Witch Troupe and the Undead

"Pfft!" The greatsword and the luminous fragment pierced her body from both the front and back at the same time. Luo Qi decisively let go and retreated, while the fox girl pressed her down to the ground with even more force, trying her best to make the greatsword in her hand cause her even greater damage.

Purple flames and magic emanated wildly from the wound, but because its power had been weakened by the witch, it was unable to resist Alessina's power and thus could not extract the luminous fragments that continued to cause damage.

Even when drawn, the Wupeng Sword, enchanted with the effects of "Magic Blade" and "Temporary Demon-Slaying Sword," was not much less damaging than the Night-Shining Divine Sword. The runes personally inscribed by the witch on the blade at the point of contact flickered and trembled violently, and a rusty smell filled the air. In contrast, the runes on the Night-Shining Divine Sword, enchanted by the goddess, steadily released a cold, moon-like light.

The magical concentration within the Sin Domain rose rapidly, then the witch transformed it into even stronger chains that tightly bound the Sin Demon [Pride], fixing her to the ground with no chance of escape.

It is unknown how long it lasted, but finally, as the last bit of magic dissipated, the body vanished into nothingness, leaving only the dilapidated hall after the battle and the rapidly withering blood-red thorns. The magic of the Sin Domain was completely exhausted, and the entire Great Sin Ritual became unstable.

Roach and his group had drawn too much magic power, especially the Pride Magic Power, which was the core of the entire ritual. In addition, they had previously used the magic pump to randomly pump magic power from multiple Sin Domains around. As a result, the entire ritual was visibly collapsing. At the same time as the ritual collapsed, the seal on the ritual was also constantly weakening.

The magical effects enveloping the ancient royal city were also fading at an alarming rate. The entire city was aging rapidly, and countless sinful demons suddenly disappeared into the air. Some areas that were forcibly maintained by magic even began to collapse. However, this phenomenon only lasted for a few minutes before it stopped.

After all, the ritual has not been truly lifted; it was only damaged by external attacks, and its own compensation and redundancy have held up.

"Phew~" "Operation successful!" Roach said, panting heavily. Livia also looked exhausted, but the blonde little witch had a very satisfied smile on her face.

College, library.

"Oh, that's really impressive~" The Goddess of the Night stood up, her black hair that filled the hall quickly receded, and her clothes gradually became more and more gorgeous.

The black background, the skirt adorned with star-like gems, the jet-black hair falling down her petite body, the silver light shimmering on her forehead, almost shrouding her face in a veil of moonlight—this was the true appearance of a goddess.

Her small body grew rapidly in a short period of time, but when she grew to be about the same size as Livia, she stopped growing, which made her let out a very dissatisfied "tsk~" sound.

As the silvery light in the room dissipated, she returned to her previous lazy demeanor, sitting in her chair, waiting for Roach and the others to come and collect their reward.

"What prize do you think that lonely old man will give us?"

"I don't know," Livia said seriously after thinking for a few seconds. "It's probably some kind of divine artifact or some kind of long-lasting blessing." Vivi didn't know either. Even the dragon's memories didn't mention any blessings or rewards after summoning a true god to descend into the flesh.

After all, the last thing she knew was that the original valley kingdom had been turned into the current northern plateau, and the entire country had been squeezed out by the earth.

"As for the artifact, didn't we already receive one in advance? It's probably some kind of blessing, right?" Roach thought for a moment and said, "Of course, it's also possible that she gave each of us a new wish."

"I think it's unlikely. She's already learned her lesson from giving people the chance to make a wish. The probability of one wish per person is much higher." There's a big difference between a single wish and a wish spell.

The former means that you can make any wish as long as it is within God's power, while the latter has a clear limit, and you also need to set clear limits on your wishes when you make them, otherwise it is hard to say how they will be fulfilled in the end.

Just like the story Vivi heard from the village girl at the bakery, who wished to only eat and not work, and ended up turning into a pig, she suspected that some good-for-nothing knight (someone with ambition and ability wouldn't make such a wish) had obtained a magical artifact with a wish-granting spell and then rashly made that wish.

"Creak~" The library door was pushed open. "Oh, welcome. You've taken care of that sin demon. I feel much more relaxed now~" The magic circle that sealed and maintained the flesh-receiving ritual had become unstable. However, because one of her three promised wishes was still stuck, she couldn't break free from the magic circle's restraints. She could only spread her power further.

"As agreed, I should give you a reward, so who do you want to receive it?" Everyone looked at Livia, after all, she was the only true main DPS in the team, and Livia stood in front of the goddess with great anticipation.

