Witch Troupe and the Undead

"So, do these gluttons really have no weaknesses at all?" Leslie asked curiously.

"Yes, but many adventurers have already gone in and been killed, so it's hard to say now." Old Ma also felt despair. What went in was an army or a professional demon hunter. These gluttonous demons were easy to deal with, but it was the adventurers who were the ones who were killed.

They wouldn't actually fight to the death with monsters that yield no combat rewards. Usually, after inflicting some damage on the Gluttons and temporarily rendering them unable to fight, they would start searching for loot, since these fleshy fat monsters are slow-moving anyway.

Once they've dealt enough blows, they'll strike these Gluttons again and continue onward. No adventurer would waste valuable resources and manpower on monsters that yield virtually no benefit, so... this is no problem for Gluttons, which can infinitely absorb external power and magic to grow...

"Superbugs, huh?" Roach was starting to feel a headache coming on. These adventurers would definitely test the weaknesses of these demons, and then, under their training, it would be like using various antibiotics to train bacteria or even fungi. Now, one could only imagine what the Gluttonous Demon they were facing would look like.

"What's worse is that the magic pump inside is unusable. Gluttony Demons are different from other sin demons; they are the embodiment of unrestrained desires, which means that the magic power of the entire Sin Realm is inside their bodies, not outside."

"Only after killing the Gluttonous Demon and completely unleashing its magic power can it be drawn away by the magic pump." Now it was Alessina's turn to grin. What the hellish drawing is this?! Can't those adventurers just go die already?! Oh, I'm an adventurer too? Never mind then.

The thing attached to the blade is simple: [Life Burn], which transforms the opponent's life essence into a blazing fire of life. On the surface, it can enhance the opponent's stamina recovery and wound healing speed, increase their strength, and even burn nearby enemies and defend against curses. In reality, these gifts come at an unimaginable price.

It will quickly burn away the target's life force. For Gluttons, this will greatly suppress their immortality. In any case, given their regenerative ability, almost inexhaustible stamina, and the magic resistance boosted by adventurers, the increased attributes are meaningless.

[PS]

After three days of siege warfare (covering), the enemy bacteria on the index finger joint have been defeated. Our side is currently clearing out the remaining enemy. The remaining enemy bacteria have gathered at the thumb fortress and are trying to fight back through keratinization. We are currently using salicylic acid lotion for supersaturation delivery to fully soften the position and prepare for the subsequent entry of synthetic antifungal troops.

Chapter 160 The Youngest Goddess (not really)

Words and language have power in this world where both idealism and materialism are at play.

Language and writing are the threads of knowledge and power passed down through hundreds of generations, or even a civilization or a people. Kings ruled their lands with laws inscribed in writing and united people's hearts with similar languages, which naturally endowed writing and language with the possibility of controlling things.

Slender, white fingers slid slowly across the rough paper, the nails rubbing against the indentations on the paper, producing a faint rustling sound. The ancient paper material crumbled under this brutal friction, eventually turning to ashes along with the words written on it, leaving only scattered, illusory magical glows in the darkness.

The shredded paper had piled up on the ground to the same height as the seats, which matched the empty bookshelves piled up by the main entrance.

"Ah, how boring~" The slender fingers painted with scarlet nail polish lazily curled up again, supporting her cheeks with the back of her fists and knuckles. The soft, snow-white skin sank slightly with the movement, showing its healthy pink color and elasticity rich in collagen. "Boring~Boring~Boring~" The continuous childish voice echoed in the empty library.

This is the result of an ancient and effective scam, and a true testament to the power of words and language, demonstrating that human wisdom and cunning can, to some extent, rival the divine. But these adjectives seem so ironic and ridiculous to a complete victim.

Especially when the fury of being deceived is washed away by endless time into boredom, the irony and absurdity become even more apparent. Of course, as the perpetrator, when he squanders the victim's innate wealth, he also suffers the same harm, which is another level of absurdity and irony.

