Witch Troupe and the Undead

The reason is simple: although a long time has passed, and this time has been immersed in a high concentration of magic, it is almost impossible for their own magic to be lost much under such "high pressure" conditions.

This is why these ruins attract a large number of adventurers and research teams, because the ancient magical artifacts inside can be recycled and used directly, even though they are in poor condition due to the passage of time.

“I see…” Luo Qi clapped his hands. “I was just curious, if these ruins really have been around for thousands of years, apart from a few specially preserved pieces of equipment, even divine weapons should have oxidized and rusted into a pile of iron slag. I didn’t know there was such a trick to it.”

"Not necessarily. Ordinary ruins and secret realms don't have such a high concentration of magic energy. So, many pieces of equipment will still be damaged and lose magic energy. And even if the magic energy isn't lost, the materials of the equipment itself will still be damaged, unless it gets corrupted during the process."

Vivi was referring to the guards' weapons scattered among the corpses. Although they were heavily rusted, the material clearly had an amber-like texture. This meant that the materials of these items had been corrupted by magic. After purification and processing, they could be used as reinforcement materials for other magical weapons, or to create new weapons. Some of them could even be used directly.

In Roach's understanding, this was probably similar to an "unidentified XXX weapon" dropped by a monster. After being identified, purified, and repaired, it might become a decent magical equipment.

However, neither Roach nor the little witch were very interested in these things. The little guy waved ahead, signaling everyone to follow her. She simply drilled a hole in the barrier, releasing some of the excess sloth magic instead of all of it. In fact, the stagnant magic flowed over again, covering the streets and everything with an amber glow once more.

Further away, the street scene remained frozen in the Sloth Ritual, and Livia had to continue holding her staff and leading the way, with scattered amber stars dancing around her—the materialized Sloth magic.

"Everyone, come closer to me!" Livia called out, a rare occurrence for her, and everyone formed a tight circle around her. The commercial district, or rather the commercial street, was a standard, winding long street leading to the city gate. Shops lined both sides of the street, and in the middle, awnings were set up, where various vendors formed a simple market.

The shops here sell cheap goods, such as agricultural products. As the little witch and her party passed by, the magic of sloth was drained, and the street scene returned to normal the moment they passed, turning into decaying ashes and collapsed ruins in just a few seconds.

This commercial street resembled a market on the outskirts of the city. The buildings on both sides were not particularly luxurious or sturdy, and there was almost no trace of magic among the items for sale. The little witch had no intention of staying here for long; her destination was clearly the library and research facilities in the inner city.

Of course, she wouldn't mind recycling things she found interesting; obviously, these rotten, unrecognizable fruits, vegetables, and inferior goods wouldn't be her targets. The ceremonial pedestal of the commercial street consisted of amber pillars at least five or six meters high, with complex surface structures that rhythmically deformed and restored themselves.

"Hmm~" Livia stared at the pillar, lost in thought. She stuck her cane in the ground and began to draw its outline. "Any discoveries?" Roach once again received a somewhat dazed look. Livia shook her head, took a small piece of paper from her pocket, and slapped it onto the pillar.

The image above depicts a chibi-style little witch with her arms outstretched.

"The more you do this, the more they'll touch it." "Oh~" The little witch took out another notebook and quickly drew the same cute explosion pattern of people being blown to pieces. She then stuck it next to the notebook. "Hmm!" She nodded in satisfaction, as if this would prevent others from touching the ritual pillar.

“We haven’t figured anything out, so don’t touch anything.” Livia decided to ignore what was happening here for now, because the entire ritual was too complicated, and the information obtained from just one ritual area was simply not enough to decipher the process and content of the entire “Original Sin Ritual.”

The commercial area wasn't very long, but the buildings were incredibly complex, with various structures crammed together in an haphazard way. The alleyways on either side even gave Roach a feeling similar to Knockturn Alley from Harry Potter.

Led by Livia, everyone avoided the dormant areas of the Sloth Demons, and she posted a note next to each area to inform those who came later that there were Sloth Demons there.

Soon, Roach and his companions passed through the commercial district where Sloth was located and arrived at the gates of the capital. There was no drawbridge, only a long stone bridge with statues.

The city gate was completely rotten and collapsed, with a hole at least two meters wide in the thick iron railing. At the entrance, a pile of scrap iron lay there, with rusty metal and weapons scattered on the ground, along with dried, splattered bloodstains on the city wall...

