Chapter 2

Chapter 001. Thirty Years Stolen by the Witch

- Swish!

An arrow, brimming with mana, grazed the face of the witch who was fleeing between the trees, cloaked in black robes.

The witch's face was marred by burn scars, her left side of skin twisted, and the left part of her head revealed a grotesquely deformed scalp instead of hair.

"Got you! Nowhere to run!"

The witch, pushing through the trees, soon realized she had been driven out of the forest onto a plain. However, four knights on horseback were chasing her from behind.

The witch, panting heavily, had no choice but to stop. Dark red blood trickled from her cracked lips and throat, and her back and right arm were bleeding profusely, as if slashed by a sword.

"Bingo!"

The four knights chasing the witch slowly reined in their horses and surrounded her.

"There's no point in struggling if you're going to be caught anyway."

A man with a scruffy beard, who seemed to be the leader, dismounted.

He slowly ran his left hand along the blade of his drawn sword, sneering at the witch.

Despite his actions, the witch, still gasping for breath, remained on her knees, unable to even lift her head.

"But this witch is really ugly. Hey, James! Are you so peculiar that even this is okay?"

In response to the leader's joke, the man who had been keeping watch on the left side of the witch, dismounted and protested with a mischievous expression.

"My lord. I wouldn't go that far. Even if I close my eyes, what about the feel? Hahaha."

"Is that so? Hahaha!"

The knights mocked the witch. However, as the witch caught her breath and slowly straightened her upper body, their laughter faded, and their expressions changed.

"We need to capture her alive. Absorbing her life force while she's alive is the only way. This one seems a bit rough, so it's fine to cut off her limbs."

"Aye, my lord!"

Hearing their words, the witch's eyes began to turn red.

Clenching her fists, which had turned black, she glared at the man called the lord.

"Stealing and absorbing life force while alive, you're not as clean as you pretend to be."

Despite the murderous intent in the witch's eyes, the lord remained unperturbed and replied coldly.

"Those who thirst for power don't care about the means."

"Even a witch like me can help with your life force. You must be quite dirty, then."

"Right. I'll tear out and chew your liver and heart in a bit, so you'd better still be alive and kicking then."

Having hunted witches of about the third circle eight times, they had now mastered the skill of capturing them alive.

But the witch before them seemed to be a rare breed, a fourth-circle witch. The lord, being cautious, was about to signal the knights surrounding her. However,

- Thud!

"Ugh!"

"Aaah! Ugh!"

Black smoke-like substances flew into the chests of the two knights on either side, piercing through their armor and burrowing into their chests.

'What?'

The lord was startled, but the witch's right hand had already swung back, and the black smoke swept past the sword of the knight behind him, slashing his neck.

- Sizzle!

As the flesh of his neck was torn away, the toxic reaction caused the flesh to corrode, and dark red blood spurted out.

The two knights on either side lay on the ground, their chests and mouths spewing black clots of blood as they died.

'This is beyond fourth circle! Damn it!'

The sudden and unexpected turn of events!

The lord, overwhelmed by the fear of death, did not hesitate and charged at the witch.

He knew how dangerous it was to give this witch even a moment's respite.

If he could keep her under attack, the knights still chasing him from the forest would soon join him.

'Only repeated simple attacks, without giving her time to cast dark magic...!'

The moment the witch, who had been glaring at him, entered his attack range, the lord slashed diagonally with his sword.

- Swish!

The witch quickly stepped back to avoid the attack.

But it was a planned continuous attack. Without giving her a moment's rest, the lord was about to strike again.

- Swish

- Crack.

The witch, instead of retreating again, moved to the lord's side. Despite her side and abdomen being cut by the lord's upward slash