The magnificent dress, made of precious black and red fabric, had long since become a pile of rotten strips, barely hanging on the body, concealing the petite and exquisite figure that exuded amazing charm and the warm, pearly skin without making any major movements.

Black hair lay sprawled on the ground, extending between the tall bookshelves and decaying candlesticks, disappearing into the shadows of the corners, reflecting a metallic sheen in the cool moonlight streaming down from the dome.

On the ground, almost completely obscured by the black hair, the massive magic circle, pieced together from countless gems and precious treasures, could only reveal a few mithril lines and a deep blue background. Some of the gems were already broken, while others flickered incessantly, about to lose their function.

This brief period of near escape amplified the boredom exponentially, even suppressing her innate pride and sense of sacredness, making her want nothing more than to leave this hellish place as quickly as possible.

For a "god," being trapped here is a disgrace, but now she doesn't even care about that disgrace anymore—no matter what the situation, even a stab to the head or a grand god-slaying ritual would be a million times better than the current situation.

Of course, as a [goddess], she also swore an oath with her [divine core] that she would accept whatever the person intended to do to her, whether it was to seize her power or even her core, or to seek a satisfying revenge.

There was only one thing—if the visitor dared to play word and language games with her again, then even at the cost of everything, she would give them a lesson so profound that no intelligent being in this world would dare to recall it.

"Hmm?" The young goddess sat up straight again, even though the movement caused half of the only strip of cloth to slip off her body, revealing her flawless white divine body. On her night-black hair, the triple crown swayed slightly, emitting a halo that represented some kind of power.

This means that there are other powers approaching her, and these powers are of a fairly high rank.

"A demon lord? Oh, a demon lord that didn't get the [Hell Core]? That's fucking rare!"

Don't be surprised; even a god, after reading so much vulgar human writing to pass the time, being assimilated into swearing isn't so... strange.

However, as mentioned at the beginning, language and writing have their power. Swearing and insults are closely related, and insults are inseparable from hatred and disgust. Disgust and hatred are two sides of the same coin as curses. Therefore, for beings who possess curses or similar powerful languages, the words of curses are themselves a form of attack.

Of course, ordinary people, based on their own beliefs and shallow understanding, will interpret this power and effect as "sacred words," "blasphemous words," "cursing words," and other such spiritual powers. In fact, the core of it is just that: a person whose language has its own magic or who has deliberately attached certain concepts to language is giving you a thorough and unrestrained insult or praise.

The difference is that some methods are more subtle and roundabout, while others are more direct, blunt, or even vulgar.

The curses of the gods resulted in the extinguishing of some of the hundreds of human pillars near the ritual site of the Great Library. The precarious ritual could hardly continue. The young goddess, trapped by the dreams and delusions of mortals, could only revert to her initial lazy demeanor and, unusually, showed some interest in what was about to happen.

"Pfft~" The black horse snorted. Without him saying a word, everyone except Luo Qi felt a kind of repulsion and malice emanating from the ancient city. This malice was hidden in the magic of the Sin Domain, making people feel like they had thorns in their backs.

Livia looked solemnly at the distant castle and the ancient, majestic library. She kicked the black horse in the belly to signal it to stop, then took out a very thick black book from her bag. The book was even locked with an iron chain, so Alessina had to help her take it out. Then she unlocked the chain and opened the thick, tin-covered book.

Inside were rows of ancient runes, each character written in large characters, barely enough to fill a page. Yet, Livia placed one hand on the book with an exceptionally serious and solemn manner, speaking in a clear and soft voice. However, compared to her usual fluent incantations or completely monotone delivery, the contents of this book clearly presented some difficulty for her.

She spoke each word slowly, and sometimes even stuttered a little, but all of this was hidden beneath her distinctive voice, clear as ice crystals and as bright as moonlight.

The black horse, with whom it had known for a long time, showed an expression of utter astonishment, even fear, and then looked at each of them with a scrutinizing and even hostile gaze.

