Witch Redemption

Now, the ruins of Mo City are his best opportunity!

"Witch codename 001, witch codename 002, maybe they also know the secret of this secondary profession. The failure of the Dawn City mission was most likely because they also attacked the witches who followed them. Since they also use this method to become stronger, why can't I?"

The unfounded speculation made the burden in his heart quietly disappear. Ann Gnath was very annoyed at this moment and moved his left hand, letting it devour more of the witch's flesh and blood. His face gradually became extremely gloomy.

..................

As dusk fell, the northern perimeter of the Mocheng Ruins appeared somewhat desolate.

In her excitement, Lolina once again used up most of her professional skills, forcing her to leave the city early and wait for a long time on its outskirts.

She was now certain that the ones she had encountered earlier were goblins. These creatures could hide in the underground area and ignore the "reconnaissance" of the magic book. Moreover, they were all excellent hunters, and their attacks were completely impossible to defend against.

In some ways, those guys are even harder to deal with than the Shadow Monster.

Now we can only wait for Li Lan and the others to reunite before discussing how to effectively deal with the guy.

"Yo!"

Suddenly, a familiar voice came from inside the city walls in the distance. Then, a disheveled witch emerged from a hole in the broken city wall. It was none other than witch codename 002, Lana Sivir.

"Lana..." Lorina's expression remained as indifferent as ever, but her voice sounded somewhat excited. However, she quickly paused for a few seconds in surprise, "Who are these beauties?"

Following Lana out were three witches dressed in black gothic attire. One of them had raccoon ears and a tail, another had long ears typical of elves, and the last one had a strange spiral horn growing from the center of her forehead.

Furthermore, Lolina also saw sadness, frustration, and exhaustion on their faces. For the time being, she could only guess that these witches might have encountered some terrible accident.

"Witch code name 077 Lansie, witch code name 079 Olivia, and witch code name 081 Emma Vino."

Lana explained that after entering the ground city of Mo City Ruins in the morning, he made rapid progress in one direction, but unexpectedly encountered these three witches in danger. If Lana hadn't been kind-hearted and taken immediate action, these three would probably have died in that area long ago.

After all, no one expected that this so-called goblin was actually a scheming bitch who only knew how to hide underground and was very good at stabbing people in the back.

If Lana hadn't been so cautious and possessed unbelievably strong abilities, he probably would have been defeated here today.

Lorina felt that the three witches looked familiar, but she couldn't remember when she had seen them before, so she just greeted them.

With a simple response, Witch Code Name 077 Lancy's mood became even more depressed.

Today, after falling into the ambush of those damned goblins, two of their companions died in succession. In their frantic escape, they originally planned to retreat to the outer perimeter, but due to the large number of goblins appearing, they had to flee in another direction, only to find themselves in an even more terrifying trap.

Finally, if it weren't for the timely appearance of this witch codenamed 002, whom the Witch Cult called a "traitor," their fate would have been unimaginable.

Moreover, what Lansie didn't expect was that when she successfully arrived at the outer perimeter with the witch codenamed 002 Lana, she would see a "familiar face"—a witch they had once thought to be a Z-level obstacle, codenamed 099 Lorina Euphemia, a fierce person who once dared to confront the deceased chairperson Cagalli.

"Let's camp here tonight. We'll figure out the layout tomorrow before we start looking for the entrances to the underground cities. Also, the nights in the monster area are extremely dangerous. You can easily fall into hallucinations if you're not careful, so you'd better be careful and not believe anything you see."

Lana repeatedly warned the three witches to be careful, after all, what happened that night was too terrifying, and the night in the monster area was no joke.

After saying that, Lana turned back and smiled. "Lorina, are you all alone?"

Lorina was embarrassed to admit that she had left early, so she nodded, a vague sense of foreboding creeping into her heart. "Karen and Della should be back soon, so there's probably not much to worry about them."

Lana nodded, then began to take out the "Saint's Ashes" and the "Phoenix's Flaming Blood." "Let's set things up first. There will be many people tonight, so let's make the protective barrier's range larger."

Chapter 92 Racing Against Time

In the dimly lit underground passage, you can see sloping stairs leading downwards, their destination unknown.

The ground was littered with goblin corpses, their deaths mirroring those seen above, and a heavy stench of blood filled the air.

With slimes acting as lookouts in front and a large number of "servants" guarding the front, back, left, and right, Li Lan's mood calmed down considerably.

The passageway was lined with dark gray bricks, bearing the marks of time and covered in moss from the dampness. Every two or three meters, one or two irregularly shaped pieces of glowing jade could be seen embedded in the walls, their pale green light slightly illuminating the path ahead.

