Chapter 214: Inviting the Wolf into the House
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 214: Inviting the Wolf into the House
"It's Tan Han! Hahaha! Good! Excellent! Everyone is here! I didn't expect it to be this easy to lure you all in. It truly is a gift fallen right into our laps! Now, all of you—die!"
"We finally caught the big fish, hehehe!"
Voices erupted from the mouths of the undead, a chaotic and overlapping cacophony. Tan Han’s arrival hadn't frightened them; instead, it seemed to have whetted their appetites.
Such confidence. If it was based solely on the alliance of multiple academies and the hope of winning a war of attrition with an endless sea of skeletons, I could only laugh at their stupidity.
But if they had a trump card or some hidden trick...
Why weren't they playing it yet?
"Heavens... there are so many of them..."
"I can see a massive Undead Awakening Ritual at work here. It’s being synchronized with that bell-ringing sound to produce this effect."
I offered a brief description, hoping to put Minian—who had arrived with Tan Han—at ease. However, my words only seemed to make her more frantic.
"Even after we smash these skeletons, their frames pull themselves back together. Is that also an effect of the necromancy ritual?" Tan Han asked, unable to help herself as she helped clear the undead closing in on the Witch Tea Party.
"These don't really count as individual undead; they're too weak. You shouldn't view each skeleton as a whole, but rather see the entire mass of usable bones as a single entity. The ritual's effect is to assemble them into complete or semi-complete forms that march toward the target and attack."
I conjured a spell as I spoke. Once my Floating Series spells were unleashed, a massive swath of the undead was suppressed, allowing Tan Han and the others to breathe a sigh of relief.
"You're right. Individually, they really are too weak," Tan Han agreed, nodding. After seeing my methods, she turned to me. "Any ideas?"
"None. Just the blunt way: kill all those guys from the Necromancy Academy who are hiding."
"I see... Can you do it?" Tan Han nodded, her tone filled with expectation rather than doubt.
"I should be able to... If you think you can handle the pressure of facing so many academies at once, I'll give it a shot," I said.
"Naturally, there's no pressure," Tan Han murmured to herself, provided they didn't account for the drain on her mana.
If one ignored the constantly resurrecting undead, the Lesser Demons from the Lesser Demon Academy and the Little Demons from the Lesser Demon Academy were also incredibly annoying.
Then there were the Fallen from the Fallen Academy, the Undying from the Undying Academy, and the undead walkers they controlled. These high-end combatants would wait for the girls to be exhausted by the fodder before delivering a fatal blow!
"Hahaha! You think you can find me? Who do you think you—argh!"
The student from the Necromancy Academy, speaking through the fodder undead, didn't even get to finish his sentence. I was already on my broom, flying toward a spot I had been eyeing for a long time.
Upon arrival, I didn't hesitate to blast the area with a Fireball Spell.
As the guy let out a final wail, a significant portion of the undead sea showed signs of losing control, echoing his scream.
If the consciousness of the Lesser Demons from the Lesser Demon Academy were as sane as a normal person's, they would have screamed at that idiot that their opponent possessed Innate Spirit Vision. This wasn't a secret within the Lesser Demon Academy. They didn't care about the madness associated with Innate Spirit Vision; in fact, they craved it. Regardless of whether the host was a lunatic, they welcomed them to "merge" into the Lesser Demon family and be reborn into this world as one of their own!
Since those with Innate Spirit Vision couldn't actively acquire transcendent power, the Lesser Demons helped them acquire it passively. The price was losing one's self, but for a madman who lacked even self-awareness, what did such a side effect matter?
If the Threshold of Madness was a hurdle in Spirit Vision that, once crossed, revealed a whole new world, then those with Innate Spirit Vision were the poor souls trapped behind that hurdle. Spirit Vision was a blessing bestowed by the Main World, while the Threshold of Madness was the barrier that appeared to stop individuals from abusing that blessing.
This was the most mainstream theory regarding the plight of those with Innate Spirit Vision.
Many transcendent academies, including the Witch Academy, had conducted research on Innate Spirit Vision, but in the end, nothing came of it.
The Lesser Demon Academy's use of such individuals was referred to as "waste reclamation"—a desperate measure in its own right.
The Lesser Demons fighting here were merely newborn recruits, birthed from the bodies of madmen with Innate Spirit Vision that the academy had scoured from across the worlds.
