Witch Troupe and the Undead

For example, the few light gold strands on the bed were shiny, soft, and strong, which clearly did not match the hair left by the residents of this house.

"..." Talos rubbed his forehead, feeling like he had wasted an afternoon of his life. However, it also reminded him that things in Tallinn City were probably not so simple. Perhaps they had been hidden beneath the bustling streets, but now, because of the demon's disturbance, everything had come to light.

"So, we need to find some time to organize people to clean up the sewers, underground tombs, and various cellars." These are common hiding places for various secret organizations and forces. For a pioneering knight like Talos, who comes from an adventurer background, doing so wouldn't be beneath his dignity.

Those knights from Tallinn who had initially expressed some reservations eventually yielded to his expressionless words: "You don't want word to get out that you were killed twice by a single copper coin, do you?" because the Earl was absolutely right.

Whether they were true knights or not, no one wanted to have something as strange as "the coin-breaker" added to their title, much less want the even stranger "The Song of the Knight Broken by the Copper Coin" to be sung throughout the counties of Rock Tower and Lywood.

"So, if we find this alchemist, how do we deal with him...?"

"Deal with?" Talos looked at the other party with surprise, and asked with a strange expression, "Do you want to be beaten up by weird things? This time it was coins, what will it be next, a doll? If you are beaten up by a girl's doll, I don't think anyone can protect your noble title!"

For the entire aristocratic class, he alone could lower the class's prestige, making all the nobles in the empire ashamed to go out. Therefore, it was certain that he would be stripped of his title and even severely punished by the emperor in anger.

"And such a powerful alchemist should certainly be recruited as much as possible. Even if he wants to open a toy store, we'd better go along with his wishes." What Talos didn't say was that such a powerful alchemist could make toys with this level of combat ability, so what level would he be at making real combat puppets?

And what is this powerful sorceress doing?

"Hmph~ Hmph~ Hmph~" The blond dwarf stood on a wooden box, tiptoed to hook down the jar from the top of the shelf, held it in his arms, and walked towards the workbench, emptying all the odds and ends from the jar onto the workbench.

The shiny crystals, tiny metal components, and some grayish-white powder in small bottles—none of these things seemed to have any purpose.

Livia carefully placed a slightly worn book, opened it to the page she needed, and found an extremely complex magic circle and densely packed encrypted text on the page. The text and images formed an incomplete spell model.

Except for a very few "secret tomes", spellbooks do not contain the complete structure of spells. Those secret tomes are magical tools in themselves, not just simple books.

"Young Miss, here's the wood you requested~" Vilandella walked in carrying several pieces of processed wood. After being treated with dragon's breath, these pieces of wood had a charred black color. The pieces of wood, large and small, bounced onto the workbench and were laid out one by one, from largest to smallest.

Livia pulled out a small knife, and the blade automatically began to carve the wooden blocks, outlining simple wooden limbs and torsos, as well as an extremely crude head.

Five cylindrical wooden blocks gradually transformed into hands, feet, and a body under the automatic processing of the carving knife, eventually forming an irregular spherical head. Livia cut out two holes to serve as eyes, then hollowed out the wood inside and inserted the scattered parts and crystals. With the movement of her fingers, these parts automatically formed an extremely complex structure inside.

"..." The little witch looked at her finger and hesitated for a while before cautiously taking out a thin needle. She carefully brought it close to her finger, and before it even pierced her skin, her face was already completely red and a few tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. After a long while, the needle finally touched her fingertip and a drop of bright red blood oozed out.

Livia smeared blood on the puppet's head, and the blood automatically seeped into the wood grain and disappeared in an instant. Only then did she embed two Soul Essence Gems into the puppet's eyeballs and install the metal puppet parts one by one.

A magic puppet was completed. The reason she had never made one before was that magic puppets required the blood of their maker as a medium, and she was afraid of pain, so she had never made one.

"If you're afraid of the pain, you don't have to do it~"

"Hmm~" Livia shook her head, her eyes still brimming with tears, her injured right ring finger in her mouth, and with her left hand holding the magic wand, she gently tapped the workbench, and the doll, about the length of her forearm, sat up.

