It felt so good to be close to the witch!

The immense shock caused her heart to pound violently in her chest. The shadow witch Lilia's dark pupils shrank to almost pinpoints as she quickly turned her head, her gaze fixed on her right front.

It was a dark forest passage, the moonlight blocked by the dense canopy, barely penetrating. But as a master of the "Shadow" talent, the Shadow Witch Lilia's observation of things was not limited to her sight.

Perceiving the shadows, she saw a white-haired, silver-eyed girl exuding an icy blue aura, walking towards her step by step.

Before she could even ponder why her fellow witch was attacking her, the sheer power of the magic that made her body tremble uncontrollably made the Shadow Witch Lilia clearly realize the gap between herself and her opponent, and thus she chose to flee without hesitation.

The talents awakened by witches are incredibly diverse, some extremely weak and others extremely powerful. However, the strength of a witch is not solely determined by her innate abilities; magical power is also a crucial factor.

The same talent, when activated by different intensities of magic, can unleash completely different powers.

The opponent's immense magical power was at least three times that of hers, and its ability was "ice," which could freeze everything. This reminded the Shadow Witch Lilia of the famous "Ice Witch" who had recently achieved brilliant victories.

She was severely injured and forced to retreat by just one Silver Divine Punishment Knight captain. It is said that the "Ice Witch" faced fifteen Silver Knights at the same time, including more than one Divine Punishment Knight captain. Even so, she still managed to kill six and severely injure nine of them!

The Ice Witch's strength is such that even a Gold Knight wouldn't dare say he could handle her alone. She's probably only a hair's breadth away from the legendary Grand Witch, and she's definitely not someone she can defeat.

As her body rapidly merged into the shadows, Lilia was filled with doubt.

Generally speaking, witches, even if they don't help each other, won't attack each other. But why is this legendary "Ice Witch" attacking her so mercilessly? And it seems she's specifically hunting her down?

Lilia quickly went through all the things she had done recently in her mind, but she couldn't find anything that had anything to do with the Ice Witch.

No, not entirely!

A thought suddenly struck her, and she remembered the information circulating in the black market a few days ago that "the Ice Witch has appeared in Blackrock Territory".

Could it be that the Ice Witch truly has a close connection with Blackrock Territory? Is she being hunted down because of her attack on Roy, the son of the Blackrock Lord?

The thought process took only a moment; at that moment, half of Lilia's body had already merged into the shadows.

Once Lilia blends into the shadows, even the "Ice Witch" will never be able to find her!

With the help of the shadows that fill the dense forest, even if she still can't defeat the "Ice Witch," she can come and go as she pleases.

With that thought, Lilia merged into the shadows even faster.

Two-thirds, three-quarters, four-fifths...

As she drew ever closer to completely merging into the shadows, for some reason, time seemed to drag on endlessly, and even the flow of her thoughts seemed to freeze.

If someone were observing from the sidelines, they would clearly see that a point of icy blue light appeared in the center of the Shadow Witch Lilia's originally jet-black pupils.

Starting from this point of icy blue light, countless thin veins spread to all parts of her body, and even the parts that had entered the "shadow state" could not escape.

As the icy blue veins solidified into a net, Lilia, who was just a hair's breadth away from merging into the shadows, was abruptly transformed into a humanoid ice sculpture. The part that had already merged into the shadows was forcibly pulled out of the "shadow state."

A strand of white hair swayed slightly in the night breeze, and her pale silver pupils reflected a light more dazzling than starlight. Ais walked up to Lilia, who was frozen into an ice sculpture, and extended a jade-green stalk, touching Lilia's left chest.

As she moved, the light in Lilia's eyes within the ice sculpture dimmed completely, and the shadow magic that was about to erupt within her subsided, causing her to fall into the deepest slumber.

Ais lifted Lilia with one hand, turned around, and headed towards the Blackrock Lord's mansion.

From the moment we set out until now, it has taken three hours and twenty-four minutes. The Shadow Witch has been successfully defeated!

Chapter 22 Interrogation and Intelligence

Lilia was awakened by a conversation.

She felt as if she had a very, very long dream.

In her dream, the legendary "Ice Witch" appeared before her, and she was captured before she could even run away.

But soon, Lilia realized that this was not a dream.

The icy chill that penetrated her bones and even her internal organs, along with the rough ropes that tightly bound her body, clearly told her that she had now become a prisoner.

Not only that, she also "saw" her heart covered in frost, causing her magic to stagnate and become unusable.

hateful!

Lilia struggled to open her eyes, but the flickering, bright candlelight that pierced them made her close them again.

With her eyes slightly narrowed, Lilith waited until her pupils adjusted to the change in light and darkness before she could see her surroundings clearly.

This was a "house" of moderate size, with very little furniture: a wooden table and chairs, a metal rack with nothing hanging on it, and a cross-shaped rack made of ice crystals that bound her.

Lilia breathed a slight sigh of relief when she didn't see the chains and instruments of torture stained with dark red blood that she had imagined.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a familiar, slender figure in the dimly lit corner of the room, causing Lilia to stiffen abruptly.

Ice Witch!

She's still here...

As the last glimmer of hope in her heart vanished, Lilia slumped to the ground.

Since the other party is here, there is absolutely no way she can escape. Next, we'll see what the other party wants to do with her.

Since the Ice Witch didn't choose to kill her on the spot, the possibility of killing her now is not very high.