The more powerful a Lesser Demon became, the more it moved away from low-level chaos and madness, beginning to think and follow orders. The Lesser Demon Academy believed that Lesser Demons born from Innate Spirit Vision hosts would eventually do the same, but it was a long process.
To make these newborns fit for the exchange competition, the academy's higher-ups had made modifications, turning them into semi-undead that followed the commands of the Necromancy Academy. It didn't matter if the Lesser Demons were mad; as long as they followed orders, they would stay quiet.
As for whether handing such matters over to other academies was too absurd?
Not at all. Whether it was the Necromancy, Lesser Demon, or Demon Academies, the shadow behind their establishment was always the same: the shadow of the Abyssal Demons. It was the Abyssal force that watched greedily from outside the Main World, dreaming of becoming its fifth transcendent race.
It didn't matter which academy the "students" were handed to; it was just a game of moving things from the left hand to the right. Besides, in the eyes of these academies, were they really students?
Hardly. The Abyssal Demon race had no concept of an "academy"—they were the embodiment of chaos and disorder!
Though the Lesser Demons couldn't scream the truth, they could relay feedback. After all, they were fundamentally under the command of the necromancers.
"Damn it, that girl has Innate Spirit Vision! She can see the links between us and the undead!"
"Innate Spirit Vision? Isn't that for lunatics?"
"How should I know? Witches are all crazy anyway. Just protect yourself—"
I couldn't hear their whispered conversation, but it wouldn't have mattered if I did. Did they really think being cautious would keep them safe?
The undead were controlled by a necromancy ritual, and the ritual required their management. While the connection wasn't obvious to most, it wasn't invisible to me.
"It seems you aren't hiding well enough."
When I found another one, I didn't kill him immediately. Instead, I crippled him so he couldn't even commit suicide.
"Tell me, what are your other trump cards?"
"Cursed witch! I'll slaughter you! I'll turn you into an undead puppet for me to command!"
"I asked what your trump cards are!" I gave him a sharp slap across the face.
"Hit me! Go ahead! I can't feel pain! Do it again!"
Slap!
"Is that it? Not enough! I have plenty of trump cards!"
Slap!
"I'll die before I tell you! I'll let you guess! Guess until you die! You'll never figure it out!"
"Fine. It looks like you don't have any trump cards after all."
Having reached that conclusion, I sent him straight to resurrection right before his shocked and incredulous eyes. He probably had no idea where on the map he’d be respawning now.
I continued to pick off the necromancers hiding in the shadows one by one. Because they had to control the necromancy ritual, they were destined to be unable to stray too far.
Tan Han wasn't holding back either. Her summoned Flame Lord was currently on a rampage, while she herself used a transformation spell to tear through the students of the other academies within the sea of undead.
Minian stayed at the Witch Tea Party to protect the ritual and clean up any stray undead.
Just as I was thinking of dealing with the rest of them, I realized they were making a run for it.
Fleeing meant their psychological defenses had crumbled. They felt they couldn't win and were trying to preserve what strength they had left.
Naturally, catching them would yield more useful intelligence.
"Why are you running? I asked you, why are you running!" I locked onto one of the ones fleeing in the most pathetic manner. These panicked types were the easiest to threaten.
"Since you're running, it seems you really are out of tricks."
I didn't do anything to him. His body seemed incapable of feeling pain or threat, and forcing a confrontation would only trigger his rebellious instincts. So, I simply blocked his path, leaving him in a dilemma.
"I... you..."
"Answer my question. Answer correctly, and I'll let you go," I stated flatly.
"Impossible! A witch's word can't be trusted! Even if I talk, you'll kill me anyway!"
"I only want information. If I wanted to kill, none of you would escape. You, that guy over there, and the others running away... if I wanted you dead, not one of you would get away. Do you think I care that much about points?"
Faced with my methods, the Necromancy Academy student chose to gamble that I wouldn't break my word. After all, the strength I had displayed far exceeded their expectations, and my logic was sound...
"Fine... ask!"
"Do you have any other tricks up your sleeves?"
"No... really, nothing. Even if we did, we couldn't beat you..."
"You expected to stop Tan Han with just this?"
"I... we thought we could. With so many academies allied together... allied..." He couldn't finish the sentence. So many academies allied together, yet unable to defeat a single one—it was an admission of utter incompetence!
I had my answer, but I still felt dissatisfied. It was like preparing to go all-out against an enemy, only to find they were just a bunch of posturing small fry. The sense of anticlimax was immense.