This small reconnaissance puppet can connect to its owner's five senses for remote reconnaissance and also has some combat capabilities. Its body is covered with metal armor made by a witch, which provides decent defense, but don't expect it to be particularly effective in combat.

Like her magical pets, the puppet can serve as an extension of her magic, so she doesn't have to do certain things herself. At least, she doesn't need to do the construction of magic arrays like the one in Tallinn City; instead, she can sit in the core position and control the puppet to complete the task.

Then the little witch found a piece of unused black magic-patterned cloth, cut out a round hole, and covered the puppet's head with it. Next, she put on a pointed hat that looked exactly like herself, and then paired it with a curved cane made of black pine wood.

"Connection~Resonance" As the magic resonated, the incredibly simple doll began to transform little by little. Its round face began to resemble the little witch's, and the white gems in the eyeballs turned into watery emerald eyes. It also had long, light golden hair just like the witch.

It looked exactly like a miniature version of Livia in chibi style. However, after examining it for a while, Livia was still not very satisfied. The more magic power the puppet could transmit, the closer it would be to its master. If it was exactly the same as its master, it could transmit up to 60% of the magic power. But this puppet could only transmit up to 5%.

Livia put down her wand, facing the doll sitting on the table. She placed her hands in front of her chest, her middle, ring, and little fingers forming a triangle, and her thumb and index finger pinching each other with their tips facing each other, forming a symbol representing a "bond". A bright green light immediately shone in the doll's eyes.

The puppet stood up, swung its short, three-headed legs, and ran back and forth on the table for a while. Then, it waved its black pine cane and released several thumb-sized fireballs to light the prepared candles before stopping.

"Mmm!" Livia nodded vigorously. Although it was her first time making something like this, she felt that she had done a pretty good job.

Witch's hut.

"Oh, we've been waiting for you! What's this?" Leslie's eyes lit up immediately when she saw the puppet in Livia's arms. "What an adorable doll! Let me play with it!"

"Are you still a child?" Vilandella's eyelids twitched, and she grabbed Leslie by the back of her collar. Alchemists and sorcerers' proper magical puppets are not to be moved casually. They can be considered as their incarnations or representatives, and depending on the quality of their craftsmanship, their senses are shared.

Instead of hugging and playing with that doll, it's more direct to pick up the little witch and kiss and rub her; they mean roughly the same thing anyway.

"A puppet?" Roach rubbed the cheek of the puppet on the dining table, feeling that it was similar in texture to Livia's face. Was this some kind of resonance? As a result, Livia, who was sitting opposite him, kicked his calf hard, and his little face visibly puffed up.

“But I feel like something’s missing~ Ah, I’ve got it~” Roach went out and found a smooth little stick, pulled up a few handfuls of dry grass from the field, asked Alessina for some thick cotton thread, and quickly tied a small broom out, stuffing it into the puppet’s arms. “Doesn’t this feel more like a witch? Where we’re from, witches are always closely associated with black cats, brooms, cauldrons, and the night of the full moon, and of course, crows are one too.”

"Oh~" Livia's small mouth opened slightly into a chestnut shape, and then she nodded. Following Roach's instructions, she enchanted the broom with a simple telekinetic movement effect, so that the puppet could sit on it and fly. Of course, for her, this was no different from holding the doll in her hand.

"Yes, yes, and another cape. It would be even better if a tiny black cat sat in the back."

“Master Roach…” Vilandella hesitated, “I didn’t expect you to have such a childlike heart!”

"Haven't you heard the saying, 'A man is a boy until he dies'?"

"But you're not a boy anymore, you're having the heart of a young girl, aren't you!?"

"And here's another little-known fact: every man has a female part inside him that is a gender-swapped version of himself."

"This knowledge is really too obscure. Are you trying to justify your perversion?"

"Where am I a pervert?" Roach asked in surprise, which stumped Vilandella. She hadn't found any evidence of Roach's perverted behavior, except for his talent in explosives, which was a different thing from the "pervert" she was talking about.

"Hmm, a black cat~" Livia thought for a moment. She could indeed keep a cat, but it seemed like she had too many "pets" here. She looked a little troubled.

