Faen was a top-tier mid-sized plane. With the two large continents and the vast oceans as its foundation, powerful native deities had been born to the plane. Naturally, three pantheons were born- the oceanic, the humans, and the elves.
All ocean creatures among them, including the maritime empire that ruled over a vast territory, worshipped the same powerful deities- the God of the Sea, Dions!
Sea God Dions was estimated by the Pale Witches to be a fearsome Sixth Grade. He had under him God of the Sea Beasts, Atri (Fourth Grade) and God of the Shallow Bay, Sintra (Third Grade). Apart from these two, there were also several minor deities no higher than Second Grade.
The Garan Continent that the elven empire ruled over had a population of thirty-four million forest elves. They worshipped a powerful nature deity- the God of the Elves, Saoirse. She was yet another terrifying Sixth Grade deity. She had as her subordinates: the God of Archery, Marco (Fourth Grade), the God of Rangers, Eisner (Fourth Grade), the God of Luck, Visenna (Third Grade), the Heart of the Forest, Yurga (Third Grade), the God of Moonlight, Meve (Third Grade), as well as a host of demi-gods and sacred creatures.
In comparison, the Faen Continent upon which the humans lived had more substantial lands, higher population, and more abundant resources. Unfortunately, they had yet to give birth to a sufficiently powerful human deity. Instead, many, many minor deities had been born. For example: God of War Kael, God of Strategy Bourecq, God of Assassination Keira, God of Wealth Bining, and God of Justice Dornfelder.
Their followers and believers wandered the continent, working hard to spread their faith. It gave rise to a strange and complicated situation where the deities and their followers lived in coexistence.
Almost every city-state and village populated by humans on the Faen Continent were home to a multitude of religions. They fought and contested with each other, yet mysteriously enough formed a parasitic relationship of coexistence and shared prosperity.
The survival of native forces in this strange and great world was already difficult. As invaders, the lives of the Pale Witches were even harsher!
The Pale Witches had locked onto Faen 1,100 years ago. They had broken into this world under the guidance and help of Great Adepts in the outer realms.
The point of invasion back then had been the elven continent.
Unfortunately, the elven gods had already turned the place into a mighty empire. The Pale Witches had faced a brutal retaliation from the elven pantheon and the elven empire during their very first invasion.
The two parties had broken out into a bloody battle upon the elven continent.
The Pale Witches had killed as many as five elven gods. Though these were all minor deities of only Second and Third Grade, they had still dealt a heavy, severe blow to the elven pantheon. Even the Sixth Grade Goddess of Elves Saoirse had been forced into a deep sleep of a thousand years.
The Pale Witches had also suffered horrifying losses.
Two of their Great Adepts from the outlands had participated in the war. One died, and the other had been severely wounded. Still, they had barely managed to stave off the attacks from the elven pantheon.
The Pale Witches had also lost clan adepts counting up to double digits. In the end, they had no choice but to retreat from the elves' continent and escape on their last legs to a place known as Shadow Island.
The Pale Witches erected a tall adept's tower upon Shadow Island and constructed an interplanar teleportation array. They then obtained some reinforcements from the World of Adepts. It was only then that they barely managed to hold a forward camp in Faen.
Over the next thousand years, the Pale Witches would launch an invasion at the Garan or Faen continent every time they accumulated sufficient strength. They would use war to rob and ruin the villages and cities of these two continents such that they might obtain the resources they required.
Faen was a top-tier mid-sized plane after all. The Pale Witches alone would have a hard time expanding their lands and obtaining more resources when Faen had sufficient power to defend itself. That was why the Pale Witches took the opportunity of the Witch Council's suggestion of sharing resources to offer up Faen.
At any rate, the teleportation coordinates of Faen were in their hands. Why wouldn't they do something as convenient as using the strength of the other branches to expand their territories? The small share of resources they would have to give up on couldn't compare to the land and population that they would be able to own forever.
Thus, on this day, an intense magical radiance shone upon the adept's tower on the isolated Shadow Island.
Several magical halos stirred the air around the island like an unrelenting tide, causing the wind to ripple outward. The dense mist that always hung around Shadow Island was pushed into the distance by this strange force. The bright sunlight finally fell upon the jagged and uneven Shadow Island along with all of the protective arrays laid upon it.
A massive portal slowly opened up in the center of Shadow Island when the magical aura radiating from the tower reached its peak.
At this moment, no one knew how many pairs of strange eyes around Shadow Island were silently witnessing this phenomenon happen.
They didn't dare go too far into Shadow Island due to the existence of the protective arrays and the tower. They could only wait silently on the small islands nearby.
"Cough! Go back and tell the priest. The witches are moving again. It seems yet another slaughter is about to befall our plane of Faen."
A strange merfolk watched the happenings in the distance. They couldn't help but sigh as they gave the order when they sensed the intense spatial aura in the air.
