Witch Troupe and the Undead

Of course, the flow of supplies is not always perfectly balanced or abundant. Most of the time, there will always be something missing or lacking something, which the people living here have gotten used to.

In such a chaotic place, there is surprisingly little overt crime. Of course, on the other hand, those who live here are all elites who survived battles in other places, and none of them are pushovers. If they were to commit robbery here, the old man taking a stroll next door might be the one who plotted to steal the king's treasury and became a wanted man across the entire continent.

However, no one knows how long this place can continue to operate, or how long this balance can be maintained, and the managers here generally have the mentality of: as long as it can still operate, don't touch it.

"Silva, why did you bring so little?" The guild leader was an enormous female giant. Due to certain characteristics of the giant race, she was no different from rare living materials in the outside world, and could only barely survive in this godforsaken place.

"It's not my fault. The situation in the North is much worse than in previous years, so I had to end my business early. Also, the orc chieftain I traded with before is dead, and now it's his son. That little bastard doesn't have a good impression of our business."

Shiba primarily sells the "Black Berserk Potion" manufactured here in orc tribes. This illegal berserk potion is more potent than those sold on the market, but it has deadly addictive properties and side effects. Therefore, it is a banned potion product worldwide. Even in the unconventional Orc Alliance, a chieftain can only conduct this business in secret.

"Okay, I still hope that next time you can bring more supplies." The manager shrugged. She knew that the products produced here were not exactly shady, and the purchases were all bulk commodities, making the business quite difficult.

Even a bag of salt brought here from the northern plateau across the mountains would fetch an astronomical price. Without selling those contraband and other dangerous, shady items, there's simply no way they could afford to buy basic necessities.

“I’m going to take a break. Same old place. If you need anything, come find me at ‘The Cave.’ The wind in this mountain is killing me.” Silva rubbed his back and walked toward the “Cave” inn, which was also a tavern located on the east wing of the castle. It was an inn converted from a large cave carved into the mountain.

As soon as you push open the heavy double wooden door, a wave of heat mixed with a spicy aroma enters your nostrils.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m going to find a place to rest. Same as always, send a smoked rib with a mortachilla to my room in a bit, and don’t forget the tannin sauce,” Silva waved to the landlady.

As a regular customer, the tavern's waitresses would only offer him a smile as he passed by, completely unmoved by his decision to head straight into the depths of the tavern.

Silva walked through the tunnel-like corridor, where suppressed breathing and strange clattering sounds came from behind the deep red curtains on both sides. Clearly, this tavern also served some special services. Silva did not stop and went straight to a large door at the corner of the corridor.

The two burly thugs guarding the door exchanged a glance and made way. Behind the door was a private little stage, a place known only to regular customers. Special shows were usually performed here, but that was just embellishment. The real business was selling "commodities" that were common elsewhere but illegal in the Forsaken City—for example, slaves.

The slaves sold here are special, such as high elves, which would cause serious diplomatic disputes elsewhere.

Of course, both buyers and sellers must be quite careful, since there is zero tolerance for the slave trade here. However, there is no need to be too secretive, because there are no law enforcement officers here. Just don't be foolish enough to walk around the streets with slaves and make sure everyone knows what you're doing.

Silva nodded to the old woman holding a whip beside the stage as he passed a small round table where several people were sitting, then slipped into the backstage area. The dancers backstage did not react in any special way when they saw him coming; they just looked at him curiously for a couple of seconds and then called out, "Emily, it's Silva. He's here."

"Oh, I need to spend some more time. Have him wait for me in my room!" A mature female voice came from behind the curtain. Silva pushed open the door to Emily's room and walked in.

He didn't linger on the seemingly comfortable large bed, but instead went to the wardrobe door, pressed a small button inside, and soon a partition opened on the inside of the wardrobe, revealing a narrow, low opening that was clearly man-made.

It took Silva a while to get through the tunnel to a room inside the mountain, which had once been a hidden dungeon in the castle but had now been converted into a secret chamber.