"Speaking of which, Master Roach, have you finished replenishing your equipment? I heard that those adventurers have already advanced into part of the inner city of the royal capital," Leslie suddenly asked.

While Roach and his group were resting, the other adventure teams were not. Although the little witch's magic pump caused some chaos and trouble, it also meant that some teams with weaker combat capabilities were eliminated, leaving only teams with amazing mobility.

They successfully passed through the flooded area where the number of monsters had drastically decreased, and arrived at the Upper City through the water gate, which was Gluttony's territory. The negative aspect of Gluttony's original sin is unrestrained desire and craving, while the positive aspect is the pursuit of self-growth. The negative aspect of Pride in the Core is arrogance and absolute dominance, while the positive aspect is the pursuit of perfection and order.

The Gluttonous Demons are shaped like "mountains of flesh". Their special ability is to absorb damage from almost any source and convert it into their own power and ever-increasing vitality. If you don't grasp the trick, they will grow bigger and stronger the more you fight them.

Compared to the previous environment, there are not many Gluttonous Sin Demons, and there are no hidden traps or problems. The reason why adventurers are blocked here is simply because they cannot defeat the Sin Demons.

"However, their haul was truly substantial." The Upper City has various theaters, jewelry stores, antique shops, and high-end magical item shops, as well as various social venues, mansions, and noble residences. The valuable treasures in these places are not a small amount. After all, it was once the capital of a country, and the wealth accumulated over hundreds of years is an extraordinary amount for adventurers.

Moreover, even in the outer cemeteries, slums, urban areas, and flooded zones, the treasures have not been completely collected. Many adventurers are still searching and investigating these areas. However, compared to the initial focus on the most valuable jewelry and magical items, they are now more focused on historical and cultural research.

To this end, the Imperial Survey Corps expanded the camp's research facility, transforming it from a single tent filled with tools into several complete wooden buildings, and even an open-air storage area for supplies.

"The equipment replenishment is basically complete. I was originally planning to upgrade and optimize it, but I heard there was an incident in Tallinn City?"

"Yes, some demons from who-knows-where have ravaged the entire city. There are quite a few people in the camp talking about the chaos now, and some merchants are even preparing to head home. However, the adventurers seem quite excited."

After all, this means more commissions and business opportunities. Many adventurers are writing letters to invite their friends over. Those who are not strong enough to enter the capital can adventure around Tallinn City. Moreover, if the town guards are wiped out on a large scale, adventurers will have to deal with the monsters in the wild.

Not to mention adventurers, even the mercenaries were having their own thoughts, considering discussing long-term employment contracts with the acting count, and seeing if they could retire early and become respectable town guards.

“That’s really… wait, how come we didn’t know about this?” Roach looked at the black horse with suspicion. The old horse chewed on fresh grass with an indifferent expression. “Because it was someone we knew who committed the crime, and they avoided our location. Besides, I specifically warned that guy, but unfortunately, that disgusting thing wouldn’t listen.”

"You didn't stop it?"

"I warned it not to go too far, that's enough. I'm not a human's babysitter. Besides, Miss already taught it a lesson." Black Horse said, "I'm a big devil, not a charity. Warning it not to go too far is already more than enough."

"Hmm!" Livia nodded, making a big gesture with her little hand. "Curse" meant that she had given the other party a very severe punishment, specifically violating the principle of not randomly casting curses on people, and giving that troublemaker a proper "curse".

“Once I’ve prepared the rations, we can set off,” Alessina said. “I haven’t had time to prepare these before, and our medicine reserves are also running low.”

Alessina is in charge of the luggage, Black Horse is in charge of carrying the luggage, Vilandella is the main damage dealer, Little Witch and Roach are support, and as for Leslie... she is the mascot, oh no, she is the signboard girl in charge of purchasing and selling loot.

"Medicine?" The little witch tilted her head. "What are you missing?"

"Healing potions, stamina recovery potions, and various enhancement potions, the latter being particularly expensive." Since there is currently no "healer" class in the team, the little witch's healing spells cannot be called "healing" but rather "repair" or "resurrection." Therefore, in order to conserve her magic power and stamina, most wounds are usually healed with healing potions.

