“An undying Forest Witch... a divination ga...”
After hearing Captain Luna’s explanation, Liufir’s little face turned pale.
She suddenly rembered what she had once read in the Adventurer’s Guide: the Forest Witch was a special kind of monster, its intelligence not inferior to humans, and its so-called divination ga was nothing but a killing tool!
A divination ga. Heh. A ga. Sounds lighthearted, fun, even pleasant.
But in truth, the ga was a thod the Forest Witch used to lure humans into misjudgnt, to lower their guard, to break the rules of the ga — and then trigger the Witch God’s death curse.
Think about it: a monster that cannot die, combined with a god’s punishnt attacks... isn’t that just a bug monster with no health bar and maxed-out attack power?!
Like in so so-called “fair 5v5 duel ga”: soone cos to solo you, you think all you’ll lose is a single round, but in fact what you lose is your life.
Absurd!
It forces you to wager your life for a ga, like Russian roulette.
And yet, there are always people who chase that damned thrill.
But.
What if your opponent not only hacks to lock their health at 1 but also spawns with six Infinity Blades? Aren’t you screwed from the start?
In such extre circumstances, even veteran adventurers had to be constantly on edge, terrified that a single wrong choice would doom the entire team.
The mbers of Fairy’s Wings all looked grim, yet none of them chose to give up or flee.
“Don’t be too afraid, everyone. The Forest Witch is strong, but she’s only seventh-rank. And her killing thod is singular. She has no physical attack at all — she relies solely on rule-triggered punishnt.”
Arc paused, then added in encouragent: “But we have two seventh-ranks here. Two against one. The advantage is ours!”
“Alright, alright, we all know you’re seventh-rank.”
Pus slanted him a glance, speaking lazily: “But against a monster with no health bar? Unless we can use rules to break her rules, or use our minds to outwit her rules, even if you were eighth-rank it wouldn’t matter.”
“Too bad our sharpest brain, Sister nesis, isn’t here. Otherwise this would be her specialty.” Kare butted in.
Arc bristled. “Are you saying our three heads together can’t beat one nesis? How do you know until you try?”
“You gonna use your head to try?” Pus muttered.
Kare nodded solemnly in agreent. Exactly — you try it with your head.
One head, one life.
At the doorway—
Luna was still locked in standoff with the Forest Witch. The air remained damp and cold, but sweat was beading faintly on her forehead.
Her greatsword glimred, coated with consecrated silver sword oil.
Across the long bloody history of human battles with monsters, humanity had distilled its failures into hard-earned knowledge and forged counterasures against each kind of monster.
Consecrated silver sword oil was one such counterasure: an expensive blade-oil produced by the Church itself, refined with holy water and demon-banishing stone, lethal against all creatures tainted with evil.
Just monts ago, Luna had tried a strike so fast it took less than 0.1 seconds from raise to withdraw: three slashes delivered to head, heart, and lower abdon — fatal points for ordinary humanoid monsters.
This was the Three-Fold Swallow Return, a complex sword art born of the longsword — yet Luna had managed to perform it with a greatsword nearly two ters long, and in a cramped place where such a weapon’s strength should have been hindered.
Even Vieya had to admit her swordsmanship was impressive.
Much better than that disappointing student of mine... And it’s not because I was a bad teacher. Absolutely not!
But none of it worked. Wounds that should have burned like fire against a vampire’s flesh closed instantly; the severed head regrew in the blink of an eye; even her torn clothes reford whole.
Only the three deep sword-marks left in the ground behind the witch proved the attack hadn’t been an illusion.
The Forest Witch seed not to notice at all. As if she were a giant unconcerned with the bite of an ant.
Leaning on her staff in one hand, holding a deck of divination cards in the other, her voice flowed smoothly:
“Guests, I will now explain the rules of the ga. Listen well.”
“What do we do? Luna-sis’s sword couldn’t even scratch her. Are we really going to play a ga with a monster?” Kare’s face collapsed like ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) a bitter lon. “We give up our best strength, a frontal fight, and instead compete with a monster inside its own rules? Isn’t that suicide?”
What to do... only the heavens knew.
Indeed, attacks could not kill the Forest Witch.
Luna gave up on direct combat, sheathing her sword and slowly backing away to clear the doorway.
Even if the witch hadn’t forced the ga to begin, this stalemate ant nothing.
The monster had all the ti in the world. They did not.
“Everyone, fall back inside...”
She motioned a retreat. But as soon as she took one step back, she felt sothing hard press against her waist.
“Don’t move~”
Vieya pressed a single finger against her, halting her retreat.
“...?”
“V-Vieya-sis!” Liufir cried, drawing everyone’s gaze.
“Miss Cleric?”
Luna looked down, baffled, at the little white potato pressing her. “What is it? You think my judgnt is wrong?”
“By the Light above.” Vieya casually drew a cross on her chest, her expression turning solemn. “Everyone, it’s already late. If we keep letting this witch stall us here... do you still want to rescue those two teammates?”
“Of course we do.” Kare was quick to echo.
“Then... in your view, Miss Cleric, do you have a better plan?” Luna asked.
“By the Light above, I’m not like the other clerics. Surely you’ve already seen as much.”
Vieya withdrew her finger from Luna’s waist, stepped lightly forward, and stood face-to-face with the Forest Witch, halting her slow advance.
“...I once had a rather unique adventure. Back then, I too encountered a Forest Witch.”
“You may not believe , but I once led a party. Sadly, mine was small — counting , only seven in total.”
“Vieya-sis...”
Liufir glanced at the witch, now frozen motionless, and then at Vieya standing less than three feet away from it. Nervously, she whispered:
“Then how did you beco a cleric? And... shouldn’t we stay away from that thing? It’s ugly and dangerous!!”
“Hey, don’t pull my clothes! What if you rip them? Will you pay for it?”
“I’ll pay!”
“Stop it. The witch’s only attack is death divination. She can’t hurt . Show so courage — everyone’s watching.”
“But do we really need to stand that close...”
Vieya caught Liufir’s restless little arm, then turned with confidence to the others.
“In any case, the Forest Witch’s ga has rules. Even without Authority, those rules can be broken — and victory is possible.”
With that, she opened her palm to reveal a familiar object: a deck of tarot cards well known among common folk.
“Huh? Weren’t those just in the witch’s hand?”
Yuancherin rubbed her eyes, staring at the witch’s now-empty palm, then realized: “So even clerics steal when they need to! Impressive technique... even I, the Thief Saint, couldn’t see you move!”
“Shut it.”
Thief Saint, my ass. The only Thief Saint I recognize is Bai Zhantang.
Vieya shot her a flat look, then went on: “As long as you accept the witch’s ga, you receive a degree of protection. For example— you’ll only die if you break the rules.”
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