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As if provoked by the witch’s taunts, Vieya slowly picked up all the tarot cards.
“Miss Cleric, don’t listen to her. We don’t have to play this stupid game—let’s just fight our way ou—” Luna suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Shh.
Vieya gestured for everyone to stay calm, then turned her gaze back to the sneering Forest Witch.
This creature always lost herself in arrogance the moment she saw her prey step into a trap.
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“Witch, did you forget something?” Vieya’s voice was calm, without joy or anger.
The “wise” witch replayed her entire process in her head, confirming she hadn’t broken her own game’s rules—and that the human girl before her had not completed the game.
Bluffing is a human specialty, isn’t it~
The witch’s mouth stretched into a crazed grin—so wide it nearly reached her ears, tearing the stitches at her lips until blood streamed down.
“What, do you wish to volunteer as my test-subject slave? If so, maybe I’ll let you live a little longer.”
Vieya ignored the provocation and continued, “I’ve actually been curious about something. I’ve heard that the ‘life box’ of Forest Witches is their very soul—but every one of you sacrifices that soul to the War God at birth.”
“In other words, from the moment you’re born, your life box is handed over to the Witch God for safekeeping.”
“That’s right. So what?” the witch said disdainfully. “You can’t seal me. Even if you burn me to ashes and lock the remains in one hundred and eight anti-magic stone boxes buried across the world, I’ll reappear before you in three seconds.”
“Three seconds—that’s your resurrection time?” Vieya asked.
“Gah gah, yes—” the witch began to cackle, ready to mock again and savor the despair on her victim’s face.
But suddenly her expression froze.
She stared at Vieya in disbelief.
And found that Vieya was looking back at her the same way—equally astonished.
“Oh? So you do have a resurrection cooldown!” Vieya exclaimed in genuine surprise. “Then how dare you still insult me? Even my wife never did that—who the hell do you think you are?”
At the same moment, Vieya lifted her right hand, her pale fingers gently tapping the witch’s chest. She murmured softly,
“Authority, First Form: Devouring Mouse... Turn stillness to motion, turn motion to stillness.”
Silence.
The terrified witch was instantly petrified. Every trace of life vanished, and at the spot where Vieya’s fingertip had touched her chest, a tiny silver mouse head mark appeared.
At the same time, all the sealed windows shattered, and the doors burst open with a crash. The cold air from outside rushed in, flooding the entire cabin.
“My... ahem, petrification mark will automatically release after 2.5 seconds. The witch will revive at that very spot—but at 2.51 seconds, it’ll trigger again. So she’ll just stay like this, forever looping.”
You can do that?
Luna and Arc both stared, dumbfounded.
“I merely stand on the shoulders of those before me,” Vieya said modestly. “All right, let’s go.”
“Vieya-sis, can we learn that technique too?” Liufir asked, her eyes wide with amazement.
“Well, that...”
Vieya was about to make up an excuse when inspiration struck.
“This is the thought process I’m providing! I’m not giving you my answers to copy—you have to learn to infer by analogy!”
Infer by analogy...
While Liufir was still puzzling over it, Pus suddenly looked enlightened. His eyes shone with reverence as he stared at Vieya.
“I understand now. With {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} my Ice Magic, I could use a similar method to restrain the witch. However...”
Pus sighed, shaking his head. “Such an operation demands extreme control over mana. You’d have to ensure the witch’s body stays intact during casting, and that she revives exactly within the given time... Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!”
“Miss Vieya! Please, accept my bow!”
Pus clapped his hands together and dropped to his knees with a thud, bowing toward her.
“......”
Don’t bow to me... I’m not your ancestor.
Vieya glanced helplessly at Luna, silently pleading—control your teammate!
Anyone watching might think she was his great-grandmother.
But Luna, still examining the petrified witch, didn’t care. What interested her more was the phenomenon itself.
So when the witch dies completely, her entire “game domain” vanishes with her, does it?
Hearing Vieya’s voice, Luna only shook her head. freёwebnovel.com
“Miss Cleric, don’t worry too much. Pus is always like this. If he wants to bow, let him.”
“All right,” Vieya sighed. “Then let’s head out first. My petrification mark isn’t permanent—it’ll fade in a few months.”
“A few months? Then we’ll be far away by then. She won’t be able to sense us or track us,” Luna nodded.
“Captain! We’ve just received a message from Rakaide! It came through inside the witch’s sealed field!” Arc suddenly shouted.
“Read it.”
“Captain Luna, our communicator’s power is nearly depleted after multiple attempts—this may be our final message.”
“After some time exploring, we’ve mapped out the rough layout of the town: the aboveground residential zone centered around the shrine guarded by the Hero, and... an underground mining area built from a network of tunnels.”
“The surface seems relatively safe. Aside from the visible Hero guards, we haven’t encountered any monsters or threats.”
“But the underground tunnels are far more dangerous. We discovered numerous corpses... perfectly preserved skeletons. They appear to have suffocated, trapped deep within the mines.”
As Arc read on, his voice grew heavier.
“Captain, here comes the key discovery. You must listen carefully. Menesis memorized the map of the surface district, so I followed him underground, trying to find an alternate route—to bypass the Hero’s patrols above and reach directly beneath the shrine, to uncover the town’s greatest secret.”
“But, but when we came to—”
“Captain Luna.”
“...I see. So everything still circles back to that resurrected Hero—or rather, the shrine guarded by the Hero.”
Luna rubbed her temples. “But we haven’t found any trace of that Hero in the town. And there are mine entrances everywhere—it’s impossible to tell which one Rakaide’s team entered.”
Seeing the group uncertain and directionless, Vieya offered her suggestion.
“If we have no leads, then let’s head to the shrine first. If we encounter the Hero on the way, we can always just run.”
