Chapter 630
Chapter 630
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 630
Chapter Title: Chapter 630 - #128_미궁
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 630
Chapter Title: Labyrinth
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First, I carefully drove back to the camp, doing my best not to wake my sleeping master.
The moment I stepped out of the jeep, I drew a ton of stares, which felt incredibly awkward.
Thankfully, no one came over to chat me up—they were all just focused on their own tasks.
Even among witches, plenty take naps.
But this was the mortal world, smack in the middle of a desert with exiles camped out just a hundred meters ahead.
No one had the nerve to sleep soundly amid all that, so they poked at the bonfires with twigs for no reason or read books to kill the idle time.
If the Labyrinth Demon showed up, my master would play judge as planned.
The rest of us would end up competing against all these witches gathered here.
"Eh, it'll work out somehow."
I wouldn't exactly brag about my confidence, but I wasn't so pessimistic as to think I'd be totally outmatched either.
I've put in the work and grown quite a bit, after all.
My master herself had acknowledged that a 20th Hierarchy archwitch would be no sweat for me, so I figured Della on our side and that 'Mercury Witch' over there might be my real competition.
Of course, the Labyrinth Demon's power was exactly what its name implied—creating a massive maze—so luck would play a part depending on how good you were at navigating labyrinths.
Anyway, I was keeping a moderate level of tension while mentally psyching myself up with "no problem here."
Then the actual problem cropped up from the most off-the-wall direction imaginable.
Dawn broke, the sun rose, everyone hunkered down in the shade to escape the scorching heat, and evening rolled around again.
Still, nothing changed.
By this point, murmurs started rippling through the witches who'd been on high alert, prepping for battle.
"Hasn't the time passed already?"
"Let's wait a bit longer. The prophecy was pretty vague on timing."
"It's not even night yet. It'll show if we hold out a little."
According to the prophecy, the Labyrinth Demon was due to appear sometime between evening and nightfall today.
But night came and went, midnight passed, and still no sign of it.
"You don't think those Defensive School bitches botched the interpretation?"
"Haa... Nothing ever goes right."
"Double-check the original prophecy."
A wait with a fuzzy deadline always gnaws at the nerves worse than one with none at all.
The witches who'd raced here all pumped up at the thought of hogging the rewards for themselves were now facing rivals out of nowhere, plus growing doubts about the prophecy. Irritation started bubbling up.
Getting to this godforsaken spot had already burned through a hefty opportunity cost.
With everything piling up and going sideways, tempers naturally flared on both the Gehenna side and the exile side, unrest stirring everywhere.
"I'm out."
"Never trusting a prophecy again."
In the end, once three days had blown past the prophesied date, about a third of them packed their bags and bailed.
Della was one of them.
She'd been hopping between Waypoint branches worldwide on a packed, grueling schedule, taking on homunculus subjugation gigs.
She knew sticking around was overkill on firepower, but she'd stayed purely to serve as a counterbalance. Now that Tiferet Duke had taken over that role, Della headed out to keep her next appointments.
"Sorry for dumping this hassle on you, Tiferet Duchess."
"No apologies needed. I had business here anyway. Leave the rest to me."
"Best of luck to you."
Della dipped her head in a quick bow, gave Si-woo a vague wave, and took off.
It wasn't like she had some grudge; she just plainly had no clue how to act around him.
That was Si-woo's take, knowing the full backstory. His master, though, seemed to find the whole exchange pretty odd.
"Did something happen between you two?"
"We had a falling out a while back."
"I see. But she didn't seem so standoffish the other day."
"Haha..."
Si-woo brushed it off to spare his master's feelings.
She cocked her head a little but accepted it and moved on.
"What about you? What's your plan?"
The situation was uncertain from the jump—would the Labyrinth Demon even show?
Si-woo had only stuck around for the debt payoff; there was no reason to linger now.
"If you're here, Master, then so am I."
Eloa couldn't easily pull away—not with the witches' safety on the line—and Si-woo had no better options.
"If this drags on another day or two, won't the other witches start packing up too?"
"You're probably right... but I feel bad holding you up for nothing."
"Holding me up? This is time spent with you, Master."
Unlike the day they'd arrived, there'd been no openings for Eloa and Si-woo to get intimate.
The Labyrinth Demon could pop up out of nowhere at any moment.
So they'd gone three straight days on edge, without even a proper break.
Even so, his words touched her. Grateful, Eloa squeezed his hand tight.
"Si-woo, would it be all right to kiss you now?"
"Master? What if someone sees..."
"It's fine. No one can spot us from here."
"If you insist—mmph!"
Sheltered in the jeep's shadow, the two shared a silent, tender kissing moment.
2.
Around that time, three wanted witches perched on a dune overlooking the camp.
Linne, the 'Sword Witch' from Clifford, who'd been conferring with Dorothy, Bianca, and Kleh.
Ea Sadalmelik, the 'Aquarius Witch,' who'd slain Bianca and sacrificed the Alkoriza family to her lotus to reclaim her power.
And Lilith, the 'Whisper Witch' who'd orchestrated the whole gathering.
Ea smoked with a chilling gaze, lost in thought as she refined her plans.
Her jet-black bob fell straight to her shoulders.
Her eyes were sharp as a raptor of prey, one cursed with a glowing red sheen.
In her black dress, tapping ash with a languid gesture, not a trace remained of the broken has-been witch who'd fallen so low she could barely function.
"Hmm... Guess this one's a bust, then?"