"you're awake?"

Suddenly, a gentle male voice reached Lilia's ears.

Upon hearing the voice, she was slightly startled, and then she noticed the figure standing not far from the Ice Witch.

The Ice Witch's presence was so strong that she ignored everything else around her and only realized it when she heard the sound.

The figure emerged from the darkness, his face illuminated by the candlelight.

He was a young man dressed in luxurious clothes. He looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, with short black hair and brown eyes. For some reason, he gave off a mature and gentle feeling.

A familiar face made Lilia's eyes widen instantly: "Roy, son of the Blackrock Lord!"

Having targeted Roy, she naturally had Roy's portrait on the black market memorized. Now, seeing someone who shouldn't be here appear before her, Lilia was indescribably shocked.

"Since you know me, I don't need to introduce myself. So, Miss Witch, could you please tell me your name before we begin our conversation?"

Roy wore a faint smile, but deep in his eyes was absolute calmness and coldness.

Without a doubt, the Shadow Witch before her was a very beautiful young girl. Perhaps due to long-term malnutrition, she looked very thin and had sickly pale skin, but these could not hide her natural beauty.

But no matter how beautiful the Shadow Witch is, as long as she is an enemy, Roy will not hesitate to strike her.

"Lilia Brunt".

Lilia, who was bound to the ice crystal cross, noticed a detail: the terrifyingly powerful "Ice Witch" immediately followed Roy when he walked out, and when she stopped, she was half a body length behind him.

Lilia knew very well what this subconscious action meant.

That's why she found it incredible.

The legendary, ruthless Ice Witch actually showed such an attitude towards a human man?

What kind of person is this son of the Blackrock Lord named "Roy"?

With these thoughts in mind, she cooperated well when Roy asked her questions.

Her life was now in someone else's hands; she had no choice but to cooperate! If it were just her, Lilia could be very principled and refuse to yield even unto death, but when she thought of her sister…

No matter what, she had to survive, even if it meant enduring immense humiliation!

With the Shadow Witch Lilia's cooperation, Roy nodded in satisfaction: "This is a good start. So, the next question is, why did you attack the temple's prison wagon?"

Finally, he added, "Miss Lilia, please answer truthfully. I have some accurate information. If I find out you are lying, I believe you will not want to bear the consequences."

Roy's words made Lilia's heart skip a beat, but fortunately she hadn't intended to lie about this matter anyway, so she honestly replied, "I need the high-purity magic crystal that you're rumored to possess."

Roy narrowed his eyes slightly, staring intently into the pupils of the Shadow Witch Lilia.

Her pupils were black, but upon closer inspection, one could still see darker, polluted black threads moving inside.

These polluted black threads occupied about 70-80% of Lilia's pupils.

Now, Roy has discovered that the degree to which a witch is corrupted can be judged by observing the number of black threads moving in her pupils.

Judging from the number of black threads moving in Lilia's pupils, although she is still some distance from losing control of the pollution, and is far from being as close to the limit as the Ice Witch Ais and the Healing Witch Shanica, she cannot hold on for much longer.

The more advanced the witch's corruption becomes, the faster it intensifies, unless the witch stops using her innate abilities, but how could that be possible?

The temple's pursuit is like a malignant tumor; the wandering witch will be relentlessly hunted by the temple for her entire life, and the serving witch is not much better off. She will be ordered by the lord to use her talents time and time again until she is on the verge of losing control and is taken back and disposed of by the temple.

"You should know the danger of attacking the temple's prison wagon, so what makes you so desperate to obtain high-purity magic crystals?"

Roy asked the next question.

Lilia remained silent until the smile on Roy's face began to fade. After hesitating for a long time, she finally said softly, "For my sister, Vivian Brunt."

"She is the service witch of Iron Mountain Territory."

"I lost her during a chase when I was young. When I found her again, it was five years later. By then, she had been forced to wear a witch control necklace and become a service witch."

"Because of the numerous orders from Lord Denham, the lord of Iron Mountain Territory, Vivian's level of contamination has become extremely serious. For her life, I took the initiative to show myself and reached an agreement with that old fellow Lord Denham."

“I will complete ten tasks for him in Vivian’s place. After that, he will let Vivian go and promise never to use the witch controller again. During this period, he will no longer be able to force Vivian to perform any actions.”

"Compared to Vivian, who can only carry out one or two more missions before she goes out of control, it is undoubtedly a very worthwhile deal for me to take her place. Without a doubt, Lord Denham agreed."

"But I underestimated Vivian's level of contamination."

"She's about to give up."

"And there is only one solution, which is to help Vivian break through to the legendary 'Grand Witch'!"

"This way, she can reach a higher pollution tolerance limit."

"But with Vivian's current magical power, the possibility of her breaking through is extremely slim. Therefore, I must obtain the high-purity magic crystal that is rumored to be able to greatly enhance magical power to help her increase the possibility of breaking through."

Lilia's answer ended there; she looked at Roy pleadingly.

"Young Master Roy, could you please give me the high-purity magic crystal?"

"I'm willing to pay any price."

Roy did not answer Lilia.

He turned around, a slight smile playing on his lips, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.

"Finally, I've found you."

Chapter 23 Situation

Iron Mountain Territory is located south of Blackstone Territory, adjacent to the territory of the Border Duke, and very close to the border between the two great empires.