxurious clothing and cumbersome rituals, drastically reducing the "price" of various gifts and spells and the price of holy water, ceasing the sale of indulgences or similar acts that attempt to steal the Lord's power, and also reforming the Inquisition.

The provisions concerning evil spirits and demons can be retained, while provisions concerning certain heresies and cults need to be subject to more formal review. As for the remaining judicial power, it should be relinquished, as faith should not be too closely intertwined with secular power.

These reform proposals and new doctrines are almost unacceptable to the current clergy as a whole. Not to mention that the business of indulgences is almost the source of funding for most of the church's clergy, especially those high-ranking clergy. Their allowances and donations from holy items are simply not enough to support their luxurious lifestyle and various expenses.

Secondly, the price of the blessed spells is not a big problem. They don't use them many times a day anyway, so it would be a waste if they didn't. On the contrary, lowering the price to attract believers to visit the church more actively is a good thing. In any case, most priests don't get the money themselves. Many priests simply provide simple holy healing and blessings to believers who come to the church for free on a regular basis.

However, the price of holy water is different. This is an important means of making money for the lower and middle-ranking priests and clergy. Some of them are forced by practical reasons. Those small neighborhood churches can hardly get much funding or donations. If they don't rely on this business, they can only survive on boiled potatoes with salt and water.

The reform of the judicial system is a heavy blow to the militant faction and the higher-ups within the church. It is no longer a simple matter of economic interests, but also involves the right to speak and power. And when it comes to power structures, don't expect the other side to obediently surrender, especially when it is a group of people with extraordinary powers.

Let alone a saint, even if the Holy Lord himself descended to earth, as long as the extraordinary power bestowed upon them had not been stripped away, they would dare to say that he was a demon disguised as a god, and then slash him with a Holy Flame Sword.

So the two sides clashed directly in front of the cathedral. During the conflict, some of the fanatical believers who had been incited used violence, while the Redemptionists did not tolerate the other side at all. After all, they had won in the arena and believed that the judgment before God was over. They thought that the people in the cathedral were all a group of demons in disguise.

Both sides shouted that the other was a demon, a heretic, and an evil spirit, and then launched a frenzied attack using all sorts of means. Holy arts, magic, and extraordinary martial arts clashed against each other, while the remaining believers and spectators scattered in all directions. In the chaos, some adventurers obviously had some crooked thoughts, and some even tried to sneak into the cathedral. After all, they could easily steal some of the treasures in the treasury beneath the sanctuary and live a life of plenty.

"Stop!" Golden wings of light unfolded, but it was to no avail. The saint's order was not carried out at all. Instead, it boosted the morale of her own side and made the priests of the cathedral feel that she was supporting her own people.

"Glorious Barrier!" The archbishop, his face grim, activated the cathedral's defensive spell. A magnificent light barrier descended like the aurora borealis, blocking all attacks and charges. The panicked neutrals scattered and fled, spreading the chaos to even more distant places.

The fanatics, feeling protected, switched their prepared ordinary holy spells to a more powerful version and unleashed them on the opposing team's followers who lacked supernatural protection. Even some unfortunate bystanders were caught in the crossfire.

"Redemption!" For the first time, Odvia felt that her power was insufficient. The golden feathers she scattered instantly pulled up the followers and believers who had fallen but were not yet dead. However, this healing only fueled the fanatical emotions.

"Odvia, we shouldn't be here! We should retreat to a safe place and organize the civilians to take refuge!" a priest shouted. "I know, but if I leave now..." the enemy might not hold back! "Disengage first! Chaos is spreading; the district might be sealed off soon!"

In fact, the blockade had already begun. The great sin mages who were walking out with the crowd suddenly stopped. "Back off!" A row of bright armor appeared on the street. The Royal Guard's squire infantrymen, together with the town guards, blocked their way.

The towering shields, each taller than a person, were pieced together to form a mobile city wall. The long spears that stretched outward like a forest and the runes on the short sword-like blades calmed down every running rioter.

However, these people had no intention of advancing any further; they simply kept the chaos within these few blocks, not allowing anyone to leave or enter, especially those who looked like superhumans.

"Let's go!" Lilith pulled her companion and turned into a side alley before the army mages noticed them. Inside, three drunkards, completely unaware of what was happening outside, were still sprawled on the ground. Without hesitation, Lilith ignited the flames of sin on their bodies.

