Chapter 214: Introducing the Wolf into the House
“It’s Tan Han! Hahaha! Good! Great! Everyone’s here! I didn’t expect to deceive you all so easily; it was effortless! Just d*e already!”
“Finally, I’ve waited for this important figure, hehe!”
At this moment, such voices echoed through the mouths of the undead, chaotic and numerous, as if Tan Han’s arrival did not instill fear in them, but rather ignited their desires.
Such confidence, if it were merely the result of numerous academies teaming up and an endless war of attrition against the countless skeletons, I could only laugh at their foolishness.
If there were additional trump cards and means…
Why not reveal them now?
“Oh my god… how many…”
“I see a super-large undead awakening ceremony here, combined with that bell sound from the other side creating this effect.”
I briefly described it, hoping to reassure Minian, who came with Tan Han, but my words seemed to make her even more flustered.
“Even if these skeletons are broken, the bones will reassemble. Is that also the effect of the undead ceremony?” Tan Han couldn’t help but speak after arriving to help clear the nearby undead at the Witch Tea Party.
“These don’t seem to qualify as undead; they’re too weak… You can’t treat every skeleton as a whole. Instead, consider all usable skeletons as one entity. The effect of the ceremony is to assemble complete or semi-complete bodies that advance toward targets and attack.”
I rubbed my hands together and spoke. After unleashing the Floating Spell series, a large area of undead was suppressed, and Tan Han and the others sighed in relief.
“Right, in terms of individuals, they are indeed too weak.” Tan Han nodded, saying this after seeing my abilities. She looked at me and asked, “Any ideas?”
“No, just the usual way, let’s get rid of those hidden guys from the Undead Academy.”
“Is that so… Can you do it?” Tan Han nodded, her tone filled with expectation rather than doubt.
“I guess… If you think facing so many academics isn’t a big deal, I can give it a try.” I replied.
“Naturally, there’s no stress.” If not considering consumption, Tan Han thought silently to herself.
If we exclude the continuously reviving undead from this battlefield, the inferior demons from the Inferior Demon Academy and the imps from the Demon Academy are equally disgusting.
Moreover, the Fallen from the Fallen Academy and the undead from the Undead Academy, along with the controlled Undead Zombies, these high-tier combatants could deal them a fatal blow while they were busy dealing with the undead!
“Hahaha! You think you can find me? Who do you think you are… Ah!”
At this moment, the student from the Undead Academy transmitting through those cannon-fodder undead had not finished speaking when I charged on my broom toward a spot I had been eyeing for a long time.
Upon arrival, I immediately blasted a Fireball Spell at that spot.
As the guy let out his final wail, a considerable portion of the undead in the sea of undead showed signs of losing control, echoing his cries.
If at this moment the inferior demons of the Inferior Demon Academy were as conscious as ordinary people, they would surely have loudly informed that fool that the opponent was an Innate Spirit Vision User. This fact wasn’t a secret at the Inferior Demon Academy; they didn’t care about the madness of the Innate Spirit Vision User, perhaps even desired it. Regardless of whether the entity was a madman, they would welcome being “integrated” into the big happy family of inferior demons, to be reborn in this world as an inferior demon!
Innate Spirit Vision Users cannot actively acquire extraordinary power, so the inferior demons would help them passively gain strength, at the price of no longer being themselves. But for a madman who doesn’t even have self-awareness, what does that count as a side effect?
If the Threshold of Madness is a barrier to stepping into a new world within Spirit Vision, then Innate Spirit Vision Users are the pitiful ones blocked by this threshold. Spirit Vision is a blessing bestowed upon people by the Main World, while the Threshold of Madness is a barrier constructed to prevent the ab*se of this blessing by individuals like the Innate Spirit Vision User.
This is the most mainstream interpretation of the dilemma faced by Innate Spirit Vision Users according to the Main World.
Many Extraordinary Academies, including the Witch Academy, have researched Innate Spirit Vision Users, but in the end, it came to nothing.
The Inferior Demon Academy refers to such utilization of Innate Spirit Vision Users as waste utilization, also a helpless method.
At this moment, those inferior demons from the Inferior Demon Academy were merely newly born inferior demons, birthed from Innate Spirit Vision madmen scoured by the Inferior Demon Academy from all corners of the world.
The stronger the inferior demons, the more they would detach from the chaos and madness of their lower rank, beginning to understand thoughts and obey commands. The inferior demons believed that the inferior demons formed from Innate Spirit Vision Users would be the same, but this would be a long process.
Therefore, the high-ranking members of the Inferior Demon Academy made changes to ensure that the newly birthed inferior demons met the standards for this exchange competition, turning them into half-undead, adhering to the commands of the Undead Academy. The infernal madness of the inferior demons is fine; as long as they follow orders, they can be quiet.