"This is a bit difficult for me, but it's easy to handle~" the goddess said, stroking her chin. Then she leaned close to Livia, cupped her face in her hands, and kissed her forehead hard. The silver moonlight spread across her forehead, quickly covering half of her face like magic runes, before disappearing without a trace.

"Hmm?" The witch looked bewildered, her emerald eyes filled with confusion.

"The darkness will no longer trouble you, darkness cannot blind your eyes, and nothing born of the night can harm you in the slightest," the goddess solemnly declared in an unintelligible language, yet everyone could hear her clearly.

Roach frowned slightly. She changed the pronouns used; the first two sentences were for everyone, while the last sentence was for the witch herself.

The same silver glow also appeared in Roach and his companions' eyes, indicating that they would have extremely high resistance or the ability to see through dark magic and dark troubles in the future.

"As for you..." The goddess approached Roach, her body carrying the scent of laurel. Her slender fingers brushed Roach's cheek, and she also gently kissed his forehead. She said nothing, and Roach didn't feel anything. Instead, the witch tilted her head, showing a surprised expression.

In her soul's vision, Roch's soul, which was stitched up like his body, was rapidly healing along with the kiss mark on his forehead. The soul threads between his souls gradually merged into it, and his soul was filled with a silvery-gray radiance.

Clearly, the goddess reinforced Roach's soul, greatly preventing the irreversible damage to his mind and memory that would have occurred if he were resurrected again. At the same time, it also reduced the difficulty of resurrecting him.

After all, the soul no longer needs to be sewn together by hand using the witch's soul essence to process soul threads—now only the body needs to be sewn together. The goddess's blessing acts as super glue, sewing the body together, and the fragments of the soul that are close together will automatically stick together.

Chapter 173 The End and the Hug Coupon Incident Chain

Now, only one last problem remains: capture a Luster person to make a wish so that the goddess can break free from the contract. Based on the wishes that Vivi has selected, as long as you are from an ordinary farming family, most of the wishes have very serious loopholes that can be exploited, and they are all focused on very crude and simple purposes.

Moreover, they can all be very directly and simply attributed to desires for "money" or "economics." After all, for them, things like immortality, ambition, and power are all meaningless. In their minds, the king is nothing more than someone who can eat white bread every day. So why not just wish for white bread to be eaten?

Milltown was experiencing another slow day for business. Maria tidied up the tools on the chopping board and then sprinkled a handful of clean sand into the stove in the backyard. This would prolong the burning time of the charcoal and prevent the tragedy of having to light the stove again the next day.

"Knock knock!" The door was rudely knocked on. Maria was very displeased and took off the bolt that she had just put on the door. Then she grabbed a long rolling pin from behind the door. As the daughter of a baker, she was not an ordinary village girl who could barely get a few bites of dry food. Although she was not qualified to work on the cutting board, she could develop a pair of strong arms by lifting flour and moving baking trays.

"Who!?" "Come out!" Alessina grabbed the girl's arm. Although she had some strength, as a "non-superhuman" and a human, her so-called all-out resistance only made a certain high-ranking beastman warrior raise his eyebrows and show slight surprise.

"Who are you people? What do you want?!" The girl's scream echoed throughout the village, but when the men pushed open the door with their farm tools, there was nothing outside.

In the library, with a whoosh, the Ash Dragon suddenly landed, dropping the two of them onto the ground. To make it easier for Vivi to lift, the fox girl was wearing almost nothing but a close-fitting vest and shorts, revealing her rounded thighs and lithe waist. The vest barely covered her chest, pushed up high by her ample bosom, leaving the hem empty, making a certain village girl almost turn into a pervert with envy.

"What are you all doing..." The lonely old woman, with her legs crossed, looked at the farcical scene at the door. "Who is she...?"

"Is this a Luster?"

"Uh, yes." The Goddess of Night had a complicated expression. This girl really was from Luster. So, was she captured and forced to make a wish?

"Okay, that makes things easier. Just tell her what you wish for."

"Let me go home," Maria said earnestly. She only hoped that these superhumans would let her go home. Then she saw the black-haired loli in the opposite seat with a twisted and complicated expression, and the people next to her also had very surprised expressions. All of this turned into a blurry mist in the next second, and when she blinked again, she was already standing at her doorstep.

Meanwhile, the men in the town were searching everywhere with torches for thieves who might have invaded the village. After finding that Maria was alright, the crowd gradually dispersed. As for the strange things she had said, most of the men thought that the girl had lost her mind.