“Another perfect BOSS battle area.” Roach drew his staff, and the others picked up their weapons as well. Only Livia gave the others a strange look, walked to the center of the arena, kicked the metal helmet-like thing on the ground, and watched it roll down to the city gate. Then she turned to the others, waved, and signaled Roach and the others to come over quickly.

"Won't these metal armors and scrap metal be assembled into some kind of metal giant?"

"Hmm..." The little witch thought for a few minutes, then took out a large bag of sugar-like powder and poured it on the ground. The powder quickly spread in all directions, filling the air with a rich sweet fragrance. Soon, the rusty scrap iron on the ground began to vibrate with a buzzing sound, quickly gathering together to form a small army of sugar figures.

They were clad in metal armor and wielding spears, crawling around on a large piece of scrap metal. Then the little witch looked at Roach and his friends with a warm smile, as if she had granted their wish that metal would turn them into metal people.

"That's really impressive..." Luo Qi rubbed her little head speechlessly, then his hand was slapped away angrily, and he was also stomped on.

“I thought…” Alessina glanced at the scattered metal parts, armor, and weapons on the ground, shook his head, and thought that at least a few hundred ghost warriors would suddenly appear and give them a beating.

Behind the city gates lies the domain of jealousy. People from the outer city and slums are filled with extreme envy towards the urban class who have isolated them from the city gates and the outer city.

The cemetery and church represent greed; the slums represent anger; the outer city represents envy—all of which Roach could understand. However, he still couldn't understand why the commercial street was chosen as the core of sloth when the ritual was performed. Theoretically, the commercial street would have been more suitable for greed or other ritual cores.

Of course, it's also possible that all the nodes were arranged, but the last one, "Lazy," was difficult to find, so the only option was to place it in a commercial street, which could become the weakest point in the entire ceremony venue.

Black and red thorns entangled every building, blooming with bright red flowers full of sharp teeth. As soon as she entered, a flower full of sharp teeth lunged at the little witch, only to be cleaved in two by Alessina's sword.

The entire street and houses were filled with countless thorns and flowers, like a fairy tale world. However, these thorns and flowers would frantically attack anyone who entered the area, and in less than five minutes, Roach discovered the pattern of their attacks.

The flowers would attack the most beautiful person in the group, so the little witch, who was ranked first in terms of beauty, was attacked by almost 90% of the flowers, followed closely by Vilandella. Alessina, who was in her fox girl form, was only attacked a few times. As for Roche and the Black Horse, they were not attacked by any flowers at all.

The thorns attacked the strongest member of the team, and the little witch took more than 70% of the damage. The rest went to the dark horse. As for the other three, they each received less than 5% of the attack rate.

In addition, there are seed-like things that attack from a distance. When these seeds hit someone, they quickly parasitize the target and transform into humanoid monsters that roam around the outer city, covered in vines and blooming with red flowers. Their target is the richest person in the group—so Roach became the unluckiest person to be attacked the most.

Besides the thorns and flowers covered in teeth that filled the ground, the monsters in the Jealousy City consisted of humanoid creatures covered in vines, as well as some beast-like creatures that seemed to be woven from vines and leaves. Because their shapes were too abstract, Roach didn't know what kind of beasts they represented.

These creatures have no pattern to their attacks; they will chase and intercept almost any moving object. They also hide among vines and flowers of the same color, making them very difficult to spot.

"Watch out!" The vine beast that pounced was easily cleaved in two by a flying giant sword. The sticky sap sprayed all over the little witch's head, and her long golden hair was covered with pale green liquid. After a brief moment of stunned silence, she revealed a very angry expression.

She pulled out the "Flame Wand" made by Roach from her bag and started spraying it directly at the roadside bushes. Under the witch's control, the flames burrowed into the depths of the thorn bushes like nimble tentacles. Soon, a house began to billow thick smoke, followed by heat emanating from the inside out, and the thorn bushes were quickly burned away.

But more thorns formed from the magic of jealousy surged forward, entangled the burning house into a ball of thorns, and extinguished the flames completely. This action also caused the thorns in front to tumble and form an extremely thick wall.