First, he stared at Roach, who looked completely bewildered, which made Black Horse promptly look away. Next was Alessina, whose face clearly said, "I'm not thinking about anything," which made Old Horse look away again.

Finally, his gaze settled on Leslie's face. If the little witch hadn't been on his back, Roach had no doubt that he would have kicked the useless mermaid.

As the little witch's voice rang out, the invisible malice gradually dissipated, but it still remained, only less severe than before.

"What a powerful spell! So, what was she chanting?"

“I don’t know, maybe it’s some kind of forbidden spell?” Even Vilandella wasn’t sure. “At least I’m sure it wasn’t in dragon language.”

"Hmm~ cough cough~" The witch cleared her throat, resealed the book, and carefully stuffed it into the bottom of her backpack. The sharp-eyed dragon girl noticed that the words on it should be "Forbidden Spell." However, for Livia to use such a spell to fight against it, it must be an extremely powerful curse!

"..." Her rose-colored eyes widened in surprise, and a short, golden figure was reflected in her burning pupils. The young goddess opened her mouth slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she closed her mouth tightly.

Just now, someone used a long, monotone, and even somewhat agonizingly difficult-to-read passage of vulgar language to launch a remote attack. The crudeness of the words, the blasphemy of the meaning, and the filth of the composition were all quite unexpected, even for a "deity".

The person who did this clearly didn't understand what they were doing, and didn't even like it. This suggests that the author of this document was not the short, blond man with a sour face.

"Interesting! Absolutely interesting!" The young goddess stared in disbelief for a long time. It was the first time she had ever seen anyone dare to insult a true god, even one who had to descend into the physical realm due to some contract or agreement. And yet, they dared to curse so filthily. Just for that courage, she felt that she could be a little harsher when she was punishing them later, to respect the courage of these warriors.

"That spell just now..." "It was a forbidden spell," the little witch answered readily, looking at Roach with a somewhat nervous expression.

"is that useful?"

"Hmm...maybe~" She didn't seem sure either, but judging from the atmosphere around her, it should be helpful.

"So, does this forbidden spell have any serious side effects?" Roach asked with concern, only to be met with a very serious, even panicked, look from the little witch. "Don't ask!" A small hand covered Roach's mouth tightly, with such force that her little fist almost shoved into his mouth.

"Oh, the kind where you can't even ask?" It's probably some kind of special incantation, the kind where if you're not strong enough, you'll pay a huge price just for uttering a single word? Or maybe it's something that's inherently corrupting, making you filthy just by knowing its meaning.

In a sense, Roach's guess was entirely correct. Indeed, in certain specific situations and environments, and in front of specific people, if you utter the pronunciation of just one word from this book, you will pay the price with your life or even more serious consequences. And after learning the contents of this spellbook, you will indeed become corrupted.

Under the protection of some kind of "spell", the group successfully passed through the first few levels and arrived at the flooded area. There were already quite a few adventurers here. They were not afraid of the filth and dirt in the water at all, and they were using various tools to salvage the treasures that had sunk underwater.

The little witch and her companions also attracted some ill-intentioned glances from the new adventurers, but after seeing the greatsword on Alessina's back, they all straightened their posture and attitude without looking at her.

A beastman carrying a greatsword isn't that intimidating, but a beastman carrying a heavily enchanted Wupeng sword and a magic sword with runes all over its spine is very intimidating—because beastmen don't have the financial means to buy such equipment themselves!

The roads in the flooded area were all built by adventurers, constructed on top of houses and between bridges. To do this, they dismantled almost half of the houses. Of course, many adventurers were injured or killed because of those insects. Even now, Roach and his companions can see a classic team consisting of a swordsman, an archer, and an apprentice-level arcane mage fighting fiercely against three insects.

Yes, it was a fierce battle where the two sides were evenly matched. If we don't consider the challenge level of these insects in a non-ambush environment, these people give the impression that it's hard to believe they survived to reach this depth.

