Millennium Witch

Chapter 30 Woodlice

It's summer again. The azure sky is crystal clear, and the sunlight, like melting amber, pours down from the heavens, gilding the abandoned port with a golden edge.

Sixteen-year-old Rosalind stood atop a half-collapsed watchtower, silently observing the abandoned harbor below. The salty sea breeze brushed past her nose, and the tower walls below were covered with moss and ivy, dewdrops glistening in the sunlight.

Compared to when she first arrived six years ago, the girl is now undoubtedly much more mature and beautiful. She has grown to nearly 1.7 meters tall, towering over her former teacher by a forehead. Her delicate face has lost its childlike roundness, replaced by a calmness very similar to her teacher's, yet with a more vibrant and lively charm.

After looking down at it for a while, she leaned her notebook against the rusty railing and began to take notes.

"Grey Harbor City Port Area, a gathering place for aberrant beetles... They are all basic beetle forms, no evolved forms found... Their bodies are rotting, covered with flesh and blood... Their main attack methods are claw strikes and headbutts... Note: They prefer to stay in dark places such as containers and cracks in breakwaters, beware of sneak attacks..."

A moment later, having finished recording all the observation information about the mutated beetle, Rosalyn hummed an unknown tune and, like a gust of wind, left the top of the watchtower, drifting down to the abandoned streets of Gray Harbor City.

To observe and record information about various aberrations was a long-term task assigned to her by her teacher at the end of last year.

The main reason is that after a long period of training and with the support of military-grade weapons, Rosalind has become fully capable of surviving alone in this wasteland world. Therefore, she no longer needs to stay in certain restricted safe zones and can freely explore areas outside the central district, and even outside Ish City.

Of course, there are still two dangerous areas that must not be approached: the Ish Mountains and the city of Luya behind the Ish Mountains. These are two high-risk areas that even the teachers are wary of, and Rosalind, who has learned to think before she acts, will naturally listen and keep her distance.

Walking slowly through the rubble and debris on the desolate street, the sunlight sharply cuts the shadows of the ruins.

But in the next instant, two enormous woodlice suddenly sprang out from the shadows of the nearby ruins. These were two mutated woodlice covered in flesh and blood, more than a meter long, with blood-red heads that had no extra organs, only a gaping maw filled with sharp teeth, which transformed into two foul-smelling black shadows and lunged straight at the girl's head.

Rosalyn's face clearly showed surprise, but she didn't panic, because being attacked by suddenly appearing mutants while walking on the street was a very normal thing, and she was used to it.

Dark red glowing runes suddenly appeared on the surface of her skin and clothing. She immediately unleashed tremendous force, stomping hard on the ground and creating cracks as she dodged to the side, avoiding a fatal blow.

Then, she skillfully drew the alloy battle blade from its metal sheath at her waist. With a flash of blue light, the two mutated woodlice burst open like sacs filled with pus, splattering out a yellowish fluid. Rosalyn, who was prepared, used Wind Control to blow the fluid away beforehand, ensuring that not a single drop touched her.

"Hmph... Damn it, no matter how many times, it still scares me..." she muttered, using simple water magic to clean her beloved sword and sheathing it again.

Then she looked down at the two corpses of woodlice.

This is actually what is commonly known as a pill bug, but it is frighteningly large, and its head has a giant mouth with hundreds of tiny, sharp teeth. Even children who have played with pill bugs many times would probably be scared and suffer from trypophobia here.

However, Rosalyn wasn't staring at the two corpses to desensitize herself; she had seen far too many disgusting mutants over the years, and two giant woodlice were nothing to her.

What really puzzled her was that she hadn't found these mutated isow worms during her exploration of Grey Harbor City last year, but now they were appearing in increasing numbers, as if they were multiplying rapidly somewhere.

The key issue is that the mutants possess terrifying regenerative abilities and a lifespan that seems to grant them immortality as long as they eat. However, neither she nor her teacher has ever witnessed them reproduce. The primary source remains wild animals that reproduce and are then infected and transformed by the mutants—a cyclical process.

So why are there more and more deformed isow worms in Grey Harbor? As a student and seeker of knowledge who bears the expectations of her teachers, Rosalyn feels it is her responsibility to investigate and find out.

Try to gather some clues first, and retreat immediately if you discover any danger. Go back and inform the teacher...

She silently admonished herself, then walked into a small alley and picked up her magical skateboard that she had left there. Runes lit up, and the skateboard moved forward silently, carrying her through streets overgrown with iron ferns, beginning to venture deeper into Grey Harbor City.

