Chapter 308
Chapter 308
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 308
Chapter Title: The Black Witch (2)
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The Black Witch gazed down at the two fallen figures.
Adora, and...
"A thief, I see."
The thief who had stolen Adora away from her.
She had a pretty good idea already.
This was the one.
The man who had sliced off her finger and stolen her treasure.
She had debated killing him countless times but hadn't dared to act rashly.
"...They're linked."
The man's life force and Adora's were coexisting.
Killing one would likely kill them both.
Besides, she had questions.
Like how he had escaped the Great Rift.
If she could uncover that secret, she might even be able to control the Great Rift at will.
Mastering the Great Rift would leave nothing to fear in the Abyss.
The witch would stand above even the demons.
The Abyss's master would be the witch, not the demons.
The Black Witch reached out and gently stroked Adora's hair.
"You're dreaming, aren't you?"
Adora twisted her body as if trapped in a nightmare.
She grimaced and let out a groan.
The Black Witch leaned close to her ear and whispered.
"Time to wake up now. Aren't you home?"
Adora was lost in a deep dream.
Ever since the Absolute Magic "Dream" had manifested.
What was "Absolute Magic," anyway?
Magic that created phenomena.
It forged new rules that didn't exist before.
And its effects were absolute, as the name implied.
She had heard even Dragon God Sepiro couldn't wield Absolute Magic freely.
It's cold. Cold. So cold.
In the dream, Wish—devoured by "death"—shuddered violently.
Not content with dragging Adora to the bottom of the Great Rift, it had vanished in her place.
"Adora. Kill the Black Witch."
"We entrust our tribe's enemy to you."
Orc Master Kankun's voice echoed alongside it.
Both had burned away their very existence to save Park Chan-woo and her.
But Adora was powerless.
She couldn't do anything alone.
Descending into the Great Rift, she had emptied herself of everything.
What could she possibly do without any power?
"You can't do a thing, child."
The Black Witch's voice rang out.
The root of all this tragedy.
"You'll never be able to kill me."
"Now rise. Or the one you want to protect will die."
Adora's eyes snapped open.
Adora blinked and looked around.
Then she scowled.
"...Black Witch."
"It's been a while. Death Witch. Or should I call you Creator of Death?"
The Black Witch stood before her.
And behind her loomed a massive crystal.
The crystal was a seal.
It bound Park Chan-woo with countless barriers and curses.
"...Release him."
"Why should I free this thief? Be grateful I haven't killed him yet."
"What do you want?"
"Return to my embrace."
The Black Witch smiled as she spoke.
But Adora couldn't comprehend it.
"You know I've lost the Curse of Death. And Wish."
"Yet you possess something greater."
"...?"
The Black Witch reached out and caressed Adora's cheek.
Adora flinched but didn't pull away.
She knew antagonizing the Black Witch here wasn't wise.
"You hold true 'Pride,' my dear."
"I have Pride?"
She had experienced the power of Pride before.
But what the Black Witch meant was something far superior.
"You will become my successor and rule the Witch's Night."
"And if I refuse?"
"Don't you want to save this man?"
"......"
She had been caught.
Park Chan-woo lay unconscious.
Likely from the backlash of using Absolute Magic to escape the Great Rift.
At least until he woke... no, even to sneak away, she had to play along for now.
Gazing at the now-compliant Adora, the Black Witch said,
"Like it or not, this is your fate. The fate of a witch."
Then she handed over the throbbing heart.
...Half of the Black Witch's heart.
With her own flesh, the Black Witch could grant "false authority."
The effect grew stronger depending on the body part.
Half a heart was still immense.
It was the core infused with the absolute authority of the Black Witch.
Eating it meant no turning back.
This wasn't mere qualification.
I'll lose myself.
Adora would cease to be Adora.
She would become the second Black Witch.
A puppet for the Black Witch to control at will.
"Eat it. It'll taste good."
Adora had returned.
To the witches' fold.
Before the gathered witches, the Black Witch gifted Adora the "Staff of Black Frost."
This signified Adora's official status as her successor.
"Adora. The Black Witch loves you."
"Do you know how long we've waited?"
"Thank goodness. You're alive."
The witches welcomed her.
They had shunned her before, but as the Black Witch's successor, they had no choice but absolute obedience.