As for stamina recovery potions, they are absolutely essential. Without them, the little witch's movement distance and speed would decrease further. As for enhancement potions, they are mainly used by Alessina. Without enhancement potions, it would be quite difficult to use the Wupeng Sword.

"Okay, I'll do it shortly," Livia said, indicating that she would make a batch as soon as possible.

Chapter 159 The Real Merchant of Death

Brewing potions is a task that requires more experience than knowledge. The difficulty lies not in the complicated recipes, precise heat control and timing, nor in the processing of various magical plants and common herbs.

The real challenge lies in how to formulate the right proportions from a large number of purely natural herbs with vastly different medicinal properties and ages in a world where standardization and systematization are not widespread.

Roach felt this particularly deeply, as the Mystic Sorcerers also had their own unique alchemical potions, which were among the few products that the Mystic Sorcerers could make widely available to ordinary people.

However, since the refining method of the Mystic Source Sorcerer is just like modern chemical mixing, it requires a high degree of precision, so most Mystic Source Sorcerers do not invest too much experience in this project.

Aside from those universally hated individuals who wield the Blood and Flesh Source Technique, most warlocks only have one life. They can use slaves, worthless thieves, and scoundrels from swampy villages as test subjects. However, the danger isn't necessarily the potion itself, but rather the poisonous gas produced during its creation.

Of course, Roach has a unique advantage in making potions: he is not afraid of being poisoned, especially when the little witch is around. He can accumulate experience in mastering alchemical materials by constantly tasting the raw materials, especially those in different states. This is a valuable asset that most potion masters would need to spend most of their lives to accumulate.

However, none of these troubles mattered to the witch. The smoked plant roots, such as datura, ginseng, and dandelion, bounced around the edge of the crucible, and would easily fall into the boiling broth if not handled carefully.

The witch wore a white headscarf, held a wooden spoon in one hand, and a cloth bag in the other, from which fresh chamomile and crape myrtle petals poured out, giving the murky medicine a bright and fragrant aroma.

Just like an ordinary cafeteria lady, she used a bottle in one hand and a spoon in the other to pour the potions simmering in the crucible one by one, successfully achieving the feat of simultaneously brewing three kinds of magical potions in one pot without mixing them all together and ruining them.

The murky potion was immersed in the cold well water. As the potion cooled, the bottle turned a beautiful pale blue. The potion [Tide] provides a continuous and slow healing effect, just like the tide. After drinking it, the warm healing effect will be released in waves, reaching a peak and then gradually declining.

Compared to ordinary healing potions, this one has a much lower effect per unit, but it is actually more practical because most of the time, during intense battles, there is no time to drink medicine. This one can be drunk before the battle begins, and its effects are strongest when the battle is at its most intense.

One bottle contained a slightly cloudy, pale white liquid, the "Dragon's Breath" potion. It was suitable for consumption after strenuous exercise, as it would restore physical strength and stamina at an extremely fast pace, allowing the user to recover quickly from intense panting, just like a dragon.

Finally, there's a bottle of bright red potion called "Rage," a standard-issue enhancement potion used by the Imperial military. Knights and centurions, as front-line officers, use it on the battlefield to temporarily block pain, enhance stamina and strength, and increase explosive power. However, it depletes life force, and repeated use will leave one weak for a long time.

These are the potion supplies that the Little Witch prepared for this exploration. In comparison, the alchemical potions that Roach spent half a day concocting with a bunch of bottles, jars, scales, distillers, notebooks, and burettes seem rather ordinary.

Just like the difference between a panacea that cures all diseases and a modern, industrially manufactured antibiotic that costs only a few cents a tablet, because the Mystic Sorcerers didn't invest much in potion science, very few of the recipes that Roach can learn today, without needing to possess magic perception skills, have survived to this day.

They are mainly otherworldly antibiotics known as "alchemy potions," which are effective for almost all kinds of conditions, including injuries and diseases. However, in terms of efficacy, they are probably only slightly better than placebos.

