Witch Training Manual: My Water Magic Is Wrong

The town bells rang.

It's not Bernie's style of knocking.

It was continuous, rapid, and relentless, like someone hammering iron. The bells rang out from the church steeple in all directions, passing through streets, rooftops, and seeping into every alleyway.

Wayne got out of bed.

The panel popped up.

[Magic Tide Science Popularization - Emergency Version]

[Definition: Demonic Tide, the garbage dumped by the Abyss onto the mortal world. The composition of this garbage is complex, including demons, inanimate objects, half-dead creatures, and things that even the Abyss itself is too lazy to classify. It is spat out from the ground by the Abyss every so often. Frosttown is located right on the Abyss's "excretion channel," making it a major disaster area during every Demonic Tide.]

[Scale: Medium. Not the minor disturbances of previous years, nor the catastrophic disasters of a once-in-a-millennium event. To use a food analogy, this isn't just diarrhea, but the feeling of wanting to vomit but being unable to, like squatting on a latrine, sweating profusely.]

Estimated arrival time: Approximately 15 minutes later.

[Note: The loot from the demonic tide is a mixed bag. Most of it is junk, but occasionally some good stuff gets mixed in. For example, obsidian, a specialty of the abyss; magic cores formed after monsters die; and unidentifiable parts of certain indescribable things. The town's mercenary groups scaveng for trash after each demonic tide, and those with luck can make a small fortune.]

[Note 2: The Grand Church's attitude towards the demonic tide: tacit approval. It's not that they can't control it, it's that they don't want to. The abyss needs its release, the mortal world needs its cleansing. This is a cycle, a cycle even the goddess is too lazy to break.]

The streets of the small town were in complete chaos.

Someone ran out of the house, barefoot, and stood on the stone road, looking up at the clock tower.

"What happened? What happened?"

"A demonic tide! It's a demonic tide!"

"Which demonic tide? The one in Zhenbei?"

"Forget about which demonic tide it is, just run!"

Some people ran out of town, some ran home, and some stood still, not knowing where to go, and after circling around twice, they returned to the same spot.

A shirtless man rushed out of the alley, carrying a pair of pants in his hand. He tried to put them on as he ran, but after jumping a couple of times and failing, he simply slung the pants over his shoulder and continued running with his bare legs.

"Make way! Make way! Don't block the way!"

"Where are you running to?"

"Up the mountain! Didn't the bell tower say we should go up the mountain?"

"The clock tower refers to the northern mountain, not the southern mountain!"

Where is Beishan?

"there!"

Which way?

"there!"

The shirtless man pushed the person in front of him away.

Fuck you!

Wayne came out of the church and stood on the steps.

Emma followed behind him, clutching the hem of his clothes with both hands, her pale red eyes wide open, watching the people running around in the street.

"Owner."

"Um."

"Are we going up the mountain too?"

"You'll go up the mountain." Wayne turned around, squatted down, and looked her in the eye. "Vera will take you there."

"And what about you?"

"I stayed."

Emma's lips drooped.

"I'll stay too."

"no."

Why?

"This is no joke!"

Ella stood to the side without saying a word, but she reached out and took Emma's hand.

At the same time, Vera ran out of the church, carrying a bulging bundle stuffed full of things.

"Sir, are you going to the mountain to teach the sect?"

"right."

Vera nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

She took Emma's hand in one hand and Ella's hand in the other, and started walking uphill. After taking a couple of steps, she stopped and turned back.

"Sir, please be careful."

"Um."

Vera led the two little ones away.

The panel popped up again.

[Wilford - Current Situation]

[Status: He ran out of the hot springs north of town naked. Not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't have time. He was soaking in the pool, enjoying a rare moment of peace when he suddenly heard a noise on the shore. Thinking it was Lulu, he opened his eyes, only to see not Lulu, but a monster. The pillar was covered in tentacles, each one writhing, each one bearing an eye. Wilford stared at that eye for a moment.]

[Behavior: Streaking. Running towards the town. The posture is rather unseemly, but the speed is impressive. After all, it's a life-or-death situation; human potential is limitless.]

[Pursuer: Male monster, breeding season. Tentacles approximately two meters long with suckers at the ends, currently chasing Wilford. The monster's motive: not to eat him, but to... you know.]

[Note: The monster was chasing after him, nearly wrapping its arms around his ankles several times. Wilford ran at the fastest speed he had ever seen; he felt like he wasn't running, he was flying.]

[Note 2: This was the most difficult day of his life.]

The bugle calls grew more urgent.

Torches were already lit in the direction of the town gate, illuminating the city walls brightly. Mercenaries stood on the walls, archers nocking arrows, warriors holding shields, the atmosphere tense as a fully drawn bowstring.

The crowd was still chaotic, but it was a bit more orderly than before.

Diaz stood on the city wall, longsword in hand, his eyes fixed on the churning darkness in the distance.

"Ready!"

The archer's fingers tensed.

"put!"

Arrows rained down from the city walls, dense and numerous, like a swarm of locusts flying backwards. The arrows sank into the darkness with muffled thuds, like piercing mud. But the darkness didn't stop; it surged forward, even faster than before.

Diaz's face darkened.

"Put it on again!"

The second wave of arrows has passed.

It still didn't work.

Darkness drew ever closer, and the torches on the city wall began to flicker—not from the wind, but from the trembling of the ground. The tremor traveled up from the soles of the feet, along the calves, making one's teeth ache.

Some people started backing away.

"Don't retreat!" Diaz roared.

"Whoever retreats dies!"

The crowd paused for a moment, but their knees continued to tremble.

Just then, a commotion arose on the other side of the city wall.

"There are people outside the city!"

"Who's outside the city?"

"I can't see! It's too dark!"

"Are they residents? Are there any residents who haven't been evacuated yet?"

Diaz rushed to the city wall and looked ahead.

Under the moonlight, a pale figure was running from the north of the town, moving very fast, its legs moving so quickly it was as if it were riding on wheels of fire.

His hair was wet and clung to his scalp, and he was naked. The moonlight shone on him, making him appear gleaming white. His fleshy chest jiggled like a plump swan dancing ballet.

Diaz's pupils suddenly contracted.

"That's... Mayor Wilford?"

Behind Wilford, a dark shadow was rapidly approaching, its dark shape writhing on the ground.

Wilford is running.

He had never run so fast in his life.

His feet sank painfully on the gravel path, but he ignored the pain. The eyes behind him were still staring at him, each one reflecting his bare back.

He dared not turn around.

If you turn back, you'll slow down; if you slow down, you'll be overtaken; if you're overtaken, you'll be targeted...

He didn't want to think about that scene.

"Help!"

His voice drifted on the night wind.

"Help me!"