Witch Redemption

"The Wandering Witch?"

Matilda quickly exchanged a glance with Peggy, the team leader beside her. Peggy's gaze gradually changed, and then she whispered a few words to Matilda without making a sound.

"Go see them, but the matter of uniting with them needs to be considered in the long term; we can't afford to gamble at this stage."

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

“Lancey…”

Li Lan and Luo Lina were scattering "the saint's ashes" in this open area, intending to create a protective barrier before nightfall.

They were still wondering if something had happened to Lanxi and her two companions, who had originally agreed to meet here, when unexpectedly, they appeared in their field of vision the next moment, bringing with them a large group of witches.

As Li Lan slightly raised her head, she could clearly see the inhuman characteristics of each of the witches. Apart from Lanxi and the other two, the eleven witches, although dressed in gorgeous clothes, always gave people a strange sense of incongruity, as if their gender should not be female.

In addition, among the witches who came with them was Ann Gnath, who kept a certain distance from the other witches.

Lansie's gaze first lingered on Lorina's face, then quickly shifted to Lana, who was sleeping soundly on the ground. A huge weight lifted from her heart, and she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, they're really alright!"

She and her two companions suppressed their joy and quickly briefed Li Lan on the day's events, including their joining the eleven-person team and the witches' intentions...

"Hello, I am Peggy, codename 040, a Black Bull Orc, and the leader of this eleven-person team."

With a blank expression, this witch with short black hair, somewhat sloppy clothes, and nonchalantly revealing the deep cleavage beneath her blouse took the initiative to step forward, revealing her identity and extending a hand of friendship.

Li Lan was somewhat surprised. Originally, because most of the witches would deliberately distance themselves from them, it was difficult for Li Lan and the others to have any opportunity to contact these witches.

But today, it seems that some witches are actually quite easy to get along with.

"Hello, I am Kallen Elf, codename 001, of the Elf race."

Faced with the witch's neither humble nor arrogant attitude, Li Lan naturally only performed the proper etiquette and took the initiative to extend her hand in response.

"Miss Karen... no, it should be Mr. Karen, shouldn't it?"

No one expected that Mr. Peggy's first words after shaking hands with Li Lan would be so astonishing.

For a moment, not only was Li Lan's mind blank, but the three witches, Lolina and Lanxi, were also stunned.

"what?"

Chapter 106 Night Talk Among Witches

“Ahem, sorry, I didn’t mean any harm,” Peggy quickly coughed lightly, breaking the somewhat awkward atmosphere, and continued casually, “Actually, me too, you can just call me Mr. Peggy.”

As a big shot who had seen all sorts of grand occasions in her previous life, Peggy noticed the incongruity emanating from Li Lan almost the instant they met, and quickly determined that Li Lan, like his teammates, was one of the same kind.

The only ones who can truly understand men are men themselves.

In other words, Peggy now prefers dealing with witches who were men in their past lives to real women.

"..."

Li Lan was completely stunned on the spot, and remained stunned for a long time, feeling that the witch in front of her was a bit unpredictable.

For a fleeting moment, Li Lan had the illusion that he was facing a powerful boss in his past life, a feeling that made him feel extremely uncomfortable, as if his whole being could be seen through.

Of course, he wasn't angry about it, but avoided the guy's very sharp gaze.

It's not surprising, considering Lana was certain that Della and the others were female time travelers. So it's not unexpected that this witch codename 040, Peggy, might have similar abilities.

In any case, Li Lan didn't care about being addressed as "Mr." or "Ms."; she just wanted to treat people with sincerity.

"Hello, this is Matilda, codename 035, a fairy."

Another stunningly beautiful witch moved Peggy aside, smiled, and stepped forward, extending a hand of friendship. "I've heard of you before, it's a pleasure to meet you today!"

As a 65-year-old teacher who has always been a kind-hearted person, Matilda exudes a gentleness with an inexplicable kindness, giving people a very steady and approachable feeling.

"Nice to meet you."

Li Lan also shook hands with them. Since they met, he hadn't found these witches annoying. Could it be that they were all men in their past lives?

It was a bit of a fantasy, and Li Lan was still in a daze, unable to process what was happening.

"Witch Code Name 027, Sherry Nancy, race: Feline Beastman."

The last witch leader took the initiative to shake hands with Li Lan. Unlike the other two witches, this witch seemed to find it troublesome, and her words were also very lazy.

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

Half an hour later, a total of nineteen witches were stationed in the open area of ​​the primeval jungle, setting up a large temporary protective barrier.

Just as the endless, writhing darkness once again invaded the world, Paige's teammates, codenamed Witch 040, gathered around and, led by Sherry, codenamed Witch 027, opened their respective grimoires, using the faint light emitted by the grimoires to slightly dispel the fear of the night.