The sudden impulse sobered the drunkards up instantly. Their eyes fell on the wine bottle that had rolled to the alley entrance, and they rushed over in a flurry. The group started fighting at the alley entrance. At this moment, naturally no one noticed the several great sinner mages who had already entered.

"Snap!" The metal whip made a crisp sonic boom in the air. The sharp triangular tip of the blade easily drew a bloody gash on an armored warrior. The intense pain brought him back to his senses a little, but the effect of the inspiration spell, combined with the amplified emotions of the chaotic crowd, made him and several companions roar and charge towards Livia, who was cowering in a corner with her head in her hands.

In this battlefield-like place, what could be a better target than a seemingly soft and cute little girl? Her clothes, cloak, and that gold tag weren't cheap! Meanwhile, the relatively calmer people behind her took two steps back. A gold-level witch?

But in an instant, the little witch's cowardly crouching and covering-her-head defensive posture dispelled their doubts. What is the real Golden Witch like at this moment? Just look at the street they came from earlier.

The streets were littered with bizarre corpses. Before the Hundred-Faced Chimera, whether it was fanatical believers, adventurers who took advantage of the chaos to rob, armed members of various gangs, or even charlatans who were fanning the flames from behind, they were all equally and evenly scattered across the street.

Corpses dissolved by venom and acid filled the craters smashed by claws and hammer-shaped tails. Humanoid flesh and blood smeared the buildings, and bone fragments were embedded between rocks and bricks like bullets. The buildings on both sides were either hanging with chilling icicles or blackened by raging fire. The air was filled with the stench of electric arcs, and haphazardly placed stone spikes and rocks formed a jungle.

This was only because she was taking it easy and didn't use any large-scale destructive skills. If it were on the battlefield, she could easily wipe out a regular legion consisting of thousands of professional soldiers and a small number of extraordinary professionals, provided that the legion wasn't equipped with heavy weapons.

Otherwise, even if its entire body transformed into pseudo-dragon scales and defensive bone plates, it would be vaporized in just a few rounds of fire from a legion-sized heavy magic cannon.

Therefore, even sages or witches would not easily go against an empire or any other national regime. If they were to do so, they would need to destroy the enemy's artillery and other weapons, which are not easy to deploy and move, as soon as possible, rather than chasing down ordinary soldiers.

However, it was clear that no one would bring out a magic cannon to deal with the academy head on the main street outside the academy. On the contrary, the academy's professors and senior students brought out magic cannons that were completed but not yet delivered from the academy's workshop.

The academy has plenty of materials and magicians, plus these newly completed magic cannons and constructed magic puppets... This is why the empire and various countries treat witches and sages with such favor, not only in terms of academic and research capabilities, but also in terms of actual combat strength.

Their most powerful use is to equip them with a fully functional legion, so that they can fully unleash the role and combat power of these top-level superhumans.

Clearly, the little witch's performance is quite different from that of the real witch next door. Although if she were to take action, she could turn half of the capital into a dead zone with a magical storm if given enough time, the calm, safe, and well-prepared Livia is a completely different concept and existence from the Livia in the event of an emergency.

Roach swung the luminous fragment with force, and following Alessia's instructions, he moved his feet alternately, using the force of the rotation to slash diagonally down. The artifact, imbued with the blessing of judgment, sliced ​​the ferocious-looking man in front of him and his weapon in two as if slicing through a piece of human fat.

A sharp stone grazed past her ear and struck the wall, the flying stone dust landing on the little witch's golden hair, making her shudder and freeze in place.

"I've found a weapon!" The black horse galloped over, carrying a metal rod in its mouth. The moment its forelegs touched the ground and then lifted up again, it reared up and quickly transformed into a horse-headed giant wielding a large metal club. He dared not fight bare-handed at this moment, as that would require unleashing demonic fire or activating demonic skin.

At this critical juncture... it's pretty much confirmed that a demon is behind this chaos. He doesn't want to take the blame at all, so he spent some time finding an iron rod, and then...

"I've had enough!" Old Ma charged over with a sneer. "Now let's abandon all those fancy magic tricks here!" The safest thing is the pure power of muscles honed through countless trials, without any special abilities or demonic power, after discarding all external things.