The road into the upper city was also built by adventurers. At the gap near the water gate, ropes tied in knots hung down. For almost all adventurers, this could be called a "smooth road," but for the little witch and the others, it was a difficult one.

Old Ma didn't care; he could move on the vertical wall with just a little magic. But what about the little witch? Although she wasn't heavy, Alessina had already carried enough. Carrying another person would be too much for her, not to mention her physical strength, even the rope might not be able to support her.

So, Roach resigned himself to his fate and crouched down, and then a soft, warm body exuding the sweet scent of roses jumped over to him.

Vilandella's physical strength in human form wasn't particularly strong either. She climbed behind Roach, and if he lost his grip, she could give him a push. After all, Roach's physical strength was only slightly better than that of a certain mermaid among this group.

It took the group quite a while to climb to the top of the wall, and then it took them about the same amount of time, or even longer, to climb down and enter the upper city.

This place truly lives up to its reputation as the upper city of the capital. There are no intricate streets, only wide avenues paved with some kind of white stone, planted with vegetation on both sides, and with structures resembling streetlights. Roach felt as if he had jumped from a medieval town filled with mud and rotten garbage into a solemn and majestic palace courtyard of the steampunk era.

The houses here are all standard brick and tile structures, and it is rare to see buildings with less than two stories. Even the most ordinary residential areas have a red brick wall and a uniform black iron fence.

Stone benches and chairs for resting are everywhere, along with small gardens and fountains. The golden dome of the former grand theater gleams with wealth in the sunlight. In its heyday, this must have been a beautiful and elegant city, exuding a sense of "order" that was out of step with the times.

Now, everywhere you look, there are splattered bloodstains and signs of battle. An arrow is stuck in a withered tree, a pheasant feather arrow made of mulberry wood, a cheap arrow commonly used by adventurers.

The smooth paving stones were covered with scratch marks, extending to the corner of the street. "Judging from the marks, the enemy weighs at least a thousand pounds. They won't be easy to deal with..." Alasina touched the marks on the ground like a professional hunter. Any creature of that weight that could still maintain a certain level of agility and mobility would be an extremely difficult enemy to deal with.

“Go over there,” the little witch said, one arm around Roach’s neck and the other pointing in a direction. “The library, over there, there’s something, something very, very, very special.” She emphasized this with three very strong gestures.

"Miss, can I not go?" Black Horse glanced in the direction of the library. The lingering power emanating from there was even more dangerous to him than the young lady next to him. In other words... even if that thing couldn't deal with the young lady, it would be no problem to deal with him.

Demons never put themselves in danger lightly, especially when the enemy is clearly stronger than their leader. Demons are masters of assessing situations. The reason they didn't run away or backstab him now is simply because the threat seems to be trapped inside that building, or because they are too lazy to make a move for some reason.

However, another threat, equally deadly, was right beside him. Running away now would be tantamount to courting death. Again, the devil is a master of assessing situations; Old Ma would absolutely not step into that Gothic building with its triple golden domes. At most, he'd stand guard at the entrance, and if anything seemed amiss, he'd make a run for it.

"Alright, I'll stay here or a little ahead and guard the camp for you. You all go and come back quickly." Everyone stared blankly at Old Ma. This great demon's actions practically demonstrated to them what a high-risk area was, and that this was a forbidden zone, not some ordinary dangerous place like a child's play.

"Maybe we should just call it quits?"

“No,” the little witch said decisively, “We have to go.” So the others had nothing to say. You can see from Old Ma that he was so scared that he only dared to discuss with the little witch that he wouldn’t go, instead of directly saying he wouldn’t go. The others were afraid to challenge what the consequences would be if they really angered Miss Witch, especially since they had just experienced a small-scale “Great Void” phenomenon.

Chapter 161 Hairy People and Hairy Things

A stream of air flowed through the massive chest cavity, vibrating along the throat and emitting a long, drawn-out cry: "Hungry~~~~~". The enormous monster, completely encased in thick, tough, murky, yellowish-brown fat, writhed its belly. The "base" beneath its body, constructed from countless human hands, crawled laboriously across the ground, leaving a trail of sticky, disgusting grease behind it, like a giant snail without a shell.

