Witch Redemption

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

In the rather deserted forest area, only Li Lan, the witch, stood alone. Della, who was wrapped around his waist, had already fallen asleep due to her weakness and had not heard his conversation with Lorina.

As for the slime, it still stood respectfully behind Li Lan, holding the "Hassan's Blade," seemingly hesitant, as if it wanted to say something.

Li Lan sighed habitually, leaving the open grimoire hovering in front of her, her eyes constantly scanning the "survey" interface for any anomalies that might appear.

Although he wanted to wander around and see if he could hunt some monsters, Della was on his waist at the moment, which made it very inconvenient for him to move around, so he might as well give up this meaningless trouble.

"Lord...Lord..."

After hesitating for quite some time, the slime finally spoke.

"Speak," Li Lan said, curious as to why her servant suddenly seemed a little nervous.

"Just... as long as I hunt those monsters... and goblins, will my master become stronger?" the slime asked curiously.

Li Lan then realized that humans in this world didn't have any so-called magic books, so they probably didn't have the concept of ranks, right? The strength of imperial soldiers could be distinguished by their military ranks, while adventurers were distinguished by their silver to diamond ranks. She wondered what kind of method they used to distinguish strength.

As for slimes, which should originally be monsters, they certainly don't have the concept of levels, so explaining it to them would be like casting pearls before swine.

"Yes, by hunting these monsters and goblins, I can become stronger..."

Before Li Lan could finish speaking, the slime quickly said excitedly, "In that case, may I personally take action to share the burden with my lord? I... I am very strong now!"

Um, aren't you also level 4? How strong are you?

Although Li Lan really wanted to tell this little guy that his strength was just so-so, he thought again that it wouldn't be a good idea to let this servant stay here and stand there like an idiot. If it really wanted to hunt monsters, he might as well let it go.

"Yes, you can walk around, but you must be careful!"

The mention of this reminded Li Lan of the many servants who died that night—the initial thirty-five, plus the green humanoid he had assigned to deliver a message to Lana and the others—and he suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

"My lord, could you perhaps arrange for some more manpower for me?"

Ever since this slime developed a mouth, its language has become increasingly fluent, gradually changing from the sound of boiling water to a neutral tone.

"manpower?"

Li Lan suddenly realized that the slime must have been referring to the other servants.

"It's possible, but they don't have much fighting ability."

Despite saying that, Li Lan opened the secondary profession interface of the magic book and summoned all the "servants" on the right.

Having survived last night's life-or-death ordeal, the servants who appeared today were not as trembling as before, but they still showed considerable awe towards Li Lan.

"I only have one thing to say: if you can't win, run. You are all my creations, and I have never treated you as mere cannon fodder." Li Lan added a reminder. Indeed, these incredibly loyal guys shouldn't be cannon fodder, but rather pets.

Although this pet's appearance is rather...unpleasant to describe.

After saying that, Li Lan gave the servants and slimes a lot of black bread, saying, "Remember to replenish your strength and be careful. I won't say anything else."

"Thank you, Lord! I will certainly not let you down!"

The slime was absolutely ecstatic, and Li Lan couldn't understand why the little guy was so happy either.

Chapter 99 The Real Goblin Army!

No one knows what happened overnight, but these witches who re-entered the ground city of the Mo City Ruins began to suffer unprecedented and deadly attacks.

On the southern part of the city above ground.

The wielded sharp blade pierced the chest of the unfortunate witch, and before she could even scream, another blade followed, simultaneously slicing open her throat and unleashing an even more gruesome torrent of blood.

The golden beast's unclosed eyes stared in terror at the distant gray sky, its pupils gradually dissipating with death.

Even in her final moments, she felt as if she had been in a long nightmare, falling from heaven to hell.

Saving the world or saving the empire, no matter how grand the reasons, seem so pale and powerless, so absurd, in the face of these fragile lives.

"Sizzle—", "Sizzle—"

Large, intelligent creatures clad in black armor were densely packed together in the wide, dilapidated street, sizzling and cheering as they celebrated their victory, utterly trampling these evil invaders under their feet.

Unlike yesterday's probing hunt, today's battle is a one-sided massacre!

