City of Witches

-Creak!

The creaking sound came from the hotel door that was stated as ‘had been recently remodeled’.

Dry jokes aside, the situation itself wasn’t a laughing matter.

Siwoo and Sharon quickly figured out why such a sound came out.

Because of the Homunculus’ arrival, everything around them changed.

Firstly, all the things inside the room started to rot.

From the shiny-looking stand, the freshly-painted wallpaper, and even the furniture that hadn’t seen much use.

All of them fell apart as if ages had gotten to them.

The water’s pungent smell, just like the smell of the deep sea, stung both their noses.

“…huh?”

At that moment, the door swung open.

The hallway, which looked just as messed up as the room was now in their full view.

But there was no sign of the enemy.

All they could see was a weird, grotesque painting hanging on the wall.

“Don’t let your guard down! Balance!”

Sharon yelled at Siwoo, who was starting to relax his grip on his weapon, before quickly waving her wand.

In her hand, a rock-sized topaz appeared out of nowhere.

She turned herself into an ‘altar’ and offered the topaz as an ‘offering’ to the fire element. Then, she swung her wand and flames started erupting around her like a flamethrower.

-Whooosh!

It wouldn’t be inaccurate to think that the flames were sucking off the surrounding oxygen.

After all, she used such a high-quality offering, it wasn’t a wonder that the flame she called produced so much heat that made the heat of a blast furnace pale in comparison.

Since she didn’t know where the enemy was hiding, she commanded the flame to burn everything around them to eliminate any potential hiding spots it could have.

The flames crackled as they shot out, turning everything they touched into ashes.

But, the sight that they produced wasn’t exactly in line with the one that came to mind when one heard the word ‘burning’.

Because of the flames’ absurdly high temperature, the moment the bed they had just spent a hot night on made contact with them, it immediately evaporated.

They couldn’t find any signs of the enemy yet, but Sharon had already gasped for air.

Not because of the spell she just used, though.

It was because her body tensed up due to fear.

“Siwoo, I don’t have time to explain it in detail, so I’ll keep it brief.”

“Is our opponent this time really that dangerous?”

“It’s the Drowned Witch, the most dangerous one we’ve ever faced. Even among the Homunculi raised by the Cowardly Witch, it’s among the most notorious ones.”

The Cowardly Witch.

In the world of witches, their strength was typically determined by how high their rank was in the hierarchy.

The higher their rank was, the more diverse the spell they could wield. If a battle occurred between witches who had two or more rank gaps, the outcome was pretty much decided before they even started.

But, there were always exceptions.

The Cowardly Witch, Xochitl, was only a rank 19th witch.

Yet, ever since she became a Criminal Exile, Xochitl had taken down one 21st ranked witch, one 20th ranked witch and two 19th ranked witches.

How did she manage to pull that off exactly?

Because her self-essence magic revolved around ‘manipulating Homunculi’.

By controlling these powerful Homunculi and sending them onto the battlefield, she possessed a wide range of strategic options.

She could even force multiple battles to go down at once, something that barely any witches could do.

With each Homunculus possessing its own unique traits, she could set up fights where the odds were stacked in her favor.

If need be, she could drag out a war of attrition without showing her face even once.

Unlike Siwoo, the Cowardly Witch was someone who specialized in ‘Great Witch Battles’.

-Woooo!

A loud sound echoed in the room.

At the same time, the flames that had been dancing around them went out like birthday candles.

The water creeping up on the floor now had risen to their ankles while a liquid resembling melted metal streamed down the walls and ceiling.

It felt like they were stuck in a Titanic cabin as it sunk down to the depths.

Their fate seemed sealed, death by drowning seemed to be an inevitable outcome.

Siwoo glanced around.

Regardless how it all went down, he surmised that there must be some kind of magic at play.

So, he thought that he could see through it with his left eye…but that belief crumbled down as quickly as it began.

“This can’t be…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t see the flow of the mana!”

He couldn’t see anything.

No matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t spot the flow of mana or their enemy, as if a thick fog had obscured everything.

Siwoo who always had the upper hand in battles thanks to his left eye, felt like he had turned blind, which was a rather disconcerting feeling for him.

