Chapter 701
Chapter 701
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 701
Chapter Title: Silence Witch
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Si-woo had a wealth of combat experience.
Separate from his boiling rage, the actions he took were unswayed by emotion—concise and swift.
In an instant, his physical abilities ramped up to full combat readiness.
Through his battle vision, which unfolded with deliberate slowness, the sequence of movements played out like slow motion.
-CRASH-
First, from his seated position, he stomped down with a grounded step and pitched his upper body forward over the table like a predator lunging.
In any martial art, the alpha and omega—the crucial pivot—is loading your weight into the motion.
And Si-woo, who had attained the pinnacle of footwork mastery, could unleash his full power in a single strike even from a seated stance.
For maximum speed, he kept his armament minimal.
Manifesting only the black gauntlets of his armor, he swung.
The instant his gaze locked with Rozhi's eyes—which had flicked up in faint surprise amid her exuberant chatter—
his fist sank into her face like plunging into soft mud.
Autonomous Defense Activated
Green Barrier Shattered
At that moment, Rozhi's instincts sensed the hostility and triggered her autonomous defense.
Green mana spread thinly along her cheek.
A barrier like snake scales tried to repel the attack.
But a spirit-enhanced punch, transcending human limits and amplified by mana, couldn't be stopped by mere autonomous defense.
The black gauntlet pulverized the serpentine scales and pressed on.
Cheekbone Shattered
Cervical Vertebrae Fractured – Eyes Burst
Her cheekbone crumpled. Blood vessels in her eyes ruptured in unison.
Rozhi's head whipped around at an impossible angle as her bones snapped.
The crunch of her shattering vertebrae drowned in the crash of impact.
Her body followed her head a half-beat later, twisting from the shock and lifting into the air.
-CRASH-
She demolished the sofa as she hurtled away, bounced off the floor like a skipped stone, and buried herself in a heap of dolls in the corner of the playroom.
That was when the elongated time snapped back to normal.
By then, Si-woo's entire body was encased in black armor.
"Huu."
Si-woo steadied his breath and drew his spear.
Even a witch couldn't survive her neck twisting 270 degrees, vital nerves destroyed.
Still, he geared up for battle to deliver the killing confirmation—just in case.
Even after such a perfect ambush, the nagging doubt 'This easily?' wouldn't leave his mind.
For witches, the workshop was both a research haven and their most favorable battlefield.
That was only natural.
It was their final stronghold to defend—a sanctuary.
Typically laced with myriad magical traps and intricate pre-set spells.
This one hinted Rozhi could unleash 20th Hierarchy power or beyond.
As if rising to meet Si-woo's expectations—
Rozhi stirred amid the doll pile and rose.
Si-woo, poised to follow up before she could recover, faltered.
"Aya ya ya..."
Her neck was still grotesquely twisted as she groaned.
Per Alice, the Silence Witch ranked 20th Hierarchy, specializing in curses.
No further details known.
Wary before such an unnatural sight? Inevitable.
Dummy? Doll? Trap?
As Si-woo weighed the possibilities—
-CRUNCH-
"What the hell was that? Hurts like a bitch."
Her half-swiveled face whipped fully forward.
Moments ago, her eye socket had caved, eyeball on the verge of popping.
Now, scowling though she was, she licked her nosebleed with a perfectly intact face.
"Tantrum 'cause you lost the game? You know the rules here? Huh?"
She cocked her head, working her tongue inside her mouth.
"Ah, shit... lost a tooth. Ptoo!"
A white shard of shattered tooth tumbled across the floor amid a bloody mist.
Rozhi glared at Si-woo with evident displeasure.
Her utterly clueless victim act only deepened his revulsion.
"......"
Si-woo had no desire for further words.
They'd talked plenty.
She was an irredeemable monster. Fact.
Regeneration or not, lop off her head or smash her brand—she'd stay dead.
Closing this range? One step.
His body became a black spike, cleaving across the playroom.
-BOOM!!!-
Sound Barrier Breached – Blocked by Green Miasma
His supersonic spear strike halted by green vapor bursting from the playroom walls.
"Why so mad? Least tell me why."
The spear whipped again.
Green vapor from the playroom, unyielding.
Each heavy impact spawned a solid partition, nullifying every follow-up.
Even amid roars that shredded the eardrums, Rozhi kept prattling.
"Mad I teased you while changing?"
-BANG!-
"Or legit pissed about losing the game?"
-BANG!-
"Ahh... or the Pina thing?"
Repeating her self-Q&A, Rozhi mustered a pitiful pout.
"Thought we could've been pals... You're ace at position board, and guys are all lust-crazed pervs anyway."
Tsking her tongue, she summoned mana. A sub-barrier unfurled, perfectly tailored to the playroom's confines.
Fog swiftly filled the entire space.
Its murky hue evoked a neglected fish tank choked with green algae and dead fish.