Ann Gnaz looked a little unwell. He gestured to his former teammate, Lolina, and the two sat down to the side, seemingly discussing something.

At this moment, witch codename 040 Peggy and witch codename 035 Matilda are gathered with Li Lan around a dim magic crystal lamp, discussing matters related to cooperation.

Regarding the collaboration with these four wandering witches, Peggy directly stated that she was not in a position to comment and left the matter entirely to Matilda.

"Today we discovered that the goblins in the city of Mo City are behaving very strangely. If we don't unite with the witches, things could get very complicated. Our purpose in coming here is actually quite simple: to see if there is an opportunity to cooperate with you. As you know, the identity of the wandering witch is very special, so we need to be cautious about cooperating with her."

But the fairy witch smiled with her eyes narrowed, and her sweet voice sounded approachable. It was hard to imagine that such a witch would be a male transmigrator.

Li Lan was eager to unite with the other witches, but he didn't appear too anxious at the moment. "What are your terms for cooperation?"

"First, cooperation is limited to this mission. Second, if you join our team, you must follow Peggy's orders in everything. Finally, if the Witch Cult questions us, we need a reasonable explanation."

Li Lan was taken aback. She hadn't expected this seemingly kind witch to suddenly give such a harsh reason. Wasn't this a way of discouraging her from leaving?

Because of this explanation, Li Lan began to vaguely sense that these witches might not have any sincerity in cooperating. Could it be that they were just coming to test the waters?

“We’ll consider it,” Li Lan said calmly, neither agreeing nor refusing in the face of such harsh conditions. “The anomaly you mentioned, are you referring to the goblin army that appeared in the city?”

Regarding the situation in the city, after talking with Lana and Lolina today, Li Lan received a lot of confirmation from the slime, and already knew that it was extremely dangerous inside.

Since the idea of ​​uniting with other witches had already taken root during the day, and now that witches had come to her door, Li Lan naturally wouldn't hesitate to share relevant information with them.

"You already knew?"

Matilda was surprised. Her gaze quickly fell on the large figures guarding the Sleeping Witch behind Li Lan, and she immediately felt that their armor looked very familiar.

"Yes, we also have detailed information about the underground area."

In truth, all of this was thanks to the slime. Li Lan hadn't expected this guy to be so formidable, leading nine underlings into the underground area and even reading the memories of one of the goblin elites, gaining a wealth of detailed information.

"The Goblin Kingdom has a strange social system, which is divided into four categories from top to bottom: junior guards, holy site guards, natives, and royal bloodlines. The junior guards are the goblins we encountered yesterday. As for the goblin army wearing fine armor today, they are actually called holy site guards, and strictly speaking, they should probably not be called goblins anymore."

The Holy Land Guardian looks like a goblin, but his muscles and skin have undergone certain changes, as if he were cursed.

According to the slime, the reason why these guys who wear iron lumps all year round are much stronger than ordinary goblins is that there is a strange parasite in their heart. This parasite can amplify the power of the Holy Land Guardians, thus causing them to mutate.

"The number of junior guards is enormous; what we have seen is only the tip of the iceberg. As for the Holy Land Guards, conservatively estimated, there may be as many as 100,000."

"One hundred thousand?!"

Not only did Matilda's eyes widen in horror, but even the usually expressionless Peggy's face changed, and they both gasped in shock. "Is this true? Is your source of information really reliable?"

Li Lan glanced away, indicating that the information was obtained by the black-armored figures behind him. "They are my summoned minions. Fortunately, they scouted out the first level of the underground area for me today and obtained relevant information from one of the goblins."

"Little brother? Aren't those witches?"

Wait, isn't this wandering witch supposed to be a priest? Matilda and Peggy exchanged a glance. They realized that these wandering witches really did have quite a few secrets. As a priest, how could she summon such a human-like monster? It must be because she had unlocked a secondary profession.

Unfortunately, from their perspective, it's not advisable to have any deep contact with these wandering witches right now. Although they are very curious about how to unlock this sub-profession, they do not intend to get to the bottom of this matter before they are truly prepared to betray.

Matilda put aside her complicated thoughts and quickly made a judgment: "With a number of 100,000, we are probably powerless to deal with it. We absolutely cannot fight them head-on."

This is almost an unsolvable problem. Since they can't match these goblin armies, what are these witches supposed to do? The witch cult's instructions to them are to stop the goblin kingdom at all costs, but are they really going to risk their lives to stop such a large number of goblins?

Anyone with a modicum of common sense would not believe that a mere few dozen witches could withstand an army of thousands, especially one with roughly the same strength as the witches.