In the center of the secret room was a round table with a map on it. In the wall of the dungeon, there was a crack wide enough for a person to pass through sideways, leading to the cliff outside. However, it was now blocked by wooden planks lying haphazardly. Even so, cold wind kept pouring in through the crack.

"Damn it, what happened that called me back so early?!" Silva sat down at the round table without ceremony, looking at the other three. One of them, a man wearing a silver mask, said, "Matchie's entire Punisher squad is dead."

"Then send a message to the bishop and ask him to investigate the cause of death. It can't be that he provoked those adventurers again and got tied to a pillar and stuck in the beach after the tide recedes, right?" That way, when the tide comes in, all the unlucky guys on it will drown, and no one will be able to find out who did it.

"No, it's worse than that; their death replays are blank."

"Blank? What does that mean?" Silva was stunned for a moment, then quickly asked. This thing was their only guarantee of life and hope for revenge.

"It's just blank, there's nothing there, as if they were all still alive, but the Soul Mirror shows that they are all dead."

"Didn't see anything?"

"no"

"Bad signal?"

"This is achieved through the resonance between the soul fragments. Unless they all hide in hell, even if they do, the Soul Mirror will not receive news of their deaths. Now that they are dead, the Soul Mirror has collected the soul fragments they left behind, but all the information on the other end has disappeared, leaving only a blank space. Nothing can be seen on the mirror."

"...Could it be that they provoked the 'Rotten Dragon'?" The Rotten Dragon is another name for the god of death, and one of the three signs and avatars of the god of death. The Faceless Night Watchman, the Rotten Dragon, and the Hundred-Eyed Spider respectively symbolize the tranquility of death, the decay of life, and the final judgment.

"How could that be? Besides, the 'Cult of Corpses' hasn't appeared for centuries, and the Sleeping Mentors aren't that volatile." The Sleeping Mentors are clergy members of the Faceless Night Watch, who are passionate about granting peace to the dead and fanatically hunt down and exterminate all undead creatures in the world, considering it a serious blasphemy.

"So... just say it straight, what do you need me for?"

"You need to organize some subordinates to investigate their whereabouts. It's best not to show up personally. If you get killed too, given the potential problems with the Soul Mirror, we'll have to wait for the bishop to send new people over in two years."

“Okay, I’ll leave in a week. I can’t leave here too early, or it will be too suspicious.”

Although conducting esoteric activities in a secret chamber is nothing unusual for the Forsaken City, it would mean that the identity that Silva had cultivated over several years would be completely destroyed.

His label here changed from a black market merchant who made 3-4 transactions a year and occasionally stayed for a few weeks to an "infiltrator of an unknown cult".

Although the latter won't be expelled here, it means that many things will become very inconvenient, and it will also force other colleagues to change their identities or assign new personnel to rebuild the operations center.

It would be even worse if they were discovered by a rival sect. Although they cannot kill people here, it doesn't mean they can't do it outside. As long as they cross that stone bridge, or more precisely, as long as they go under that "Chain of the No Returners," even if they are killed the moment they step out, the Forgotten City won't care at all.

Chapter 140 Fire is the First Choice

The investigation is underway, but figuring out where to begin is a headache. Since the death replay spell has failed, the only option now is to use a clumsy method to determine the team's route and find the area where they last lost contact. Then, we can commission adventurers or similar professionals to investigate. Of course, respectable people won't be too direct about investigating the whereabouts of the Twilight Cult members; they'll need to use some other excuse.

While Silva sat in his room racking his brains for a solution, the little witch had also rested enough. It seemed that the use of the Titans had given her some inspiration, so the rest of the journey became...

"Rumble~" The stone giants, about seven or eight meters tall, strode towards the Domain of Desire and Sin. These stone giants were all very special in shape. The main body was a cylindrical shape like a castle arrow tower, with arrow stomp and platform on the top, just big enough for a few people to stand and a flagpole to be set up.

The front is a simple human face formed by rock, with lips pursed into a straight line and a resolute gaze. Large hands and feet grow from this cylinder, striding forward with an air of urgency as if challenging someone to a duel.

There are three such stone golems in total. The ones in front are Livia, Roach, and Alessina. The little witch controls all three puppet stone golems with her cane, while Roach and Alessina hold onto the flagpole.

