Team: HH, thursdays, Yahiko

Kwakw.a.n.g! Kw.a.n.g!

Kw.a.n.g—

“f.u.c.k!”

Tom cursed as he saw the meteorite on the ground. Every time he screamed, the scales on his skin shook. His scales were red from fury.

“These rat-like b.i.t.c.hes dare!”

He had barely recovered from the fear of the hallucinations and the chimeras in the Ghost World Formation, but witches had suddenly appeared from the sky. They were just trash that wouldn't have been difficult to deal with, but they were blocking the Red Dragon from the safety of the sky on their broomsticks.

The problem was that he couldn't touch them.

This was all because of the first witch Margaret, who wasn't coming down from the sky.

She was wrapped in purple light, pouring out all kinds of magic. She stopped the Red Dragon from moving by controlling gravity and covered the witches around her with barriers to defend them. Also, meteorites were falling from the sky like rain, and the ground was doing impossible things like enlarging and shrinking.

Was that witch's magic power limitless? Even if she had a lot, she should've dried out by now from using magic like that.

But Margaret didn't even seem tired.

Rather, the longer she went on, the more rosy her cheeks became, and the level of the magic was also becoming stronger.

Hwak!

Just then, a purple light s.h.i.+ned around Margaret again. It was an ominous and creepy light. At first, it had been subtly s.h.i.+ning like a star, but it was now as bright as a full moon.

Mere witches couldn't continue doing these miraculous things. Then that only left one possibility.

'The Philosopher's Stone. That's what that b.i.t.c.h is using!'

And it was a Philosopher's Stone that was a.s.similated to her body. It was similar to the aura of the Summer Queen. It was definite proof that this case was related to the Walpurgisnacht.

The medicine to heal the Summer Queen was right in front of him, but he felt like he was going to go crazy not being able to approach the witches.

“Beginning. Danghee has died. There's no way this can go on.”

Troy approached him with a crumpled face.

Danghee. She was one of the 81 Eyes who moved with Tom and Troy. She was the weakest of them, but a high ranker was still a high ranker. That was how bad the situation was.

Tom grit his teeth. If only they could get that b.i.t.c.h, the path would clear up!

But no matter how many times he activated his signature skill, it didn't affect Margaret.

When Margaret flipped her hand over earlier, she lifted the ground. Thanks to that, the Red Dragon had to suffer the humiliation of losing ⅓ of their forces.

They couldn't retreat now that they were here either.

The Summer Queen was dying at a rapid pace. They had to find the Philosopher's Stone as soon as possible. Retreating in this kind of urgent situation? No way. They didn't have any second chances.

He was also uneasy because the Elohim had moved before them. If they got the real tablet, everything would go down the drain. They were short on time.

Anxiety and time were pressing at him. All kinds of factors were stressing him out. They wouldn't come out successful at this rate.

Tom eventually decided to ask for more help. Currently, only a part of their forces were in the Endless World of Night. It was because they needed to stop the attack from others. It was also to quickly react when other information was found out.

But since it was confirmed that the Philosopher's Stone was here, he didn't have to worry about that.

'I'll have to see those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.'

He didn't want to see his brothers' faces, but he didn't have anywhere else to turn to.

He was about to contact them but—

Kw.a.n.g!

He heard something explode in the sky. It was enough to shake the ground as well as the Outer s.p.a.ce.

Tom and Troy's gazes were naturally drawn up. The other players of the Red Dragon looked who had been dealing with the meteorites looked up as well.

A fire was spreading where the witches were gathered.

It was a pitch black fire.

Tom, who had seen his mother control several fires, had never seen this color before.

It was dark as the night, and the blackish-fire emanated a heat that was hotter than most fires. It was probably the fire that one would experience in h.e.l.l.

The explosion that had begun from Margaret instantly spread to the other witches and soared up even higher in the sky. The atmosphere boiled, and the aftereffects quickly came down.

Plop plop plop!

From the pieces that were falling like hail, Margaret's head was included. But even that was burned black before it arrived at the ground.

