To survive, to keep living, she had committed so many acts of betrayal against her sisters.
Despite all she had done, five years had passed by without any reinforcements coming to rescue her; she felt nothing but despair now.
Rena knew that her talent as an adept was not very good at all. Her mother had exhausted a large number of resources and still only barely managed to push her to Second Grade. That said, she was indeed very fortunate. She had unexpectedly gotten pregnant after a wild orgy and gave birth to Snowlotus, who had an excellent talent for ice magic.
Believing that she had completed her calling in life, Rena became even more indulgent, participating in all sorts of hedonistic banquets daily, and spending her days in the arms of multiple handsome and pretty men. Even the magical abilities that she relied on as an adept had regressed to a pitiful state.
Otherwise, given the might of a Second Grade witch, she would never have been so easily captured alive by the planar natives!
As she was wallowing in self-pity, she lifted her head and looked into the dark skies of Blackmountain City through the tall, narrow slits with her purple eyes.
Her body might be severely restrained, but her extraordinary ability to sense elementium was still present.
Just now, she suddenly sensed a weak gathering of wind elementium in the skies above the city. Moreover, the cluster of wind elementium was slowly roaming through the air.
A natural formation, or…?
Rena leaped up from the ground without hesitation, ignoring the blood spilling out from the wounds caused by the spikes on her restraints. She lunged at the stone slits and stared at the distant and empty horizon.
Her sudden actions caused the silver chains to rattle and attracted the attention of the holy knight keeping watch on her.
The metal boots clanged against the stone steps. An Iron Knight walked into the hall from the spiral staircase in the corner of the room, followed by three guards.
The first thing he saw was Rena grabbing the stone slit tightly, the silver chains pulled tight, and her black blood streaming down her arms and legs. Bloody footprints had been left on the ground from her moving towards the open window.
“What are you doing? You are not allowed near the window.” The young holy knight shouted. His gaze towards Rena was filled with unconcealable disgust and hatred. The three guards beside him took out whips wrapped with iron threads from their waists and started lashing at Rena’s frail back.
Aaaaaah!
The whips whistled through the air, slashing apart Rena’s black robe and leaving long lash marks on her grime-covered back.
Rena continued to hold onto the windowsill tightly, raising her neck to let out screams of agony.
As her scream contained a trace of her Spirit, it continued to reverberate around the tower for some time before scattering in the air.
The strange cluster of wind elementium floating in the sky seemed to have sensed her scream and started to drift towards the tower.
The wind cluster wasn’t a natural formation. It was being controlled by someone.
Seeing that Rena was not moving yet, the three guards started to pull on her chain and forcefully dragged her away from the window. As the chains tightened, the spikes in Rena’s cuffs dug into her flesh, slicing into her bones.
However, Rena was in a state of extreme excitement right now. She couldn’t feel the pain in her body at all. Instead, she lay on the ground like an insane person, all of her muscles twitching violently.
The three guards marched forward and starting raining down lashes upon her body, beating her flesh into a pulp and causing blood to splatter everywhere.
“Stay here quietly and repent your sins. Your meal for today has been cancelled. Act up again, and you won’t have anything to eat for tomorrow, either!”
The young holy knights chosen by the Holy Light Chapel to watch over Rena were all ones who held extreme hatred towards the witch. They had either been persecuted by the witches in the past or had lost a family member to their actions. Only such knights could ignore Witch Rena’s seduction abilities and loyally accomplish their tasks.
The wounds inflicted on Rena meant nothing to her. These injuries would heal in a single night. It was what the holy knights were most concerned about, but also what they were most envious of!
After punishing Rena viciously, the young holy knight led the three guards back into the tower.
It couldn’t be helped. The hall at the top of the tower was simply too cold. Even the Iron Knights could not endure the severity of the mountain winds. As such, the holy knights and guards on watch were typically stationed inside the watchtower. They would only come up and punish Rena when she created trouble.
As for escaping– after having most of her magical power neutralized, Rena was no more than a witch with a slightly stronger Physique. She had no means of removing the spiked cuffs and mask made of special alloy metal. There was no chance for her to escape.
When the hall returned to silence, and only the harsh winds could be heard, the strange cluster of wind elementium arrived outside the room. It almost appeared as if it wanted to enter through the window.
“Don’t come in!” Rena barely propped herself up from the ground and communicated through mental messages, “A holy light array has been hidden beneath the floorboards of the hall. Any cluster of elementium power will sound the alarms.”
The shapeless cluster of ‘wind’ seemed to have understood Rena’s warnings. It stopped in the air outside the window.
“Who are you? Tess, or Italil?” Rena asked with a dejected expression.
She had also heard somewhat about what had happened to her witch sisters.
After all, the holy knights would unavoidably reveal some degree of information about the witch remnants when trying to interrogate her for their secrets. Naturally, she knew that the holy knights had brought her here to Blackmountain City to capture the last two powerful Third Grade witches.