Look at what she's saying! A group of superhumans grabbed her, rode her on a dragon to a magnificent ruin, and made her make a wish to a little girl wearing a triple crown. Then she said she wanted to go home, and went home. The mayor even gave the town's only baker a wry smile, circling his fingers around his temple, the meaning of which was very clear.

"Can this be considered a wish?"

"She stood in my divine realm and spoke a heartfelt prayer and a strong desire, without coercion or deception, perfectly in accordance with the contract." The Goddess of Night's expression was also very interesting. Even a god could only say that he had never heard of such a strange wish in his life.

"Then your contract..."

"It's done," the goddess said calmly. "As for this body, you can do whatever you want with it."

Countless silver specks rose from her body and slowly disappeared into space, while thousands of miles away in the Kingdom of Rada, the Great Holy Land of the Moon Mother, endless darkness engulfed the entire holy land at an astonishing speed.

No matter how much the believers and clergy prayed and squandered their divine power, trying to summon the moonlight to dispel the darkness, it was all in vain. The dark night lasted for three whole days until the dawn of the fourth day when the sunlight finally dispelled it.

Numerous cracks have appeared on all the Moon Mother statues in the Great Holy Land, and the runes and symbols that originally represented mystery and tranquility have all withered and died, replaced by a symbol that is extremely unfamiliar to everyone.

"So, what do we do with this?" Roach was referring to the thing on the ground that had completely lost all signs of life, leaving only a trace of divine aura, which could be tentatively called a "corpse." The girl's body was exactly the same as before, with porcelain-like skin reflecting the dim moonlight. If it weren't for the fact that her chest was completely still, and there was no breathing or heartbeat, she would look like an ordinary sleeping beauty.

“Based on my understanding of these kinds of sacrificial rituals, the ‘spirit-possessed’ beings are usually burned in the end,” Alessina said.

In ancient sacrificial rituals, the priest would choose a person or animal according to the god's appearance, birth date, and type to serve him or it as a god, until the end of the entire ritual, after which this "spirit" would be killed and burned.

Of course, this barbaric sacrificial ritual was later improved to use dolls made from corresponding magical plants and wood carvings, filled with spices, as a substitute for human sacrifice. After all, the real "flesh-receiving ritual" is really too complicated and too difficult. If it is not a "flesh-receiving ritual", then what this so-called "spirit body" is is irrelevant. It is just a tool used to unite faith and enhance the sense of ritual.

If the intention is truly to have the god "descend into flesh and blood," then using wood or a puppet is merely a way to deceive the spirits. In that case, a truly holy woman or son, or even a sacred beast, must be chosen as the vessel to carry the god's divinity and soul. As for how to handle such a genuine "sacred remains," no one here knows.

Even Livia was unaware of these hidden secrets, and a certain great demon was also unsure how to deal with them. Thus, everyone was at a loss as to what to do with the remaining body before them.

"Why don't we pack it up and take it back? Maybe it'll still be usable?"

"How do you plan to use it?" Leslie glanced at her, then gave a look of sudden realization. "Oh right, there are only girls here, and you're the only guy. It's really going to be uncomfortable after a while... Well, how should I put it... Although people are free to have their own preferences, I still think you should see a doctor."

"Hmm?" Livia tilted her head and looked at Roach. "Doctor?" She thought Roach shouldn't be sick, or did he have some kind of incurable disease that she didn't understand? So, the little witch showed a worried and nervous expression.

"What I mean is, who knows, that lonely old god might still be useful next time he performs a séance."

"I don't think she'll come back." After being scammed so badly, she probably won't be coming back for as long as humans can imagine.

"Then let's pack it up. If it's going to rot, we'll find a place to bury it when we get back." Roach suggested that if all else failed, they should just let the guy rest in peace.

"That's true, leaving it here isn't a good idea."

"Everyone, now is not the time to worry about this." Alessina scooped up the body from the ground and carried it on his shoulder like a sack of flour. The ancient ritual array on the ground was collapsing at an alarming rate, with gems breaking apart one after another.

"Run!"

"Holy crap, I can't fit all these people on my back!" Black Horse exclaimed.

However, it was all in vain. The witch grabbed its mane, with Roche behind her, and then the holy remains tucked under Alessina's arm. Vivi grabbed Leslie and took off. The black horse raised its front hooves and stomped heavily on the ground.

The crooked, purplish-black nightmare fire ignited, forming a path before rushing into it. Now that the entire ritual site and barrier were collapsing, there was no need to worry about whether the nightmare demon's power would stimulate anything here.

