Witch Redemption

Who is that smiling tiger trying to fool?

Unlike those young girls, Li Lan was a real man and wouldn't be tempted by such a handsome guy. Naturally, he questioned everything that guy said.

"Strange, is the greatest danger inside really this sealed archangel?"

Lana considered herself a "deadbeat couch potato" and wasn't buying into the blond guy's nonsense. Now, under pressure to survive, she was desperately searching for any information that might be useful.

"Putting aside the danger itself, I think the fact that so few witches manage to come out alive each year is enough to make us wary."

As she spoke, Lolina glanced at Li Lan and Lana, who were sitting on either side of the round table. As far as she was concerned, she still preferred to look at this kind of beautiful body; it was much more pleasing to the eye than that Major General Aibo.

Li Lan and the other person were already used to Luo Lina occasionally showing such a strange and terrifying look, and subconsciously thought that it was a side effect of being a professional "necromancer", just like Lana's superhuman strength.

"Speaking of which, I always feel that the Goddess of Dawn and Archangel Angel sound familiar," Li Lan said, searching for relevant information in the magic book.

Unfortunately, it only contains records about the Temple of the Setting Sun; the goddess of dawn and the archangel Angel are nowhere to be found.

"Yeah, I feel the same way, but I can't find any information." Lana also looked worried.

"Should we check if there's a library around the city lord's mansion?"

Lorina turned the index of the magic book upside down but couldn't find it, so she made a suggestion.

"Don't overthink it. This isn't our home. If you wander around, you might end up in jail eating free meals."

Li Lan naturally pointed out the awkward truth, "Moreover, I have a feeling that I've heard or seen related information somewhere before."

"Leona, the Goddess of Dawn? I'll lead the charge, face-rolling keyboard control combo?"

Lana recalled an old-fashioned competitive game that was still popular in 2036 AD, which did indeed have a powerful support character called Dawn Goddess.

"Not that one..."

Li Lan denied it, somewhat puzzled. "We're all shut-ins, we probably prefer that kind of 'socially acceptable' art style, right? How many people could actually find the 'socially acceptable' image of the middle-aged woman in the original Goddess of Dawn game appealing?"

"Angel sounds familiar too. Angel Wei X Jin? Female partner?"

Lolina suddenly realized.

"..."

Li Lan was almost speechless with amusement from these two. "Seriously, haven't you remembered anything related to this world?"

Yes, what's related to this world? Isn't that the original game storyline about "The Legend of the Goddess"?

"Wait! Wait! I think I remember now!" Lana's expression changed slightly. "You guys played that game too, right?"

"The sixth event, titled 'The Fall of the Gods'?" A strange mix of excitement and fear welled up inside Li Lan. He was excited because he might be able to learn some information about the Sunset Temple from this game he had played before, but he was also afraid because all of this seemed too coincidental.

Just as Li Lan and Lana were getting excited, Luo Lina was stunned. "Uh, what are you talking about?"

"Lorina, do you remember the plot of that game we played..."

"The game's storyline, didn't you guys just skip it like me?"

Faced with Lolina's innocent yet somewhat indifferent expression, Li Lan and Lana felt as if they had been doused with cold water. Lolina was a little confused, but asked curiously, "What was the plot like?"

"I...I'm sorry, Karen, actually...I..."

Lana glanced at Li Lan somewhat shyly, only to find that the latter looked rather dazed.

Holy crap! Me too!

In that instant, Li Lan was filled with regret. When a shut-in plays a shut-in game, who doesn't focus on the alluring girls? Who cares about the plot?

………………

Goddess Legend, as a game targeted at otaku, has an unexpectedly hardcore storyline in addition to its art style being its biggest selling point.

To be honest, for a long time after Li Lan started playing the game, he skipped the storyline. It wasn't until the most amazing twelfth event, the God Realm Anniversary Celebration, with its outstanding opening PV, that Li Lan started paying attention to the storyline.

Unfortunately, the event storyline is different from the regular main storyline, and once you miss it, there's no chance to relive it.