"Ada!" The black horse kicked, and the warrior looked at the strong black horse kicking towards him in such a strange way with a mixture of fear and confusion. His first thought was: "Holy crap! It's the Black Horse Head Holy Lord manifesting!" Then he was kicked away by a hoof.

"Hey!" Before he even landed, a small figure appeared behind him, twisting and bending over, using all the strength of his waist and legs. His seemingly slender, fair legs struck him like a heavy hammer, kicking him into a V-shape. The sound of his spine breaking was incredibly crisp.

Luluya quickly braced herself with her hands to dodge a flying knife that seemed to come from nowhere. She sprang up from the ground, wrapped her legs around the neck of a gang thug, and snapped his neck with a "crack." Before the body could fall to the ground, she rolled down and disappeared into the crowd.

In close combat within these alleyways, Lulua has an unparalleled advantage. Her body moves swiftly between the winding buildings, appearing in all sorts of unbelievable places as if she possesses the ability to teleport, followed by screams of agony or the sound of bones shattering.

Compared to her, the fighting skills honed by ordinary gang thugs are as clumsy as a toddler learning to walk. And Lulua is not the most threatening. Although she is also a saint, she has not activated her holy marks, and the power of the goddess cannot be infused on a large scale at present, so her strength is limited. Most importantly, the high-level holy arts of the Church of Nightfall have been lost, and she has not learned them.

The real threat comes from Alessina, who uses billboards as shields and wields a whip blade. With each whistle, several people fall, and blood almost flows across the alleyway. The weapon's lethality matches its appearance perfectly. Apart from its poor armor-piercing ability, for unprotected gang members and thugs relying on their numbers, each strike is a wide-range sweep and leaves numerous gruesome lacerations.

"Run towards the academy! That area is stable!" said an owl that landed on the ground. It was Elena's familiar.

"Old Horse!" Roach picked up Livia and handed her to Alessina, who tossed the light-weight girl high into the air. Old Horse threw away the iron rod, caught the little witch, and transformed back into a black horse, charging towards the academy.

"Young lady! Stop shaking, magic!" "Oh~ oh~" Livia opened her palm as if waking from a dream, and a force field shield enveloped the black horse. "Die!" The black horse, wrapped in the force field shield, smashed through everything in its path like a cannonball.

At the intersection of Xueyuan Road,

"Move all the wounded to the courtyard and examine their injuries."

How much healing potion do we have left?

"Three boxes! The potion class and the herbalism class are making new potions!" Under this high-pressure mode, at least the students in the herbalism and potion classes finally realized the effect of Miss Livia's sea of ​​questions strategy. In the mass production of low-level potions that do not require much skill or precision, they have long been trained to perform instinctive calculations and actions, which greatly improves the speed and success rate of production.

"Go over there and keep the roadblocks up! We need a few more people for the magic cannons!" Just as everyone was busy, the person in charge of observation suddenly screamed, "Something's coming! It's fast!"

"Where's the magic cannon?!" A black object shrouded in a force field shield smashed through the chaotic crowd from behind and charged directly at the barricade. Ordinary people queuing for refuge at the barricade scrambled to both sides to get out of the way.

Spiritual spears rained down from the air, and the black horse dodged them all. For the few who did not, this kind of spiritual magic was equivalent to using fire to burn the fire element to the Nightmare Demon.

"It's coming! Head down!" The black horse leaped up, bounding over the entire roadblock before landing, then charged a few steps before stopping. "Ah, it's Princess Livia!!!" "Lookout, what are you doing!"

The little witch was completely stunned. It took her several seconds to react. She was surrounded by familiar students, which greatly relieved her tension.

It took Roach and his group a while to reach the entrance to the academy. The students on lookout duty, who had clearly been severely reprimanded, spotted Professor Roach. Compared to the taciturn Little Witch, Professor Roach, who single-handedly reformed the entire academy's examination and homework systems, sent a chill down the spines of the students on the roadblock the moment he appeared.

Those aristocratic students were no exception. There were some good-for-nothings who initially planned to protest the excessive amount of homework. After all, they knew they were there to gain prestige, and as long as they didn't bother the other students, they didn't care if they slacked off. Then their parents received report cards and homework comments. Faced with the sharp tongue of teaching assistant House, it was hard for any aristocratic gentleman not to turn red-hot. And it's not hard to guess what a red-hot bull would do.