The path emerged from the dense buildings and city walls like an illusion, blending into the environment in a strange way that defied common sense. No one noticed the path except for the black horse and the person on its back. They seemed to pass through the path as if they were passing through an invisible illusion, and were also passed by the galloping black horse.

They ran all the way from the royal city to the riverbank in the slums before stopping. At the same time, the buildings in the royal city were rumbling and deforming. The slum buildings, which were squeezed together, were like a complex set of building blocks, falling apart and turning into debris all over the ground. The flowing lava waterfalls also turned into magical streams of light that rose upwards.

The "wedges" placed throughout the ritual site were quickly covered by a thick layer of darkness, then vanished without a trace. "That lonely old god's revenge came too fast! He should have at least given us some time to run away!"

"If you weren't there discussing what to do with this holy remains, we'd have plenty of time!" Black Horse complained.

The river water in the flooded area receded rapidly, and the demons vanished into nothingness. The intense release of magic power dyed the entire sky with a strange rainbow of multicolored demonic energy.

The ruins, frozen in time, began to collapse from the highest tower. This collapse was not only due to the ritual site, but also to the vengeance of some lonely old god.

Despite it being broad daylight, the sky suddenly darkened, and a silvery-blue moon hung high in the heavens, its center adorned with a patch of dark blue and a constellation of brilliant stars. This eerie scene made all the adventurers realize that if they didn't run, they would be buried with this ruin.

"Boom!" Without any sound or light effects, the building collapsed like a clumsy sand sculpture. The collapsing debris and sandstorm chased after every adventurer, and every adventurer caught in it was thrown to the edge of the capital in the next second.

Of course, it was just them; their weapons, armor, and spoils were nowhere to be found. To be more precise, a group of naked bodies were thrown out, and many of the female adventurers affected could only frantically hide in the bushes, using leaves and shrubs to cover their bodies.

Fortunately, the adventurers and adventure merchants on the outskirts quickly got to work, driving up the price of a shirt to twenty times its original value. Of course, it didn't matter that these guys didn't have money; they had companions, and if all else failed, they could always write an IOU, right?

"Luckily, we ran fast!"

“Don’t worry, even if we don’t have time to run, we won’t be out here naked,” Roach pointed to the remains of a lonely old god that Alessina was holding, “unless she doesn’t even spare herself.”

"Don't chat on my back!" The weight was nothing to the black horse, but the way these guys were crowding on its back and chatting made it feel like it was a mount. Oh, it was a mount, but being the little witch's mount and being a mount for these small fry were two different things.

"Boom!" The still-shaken adventurer heard a series of booming sounds, and then saw a rocky island-like structure with four legs, carrying a wooden house on top, rushing towards them. It then stopped in front of the witch, slowly crouching down to connect the side steps with the ground.

"I wonder, if the guy who made that wish finds out the truth later, won't he regret it?"

"That is, if she knew the truth, and didn't just suspect she was having a nightmare." Alessina shrugged. "I must say, her wish..." was definitely worthy of being called a fable.

Back in the cabin, Livia had Alessina place the remains of the Holy Relic in the basement. The divine remnants on it would prevent the body from decaying normally, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be eaten by rats or insects. So, Livia made an ice coffin for it, placed it inside, and then gathered a large pile of white flower petals to line the inside of the coffin.

"Hmm~" The witch took out a notebook and crossed out a suspicious entry. Roach just hoped it wasn't Livia's "100 Things You Must Do in Your Life" notebook.

"Ah, you're back. This trip was really time-consuming and exhausting. Can we go back now?" the mermaid said.

"More or less, there shouldn't be any need to stay here anymore, right?" The distant capital had completely disappeared under the bright moon, leaving only a desolate ruin and a few traces of divine punishment remaining on the ruin.

This aura will suppress the emergence of demons, and even animals with sensitive spiritual senses will try their best to avoid breeding in this area until this aura completely dissipates, which will be at least a hundred years from now.

"On the bright side, Rock Tower County has saved a huge amount of surveillance expenses, and your Sage Council doesn't need to continue meeting. Especially since they still haven't come up with a solution. No wonder I said such a prestigious council couldn't possibly be without a reputation. This matter is already resolved, but they're still bickering. I reckon they've created more crises than they've saved the world." Roach bluntly pointed out that the Sage Council led by the dragon clan, which Vivi mentioned, couldn't even do a good job of whitewashing.

"That's a bit harsh. It's not like Miss Livia can help us with every problem. This time, we've already exceeded the average time of the Sages' Meeting." Without the witch's magic circle and Roach's magic pump, thinking of destroying a [Desolate Region] level ruins group within a year is really wishful thinking.