"Boom!" The stone golem, with a resolute expression, crashed directly into the obstacle made of withered thorns and rubble blocking its path. Stones and wood chips flew everywhere. The two stone golems behind it followed suit and crashed into the roadblock, creating a wide road. What appeared in front of them was an overflowing river or canal.

Half of the crime district was submerged in filthy water, and the canals in the upper city continued to pour more water down, with almost half of the buildings half-submerged.

Given the basic rule that wet for a thousand years, dry for ten thousand years, and neither wet nor dry for half a year, the buildings and various artifacts here are severely corroded, almost entirely just piles of rotten mud and garbage. In those higher-altitude areas, sturdy stone buildings remain intact, with green braziers burning on their tops.

"These are the demons of this area? How come there are several kinds?"

"Hmm~~ because this sin realm has more than one kind of sin." The sin realm of desire is a complex sin. The "form" here is closer to the Buddhist concept of "form," referring to all distorted desires caused by external material things, such as money, lust, etc. The difference between it and the sin realm of gluttony is that the desire here refers to distorted desire, while the desire in the sin realm of gluttony refers to "unrestrained desire."

For example, in terms of appetite, the difference between these two sins is the difference between eating and eating. The latter is a reasonable desire or need, but when it is unrestrained, it becomes "binge eating," while the former, even if you are more cunning than Hannibal Lecter, is still a distorted appetite.

Therefore, there are several different kinds of demons with different appearances and abilities here. The little witch made the stone people squat down and gather together to form a small camp platform. This way, she could take out her big book and educate her ignorant companions.

The little witch, known as the "Demon of Lust," pointed to the oily, black things that wriggled like leeches in the ditch and silt. These things kept wriggling, devouring the black mud and expelling more of it, forming a thick swamp around the ditch.

“It represents sinful desires, such as cannibalism, incest, and child abuse.” Roch glanced at the things and wondered if dropping Molotov cocktails here would be more effective, since these leech-like creatures really did look very oily.

“That’s a blasphemer, representing the desire for blasphemy, like blasphemy against the sacred, cult priesthood, etc. Roach, what does blasphemy against the holy order mean?” The little witch looked at Roach with some confusion, but Leslie hesitated to speak, “Does it mean neglecting one’s duties?”

"Um, it's probably about violating the clergy, like nuns or something."

“Ah…” Livia’s eyes showed a clear look of stupidity. The blonde loli tilted her head, not quite understanding the matter. “How could they possibly win?” Livia thought that a proper priest of a proper church was quite capable of fighting. Maybe there really were strong people who could suppress them, but such strong people shouldn’t have become like this.

The blasphemous demon is a half-human, half-snake monster with long, thin, insect-like legs. Its body is covered with scale-like tumors that writhe as if breathing and spew poisonous mist.

"That's a lust demon, representing pure, unclassifiable desires." It's a half-human, half-snake monster like Medusa. Compared to other sin demons, this one looks more human and less twisted, which means the sins it represents aren't as serious.

"The last one is the Bloodthirsty Demon, representing all desires for blood, pain, and slaughter." It was a fleshy sphere covered in bone spurs, constantly oozing black, greasy liquid, and opening a spiral mouth to silently roar at Roach and the others.

Besides these main categories, there are also distinctions depending on the subcategories. For example, the Demon of Lust can be a giant sphere formed by countless tiny black leeches, a single giant slug-shaped semi-transparent black-gray worm, or something resembling a squid that spits out countless black tentacles covered in pustules from its mouth.

“Those are the pillars and ritual nodes of the Sin Domain,” Livia pointed to the braziers. Having reached this point, she had a general understanding of the basic structure of the ritual. It was not a single ritual, but rather a combination of the Seven Sins rituals and other rituals. This made her lose at least half of her interest in the person who set up the entire ritual, because these rituals were neither complex nor special, but simply a collection of “quantity”.

However, it makes sense when you think about it. Apart from the Mystic Warlock, whose lineage has been severed, other professions are constantly evolving. For example, the Knight's progress from bloodline power to extraordinary physique is a testament to that.