To fight ten against one is brave; to fight a hundred against one is strong; to fight a thousand against one is a gambler; and to fight ten thousand against one is no longer human, but a god.

This is indeed a problem that Li Lan is quite conflicted about. Today, he thought of uniting with many witches, but there are no relevant countermeasures in the short term.

"This large number of Holy Land Guardians and junior guards is indeed a big problem. Another big problem is about the royal bloodline. According to my servant slime, the supreme beings of the Goblin Kingdom are the royal bloodline, the number of which is unknown, and each of them possesses magical power."

The exact nature of this magical power is unclear, but one thing is certain: every citizen of the Goblin Kingdom worships the royal family and is fervently willing to sacrifice their lives for the kingdom and the royal family.

To describe it in one phrase, it's like "a moth drawn to a flame."

Goblins are indeed fearless, not because they lack intelligence, but because while they possess intelligence, they also possess a terrifying belief.

Matilda's expression turned serious. She hadn't expected Li Lan to drop so many bombshells. "If the Goblin Kingdom is an invincible force, why would the Witch Order send all of us witches here? The Order shouldn't be hostile towards us."

Although Matilda and her group of rather unconventional witches didn't interact much with most of the other witches, they were still highly regarded by the Witch Cult and received many favors from it. They also had a good relationship with Major General Abbot and many of the chairmen, so at this point, they could barely be considered to trust the Witch Cult.

“No, the Goblin Kingdom is not invincible,” Peggy finally spoke after a long silence. “You must have noticed something very important: the experience gained from killing a goblin is 100 points, and even in a group, the experience penalty is only half. What does this mean? It means that the Witch Order probably knew about the dangers here from the beginning, but along with the dangers come these exorbitant experience points. In other words, the Witch Order didn't completely deny us any chance of survival from the start.”

"The experience penalty is only fifty percent?" Li Lan was stunned by this information, her mind went blank for a moment, and she thought to herself, "What's going on? Although I felt that the experience from hunting goblins was abnormal from the beginning, this kind of experience penalty is too strange?"

The thought that the Empire might force all these witches to advance to Silver Magic Books as soon as possible filled Li Lan with fear. "Could it be that the situation has changed, and the Empire is planning to close the net ahead of schedule?"

Peggy, who had been watching Li Lan closely, quickly noticed the fleeting glint of something unusual in his eyes. However, she didn't ask any further questions. Instead, she stated definitively, "Currently, most of our witches' grimoires are at level nine. Perhaps the only thing we can do is try to hunt down more goblins and raise our grimoire levels as much as possible."

The level of a spellbook is related to a witch's personal strength, and it is said that a silver spellbook will bring about a qualitative change in a witch's strength.

In other words, in the eyes of Peggy and other witches, this was not a dead end set up by the Witch Cult, but an unprecedented opportunity created for them. As long as they seized this opportunity, they could become stronger!

"Personally, I don't recommend that you upgrade your magic book to level 10. It's best to stay at level 9."

Li Lan thought for a moment and still reminded them that the new Crimson Night Torrent would be in four days. If they wanted to upgrade to level 10 and advance to Silver Magic Book, it would be best to wait until the next Crimson Night Torrent.

After all, as the only witch in this group who knew that "Crimson Night Torrent" was "Witch Hunting," Li Lan had always been making her own plans.

If these witches in front of him were willing to cooperate, he wouldn't just stand by and watch them go to their deaths.

"Oh? Is there a reasonable explanation?"

Peggy's meaning was simple: upgrading the level of the magic book was the best solution at the moment, and if they wanted to oppose this method, they had to be persuaded first.

Chapter 107 Each with their own thoughts

The night was terrifyingly dark, and the vast area was deathly silent.

Feeling the chill of the night wind, Li Lan tightened her black cloak, her serious gaze sweeping over the faces of witch codename 040, Peggy, and witch codename 035, Matilda.

He hesitated for a few seconds, as if trying to fathom the thoughts of the two calm-faced witches.

In Li Lan's view, even after only a short period of contact, he could feel that the leader of this large team had an indescribable charisma. In particular, this witch codenamed 040 Peggy was very similar to many of the big bosses he had faced in his previous life. She had sharp eyes and could often see the crux of the problem directly.

For this type of person, persuading them is not something that can be done simply with a few words.

"What if I said that I don't trust the Witch Cult and that the cult never intended for us to leave alive from the very beginning by sending us witches to the ruins of Mo City? What would you think?"

In response to this question, Peggy simply nodded. "It's true that you wandering witches have faced a lot of hostility, and it's normal that you don't trust the Witch Cult. However, we will not comment on your views for the time being."