“What…..is this?”

Tom was fl.u.s.tered at the sight that he never would've imagined.

Why had there suddenly been an explosion, and why was Margaret dead? Did the Philosopher's Stone explode because she hadn't used her magic properly?

Whatever the reason was, one thing was clear.

This was their chance.

“Now! Run! We have to arrive before the Elohim!”

With Tom and Troy at the lead, the hundreds of players from the Red Dragon began to run.

Beyond the twisted canyons, they could see a sharp mountain that looked like it was poking the sky.

This strange sight wasn't just happening in front of Red Dragon.

“Huh?”

“Why so suddenly?”

Mysterious explosions occurred all over.

The first witches that had miraculously pushed the intruders into a corner suddenly burned to death without even being able to scream.

Thanks to that, the players who had been caught up in the Ghost World Formation were freed.

“These witch b.i.t.c.hes definitely have something.”

“Let's take it. Finders keepers!”

The rate at which they progressed increased.

“The enemies are near! We have to stop them!”

“Everyone, be prepared for death!”

“Great Mother is with us. Even if we die, we can live forever in her arms, so don't spare your lives!”

The Brocken Castle was at the tip of the sharp mountain beyond the maze-like canyons.

It was surrounded with firm walls, and it was where most of the witches' powers were amplified because it was closest to the moon.

The witches gave off an ominous aura flying down on their broomsticks with their pointed hats.

From the first witches who were birthed from the 'Great Mother,' young witches that had just begun to learn the laws of witches, to the witches who had never left the castle before, all the witches in the Tower moved busily.

A few years ago, Heaven Wing Cha Jeong-woo had attacked the castle, but it hadn't been this bad.

The level of danger was completely different.

It was something that could determine whether a clan would survive or not. The Large Clans and high rankers were backing the witches into a corner.

They were even using the power of the Great Mother, but the canyons would crumble at this rate.

“Just now, the Monster World Formation was bypa.s.sed…..!”

“The Disaster World Formation and Underworld Formation have both been activated!”

There were five World Formations that defended them—Ghost World Formation, Monster World Formation, Disaster World Formation, Underworld Formation, and Calamity World Formation.

It wasn't just the Emerald Tablet that they found in the Faust dungeon.

The magic knowledge they found was enough to create an entire archive, and the Walpurgisnacht used what they needed to protect themselves.

That was also why the accomplishments of the witches had recently improved.

But no matter how outstanding a barrier it was, with the attack from the most skilled in the Tower, the castle seemed like a sandcastle.

'Or is it that we've been able to get this far because of the 5 barriers?'

D'arc clenched her teeth. As a first witch birthed by the Great Mother, this danger seemed especially out of the blue.

'If only…..if only this happened a little later…..!'

Just where had things gone wrong? From when Ananta stole test subject BX_71? Or when the Emerald Tablet was stolen from Leonte? Or from when the Great Mother had gone silent?

No. Even with all the variables, they had done what they needed to do. And they were on the brink of having the Great Mother descend.

It was probably when the tablet was put to bid at Kelat Auction House. The Walpurgisnacht realized that something was wrong, and they would be blamed.

The problem was, they didn't have a clue who the real culprit was.

It would definitely be a well-known player if they were powerful enough to move the Red Dragon and shake the Tower up. But they couldn't close in on anyone.

'Brahm? He might've done this to rescue Ananta…..no. It's not him. It's true the Exile is smart, but many are needed to plot this. People who are clever. But he's not. Just who is it?'

D'arc's head was dizzy. But she couldn't find the answer.

'I need to focus on stopping them first. It's not too late to find the culprit after that.'

Normally, the Walpurgisnacht wouldn't have been able to stop all the intruders with what they had, but D'arc was confident.

They had a secret weapon other than the magic and barriers from the Faust dungeon.

'The Philosopher's Stone.'

It was a weak prototype that couldn't even be called the Philosopher's Stone, but it was effective enough.