These alchemical potions are certainly not for their own people, but for the adventurers. After all, the cheapest of the three potions made by the little witch, [Rage], costs about 60 gold coins per bottle.

Besides that, there's the weapon enchanting potion, which is the most frequently used recipe by rune arcane sorcerers. It can temporarily convert ordinary weapons into magical weapons. To put it another way, it makes ordinary weapons appear as magical weapons when they penetrate resistance, but their actual performance remains completely unchanged.

"Three bottles of magic potions each, and fill your pockets as much as possible with alchemy potions. Alessina, here's your enchanting potion." Roach placed the bottles of his creations on the table by the entrance for his companions to take.

"I don't need something like this, do I?" Alessina was a little confused. Her Wupeng Sword was a genuine magical weapon made by a little witch, the kind with a constant effect that could be used repeatedly.

Don't underestimate the power of enchanting magic blades just because it's a very common item. For example, the weapon enchantment powder made by Roach can be considered a simplified "magic blade." However, the effect depends on who applies it. Livia's effect is that every hit deals true damage, while Roach's effect at most makes you immune to a portion of special defense, and that's just the regular kind.

“No, you do need it. This time we’re dealing with Gluttony, not your sword, or rather, not entirely.” Roach said seriously, pressing down on Alessina’s shoulder.

"Okay..." Anyway, this enchanting powder isn't heavy. It's just a small bag containing about 25 grams of powder. When you need to use it, just dip your finger in it and smear it on the weapon to activate the effect.

"These are your alchemical arrows and the magic arrows Livia made for you. These things are quite troublesome, so you'd better use ordinary metal arrows with enchantment powder." Leslie received 12 alchemical arrows and 3 magic arrows. Alchemical arrows are special alloy arrows treated with alchemy, which have higher penetrating power and can better penetrate magic or other supernatural shield effects.

As for the magic arrows, it depends on how much of the little witch's magic power she puts into them. Basically, Roach considers them as three pieces of firepower support at least level 155: one is a phantom split arrow, which will continuously replicate itself to create a rain of arrows after activation; the other is a simple magic bullet arrow, guided by sight, which explodes with magic power after hitting the target.

Finally, there's a healing arrow that lowers a healing light barrier, but the effect is terrible because the magic power is taken from Old Ma, and the healing effect and side effects of hellish magic are almost equally strong.

Therefore, after the little witch removed the side effects, the remaining treatment effectiveness is a matter of opinion.

A table full of odds and ends and bottles and jars, a massive sword and two half-swords lay flat on the table. If the table hadn't been made of pine wood from the Black Forest, it probably would have collapsed under its exaggerated weight long ago. For some reason, Roach felt that this scene seemed familiar, just like in those police and gangster movies on TV, when the cops were preparing to attack.

Replacing these potions and alchemical bombs with grenades and stun grenades, swords with guns, and miscellaneous items with magazines seems perfectly appropriate. Besides, there really is a gun on this table that has completely made no attempt to conceal its "otherworldly" identity.

Its design is consistent with early lever-action rifles, with a hexagonal barrel, trigger, sights, and handguard. The only difference is that it does not have an ejection port or bolt. The magic power of the rune disk is directly channeled by the arcane sorcerer, and no crank or anything like that is needed.

The ammunition is a hexagonal, spiral-shaped magic bullet. Compared to chrome plating and rifling inside the barrel, it is simpler to make the ammunition into a spiral shape, especially for this type of ammunition cast from a silver alloy.

Luo Qi adopted the design schemes of those cunning merchants in the capital who produced inferior goods. Don't ask where they came from, just know that these kinds of things have now spread here with the caravans. When he saw the knock-off version of his work in the market, his expression was distorted.

The bullet body is hollow, consisting of only a thin layer of iron. Of course, those unscrupulous merchants developed a cost-saving and efficiency-enhancing technology called "silver-clad iron." Pure silver ammunition was too expensive, so they opted for silver-clad iron, resulting in a cartridge case made of double-layered metal.

Each bullet is shaped like the edges of a hexagonal pencil rotated 180 degrees clockwise. It has a steel structure with a layer of silver alloy sheet attached to the outer shell. To prevent wear, the runes of the magic bullet are engraved on the back and attached to the steel shell.