Within the massive maw at the front of its abdomen, covered in spiraling teeth, three scarlet tongues sniffed around, waiting to devour anything they could swallow. Whether it was crumbling rocks, collapsed buildings, or the weapons and corpses left behind by adventurers, everything in its path was caught by the long tongues, dragged into the mouth, and chewed to dust.

"I have to say, after seeing those Lustful Demons in the flooded area, even this Gluttonous Demon seems rather handsome," Leslie remarked, sharpening the arrowhead with enchantment powder on a whetstone, giving it a shimmering white glow.

Livia has shown everyone all the information about the Gluttony Demon. Many people think that the Gluttony Demon's weakness is its big mouth, but that's not the case at all. It's the small head that's sunk into the fat and almost completely embedded between the fat and muscle.

Of course, calling it a vital point isn't entirely accurate. Even if you shatter the skull, it won't kill the Gluttony Demon; it will only make it more frenzied and violent. And that's the only way to kill a Gluttony Demon.

That head represents the last shred of reason and restraint. If destroyed, the Gluttony will be left with nothing but the desire to devour everything and grow endlessly. This desire will cause its body to swell continuously and attack anything it can.

If you keep consuming it during this process, preventing it from getting "food", then the Gluttony Demon's growth will eventually completely deplete its stored magic power.

Needless to say, once the magic is gone, it's just a lump of slow-moving, defenseless fat. Piercing its body with the two rune swords made by the little witch and igniting its remaining life force will completely incinerate this monster.

It also converts the Gluttony magic into Life Essence magic, releasing it to restore the strength and injuries of the combatants, and making it difficult for the remaining Gluttony demons to directly utilize this power again.

The enormous monster dragged itself down the street. In front of it, a rope made of strips of cloth covered with runes drawn in the blood of monsters lay silently on the ground. It seemed that Roach and his companions were not the only ones preparing to deal with this prey. In fact, the magnificent triple golden dome of the Great Library had long attracted the attention of many adventurers.

However, this enormous creature continued to linger on the path through the library, and since they couldn't lure it away, the only option left was to kill it.

"The Ulster Sun Wheel Chain?" The blonde witch leaned against the collapsed wall, a hint of surprise in her emerald eyes. "How strange!" she muttered, then repeated, "How strange!"

“What’s wrong with this?!” Alessina walked up behind her, warily using his greatsword to protect the witch’s upper body.

“That… item is difficult.” If even Livia says it’s difficult, then it’s definitely not an ordinary difficulty. “Hmm… but something doesn’t seem quite right.”

The witch pondered for a moment and decided not to continue considering the matter. Whether it was magic or technology, the world was always moving forward, and it was normal for an ancient spell tool to have new changes in the new era. However, this thing belonged to the spell tools of a [wizard].

The difference between it and arcane and alchemical tools is that it has no magic power of its own, and does not require expensive materials, complicated rituals or sacrifices, or processing with various gems, crystals, or alchemical dust.

The difference between spell props and wizard spells is that the former is like written words, while the latter is like spoken language. Both use the magic of the spell medium itself. For example, a spell prop uses a certain kind of magic around the victim.

The difficulty in using and making spell items lies precisely in this: what if you misjudge the situation? Then they're completely useless.

For example, if you use a [Willpower Shackles] spell chain to bind a knight, unless the knight is caught off guard, the spell chain will be just like a reinforced ordinary rope on any extraordinary warrior who has activated their spiritual and life essence and transformed into a warrior's extraordinary physique. It can be easily broken with a little force.

However, if you use it to lock up undead warriors or ghost warriors, which are lord-level monsters, they will be bound tightly and unable to move. Of course, how you safely approach a lord-level monster and put on the chain that needs to be tied manually is another question altogether.

