Chapter 540: So It’s This Witch!
After the previous strike ended, the player responsible for executing the God-Slaying blow was directly backfired by the power and left to d*e. The two players who were originally unwilling and had not used the God-Slaying combat armor were relieved.
Because they hadn’t made direct contact, they had only endured the shockwave from the explosion’s center. According to the system’s calculated damage radius, their location was the least affected, but they still bore a terrible impact.
The auxiliary armor they wore was meant to assist in resisting the residual wave, but after this blow, they had to switch back to their own combat armor.
Because the durability of the new armor had already fallen below the warning line.
It was clear that the God-Slaying armor they used and the auxiliary armor were merely makeshift solutions for emergency responses.
Thinking about it, those game architects could not possibly provide them with real God-Slaying combat armor that quickly.
Real God-Slaying armor shouldn’t be limited to just the two of them.
They had thought this would be an easy task, but no one expected that the three players responsible for the frontal encirclement would nearly be counter-killed by the opposing side!
Fortunately, they still had a backup plan; the God-Slaying armor was only a temporary measure to delay the opponent, and they had merely stirred a hornet’s nest.
After escaping that explosion center, those resembling birdmen, along with a few others, took this opportunity to scatter like birds and beasts, while the players’ ordinary bodies trembled from the cold, even just during the brief pause to change armor.
However, the game architects backstage did not care about their current state; they needed to immediately track down those two young girls!
After all, one of those girls had a technology core that they desperately wanted, and the other possessed a wealth of game qualifications!
No matter which one they captured, it would be a huge gain for them!
Of course, being greedy as they were, they naturally aimed to get both.
They were also trying to urgently gather all players who had descended into this world, though this would take a long time. However, as long as they pinpointed the location of these two individuals, the time it took to arrive wouldn’t matter.
They could directly proceed with the follow-up encirclement plan, improvising as situations arose.
The pioneering excavators who had arrived first in this world were all top-tier players, each with their own specialized skills.
Or rather… each representative of power was an extension of the power granted by the All Worlds Terminal!
“Locked onto their location, hehe, that foolish woman severed her own right arm—she really is ruthless to herself. But now, they’re pretty much trapped with nowhere to escape!”
After assisting that player with “euthanasia,” the remaining two players lowered their sensitivity to pain.
With the assistance of the All Worlds Terminal system, they completed the enemy’s location lock. Although they had delayed a lot of time due to their own reasons, with the flying module, they soon caught up.
Their tracked targets were evidently heavily injured, or they wouldn’t have sought out a hiding place.
“Found them, hehe… right here!”
As they violently pried open a particular wall, a somewhat dim corner was suddenly illuminated by outside sunlight, but it didn’t bring hope.
The figures of the two instantly came into their view. After confirming their identities through the system, they immediately issued a warning. However, they did not initiate a large-scale indiscriminate extermination immediately.
Because there was still a Child of Fortune present. Although the concept of a Child of Fortune was not acknowledged by those game architects, these high-level players had their suspicions. They were the forefront of every world, and much of the information they understood was acquired through their own means. Even the method of plundering game qualifications was to some extent built upon the speculation of Child of Fortune.
This method of plundering involved constantly creating obstacles for the Child of Fortune, causing them trouble, even directly humiliating them, trampling their dignity, erasing their hope, and severing all their possibilities. Killing the heart in this way allowed the All Worlds Terminal to capture these game qualifications.
When they could no longer extract more game qualifications, they would resort to the final method of killing the target.
Without the prior process of harassment, directly killing the target would yield little to no game qualifications. They were pioneers and excavators who could not influence this world; without causing a certain level of intrusive impact on this world, they also had no means to directly compete with the world’s will for fortune.
Just as they confirmed the identities of their targets, they suddenly noticed a strange pattern shimmering with brilliant light on the ground beside the opposing side.
After scanning this pattern, a crimson alert suddenly flashed in their line of sight.
They were greatly astonished that the All Worlds Terminal had conducted an “information recording” on this item!