It was incomparable to the tablet on the Kelat Auction House. It was the 'pure' Philosopher's Stone that was made with the actual Emerald Tablet.

The first witches had Philosopher's Stones like these. If these were used, and the young witches went to the forefront and fought using guerilla warfare, they would be able to stop the invaders.

The reason why the Red Dragon and other intruders hadn't pa.s.sed the Ghost World Formation was all thanks to this stone.

D'arc was trying to stop the Sea of Time. They were almost matched with the Red Dragon in terms of power, but their numbers were relatively lower.

Jing—

She heard the notifying magic that enemies were coming. D'arc put the Philosopher's Stone in her mouth.

“Everyone prepare for…..!”

Hwaaa!

'The smell of blood?'

D'arc widened her eyes at the smell of blood that wafted from the canyons.

Just then, a dark shadow covered her head. D'arc turned to look in that direction. Two will o' the wisps were right in front of her.

“Hup!”

D'arc quickly turned to get off of her broom. But the sword already pa.s.sed through her left shoulder. Her left arm was severed from her body and flew in the air.

'The culprit…!'

D'arc was able to know as soon as she saw the masked player with wings of fire. She didn't know if it was the leader or an underling, but it was clear that it wasn't the Sea of Time.

'I have to tell Vieira…..!'

The young witches with D'arc were all dead to her now. The player was so quick that even she couldn't see him properly, so they wouldn't be able to avoid it. It was her fault for realizing too late.

She needed to fix her mistake. She had to tell Vieira that there was a dangerous person like this. And until she received an answer, she had to keep him busy.

D'arc turned her magic power to the Philosopher's Stone in her mouth. With this, all kinds of things were possible.

A miraculous stone. That was what the Philosopher's Stone meant to the witches. She would be able to stop that player that was either brave or foolish for having come here.

However,

'What…..?'

D'arc's eyes widened. The Philosopher's Stone didn't move. It was just a stone. Like it was broken. She had checked that it worked properly before she left the Tower. Why was it suddenly broken?

Just then, the masked person lightly flipped his body and approached D'arc. She s.h.i.+vered at the creepy will o' the wisps beyond his mask.

But D'arc soon blinked at what he said.

“It won't work. Probably.”

'What…..?'

“Because that's what happened for the rest of them.”

He spoke like he had been responsible for that.

'What kind of…..!'

The moment D'arc's eyes widened, the masked player rushed at her to put his Magic Bayonet into her left chest.

Ting! The magic organ was completely cut off. D'arc's eyes became bloodshot.

Yeon-woo extended his hand to grab D'arc's head. He could see her eyes filled with terror through his hands.

The black fire from Yeon-woo's fingertips covered D'arc's head. Eup! Eup! D'arc shouted in fear, but she was soon burnt to a crisp.

“42.”

Yeon-woo counted the number of witches he had taken care of, tossing D'arc's corpse onto the ground. Her head broke apart, and a purple stone was left behind.

Checheche—

Just then, Yeon-woo's shadow stretched out as Boo appeared to absorb the Philosopher's Stone. Purple fire glimmered in the eye sockets of the skull.

“Good job.”

[I'm honored. To obey. Your orders.]

Boo bowed. Controlling the Philosopher's Stones of the witches was all thanks to him.

With the knowledge that he had learned researching the Philosopher's Stone, Boo knew the sole weakness of the Philosopher's Stone.

To be exact, it was a weakness that Yeon-woo, who succeeded didn't have, but the witches had.

Because the Philosopher's Stone was perfect, it didn't need any interference with magic power from the outside after it was complete.

Boo had used this to block the flow of magic power to make the stones the witches had just normal stones.

With Yeon-woo's quiet movements on top of that, the witches fell like autumn leaves.

It was important to save Ananta right away, but it wasn't good to let theWalpurgisnacht succeed in their defense.

Everyone had to keep on attacking each other and eating away at each other's forces.

[It's. Done.]

Yeon-woo coldly smiled seeing Boo done absorbing the Philosopher's Stone. The person who had gained the most from the attack was probably Boo.

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