So Livia and Roach had to retreat to the small square in front of the city gate, which was a semi-safe zone. The thorns rushed outwards quickly, but ultimately did not break through the boundary of the city gate. Although this area was under the influence of the Sloth Magic, it did not form a Sloth Magic due to the interference of the Jealousy Magic.

However, this safe zone is not stable. The magic of the two is constantly changing, with one advancing and the other retreating. Moreover, the magic of sloth itself is harmful. The little witch needs to provide a protective umbrella. Otherwise, Roach and the others will lose their fighting ability or even the ability to move within a few hours, becoming mentally blank and sluggish as if they were petrified.

Even after the little witch installed the lampstand, everyone still felt a strange fatigue and even had a bizarre thought: why not just give up and deal with this in a few days? Once this thought appeared, if they didn't dispel it in time, they were quickly and completely engulfed by the magic of sloth.

However, after the little witch strengthened her defenses, the effect became barely tolerable. Next, Roach and his group tried several methods: fire didn't work, water didn't work, and acid corrosion was somewhat effective, but with the continuous thorns extinguishing the flames, the acid only allowed them to advance twenty or thirty meters before they had to retreat.

As long as the magic nodes here remain intact, the magic of envy and the thorns will be endless. Besides, Roach and his companions have not yet seen the real envy demon, but only the secondary monsters formed and parasitized by the thorns.

Of course, the Envy Demon itself is actually very weak in combat, which is to be expected. After all, if it were very powerful, it wouldn't be jealous of everything others have. Therefore, the Envy Demon is often very well hidden, and even the Little Witch can't find its traces.

They were simply manipulating the thorns to block the road and creating a large root system underground. After the little witch and her companions destroyed the thorns a few times, these things even started spraying black venom.

"How about we blast our way in?" As soon as Roach finished speaking, he received strange looks from his companions. Livia even tilted her head, seemingly seriously considering the plan to use Roach's "explosive cannon" to fight her way from the entrance to the core area, blowing up the buildings and the Envy Demons along the way.

[PS] Collection of Imperial Jokes:

Three gladiators were chatting in the lounge. One of them said, "When I become a councilor, I will ensure that all gladiators enjoy better treatment and that every gladiator can become a star in the arena."

Another said: "When I become a member of parliament, I will declare that all gladiators will be freed, abolish this inhumane activity, and from then on no one will lose their life in the arena."

The last person said quietly: Stop arguing. I am a member of the Imperial Council, and I am here fighting the opposition over whether gladiators can enter the Council.

Chapter 120 Sudden Change in Art Style

Dealing with the Envy Thorns is a difficult task, mainly because the Envy Demon is lurking among these monsters and thorns, constantly channeling magic to repair the damage caused by Roach and his companions. Unless Roach pulls out his Elemental Blast Cannon and blows up half the city, it will be difficult to cause effective damage and clear a path.

However, if the Elemental Detonation Cannon is used, it will clear not only roads, but also buildings and possible sealing nodes. Moreover, if the Elemental Detonation Cannon is used in this environment, Roach estimates that the effect will not be that of an ordinary thermobaric bomb, but will be upgraded to a tactical nuclear weapon. Although he is not afraid of death, if the Little Witch is blown up as well, it will be a complete wipeout.

The reason for upgrading to tactical nuclear weapons is simple: if you fill an area of ​​approximately 1.2 x 1.5 x 0.3 kilometers with nearly solidified flammable and explosive gas and then throw a match into it, the effect will be no less than that of tactical nuclear weapons.

If calculated using the explosive yield of natural gas, the effect of detonating such a large space would be equivalent to approximately 410 million tons of explosives, enough to turn the entire capital, the Black Forest on the northern border of Tallinn, and everything else, including Roach and his entire team, into a mushroom cloud.

If we consider the chain reaction of elements, it might end up like the Black Abyss Graveyard, turning a mid-level dungeon into a top-tier forbidden zone, such as a wasteland shrouded in perpetual elemental storms.

“In other places, even if an explosion can’t solve the problem, it can at least solve the part that caused the problem…” Roach complained, looking at the writhing Jealousy Thorns and Livia, who was testing the effects of various potions. “Here, not only will it not solve the problem, it will create an even bigger problem than before.”

After doing written calculations with Livia about the consequences of using the Elemental Blast Cannon in this enclosed environment filled with the accumulated magical power of sins that had been stored up for thousands of years, even the little witch stared at Rochi with a slightly dazed look, meaning that even she thought the scene was a bit too exaggerated.