"..."

The diminutive witch, hiding in a flat-roofed building, peered through a tiny crack in the wall at everything happening outside, too terrified to even breathe.

"You're kidding, right? These guys are goblins?"

Ann Gnath stared in horror, seriously doubting whether she had misjudged the situation.

Even before his transmigration, Ann Gnath had read many fantasy novels. The so-called "goblin" that appeared yesterday was similar to the setting he knew, at most just a difficult hunter to deal with.

However, what he never expected was that these guys who reappeared today were no longer the ferocious creatures with blue faces and fangs, but were armed to the teeth.

Looking at the overwhelming number of tens of thousands, the incredibly hard black armor, and the unbelievably sharp blades, Ann Gnath's fear instantly became uncontrollable, and even his legs trembled.

"damn it!"

Not daring to make a sound, Ann Gnath's clenched teeth trembled slightly.

He remembered clearly that the three witches died instantly, within three seconds of meeting, utterly powerless to resist. Who would have thought that all these monstrous things were hidden underground, and in such a chilling number?

The sight of three witches lying paralyzed in pools of blood, their remains irritating Ann Gnath's eyes, was a stark reminder of his earlier, unassuming pursuit of these relatively weak witches. He had secretly followed them here, intending to wait for their deaths and then reap the benefits.

Unexpectedly, not only did he fail to reap the benefits, but he also encountered such a huge crisis, which made him regret it to the core.

"I'm no match for them. If I'm exposed too, I'll definitely die!"

Ann Gnath is an extremely selfish person, but he is not an idiot. He has survived to this day despite being ostracized after transmigrating, which is not just due to pure luck.

He was calm, and possessed a ruthlessness and decisiveness that most witches lacked.

"My profession is a gunner, and I possess the stealth skill 'Concealed Aura.' From what I've seen so far, this skill is effective against monsters and witches, including these goblins below. In other words, I shouldn't have to worry about being detected, otherwise these killing machines would have already charged at us."

Ann Gnath quickly suppressed his fear. Through the narrow gap, he could see that a large number of fully armed goblins had quietly entered the various underground passages and had completely disappeared in less than a few minutes.

"They all hide underground and are able to perfectly conceal their movements... These are definitely not ordinary goblins! Why is there no mention of them in the documents the Empire gave us? Throughout the entire history of the Empire, why are there so few descriptions of this monster-infested area?"

Numerous questions flooded his mind. Ann Gnath, who was temporarily safe, breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to lean against the crumbling wall in frustration.

"Perhaps the Empire has given us an impossible task. With such a number, let alone entering the underground area, it would be extremely unsafe even to stay in the surface area. Although I really want to devour the flesh and blood of these three witches, it seems that going down rashly will definitely come at a great cost. It would be better to continue hiding here for a while longer."

"Furthermore, I may need to consider teaming up with other witches later, otherwise I will not be able to complete this mission at all."

Suddenly, he thought of his former "accomplice," Lorina Yuffie. If that girl hadn't gone to follow the other two wandering witches, she might have been able to provide him with considerable help.

"The other transmigrators are difficult to talk to, so it seems the only one I can negotiate with is the witch who transmigrated from the same world as me. Perhaps I can use her to my advantage. I've heard that witch codename 002 is extremely powerful and highly regarded among witches. Maybe I can seize this opportunity..."

A fleeting murderous intent stirred a turbulent feeling within Ann Gnath, and a sinister smile crept onto his face.

After all, humans are creatures driven by desires. Once they've tasted the sweetness of something, they're hooked and can never turn back.

From initially feeling guilty about his secondary profession "Witch Devourer" to gradually accepting it and becoming a guardian of witches' corpses, Ann Grenas has tasted immense benefits from it and can no longer give up this means of becoming stronger.

He now has no doubt that once he decides to become stronger at all costs and become a hunter of witches, he will definitely go all the way to the dark side and completely abandon all ethics and morality.

But can he really do it?

"Every man for himself, or the world will punish him. As long as one can survive, what does it matter if traditional moral values ​​are abandoned? Besides, can a witch even be called human?"