"Even the Demon Gods approve."
"The 'Night' is witch territory now."
"We finally have a land to call our own!"
"They say we can join the Inter-Species War too?"
Good news came one after another.
The Demon God Council had passed a motion granting witches control over the "Night."
It was a razor-thin margin, but the Black Witch had become the "Master of the Night."
In exchange, the witches would handle the Great Rift directly.
Any issues arising from it would be theirs alone.
The Great Rift was a double-edged sword, but it kept other demons and races at bay.
"We'll research the 'anomalies.' If witches can control the Great Rift, the Abyss might as well be ours. Help me, Adora."
"...Yes."
Before long, Adora had become the Black Witch's marionette.
She lost her will, her sense of self.
The anomaly research involved vivisections.
The Black Witch began dissecting demons and humans from the Fourth Night one by one.
The lab echoed with screams.
They begged for mercy, but the Black Witch didn't blink.
Adora assisted at her side.
"Strange. There should be an 'anomaly' here. Can you sense it, Adora?"
"This demon doesn't seem to have one."
"...I see. Bring the next demons. Oh, and that demon merchant 'Dagon' too."
"Understood."
Adora headed to the underground prison.
To drag selected demons to the slab.
Dagon was among them.
"Ah, Lady Adora! Please snap out of it!"
Dagon cried out as the witches dragged him.
But Adora didn't budge.
Not even as he was strapped to the table.
"Dagon. I hear you were one of her followers, a demon merchant. We might find a useful 'anomaly.' Don't you think?"
"Yes. I sense an anomaly in his right arm."
"Then... shall we cut off that right arm first?"
Adora severed Dagon's arm.
"Aaaagh!"
The limb came off in an instant, eliciting a scream.
Examining the severed arm, the Black Witch tilted her head.
"There does seem to be an 'anomaly.' What do you think?"
"The contract form is different from other demons."
Chills ran through Dagon's body.
This wasn't the Adora he knew.
He had formed an exclusive contract with Park Chan-woo, but how did she detect it?
He hadn't told a soul.
"Hm... A demon whose contract form can change? We'll keep him alive for now. Next, bring that human with the 'Death Command Eye'."
She meant Han Shin.
When Adora and the witches fetched him, the Black Witch immediately.
Pok!
gouged out Han Shin's eye.
"Guh...!"
Han Shin grimaced with a short groan.
"It regenerates right away? The gouged eye loses its power. He's another lump of anomalies. Now I understand why the Great Rift opened here."
Han Shin was an intriguing specimen.
The "Death Command Eye," said to belong to the ancient Great Ten Lords.
Now held by a mere human.
But it wasn't satisfying enough.
She kept dissecting him alive, yet no further "singularities" emerged.
"...Do I have to dissect 'that one' after all?"
"That one" referred to Park Chan-woo.
Dissecting him might reveal the root cause of the anomalies.
And why the Great Rift reacted to them.
The problem was that it required breaking the seal.
The Black Witch looked at Adora.
Her ego is fully eroded.
Adora had no independent self left.
She was nothing more or less than a puppet obeying the Black Witch.
Yet Adora was a vital asset.
Having eaten half the Black Witch's heart, she had awakened the power of Pride and could detect anomalies.
Not fully complete yet, but soon she would become the "Lord of Pride."
And there was only one reason the Black Witch sought to create the Lord of Pride.
Gather anomalies to forge a weapon that kills the Lords.
The Great Nine Lords.
Just as they used outer gods to craft weapons against outer gods.
The Black Witch planned to gather "anomalies" to forge a weapon against the Great Nine Lords.
For that, she needed the Lord of Pride.
Only Pride's power could see, manipulate, and shape anomalies.
"Adora. Let's dissect 'that one' now."
"Yes."
Shuaaaaa!
Countless curses and bindings unraveled.
Once all seals were released, Park Chan-woo tumbled to the floor.
Thud!
"Adora. Where do you sense the anomaly?"
"His heart."
"I thought the same."
The Black Witch nodded.
This human's mana was peculiar.
And since escaping the Great Rift, it faintly carried Sepiro's mana.
The Black Witch turned to Adora and commanded.
"Adora. Carve out that bastard's heart."
"...Understood."