The hollow bullet cores were filled with magic stone dust, which itself possessed a certain degree of chaotic magic power, by those unscrupulous merchants. This material would be "magically transformed" into specific properties depending on the magic power injected.

Roach had to admit that he, as the inventor, hadn't put as much thought into this weapon as these merchants. These guys, who were willing to make deals with the devil for every bit of profit, were the real death merchants.

After all, even if you asked Roach to do it, he might not be able to select something like magic stone dust from tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of alchemical materials to use as the loading material, so as to reduce the number of cranking operations, increase the firing speed, and also solve the problem of projectile weight.

Since the tip no longer uses expensive gemstones, the steel tip, treated with a unique supernatural tempering technology, has the penetrating power of an armor-piercing cone. On Earth, Roach had no doubt that this thing could penetrate an armored vehicle.

Of course, due to design flaws in the early Loli Crossbow, even with magic dust, it only reduced the joystick's charging speed and improved the rapid-fire performance. The overall power not only did not increase but was also reduced by about 20% because the magic bullet's enchantment effect was canceled.

"I wonder how far the knights' armor technology has developed. They might really be going to be eliminated from history." Roach shook his head, holding a newly made bullet he had made himself. Of course, he didn't need to cut corners; it was a genuine double-layered silver alloy, which allowed him to engrave double runes and fill it with fragments of real magic crystals.

The conventional kinetic energy rounds, or armor-piercing rounds, have been transformed into armor-piercing high-explosive rounds, which are the key tools and weapons for dealing with the Gluttony Demon.

Old Ma dug up the magic crystal in Hell. He was very unhappy about the job, but after being kicked twice by the little witch, he obediently went to dig it up. Judging from his expression, you'd think he wasn't going to mine, but to shovel latrines—although, in Hell, it's not much different from shoveling latrines.

Because those magic crystals are formed from the demons' own magic and the soil, they are roughly like the crystals formed in the soil of hell after the demons have devoured souls and other demons and expelled the undigested magic. In a sense, they are like shoveling dung.

However, firearms have indeed been inextricably linked to excrement and urine since their inception, and Old Ma's actions have indeed added this historically significant and ritualistic element to Roach's story.

Vilandella hung one of the half-swords at her waist, while the other was in Alessina's hand. As for Leslie, she carried the alchemical longbow and quiver that Roach had provided on her back. With her pointed ears and tight-fitting green hunting clothes, she looked like a nimble elven archer at first glance.

These two half-swords were made by Livia. The blades were forged from a mixture of adamantite and mithril, heated by a furnace summoned from the Ironforge Realm of the seventh level of Hell. Even Old Ma dared not touch the forging process. The environment of the seventh level of Hell was already extremely deadly for him, and the depth of Hell there was far beyond the difficulty of the first six levels.

Although humans refer to the fourth level and below of Hell as the "deep hell," only a great demon like Old Ma knows that the seventh level and below is the true deep hell or the real hell. Strictly speaking, the first to sixth levels can only be called Limbo or the boundary of hell, just like the membrane between the eggshell and the egg.

The seventh level is the egg white of hell. As for the yolk, no demon can say for sure, since the demons who enter can never return, and the world egg has already begun to condense at that depth.

The runes were engraved using materials obtained last time. Compared to the materials and craftsmanship of the sword body, the enchanted runes seemed very commonplace. This was one of Livia's little insistences; she didn't seem to like making overly complex magical products, and in this respect, she showed a very unique pragmatism.

"These two swords are genuine near-divine artifacts, but they will also be consumables in the upcoming battle," Black Horse reminded everyone. "Gluttonous demons are extremely difficult to deal with, completely different from the other sinful demons you've faced. Their initial abilities aren't high, and their offensive capabilities aren't strong, but their unrestrained and limitless growth ability is very troublesome, especially a Gluttonous demon that has been self-growing within a closed barrier for so many years."

"Plus the adventurers who delivered the food, by the time we entered, these guys' 'immortality' had probably been enhanced to an unbelievable degree."