There is no reason or possibility to criticize the academy's "duty-fulfillment," and this is not just any academy, but a proper spellcaster academy. The noble status of spellcasters also prevents them from being as carefree as some irresponsible parents on Earth who say "learning these things is useless" or "as long as you can count money and keep accounts, that's enough."

In situations like this, there's definitely a need for a suitable, reasonable, and justifiable scapegoat. So, who could it be? It's hard to guess!

After being pushed hard by their fathers, almost all the aristocratic students realized that they could not do their homework, but they could not not do it; they could fail their exams, but they could not hand in a blank paper or answer randomly—after all, their fathers knew what kind of students they were capable of, and that not being able to learn and not wanting to learn were two different things.

"Roach, you're really intimidating!" Professor Wedel joked, seeing the students at the roadblock looking like they'd seen a ghost.

"It's just a normal reaction from students. However, it seems our strategy is correct. Doing more homework is indeed helpful for them in dealing with such emergencies. At the very least, even the most inept noble students can help with herbs and rune drawing, and reinforce the roadblocks and the barriers on the headmaster's side."

"That's right, it seems the academy needs further strengthening in the future."

“There’s no point in just piling on the quantity; they’ve already had enough practice. The next step is to increase their flexible thinking and in-depth training.” The two professors exchanged a glance and let out a laugh that sounded like “the mischievous students’ house.”

Chapter 234 Education is like drawing cards

The chaos in the capital did not last long, and by nightfall it had basically subsided. This was mainly because the legion had blocked all the intersections, preventing the chaos from spreading further. As night fell, a curfew was enforced, and anyone still on the streets was dealt with by rune-wielding spears. Soon, both the real rioters and the adventurers mixed in had to hide in the alleys or sewers.

With fewer people on the streets and key intersections taken over, the neighborhood basically returned to a basic level of calm. The Legion then took over the roadblocks and defenses on the street in front of the academy. When Captain Rick saw the high stone brick wall reinforced by the alchemists and the Roach Livia II rapid-fire heavy crossbow mounted on it, he didn't know what expression to make.

The rapid-fire light crossbow was a product improved by Roach using equipment from the academy. It must be said that the academy's library and professors largely made up for his lack of basic theoretical knowledge. At the same time, the academy's materials were much more complete than those that Roach and his colleagues had acquired on the market.

Although specific runes and base materials for the dynamic element have not yet been found, a combined rune and base material compatible with both wind and fire elements has been found. Therefore, a new rune string was added to the original rune structure to convert the fire element into the wind element.

This rapid-fire heavy crossbow uses a small spirit water steam engine for power, and it is planned to be installed on the front of their new vehicle as a self-defense weapon, converting excess fire element into wind element or directly using the wind element of the wind turbine mechanical system for power.

“A standard machine gun with a rate of fire of 750 rounds per minute. We prepared at least fifty boxes of ammunition, and we’ve used less than one box so far.” Professor Wedel said as he handed it over to Knight Commander Rick, pointing to the mountain of boxes piled up beside the roadblock. “The students have turned almost all of their stored magic iron into ammunition.”

This ammunition was more expensive than the hexagonal metal cone used in the Type I crossbow; it used a triangular pyramidal magic iron plate. Roach called this ammunition "slicing bullets."

Because it is a magical material formed from enchanted iron sheets, the simplest runes can be engraved on it. By absorbing excess wind elements during acceleration, it forms a kind of airflow shield that envelops the projectile, allowing it to glide a very long distance.

The drawback is that the trajectory is not very stable, but the advantage is that the power is great and after hitting the target, the properties of the magic iron will cause the entire projectile to explode, forming countless wind blades and sharp metal pieces. The result of the target shooting is that the penetration and killing effect are very good, enough to penetrate 5-15 mm steel plates and cause limb breakage and large-area lacerations to the black hardwood doll behind it.

This also means that even a superhuman knight with an extraordinary physique would be rendered incapable of fighting at medium range if he were wearing ordinary heavy armor.

"Truly... a revolutionary weapon..." The Knight Commander did not express hostility towards the weapon as Roach had expected, partly because true knights would wear enchanted armor.