Chapter 147: Disaster
The heart of the Kaiser Continent.
There stood a colossal tower piercing the heavens.
At its pinnacle, a throne overlooking all.
This place existed solely for the witch Iris.
A pitch-black crystal orb lay before her, and through it she watched wraiths surge with malevolent energy.
The Death Knight Order.
A knightly order that had pledged unwavering loyalty to her for centuries.
Even someone as prickly as her couldn't help but ask with a touch of warmth.
“It's done?”
―Yes. The Northern Fortress has fallen, and Belitas has returned to the earth.
“Did you speak properly to the dragons?”
―We conveyed your orders exactly as commanded. They didn't seem fully convinced… but they weren't looking to make a big fuss.
“What could those fools do anyway.”
Iris replied with a cold laugh.
The massive organization she belonged to, the Eastern Witch Society, had its tendrils in countless dimensions. The Kaiser Continent was no exception.
One of the planets in the lowest-tier dimension. It had originally been classified as a “danger zone.”
The king of the orcs, Mutakta.
His power was off the charts for something born in a bottom-tier dimension.
Reaching out recklessly would require excessive manpower, ruining the cost-benefit ratio.
But things were different now.
Mutakta had vanished overnight. Once the Eastern Witch Society detected it, they dispatched her immediately.
It was like staking a claim in a new frontier.
One problem: she wasn't the only one deployed here.
The Dragon Legion.
They had sent a dragon as well.
The two organizations were evenly matched.
So were the witch and the ice dragon.
Fighting would hurt both sides, so they formed a loose pact. It had held up well so far.
No one stood to gain by breaking it.
‘But not anymore.’
Those brutish dragons wanted the territory regardless of whether its inhabitants lived or died.
The Witch Society, composed of refined witches, made its primary living by procuring corpses for experiments and harvesting byproducts. They'd reaped plenty of fresh ones here, offering generous tributes upward and racking up contribution points.
The higher-ups were surely watching her with approval.
But now, the corpses were drying up entirely. Keeping the pact would cost Iris dearly.
So she let the Northern Fortress crumble.
A deliberate act of slacking off.
The ice dragon knew it too.
But so what.
‘Continents with orcs are rare enough as it is.’
Orcs bred fast and littered the ground with bodies—perfect for corpse supply.
Having snagged this honey pot of a post, she had no intention of backing down easily.
And it wasn't even a huge conflict.
How many planets had the Witch Society and Dragon Legion reached for?
Up top or down below, it was all posturing and turf wars. Iris had just done the same.
North, west, south, east, and central.
Iris gazed at the five regions of the Kaiser Continent on the map and smiled faintly.
‘Let the orcs breed a bit… which means handing over the north and west.’
As for the ice dragon.
She could just tell it to freeze the south and east.
Promise to thaw them out again later, and it wouldn't revolt outright.
That would buy one more massive corpse tribute.
Promoting from apprentice witch to full-fledged witch wouldn't be a pipe dream.
“Hmm~”
She was humming happily when—
Rumble!
Pitch-black storm clouds gathered over the tower. A vortex of immense mana began to swirl.
Crack…!
The sky shattered like cracked glass.
“… Huh?”
Iris blurted out in a daze.
It was a phenomenon all too familiar to her.
A dimensional transfer.
She herself had torn through dimensions to arrive here just like that.
But…
‘What the hell?’
Mana concentrating enough to shatter the sky like glass?
That wasn't something an apprentice witch could pull off.
You needed to be a full witch for mana to converge like that during a transfer.
Soon after.
From the fractured sky emerged a figure astride a broomstick.
A smooth neck.
A normal creature would have one head attached. But this witch was different. Three heads crowned a single neck.
A gleaming emblem adorned her chest, shaped like a jet-black raven. Iris's eyes widened.
‘The Raven Faction?’
Among the Eastern Witch Society, only seven great witches existed. Those of Ananke's Raven Faction, led by the Raven Sovereign, wore such emblems. Not only a full witch, but one tied to the golden elite.
Iris couldn't fathom why such a being would visit this bottom-tier dimension.
Then.
The three heads fixed their gaze on Iris.
“I am Luruye, a full witch of the Eastern Witch Society, belonging to the Raven Faction.”
“Little witch, do you know where this is?”
“Who are you?”
A barrage of questions.
Iris bowed her head cautiously, unable to meet the three faces head-on.
“I am Iris, apprentice witch of the Eastern Witch Society. Dispatched to manage the Kaiser Continent.”
At that, Luruye's three heads glanced at each other.
“An apprentice? So this is a bottom-tier dimension?”
“Not our destination.”
“Let's ask.”
Soon, a raven popped out around Luruye.
Ananke's raven.