Originally, only those with specific bloodlines could activate extraordinary abilities. Now, as long as one's physique is trained to a certain level, with the aid of potions and rituals, and guided by meditation or hypnosis, one can awaken an extraordinary physique and specifically enhance certain attributes, instead of the completely random growth attributes that would result from the original bloodline awakening ritual.

Whether it's magic or science, it's a process of gradually controlling variables, transforming luck and chance, which depend on the heavens, into a controllable and reproducible process. Otherwise, magic would be something that cannot be passed down normally, relying entirely on innate awakening, knowing what it is but not why it is.

"So, what do we do next?" Leslie had already taken off the magic pump, ready to be installed at any time. Although there was no Sin Domain environment blocking their way, absorbing the magic power of the Sin Domain could greatly suppress the combat power and regeneration speed of these Sin Demons. Simply put, it would reduce the density and frequency of monster spawns, making the road ahead much easier.

“First, we need to figure out a means of transportation…” Roach pointed to the mud and water that was indistinguishable as to whether it was created by the demons or naturally deposited. “Half of the city is flooded, and the rest is severely flooded. If you don’t want to go swimming and have close contact with those leeches, you’d better find a reliable means of transportation or build a road.”

After Roach finished speaking, he took out an enchanted lure for fishing from his backpack. It has to be said that the magic and alchemy in this world are quite advanced. This kind of lure made by magic and alchemy is similar to the electric lures on Earth. When it is thrown into the water, it automatically turns into a small yellow fish.

However, in just a few dozen seconds, countless black streaks of shadow surged up in the seemingly clear water, enveloping the lure into a ball.

Amidst the tearing sound, reminiscent of rubber, everyone's expressions turned grim, suggesting they were better off avoiding deeper water. The little witch also remarked that she would find it difficult to create a path in such a place.

This wasn't because her abilities were affected, but for a more practical reason: she was reluctant to come into contact with these lustful demons and the black mud they vomited, especially objects tainted by that mud.

"Can I use the Summon Colossus?"

“The earth element here is very weak; it’s mainly water elemental power,” the little witch pointed to her feet. “After the magic pump drains the magic, it can’t keep the Colossus moving.” Even her current rock golem can’t be maintained for too long unless she replaces it with a mud golem or a water elemental, but… for her, this is something she resists both psychologically and physiologically.

"Not only do we need to build a road, but we also need to clear out the monsters and animals here..." The Desire Sin Domain has many creatures corrupted by the power of great sins, such as the leeches and insects in the water.

There is another type of demonic snake that looks like a normal water snake, but its head splits into four pieces, revealing its spiral mouthparts. It belongs to all kinds of creatures, and its appearance alone is enough to make people lose their sanity.

"The realm of desire is the most distorted part of the realm of sin, a reflection of the human heart." Luo Qi had also read a bit of the Little Witch's book. Putting aside the professional terms he couldn't understand, he could roughly understand why this place seemed so... well, unacceptable.

Within this area, the only one who can move freely is Vivi, but her combat strength and endurance do not support her to directly attack from the air. Those lust demons and evil lust demons will spray filthy water arrows for ranged attacks, which are extremely corrosive and toxic, and the consequences of being contaminated are very serious.

The gray-white dragon maintained its altitude as much as possible, avoiding the towers and highlands, and circled briefly above the Sin Domain before folding its wings and falling down, transforming back into human form. "The floodwater in the city comes from four sluice gates. One of the sluice gates is half-open, and the other three are stuck."

The half-open sluice gate was the culprit that had previously drowned those unfortunate Thunderbird Knights. However, Roach thought it best they didn't come here, otherwise, seeing the scene upstream, those knights who fell into the water would probably have nightmares for weeks to come.

“If the sluice gate is opened, all the water here will be flushed into the downstream river. However, I’m curious about which leeches cannot survive in the outside world?” Weiwei looked at the water. If it were possible, something would have happened downstream long ago.