As for the notion of leaving such matters to other academies, is that too absurd?
No, no, no, whether it’s undead, inferior demons, or imps, the establishment behind these academies cannot escape one shadow, which is the shadow of Abyss Demons, the ones watching eagerly from outside the Main World, hoping to become the fifth Extraordinary Race within the Main World.
A “student” handed over to anyone is merely a play of switching left and right; moreover, in the eyes of these academies, do they truly consider them as students?
Sorry, the Abyss Demon race does not have the concept of academies; they are the epitome of chaos and disorder!
Although the inferior demons cannot loudly proclaim this truth, they would still convey the information back, for the inferior demons fundamentally adhere to the commands of the undead.
“d*mn it, that guy is an Innate Spirit Vision User! She can see the connection between the undead and us!”
“Innate Spirit Vision? Isn’t that a madman?”
“How would I know, witches are inherently mad. Protect yourself…”
At this moment, I couldn’t hear their whispers, but even if I did, it wouldn’t matter. Did they really think being careful would ensure safety?
Those undead are under the control of the Undead Ceremony; that ceremony requires the opponent to have control. Although this connection might not seem obvious to me, it is not invisible.
“It seems you haven’t hidden well enough.”
After discovering another guy, I didn’t rush to k*ll him; instead, I incapacitated him, making it impossible for him to commit s*icide.
“Now tell me, what are your other trump cards?”
“d*mn witch! I’ll slaughter you and make you into a puppet undead to serve me!”
“I asked what your trump cards are!” I slapped him directly.
“Go ahead! I can’t feel pain at all! Hit me again!”
“Slap!”
“That’s it! Not enough! I have plenty of trump cards!”
“Slap!”
“If I d*e, I won’t tell you! I’ll just make you guess! Guess until you d*e! You won’t guess it right!”
“Good, it looks like you have no trump cards left.”
After reaching this conclusion, I, amidst his shocked and incredulous gaze, directly sent him for resurrection. I could only imagine he didn’t even know where on the map he was being resurrected right now.
As I cleaned out those undead hiding in the shadows one by one, they inevitably could not stray too far due to their need to control the Undead Ceremony.
Tan Han also showed no mercy; the summoned Flame Lord was currently rampaging, while she herself was using transformation spells to wreak havoc among the undead from the other academies.
Minian stayed at the Witch Tea Party to ensure the safety of the ceremony, while simultaneously clearing out any undead that had slipped through.
Just as I was thinking about continuing to deal with them, I noticed they had begun to flee.
Fleeing indicates that their psychological defense has been broken, feeling that their chances of winning are slim, reserving their strength.
Similarly, catching the opponent could indeed yield more useful information.
“Why are you running? I ask you, why are you running!” I mounted my broom, targeting the ugliest among the fleeing ones. Those panicking and fleeing are the easiest to threaten.
“You already fled; it seems you really have no trump cards left.”
I didn’t do anything to him, as he seemingly could no longer feel pain or threat. Forcing him to become incapacitated would only provoke his rebellious mindset, so I merely blocked his path, putting him in a dilemma.
“I… you…”
“Answer my question; if you answer correctly, I’ll let you go.” I stated calmly.
“Impossible! You witches can’t be trusted! Even if I tell you, you’ll still k*ll me!”
“I just want to gather information. I want to k*ll; none of you will escape. You, that one over there, and the one running away. I want to k*ll… none of you will get away. Do you think I care about the score?”
At this moment, the student from the Undead Academy, under my pressure, chose to gamble that I wouldn’t go back on my word. After all, the strength I exhibited had exceeded their expectations, and what I said indeed made sense…
“Okay… you ask!”
“What other means do you have?”
“None… really none. Even if there were, we wouldn’t be able to defeat you…”
“Is this the method you used to stop Tan Han?”
“I… we thought we could. With so many academies joining forces… joining forces…” The later part of her words trailed off; admitting that so many academies couldn’t defeat a single one was tantamount to acknowledging their own incompetence!
The answer in my heart had been revealed, but I still felt unsatisfied, as if I had put forth my utmost effort against an enemy whose strength was merely a facade of a rotten fish. This gap in perception was truly large.
However, without me, it seemed that Tan Han also had no means to pinpoint these undead academy folks. Caught in a war of attrition, she would eventually have to watch helplessly as the ceremony was drowned— not just these undead, but also how to sabotage the Undead Ceremony would require a slow exploration to achieve.
Without me, what would Tan Han rely on? On the halo of the protagonist?