Finally, after walking cautiously for nearly an hour and turning about eight corners, everything suddenly opened up before me.

"This is......"

Li Lan suddenly realized that he was standing on the edge of a cliff, and beyond the messy rock railings, he could see a vast expanse of buildings below.

The buildings shrouded in darkness were similar to those seen in the city blocks above, all with flat roofs, no more than five stories high, and exposed bricks with a scale-like structure due to weathering over the years.

A deathly silence reigned; the vast underground city was devoid of any sign of life, only an eerie stillness permeated the air.

Li Lan glanced to the left again and saw a rugged path stretching along the irregular rock railing, leading into the dark depths. Along the way, she saw countless goblin corpses, and judging from the bloodstains, the previous battle had likely taken place not long ago.

"Is this guy really insane?"

Even Li Lan himself wouldn't dare to fight so deep alone without any certainty of victory; it would be a life-or-death struggle.

That's what she thought, but there was another thing that Li Lan was extremely concerned about.

Why do these so-called goblins truly lack any fear or pain? If they are indeed intelligent beings, wouldn't they possess a survival instinct?

This is extremely abnormal.

"If that city below is their outpost, and this witch has ventured this far, her fate is probably grim. Should I follow her?"

As she pondered, Li Lan saw once again the dark red blood scattered all over the ground, mixed with even more gold spots.

..................

With no enemies in her blurred vision, she finally gave in to her own weight and collapsed to her knees in the horrific pool of blood.

The body, already numb to pain, was convulsing, gradually losing its last bit of life.

Am I going to die?

She opened her mouth and murmured, then suddenly coughed up another mouthful of blood.

"That's for the best, if death can end this absurd time-travel..."

It's so painful!

No matter how much time I spend or what methods I try, I cannot escape the shadow cast by this nightmare.

Betrayal and death of her best friend, collapse of her beliefs—now all alone, she can no longer find much meaning in living.

I forget when I started to become somewhat self-destructive, hoping that hatred could become the driving force for my survival. I fought recklessly, using intense pain to numb myself and alleviate this unbearable depression.

But it was all in vain. She had forgotten what she was living for, and even vaguely realized that she had no way to fight against the Witch Cult or the Empire. She would never find the truth of it all in her lifetime.

Is death really that terrifying for her now?

No, she had lost all will to live; all that remained in her world was resentment.

Unwilling to accept his fate, unwilling to see his best friend Britney and the others being fooled by the Empire, unwilling to accept his own weakness, and unable to vent his intense hatred towards the Empire.

"I cannot fall, I can still..." I can become stronger!

Even though she instinctively wanted to escape all of this, even though her life was truly coming to an end, she did not want to die so tragically.

In her final moments, as her life was about to end, she still gripped the two Libra Cross swords tightly, struggling to stay upright, determined to stand up again!

..................

The goblin "Nikolai," who was in charge of the group, sacrificed five of his own fingers to severely injure the crazed witch with a special weapon, thus slightly stopping her rampage.

Even so, this terrifying creature is like an immortal demon; anyone who enters within three meters of her will inevitably suffer an extremely terrifying counterattack.

After finally managing to move the wounded to the area below, it stared helplessly at the figure kneeling on the ground on the "cliff" above, lost in hesitation.

Several days ago, due to Elder Wesley's urgent order, most of the people on the first underground level had evacuated to the second level, leaving only these junior guards stationed at fixed entrances in various areas. Furthermore, given the troop deployment several hours prior, it seemed unlikely that any other comrades could arrive to provide support in the short term.

After an unknown period of silence, faint whispering sounds could be heard in the neighborhood.

"Captain Nikolai, what are you still hesitating for? Why not take this opportunity to avenge our brothers? Why are you telling me to retreat?"

The voice contained intense resentment; the dissatisfaction with the captain that had been building up for an hour had finally erupted.

“Peng Sheng, things aren’t that simple. Don’t underestimate her.” Even if this guy is at his last gasp, we need to consider temporarily avoiding a confrontation. Nikolai isn’t a reckless person who acts without thinking, otherwise he wouldn’t have risen to the position of team leader. “She’s been fighting her way into our Holy Land in a life-for-life manner. She won’t stop until she’s the last one standing. Didn’t you see the last wave of attacks? Now we only have thirty-four wounded men left. I can’t continue to take risks.”

"What do you mean by 'adventure'? We still have hands and feet, and I'm actually in better shape than them. If you're not going to go up, why are you stopping me from going up?"

