Chapter 38: The White Witch's Shady Move
Behind the wall he was hiding behind, Su Xiao took two flashbangs from his storage space and tossed them to Bubu Wang. Bubu Wang understood immediately, blending into the environment and disappearing from sight.
"Amu, charge straight over when the time comes."
Su Xiao put away his firearms and once again gripped Dragon-Slashing Flash. While Bubu Wang infiltrated the enemy ranks, he tore open the clothing around the Hunter's abdomen. On the charred black skin of her lower stomach, he injected diluted Hashirama Cells—a substance he had already improved multiple times.
The Hunter's complexion gradually returned to normal. After testing her waist muscles, she nodded to Su Xiao, signaling she was fine.
*Bang!*
A blinding light erupted at the entrance to the second floor—this was the signal to attack.
White light flooded Kai's vision. She felt someone lift her up, and just as she was about to deal with the "attacker," she caught the familiar scent of the person and didn't resist.
When Kai's sight and hearing recovered, she found herself inside the castle's second floor. The wall in front of her rumbled with impacts, making her eardrums ache.
Kai looked around. There were only thirty witches left near her, half of them wounded. The worst-off witch had her throat slashed, blood gushing from between her fingers.
Below the entrance to the second floor, Su Xiao pulled the trigger of Duke of Annihilation. A blast echoed from the wall ten meters away. After two blunt strikes from earth-element projectiles, that wall wouldn't hold much longer.
Su Xiao had fought his way from the first floor to the second. During the Life Sacrifice, one had died—killed by a curse-system witch. Amu lay on the ground, covered in wounds, temporarily unable to fight. Bubu Wang had an elemental spike stuck in his rear, his eyes rolling back in pain.
"Mmph, mmph..."
A witch with her hands and feet bound and her mouth taped shut struggled desperately. Su Xiao glanced at her and immediately formed a plan.
"You bastards over there!"
A shout came from inside the second floor. Under the combined ranged fire of Su Xiao and the Hunter, the witches had been beaten into the shadows, afraid to show themselves.
"Get out of the castle now, or we'll kill your little lover!"
Hearing the witches' threat, Su Xiao raised an eyebrow, already guessing what was happening.
A few seconds later, Melody was pushed out from behind cover by the witches, her hands cuffed. Her face showed both helplessness and despair. She had emphasized many times that using her as a hostage was completely useless.
"Fine. Let her go, and I'll leave the castle right now."
As he spoke, Su Xiao pulled out over twenty alchemy bombs and stuffed them into the captured witch's clothing, hiding the bombs as best he could.
The captured witch's eyes widened. She knew something was wrong and struggled even harder. A dose of anesthetic toxin later, she quieted down.
Su Xiao's reply made Kai's lips curl into a smile, but Melody, the hostage, looked terrified. If crying wouldn't be too embarrassing, she would have already sobbed out loud. This wasn't about daring—she had always known Su Xiao wouldn't save her. The agreement between them was clear: being captured meant the cooperation was temporarily terminated.
"Listen to me. He won't change his plans because of my life or death. I'm not lying. You have to believe me. Hey, this time I'm really not lying..."
"..."
The witches behind Kai sneered coldly, while Su Xiao led Bubu Wang and Amu back toward the first floor.
"Lady Kai, they've retreated to the first floor."
"Good. You, you, and you—go check what's happening over there."
Under Kai's orders, a few witches headed toward the staircase connecting the second and first floors.
*BOOM!*
Flames instantly engulfed most of the castle's second floor. Melody, who had been farther from the bombs, was blasted away, crashing *thud* into the wall behind her and spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"I told you, your plan wouldn't work."
Melody was in agony all over. She crawled like a caterpillar into a wooden cabinet, curling her body up.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Kai waved her hand to disperse the thick smoke in front of her. An arrow shot toward her face. She blocked it, but a wave of cold air rushed at her.
*Pfft, pfft, pfft!*
Several sounds of blood splattering came from behind Kai. Just as she turned to help, a frozen warhammer smashed toward her head.
Su Xiao had used the Dragon Shadow Flash ability to penetrate the wall and close in on the witches. These already-wounded third-stage witches were easy prey once he got close. Only the injured fourth-stage witch could exchange a few blows with him, but after Su Xiao crushed a flashbang with his bare hand, she was killed.
Flashbangs were incredibly effective against witches, but unfortunately, the last one had been used. Though they were standard equipment, they weren't needed often.
Su Xiao glanced at the witch surrounded by floating metallic objects. This woman was strong and had extremely tough defenses. She had taken a direct shot from Duke of Annihilation without a scratch. Unless he used a sneak attack, breaking through her defense would be difficult.
Amu had already closed in on Kai. The frost clinging to Kai grew thicker. The Hunter occasionally fired arrows from a distance. The ugly Life Sacrifice kept healing Amu mouthful by mouthful. Despite his hideous appearance, the old man's healing ability was impeccable, rivaling a fourth-stage healer.
If Su Xiao joined the fight, he could finish Kai quickly, but he didn't. It wasn't out of pity or reluctance to kill the girl—it was because the Witch Queen, Morisha, had yet to show herself.
The Witch Queen, Morisha, was a fifth-stage witch. Third-stage witches could manifest avatars, fourth-stage could merge with their avatars, and fifth-stage could fully merge or transform their avatars into some kind of artifact.
Fifth-stage elemental witches transformed their avatars into artifacts—elemental weapons—allowing them to manipulate elements more recklessly. Curse-system witches fully merged with their avatars, which was a change in the nature of life itself.
Fifth-stage White Witches were interesting. Their avatars would become another self, turning one life into two. They looked identical, often calling each other twin sisters. The avatar was usually the older sister, awakening prophetic abilities, while the original body was the younger sister, with her original abilities enhanced dozens of times.
For example, if Melody advanced to fifth-stage, her original abilities would undergo a qualitative enhancement.
White Witches still seemed weak in combat, but they had a very abnormal ability: symbiosis. Killing only the original body or the avatar wasn't enough to truly kill them. The avatar could revive through the original body, and the original body could revive through the avatar, using a self-pregnancy method.
This shady move of giving birth to oneself made fifth-stage White Witches nearly impossible to kill individually. They had to be eliminated by destroying the original body first, then killing the avatar.
The Witch Queen, Morisha, was clearly not a White Witch. She was an elemental witch, said to be very powerful in combat, and other fifth-stage witches in the southern region were wary of her.
After a moment of hesitation, Su Xiao turned and rushed toward the upper floors of the castle. Amu, the Hunter, Bubu Wang, and the Life Sacrifice were more than enough to deal with Kai.
The fact that the Witch Queen, Morisha, hadn't appeared was too abnormal. Su Xiao didn't believe she was just waiting obediently upstairs.
The castle had four floors. As soon as Su Xiao reached the third floor, a wave of golden flame surged toward him. Seeing this golden flame, Su Xiao's hair stood on end. Though the color was different, he was certain—this was the flame of the sun, over 70% similar to Apollo's flames.