“Hehehe. Lady Rena, it has been a while!”
What Rena never expected was for the mental message from the wind spirit to be a male’s voice. That familiar voice and tone caused Rena to be overjoyed.
Chapter 998 - Movement
Greem and Rena’s conversation was short and efficient.
Rena couldn’t help but feel a warmth spread throughout her body when Greem’s unique mental flux vanished from the wind spirit. Hope once again sprung from her heart, lifting her spirit and making her entire person incredibly restless.
The Poison Swamps.
Why did the fire adept want her to lure the holy knights there? Did the witches intend to fight against the holy knights? What was the situation already? They should be saving her as soon as possible and finding a way to leave this damned world rather than fight against those holy knights.
Rena thought to herself resentfully.
Even though she was immensely dissatisfied that Greem didn’t immediately save her, she was at his mercy. She no longer dared to put on airs as she had in the past. Instead, she started to use all her brainpower to think of a way to do what had been requested of her.
Just tell the Third Grade knights the witches’ ‘hiding spot?’ What an incredibly foolish idea! Then, how else could she draw the attention of the holy knights?
For the first time ever, for the sake of her life and her freedom, Rena started to think with all she had.
…………
When Greem’s mental consciousness finally returned from a distance, Witch Tess’ resentful voice came from beside him, “She deserves it! That bitch deserves to be punished like that!”
To increase trust between himself and the Deceit Witches, Greem had not concealed anything when communicating with Rena through the wind spirit. Tess and Italil had observed the entire process through magic.
Compared to Tess’ resentment, Italil was more concerned with the upcoming battle.
“Greem, are you sure you want to ambush those holy knights in the P
oison Swamps? You should know that our combat power has dropped drastically after such a long time. We lack immensely in resources and materials. This war is not going to be easy.”
Greem smiled casually.
“Naturally, since I planned to give the holy knights a thorough beating, I have already taken this factor into consideration. Take a look.” Having said that, Greem rubbed the snake’s eye ring on his left finger, and a pile of items immediately appeared on the ground before him.
There were First and Second Grade magical scrolls, magical wands, as well as potions of various effects. Of course, most of the items in the pile were still casting materials and all sorts of magical gemstones.
The eyes of the two witches lit up upon seeing this.
They might not have been so excited by such everyday items in the past. Given the power of the Deceit Witches, they could obtain any resources they desired. Such a meager pile of such things would have hardly drawn their attention.
However, now that their connection to the World of Adepts had been cut off, and given the many years of wandering and battling they had endured, all of their resources and materials had already been exhausted. Though some potion masters and enchanters amongst the witches could use the resources of Henvic Plane to craft substitutes, the quality and effects of these items were naturally incomparable to the proper ones.
That was why even the two Third Grade adepts couldn’t help but be moved when they saw such a large number of resources and materials.
Perhaps intent on displaying his power in front of the witches, Greem rubbed another one of his rings and released even more resources, materials, and magical items.
Italil silently looked at the giant pile of resources. She suddenly opened her mouth and asked: “Greem, I heard you were trapped at Gangsas Volcano by several adepts from the realms beyond. Where have they gone now?”
Even the smiling Tess couldn’t help but be taken aback by the question.
She had already seen some relatively rarer items in the pile of resources, for instance, the Dreamsource Grass. If she could brew the Dreamsource Grass into Blue Dreamland, she could heal the most severe of her injuries in a short time.
When that happened, she would be able to unleash the might of a Third Grade witch once again!
Tess also found several other things in the pile that could help with her wounds. Though recovering completely wasn’t quite possible, she could still improve her injuries immensely.
The wildly excited Tess paused when she heard Italil’s question. Her eyes swept past the gallery of items. She faintly understood the implication behind Italil’s question now.
Though these items weren’t branded with the name or identity of their owners, it was obvious that the storage rings containing them and their method of storage were not the same. It appeared as if the trove of items was made by a combination of resources from several different adepts.
As such, even Witch Tess couldn’t help but lift her head and silently stare at this confident young adept.
Though the Northern Witches had almost ruled by matriarchy and looked down upon all male adepts, this adept before her radiated youth and liveliness, along with an unassailable composure and dignity.
“Naturally, since they put me in such a terrible spot and even implicated you Deceit Witches in our conflict, I made sure to give them a painful time.” Greem brushed across the question with vague words, providing no details at all.
However, the vague words and the mountain of evidence before them was enough for the two witches to guess at the fate of the hunter adepts.
No shit! Even their storage rings had fallen into Greem’s hands. They couldn’t have ended up well at all!
Though the two witches still had questions, the way they looked at Greem contained a different sentiment from before. At the very least, they became much more respectful and polite towards him.
