Witch Troupe and the Undead

(These catapults could blast through city walls with stones, but even a 10-meter-tall golem would at least be violently shaken and tilted if it were hit by one, let alone be damaged.)

"Get moving! Think of some defensive spells. These golems are so slow-moving, they must have some way to deal with catapults!" Just as Livia was about to go into her signature crouch-and-cover defensive stance, Leon grabbed the little witch's ankle and shouted.

"Huh!? Defense, defense?" The little witch was stunned for a moment, then immediately regained her confidence, decisively raised her left hand, and made a sound as if to cheer herself up, "Ha!" Three rune chains lit up on the arm armor, and the same runes lit up on the witch's arm at the same time. A layer of illusory iron armor glove was put on her left arm.

"A holographic sensing system, huh? That's really advanced!" Luo Qi said, gazing into the distance. This kind of technology only appears in science fiction movies on Earth.

A long, narrow rod popped out from the golem's arm armor, then split into a cross shape, and a thin force field shield appeared on the arm.

The "Reflective Field" is the simplest defensive spell. It can deflect light projectiles, which are similar to those from a regular slingshot, hunting bow, or thrown pebbles. It can only reduce the damage of heavy arrows from a real longbow or compound bow.

Even a powerful, slashing weapon can only be deflected to a certain extent. Only if the mage is proficient in combat and weapon techniques can the force be accurately neutralized. Simply put, it's a spell with a defensive strength similar to an ordinary leather shield.

However, even the most basic spells, when stacked countless times and driven by the combined magic of the witch and the golem, will undergo a qualitative change, turning the originally colorless shield effect into an opaque grayish-blue.

"Bang!" The golem assumed a defensive stance, letting the stones smash against its shield. Apart from causing a few ripples, nothing happened. Seeing this, the little witch was no longer afraid. She clenched her right fist and swung it out forcefully. The four-meter-long blade swept across the stands, knocking down the pale creature that had let out a high-pitched scream.

Then it strode towards the edge of the arena, seemingly heading to destroy the catapults. However, just as the golem reached the center of the arena, the pale creatures suddenly stopped moving and scattered, abandoning even the catapults.

"what happened?"

"Creak~" The winch sounded again, and the arena floor rose up in a crisscross pattern, transforming from a flat area into a complex terrain full of obstacles and protrusions.

Of course, to the golem, these obstacles, which were almost as tall as walls in the eyes of ordinary adventurers, were just low walls similar to fences. It was clear that several caves leading underground had appeared around the area, and some kind of elevator structure was transporting things up.

"Anyway, it can't be a guest here to present us with an award~" In this situation, it is most likely another of the Night King's wicked sense of humor. As the elevator reached the top, a strange creature was brought to the ground.

It had vibrant red feathers and a face that resembled a human's. Its body was like a dragon's, with six slender, sharp claws resting on a stone platform. Beneath its long tail feathers, it revealed mottled white bones—that's right, whatever surprises this tyrant had prepared, it had already been killed by time or by a sealed artifact.

Now it's nothing more than a corpse with some remaining supernatural power, which keeps its feathers and head intact.

"Phew~ That scared me to death. If this size were alive, it wouldn't be any easier to deal with than an adult dragon." Leslie let out a breath. After a while, another elevator chugged up and brought up a huge iron cage.

After the iron cage reached the ground, the four iron plates fell down, and the huge creature inside crashed to the ground, turning into a pile of scattered white bones. Yes, this one was also dead, and even completely rotten.

"Oh, the descendants of the ancient hundred-armed giants. If they were still alive, we'd be in for a lot of trouble." A dozen arms each held a rusty weapon, some near and some far. If they were to fight, the scene would be quite a spectacle.

"crunch~"

"And also, how much stock did this guy have in storage?"

"Probably another dead one?" It was a huge egg-shaped object. After it reached the ground, its grayish-green skin opened up. Just when everyone thought it was another corpse, the thing covered in black mucus wriggled and then slowly stood up.