"It's probably because the magic power outside is much weaker than inside, so these creatures that are used to high concentrations of magic power will die after leaving their familiar environment. Of course, it's also possible that they simply hate the outside environment. Even if a few are left outside, they will frantically try to get back into the Sin Domain and take root, instead of spreading everywhere."

“If that’s the case, we can use the magic pump to drain the magic here. These leeches will likely move upstream toward the Gluttony Sin Domain.” Alessina also threw a piece of moldy bread into the water, attracting a large number of insects to gnaw at it. In an instant, the bread disappeared on the surface of the water.

“Of course, we have an alternative plan.” Roach looked at the luggage on the black horse’s back. Everyone knew what his alternative plan was: to use something powerful enough to blow open the entire city and release the floodwaters, and then evaporate all the black mud and stinking sewage.

"Let's clean it up slowly. If it all evaporates, I imagine the scene would be... ugh~" Leslie felt like vomiting just thinking about it. What's the difference between that and boiling shit?

Currently, only the upper part of the city is not flooded. The street vendors and docks that were originally close to the river have been submerged, and even the buildings on both banks are submerged in knee-deep water.

Fortunately, the buildings in the entire market area are divided into three levels. The lowest level is the riverbanks, similar to the water towns in southern China. There are steps connecting to the river for fetching water and washing clothes, as well as wooden boardwalks. This is where the vendors set up their stalls, but now, apart from the occasional rotten roof that peeks out from the water, it is completely invisible.

The second level is where you go up the steps along the river. On both sides are various shops, taverns, restaurants and hotels. The slightly wealthier merchants operate here. Of course, Roach and his companions can also see the completely dismantled trucks and handcarts on the street. This area, along with the bridge spanning the river, is covered by water.

Then the third layer consists of artificial terraces along the river, like islands in the water. These places are usually occupied by functional buildings, such as warehouses, watchtowers, and town guard posts, as well as wealthy shops that, in order to reflect their "superior" prices and product quality, also make their buildings appear "superior".

The deep waters are inhabited by lustful demons and leech-like creatures, while the shallow waters and streets covered in black mud are the interlocking territories of bloodlust demons, lustful demons, and blasphemous demons.

On the final high ground, only ordinary lust demons and a small number of blasphemous demons existed; savage lust demons were almost nonexistent. The boundary between the two was clearly separated by the densely packed holes formed by calcified black mud and the reefs from which foul-smelling slime flowed.

The stone golem stopped at the edge of the terrace near the street entrance, allowing the little witch and Roach to jump onto the terrace without touching the water below. As soon as they landed, several centipede-like monsters pounced out from the dark windows of the houses.

"Pfft!" Alessina casually cleaved the millipedes in two with a single sword stroke, their murky fluids splattering onto the ground with a hissing sound. "Be careful, these are wood-rotting millipedes, highly poisonous," Alessina said to the terrified little witch, who nodded blankly, and then...

"Whoosh~" A line of fire shot out from the oil lamp and entered the building. In just a few minutes, the brick and wood structure, whose purpose was unknown, burst into flames, like a torch. From the fire came the crackling sound of creatures being roasted and the terrifying, sharp screams. Roach thought the sound was a bit like a screaming chicken.

The little witch controlled the flames perfectly, not a single one escaped from the windows or doors, as if they were imprisoned inside the house by an invisible force until the entire house was completely burned to charcoal.

After the fire, only the molten, scorching walls remained of the building. All the wooden structures, including the floor, were completely burned to charcoal. With a gentle wave of her hand, the smoldering embers were extinguished.

Black charcoal was swept up by the whirlwind and scattered into the stagnant water. Then, the four walls caved in and collapsed, becoming a new floor. Soon, the building became a scorched, empty space, to be used to place the magic pump. In any case, draining the magic was the best course of action. However, since the magic pump would agitate the evil spirits, a battlefield needed to be prepared beforehand.

"Uh, it feels like we're playing tower defense..." Roach watched as the little witch directed the rock golems to the edge of the plateau and crouch down, turning them into a protective wall. He also saw her set more buildings on fire, creating more safe open spaces on the plateau.

