Chapter 725
Chapter 725
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 725
Chapter Title: Party (6)
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-Shwaaaaa!!!
In the chilling downpour that quelled the heat of battle, Lydia wiped her cheek.
The barrier on the other side had shattered at the last moment.
As a result, the corridor was half-destroyed, every window shattered.
Lydia grumbled discontentedly as she gazed at the long sword marks etched into the wall dozens of meters away.
It was because the aftermath had stretched so far that part of the workshop was ruined, and because Rinne had fled with Si-woo.
At the final moment, Rinne had twisted her sword path to deflect the scythe, then unleashed a slash behind her that pulverized the protective barrier Lydia had placed on Si-woo, while simultaneously tearing through the other-side barrier and escaping.
"This is really pissing me off."
Rinne, covered head to toe in Lydia's Poison Moth, had charged in using some unidentified technique.
That intimidating aura that chilled her to the bone had made Lydia overreact.
It had her swing the Reaper's Scythe a bit too early, and not content with that, it forced her to divert some of the mana invested in her attack to defense.
Lydia had braced herself for something huge, only for the opponent, Rinne, to bolt away like a coward.
"My judgment call was off."
Lydia humbly admitted her mistake.
She hadn't consciously assumed it, but she had framed Rinne as someone who would never back down once in combat.
She never imagined Rinne would choose flight and rescue at that point, so her follow-up response had been slow.
And even after seeing Rinne call Si-woo 'my lord' and act all lovey-dovey, she'd overlooked it—a blunder with no excuse.
Even if she chased after them now, the odds of a successful pursuit were infinitesimally low.
Rinne was a witch specialized in solo operations and stealthy maneuvers.
The ability to erase the color of others' mana meant she could render her own magic colorless and odorless.
That's why, if she had stuck to assassination instead of frontal confrontations, she would have been rated twice as terrifying a witch as she was now.
And spreading rumors that Rinne, who had broken the rules, had fled would only hand the hardliners a golden opportunity.
The moment Rinne was caught, Si-woo's custody would likely fall into the hardliners' hands.
So Lydia chose to inform only a few trusted aides, spread out a search net, and return to the meeting for now.
If she slapped Rinne with a travel ban under the pretext of suspicious circumstances, escaping the city would be impossible. She was a rat in a trap.
"Besides..."
Lydia hadn't exactly let Rinne go unscathed.
The wedge was firmly in place.
Lydia issued swift orders and headed back to the meeting hall.
2.
It was obvious that the necklace artifact Si-woo was currently wearing—and Alice was also equipped with—was no ordinary item.
By the time Lydia returned to the meeting hall, Si-woo, left alone, had tried peering into the mirror several times, searching for a way to remove it, but no clear solution emerged.
And rightly so—this collar was something Lydia herself had developed to neutralize great witches and trade them.
Her witch slave business had run for quite some time, with no slaves escaping on their own, so it was safe to say Si-woo alone couldn't possibly unlock it.
The only way was the unique release code that Lydia personally provided to buyers, one corresponding one-to-one with each collar.
Of course, with the Evil Eye able to analyze any magic formula's structure, if they had enough time, Si-woo could point out the path and Rinne could assist from the side to remove it.
The problem was they didn't have that luxury.
The two were currently fleeing Almak Town.
"Are you alright?"
Si-woo, carried on Rinne's back, asked.
At the moment of their final clash, he'd seen the scythe lodge into Rinne's waist.
Was it an illusion?
Even with the Evil Eye functioning normally, he couldn't enhance his eyesight with mana, so fully perceiving such high-speed combat was difficult.
"No problem."
Rinne, cloaked in dense black mana to suppress her presence and moving stealthily, nodded.
Well, that made sense.
There was no blood flowing, her clothes weren't torn, and she moved without hindrance.
However, regardless of Rinne's injury status, Si-woo felt a strange sensation.
And he voiced it honestly.
"Thank you. I didn't expect you to go this far to save me."
The bold move of turning against Hexennacht for Si-woo's sake was shocking in itself.
But based on Si-woo's observations of Rinne so far, it was entirely plausible.
She charged headlong without regard for consequences when she wanted something.
But that final strike from Rinne had betrayed Si-woo's judgment.
Having closely watched their magical duel, Si-woo had seen the Path of the Asura.
Every step Rinne took up those long stairs extending before her had dramatically boosted her power.
And he'd clearly seen her hesitate at the final step, just short of the top.