The gruesome deaths of numerous witches still lingered in his mind, as if foreshadowing Ann Gnath's future, slowly eroding his last line of defense. However, it might take time before that line was broken.

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

The above-ground urban area of ​​the Mocheng Ruins, in the northern part.

Large numbers of black-armored humanoid figures poured out of the underground passages, blocking the entire block and charging relentlessly towards the tall witch in the center of the block.

"Avenge our fallen comrades!"

"Make the minions of the evil god pay a bloody price!"

All the armored humanoids that rushed out of the underground passage emitted a hissing whisper, the fervor in their words a testament to their fearless conviction.

They will make these despicable invaders pay the most terrible price!

"You, stop her head-on! You, block the passage over there! You, load the Holy Blood Guns..."

The tall humanoid figure, clad in silver armor, swiftly gave instructions to all the "Holy Land Guardians" who rushed out of the underground passage. It was not exposed to the witch's view, but the pair of crimson-yellow beast eyes under the helmet clearly revealed the figure wielding a spear and axe.

Its name is "Roland," the commander of the Second Legion of the Goblin Kingdom. It was Roland who organized the operation to gather Li Lan this morning, but unfortunately, it failed because of Lana's intervention.

It had been leading its goblin army, hiding here for a long time, waiting for these evil invaders. And these invaders, finally, did not disappoint it, falling one by one into its trap...

"The situation is very bad!"

With the power of the dragon, Lana swung her "Thorns" and forced back a dozen or so armored humanoids who were close to her with the violent blow of "Crescent Sweep". Three of them were disemboweled on the spot by the unparalleled force, and the ruptured black and green blood and internal organs gushed out, horrifyingly splattering all over the ground.

Even so, the three heavily wounded men charged forward fearlessly again, frantically raising their sharp blades, determined to kill him here.

When the reckless encounters the even more reckless, Lana is finally moved.

He had never heard of goblins being armed like this before. The superb armor, the ridiculously sharp knives, and the fearless spirit—could these really be the goblins he had slaughtered yesterday?

This is practically a war machine!

If Lana hadn't possessed strength, combat experience, and awareness that surpassed most witches, he would have surely perished in the first ambush.

"Ding--"

The clash between the dark red spear and axe and the black armor sparked a great deal of fire. Watching helplessly as the "iron lump" that was retreating instead of advancing thrust out the longsword in his hand, Lana's azure beast eyes widened instantly. Her hands bulged with well-developed muscles, and she forcefully cleaved through the armor, cutting the guy in two.

"Slaughter Whirlwind!"

The dark red spear-axe, swung up again, unleashed a large number of rapidly slicing tornadoes of air. These air blades, capable of tearing ordinary simulated chaos to pieces, only made tiny cuts upon contact with the armor, forcing the large number of elite goblins back nearly ten meters, revealing a small open space, and were unable to cause much damage.

Lana's face immediately darkened. "Even the least lethal Killing Whirlwind can't break through their armor. These aren't ordinary goblins..." Lana felt more like she was fighting a bunch of living humans than goblins.

This iron will and fearless, suicidal attack methods made Lana seriously question the meaning of life.

This is completely different from when I faced those monsters before!

“These guys are not only fearless, they also have a so-called tactical plan in their attacks. When someone is holding me back, another person will quickly attack from my blind spot. These guys don’t care about the death of their comrades. In other words, if the death of their comrades can save my life, they are happy to use their comrades as cannon fodder.”

The more Lana thought about it, the more terrifying it became. She began to realize that these guys had completely blocked all her escape routes.

"Ok?"

The fierce sweep of the dark red spear-axe once again forced back the surrounding elite goblins. Lana's gaze fell upon several figures in the distance who had raised strange weapons. These strange weapons resembled steam rifles, but unlike steam rifles, they were loaded with the flesh and blood of their own comrades!

Recalling the situation she witnessed when she came to meet Li Lan that morning, Lana knew something was wrong.

Once again, Lana used "Slaughter Whirlwind" to force back all the elite goblins around her. She then grabbed "Thorns" and made a throwing motion. The next second, the dark red spear-axe in her hand turned into a fleeting flash of cold light.