If it were really that fast and simple, adventurers on the continent would have been out of work long ago. The empire's official expeditions are probably still studying the samples and ancient relics brought back by the adventurers, and haven't come up with a plan for a large-scale expedition into the depths yet.

"This is a good thing, I suppose. If the Imperial expedition team really discovers that lonely old god inside, things will get a bit complicated." Especially if they find out that this god is stuck in a bug and can't return to the Celestial Realm, then the Imperial mages won't be much more rational than the Luster people were back then.

"..." Sir Rhine sighed as he looked at the collapsed royal city in the distance. It seemed he was too late. However, the good news was that no matter which adventurer did it, it seemed that "that thing" inside was far more dangerous than he had imagined.

"What about the Emperor's curse now?" The elderly scholar walked into the room, leaning on his cane. "Are we really going to go around looking for that so-called witch with those... hug vouchers?"

"It seems this is the only way." Even the emperor himself felt that the hug voucher was a bit too much to handle, so he pinned his hopes on an alternative. The royal scholars found some clues in ancient books, suggesting that there was a kind of "universal instrument" in this ruin that could grant a wish, something like a high-level wish-granting spell.

This matter actually began a long time ago, before the emperor was cursed. Otherwise, the empire would not have been so wealthy as to set up an expedition camp here and maintain a large number of scholars to study the seals and ritual sites of the ancient capital.

However, the emperor at the time was not in a hurry, and such rumors or unreliable legends often turned out to be completely different from the actual events. But now, because of the curse, they had no choice but to increase their investment in this area.

However, he and those scholars were well aware that even if such an all-powerful wish-granting device truly existed, it wouldn't be placed on the street. They had to be prepared for the emperor's demise before the item was even found, and for the possibility that the person who found the wish-granting device might develop some selfish motives after the item was found.

Even a glimmer of hope is still hope, but now that hope has clearly been shattered, all that's left is...

“The Witch’s Hug Coupon…” Rhine felt uneasy every time she said the name. The thought that it was likely backed by an old witch who had lived for hundreds of years made even a dwarf as slow-witted as her feel a chill run down her spine.

Chapter 174

At the expedition camp headquarters, a tall, burly figure appeared outside the tent. Then, a strong man over two meters tall walked in, his needle-like red hair cascading down his back. His wheat-colored skin and red tooth-like tattoos on his face indicated that he was a pure Rock Tower Clan member.

However, unlike his identity, this burly man not only wore an oversized academic robe, but also had three different necklaces hanging on his chest. One necklace was a carved stone representing the priest apprentice of the Rock Tower Clan, the other was the Eye of Knowledge emblem representing the royal scholar status, and the third was a scroll badge representing the erudite scholar of the continent.

Behind the clothes stretched taut by his muscles was a wicker bookcase piled high with scrolls and books. If one disregarded his physique and angular features, it was the typical attire of a traveling scholar.

“You are indeed too late. The matter in Luster capital has already been resolved, and those adventurers don’t even know who resolved it.” Rhine looked down at the documents on the table. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to look up at the person who came, but as a dwarf, it was indeed a bit difficult for his neck to look at the other person’s face.

“Oh, sorry, I… ran out of money on the way, so…” The man sat down cross-legged, still much taller than the dwarf, “Because of Tallinn, many free citizens of the Kreber family are fleeing, so I helped them along the way.”

“I knew it,” Rhine sighed. How to put it? This guy was good in every way, except he was too kind-hearted. Others went to the Rock Mountain Temple to train their martial arts and learn its unique extraordinary skills, but this guy? He actually believed in that stuff!

"I advised you last time to think more about yourself."

"I did keep that in mind, so I didn't give away my own travel money this time. I still kept enough for the journey. I just didn't expect the price of carriage rentals to have increased so much. I had no choice but to come on foot." The man chuckled and scratched his head.

"Sigh~" The dwarf sighed and stopped dwelling on the matter. After all, in this world, it's always a good thing to have a few people like that.

“Now that thing in the capital is probably destroyed, there’s no point in you coming. So, we have to choose another plan.” Rhine took a slip of paper from a sealed silver box and placed it in front of him. “Aron, take a look at this.”

"This is..." The man immediately wiped the smile off his face, picked up the note, and sniffed it. "A very strong fragrance, somewhat like roses, but not the scent of ordinary floral essential oils."

One of the biggest industries of Yanshan Temple is the production of essential oils and incense with various functions. These essential oils have considerable benefits and conditioning effects for warriors and martial artists who temper their bodies and come to the temple to seek breakthroughs and transcendence. Therefore, he is very familiar with these things.