Countless black slimes wriggled like leeches intertwined, forming muscles. Then the outermost layer began to calcify, and a humanoid creature, also about 8 to 10 meters tall, appeared.

Covered in a grayish-white calcareous shell, it resembled a giant stone statue. It had no facial features, only rows of black tentacles extending from its smooth face. The monster pulled a long, thin object from the slime it had just been in, and before anyone could see what it was, it quickly hardened into a large stone sword.

"Wow..." Livia exclaimed in surprise. She had never seen this creature before, but Leon knew this wasn't the time to stand still. "Hurry up and get up there before it gets its footing. Give it a shot!"

After hearing Leon's instructions, Livia steered the golem toward the target. Following Leon's gesture, she held her longsword with both hands and dragged it behind her. Just as the monster was preparing to fight with its sword in hand, she delivered an upward slash that struck its chin, sending stone chips flying.

"Good fight!"

"Woo!" The monster let out a mournful cry like a steam whistle, and slammed its left fist heavily into the golem's ribs. The enchanted armor immediately lit up with countless defensive runes, and the entire machine suddenly stopped.

"Don't stop, watch my movements, cut it!" The first section of the blade, composed of twelve lock rings, lit up, and the entire blade was enveloped in golden light. It cleaved half a body length deep, from the neck to the abdomen. If it were a human, they would have been dead long ago.

However, the inside of the statue was filled with leech-like slime. Apart from the black liquid gushing out and staining the sword blade grayish-black, it did nothing else. Instead, the opponent slashed the statue horizontally at the waist with a powerful sword strike, causing the statue to stagger to the side and almost fall to the ground.

"Does this thing have any other magic arrays?"

"Hmm~" Livia shook her head. She had just started operating this thing herself and was completely unfamiliar with it. It would take her some time to figure out how each system worked, but now was clearly not the time to study that. She steadied herself again, her small hands protecting her chest, and mimicking Lulua, she used her shield and sword to block the statue's thrust. "Stomp on it! Stomp on it with the shockwave!"

"Ah!" Livia looked a little flustered. Her companions all had their own battle strategies and ideas, but she was the only one operating the machine.

"Stomp on him! Use that shockwave from before!" The little witch raised her foot again and stomped down before the statue could straighten its stance. "Boom!" The shockwave made the statue lose its balance and interrupted its next attack.

"Cut him down!" Leon and Alessina shouted like elementary school kids watching their friends play a fighting game on a video game console—if it weren't for the circumstances, they would have almost grabbed the controller.

Chapter 395 Prizes and Taunts

"Cut it in the waist, yes, slash it horizontally!" The golden greatsword missed its target as expected, but the price was that the hilt of the sword slammed heavily onto the golem's head, causing the entire cabin to tilt backward. Leslie and the little witch exclaimed in unison.

"You swung too early. It's okay, just punch him with your left fist!" Alessina said regretfully. Livia adjusted her posture, got into a punching stance, and punched forward with her small fist while making a "hey" sound.

"Boom!" Stone chips flew everywhere, and the statue staggered to the side from the blow. "Yes, that's it, right punch, don't stop!" Driven by the witch's magic, the golem's right hand swung back at a speed close to its design limit, delivering another hook punch to the statue.

"Smash it down with the hilt of the sword!"

"Bang!" The stone statue was smashed and fell backward, crashing heavily to the ground. Cracks appeared on its calcified gray-white armor. "Poke it down with your sword," Leon gestured with his two-handed sword. The little witch clumsily manipulated the golem, gripping the greatsword with both hands and forcefully stabbing it down.

"Bang!" Sparks flew as the twelve bronze-colored chain-like blades pinned the statue to the ground. "Use that move to stomp it!" Roach chimed in, "Then use some fire magic to burn this thing completely!"