The childish playroom motifs clashed grotesquely with the tint.
"Well, whatever. Things escalated. Can't help it. Won't even answer."
Her sullen mask sloughed off. A manic giggle took its place.
Same smile, darker timbre.
A viscous leer thick with venomous ill will.
"Just checking out of kindness—but you ready to own this? Everyone treats me like dogshit anyway."
"Pierce."
"Fine, whatever. Not hating this game."
Her turf, sure—but so cramped.
Ideal for Si-woo's close-quarters expertise.
Ignoring her cackle, he activated the Angel's Ring.
Angel's Ring
Massive Mana Surge – Overwhelming Output
-Whirrrrr!
A black halo spun furiously overhead, devouring vast mana.
Power dwarfing any average great witch coursed through him.
Rozhi, unfazed, burst into song with gleeful fervor.
"Fun and frolic! Dance away! Then freeze right there! Guwek!"
⟨ Curse Bind ⟩
Swaying her hips and clapping the beat—
his spear ripped through the vapor wall, spearing her exposed neck and hurling her end-to-end like a home-run slugger's crack.
Exaggerated as a comic book panel.
She ricocheted off floors and walls like a rubber ball at impossible speeds, spraying gore.
Si-woo was certain.
Effective hit this time.
Undefended against that force—even Rinne wouldn't endure.
Yet—
up she popped, mocking the notion.
Despite the bladeless shaft's brutal impact, her shredded neck rewound and mended.
"Hahaha! That really hurt! You're packing some serious power!"
Her psychopathic cackle cut short.
"But you cheated again. I said freeze—no dancing."
Utterly unserious.
More new game than fight.
"Games need rules. You broke 'em—penalty's the weakness, disable, depletion triple threat."
Si-woo felt the alien energy coiling around him.
Like the ring clamping shut, meshing tight.
Eerily like when his master bestowed the contract spell long ago.
Save that this was a curse.
Even without sustaining the Angel's Ring, his spirit mana hemorrhaged.
His vibrant flesh turned leaden as a sickbed patient's.
The armor's weight—usually imperceptible—now crushed him anew.
"How's that? Still mobile?"
"......"
Si-woo had a rough grasp of curses.
From skimming Trinity Academy library shelves.
Curses were inherently ill-suited for battle.
Finicky rituals, sacrifices required—and even then, effects rarely instant.
So how to parse this immediate strike?
Key to curses: the 'rule'—they trigger only on specific preconditions.
Rozhi had folded curses into her "games."
Like penalizing Si-woo for moving when told to hold—like shoehorning laborious prerequisites into capricious dictates.
Obvious what fueled her "play."
Straightforward symbolism of magical frameworks.
This playroom served as her rigged host map.
He pieced intel bit by bit.
Never banked on easy.
"Escalated this far... Rinne can't gripe if I add you to my collection. Blessing in disguise?"
Rozhi flung her arms wide.
-Grrrrr—
A lung-rattling bass growl heralded beastly silhouettes flanking her.
Skeletal green hounds, ribs stark from starvation.
"Hide-and-seek next?"
Dozens strong, they scattered every which way—enough to blacken the playroom.
"Dinner time, pups. Starving, huh?"
Drool-lipped maws fixed on prey—these were Dog Gu, a solitary curse breed.
Bury 'em head-out, immobile.
Dangle food nose-close. Let starvation and bloodlust twist 'em till death.
Rozhi revives 'em as man-eating fiends.
But their terror wasn't fangs or claws.
Impure rites wire-shut eyelids on rabid brains bloated with curse payloads.
His observed style.
Inferring from Tiferet Duke and Rinne claiming her as disciple—Rozhi specialized in close combat.
Engaging Dog Gu up close? You'd drown in near-lethal curses.
Witches' mana-rich spirits held baseline curse resistance humans lacked—but stack it ten, twenty times?
Even bare weakness curses could stop the heart.
His fatal error? Charging into her playroom blind.
Smirking confidently, Rozhi proclaimed:
"Puppetize for me, and next I'll let you ravage Pina before Mama. Filthy hypocrite."
But.
Si-woo had foreseen every ploy.
"No next time."
He shed the now-superfluous armor.
No minding the Red Branch's 30%+ mana drain and compute load.
All available mana poured into spellcraft for the magic duel.
Great Witch Formula
Ribbons & Golden Runes – Laws Defied
-Whirrrrrr!!!!
Billowing ribbons rose, etched with resplendent golden spellwork.
Air quaked, near-shattering, from great witch mana warping logic and flouting reality's laws.
Switching styles mid-fight? As perilous as a righty drawing left-handed.
Trial, error, risk aplenty.
But Si-woo had prime precedent.
The Black Knight overwhelming Bianca via pure spellcraft, forgoing physique.
His unconscious new self.
"You're dying here today."