Moreover, in the early stages of this terrible game, no one bothered to create summaries of the event storylines. The official planning and operation were also very laid-back, releasing an animated PV for each event to give people a glimpse, and never considering re-running past events.

Because of this, Li Lan only vaguely remembered the titles and general content of the previous eleven large-scale events.

In the sixth installment of the "Legend of the Goddess" event, "The Fall of the Divine Realm," the Dawn Goddess, who guarded the Kingdom of Dawn, perished due to the machinations of an extraterrestrial demon. Her strongest assistant, the archangel Angel, was corrupted by the extraterrestrial demon and transformed into a terrifying boss.

To save the Kingdom of Dawn and the Goddess of Dawn, the player, as a hero, leads a large group of "waifus" into the Temple of Dawn, defeats the evil archangel Angel, reclaims the Goddess of Dawn's core, and resurrects the fallen goddess...

Li Lan had long forgotten the specific plot details since she had skipped them. She only remembered the general outline and the pain of pioneering the land.

"This must be a coincidence, right?" Lana was a little incredulous. Although Senior Number 47 had told them long ago that this world was a continuation of the game's world view, it still felt unreal now.

"It's possible that the temple of the Goddess of Dawn was originally called the Temple of Dawn, and the kingdom it was in was called the Kingdom of Dawn, not the Temple of Sunset as it is today."

Ten thousand years have passed, and not only have the countries changed, but even the names of the temples have changed. Thinking about it, it really evokes a sense of profound change.

As Senior No. 47 said, we can no longer use the games of the past as a reference for everything now.

That's what they say, but a good understanding is still essential; knowing more is always better than knowing less and can help you avoid more risks.

"Let's not worry about the plot for now, let's talk about the archangel Angel."

Li Lan said that he began to reminisce about his time playing the game. As the main villain in the sixth event of the game, this BOSS was the one that players regretted the most, as he was destined to die in the plot and could not be recruited into his wife's team.

Its main features are straight golden hair and the Holy Cross Eyes which have the ability to foresee things briefly. It has three pairs of dark, fallen wings on its back, wears a three-piece combat suit called Dark Fantasy Armor, and holds a heavy greatsword called Dragon Slayer Blade.

"This guy's attack power is extremely high. If you take damage head-on, you'll lose more than half your health. If there's any weakness, it's his low speed. Those powerful experts can easily pass the level by dodging skillfully."

Games are games, but what Li Lan is facing now is the naked real world. Using the methods of games to deal with an unknown and terrifying existence is absolutely a big mistake.

Regardless, the current speculation is that this Archangel Angel is related to the sixth event boss in the original "Legend of the Goddess". Li Lan felt both fear and anticipation, and was very curious about what a completely fallen apostle of God would really look like.

"Karen, how do you know so much about my wife?"

Lolina asked with some surprise, as she was also a shut-in who frequently changed wives, and she had long forgotten about it.

Li Lan was really embarrassed to say that after being amazed by the animated PV of the 12th event, he filled in a bunch of random game settings, including his understanding of the bosses of each event, especially the archangel Angel, who was his phone wallpaper for half a month.

Of course, in just half a month, a shut-in has so many wives. Not to mention half a month, changing wives every few days is common.

I stumbled upon this while browsing the forum; I'd actually forgotten about it quite a bit.

Li Lan didn't want to expose the fact that he was a "heartless man," even though he thought that the two fat otaku next to him were actually similar to him.

“Games and reality are different, right?” Lana pondered for a while, then frowned, grasping the most important point.

"Yes, the game displays health points, and everything can be represented by data. You can use health potions and healing skills, or even buy resurrection coins with real money. But it's different now. If you take one hit from the enemy, I suspect you'll die."

This is the key point: Li Lan isn't the kind of person who gets brainwashed by video games, and she wouldn't lose sight of reality at this moment.

"That's true. Also, that Dragon Slayer Blade you mentioned gives me a very bad feeling."

Lana's current race is a dragon, a dragonborn, which sounds like she'll be completely suppressed.

"We'll see when the time comes. Anyway, it's three days from now. In the meantime, let's not think too much about it. We need to see if we can get out of the city."