Livia's face scrunched up. This golem didn't have an instruction manual; she obtained information by communicating with its soul core. It would be a bit troublesome to specifically look up what moves it had, but at least she could perform this action.

The little witch lifted her right foot, causing her skirt to billow up and reveal her fair calf and a small section of her smooth thigh. Golden lightning-shaped magic patterns extended down the side of her thigh and disappeared near her calf, while a golden rune lit up on the sole of her foot.

"Boom!" The golem's huge foot slammed heavily onto the stone statue's chest, causing the rock to explode in all directions, revealing a writhing, black, viscous substance underneath.

"Flame!" The witch stretched out her left hand. Instead of using the golem's own spell structure, she manipulated the golem's magic to construct her own spell structure in her palm. This was an operation that other mages could not perform to extract the magic that had been injected into the golem and then reassemble it into a spell structure.

Flames gathered in his palm, and rings of crimson magic runes flashed by. A fireball, at least several meters in diameter and bound within the magic runes, slammed into the black slime, completely evaporating the leech-like writhing liquid.

After the monster was defeated, the arena terrain returned to normal, and three black stone tablets rose up. On the stone platform in front of the tablets, something resembling a prize was placed.

"You vile and lowly invader... Congratulations on your victory! The benevolent and generous king is pleased with your cruelty and bravery and has pardoned your sins. Now, take your prize and get out of this place. Do not let your filthy, deformed, and underdeveloped feet defile the supreme temple."

Livia read the text on the black stone tablet. It was written in ancient Elvish, but with obvious variations, as if it had been improved and evolved from Elvish to make it more suitable for human pronunciation and use.

Many magical books are written in this language. As for its original origin, it is unknown. However, mages generally feel that writing in this way is very sophisticated, and bards feel the same way. It seems that if they don't write a few poems in this language, they will not seem professional enough.

Then there are descriptions of the prize and the enemy on the stone platform, and on the stone platform corresponding to the skeleton is a fossilized egg.

"The Egg of the Contract Beast"

"Beast Contract: 70 feet long and weighs 11,000 pounds. It was captured on Red Mist Island. It destroyed three mass-produced knight puppets and one elite knight puppet. It was successfully captured in the 103rd year of the Eternal Calendar with the help of 600 knights and three archmages."

“I’ve never heard of that name before, but Red Mist Island…” Leslie frowned, and after thinking for a while, she hummed a few indistinct lines of a tune. “Ah, I remember now, it’s the island mentioned in ‘Red and Gold,’ the island inhabited by ancient, wise beasts. Ah, isn’t that a legend?”

"It seems this isn't just a legend anymore, and this thing might actually be the so-called Beast of Wisdom," Roach said with a shrug. "So, what are the characteristics of that Beast of Wisdom?"

“Ah, I know that,” Lulua raised her right hand high. “I’ve read this story. It presents three riddles to the wizard who is searching for a way to resurrect the former king. If the wizard successfully solves the three riddles, he will receive a revelation. If the wizard fails, he will be made into a stone statue and placed on the island to show others the fate of fools.”

"In the end, the wizard successfully solved all the mysteries and obtained the answer to the question of life and death: there is no way in the world to bring back a dead being; death itself is the greatest wisdom."

Lulua clearly remembered the story quite well, while Livia looked somewhat confused because she hadn't read it before. Well, although she did enjoy reading picture book collections, the storybooks and picture books she collected were all rather old or outdated; she hadn't actually read this kind of popular stuff.

"If possible, we can visit the author later. I remember he should live on an island near Azure Bay in the south of the empire. His mailing address is that place on the island, what's it called again? Oh, the Wind and the Seven-Stringed Harp Tavern, it's an old establishment. I heard the first owner was a half-elf."

“Mmm, Kraken is delicious,” the little witch nodded vigorously.

"You've eaten it? No, Miss, haven't you never left the house? How do you know their signature dessert is called 'Kraken'?"