However, even Leslie had to admit that this was indeed the best course of action, because the appearance of the wood-rotting centipede meant that there was more than one of these creatures. These monsters preferred to live in abandoned human buildings, burrowing into those decaying wooden structures to hibernate, waiting for adventurers who entered the area or unlucky people who were preparing to renovate their houses.

This insect is highly venomous and lives in groups. After killing its prey, it hangs the prey from the roof beams with its secreted silk threads, like cured meat, and then lays its eggs inside. The larvae then eat the inside of the carcass and use it as a "cocoon" to develop into adults.

If anyone enters at this time, they will become the first meal of the larva after it matures. In short, it is a disgusting and terrifying insect monster in every sense of the word, a ruthless character that could be the subject of eight hundred hentai manga on Earth.

The simplest way to deal with this monster is the one the little witch used—set a fire. These insects, like other insects, are attracted to light. Light enough bonfires in the yard, and then just wait for them to walk right into your trap.

As for the hanged corpses inside the house, they were treated in the same way. First, insect repellent incense was used to put the larvae and nymphs into a dormant or resistant state. Then, oil was poured on the corpses, and they were set on fire, burning the corpses, insects, and eggs together to ashes.

In short, fire is the first and only weapon to deal with most non-elemental monsters.

Chapter 141 FFFFFF

The ruins of the terraced buildings, burned by flames, left behind many strange things. After the outer materials were burned away, the core, which had been corrupted, remained, turning into all sorts of oddly shaped things.

There were wood chips emitting a faint glow, stones floating in the air, and statues of gods half-melted and distorted by flames. Most of these things were made into "magic dust," which, simply put, means smashing, grinding into powder, washing and filtering, leaving only the more refined, enchanted parts.

Magic dust is a general-purpose infusion agent, an alchemical material for infusing enchanted spells and weapons. However, modern alchemy and mysticism prefer to use it directly with other minerals to create ink, making it more suitable than powder.

"I have a feeling that there should be some kind of singularity here..."

"what are you saying?"

"It's nothing~" Luo Qi carried the remaining safe building materials out of the ruins and reinforced the area around the terrace. The entire terrace was not large, and its structure was a standard trapezoid made of stones and a material similar to mortar, with an area of ​​25 x 15 meters. There were also alleys about 1 meter wide between the buildings.

Originally, the buildings here were two two-story brick-wood-mud structure and one three-story brick and tile structure. Roach didn't know what they were used for. After they were burned to the ground, a large number of melted artifacts were left behind, more than half of which were silver and copper products.

Therefore, if one of these three buildings is not a tableware store, it belongs to a small community of the city's respectable class.

Stone steps on either side of the plateau lead down to the flooded road below. On either side of the steps are the middle-level buildings. To make way for the road ahead, Alessina leaped across the rooftops and collapsed structures of these houses like a nimble ape, searching for and marking the sturdy parts.

Livia, on the other hand, controlled the dry and reasonably sturdy pieces of wood in the ruins to levitate and form a suspended bridge.

Dark green thorns sprouted out of thin air from the cracks in the ground, entangled the wooden planks, and formed an incredibly sturdy bridge and suspension. The reason why the Jealousy Thorns were not used directly to construct the bridge was that it would save more magic power, and also... these thorns were actually a lethal attack spell.

Only in Livia's hands could magic be so freely manipulated. The Light spell, which was an auxiliary magic, could be transformed in her hands into a powerful incendiary bomb that could burn all three buildings on the plateau to ashes in an instant. Conversely, the Jealous Thorn Piercing spell, which was used to kill enemies, could also be used to support bridges and reinforce buildings.

The same thorns continued to spread around the terrace until they completely enveloped it. Dark green vines drooped from the cracks in the stone slabs to the water's surface, adding a touch of fresh greenery to the desolate landscape. A gentle breeze blew, and the drooping strips of paper brushed across the water's surface, creating ripples.

The stench in the air was replaced by a refreshing plant fragrance. The magic of desire was greatly enhanced here. However, the effect of the serious sin ritual used by Livia was completely different from this pile of black mud. Instead, it was a pile of gray mud as solid as steel. It seemed that it could be twisted at will by external force, but once it solidified, it was indestructible.