Release that Witch

Anna nodded her head. She stretched the black flames out into a thin thread, and lightly pressed it against the crystal column.

The crowd of witches involuntarily held their breath; they only saw a continuous stream of green smoke rising from the point of contact. In actuality, that wasn’t the true color of the smoke, but instead a different color tone that emerged under the radiance of the green flame.

The black flames dug deeper into the crystal.

“How is it?” Tilly asked.

“It might be a little taxing, but I will be able to slice it open.” Anna replied.

Suddenly, the “ice coffin” began to change. Along with a crisp breaking sound, a few cracks appeared at the spot the black flames had dug into and began to extend throughout the coffin. In an instant, it had covered the entire coffin like a spider web. Almost at the same time, Shiva brought up the barrier and enveloped the witches within it.

However, the expected explosion did not happen. The shattered crystal fragments began to fall apart piece by piece, exposing a core that emitted cold air. The interior was a genuine ice crystal. At that instant, everyone felt a chilly wave hit them in their face, and the surrounding temperature rapidly decreased.

Fortunately, Anna quickly prevent the temperature from dropping further and raised it back to its original state.

Under the scorching heat of the black flames, the crystal began to melt even faster while it rapidly lost its transparency. The edges and corners that made up its shape was no longer apparent. Like an ordinary ice cube, it was shrinking as it melted. However, Tilly noticed that the floor wasn’t covered in a large pool of water. Instead, all the parts that had melted turned into smoke and drifted away, making it seem as if the “ice coffin” had never existed in the first place.

When all but a miniscule amount of the ice crystals had melted, the body of the girl who was sealed inside was uncovered.

She had seemingly remained in the midst of a deep sleep. Her long hair, as well as her garment, did not possess any traces of being soaked and were no different than the time she was sealed in ice. Her powerless body began to fall backwards after losing the support of the cylinder and was caught by Ashes’ embrace.

“Is she still alive?”

“Although it’s very weak, her heart hasn’t stopped beating.”Ashes pressed one of her hand onto the girl’s chest. “This…is just implausible.”

It was indeed implausible. Tilly thought. For the duration spanning this short week, she realized the incredible things she witnessed in Border Town were far greater than anything that she had seen within the past year. Tilly let off a small sigh of relief. Her identity was all but confirmed. Since she was someone that was capable of surviving within the extremely cold ice crystals. She was a witch.

The foray this time had, at long last, not been for naught.

As for her name, origin, and the reason she was trapped within these ruins, those questions could slowly be answered once they returned.

　　*******************

Andrea was guarding the side of the cave in a seemingly bored manner. Occasionally, she would cast a gaze towards the bottom, hoping that the first thing she saw was Tilly in the midst of returning.

There was no presence of devils near the cave and even demonic beasts were rarely seen. Occasionally, some common wolves and boar species would come out from the forest. But before she could even draw her bow, Nightingale had already stabbed her dagger into their head.

The passing of time had seemingly become slower. Apart from her, the witches that had remained near the cave were all from the witch association. Even if she wanted to, it was incapable for her to talk to someone to pass time. Although the girl named Wendy appeared to be extremely amiable, Andrea couldn’t find the resolve to strike a conversation with her.

As an upper class noble from the Kingdom of Dawn, grace and self-restraint were essential qualities a non-married woman should possess.

Forget it. I will chat with Nightingale instead. I heard that she recently fought with Ashes. Surprisingly, they fought to a stalemate. That being the case, if I treat it as gathering information about my rival, it shouldn’t be considered as striking the conversation.

Mhm, this is just a necessary job I have to accomplish.

She stretched her hand to pat away the snow that had collected on her head and looked up. Her heart however, abruptly skipped a beat—Nightingale was gone.

The woman who possessed golden curls and an air of elegance similar to that of a noble, was originally leaning against the side of the basket. However, she had now vanished without a trace.

Oh that’s right, her ability was invisibility.