He really felt like they were stuck in a really dark room now.

-Chwaaak!

At that moment, something burst forth, tearing through the water covering the floor.

The pair could only freeze in terror at the horrifying sight unfolding in front of them.

At first, they thought that whatever came out of the water was a woman.

With its long hair soaked like seaweed and its dress, it wasn’t a wonder that they’d thought so.

But its appearance wasn’t even that of a human.

It had an unnaturally swollen body, like a pufferfish instead of a human.

Grotesquely swollen limbs that wiggled unnaturally.

And a pale face with eyes that seemed to be bulging out halfway out of their socket. They emitted blue light as they stared at the pair.

“Fuck…”

“Arg…”

Seeing the Drowned Witch, Siwoo let out a curse while Sharon gagged in disgust.

But there was no time to feel disgusted by the gruesome sight.

Siwoo immediately grabbed his spear and lunged forward.

Though he was taken aback by the Homunculus’ appearance, once he saw its form, he regained his confidence once again.

Because it only had two eyes and its form resembled a drowned corpse.

He had survived many fights.

And he also had grown tremendously compared to back then with his newly acquired martial arts.

He no longer relied solely on his shadow armor, he could strengthen his body directly using his mana, using Fa Jin to strengthen his blows to their limit.

Even the mighty Duchess Tiphereth had praised his accomplishments.

And so, he thought that he could easily handle a mere Homunculus with only two eyes.

According to Tiphereth, a weapon was ultimately an extension of one’s limbs.

Though the stabbing motion he performed looked the same as usual, this time he imitated the movements depicted by the ‘Myriad Weapon Mastery Covenant’ in a more detailed way.

His blow became stronger, faster and more precise.

This strike was the cleanest he had made so far, but…

-Whoosh!

Right before it could pierce through the Homunculus’ plump body.

The blow was abruptly cut off.

“…What the—”

He looked at the spear of shadow that he had vigorously thrusted.

The spearhead was sliced off like a finely cut radish.

What was even more bewildering than the sight was the fact that he couldn’t even figure out how.

He sensed that something had touched the tip of the spear, but that was it. In a blink of an eye, his spear was sliced apart.

Siwoo raised his gaze and looked at the monster.

At that moment, a shiver ran down his spine.

The monster twisted its expression.

Both its lips were curled upwards, its abnormally large eyeballs rolled around, and black seawater-like substance oozed out of its mouth.

Its expression resembled that of a smile.

An eerie, silent laughter came out of its mouth.

As Siwoo stood frozen in disgust and terror…

-Kwaaah!

A sudden loud noise echoed in the room.

“What did you think you were doing, suddenly jumping out like that?! I told you we should run away!”

Sharon tightened her grip on her wand.

A magic circle with a rotating rhombus pattern engraved on it floated in front of the pair.

Then, it clashed with the Homunculus’ weapon, creating a loud sound that made their ears ring.

Surprisingly, the weapon turned out to be a massive anchor hanging from a chain.

But it was obvious that this anchor wasn’t an ordinary one.

Despite its hefty weight, its tip was as sharp as a knife and the metal gleamed like it had just been sharpened.

-Kugugugung!

Belatedly, something that stood in the anchor’s trajectory crumbled.

But because of its speed, the aftermath came a little bit too late.

At least three cabin walls collapsed simultaneously. Objects like iron doors and furniture shattered like glass.

-Shrrrrk!

Accompanied by the sound of winding chains, the anchor vanished into the calm waters below.

Due to his surprise by the unexpected turn of events, Siwoo didn’t even get a chance to speak with Sharon.

Before he knew it, the second attack was already on its way.

After focusing hard, he barely managed to make out two faces that shot out of the water like a pair of dolphins.

These things moved much quicker and seemed to exude even stronger force than Siwoo when he swung his sword with all his might.

-Booom!

Sharon had to use up two corals to summon two defensive shields. She held them up to block the anchor’s attack.

Because of this, the magic circuit in her body became overloaded.

If she tried to perform the same spell using mineral water from the supermarket as an offering like she usually did, her body would’ve been torn to shreds by now.

The Drowned Witch lived up to its infamous reputation and it hadn’t even shown its full capabilities just yet.