Since Lana and Lolina's professional skills have a daily limit on the number of uses, they might as well go out and hunt monsters to increase their strength instead of staying in Dawn City.

Li Lan, in particular, has a morbid pursuit of his own level, intending to reach the top in one step.

………………

VIP room in the Lord's Mansion of Dawn City.

Before they knew it, it was dusk. Gathered together were seven witches dressed in gorgeous gothic attire, their faces all looking somewhat unnatural.

In fact, Della Bertie, codenamed Witch 013, herself didn't know what was going on. Ever since she accepted Major General Abbott's mission at noon, she felt a gloom hanging over her heart that she couldn't shake off.

She couldn't understand why Major General Abbott would assign them individual tasks and require them to keep them secret. Weren't they a team, a unified entity? Wasn't this kind of task assignment unreasonable?

What she found even more difficult to understand was that Julie Haggai was the last one to be summoned to Major General Abbott's office and the last to return. After returning, she was in a dazed and confused state, giving perfunctory answers to whatever Della asked, which was very abnormal.

"Hey--"

The atmosphere among her companions seemed rather tense today, but Della ultimately refrained from criticizing them.

As the captain of this squad, Della actually controlled her emotions better than any of the witches in the team. She shouldered responsibilities and, while having romantic feelings for Major General Ebo, also harbored some doubts about the Imperial Witch Cult.

It was precisely because of her sense of responsibility that, whether facing the two hostile witches codenamed 001 and 002 earlier, or later dealing with the handover between herself and Major General Aibo, she tried her best to consider the feelings of her comrades, giving the illusion of being completely exhausted.

“Della,” Britney, codenamed Witch 015, suddenly approached Della and whispered, “Actually, the mission that Major General Abbott gave me was…we should have the same one, right?”

For some reason, Britney's information gave Della a strange sense of relief, but the gloom in her heart was still incredibly heavy.

………………

Three days later, on April 15, 1003 (Gregorian calendar).

The witches, including Li Lan, who were supposed to face the torrent of the crimson night today, were fortunate enough to miss this crazy and terrifying night, but they were also fortunate enough to face the second wave of crisis in their temple adventure.

During this time, Li Lan and her two companions, who were mindful of potential dangers even in times of peace, coincidentally learned what kind of being they were about to face. Although they were somewhat afraid, they were mostly relieved.

After all, life goes on, and we should seize every opportunity to improve ourselves.

Perhaps because of this, they didn't have much interaction with the other seven witches. For the past three days, they had been hunting various low-level monsters in the monster-infested areas, which allowed them to accumulate some experience with magic books.

The outer perimeter of the Temple of Sunset.

Led by Aibo, a total of ten witches gathered here.

"After entering the temple, there is a passage leading to the underground area at the altar in the very center. Go down from there and come back from there as well. In addition, since the Witch Cult knows little about the underground palace of the temple, only that the greatest danger inside is the Archangel Angel sealed in the central area, we hope you will be extra careful in your actions from now on."

After giving them some instructions, Abbot directed the witches to enter the temple ruins ahead one by one.

Less than three minutes later, the silent Li Lan and her two companions, along with the other seven, including Della, who were chatting and laughing, all disappeared at the entrance of the temple ruins.

"We have five more minutes to completely seal off the entire Sunset Temple."

Abo's smile vanished, his once sunny face now clouded over. "I hope everything goes smoothly..."

Just as he was thinking this, three soldiers from the ranks guarding the outer perimeter of the temple suddenly burst forth and charged toward the temple gate. Due to their terrifying speed, they all turned into afterimages and disappeared completely into the temple gate in less than two seconds.

"..."

It wasn't that Abbot was caught off guard; rather, it was as if he had anticipated it. He gestured to the surrounding soldiers to remain calm.

"It seems that one of them is the Hunter of Chaos, the Demon Marquis Lerakin."

Before anyone knew it, Eisen had already arrived behind Abbott.

"And the other two are..."

"One of them is probably related to the six apostles. He will continue to guard this place until the temple reopens, at which point a decision will be made based on the situation."

After saying his last words, Eisen turned and left.