In her hand gleamed a single transparent lotus, sculpted like fragile glass, pulsing with a desperate crimson light.
It had once shimmered with beautiful prism rainbows, but after all the offerings piled on, it now spewed nothing but ominous streaks of blood-red glow—like it was saturated.
What a shame.
A bit more hard work from it, and reaching Duke Erilim's level might not have been a pipe dream.
Ea hadn't just regained her old strength.
Sacrificing Bianca's brand and ten thousand mob underlings had restored her to 21st Hierarchy.
She hadn't stopped there, pushing onward to pioneer the 22nd.
In truth, it wasn't all that shocking—before the reincarnation cocoon's toll had dropped her rank, she'd been on the cusp of 22nd already.
But this lotus was no ordinary trinket.
A miracle forged from grudge and unyielding obsession.
It transcended standard artifacts and even holy relics—current Ea herself couldn't fully gauge its potential.
Just feeding it a few hundred small-fry witches and five archwitches had let her breeze past the 23rd Hierarchy wall, one she'd thought insurmountable in her lifetime.
Not that it was solely the lotus's doing, of course.
The mortal realm's chaos, Keter's absence, and the Whisper Witch's aid had created a golden opportunity.
It was the Whisper Witch who'd reached out once Ea clawed back some power.
Lilith was utterly untrustworthy, sure—but she'd survived over a millennium, earning countless grudges, thanks to her mastery of concealment and deception.
With her help, Ea had smashed five Waypoint branches and hunted witches hiding across the mortal world without ever getting snared in a real pursuit net.
Even Keter—who would've mobilized to smite such reckless human sacrifices before—was absent, letting Ea rampage freely.
"So, what's your take? Still planning to wait it out?"
Ea lounged under the shade cloth, while Lilith cozied up beside her.
Annoyingly, she'd copied Bianca's looks down to the last detail—even the little habits and speech patterns were spot-on, which twisted Ea's guts sometimes.
"Keep stirring up shit like that, and something good might drop in your lap while you sleep?"
"What're you on about? I laid the whole table for you. Not ready to grab a spoon yet? At this rate, the prey's gonna scatter."
Ea scanned the camp again at Lilith's words.
This whole setup was Lilith's handiwork, start to finish.
Decode the prophecy ahead of everyone, claim the Labyrinth Demon subjugation.
Monopolize its innate magic 'Labyrinth'—the spell granting free deployment of maze-like complex sub-barriers.
Spread a fake prophecy to lure witches into one spot.
Then trap the suckers who'd bitten the bait inside the labyrinth and pick them off one by one. A devilishly solid plan.
Ea's biggest headache lately was running low on prey.
Her and all the other wanted criminals and exiles on the loose had scared unlicensed witches into hiding deeper, while the licensed ones barricaded themselves in Gehenna.
But this scheme let her gather dozens in one place—and take them down piecemeal.
Witches trekking out to this barren wasteland for a subjugation were predictable in level, so it even had stability going for it.
That's why Ea and Linne—who sat nearby, caressing her sword with a murderous glare—had tagged along willingly.
"A table, huh..."
But it was a pretty apple with no shine inside.
At least once Tiferet Duchess joined the party, that much was clear.
"Tiferet's down there—the one who made your life hell. Fresh power in hand; how about a revenge arc? Or her little disciple next to her. First male witch ever? That'd be a juicy haul."
Tiferet was the vile bitch who'd hunted Ea like a dog for her apprentice witch's vengeance.
And Gehenna's first male witch, Shin Si-woo, was the bastard who'd raped her and ripped apart her loom.
Now Ea Sadalmelik wielded more power than ever.
With chew toys she could devour a dozen times over right in front of her, desire burned hot.
How could the sweet fruit of revenge—not dripping honey right before her eyes—fail to tempt?
"Tiferet's Linne's problem anyway. You just handle the disciple. Rig the labyrinth, and it's a cinch, right? Linne?"
"......"
But setups like this didn't suit a 'hunter' like Ea Sadalmelik.
Ea smirked and shook off the distractions.
She rose casually from her chair, slung her travel bag over her shoulder, and turned her back on Lilith.
"I'm outta here. Have fun at the party without me."
"What the hell?"
"Huh? I thought I said it clear. You guys enjoy; I'm bouncing."
"This breaks our deal. You know whose help let you run wild this long?"
"That's exactly why I'm not killing you right now."
She glanced back. Lilith—looking just like that Bianca cunt—stood there, face rigid.
"Whisper Witch. Old tales bore me to death, but I've heard plenty of your dusty ones—and seen some up close. Every witch who tangles with you gets royally screwed in the end.
Didn't get it before, but working with you? Crystal clear now."
Lilith was a schemer who sent chills down the spine.
Her backing alone turned every job from trudging on foot to clinging to a speeding train.
Those witches duped by her ploys weren't idiots.
They'd just missed the jump-off point, lured by the siren sweetness of her whispers.
Though the tracks ahead invariably dropped into a severed cliff.
"But at the critical moment, you always pull some rotten trick. That's what I figure this is."
The instant Ea's words ended, Lilith flashed a beaming smile.
"I thought we made great partners... Guess we differ there."
Her flustered act evaporated; the beaming grin felt paradoxically devoid of any real emotion.
"Someday I'll kill you myself, Miss Secretive Lilith."
Ea flipped off the sneering Lilith—who acted like even this reaction was part of the script—and turned away.
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