A dark green pastry named after a sea monster. Because of its soft structure, it is difficult to control the temperature and foaming reaction during baking, so it looks strange. However, it tastes really good. After several unsuccessful attempts to improve it, the half-elf proprietress who invented the recipe gave up completely. Instead, she turned this slightly weird and twisted pastry into a specialty and named it "Kraken".

Similarly, although the taste is great, each serving has subtle differences due to the difficulty in controlling the heat. This is also a unique feature. Unfortunately, because this kind of dessert is rich in sugar and protein, it is very easy to get damp and moldy, and it can generally only be eaten locally.

"Hmm, the teacher bought it before, for freezing magic," the little witch said after thinking for a moment, a nostalgic and slightly melancholic expression involuntarily appearing on her face.

"How extravagant..." Preserving them with freezing magic and then transporting them hundreds or even thousands of kilometers back. However, considering the taste of the soft cakes that the little witch usually eats, the old witch will probably only bring these snacks back on very rare occasions. Otherwise, they are just life-sustaining meals.

"I guess the author must have gotten information about Red Mist Island from somewhere else, so we can figure out what the contracted beast is."

"Hmm!" Livia silently noted down this information, then grasped the petrified egg in the golem's palm. After confirming that there was absolutely no life force inside, she tossed it aside. Beneath another complete skeleton was a stone platform containing a two-handed greatsword, inscribed "Giants' Hatred, forged from the teeth and bones of three primordial giants."

"Founding Titan (Large): The larva of the Founding Titan, the only surviving individual. It understands language, possesses intelligence, and has mysterious supernatural abilities. It was captured at the cost of twenty-five knights."

"The Primordial Giant!?" Livia looked at the skeleton. The Primordial Giant had long since perished, but there was still one here. This was the origin of the giant monsters, and strictly speaking, it could not be classified as a monster.

Rather, they are an ancient, intelligent life form as powerful as a dragon, possessing considerable intelligence, their own family and social systems, and skilled in forging and construction. Many ancient ruins were built by them, and many divine weapons were also forged by them.

However, this race perished due to a disease that caused their bodies to petrify uncontrollably, eventually turning them into a constantly crumbling stone statue. The cause of this disease was the magic of order itself, at least that's the conclusion reached by later researchers through the remaining skeletons of the Founding Titan.

They were among the first life forms born from the chaotic demonic tide, and thus their bodies and life forms were perfectly adapted to the chaotic magic. However, they followed a different path from the dragons.

Dragons adapted to different magical environments through shapeshifting, while the progenitor giants were too slow to adapt. They could only live in areas shrouded in chaotic magic, and by the time they began to develop their own civilization, the magic of order had become a deadly poison to them.

They either develop a civilization and then die from a petrifying plague that erupts from within, or they stop developing a civilization, are driven to the brink of extinction by other intelligent beings, and then continue to turn into stone.

The only seemingly feasible solution is to destroy all forms of civilization in this world, eliminate all intelligent races, and keep everything in ancient chaos, so that they can continue to exist or buy time to adapt to the new world.

"Judging from the information obtained from the ruins and inscriptions of the Founding Giants, this is not something they could have done," Leon added. This race has left many traces on the continent, and those ancient megaliths were their books or recording tools.

“That’s a truly tragic race…” Roach sighed. They are kind and peaceful by nature, and have both the advantage of being first to develop and progress in civilization, as well as their own innate advantages. However, civilization and order are a deadly poison to them. “If there really is a so-called creator god in this world, then he must be a guy with a twisted sense of humor.”

This statement had a somewhat blasphemous tone, but the two clergymen nodded in agreement. In any case, even their superiors, the true gods, couldn't say for sure whether there was a single true God or a single creator, since the world was already in this state when they were born.

"Living Stone: Origin unknown, from the deep crystal mines of Arenas. It has devoured hundreds of miners and guardsmen. Extremely dangerous! No other similar entities have been found. This entity mimics surrounding creatures and forms a petrified shell. It will attack any flesh-and-blood creatures or beings containing magic."

