Chapter 24: The Mastermind Behind the Scenes
“Cough, cough, cough…”
After a violent fit of dry coughing, the noblewoman lying on the ground raised her head. Her appearance was pitiful, yet when she had been ravaging this city, she was not so pitiable.
Su Xiao approached the noblewoman and, with a single slash of his blade, shattered her incarnation. A Legendary-rank, +13 reinforced, full-edge-value Dragon-Slaying Flash could do whatever it pleased, especially before the blade’s awakening.
Crouching before the noblewoman, he thrust his longsword through her lower abdomen as a precaution.
“I ask, you answer.”
“O-okay.”
The noblewoman was clever; she knew Su Xiao was not the kind of righteous hero who upheld justice. If he were, death would be her only fate, and she was not overly afraid of death.
“Are there other witches in the city?”
“N-no… yes.”
As she spoke, the noblewoman began to go into shock. Su Xiao took out a painkiller and injected it intravenously.
“Just the three of you?”
“Yes.”
Hearing her answer, Su Xiao frowned. Three Elemental-type witches, even if all were at the Third Stage, they wouldn’t have the nerve to ravage a city.
“Who sent you?”
“It’s… Lady Mira.”
“Mira?”
Su Xiao pulled out the bounty list he carried and quickly found a wanted poster with a bounty of 580 gold coins.
Mira, Fourth Stage Elemental-type witch, Blood Witch, bounty 580 gold coins, had destroyed four human cities.
A Fourth Stage Elemental-type witch was a city-destroyer level; a Fifth Stage Elemental-type was a natural disaster.
“Where is she?”
“Outside the city… the farm… let me… go.”
The painkiller wore off quickly; its effect on witches was surprisingly weak.
The longsword slashed through, and the noblewoman was no longer in pain. Though no agreement had been made, both understood that as long as she provided the information, Su Xiao would give her a quick end.
Earlier, Su Xiao had been puzzled as to why three Third Stage witches dared to ravage a large city. Now it seemed they had someone backing them, giving them such audacity.
Only then did Su Xiao have time to check the series of notifications that had appeared.
By killing three witches, Su Xiao had gained a total of 13 points of Pioneer Source. This was extremely difficult to obtain; each witch killed yielded only a fraction of a point.
His innate ability, Soul Devourer, was about to absorb 200 mana points. He had also gained a lot of reputation with the Holy Healing Church, a full 260 points. This was not calculated based on the witch’s strength but on their past deeds; the more heinous the crime, the more reputation gained.
Notification: The Hunter’s reputation with the Holy Healing Church has reached 320/100 (White Rank). You can advance your Witch Hunter rank at the Holy Healing Church’s headquarters or any city branch.
Not only could he advance as a Witch Hunter, but Su Xiao also had three chest rewards to choose from.
A: You obtain Gold Chest x2, Legendary Chest x1.
B: Curse Resistance (World-Specific): Increases resistance to curse-type witches’ curses and corrosive abilities by 25% (Current Curse Resistance: 40%; the higher the base resistance, the harder it is to improve further).
Su Xiao had initially thought that killing a specific type of witch would grant resistance to that type, but it seemed otherwise. Only Curse Resistance was available.
After a moment’s hesitation, Su Xiao chose the Legendary Chest x1 and 10% Curse Resistance. This was the most reasonable choice. The Reincarnation Paradise offering Curse Resistance as a reward could only mean one thing: he would encounter extremely powerful curse-type witches or traps during his main quest.
In previous derivative worlds, Su Xiao would not have had the privilege of obtaining “Curse Resistance,” but this time he had entered the world at his own expense, and the main quest was self-selected.
After collecting blood, palm prints, and incarnation fragments from the three witches, Su Xiao asked the city officials who had arrived about the farm’s location, then drove out of the city.
With such an incident occurring in the city, the witch named Mira would certainly notice. Now it was a matter of whether she fled faster or Su Xiao’s tracking ability was stronger.
When Su Xiao arrived near a farm a kilometer outside the city, a foul stench hit him.
Upon entering the farm, the stench was so strong it stung his eyes. Bubu Wang even put on an oxygen mask.
Leaping out of the carriage, Su Xiao signaled Amu to clear the way and Bubu Wang to scout. As for Melody, like her name suggested, she could stay in the carriage and look pretty.
Cow carcasses were scattered haphazardly across the farm. If Su Xiao guessed correctly, Mira had used the flesh and blood of these cows to cultivate the mutated “Black Fish Worms.”
The farm had three wooden houses. After detecting with infrared, thermal, and sonic methods, Su Xiao confirmed the houses were empty.
Amu led the way, and with a bang, the wooden door was smashed open. No traps were triggered.
Everything inside the wooden house had been cleared out. On the floor was a black-and-red array pattern, the color of dried blood.
After a preliminary examination of the array, Su Xiao could confirm that the Black Fish Worms had been cultivated here.
Notification: The Hunter has triggered a side quest.
Side Quest: Origin of the Black Fish Worms.
Difficulty Level: LV.33.
Quest Briefing: Find the origin point of the Black Fish Worms, destroy it, and kill the cultivator of the Black Fish Worms.
Time Limit: 2 natural days.
Reward: Dark Crow World Fame +2 points (Slightly Known), Soul Crystal (Large) x3.
Penalty: Deduct 50,000 Paradise Coins; if insufficient, deduct equipment or items of equivalent value.
Seeing the quest’s rewards and penalties, Su Xiao decisively accepted it. The array for cultivating the mutated Black Fish Worms was right before him; the difficulty of this quest lay in tracking down Mira.
If he had to track another witch with no leads, Su Xiao would also find it troublesome. Witch Mira had created the Black Fish Worms to obtain parasitic eggs, which contained a large amount of life force. That was the flaw.
Blue smoke spread from Su Xiao’s hand, gradually enveloping him. With the Devouring Core fully activated, his vision changed. The world turned black and white, and a faint green mist floated in the air, stretching into the distance.
“Bubu, take the carriage and track me along the way.”
“Woof.”
With a bang, the ground beneath Su Xiao’s feet shattered, and the black-and-red array broke apart.
In a few flashes, Su Xiao disappeared from Bubu Wang’s sight. The carriage was suitable for long-distance travel, but for tracking, running on foot was clearly faster.
Su Xiao tracked the green mist in the air. This was the trace left by a large mass of life force gathering together, or rather, the life force of half the civilians in Nikododo City.
Crossing a vast wilderness, three hours later, Su Xiao arrived at a settlement-like town. Though called a settlement, it was not a witch’s territory. There were no towering walls or lords here.
A railway passed through the town, and there was a ticket office. Convenient transportation had drawn merchants to gather here.
The closer he got to the settlement, the denser the green mist became. It seemed the witch named Mira had slowed down. She probably didn’t think an enemy could track her, having destroyed everything in the farm that could be used for tracking, leaving only the array to attract attention.
Tracking the life force, Su Xiao arrived at the town’s train station. After asking a middle-aged woman at the ticket counter, he learned that a train had departed ten minutes ago.
The subsequent tracking became much simpler. He just needed to follow the railway tracks. The fact that the witch had taken a train indicated only one thing: she had let her guard down.
Half an hour later, a train emitting black smoke appeared in Su Xiao’s sight. He accelerated, took a few steps forward, and leaped onto the railing of the last carriage. The Fourth Stage witch named Mira was on this train.
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