The methods of the opposing side actually matched the information in their database!
But at this moment, the game architects observing all this were even more unsettled.
This was the Summoning Ceremony!
Earlier, in that small world, it was closely related to that Catastrophe Witch’s Summoning Ceremony!
Their innate fear of the concept of “witch” made them immediately give up on occupying that small world and sever any relationship with it.
Additionally, under the deduction of the All Worlds Terminal, they confirmed that this unknown symbol might expose the “coordinates” of their world, which made them even more convinced that the one claiming to be the Catastrophe Witch wanted to invade their world!
For this, the Catastrophe Witch indeed devised a method to reverse propagate this Summoning Ceremony through player interaction.
Understanding all this, the game architects were rendered uneasy.
They promptly issued a universal directive, employing the All Worlds Terminal to conduct a global information erasure, completely eliminating any records related to this Summoning Ceremony from their world!
As for whether it could be physically recorded… that was impossible, because their world had long since eliminated paper and pen; it solely relied on the interconnected All Worlds Terminal—before the All Worlds Terminal, everyone had no privacy.
However, now, they had not expected to see this here again!
Yet, after their shock, the game architects immediately issued a confirmation command.
At this moment, the two players also received the command.
“Who! Who is being summoned?” The two receiving the command immediately locked their weapons onto the two girls.
“Tell us who is being summoned! Otherwise, we will exterminate you!”
“Um…” Tan Han and Shali were startled by the excessive actions of the two, but Shali still managed to cast a protection spell sufficient to withstand their kinetic weapons.
Tan Han couldn’t possibly inform them that this was a summon for reinforcements, while Shali was unclear about what was happening.
Until the one person they least wanted to see appeared from the Summoning Ceremony formation.
“C-Catastrophe Witch!” One of the two widened their eyes in disbelief upon seeing the figure that had emerged!
Of course, he recognized the person!
Not long ago, during the final shutdown celebration of “Sinful Star,” he had participated, naturally gaining a slight understanding of this unexpected guest. With his high-level information-sharing privileges, he was well aware of the circumstances surrounding the Catastrophe Witch.
That was… a terrifying powerhouse who could create an attack close to a God-Slaying blow with magic without relying on any armor!
Even more so… could be an invader with covetous intentions toward their world!
To say he wasn’t afraid would be a lie!
But what was the situation? Had this witch taken a liking to this world too?!
Although these two players couldn’t comprehend the situation, the game architects behind them needed to handle it calmly. They were testing, probing a possibility…
“Honorable Catastrophe Witch…”
One player who understood the situation suddenly spoke, looking at the figure that had appeared abruptly. He felt dry-mouthed speaking. After all, they were just ordinary people now inhabiting ordinary bodies; even the entity controlling these bodies was also ordinary.
At this moment, Tan Han and Shali were both extremely shocked.
Shali was astonished that Tan Han had summoned Xiao Han, her brain still not catching up, while Tan Han was shocked by the other’s attitude toward Xiao Han.
The moment the figure appeared, one of them directly addressed her in honorifics!
Moreover… “Honorable Catastrophe Witch”… did Xiao Han know them?
Meanwhile, I had just completed the surrounding environment confirmation and my own protection upon being summoned here.
Upon seeing Tan Han’s figure, I took on a knowing expression; of course, I was summoned by Tan Han—no wonder.
Fortune’s arrangement had made me go in circles!
But the two people facing them… were excavators?
However, due to Principal Beif Alanna’s reminder, I knew they had descended into the main world, but I hadn’t expected that just as I entered the script, I would directly cross paths with them.
However, from their address, it seemed they recognized me.
“Um… you know me. How do you address me, excavators? Or… players?” I asked.
At that moment, I sensed a terrifying power dissipating in the air from afar, an aura intertwining coldness and the residual heat of an explosion, with dust from upheaved buildings mixed in the air.
What exactly had Tan Han and the others done?
Had they come to a war zone?