Of course, she later understood that this was because of the special environment. To achieve such an explosive effect, the entire nation would need to build a ritual site, and then spend thousands of years and sacrifice the entire country to obtain such a huge amount of magic power and compress it inside. Well, Livia felt that if she had the time, energy, and resources, she could at least blow up the entire Luster Plain into the Luster Inland Sea.

Thinking about it this way, her eyes filled with pity when she looked at Luo Qi, and she gave him a "little witch's pat" to comfort him.

"But no matter what, we don't have any good solutions for the Envy Thorns here, so should we retreat?" Roach asked. They still had plenty of supplies, but there was no point in lingering here; there was just too much Envy magic.

This world may lack rage, arrogance, greed, and sloth, but it will never lack scoundrels who can't stand seeing others do well. Even near-perfect saints are not immune to jealousy.

Moreover, even if ordinary jealousy is not enough to provide magic to this ghost ritual site, the jealousy magic that has been stored here for thousands of years is enough for Roach and his group to clean it up for a long time.

Most importantly, unlike the almost static Sloth Ritual Field, the things here will actively attack and create a large number of puppets, which means that the method of converting these jealousy magics into attributeless Great Sin magics through the Sloth Ritual Field will not work.

Simply put, the little witch can do this, but others can't withstand the endless stream of jealous puppets, thorns, and man-eating flowers attacking from all directions while she's doing it.

“I do have an idea…” the dark horse, who hadn’t spoken until now, said, “Your magic-powered water heater gave me an idea. Maybe we can channel the jealousy magic here outwards, and then you can invent some kind of magical device to consume this magic.”

"..." Roach thought about it carefully, and it was indeed a good idea. "In other words, we can use the jealousy magic here as some kind of fuel, and then guide it to the outside world through fuel pipes to power large magical tools, consuming it or converting it into other forms of work, thus turning it into unusable, or at least unusable waste energy in this ritual site?"

This is indeed one approach. If you discover a large tunnel filled with a massive amount of flammable gas—enough to blow up an entire mountain—and it's still leaking and replenishing itself, then to some extent, it could indeed be considered a natural gas well.

"Yes, that's a good idea. We need to change our approach."

From the perspective of building tunnels and highways, this is indeed a bunch of obstacles. However, if you reverse your thinking, what tunnel? This is clearly a super-large natural gas field we've discovered! Install gas extraction equipment, lay pipelines, and start mining!

"But if we do that, it will take forever to mine it all out."

“No problem. My only concern right now is the pipeline flow rate. As for consumption,” Roach and Livia exchanged a glance. The latter narrowed her large emerald eyes slightly and gave a soft smile, almost making a “W” shape with her mouth.

“There are large-scale rituals, experiments, and magical facilities that can consume this magic power,” Roach said, adding that it was not a problem at all. If all else failed, they could just build a super-large arcane furnace and burn it in the air.

"The problem now is how to lay the pipes, and the flow of magic is not instantaneous. We will soon drain the magic from the contact surface, and then the speed will drop significantly." Roach did not have a good solution to this problem. Although it was theoretically similar to extracting oil or natural gas on Earth, it was actually far different.

"Hmm..." The little witch thought for a moment, clapped her hands, signaling everyone to look over, and then she took out a piece of white paper and began to draw her plan. First, there was something shaped like an old-fashioned boiler, and then she drew a little witch standing in a Y shape next to it, with a shape similar to radio waves drawn above her head, and then she drew an arrow pointing to the blank space next to it.

Next, under the arrow, she drew a complex magic circle and a bunch of material names, and even added pictures to the materials, although she estimated that few people besides herself could understand what they were.

Then the arrow points to the third thing, which is a series of crystal-encrusted objects that look like telephone poles. A red line representing the flow of magic jumps from one crystal to another, eventually leading to a fireplace-like device with a chimney, next to which is a little witch roasting sweet potatoes.

"..." Livia looked at the others with anticipation, as if she felt that her engineering drawing was already very clear, but... Alessina decisively stated that brain-intensive work was not suitable for her, and she went on patrol to prepare dinner.