Thinking up to this point, Andrea calmed her heart and and began to perceive any sounds of movement around her. When one’s sight was unable to be put into good use, their ears and nose would become their best assistant in ascertaining the whereabouts of an enemy.

Soon after, she heard the soft noises of footsteps brushing against something.

Is it Nightingale?

No, that’s not right. Andrea felt her hairs standing on end. It was obvious that these footsteps weren’t something a single person was capable of producing—There was a group of people that were currently approaching this place. They were in the jungles ahead of them, and were only a hundred steps away from herself! However, when she looked ahead, the place her eye landed on was still undisturbed. There wasn’t even a trace of shadow could be found…

The sound of the footsteps very quickly sounded in close proximity to her. My god, the enemy is invisible!

Just when she was about to alarm the others, a sound of explosion suddenly rang in her ears.

A flame suddenly appeared and disappeared in mid-air. Following after was a wave of shimmers in the air and a monster who possessed a peculiar physique appeared. It had a long and narrow head and possessed a pair of sharp sickles. From its appearance, it was like a mutated praying mantis. However, the only thing that made it different from other insects was that it was walking upright.

The bullet shot from the firearm smashed the side of its face into pieces. Black blood began to spurt out from its skull and had almost landed on Andrea’s body.

With a loud thud, the creature fell down to the ground. Following which, she saw Nightingale’s white cape and hood fluttering in the wind.

Following which, the second gunshot rang!

Damn it, I was careless! Andrea bit her lips tightly. She wished that she could had noticed it earlier.

Although she had summoned her bow, she was not aware of which direction she should have fired her arrows. She could only retreat back to the side of the basket and stand together with the other witches.

Four gunshots rang forth and four monsters toppled over, all of them killed with a shot each.

When Nightingale once again materialized herself beside a monster, Andrea put down her weapon and quickly walked towards Nightingale.

“What is that?”

“If it isn’t a demonic beast, then it should be a devil.” She crouched down and fiddled with its talons and hand sickles. “But judging from its blood color, it’s probably a demonic beast.”

“When did you discover them?”

“Ever since they appeared.” Nightingale smiled. “In the dense fog, the radiance coming from the magic in their bodies were as showy as the sea of stars in a night sky.”

“Can a demonic beast possess such an ability?” Andrea knitted her eyebrows and asked.

The smile that was on the other party disappeared. “Hmm…I guess it’s because mixed breed are somewhat special.”

At that moment, the witches that entered the depths of the cave earlier just so happened to return to the surface as well. Besides the original 7 members, there was also an additional blue-haired girl on Ashes shoulder as well.

“Is she the person that was crying for help in the ruins?” Andrea said while going forward to welcome them.

“That’s right.” Tilly nodded her head. “I will explain the situation in detail once we get back to the Hawk Eye. The longer I stay in this forest, the more uneasy I feel. That reminds me, did any of you encounter any dangerous situation on the surface?”

“Only a few strange and mixed-breed demonic beasts came. However, they’re all dead.” Nightingale lightly shrugged her shoulders.

The hot air balloon quickly inflated and rose up into the air. The basket rose to the very top of a tree and began to make its way towards the small town. At this moment, Sylvie cried out in alarm, “My god, what are those things below? Are they demonic beasts?”

“Demonic beasts?” Andrea extended her head and looked towards the directions of the ruins. However, she was unable to see anything.

That’s not right. There was indeed something moving on the surface. The corpse of the monster which originally laid on the ground had lost half of its body all of a sudden. The bloodstains that was on the ground had been trampled upon and fell apart. Strange worm wriggling movements could be seen between the border of the mud and snow. The scene was almost as if one was looking through a glass cup; if they didn’t examine carefully, it would be very difficult for them to spot the changes.

“It is those strange mixed breed species again.” Nightingale spoke in a careless manner. “There are probably about a hundred of them or so. They were trying to outdo each other in running towards the hole…Could it be that they were attracted by the large worm and wanted to make a hearty meal out of it?” She yawned. “Although, that has nothing to do with us anymore.”