Such props, which are particularly sophisticated in terms of traps, tactics, and targeted planning, should not appear on the Southern Continent, but rather on the Northern Continent, which is beyond the World Ridge. Compared to the more civilized empire where Roach is located, the Northern Continent is much more... ancient, so there are many monsters there that can be called "divine beasts".

If we don't pay attention to specific targets and just rely on killing people, those small, broken countries would have been wiped out long ago. How could they still be alive today?

"They're here. Hopefully, these adventurers from a foreign land will find their strategy effective!" Leslie's fingers were already on the bowstring, Roach had set up his rifle, and Vilandera held a sword in one hand and a self-made alchemical amulet in the other.

Alessina and Livia were the most relaxed among them. The former leaned on her greatsword and continued to observe, while the latter quietly drew something on the bricks with her finger, seemingly studying the runes on the rare sorcery item.

"Here it comes!" The adventurer, hiding in the shadows of the building, gripped the rope in his hand and taut it the instant the Gluttonous Demon stepped in. The Gluttonous Demon stopped abruptly with an agility beyond its size, then flicked out its tongue, wrapped it around the rope, and pulled it forcefully into its mouth. As the rope was pulled in, the two grayish-white stones tied to its ends were also pulled out.

A completely alien voice rang out from the shadows. The tone was not something that a human or any other creature could produce. Almost every tone was composed of discontinuous, broken sounds that were not human and should not even exist in this world. The sounds were uneven, intermittent, sometimes high-pitched and sometimes low-pitched.

No one can glean any valuable information from it; in other words, chaos, confusion, and worthlessness are the very essence of this language or tone.

As the incantation was recited, the strip of cloth quickly and tightly bound the Gluttony Demon. The runes on the cloth emitted a bright, sun-like light, and almost instantly, the Gluttony Demon's skin and fat began to burn and shrank at an alarming rate.

It changed color rapidly, just like a piece of fresh meat being dried in the sun, and the air was filled with the smell of burning protein.

"This will continue to work as long as there is sunlight." The medium of the Sun Wheel Chain is light. As long as there is light, the stronger the light, the more magical the sunlight, and the higher its temperature, which can even reach thousands of degrees. Not to mention the flesh and skin of living beings, even the enchanted armor of fine steel is nothing more than a layer of paper under such an attack.

However, the drawback is that it can be torn by a thick enough black cloth, or even by replacing the black cloth with mud or sand or anything that can stick to it to block out light. This is a typical flaw of spell props and witchcraft. They are so targeted that they are also very effective in being countered, and they are cheap.

"Wizards in warehouses and strongholds are invincible," came the Northern Continent proverb from the adventurer hiding in the shadows.

Just like Jackie Chan entering a furniture store, wizards can always easily obtain enough spellcasting materials in the warehouse and prepared positions, ensuring that the opponent's response speed is not as fast as their own. This is where the advantages of wizardry's quick start and zero threshold are reflected.

Arcane sorcerers wouldn't be able to quickly switch one arcane spell to another, for example, changing a fire arcane spell to a water arcane spell, but wizards could.

"Light!" The two gray-white stones tied to the rope emitted a strong light. This light was not harmful, but the magic power of the light continuously provided by the magic chain attached to it made the sun wheel magic chain even hotter and more astonishing.

"Hmm~" Livia nodded slightly, seemingly understanding something, "It will break."

"what?"

"That will break soon."

Almost as soon as the little witch finished speaking, accompanied by the gluttonous demon's whistling scream, the cursed chains, which were the same color as the sun, snapped one by one. Even though they were cursed props, their base material was still strips of cloth, so the cloth was torn to shreds by the gluttonous demon's brute force.

The sliver of cloth, still radiating a scorching glow, was swallowed whole by the Gluttony Demon without hesitation, leaving only the two ends of the still-glowing stone and the cloth tied to it on the ground. The Sun Wheel Chain scorched the earth wildly, slowly sinking into the lava it had scorched, as if it were in a wet swamp.