Chapter 37: Beaten Back
Su Xiao vanished again from the sight of the two fourth-stage witches. Staring at their companion’s severed corpse, disbelief filled their eyes.
The speed at which Su Xiao activated Shadow Flash was such that not even he could change direction mid-charge; it was simply too fast.
Due to the extreme velocity, the air around Su Xiao grew viscous. In his vision, he rapidly closed in on the witch holding the silver chain, her movements appearing abnormally slow as she raised her hand.
Just as the silver-chain witch lifted her arm, Su Xiao’s long blade had already slashed across her chest and abdomen.
Blood splattered. The Shadow Flash ability, which had entered its cooldown phase, instantly refreshed. The ground beneath Su Xiao’s feet shattered inch by inch as a cluster of emerald-green energy flew toward him—healing from an ally.
Bang!
Su Xiao stomped the ground, activating Shadow Flash for the third time. The healing energy from his ally trailed behind him, so fast that even friendly restorative abilities couldn’t keep up.
Three consecutive uses of Shadow Flash might seem like a lengthy process, but to the enemy’s eyes, it was merely three crimson slashes flashing past.
The remaining fourth-stage witch trembled. The successive deaths of her comrades ignited fear within her, but in the next moment, that fear vanished. A chilling sensation spread across her chest, followed by a dizzying spin.
Su Xiao had slain three fourth-stage witches in quick succession. The surrounding third-stage witches, who had been besieging him, were stunned into a daze. Kay at the second-floor entrance also widened his eyes, regarding the scene with disbelief.
Of course, while the witches were shocked that three fourth-stage witches had been snuffed out so easily, they had no intention of fleeing. The castle had no back door—either Su Xiao died, or they perished.
A third-stage witch clenched her hands in the air. Her incarnation clung to her back, acting as an elemental converter.
Crackle~
A ball of lightning formed between her hands. She thrust it forward, and a bolt of lightning shot out from the sphere.
Even artificial lightning was unimaginably fast. Su Xiao took a deep breath and raised his left arm to shield his face.
With a dull thud, Su Xiao stumbled back several steps. Black smoke drifted from his left hand, clad in a metal bracer, while a numbing sensation spread through the left half of his body.
Struck by lightning, even the third-stage witch was momentarily stunned, let alone Kay.
Just as the third-stage witch prepared to attack Su Xiao again, three arrows flew in from her side. Their angles were so devious that, caught mid-cast, she had no chance of dodging.
One arrow to the throat, one to the head, and one to the arm. The Necromantic Hunter was about to use necromantic energy to pull out the arrows when she realized the enemy was already dead.
The Hunter had been suppressing Kay from a distance. Though these three arrows eliminated the distant threat to Su Xiao, they also exposed the Hunter to danger.
A stream of metal needles flew toward the Hunter, glowing red-hot. Being struck by them would mean far more than a simple puncture.
Fortunately, the Hunter was short, barely 1.5 meters tall. She crouched and leaped behind a wall, ready to nock an arrow and counterattack, when a burning sensation suddenly flared in her lower abdomen.
Looking down, she saw a metal needle embedded in her belly, its heat spreading through her body.
Hiss~
Smoke rose from the hand gripping the needle. She felt pain, but she couldn’t let it distract her now.
With a sharp scrape, she yanked the needle from her abdomen. Leaning against the wall, her body nearly convulsed from the agony.
A dozen seconds later, the Hunter opened her eyes. The left side of her abdomen had gone completely numb, robbing her of her former agility. She had transformed from a elusive archer into a stationary turret.
In front of Su Xiao, an energy shield materialized. Amu also huddled behind it. The man and the ox quickly rushed to the wall where the Hunter was hiding, and Bubu Wang materialized as well.
By now, over a hundred corpses lay scattered across the castle’s first floor. Most were first- or second-stage witches, but third-stage witches were also numerous. As for fourth-stage witches, Westport had six in total, and four now lay dead on this floor—three killed by Su Xiao, and one taken down by a sneak attack from Amu, the Hunter, and Bubu Wang. Fourth-stage witches were notoriously troublesome.
Kay, as Westport’s second-in-command, was among the top-tier fourth-stage witches. Unfortunately, she was ill-suited for indoor combat. On an open field, even ten thousand soldiers couldn’t get close to her.
Su Xiao and his group were positioned in the middle of the first floor, while Kay and the remaining witches held the second-floor entrance. They had been forced back by Su Xiao’s relentless assault.
Kay snapped an arrow lodged in her shoulder and was about to peek out when a bullet flew straight at her face.
Her pupils contracted. The bullet halted inches from her, quickly melting into a pool of molten iron.
Though she hadn’t been shot in the head, the scare was severe. She glanced at the dozens of witches around her—their faces were deathly pale, clearly terrified out of their wits by the monster before them.
“Kay… ma’am, is that really a witch hunter?”
“Bullshit. If all witch hunters were monsters like this, the witch kingdom to the south would have been flattened long ago.”
Kay’s mood was far from pleasant. She wasn’t a warmonger among the witches. In her view, witches could coexist with humans—or at least avoid direct conflict.
Witches didn’t need to harm humans to survive. So in Kay’s mind, witches and humans could form a single empire, abandon war, and develop the continent’s resources.
Kay was an idealistic witch, but she didn’t understand human nature. When powerful individuals deviating from the norm appear among humans, fear drives the masses to ostracize those “anomalies.” It wasn’t about right or wrong—it was the root of conflict.
No one would willingly share a room with a stranger wielding a sharp weapon, especially without the restraint of law. And when that armed stranger wasn’t exactly friendly but rather volatile, the situation only worsened.
The siege had dragged on, and it was clear Su Xiao’s side held the advantage. The witches had no healing abilities—those belonged to White Witches, and in Westport’s atmosphere, kind-hearted White Witches wouldn’t stay long.
Behind the wall, Su Xiao stowed away D·Assassin and pulled out the Duke of Annihilation.
Boom!
A muffled blast rang out. A third-stage witch who had just tried to peek was blown apart by a single shot. The others quickly ducked back.
The gunfire had barely ceased when a variety of incarnations surged out from the second-floor entrance, a chaotic assortment.
Seeing this, Bubu Wang grinned from behind the wall. He pulled out over a dozen shotguns, tossed a few to Amu, and together, the dog and the ox, dual-wielding, blasted the charging incarnations.
Bang, bang, bang…
Diamond shards flew everywhere. The acrid smell of gunpowder spread. Screams erupted from the second-floor entrance as the incarnations slammed on the brakes and fled back inside.
“Damn it!”
Kay pried a diamond shard from her neck—a stray hit. The fragment had bounced three times before striking her. The wound wasn’t deep, but it was infuriating nonetheless.