Because of its low-altitude, low-flying flight and lack of conspicuous exposure in mid-air, Rosalyn did not encounter many dangers along the way.

However, as she approached the core area of ​​the port, a dense, unsettling rustling sound, along with inhuman roars, caught her attention.

Rosalyn immediately maneuvered her skateboard to climb up and landed on the roof of a nearby, relatively intact ruin. There she saw a sight that shocked her: hundreds of mutant woodlice were marching forward in a swarm, devouring all the animals and mutants they encountered along the way.

Afterwards, the satiated woodlice will immediately return to their original spot without being attacked by any of their companions, while the other woodlice continue to surge forward, their destination unknown.

Rosalyn was stunned. These mutants actually knew how to act together, had a common goal, and did not attack each other at all!

This doesn't fit her impression of the Basic Aberration as a "killing machine without self-awareness" at all!

Impossible! How could this happen? Are these all evolved forms?

Rosalyn frowned, a strong sense of eeriness and unease rising within her.

In the teachers' classification, aberrations are usually divided into two levels.

The most basic type is called the "basic variant," or simply "basic type." Its characteristics include a deformed head, exposed flesh, head deformity, and a lack of self-awareness. It will attack its own kind and devour anything in its path.

The more advanced type is called "evolutionary," characterized by a reduction in the area of ​​exposed flesh, the evolution of new offensive or defensive organs, and a lower level of biological instinct for seeking advantage and avoiding harm.

Rosalind has dealt with both of these levels over the years.

The basic form is the most common, and she often defeats it instantly, just like the woodlice from earlier. Evolved forms are rare, and the difference in difficulty is significant. Powerful evolved forms can chase Rosalind away, while weaker evolved forms are only slightly more troublesome than the basic form.

But the current swarm of insects...

If we call them basal forms, they have the ability to recognize their companions and do not attack each other. If we call them evolved forms, setting aside their sheer numbers, their mutations are only manifested in the large areas of flesh and blood covering their heads and skin, which are entirely external characteristics of the basal forms.

Why is this? Is it a unique characteristic of the deformed isow sowbug, possessing some kind of ability to distinguish its companions using pheromones?

But if that's the case, why don't other insect variants have this ability?

Moreover, the direction in which some of the feeding members retreated was towards the Ish Mountains, which happened to be one of the two places on Ish Island that the teacher had seriously emphasized to her to be absolutely forbidden to approach!

Could this have anything to do with the dangers within the Ish Mountains?

Thinking of this, Rosalind had already begun to consider backing out—just in case, she should go back to find her teacher first!

But just as she was about to step onto her skateboard and fly back to Ish City, a malicious gaze suddenly alerted her.

She immediately looked up and saw a dark, human-shaped shadow standing on the top floor of a ruined building not far from her, staring straight at her.

It was a humanoid mutant covered in jet-black scales, and undoubtedly a top-tier evolved form! It had four pairs of dragonfly-like wings on its back, and two sharp bone knives at the ends of its arms. Its jet-black face resembled an iron mask with huge gray-white compound eyes, but one could still make out the outline of human-like features.

Wow... such a high level of evolution... it's probably the most evolved aberration I've ever seen, and it's far ahead of the competition...

Rosalind's mood subsided, and her well-defined right hand slowly moved toward the alloy battle blade at her waist, preparing to fight and retreat.

According to the teacher's assessment, the less flesh and blood a mutant has exposed, the higher its level of evolution. And the one that completely conceals all external flesh and blood is the monster at the very pinnacle of mutants, one that even the teacher must deal with with full force.

Rosalind drew her alloy battle blade and retreated step by step, trying to step onto the magic skateboard. But to her surprise, the humanoid aberration standing on the rooftop of the high-rise building did not stop her from escaping, as if it were watching a drama that had nothing to do with it.

Why wasn't there an attack? Rosalyn's vigilance and doubts deepened. She even suspected that the other party might have a limited field of vision, appearing to be looking at her but actually unable to see very far.

But in that instant, she suddenly saw that on the face of the humanoid deformity looking down at her, the mouth slowly curved upwards, revealing a tiny, anthropomorphic, contemptuous, and malicious arc.

That was a... smile?

Rosalyn doubted she was seeing things, but in the blink of an eye, the humanoid deformed figure vanished abruptly from the rooftop, as if it had never existed.

Chapter 31 War

It's gone? How did it leave?

Gripping the knife hilt, Rosalyn looked in that direction with suspicion and uncertainty, almost doubting that it was all just her imagination.

Then, after looking around, she turned and walked toward the magical skateboard, not intending to stay there for even a moment longer.

