The Witch's True Intentions
The Great Witch's pitch-black mana tendrils lashed out like whips. Kyle calmly raised his sword and sliced through the incoming streams of power. They had no physical form—pure constructs of mana alone. Yet the vicious, ominous energy radiating from within them told Kyle that even a glancing touch would spell serious trouble.
‘If I get hit, it’s at least a pile of curses…!’
As an Aura Master, he wouldn’t crumble from one or two curses. But in the middle of a fight like this, if the curses began to stack? Game over. There was no way he could dodge attacks he’d barely avoided while perfectly healthy once those curses took hold.
So Kyle closed his eyes for a brief moment, then opened them again. In that instant, his mind plunged completely into the battle, and the world around him began to slow. One second stretched into a minute. One minute stretched into an hour.
In a world that now moved as sluggishly as a turtle, Kyle charged toward the Great Witch without losing any of his own speed.
“……!”
From behind, he could hear Sera shouting something, but his brain had already labeled it as useless information and tuned her out. The only things Kyle’s mind was processing right now were the Great Witch and the spells she cast. Everything else had been stripped of color.
In this monochrome world, Kyle reached the Great Witch in the blink of an eye.
And at the same moment, something coiled around his ankle.
“Ugh—!?”
Whish—!
What had wrapped around his ankle was a tree root that had been hiding beneath the ground. The root that bound his leg yanked Kyle’s entire body forward. He fought to keep his balance, then poured strength into his ankle and tore the root apart.
At the same time, black mana tendrils shot toward him from both sides. And there weren’t just one or two. Kyle realized he couldn’t cut them all down with a single swing of his sword.
‘Then I’ll just use more than one.’
In an instant, he transferred the sword he’d been holding with both hands to his left, and from his right hand he drew a blade made entirely of aura. Aura Blades surged in both of his hands. He spun like a dancer, slicing through every mana tendril in his path.
Watching the severed tendrils fall to the ground, Kyle leveled his blades at the Great Witch, who was staring at him in a daze.
“Is that all you’ve got? Pretty pathetic for a Great Wi—”
“Иордания.”
Before Kyle could even finish his taunt, the Great Witch unleashed hundreds of mana tendrils from her entire body and began to sway. Seeing the sheer number of them, Kyle quietly shut his mouth and broke into a cold sweat.
Maybe provoking her was a bad idea… A twinge of regret flickered through his mind.
But then—
“Come at me.”
A warrior does not show his emotions. What a warrior displays is only the sharpness of his blade and the weight of his accomplishments.
A moment later, the hundreds of mana tendrils came crashing down on Kyle.
“Kyle—!”
Sera, who had been watching the fight, cried out before immediately clamping her mouth shut. In the distance, the Great Witch’s gaze had locked onto her. Kyle already looked like he was struggling to fight alone; there was no way he could protect her while battling at the same time.
Sera quietly slipped away to a spot a little farther from the Great Witch and began thinking of a spell she could fire at her.
“Ugh, what should I use…?”
If the Great Witch had been in her mindless state, Sera could have controlled her actions with mental manipulation magic alone. She couldn’t have made her commit suicide or leave the forest, but she could have guided players to rummage through the witch’s hut with their companions. That was how most players claimed the Great Witch’s treasures.
It wasn’t that no players had ever tried picking a fight with her—most of them died the moment they provoked her. The few who somehow managed to defeat her quickly realized it was never a worthwhile trade.
‘Mental manipulation? She looks sane right now. Will she react the same way she did when she was mindless?’
Unlike the mindless state where her mind was completely shattered and she was 100% vulnerable to mental attacks, the current Great Witch still retained a tiny sliver of reason. The difficulty of controlling someone with their sanity intact was directly proportional to their power. And the Great Witch was estimated to be at least a Master-class mage—a monster. Controlling such a monster was an ability that couldn’t be easily obtained even in the very late stages of the game.
‘Whatever. I’ll just try it.’
With that thought, Sera began chanting a spell of mental derangement. The magic, completed instantly thanks to the player’s correction, shot forward—only for the mana tendrils swirling around the Great Witch to whip back toward Sera instead.
“Eek!?”
Sera threw herself out of the way to dodge the attack and realized that even the tiniest amount of mana drew a neurotic reaction from the Great Witch.
She’s fighting an Aura Master right now, isn’t she? And she’s reacting this strongly to a mere 2-star spell?
‘……This could actually be useful.’
Thinking along those lines, Sera began circling the Great Witch while continuing to chant. To avoid entering the combat radius between Master Kyle and the Great Witch, she had to take a very wide path. With her pathetic stamina typical of a mage, it took her over five minutes to circle that distance while preparing her spell…
But Kyle bought her that time.
“Kaaaaaiiyle—!”
Sera shouted at the top of her lungs to get his attention, then immediately sprinted toward the witch’s hut and activated her magic. Dozens of 1-star spells rose into the air at once and flew toward the witch.