"The Lord's Wrath: You destroyed my favorite, most useful pet and execution tool. This amulet is your 'reward'." On the stone platform lay an amulet, its shape identical to the banner, with tender vines forming a ring and a runic longsword. A series of insulting words were written on the amulet, but this did not affect the amulet's function.

"Each time it is damaged, it absorbs the life force of itself and the enemy to charge up a powerful shield, enough to withstand the golem's direct attack..." Livia examined the amulet, which made everyone's expressions even stranger.

The amulet itself is very powerful, but the runes on it are linked to those meaningless, purely profane words. This means that if you remove these insulting titles and names, the equipment will become invalid. And if you keep the equipment... it can only be said that this Night King is not only a tyrant, but also has the personality of a child, and even the complete type of brat.

“Sigh~” Livia sighed, “Just like a child~” The loli witch showed the expression of a tired old mother who had encountered a naughty child who was not up to her discipline. She gently brushed her fingers over the amulet, and the meaningless engravings on it quickly healed and closed up, turning into normal decorative patterns.

"Does anyone want it?"

"It absorbs life force to charge it... Give it to Leon." Anyway, he's a paladin with divine power as a foundation. He can just use some life force to feed this amulet when he has nothing to do. It will give him an extra powerful shield during battle. As the only tank or meat shield class in the team, this is obviously the most suitable equipment for him.

"Me?" Leon was somewhat surprised. He was just someone who had temporarily joined the group, yet he was able to get a share of the spoils.

"Oh, when you leave, remember to give this to Alessina or Lulua, otherwise, you know, if the young lady really wants to curse you, there's no use hiding anywhere unless you go to the Holy Lord's Heaven," Leslie said ominously, which made Leon's expression immediately become much more serious.

“I swear in the name of the Holy Lord that I will not take this amulet with me.”

"Are you kidding me? The Little Witch's Curse? He didn't know what level it was, but he knew what level Old Ma was at. Even a Hellish Sub-Lord would be scared out of his wits after hearing that. He felt that with his strength, he shouldn't try to experience what it was like."

"A curse?" Livia tilted her head. She could indeed curse, but the essence of a curse lay in concepts and spirit, or rather, it required the greatest malice to achieve the greatest effect, given the witch's nature...

"At most, it might make you itchy all over, or cause you to hiccup for no reason, or make you trip and fall while walking. At night, you might dream that your old-fashioned tutor is hitting your palms with a small wooden board..."

"This is terrible enough!" Leon shuddered. It's these kinds of everyday curses that are truly terrifying.

"I don't think Princess Livia will torture you, Uncle Leon. At most, you'll just lose some hair," Lulua comforted him.

“Hmm~ Hmm~” the witch agreed, but the paladin was even more terrified. He even involuntarily raised his hand to touch his helmet. Under the helmet, the lion-like hair clearly showed a slightly high forehead, but he covered it with his hairstyle, making it look like a berserker style rather than baldness.

The thought that his hairline might recede several times faster because of the curse, eventually turning into an M-shape or even a U-shape, sent chills down Leon's spine. This curse might as well just kill him. He can't spend the rest of his life wearing a helmet, can he?

As for the Giant's Hatred, no one has taken it. The name itself sounds rather strange, and the little witch has also examined it. It's something about a magical formula imbued with some kind of concept, which is very unfamiliar. Even she can't identify what its effect is.

After the three monsters in the arena were eliminated, the arena fell into complete silence. Not only did it not open any new passages, but it also closed all the exits, as if urging the intruders to get out quickly, because beyond that, it was not the outer palace, but the real underworld palace and the inner palace.

"Let's go!" The barriers that had fallen from all sides shone with a faint light. Only the passage leading to the upper level behind them was normal. If it weren't for this golem, Roach and the others might have had to turn back. After all, the little witch's energy was limited. If they were to camp here and waste time, the sealed artifacts below might break free even further.