As for the other questions, I couldn’t be bothered to ask anymore; the rest naturally meant executing this person.
“Wait! You said you wouldn’t k*ll…”
“You know that witches can’t be trusted; what can I do? But no worries, the ones I referred to earlier will d*e with you; besides, I do care about the score.”
After executing him, I immediately chased after those few, as every point counts and can’t be wasted.
At this moment, seeing the outcome led by the Undead Academy, the other academies within the Land of the Fallen were not fools and immediately chose to flee.
Of course, among them was the Inferior Demon Academy, which, without the control of the undead, turned into uncontrollable madmen. They had no other thoughts, no commands, and even spared no mercy to the nearby undead.
“Xiao Han, the main force on the opposing side has retreated. Have you cleared them all out? But there are so many undead…”
“Just barely, the undead primarily stem from the Undead Ceremony; we just need to destroy the ceremony.”
“By the way, isn’t a ceremony only able to successfully convene one at the same time? How did the undead conduct this Undead Ceremony?”
“Hmm?” I flew over, looking puzzled at Minian’s question, momentarily unable to follow her train of thought, “Oh, this ceremony does not pertain to the scoring ceremonies of each participating academy in the exchange competition; it is a ceremony for controlling and awakening the undead—a method of spellcasting, don’t confuse them.”
“Okay… alright…” Minian also realized she had asked a question without depth and hurriedly lowered her presence.
“What do we do with these undead? We can’t just let them continue like this, right?”
“These undead have low damage and are fragile. Don’t you think they make a nice backdrop for the Witch Tea Party?”
“Hmm?” At this moment, Tan Han was shocked by my words.
“Sorry, just kidding. We just need to destroy the ceremony nodes. A ceremony of this large scale must have taken quite a bit of preparation; I’ll point out the ceremony nodes and we’ll just destroy them.” I waved my hand, smiling as I spoke.
“Actually, I think having a backdrop would also be quite… um…”
“If you can afford the consumed magic power, I wouldn’t mind.” I smiled at Minian.
“I was just kidding; don’t take it seriously! Really, don’t take it seriously! Sister Xiao Han, your spell looks like it consumes quite a bit; I can’t keep up.”
“Alright, Tan Han, let’s leave the nodes to the two of us.”
As I said this, I pointed to the nodes that needed marking.
“Did you see all of these through…?”
“Hehe, yes.” I interrupted Tan Han from continuing to speak, as I knew what she was thinking— the matter of Spirit Vision. Perhaps she was utterly envious right now.
As I partnered with Greed to shatter the surrounding ceremony nodes, the flames of soul fire in the eyes of those bones gradually dissipated. Only the still lingering motions bear testament to their activities in d*ath.
Returning from afar, I saw that dense mass of skeletons frozen in the poses of trying to climb. It created a rather eerie atmosphere.
Standing once more at the top of the Gravehill, there was a sense of joy at looking down below.
“It’s over, I suppose it’s over now?” Minian, seeing the undead frozen, breathed a sigh of relief, collapsing into a chair at the tea party.
“Yeah, it’s over. By the way, if you’re not Xiao Han, who is the host of this tea party?” Tan Han asked.
“I don’t know, but it’s highly likely to be Lan Baihui. When I came over, a succubus transformed into Lan Baihui’s appearance attacked me, but I killed her in return; I daresay she’s probably lost somewhere.” I began to explain.
“Something like that happened? Lan Baihui… I always keep track of our Witch Academy members; before this tea party was prepared, she hasn’t died at all. She should still be around somewhere.”
“Not dead… That makes it difficult to find her, but right now it’s still the tea party. We’ve already used up quite a bit of time; will we still make it?” I asked, feeling a bit worried.
“Theoretically, we’ll make it; after the Wizard Academy’s ceremony is broken, they can’t prepare the next batch of ceremonies…”
“Wait, it’s not the interval time, but the interval batch?” At this moment, I caught the key issue to ask.
“This rule isn’t explicitly stated; it just mentions there’s an interval. At first, I also thought it was time-based, but before the Wizard Academy completed their preparations, we found it didn’t work, but once they completed and it gets broken, we could go.”
“You tried it? Wait, did you originally find a place to host the Witch Tea Party?” I asked.
“Yeah, but sadly it was seized beforehand, so we had no choice but to come here.” Minian said helplessly.
“Alright, so shall we continue with the tea party? Is there any reason to continue?”
At this moment, I also began to move. We already had the invitations; we just needed to prepare the tea and desserts.
The main concern was the situation of the other academies’ ceremonies.