Personally raised by the great witch, one was assigned to each Raven Faction member.
Its role was simple.
To herald ill omens.
―Caw! Roll, thump! Roll, thump!
Just like now.
Luruye's heads spoke as the raven flapped and cried.
“Roll, thump?”
“Rolling sound?”
“Not coincidence. Something interfered?”
Her heads interpreted gravely.
“Who summoned us? The Dragon Legion?”
“No. Looks like they summoned a dragon too… so we don't know yet.”
“Either way, shifting dimensions again will take a month.”
Iris, watching Luruye warily, asked.
“Um, Lady Luruye.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you call?”
“Speak.”
“Th-that… the raven brought an ill omen. Is everything okay?”
Luruye's three heads chuckled.
“Tripping on the road is an ill omen.”
“A fated death is an ill omen.”
“It's all relative.”
“Ah…”
Iris scratched her head.
She knew ravens heralded omens but not the details.
Apparently, they squawked at anything big or small.
“So, what do you plan to do, if I may ask?”
That instant.
Luruye's six eyes rolled toward Iris.
“Little witch.”
“Speak.”
“Lately, weird shit's been happening everywhere, not a single exception.”
* * *
A sky shrouded in darkness, cracking open.
The trembling earth.
While orcs enjoyed it like a ride, the elves were different.
A murmuring crowd of elves.
Soon, one elf sprinted toward them.
Elise, guardian of the Mother Tree forest.
It felt like ages since last seeing her.
‘And it really has been.’
Nearly four months since re-entering this hidden gate. Thanks to her, he'd eaten divine food and taught alchemy to his skeletons easily.
Before he could express his delight, she spoke with a stiff expression.
“… It's similar.”
“What's similar?”
“Like hundreds of years ago, when the witch and ice dragon appeared. Darkness fell, sky split. That's the omen of disaster. And…”
Her eyes trembled as Elise continued.
“It's worse than back then. Not even close…”
“You saw it yourself?”
“… Yes. I was alive then too.”
A conversation that really drove home the elves' average lifespan. From it, he inferred one key fact.
‘The witch and ice dragon. Higher beings coming?’
Perfect timing—relevant info came to mind.
Cedric's pet dragon, Gleyfnir.
Wasn't the Dragon Legion or Eastern Witch Society involved in making it? If the witch and ice dragon belonged to those groups?
Higher beings visiting wasn't so strange.
He looked at the skeleton.
“Cedric. This related to those groups you mentioned last time?”
―Probably. Dimensional transfer phenomenon. How witches and dragons travel. Looks like both were summoned.
“Both?”
―Check above and below—the patterns differ.
As Cedric said.
The upper sky cracked like a spiderweb, while the lower sliced straight.
The guy really peeled back layers like an onion.
Witch and ice dragon.
From first gate entry, Cedric had recalled Eastern Witch Society, Dragon Legion, etc.
Obvious why he hadn't mentioned it.
‘Didn't want me dwelling on it then.’
Made sense.
Back then, facing a witch or dragon head-on was unthinkable. Low level, only curse and skeleton summon skills.
That was his style.
“Perfect.”
―Gonna catch 'em?”
“Damn right. Cedric, don't you wanna ride your pet dragon?”
―… Not a pet. A comrade-in-arms.
“So you don't wanna ride?”
―Of course… I do.
Cedric's eye sockets blazed with desire.
Fair enough—that true dragon form from the first raid was badass.
“Gotta catch it then. We're strong enough now. Right?”
―Hmm… yeah. That level of phenomenon suggests full witch tier. Dragon's no ancient either.
Elise, dazedly listening, asked.
“You're planning to catch both now?”
“That's the plan.”
“Last time, you talked about pitting them against each other…”
“No need anymore. As you know, Elise, I'm from another dimension.”
He explained to the stunned Elise.
Short version: cleared Northern Fortress, time froze here, got way stronger.
“Time froze here?”
“More or less.”
Anyway.
Why the super lucky guy exploded, dice paradoxically rolled 1s.
The unfolding situation finally clicked.
Upper witch and upper dragon came?
In other words, pet dragon materials delivered.
‘Gotta catch 'em.’
Unyielding procs by not bending to hardship.
What even was hardship?
Pitting witch and dragon against each other while spectating arms crossed? Not exactly hardship.
‘The real challenge is.’
Smashing them all outright.
That maximized unyielding procs.
‘Worst case, nuke 'em.’
Cedric’s reaction suggested that such an extreme measure would not be necessary.
Witch base: continent center.
Ice dragon base: continent south.
Here in the north, sweep downward for gate clear.
“All set. Urkan!”
―Chit! Big bro, you called?
“Off to catch a witch. You in?”
―Hell yeah!
Orcs swarmed from all sides, grinning innocently.