After that, it didn’t unleash any follow-up attack.

Instead, it stayed silent while tilting its ugly head.

From the half-melting mirror, Siwoo realized that he had made a hasty judgment.

Due to its slanted angle, the mirror reflected the Homunculus’ back.

There, seventeen red eyeballs were embedded in its back like grotesque balls.

This Homunculus’ core protruded from its back to begin with, not its face.

‘The mother dog I hunted by using up all my strength, all while bringing down multiple buildings in the process…how many eyes did it have again…?’

‘Eight…was it…?’

‘What about the White Knight…?’

‘It has four…’

‘And this thing has seventeen…’

Siwoo had always faced opponents that were way stronger than him.

During those encounters, he recognized his own weaknesses and the strengths of his foes.

Therefore, even in the face of an overwhelming gap, he could still struggle on his way to victory as long as he refused to give up.

However, even that conviction he usually had was shattered by this unexpected level of threat.

“Siwoo, listen to me carefully.”

At that moment, Sharon whispered to him.

In that fleeting moment when the Homunculus was just standing around silently, she had been racking her brain, trying to dig up information on the Drowned Witch.

Just like Ea Sadalmelik, it wielded a powerful physical magic.

At a first glance, it didn’t sound like it would be a big threat.

That was because the real danger was the seawater that was rising up to their ankles.

When things already escalate up to this point, it meant that the Homunculus had already corroded the surrounding space with its mana.

This corrosion was akin to a widespread debuff. It would weaken the effectiveness of all other spells in the area and also drain the courage and willpower of those who fought against it.

It was like being caught in a raging current, its opponent could only struggle until their strength was completely drained, leading to their inevitable demise.

Fear would creep into their hearts as they realized the gravity of their situation.

Despite their efforts to resist, their spells would gradually lose their potency, leaving them so weakened that they would struggle to breathe, ultimately resulting in their deaths.

This ability to drag its opponents down earned the Homunculus name as the Drowned Witch.

“Run away.”

“No, I made this mess, so I’ll handle it.”

Siwoo insisted, ready to step forward with his newly crafted spear despite his growing fear.

But Sharon didn’t even turn around to look at him. Instead, she tapped his chestplate and pleaded with a trembling voice.

There was desperation in her voice.

“Please, just run. While I stall for time, go look for the Duchess so she could help us. That’s our only chance of surviving.”

As Sharon spoke, she also casted a spell.

She used a considerable amount of offering to unleash a large-scale ritual.

Water, fire, wind, earth, all elements converged within the void sphere.

A rotating spherical mass, created with her maximum output as a 18th ranked witch, spun in the air.

Upon contact with this sphere, anything in nature would be easily obliterated.

‘Could it work…?’

But nothing was certain.

A spell that could corrode even the mind.

When Sharon read it on the database, it seemed pretty manageable.

But when she was actually facing it head on, she was overwhelmed by the sense of dread.

It was like standing in front of a noisy industrial grinder.

The grinder just sat there doing its own thing, but one would still feel their strength getting drained anyway.

She was scared.

No, she was outright terrified.

Her heart felt like it was about to break as it made the loudest sound she had ever heard yet.

“Siwoo.”

But she didn’t run away.

She must not run away.

Because Siwoo was behind her.

Once upon a time, she walked into this city, because of her failure, bringing nothing but her own body. Back then, the city felt cold, as if it was stuck in an eternal rain.

She tried to put on a brave front, refusing to yield to her unfortunate situation…

Yet, despite all that, she felt lonely.

Her life was agonizing and she felt like giving up at times.

‘And that’s when I met you.’

‘In the world where I alone was the one who was getting soaked in the rain, it was your hand that reached me and brought me the warmth I yearned for.’

She still clearly remembered the warmth of his fingertips and the way he readily offered it to her.

And that…

Was the most precious treasure that Sharon Evergreen ever possessed.

Suppressing her urge to escape, she gathered her courage and opened her mouth.

This might be her last chance.

So, she had to say it.

The words she always wanted to tell him when they stood side by side.

“I really—-”

But her words trailed off right there.

A rusty, sharp arrow effortlessly pierced through her delicate body.

Following that, a crimson flower bloomed behind her.