The witch did exactly as she had before—deflecting every single spell before firing mana tendrils at Sera. Then, suddenly, she froze mid-action.
“Ahaha! I knew it!”
By then, Sera had already reached the front of the hut. Attacking her right now would mean the witch destroying her own home with her own power. Knowing exactly what was inside, Sera had been certain the Great Witch would have no choice but to stop.
“Kyle—! Beat her to a pulp!”
Whether her words reached him or not, Kyle dashed toward the frozen Great Witch and sliced through every mana tendril covering her body in an instant. Then, just as he was about to thrust his blade into her, he suddenly stopped and glanced at Sera.
Seeing that, Sera jumped up in disbelief.
“What are you doing?! Why did you stop?! This is your chance…!”
Kyle halted the blade that had been aimed at the Great Witch and instead smacked her on the head with the flat of his sword. The impact must have been strong enough; the Great Witch crumpled sideways with a thud.
Watching Kyle sling the unconscious Great Witch over his shoulder, Sera exploded.
“Why didn’t you kill her?!”
“Hmm… gut feeling.”
“Gut feeling? Gut feeeling?! She literally tried to kill us!”
“She didn’t die, though.”
“No, no, nooo! She’s dangerous! She’s seriously dangerous!”
Ignoring Sera’s frantic shouting, Kyle recalled the expression he had seen on the Great Witch’s face moments ago. When she had paused their fight to look at her hut, her face had carried the look of someone desperately trying to protect something precious. It was not an expression a true villain—the kind of Great Witch who cursed everyone passing through this forest—could ever wear.
‘Realistically, we’re the intruders here. Killing her just because she fought back feels a bit much.’
This was the Great Witch’s territory. They had broken in, and when the owner fought back, they killed her? That was the logic of a deranged psychopath. And Kyle was not a psychopath. He still had enough sense and conscience to think that far.
“By the way—what exactly is inside there?”
“Huh?”
“She was looking at it with such pitiful eyes.”
Hearing Kyle’s words, Sera let out a small groan before answering.
“Treasure, obviously.”
“What kind of treasure?”
“A grimoire written by a witch, and an essence that raises your stage by two whole ranks just by eating it.”
“That really is a tremendous opportunity.”
At those words, Kyle carefully opened the door to the hut, wondering if such items truly existed. The door was locked, but the lock wasn’t strong enough to withstand the strength of an Aura Master.
Crack—!
Kyle ripped the entire door off its hinges and stepped inside. He tilted his head at the sight of the magic circles, reagents, and a bubbling pot that filled the space.
“I don’t see anything you mentioned anywhere?”
“H-huh…?”
A short while later, the Great Witch slowly opened her eyes.
There had been intruders. And she had failed to stop them.
Since she was wanted across the entire continent, the outcome of her defeat was painfully obvious. Realizing that the mana inside her body refused to move, the Great Witch understood she had been captured.
“Oh, you’re awake?”
A young-looking man approached her cautiously. The Great Witch frowned as she looked at him. Despite how young he appeared, he was an Aura Master. The one who had interfered with her long-cherished wish. The one who had subdued her and could kill her at any moment.
“……What do you want?”
“Hm? What do I want?”
“Spare me. I’ll do anything you want. If you want my body, I’ll give it to you as many times as—”
“You’re all skin and bones. What nonsense are you even…”
Kyle let out a hollow laugh as he looked at the Great Witch, whose chest was smaller than his own and whose limbs looked painfully thin, as if she hadn’t eaten properly. He had no interest in a woman like that. And more importantly—there was a misunderstanding.
“I’m not trying to kill you, nor am I planning to hand you over to some kingdom for the bounty.”
“Then let me go. And leave.”
“That was the original plan… but it looks like I can’t do that. Right, Sera?”
Kyle turned his head slightly and looked at Sera standing beside him. The Great Witch followed his gaze and stared at her. That woman. The mage who had been after her hut. The enemy who had interfered with her.
The moment her eyes turned murderous, Sera carefully began chanting a spell.
“Mental Purification.”
In the next instant, the Great Witch realized that the red haze clouding her mind was clearing away. She also realized exactly what condition she was in right now.
Sera looked at the Great Witch, whose head was bowed, and spoke cautiously.
“Great Witch… you’re not actually a bad person, are you?”
“……Let me go.”
“I’ve confirmed it.”
She lifted the Great Witch’s will that had been placed in the corner of the room and continued.
To whoever finds this,
If you are reading this letter, it means I have failed.
I have spent my entire life sealing the evil spirits that slumber beneath this land.
They must never be allowed to escape.
Even if the world brands me a monster, even if I am hunted as the Great Witch…
I will continue to protect this place until my last breath.
— The one called the Great Witch
“You were protecting this land so that the evil spirits trapped here could never leave.”