However, if I hadn't been the exception, Tan Han likely wouldn't have had a way to locate these necromancers. Dragged down by a war of attrition, she would have eventually had to watch the ritual be overwhelmed. It wasn't just the undead; figuring out how to destroy that necromancy ritual would have required a lot of trial and error.
Without me, what would Tan Han have relied on? Protagonist luck?
I didn't bother asking any more questions. The only thing left was to kill the guy.
"Wait! You said you wouldn't kill—"
"You said it yourself: a witch's word can't be trusted. What can I do? But don't worry, the guys I pointed out earlier will be joining you in death. Also, I actually do care quite a bit about the points."
After killing him, I immediately chased after the others. Points were points, after all; I couldn't let them go to waste.
Seeing the fate of the Necromancy Academy's leaders, the other academies from the Fallen Land weren't stupid. they decisively chose to flee.
The exception, of course, was the Lesser Demon Academy. Without the necromancers' control, they turned into mindless lunatics. With no orders and no plan, they even began attacking the nearby undead.
"Xiao Han, their main forces have retreated. Did you clear them all out? But there are still so many undead..."
"More or less. The undead are mostly tied to the ritual. We just need to destroy the ritual."
"By the way, isn't it true that only one ritual can be successfully held at a time? How did the necromancers hold this one?"
"Hmm?" I flew over and looked at Minian, confused by her train of thought. "Oh, this isn't the scoring ritual for the exchange competition. This is a necromancy ritual for controlling and awakening the dead. It's a casting method. Don't get them mixed up."
"Oh... okay..." Minian realized she had asked a rather silly question and quickly tried to make herself scarce.
"What about these undead? We can't just leave them like this, can we?"
"Their damage is low and they're fragile. Don't you think they make a pretty good backdrop for the Witch Tea Party?"
"Huh?" Tan Han was stunned by my suggestion.
"Sorry, just joking. We just need to destroy the ritual nodes. They probably spent a lot of time preparing a ritual of this scale. I'll point out the nodes, and you just destroy them." I waved my hand with a smile.
"Actually, I think having them as a backdrop would be quite... uh..."
"If you can handle the mana consumption, I certainly don't mind," I said, smiling at Minian.
"I was just kidding! Don't take me seriously! Sister Xiao Han, that spell of yours looks like it costs a lot of mana. I can't support that."
"Right. Tan Han, let's handle the nodes together."
As I spoke, I pointed out the marked nodes.
"You saw all of these through... your..."
"Heh, yes." I cut Tan Han off before she could finish. I knew what she was thinking—the Spirit Vision thing. She was probably dying of envy right now.
As Tan Han and I worked together to shatter the surrounding ritual nodes, the soulfires in the eyes of the skeletons gradually faded. Only their frozen poses remained as proof that they had once moved after death.
Returning from a distance and looking at the dense mass of skeletons frozen in the act of crawling upward, the atmosphere felt incredibly eerie.
Standing atop the Remains Mountain again, I felt a pleasant sense of satisfaction looking down.
"It's over. Is it finally over?" Seeing that the undead were no longer moving, Minian let out a sigh of relief and slumped into a chair at the tea party.
"Yes, it's over. By the way, since you aren't the one who organized this tea party, Xiao Han, who was it?" Tan Han asked.
"I don't know, but it was likely Lan Baihui. When I arrived, a succubus disguised as her tried to ambush me. I killed her, but I don't know where the real one is..." I explained.
"That happened? Lan Baihui... I've been keeping an eye on the status of everyone from our academy. From before this tea party was prepared until now, she hasn't died. She should still be around somewhere."
"Not dead? Then she'll be hard to find. But for now, we have the tea party. We've lost a lot of time; is there still enough left?" I asked with some concern.
"Well... theoretically, yes. The Wizard Academy's ritual was broken, and they can't prepare the next batch of rituals yet..."
"Wait, it's not a time interval, but a batch interval?" I caught the key detail.
"The rules don't state it explicitly, only that there's an interval. At first, I thought it was a time delay, but we tried before the Wizard Academy finished their preparations and it didn't work. However, once their ritual was finished and then destroyed, we were able to start."
"You tried? Wait, did you find another place to hold the Witch Tea Party originally?" I asked.
"Yeah, but this place beat us to it, so we had no choice but to come here," Minian said helplessly.
"Alright then, shall we continue the tea party? Is there any reason to keep going?"
I started moving. We already had the invitations; to finish the setup, we just needed to prepare the tea and sweets.
The main concern was the status of the rituals at other academies.