He had no way of knowing the exact role or meaning of those stairs.
But he instinctively understood that Rinne, who would do anything for strength, had abandoned the challenge for his sake.
Even if he couldn't fathom why Rinne was going this far to save him, he felt he had to express gratitude for that part.
"It was necessary."
Rinne shook her head as if it were nothing...
But in truth, she felt a suffocating compulsion.
The Path of the Asura manifested in the black-and-white world forcibly drew out potential beyond what the user could normally access.
Rinne had broken through Lydia's Poison Moth with her body because she was certain that passing those stairs would restore the power she'd lost.
The Path of the Asura forcibly extracted all potential, after all.
But those stairs, growing precarious the higher they went, were no mere convenient buff technique.
For one, they couldn't be used anytime.
They were a self-imposed trial met only when facing an impossible foe.
When life hung by a thread.
And even using them didn't guarantee returns.
'Forcibly' drawing out potential meant it could lead to self-destruction.
The extremely induced talents and potential could shatter one's own body.
Even so, Rinne had welcomed the stairs' existence.
It was a path to surpass her limits and attain greater strength.
And she'd raced up to a level she'd never reached before.
One final step.
One more stride, and new heights of ascension and awakening might have awaited.
But Rinne stopped.
For the first time since becoming a witch, she abandoned her obsession for another's sake.
No matter the reason, the compulsion from her repeated lives wouldn't easily fade.
To liken Rinne's current feelings, she was like an adventurer turning away from the treasure chest they'd sought their whole life without opening it.
The white glow beckoning her from those stairs still flickered in her eyes, but she closed her throbbing eyelids for a moment and leaned back.
The two had temporarily holed up on the rooftop of a building in Arcana Town.
A derelict structure slated for demolition due to Hexennacht's rapidly changing urban redevelopment plans.
As the saying goes, the darkest place is under the lamp.
Rather than risk immediate pursuit by fleeing recklessly, Rinne had chosen to hop between several pre-scouted points, slipping into a safehouse safely over the course of a day or two.
It doubled as a short rest while removing Si-woo's collar.
-Click.
"It's off now."
"Thank you."
With Si-woo's Evil Eye directly viewing the collar's circuits and Rinne's ability to strip away magic's color, they safely removed the collar in just 30 minutes.
Gazing at Arcana Town's scenery beyond the half-broken railing, Si-woo and Rinne simultaneously felt certain.
"It's quieter than I expected."
"Looks like they're not searching openly, at least."
It had been quite the commotion.
If Lydia had gone all out, Arcana Town would be buzzing like a kicked beehive.
Yet the city's witches went about their daily lives unchanged, and even the Almak Club—the battlefield just an hour ago—still saw witches coming and going.
This meant Lydia was worried about political fallout and concealing the truth to preserve her own opportunities for gain.
"We can't go back to Fragrant Moon Tower... What now?"
"I have a safehouse prepared. I also smuggled out Two Witches and Red Spear. We'll watch the situation a bit longer, then move."
No sooner had Rinne finished than Si-woo spoke.
"For now, could we head to the Silent Witch's mansion?"
"..."
"There are people trapped inside her workshop."
The words came easily, but the idea wasn't born of easy thinking.
Maha, Manya, and Malisha, locked in Logi's mansion.
They'd been nagging at him.
"I checked Logi's workshop too. No one was there."
"I know the hidden location. I saw it conceal itself the moment we took Logi down."
"Moving near Fragrant Moon Tower now is dangerous."
"I know."
In truth, it bordered on forcing the issue.
But even Rinne had turned her back on Hexennacht.
With joining Dorothy, who controlled gateway magic, now uncertain.
This was their only chance to retrieve Manya, Malisha, and the unfortunate witch who had lost her apprentice to tragedy.
Only now, while Lydia pondered her next moves.
Si-woo had brainstormed various excuses to persuade Rinne while the collar was being removed.
Rescuing Manya and Malisha would secure Alice's genuine cooperation.
Heading toward Fragrant Moon Tower in this situation was actually an unpredictable move.
If those failed, he'd even promise to reveal the truth about mana amplification.
"I know it's a tough request. But hear me out first."
"We'll go."
"...Pardon?"
"We'll go to Logi's mansion, as you wish."
But all his prepared arguments became useless.
Rinne met Si-woo's eyes with a straightforward gaze, devoid of lies or ulterior motives, and nodded.
What on earth had happened in the meantime?
Si-woo, clueless about the circumstances, could only feel perplexed.