It couldn’t be helped. If any of them had been pursued by four hunter adepts who were well-prepared for the job, they would already be dead, let alone plotting to stir even more trouble in the plane!
The attitudes of the two witches towards Greem changed in a very subtle way. The tone of their words even took on a trace of respect and modesty usually only reserved for higher-grade adepts.
“The situation of the witches will improve tremendously with these resources. I have already summoned the Deceit Witches in the other hidden spots. Another four or five sisters should be joining us shortly. By then, we will have the necessary military force we need to fight the holy knights.” Witch Tess, who hadn’t initially been interested in war, suddenly became much more enthusiastic about the idea.
Over the past five years, they had been chased and beaten around by these holy knights. One sister after another had fallen under their blades. It would be a joke if Witch Tess didn’t harbor fury and hatred in her heart.
However, the weakness of the witches left them with no choice but to endure the suffering, always giving ground to fight for the last bit of space for survival. Now, they had been forced into a dead-end by the holy knights. Once the remaining high-grade witches were ‘purified,’ the last few witches would have no ability to create trouble even if they were to escape alive.
When that happened, their only fate would be to hide and wander, only to rot and die in some rural and remote corner of the plane.
“We must hurry. The holy knights have to be lured into the Poison Swamps within seven days!” Greem warned with a solemn expression.
“Why are we in such a hurry? The holy knights are being very cautious right now. Luring a large group of them into a hazardous area will probably be very difficult!” Witch Tess frowned and said.
“We only have seven days! “Greem coldly said, “The subordinates I sent out are creating a commotion in the central region of the Zambez Empire. They have already clashed with the imperial army and the holy knights. The two Fourth Grade Holy Knights are also tied up in the affair. They can only buy us seven days. Once the two Holy Knights are free to move again, I believe that none of us will be willing to fight against them. Am I wrong?”
Tssss!
The two witches drew in a cold breath of air.
Witch Tess immediately shouted furiously, “I will urge them to speed up. We will set up magical traps in the Poison Swamps as fast as possible. Seven days it will be. Let us teach those metal canheads a proper lesson!”
…………
Taujura Camp.
A stretch of large, harsh camps lay across the area, each of them filled with white tents of various sizes, like clouds in the sky. The people walking in and out of the tents were all dressed in armor and beaming with zealous energy.
It was the largest military camp set up by the Zambez Empire. Nearly thirty-six thousand imperial soldiers were stationed here, along with seven hundred and twenty-eight holy knights and trainee knights from all across the nation.
The imperial army had already sent out troops to surround all of the woods near Blackmountain City, with Taujura Camp as the center of operations. Their forces were slowly being sent out to search for the witches’ tracks.
These witch remnants were clearly specialized at hiding and disguising themselves. The illusion arrays they set up outside their bases could trick the senses of ordinary warriors, causing them to find nothing out of the ordinary. Only holy knights blessed with holy light could break these illusions and cause the witches’ base to appear.
As such, the search parties sent out by the imperial army always contained holy knights and trainee knights who battled against the sly and evil witches with their wits throughout the mountains and rivers.
The holy knights had obtained tremendous results over the past year. They destroyed two witch bases in succession, ‘purifying’ two First Grade witches and one Second Grade witch.
The trainee knight who had killed the Second Grade witch at high cost obtained feedback from the Holy Light and immediately advanced to become an Iron Knight.
That further boosted the fighting will of the young knights. They worked hard, never complaining even as they scaled mountains and traversed ravines, sacrificing everything for the sake of the great Holy Light.
At this moment, the idol of the trainee knights, and the young Iron Knight who had distinguished herself in battle, stood upon a tall hill. She slowly looked through the rowdy camp before her and frowned. The dark clouds in her heart grew heavier and heavier.
“Lady Catherine, are we not going out on a mission today?” A trainee knight standing behind the young Iron Knight couldn’t help but ask in a soft voice.
Chapter 999 - The Poison Swamps
“Are there any movements in the surroundings recently?”
Catherine was sitting upon a tall, red horse, clad in delicate silver armor that accentuated her curves.
Catherine looked extremely slender on the outside, so much so that she even appeared weak. However, when she donned her full-metal armor, brandished her sword, and charged at the enemy, she would transform into a ferocious lion, more courageous and intimidating than all the male knights around her.
That was why the trainee knights following at her side couldn’t help but be confused when they saw her frown in frustration.
“Lady Catherine, what are you concerned about?” A young trainee knight found the courage to ask, “The witch remnants have already been forced into the woods near Blackmountain City. We will be able to find their hiding spots as long as we search patiently. The situation couldn’t be better. Why is it that you seem worried?”
Catherine shook her head in frustration.
“You have not personally witnessed the savagery of the otherworldly adepts. You cannot possibly understand what terrifying might they possess. I…I…” Catherine couldn’t help but shiver as she spoke, as if she had been reminded of something incredibly scary.
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