But at that very moment, some extremely slight movements behind her triggered a strong alarm in her heart. She turned around and swung her sword horizontally. The bone sword coming towards her struck the blade of the alloy battle blade hard, bursting out a piercing metallic explosion and a series of sparks!

As expected, this creature's departure was just a ruse! It had actually hidden itself in the shadows of the rooftop below, taking advantage of its prey's anxiety to escape in order to launch a deadly sneak attack!

"Buzz—Zzz!" The effects of high-frequency oscillation and high-voltage current were activated instantly. Rosalyn took advantage of the momentum and stepped forward sharply, pushing the blade forward fiercely in an attempt to counterattack.

However, the attacker showed no intention of continuing to fight the girl. It retreated immediately upon contact, creating a distance of several dozen meters, and used its two pairs of thin, dragonfly-like wings to hover outside the rooftop.

Then it lowered its head and looked at the bone blades on its arms. These grayish-white bones were clearly not as sturdy as the alloy blades; after a brief contact, they had already cracked and broken into pieces.

But strangely, it still wore that contemptuous and malicious smile, as if it didn't care at all about the shards on the bone blade.

The next second, under Rosalind's wary gaze, it transformed into a barely perceptible black afterimage, vanishing in an instant and disappearing into the shadows of the high-rise ruins.

……

"Double-edged demon..."

As evening fell, Yvette learned of this peculiar humanoid mutant from her apprentice's exploration report of Grey Harbor City. She put down her teacup, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the warm, smooth surface of the cup, her brow furrowing slightly.

The Double-Edged Demon was the name Rosalind gave to the humanoid deformity; given its uniqueness, it wouldn't hurt to give it a proper name.

She had long suspected that the aberrations on this island were breeding a kind of high-level aberration that even she would fear, and today it had finally appeared—although this was also related to her preference for staying in Ish City and her almost complete avoidance of the neighboring Grey Harbor City and the northernmost Luya City. If she patrolled the island regularly, she would still have a chance to nip the threat in the bud.

What a troublesome guy… she thought to herself.

If it were a direct confrontation, it wouldn't be a problem, but that dual-bladed demon was clearly an assassin skilled in stealth and ambush, and with such speed, it posed a significant threat to a fragile mage. She could maintain her "Crimson Armor" at a low mana cost while sleeping to guard against ambushes, but Rosalind couldn't.

Fortunately, on her way back, Rosalind had considered counter-surveillance measures. Instead of returning directly, she took the city's sewers, which had been transformed into underground rivers with a natural ecosystem. Otherwise, if her address had been exposed, it wouldn't have been impossible for her to be attacked while sleeping in the middle of the night.

"Teacher, I think that mutant might have intelligence similar to humans. It attacks me, and it laughs... It's completely different from the ones I've seen before," Rosalin said worriedly. Just thinking about the anthropomorphic laugh she saw during the day made her feel like she was going to have nightmares tonight.

I don't know if the teacher will allow her to temporarily move to the teacher's room to sleep...

“Then let’s separate it out and call it the third level, which is higher than ‘evolutionary’. Let’s call it ‘elite’. Its most obvious characteristic is that it has high intelligence and may also be good at scheming.”

Yvette pondered for a moment, then said in a somewhat serious tone, "Tomorrow I'll go to Grey Harbor with you to see if we can get rid of it and investigate the root cause of the isow bug's unusual activity."

……

The next morning, the summer sun shone brightly and the sky was cloudless on Ish Island.

But when they thought about the aberrations and anomalies in Grey Harbor, Yvette and Rosalyn looked rather serious as they set off.

Incidentally, along the way, Yvette also provided information about the two locations, "Ish Mountains" and "Luya City".

“Those are the two largest aberration nests on Ish Island,” Yvette said.

“A nest?” Rosalyn chewed on the word.

“I’ve never been inside, and I don’t know much about it,” Yvette said, shaking her head as she drove. “But if the mutants can really reproduce and increase, then the source should be in those two places.”

Many years ago, after escaping from the abyss base in the crater lake, Yvette took a trip around the island. In addition to collecting books that contained important knowledge and had not yet been corrupted, she mainly explored the situation on the island, confirmed the existence of human survivors, and the ecological details of various plants, animals, and mutants.

She discovered that the intensity and density of aberrations in the interior of the Ish Mountains and in Luya City at the northernmost point of the island were far higher than in Ish City, Grey Harbor City in the south, and various town ruins along the way. Therefore, she determined that these two major clusters were the most dangerous places on the island. Putting aside everything else, the sheer number of aberrations alone was enough to inspire fear.