Thus, everything that had happened on Shadow Island was subtly spread to all the major forces of Faen!
Chapter 614 Shadow Island
The isolated Shadow Island was like the plane's tumor to the rest of the major forces in Faen.
These evil witches from another plane were entrenched upon Shadow Island, using the geographical advantage and their terrifyingly powerful adept's tower to resist the repeated attacks of the seafolk, the elves, and the humans for over two hundred years.
Finally, the elves and the humans had no choice but to give up on this fearsome war that had almost run their races into the ground. Instead, they chose to trap the witches and isolate them from the main continents.
After a few hundred years of conflict, even the seafolk had no choice but to acknowledge the existence of the witches. They gave Shadow Island and the surrounding hundreds of kilometers of territorial waters to these foreign witches but strictly forbade them from stepping out from the island.
For the next six hundred years, Shadow Island became the most horrifying land of evil in Faen. Every year, countless evildoers who could no longer survive in the Faen and Garan Continents would travel far and wide to Shadow Island to join the Pale Witches.
That indirectly increased the influence and strength of the witches!
The Pale Witches were able to make connections with many underground dark forces within Faen with the help of the ties brought to them by these local natives. The Pale Witches provided them with powerful and evil magical equipment, and these dark forces became the eyes and claws of the witches, helping them scour the continents for rare resources.
Both sides took full advantage of each other and slowly extended their influence into each other's factions. The Pale Witches had now become the strongest underground force of darkness in Faen!
Over the past hundred years, the Pale Witches always chose to open the way to Faen every ten years.
This way, the Northern Witches that entered Faen would become the allies and vanguards of the Pale Witches. They would hastily charge toward Garan and Faen, stealing wealth, plundering resources, and abducting higher elves and seafolk. In doing so, they inflicted tremendous suffering and calamities on the civilians of the two continents.
Thus, the natives of Faen painfully named these disasters as the Calamity of Witches!
As long as they secured the necessary defenses and preparations, they could minimize the losses and damage brought about by the invading witches during the Calamity of Witches. The native forces near Shadow Island would also form the Anti-Evil Alliance in the event of the Calamity of Witches. They would send their armies out to fight with the witches.
It had been ten years since the last Calamity of Witches this year!
The surrounding forces were all on high alert. They used all the tricks they had up their sleeves to place sentries around Shadow Island. All of it was for the sake of figuring out the day of the Calamity at the very moment it happened.
The most apparent prelude to the eruption of the Calamity of Witches was the opening of the portals on Shadow Island.
…………
After a thousand years of management by the Pale Witches, Shadow Island was like an iron barrel.
As the tower's energies wildly gathered at the teleportation square, a massive portal measuring ten meters in height and five meters in width slowly opened up in the middle of the square.
Fifteen minutes later, the first batch of witches gradually appeared as the energy from the tower slowly started to stabilize. They hadn't come alone. Instead, they drove many black carriages across the portal, quickly passing through the planar portal as if they were passing through castle gates. They arrived on Shadow Island from Werning City.
The ones pulling the carriages were not ordinary horses. They were all voodoo beasts that radiated a magical aura.
The planar suppression on Shadow Island had been reduced to the very minimum due to the magical barrier of the tower. The witches that arrived atop the carriages didn't betray any excessive biological symptoms of unease. Even the beasts appeared unfazed. They continued to pull the carriages with plenty of vigor, transporting the goods and resources within to the island.
Six Death Witches had come. They were led by a Third Grade witch, with one Second Grade follower and four First Grades. Apart from the adepts, the Death Witches had also brought along with them two hundred undead of intermediate and advanced levels. Amongst them were one hundred and forty elite ghouls, twenty advanced mummy elders, five shadow dwarven assassins, fifteen specters, five evil corpse dragons, five toughbone dragons, ten death knights…
They were the cannon fodder the witches had specially prepared for this planar war!
The Coldwinter Witches sent five people. One Second Grade and four First Grades. They brought with them as many as a hundred Frost Guardians. These were a particular type of voodoo beast made by modifying ice and snow lifeforms.
The witches of the other branches also sent large voodoo beast armies. These armies quickly took up the massive teleportation square as the portal continued to spit up more people.
The Death Witches.
The Coldwinter Witches.
The Agony Witches.
The Pale Witches.
The Dark Witches.
The False Witches.
The Deceit Witches.
A brilliant light burst forth from the portal once the voodoo beast armies of the seven major witch branches had arrived.
It was as if this planar portal made from countless runes and chains of laws had swallowed a piece of meat that was larger than its throat could swallow. It could neither devour it or spit it out. The previously stable portal started to ripple and tremble.
"Dammit, what's happening? Haven't all the witch parties teleported over? Why's there a big fellow in there? Quick, hurry; have the tower expand the spatial rift a bit more. If the bastards on that side blow up the portal, the entire teleportation array will be destroyed."
