I Became a Witch and Started an Industrial Revolution

The competition among the races on the Main Continent was extremely fierce.

What allowed humans to stand out was their powerful adaptability and ability to learn.

In the past, they were not strong.

Although magicians possessed formidable long-range attack abilities, their defenses were pitifully weak.

Once they were rushed by beastfolk, who had extremely strong magic resistance, it would turn into a brutal massacre.

For this reason, they spared no effort to copy the elves, learning their dual cultivation system of magic and martial arts, as well as the goblins’ mechanical engineering.

Every kingdom and empire, once they detected advanced magical talent in a newborn, would begin training and cultivating them from an early age. By the time they reached adulthood, each of them would become adept in both magic and martial combat.

The use of high-powered long-range magic, on the other hand, was entrusted to advanced magitech constructs.

These constructs perfectly overcame the weakness of magicians in close combat, enabling them to cooperate and form well-structured tactical systems.

They engaged in bloody close combat with the beastfolk, studied professional systems from the elves’ magic-martial dual cultivation, competed with goblins and dwarves in forging and inscription technologies, and exchanged bombardments with the demon race’s elemental magic through constructs.

This was the true source of their inner pride and contempt toward the humans of the Subcontinent.

They possessed the ability to refine and precisely wield magic, rather than the crude, meaningless way of hurling spells.

The difference in foundation made it hard for them not to consider those magicians who sought only long-range bombardments as idiots.

Anyone with sense could see they had never been beaten bloody by beastfolk or goblins.

So when Mitia skillfully, rather than through brute force, flipped over the burly man and even followed up with punches and kicks, he felt that being blasted to death by her magic would have been more comfortable than this.

“Don’t say useless things. Let me see your strength—come at me together~”

At her words, the brown-haired man did not get angry.

Exchanging a glance with the burly man, the two positioned themselves diagonally opposite, magic surging through their bodies.

Magical armor covered them entirely as they closed in on Mitia.

Mitia only raised her brows slightly at the sight.

The elements in her hands condensed with a sharp ‘ka-ka’ sound, growing increasingly solid.

Elemental crystallization was a sign of highly condensed and compressed elements.

It could be used both for defense and attack, and since it contained its own energy, it could even locally generate magical strikes.

This required an extremely strong level of control over the elements, such that they could be commanded and directed even outside the body.

Ordinary magicians could not even dream of this—it was practically an ability unique to witches, and very few from other races could achieve it.

The red-and-blue glow beneath Mitia’s feet indicated that her transformed primary elements were fire and ice (water altered into ice). If they did not fight her in close combat, they truly lacked the confidence to contend with her at long range.

The brown-haired man struck first.

After a quick, curt chant, a fire dragon roared and shot toward Mitia.

She blocked with her left hand wrapped in red crystal, which swiftly absorbed the searing flames.

Using the dragon’s body as cover, Mitia pushed off the ground and charged at him.

On her right hand, an icy crystal gauntlet formed, emanating a chilling aura as she swung at him.

Having endured one punch already, the man understood its power.

He stabbed his staff into the ground, conjuring a violent flame storm before him while simultaneously thrusting the sharp end of the staff toward Mitia.

The two-pronged attack forced her to retreat.

Landing, she immediately lowered her stance and leapt sideways.

As expected, the burly man seized this moment to ambush her.

She dodged his crushing strike and enlarged the crystallization of her left hand to smash downward.

The burly man raised his crossed arms, summoning layers of rock to block the attack, then swiped her fiery kick away from his chest.

As her leg was pushed aside, Mitia spun, supporting herself on the other leg, and unleashed a whirling kick.

Using the momentum, she added a burst of power, and flames erupted from her boot, blasting toward the burly man’s abdomen.

“Ugh...”

Energy attacks were incredibly fast.

The brief stiffness in his defense caused his arms to falter for a moment, and her sharp-toed boot slammed into his abdomen.

Energy and physical force combined—his abdominal armor shattered, and his massive body, weighing hundreds of pounds, was sent flying.

【Holy Flame!】

A golden-glowing magical projectile shot at her from behind.

She raised her hand to block, intending to use the same method as before—swallowing it with an even hotter flame.

But this time, she could not absorb it and could only swat it away with her palm. At that moment, the burly man rose again, and he and the brown-haired man charged from both sides.

Mitia’s crystallized gauntlets shifted into longswords, parrying left and right.

Planting her left sword into the ground, she used it as leverage to pivot, leaping into the air and evading several Holy Flame projectiles fired by the man in front.

With her right sword, she slashed downward at the charging burly man.

When he blocked, she delivered a midair kick to push him back, then used the rebound force to spin around, thrusting straight at the brown-haired man behind. Her sword knocked away his staff.

Sensing the burly man leaping again, Mitia twisted midair, landing to face him directly.

But another magical fluctuation surged from behind.

Wolves in front, tigers behind—yet Mitia remained unusually calm.

A mass of ice crystals formed behind her, enduring another Holy Flame projectile.

Using the blast’s recoil, she kicked the burly man away, then turned back toward the brown-haired man, preparing to strike.

【Divine Art! Where light shines, all is sacred ground!】

【Holy Word: Spear of Judgment!】

From the sky, a golden ray descended onto the ground. Mitia instinctively raised an ice wall for defense and kicked back, propelling herself away.

The ice wall froze halfway as if caught in suspension, a spear of light grazing past it and blasting into the ground, leaving a crater dozens of meters wide.

Sunlight in that area refracted elsewhere, making the corner of Mitia’s eye twitch.

The golden light dimmed after a second, and the ice wall stirred, pushing upward. Two seconds later, it vanished completely, and the wall surged up again.

It was obvious that the illuminated space had been frozen in time like amber.

The magic circuit of the ice wall had not been disrupted, which meant this spell stagnated time itself.

“Damn it all...”

Mitia’s gaze at the brown-haired youth now carried killing intent.

The air temperature around her soared, and masses of crystallized fire elements rained down with a hiss.

A fiery tongue shot out before her, expanding rapidly as it absorbed the falling crystals, turning into a massive crystalline dragon that slammed into the youth’s shield.

As he reinforced his shield with his staff, Mitia followed the crystalline path, closing the distance instantly. With a heavy swing, she punched him flying.

“In the Subcontinent, I do not allow such arrogance to exist.”

The man was struck so hard he flew like a golf ball, crashing into a mountain and bursting out the other side.

Mitia leapt onto the crystalline trail to chase him.

Her gauntlet morphed into a sharp crystalline sword tip, smashing through his shield and striking his abdomen.

Her crystal sword shattered upon breaking the shield, but her fist hammered into his stomach, piercing through his magical armor at a single point. His face turned suddenly ashen.

“Urgh...”

Just as she prepared to swing her left sword to sever his head, the burly man barreled into her, knocking her away and ruining the chance.

Landing hard, Mitia scowled at the burly man’s rapidly regenerating earth-element armor.

Useless—slow to react, low attack power, but annoyingly resilient.