But the main world hasn’t seen any conflict for a long time, right?
“Just call us pioneers, esteemed Witch. May I ask… are you a native of this world?” The player looked at the directives sent from the game architects in their sight. Although they had no clue why they were risking asking this question, they had no choice but to comply.
“Pioneers… so that’s it.” I nodded, understanding quite a bit and piecing many things together. However, I also took the opportunity to use appraisal to see what exactly was happening here; although the information gathering through the Earth Vein was somewhat slow and lacked specific targets, it was far more convenient than merely inquiring.
“May I ask… are you a native of this world?” Seeing that I had not responded for a while, he was once again prompted by the directive to inquire.
“Yes, is there a problem?” I spoke without hesitation, without any concealment. However, I felt a slight pity for them; they had already fallen into an irretrievable abyss and could only take advantage of the remaining time.
But in places I didn’t know, in the game world…
As this response appeared, the game architects erupted in a frenzy of joy!
This was the answer they had been looking forward to most!
Some were extremely frustrated, feeling like clowns who had been scared rigid by such a person and had retreated in terror!
What did they just hear?
This Catastrophe Witch, who had frightened them into employing the world’s highest directive for targeted information erasure, was a native of the “small world” they had invaded!
They were practically eager to pull over those architects who had chosen to withdraw from that small world and scold them severely. How had they allowed this figure to strike fear into their hearts and set off such commotion, thinking that triggering targeted information erasure on a global scale could be done whimsically?
This demanded the entire world to move along; if those lower-tier individuals were to cause a riot or conflict because of it, it would threaten the stability of the world!
Hehe… Witch, they had collected much shallow information about this world and learned that its extraordinary organizations operated in the form of academies, one of which was the “Witch Academy.”
After all this time, it turned out they had been overly cautious of this!
So it was this witch!
Indeed, how could the witch described in their past encounters simply be someone they could chance upon?
This was merely a coincidence; this was someone who had become a witch professionally, not a witch race!
So what was there to fear now?
At this moment, the game architects felt as if they had been on a roller coaster. Initially, they thought they would have to give up on this world; however, no one expected the opposing side to be so pitiful that they were just scaring themselves!
However, the game architects’ decision could not be relayed in unison to these pioneering players.
Even if they were unaware, the strategic guidelines behind them had quietly shifted. Even though they understood that the so-called Catastrophe Witch was just a somewhat stronger spellcaster, it was likely that the two standing before her would still not stand a chance against her.
Therefore, the following developments would be left to these players to undertake.
In any case, if they truly could not take away one of these two targets, at least they would obtain a significant amount of intelligence, which wouldn’t be a loss at all.
Moreover, the opposing side might still be kept in the dark suddenly. The game architects observed the “Catastrophe Witch” before them; she seemed to be someone they could utilize. Her abilities were genuinely terrifying.
“Uh… sorry to intrude. May I ask if you intend to protect those two behind you?”
“Yes, I’ll protect them. If you don’t want to d*e, it’s best to leave now,” I threatened, but my gaze was already focused on the threads of fortune that they themselves couldn’t see.
Earlier, I had only seen the shallow layers of the threads of fortune, but unexpectedly, now that I could see deeper layers, I found that their level of utilizing fortune didn’t seem low?
Using fortune to manipulate… people, that was truly a terrifying tactic.
“That might not be possible.”
“Do you think you can defeat me?” I looked at the player who recognized me and asked. Since he knew me, then he should understand my strength, telling his teammate not to get in the way.
“Indeed, we may not be able to outmatch the Catastrophe Witch at full power, but our demands are modest. We only seek one thing, or one person…”
“This time, our companions are not only us; we’ve been buying time to secure a placement for the strategic mini-nuclear bomb for our other few companions. You may indeed k*ll us, but you know that it would be meaningless. As a result, this city will become a complete ruin, and surrounding cities will also be widely affected by this disaster, a catastrophe I’m sure you wouldn’t want to bear, right?”