The tower trembled slightly, and the supply of energy was increased once more with the strict orders of the stationed witch. The portal started to expand, and finally, with a light pop, a massive metallic creation appeared before the witches.
"This…what's this?"
It was the first time she had seen such a massive metal creation. The stationed witch stuttered from the shock.
"No need to be concerned, it's a giant floating ship! It's probably something from the Silver Union. Still, Faen is only open to the Northern Witches. Why's there a Silver Union floating ship here?" This time, it was a Third Grade Pale Witch who spoke up. She had a pale face, silver-gray hai,r and was leaning against a mysterious staff of a unique design.
The Third Grade witch that led the Death Witches was evidently acquainted with this Pale Witch. She shook her head and explained, "Wurzer, you've spent too much time in Faen. I'm afraid you probably don't know about the return of the Fate Witches. This floating ship was brought along by them!"
"Don't think of me as such an ignorant fool. You are speaking of that brat known as Alice, aren't you!? To think a First Grade brat could climb her way to become the leader of the Witches of Fate. Kehkehkeh. The Fate Witches are truly an existence that outsiders can never hope to figure out." Witch Wurzer couldn't help but start cackling when the topic shifted to an interesting one.
The massive door of light trembled intensely and completely shattered once the flying ship had made it past the portal. The violent and chaotic magic energy turbulence thrashed about in the teleportation square, but it was kept out by the defensive arrays that rose from the ground.
The violent turbulence only calmed down after several minutes, allowing the people in the square to let out a breath of relief.
"All witches leading their parties must follow me to the seventh floor for a meeting." Witch Wurzer called out softly.
At this moment, Greem and Alice had only just stepped out of the metal hatch of their ship. They looked at each other upon hearing this and left the matters of logistics to their subordinates. They then followed the other witches and slowly walked toward the great tower looming at the center of Shadow Island.
Shadow Island was an island out in the sea and was isolated from the other continents. One couldn't find a better volcanic island for a base within a radius of five hundred kilometers. The adept's tower stood above the massive volcanic crater, using the mighty underground powers of fire here to provide the tower with an enormous source of free energy.
Shadow Island wasn't particularly large in size. It was only approximately seventy square kilometers.
Apart from the abiding pillars of volcanic dust, the witches had also used a vast amount of mist on the outskirts to hide Shadow Island. That was why the island was mostly gray and shielded from the sun. Its skies were always the same dull gray color.
Naturally, the Pale Witches all stayed within the tall tower. They never needed to worry about the harsh outside environment. However, the fellows that came to Shadow Island to join the evil witches could only set up crude shacks and huts at the edge of the island, leading 'peaceful' and 'needless' lives as fishermen there.
The Pale Witches were not kindhearted enough to provide them with food and clean water. They needed to find their own water sources and food if they wanted to live in such a harsh environment. Or, they could take it from the hands of others.
Supply ships from far away only came every two or three months. That was why blood and murder were common themes in the walled city that was Shadow Island.
The brief meeting was held on the seventh floor of the tower.
When Greem and Alice arrived here with the other witches, they immediately saw a massive projection of Faen in the center of the hall.
The geography of the massive Faen Continent stretched and wound about. There were vast and sprawling mountains everywhere, with some extending for as far as five thousand kilometers, while others had steep and unforgiving slopes upon which towering forests stood. Human cities, towns, and villages of all sizes were scattered along the continent.
When paired together with the winding rivers and massive lakes, it was a perfect picture of a human world.
On the other hand, the massive Garan Continent was filled with a sea of trees. From a distance, the place looked like a gigantic forest completely covered in towering, ancient trees and numerous green plants.
Greem immediately, with absolutely no reservations, scanned the three-dimensional projection of Faen into his Chip using a unique method. He then quickly reconstructed a model for comparison.
Just then, a group of witches in strange clothes walked into the hall.
Chapter 615 Staff of Divination
The ones who had arrived were a group of spirits.
More specifically, they were a group of powerful spirits that accompanied the Pale Witches.
The reason the Pale Witches were so powerful was due to these fearsome spirits whose souls existed in symbiosis with their own.
Any enemy that sought to fight with a Pale Witch would have to simultaneously deal with two strong opponents whose souls and minds were united. One possessed a physical body and excelled at elementium and curse-type spells, while the other was a full spirit and immune to most physical damage.
When you put the two together, you had a complete Pale Witch!
It was the power of the accompanying spirits and their independent consciousness that made the Pale Witches to view their companions' accompanying spirits as their comrades themselves. The accompanying spirits would receive the very same treatment and benefits as their host wherever they went.
The ones that walked into the mission hall right now were a group of accompanying spirits.
It seemed as though the witches themselves were busy with other matters. Thus, they had left the issue of receiving the 'allied army' to these accompanying spirits.
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