To fight a fully sealed artifact in an incomplete state would be suicidal. It would be better to go out, rest and prepare, and then fight the escaped sealed artifact in its complete form, which would have a higher success rate.

"I suspect we've taken the wrong path. If that thing is really sealed down there, how come they didn't activate the barrier and the arena?" After all, how were these mechanisms bypassed when sealing that unknown thing, and there's no sign of battle or breaching damage?

"Could it be that the sealed object is the Eternal Night King?" Roach put forward this hypothesis. Given the Eternal Night King's level of madness, it was more than qualified to be a sealing object.

"But he has nothing to do with the Calamity of the Earth. Whether it's the tools here or the written records, he's just a human being, not some Calamity of the Earth!"

“That’s hard to say,” Roach said. “The probability of a tyrant, especially one with this kind of personality, emerging who would say something like, ‘I’m not human anymore,’ is not low at all.”

"However, let's continue. We shouldn't have missed anything along the way. Of course, it's also possible that the structure here wasn't originally connected, and that an area where the sealed artifact should be is hidden. Since it hasn't completely escaped, it means it won't move its sealing chamber outside." That's all Leon could guess.

"So, our goal is the lowest level, the location of that stone door. No matter what, we'll find the answer eventually." If it weren't for this golem, he wouldn't be so reckless, but now…

The golem strode to the edge of the barrier, slamming its golden greatsword against it. In just a few blows, it smashed open the severely underpowered barrier, revealing the road outside the arena. It seemed to be a road modeled after some ancient path, leading to the end of a cave, and a massive city gate tall enough for the golem to pass through.

Outside the city gate, there is even a winding underground river flowing through it, with numerous caves and some kind of ancient, decaying fence distributed along its banks, which seem to have been the dwellings of the workers or slaves who once built this place.

On the riverbank, catapults of all sizes and various siege weapons were carelessly discarded. Combined with the ruins at the city gate, the broken roads, and the large stones scattered everywhere, it was clear that those pale creatures had waged more than one siege, and that this war had continued to this day without ending, as several stones were clearly chiseled from around the arena.

Chapter 396 The Witch's Pleasure Has Ended

The golem slowly approached the city gate, which was forged from some kind of black metal and bore the marks of various weapons' slashes and claw marks. A large number of skeletons were scattered at the entrance, but there was no sign of the guards.

Livia raised her left hand, adopting a boxing stance, preparing to smash the gate open with the golem. However, just as she made a move, the city gate slowly opened, revealing a deep passage and scattered lights behind it.

Candles of varying lengths burned silently beneath the statues lining the passageway, their features blackened by the smoke. The stone pedestals were littered with deformed skulls and the heads of pale, not yet fully decayed individuals.

A series of humanoid creatures with four arms stared at the golem, then turned around in unison, their armor making a rhythmic "whoosh~whoosh~" rubbing sound that continued all the way to the end of the passage.

These four-armed guards all wore armor similar to that of the golems, except that they did not have crowns on their heads. They wore T-shaped visors with chainmail beneath breastplates carved in the shape of giant beast ribs. However, their faces beneath the helmets were completely black, with no facial features or anything like that visible, as if they were black holes.

"Thump~ thump~" The golem, responding to the little witch's movements, cautiously walked inside. The guards did not attack the golem; they simply closed the city gate after it entered.

After passing through the city gate, what appeared before the group was a complete underground city, or rather, a city model. Judging from the size of the golem itself, it would be impossible for anyone living here to enter unless they were all dwarfs less than a meter tall.

The city is shaped like concentric circles, divided into upper and lower districts. In the center of the square in the upper district stands a statue that looks exactly like a golem, with its hands resting on a sword and its gaze fixed on the distance. Behind the statue is a long bridge leading to the gate of a palace, which should be the real underworld or the place where coffins are kept.