"What's going on?"
The current situation was indeed sowhat unexpected, and at this very mont, the flock of birds Loren had released earlier ca flying back. Two crows broke away from the group and, together with the initial one, began circling above Pastus, ready to continue their assault on him at any mont.
"Master ntor, is this an Anomaly or a Magical Beast?"
Pastus covered his eye, blood seeping between his fingers. His tone hadn't changed much;
given Pastus's experiences, this kind of injury was just a minor scuffle.
"I don't know..."
With this sudden turn of events, Loren's mind raced. He desperately searched his mories. Was there any crow-shaped Anomaly or Magical Beast that would actively attack people yet be so intimate with him...
"Master ntor, he is a Pseudohuman!"
The crow suddenly spoke. Crows could indeed mimic human speech, but speaking this fluently was rare.
One had traveled a great distance to save him and even brought an Anomaly to identify Pseudohumans. The other was a crow of unknown origin. Loren knew very well which one to trust.
Loren raised his gun. Seeing this, the crow grew frantic. The three crows suddenly landed beside Loren.
Their bodies rged together, finally transforming into a little girl of about five or six years old. She wore a white dress, her hair a rare gradient of blue and pink, and her eyes were purple. Her entire appearance was exceptionally colorful.
"Master ntor! I am a Witch! My Arcane Ability can identify Pseudohumans!
"He was normal when we first t, but now he has beco a Pseudohuman. I don't know how to make you believe . After all, he is the Pope, and I am just a crow.
"But it's very dangerous now. He's about to make his move. I had no choice but to tell you directly!"
The girl was desperate. Not only had she reverted to human form, but she had also exposed her identity as a Witch.
"She is a Witch! Master ntor! Let's kill her together!"
"I understand."
Loren drew Requiem and plucked its strings. By then, the girl had already closed her eyes.
In the next mont, a torrent of flas erupted forth. Sin-Burning Flas had a long wind-up and were difficult to land on a target, but if it was a sneak attack, that was a different story.
Pastus died without ever expecting Loren's attack to be aid at him, nor did he expect Loren to know fire magic. This also caused him to dodge too late, with half his body being swallowed by the flas.
The mont the girl appeared, Loren recognized her identity. She was precisely the Greed Witch that Loren had been wanting to find. Loren just hadn't expected her soul to be a crow, not the wolf from his mories.
She wasn't truly a little girl;
she simply didn't have enough soul here. Depending on the amount of soul gathered, she would manifest in different physical forms.
At the sa ti, the girl's attitude explained many things. Not only was she willing to reveal her Witch identity to Loren, but she also felt fear when Loren plucked Requiem's strings. Anyone with common sense wouldn't think of Requiem's correct usage, yet she knew.
This indicated that during this ti, the Greed Witch had been watching Loren from nearby, had deeply understood him, which was why she confessed to him and was willing to take the risk to save him.
"Why are you doing this?"
Half of Pastus's body was already charred. His sins weren't particularly heavy;
he had likely only killed Pastus and Clens, which was why he wasn't instantly killed by Sin-Burning Flas.
"Kill the Pseudohumans first! We'll deal with the Witch later!"
Loren issued the command to the surrounding Scarecrows. As for exposing his trump card, Loren had many ways to explain it away. At worst, he could claim it was a Magic Scroll.
It was at this mont that a group of Scarecrows suddenly moved, killing their own colleagues and smashing the Truth Mirror along with them. It turned out even among these Scarecrows, most were Pseudohumans.
They had even been controlling their positioning the whole ti, ensuring they could kill the living humans beside them at any mont.
"Hiding in plain sight, are we..."
Loren's expression was unprecedentedly grave. These Pseudohumans weren't scary;
what was terrifying was that they had managed to reach this point.
Pseudohumans weren't strong in combat. Logically, they shouldn't be able to replace soone of Clens's caliber, yet that was the fact. Not only had it replaced Clens, but it had also replaced Pastus in a short ti.
Right under Loren's nose.
"Gabriel..."
Loren thought of a terrifying possibility. Among the Pseudohumans, there weren't just elite individuals;
there were also False Gods.
Gabriel was a False God. Compared to the Orthodox Gods, it only lacked authority. So-called Pseudohumans were rely creations of Gabriel.
Loren had killed Orthodox Gods countless tis, but he had never killed Gabriel. Or rather, he wasn't sure if he had killed Gabriel. His understanding of Gabriel wasn't deep.
For these Pseudohumans to achieve this level, perhaps Gabriel's hand was behind it. It might even be that Gabriel itself was right before him.
But now wasn't the ti to think about this. He was surrounded by Pseudohumans, in danger, and likely already targeted by Gabriel.
Loren touched the Ninth-tier magic potion, Swan Song, hidden beneath his clothes. With this, he could guarantee he could kill Gabriel, or at least make it quiet down for a while.
"Why must you go through such trouble?"
Pastus shook his body. The recently charred parts instantly sloughed off, revealing the skin unique to Pseudohumans underneath.
At this mont, so of Loren's doubts were dispelled. Gabriel and Pseudohumans were fundantally different;
it couldn't possibly reveal such an ugly appearance. Perfection had always been synonymous with Gabriel.
"I'm curious why you've set your sights on ?"
Loren stuck to his old routine, secretly chanting a spell under the guise of casual conversation.
"Actually, we have a request for you, which is why we wanted to use this thod to get close to you."
"How about having Gabriel co be my maid? Maybe then I'd be gracious enough to help you."
As he spoke, the chant for the Fifth-tier magic, Crippling Tempest, was complete. Loren tucked the Greed Witch under one arm, waved Requiem with the other hand, and the tempest erupted forth.
Roots grew from Pastus's feet, anchoring him to the ground, but the other Pseudohumans weren't so lucky. They were all sent flying by the Crippling Tempest.
The strength of Crippling Tempest wasn't just simple repulsion, but its destructive power. The limbs of those sent flying had already been twisted and broken by the tempest. If they were normal people, they would have likely lost their combat ability, but they were Pseudohumans. Not long after landing, they stood up again in a grotesque posture.
Magic released through Requiem would also carry part of Requiem's effect. Although not as potent as a direct slash with the blade, it was enough to deal with these ordinary Pseudohumans.
"Hurry, change back into a crow!"
Once combat started, Loren didn't have much energy to spare for the Greed Witch. Even if her current body was torn apart, she wouldn't die, but the pain would be very real.
She was willing to take the risk to see Loren, so Loren wouldn't let her get hurt either.
"Hold on a little longer. The crows are all ford from my soul. The more souls gathered, the stronger I beco. All my souls from other places are on their way here."
"..."
She wouldn't die, but that was on the premise that there were still souls remaining elsewhere. If there weren't many souls left, recovery would be difficult for her. Yet she was willing to pay such a high price to help Loren.
All because she had seen how good Loren was to Witches.
The girl changed back into three crows, scattering in different directions. Pastus's attack followed closely.
Loren's intuition had long sensed the danger. Before the thorns could extend from the ground, Loren had already perford a back jump to evade.
And at that mont, Pastus himself charged forward. He could deceive the God of Bountiful Harvest and use Abundant Magic, but the combat effectiveness of Abundant Magic really wasn't great.
So he chose to fight with his body.
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