“Peng Sheng! This guy is definitely different from those evil god's minions we've encountered before. He possesses a similar will and belief to us, and he's not afraid of death…”

Hearing this statement that sounded like it was boosting the enemy's morale, the subordinate's voice gradually became sharp, "Willpower? Belief? What's the use of talking about such vague ideas! We've paid a heavy price to severely damage her, and now we're almost able to kill her, yet you're telling us to cower here? What kind of nonsense is this? We've fought for the kingdom until now, we've never been afraid to die, we are the kingdom's sword! No matter the cost, we will surely eliminate all invaders! Let the Holy Land return to peace! But why? Why have you, as the captain, become so weak! Tell me! Why is this happening to you?"

“Peng Sheng…”

Faced with this barrage of questions, this subordinate who was so angry he was almost out of his mind, and the questioning gazes of his other teammates who were seriously injured, Nikolai suddenly became somewhat dejected. "Fine, fine, fine."

After saying "good" three times in a row, he said patiently, "Since you want to know why, I'll tell you. How many brothers have we lost at the hands of this evil god? Two thousand six hundred and eleven! This guy is different from those monsters that roam outside the Holy Land. Even when I used the Holy Blood Gun to snipe her, she was able to consciously avoid fatal wounds. What does that mean? It means that only the Holy Land can deal with this guy. If I send you up now, we'll just be going to our deaths together."

"When have I ever been afraid to die for the kingdom? What I fear is that our deaths will be meaningless! Do you know how many powerful figures have arrived on the outskirts of this holy land today? Just as the prophecy issued by the capital says, they are about to destroy our kingdom. And since this afternoon, you have all been clamoring to die for the country, regarding the mission of bringing the intelligence back to the capital as an act of cowardice. If even we, the last of the vanguard, die here now, who will inform the capital about the terrible situation here?"

Let out a few angry growls, and in the darkness, Nikolai's reddish-yellow beast eyes, swollen with blood, revealed a large number of dark green blood vessels. "You bunch of useless trash, if even one of you were willing to bring the relevant information back to the capital, I wouldn't need to worry about so much. I would have sent you all to fight me long ago. But you didn't, not a single one of you!"

According to the intelligence reports, there are four extremely powerful minions of the evil god in this northern region. One of them can control hundreds of skeletons with considerable strength, another has unparalleled strength that has caused most of their comrades to retreat in defeat, and the third's strength is so unknown that they dare not make any rash moves.

The last one, however, single-handedly stormed into their sacred ground and has yet to fall.

In the Goblin Kingdom, where everyone is a soldier, a large number of novice guards protect the first level of the underground holy land, divided into their own teams to guard the many fixed underground entrances.

Moreover, five hours ago, he heard that a major upheaval had occurred in the south, causing a large number of junior guards to be transferred there. As a result, the defense of the northern region is now the weakest. Otherwise, Nikolai would not have been so cautious and would not have dared to risk sending his men to confront the few remaining witches head-on.

Faced with this precarious situation, Nikolai had already signaled the arrival of the guards in the central Holy Land, but for some reason, the Holy Land center had not responded. In addition, the deaths of so many of his comrades had slightly affected his rationality.

Perhaps because of this outburst and release of emotions, the atmosphere at the scene fell completely silent.

Three minutes later, the leader finally regained his composure. "Peng Sheng, I demand that you immediately take this intelligence back to the capital. The rest of you, come with me! For the sake of the kingdom!"

..................

After passing a large number of goblin corpses, Li Lan still felt a chill run down his spine even with the help of "courage". He walked for a few more minutes and suddenly saw a familiar figure kneeling in the pile of corpses.

"Della?"

This person was wearing a gray bodysuit similar to Li Lan's and the others, but her hair was crimson, not the original bright golden color. If it weren't for the fact that she seemed to be holding a Libra cross greatsword in each hand, Li Lan would have almost thought she was some other strange witch.

Seeing that Della did not respond at all, Li Lan felt a sense of foreboding and immediately hurried to her location.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, faint footsteps suddenly came from below. Before anyone knew what was happening, a dark green humanoid monster leaped up from the dark and narrow passage below the "cliff," raised its gleaming longsword, and aimed straight for Della's head.

"Oops!"

Li Lan was just a priest and didn't have any offensive skills. Compared to other witches who had professional skills to assist them, he was much slower, which meant that he couldn't provide support in time.

Are we really just going to stand by and watch Della die here?

Della, what's wrong with you? Move now!

Li Lan was so anxious that he almost shouted, but how much time did he have to shout?

No matter how much he shouted, his voice couldn't outpace the raised blade...

"Ah-"