The anomalies happening in Grey Harbor City gave her a vague feeling that the mutated ecosystem of Ish Island was undergoing some kind of subtle change. But she didn't know why it was changing or in what direction it would change.

……

Compared to Rosalind's previous exploration experience, Grey Harbor City was much quieter today. There were very few aberrations encountered along the way, but many wild animals had the opportunity to come out and breathe, frolicking and running freely in the forest-like streets.

A moment later, after driving the hovercar to the vicinity of the port area, Yvette followed the route indicated by Rosalind and gradually approached the depths of Grey Harbor City. Then she heard a commotion coming from the direction of the city center.

They continued driving forward and sure enough, they saw a vast army of deformed woodlice passing by the intersection ahead. Each of them was over a meter long, and there were hundreds or even thousands of them.

What's particularly strange is that, despite the fact that the floating magic vehicle, which was suspended about five meters in the air, should have been within their aggro range, the woodlice seemed not to see it at all. They allowed the two of them to observe them from the vehicle, and then continued to move forward without stopping, heading straight for their destination.

"Teacher, what should we do?" Rosalyn was a little confused. She was prepared to use her poorly learned ranged spells to help cover the retreat, but the mutants were completely unmoved. It was truly unbelievable.

“Let’s see what their purpose is,” Yvette said, then followed from the side at a distance of about 100 meters.

"Won't we be attacked suddenly?" Rosalyn asked nervously.

“I will handle it,” Yvette said calmly.

Hearing the teacher's calm tone, Rosalyn immediately felt relieved.

In fact, after three years of training with the Alloy Blade, she has developed considerable individual combat ability. Even when sparring with her teacher one-on-one, she can often hold her own. However, her weakness is always clearing mobs. She immediately feels uneasy when she sees a group of monsters. After all, no matter how high the Alloy Blade's attack power is, you still have to cut it one by one. How can she kill a large number of monsters? She would be overwhelmed in a few minutes.

The image of a mage she admires—the one who can sweep away a sea of ​​monsters with a snap of his fingers—is the most elegant and fundamentalist one.

……

After flying over several city blocks, the hovercar landed on top of a skyscraper that was now just a skeleton, entangled and wrapped by giant tree roots.

As they stepped out of the car, a bizarre war scene unfolded before the master and apprentice in the distance below.

On the streets, a large number of mutated isow worms formed a constantly writhing red tide, advancing towards the city center.

At the same intersection in the city center, there were also several hundred of these strange and deformed creatures, forming a "ragtag army," roaring deafeningly as they fought back against the onslaught of the woodlice army—rotting worms spewing acid, multi-armed giants swinging their fists, and multi-headed birds swooping down like dark clouds to tear and bite...

Yvette's eyes narrowed as she gazed at the chaotic, bloody, and inhuman scene.

Without a doubt, this is a war between aberrations.

Chapter 32 Lord

"Teacher, is this...is this a war?" Rosalyn said in shock.

“It seems so.” Yvette nodded gravely.

From the Abyss Base to the vast Island of Ish, her observations of the Aberrants clearly showed that they were a group of socially isolated creatures that fought their own battles. Only in the second stage did they develop a brain similar to that of a human infant. This scattered and disorganized state could not threaten her peaceful life on Island of Ish, as long as she didn't do anything reckless.

However, if war breaks out, the situation will be completely different. First of all, they will definitely have a common will, whether it is the individual will of advanced aberrations or the interconnected honeycomb consciousness, which will greatly change their social structure, bind them together, and then begin to expand outward, which will eventually threaten the two people who have lived in Ish City for a long time.

And then there's that double-edged demon, seemingly at the third stage and possessing intelligence comparable to humans. What role does it actually play in this war of aberrations...?

As the battlefront advanced, the Gray Harbor faction suffered repeated defeats.

After Yvette drove the hovercar and found a secluded, unnoticed corner to enter, the two of them arrived at the deepest point with almost no pressure.

Standing atop a tall building, they saw in the city center square a gigantic, fleshy creature, most of its body hidden beneath the collapsed ground, with only a chrysanthemum-shaped vent protruding from the surface. Beneath its translucent, scarlet skin covered in thick blood vessels, a massive, grotesque embryo seemed to be brewing.

“It should be something like a ‘mother hive.’ The aberrations outside are either attacking it or protecting it, which means this thing is the ‘leader’ of both sides.” Yvette frowned. It had been many years since she last came to Gray Harbor City. For her, it might have been just a few years or even a decade or so, a very short time, but it gave the aberrations the opportunity to evolve a mother hive. She didn’t know whether to say it or not, but the long years had made her sense of time somewhat abnormal.

"So what are we going to do?"