Vivi looked at it for a long time and understood the general idea, but she couldn't figure out the details at all. In the end, the pressure fell on Rocchi. He used the same spirit he had when he was doing archaeology and looking at ancient murals to conduct an in-depth study of the picture and combined it with the knowledge of the Mystic Sorcerer to analyze it.

"Um... roughly it means this is a device specifically designed to attract or stimulate Greater Sin Magic, causing it to gather on its own. Below that is a magic circle used to absorb this Jealousy Magic and convert it into attribute-neutral Greater Sin Magic. Um, it seems like it requires quite a few alchemical materials, and we don't have enough on hand." Roach didn't understand the little witch's drawing, but he understood the technical terms and material names. "And it won't be cheap."

"Finally, these conductive crystals are used to transfer energy to the final consumable facilities, such as magic water heaters or arcane heating furnaces. Well, this is just an analogy." After all, Livia had only seen these two products of modern alchemical construction, so she could only use these two things as examples.

"Hmm~" The little witch nodded vigorously, stood on tiptoe and rubbed Roach's head, "Good boy~ good boy~" She seemed very satisfied that he could actually understand her engineering drawings.

"..."

"..."

"...Rocky, are you really Miss Livia's apprentice, and not her pet?" If it weren't for the difference in size and age, they would even look more like an old mother and her finally enlightened, dim-witted son. Well, considering the little witch's unknown race, it might not be impossible~ "What do you think Leslie's identity is?"

“Talent, yes, talent,” Vivi replied. A significant portion of the materials for their healing potions were provided by Leslie, literally. Mermaids have amazing regenerative abilities, and using this characteristic to create regeneration potions not only yields better results but also saves a lot on material costs.

"So, are we just going to retreat now and then gather the materials?"

“No, it’s about establishing a mining camp or a base, at least clearing out the construction site,” Roach pointed to the open space in front of the city gate. “Then build up defenses, because once mining starts, the bugs inside—I mean, the jealous golems—will swarm out.” It sounds similar to tower defense. Although we can’t use the Elemental Blast Cannon, Bouncing Betty and the Claymore can come in handy.

"Leave this to me. These scrap metal pieces can be assembled into decent roadblocks." Black Horse volunteered to take charge of the fortification construction, which was a traditional skill for demons.

The old horse, now in the form of a horse-headed demon, smashed the scrap metal flat with a single punch. Then, it melted the rusted gun barrels and broken swords with demonic fire, eventually forming anti-landing metal stakes similar to those on the Normandy landing beaches. These stakes were then driven into the ground, and the newly sharpened weapons were placed on top, creating simple roadblocks.

These roadblocks are only effective against puppets entangled in vines. They are unlikely to be very effective against thorn beasts, vine beasts, or things like thorns, man-eating plants, and walking grass that spread easily.

However, the purpose of these roadblocks was not to block or kill, but to gather these monsters into a small area. Roach dug many pits in front of and behind the roadblocks to bury the Bouncing Bettys, and then hung tripwire-style broadswords between the roadblocks. Finally, he had Livia use elemental magic to create several layers of earthen breastworks behind them. It looked like all that was missing was a barbed wire fence to seamlessly cosplay the trench battlefield scene.

Although Roach possessed the Elemental Storm Crossbow, which resembled a machine gun, its power was far inferior to that of a machine gun. Even with a fixed amplification device, the power of each energy sword shot was only equivalent to the force of a normal person's spear thrust—no more than 300 joules of kinetic energy.

Although the way cold weapons work is very different from bullets, it also means that the energy limit of this method is limited, and the damage that can be caused is only within this range. For an unprotected human body on Earth, it is enough to be fatal, but for a target wearing armor, it is hard to say.

In a world where everyone is heavily armored and physically robust, the damage would likely only be scratches on the opponent's armor, since energy swords inflict equal physical and magical damage. For these jealous puppets, at most, the vines on their bodies would be severed, but their true forms wouldn't be harmed.

Therefore, the purpose of Roach's Elemental Storm Crossbows was not to kill, but to hinder. The type of ammunition was changed to the Earth element, which has a gravity effect. Targets hit by it would feel their bodies become heavy, thus slowing down their movements.

This is also the effect of the spell "Rain of Energy Arrows" on the battlefield: it increases the stamina consumption of heavily armored enemy units in large numbers, thereby slowing down their movements and allowing them to unleash more powerful arcane spells.