"After we broke the Wizard Academy's ritual, we went to harass and sabotage the Holy Angel Academy's ritual. They were rushed and gave up quite decisively. As for the elves... I heard a witch started a massive forest fire... their ritual is on hold..." Tan Han looked at me as she spoke, as if asking a question.
"Fine, I was the one who started that fire. It would have been a waste not to burn such a vast forest; it was perfect natural fuel," I said with a shrug.
"Really? That fire was really your doing, Sister Xiao Han? We were wondering who was that bold. When we heard a witch did it, Sister Tan Han's first guess was you..."
I chose to ignore Minian's comment and continued looking at Tan Han to analyze the situation.
"The other academies are either slower than us or are small academies. It's much harder for small academies to complete a ritual than it is for us. While there's a chance someone might swoop in, our probability of success is very high right now. The only issue is the Sea Clan... they started their preparations before us, and I doubt any academy went to stop them. But their ritual is complex and difficult, so we can try to be faster."
"Alright, I guess I'll just have to be quick then." I tied on an apron. To be fast, I’d make cookies—simple and convenient.
We’d secure the lead first, then I could make other desserts.
"Sister Xiao Han is making sweets again! I didn't get to eat any last time, so make plenty this time!"
"We really should make a lot. It's best to have extra for everyone. When the next ritual starts, we can skip the dessert-making process."
"Eh? You can do that?"
"If the rules don't forbid it, it's allowed by default."
Speaking of food... I remembered I still had a portion of Cat Rice.
"By the way, have you guys eaten?"
"We shouldn't need to eat in a dream, right? I've just been running around with Sister Tan Han. I am a bit hungry, though. Hurry up, Sister Xiao Han, I want some sweets to fill my stomach!"
"I'll brew a cup of black tea to warm your stomach first," Tan Han offered.
"Oh, I have some Cat Rice here. I ran into a group of cute cat-girls in the forest. They were performing a Fish and Rice Sharing Banquet ritual, but it failed in the end, so it just became Cat Rice. Try some, it tastes pretty good." While making the cookies, I pulled the Cat Rice out of my storage equipment.
"No way! Sister Xiao Han, did you actually resort to mugging people for their Cat Rice?"
"What are you thinking? I helped them, and they gave it to me as a thank-you gift."
"Bring it over! If only Cat Rice could count as a dessert." Minian took the Cat Rice from me, though she couldn't help but tease.
"Stop dreaming. It would be better if you helped."
"Sorry, Sister Xiao Han, I'm completely clueless when it comes to making sweets. I can't help you there. Oh! Right! Sister Xiao Han, can you tell us about the forest fire? It's such a shame I wasn't there for something so exciting!"
"There's not much to tell. A bunch of elves annoyed me, so the idea of burning the World Tree popped into my head, and I just followed through and lit the fire."
"Burning the World Tree! Really! Please, Sister Xiao Han, take me with you next time you burn something! I know fire spells too!"
"We'll see. Forest fires spread slowly. Without my intervention, it'll probably take a long time to reach the foot of the World Tree."
"Aren't you worried, Sister Xiao Han? What if they put the fire out?"
"With what?"
"I heard they allied with the Sea Clan or something... but something seems to have gone wrong..."
"I killed the two Sea Clan members who came to form the alliance. They probably won't have a chance to put out the fire anytime soon."
"Eh? You did that too? Sister Xiao Han, what exactly have you been doing behind our backs! Waaaah, I regret following Sister Tan Han now..."
"It wouldn't have been much better if you followed me..."
I chatted with them while making the desserts.
Midway through, Su Ningmu and Hettie arrived. Su Ningmu had brought Hettie on her broom; it seemed her flying skills had improved enough to carry a passenger.
"It looks like luck is on our side." I placed the cookies on the Witch Tea Party table, and the ritual's pillar of light shifted once more.
At that moment, the other rituals elsewhere completely collapsed.
"Yay! Now our Witch Academy's score is firmly in the lead!"
"You guys eat first. Since we've secured the ritual, I'll make some more." After setting the food down, I walked past Tan Han. "What is it? You looked worried about something just now."
"Oh, nothing. I was just watching the Sea Clan's ritual. I noticed that the progress of a ritual is subtly reflected in the pillar of light surrounding it. The Sea Clan's progress is very slow; it seems their difficulty is even higher than I expected."
"Oh? Is that so? I might have forgotten to mention it, but I was at the Sea Clan's ritual site before I came here. I only brought the invitation over after I destroyed their ritual."