“We’ll disturb and sabotage the Holy Angel Academy’s ceremony after breaking the Wizard Academy’s ceremony; they were in such a rush, giving up decisively. As for the elves… reportedly, a witch set off a forest fire there… their ceremony is on hold…” Tan Han said, glancing at me, almost as if in inquiry.
“That fire was indeed caused by me; why not set such a vast forest ablaze? It’d be a shame not to use such natural firewood.” I shrugged and admitted.
“Really? That massive fire was started by you, Sister Xiao Han? We were all wondering who would be so bold. Upon learning it was a witch, the first guess from Sister Tan Han was you…”
I chose to selectively ignore Minian’s words and continued to look at Tan Han, analyzing the situation.
“The other academies are either slower than us or are smaller academies. Smaller academies find it much harder to complete their ceremonies than we do. Although there’s a chance of catching some slack, our current probability of successfully preparing is high. As for the Sea Tribe… Their ceremony was prepared before ours, and it seems no academy went to stop them, but their ceremony is complex and difficult, we could strive to gain time.”
“Okay, then I guess I have to hurry!” I was already tying on an apron, thinking it’d be quicker to make cookies, as they are simple and convenient.
Let’s seize the initiative first; we can continue making other desserts later.
“Here comes Sister Xiao Han’s desserts again; I didn’t get to eat them last time, so please make more this time, Sister Xiao Han!”
“Indeed, better to prepare extra; it would save the dessert-making process for the next ceremony.”
“Huh? Is that allowed?”
“If the rules don’t restrict it, it’s default permissible.”
But speaking of food… I remembered I seemed to have a portion of cat rice.
“By the way, have you eaten yet?”
“In the dream world, should we even need to? I just followed Sister Tan Han around and am a bit hungry. Hurry up, Sister Xiao Han, I want to eat dessert to fill my stomach!”
“I’ll brew you a cup of black tea to warm your stomach.” Tan Han said from the side.
“By the way, I have a portion of cat rice. When I went to the forest, I ran into a bunch of adorable catgirls; they were hosting a fish and rice banquet ceremony, but the ceremony failed, and they made cat rice in the end. Give it a try; it’s quite tasty.” While making cookies, I took out the cat rice from my storage equipment.
“Seriously? Sister Xiao Han, did you really rob someone’s cat rice?”
“What are you thinking? I helped them, and they just gave me a token of thanks.”
“Quick, serve it up! If only cat rice could serve as dessert!” Minian took the cat rice from my hands, but still made her complaints.
“Don’t fantasize; it would be nice if you could help.”
“Sorry, Sister Xiao Han, I really have no idea about making desserts and can’t help.” Oh! Right! Sister Xiao Han, can you tell me about the incident of burning down the forest? It’s too regrettable not to be present for such a thrilling matter!”
“There’s nothing much to say; a bunch of elves messed with my mindset, and then the idea of setting fire to the World Tree came to me, so I followed through and ignited a great blaze.”
“Set fire to the World Tree! Really! Please, Sister Xiao Han, take me with you next time you burn it down! I also know fire spells!”
“Just wait, forest fires spread slowly; without my interference, it would likely take a long time to reach the base of the World Tree.”
“Then aren’t you in a hurry, Sister Xiao Han? What if they extinguish the fire?”
“How will they extinguish it?”
“I heard they formed an alliance with the Sea Tribe or something… But it seems something unexpected happened…”
“I killed those two Sea Tribe members who came to form the alliance; it seems like they have no chance to extinguish the fire for a while.”
“Huh? Was that also you, Sister Xiao Han? What exactly have you been doing behind our backs? Boohoo, I regret following Sister Tan Han…”
“Even if you followed me, it wouldn’t be much different…”
I chatted with them as I made the desserts.
In the meantime, Su Ningmu and Heddy arrived here, with Su Ningmu riding a broom, having brought Heddy along; it seemed her flying skills were satisfactory enough to be able to carry others.
“It seems luck is still on our side.” I placed the cookies on the table of the Witch Tea Party, and the light beams of the ceremony once again changed.
At this moment, the other ceremonies also had their numbers completely shattered.
“Hurray! This means our Witch Academy’s score is now completely ahead!”
“You all eat first; since we’ve managed to seize the ceremony, I’ll make some more.” After placing the items down, I passed by Tan Han, “What? Were you worried about something earlier?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I was paying attention to the Sea Tribe’s ceremony. I discovered that the progress of the ceremony preparation would subtly reflect on the light beam enveloping the ceremony. The progress of their ceremony is very slow; it seems the difficulties they face exceed my expectations.”
“Oh? Is that so? I might have forgotten to mention that before coming here, I was at the Sea Tribe’s ceremony; I destroyed their ceremony before I came over with the invitation.”