While Roach and his group were setting up these positions, Livia was making "murderous dishes" with Alessina. It was literally murderous food. It wasn't that the little girl had any wicked tastes; it was just that this was all she had learned. She really couldn't make proper puppets or golems. Although she had collected some information, she really couldn't make them. To be precise, she didn't need to make them—except for the automatic armor on Roach's body.

Unfortunately, there were no materials available to make this kind of automatic armor. Given the need for readily available materials, a sufficient quantity, and some combat capability, she could only think of her magical snacks.

Furthermore, there is a hidden effect: once the extraction pump is established, these snacks can not only block the enemy, but also be consumed by wounded friendly personnel when necessary to heal their injuries, restore their strength, and enhance their combat effectiveness.

Therefore, she added a lot of magical potion ingredients to these snacks. Well, in a sense, the reason why the Imperial Squad suffered such heavy casualties before was because they didn't eat these buff snacks carefully made by the Little Witch. If they had eaten them, they could have recovered their condition significantly.

"Hey!" Roach looked at the neatly arranged gingerbread men in front of him, each with their right hand raised, and fell silent. He considered whether to serve them a plate of grilled squid strips to complete the scene. Fortunately, these gingerbread men were just gingerbread.

They have ginger-yellow bodies and flat shapes. After absorbing magic, they will swell to about the size of an adult. Of course, if they are broken or killed, they will return to their normal snack state.

Anyway, Roach had given up hope about the nature of the matter-energy conversion. After all, even in this magical world, many of the little witch's "magic" seemed a bit too magical, as if a fairy tale had been mixed into a serious fantasy world, and the art style was completely different.

Besides the gingerbread men, there were also smoked meat knights that looked like they were carved from mahogany. Roach touched them, wondering what kind of potion or spell the little witch had used. These knights' bodies were indeed as hard as hardwood and as sturdy as steel. They wielded dried bonito swords and bonito shields. Just by looking at their appearance, these things seemed a bit out of place in the whole world.

Besides the Bacon Knight, there's also the Onion Knight—oh, and it's a real onion, an onion with arms and legs, only its eyes showing. It holds a lollipop hammer in its left hand and a shield made of fried onion rings in its right. Behind these two knights is a massive army of gingerbread, because gingerbread is the easiest to make, hence its greatest numbers.

When these things were made, they were only the size of chess pieces, but after the little witch infused them with magic, they all swelled to the size of a normal person. As a result of consuming a lot of magic, the indolence magic in this area also became thin.

After installing the defensive pieces, with Roach's explanation, the little witch made dozens more candy soldiers. They operated the storm crossbows and looked like a group of infantrymen from World War I, crouching behind the low walls.

"Hmm..." Looking at the gradually taking shape of the position, Livia seemed to be thinking about something, and she showed a =w= expression, as if she had found some kind of strange and incomprehensible pleasure.

"Alright, we've used up our materials, let's retreat!" After the Imperial survey team finally managed to navigate through the Sloth Zone following the guidance note left by Livia, they were met with a scene that could only be described as absurd and bizarre.

Scrap iron and earthen walls formed a simple defensive position. Various items, large and small, that clearly looked like food and snacks, patrolled the position. Upon noticing their approach, a swarm of gingerbread men rushed over, making terrifying noises.

"Damn!" The legend of the gingerbread man is a very popular fairy tale in the Empire, or rather, a story used to scare children who don't sleep well at night. Everyone has heard it at least when they were young. It's a story about how if you don't sleep well at night, you will be eaten by the gingerbread man and then the other person will turn into your appearance.

So when this childhood nightmare came crashing down on them, every knight and survey team member was completely bewildered. What was most terrifying was that, despite the enemy occupying advantageous terrain and having the help of the Elemental Storm Crossbow, the survey team, which had lost most of its supplies and resources, still couldn't defeat these gingerbread men.

Ultimately, they had no choice but to retreat to the outskirts, just like Roach and the others, trying to escape the battlefield by crossing the slums, return to camp to resupply, and reflect on life—why do real gingerbread men exist in this world!

[PS] Collection of Imperial Jokes:

An Imperial and a Kingdom met and talked about the petition.

The people of the kingdom said: In our country, everyone is equal, and we can petition the nobles at any time.

The Imperial man said: What's so difficult about that? In our country, everyone is equal.