CA – Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Blood stained the earth, and corpses were strewn everywhere. After Tang Qiu got a clear look at her surroundings, her stomach churned. Even though she was starting to get used to this world, such a gory scene still made her hair stand on end.
So this is a Black Witch... Tang Qiu lowered her gaze. It seemed there was a good reason why the Black Witches were targeted by all the powers of the continent.
The bloody water in the stream gurgled and bubbled. A black jar next to the mountain of corpses caught Tang Qiu's attention. Frowning, she took a few steps toward it, wanting to see what was inside.
The scarecrow watched Tang Qiu silently, its eyes—decorated with crimson bits of flesh—flashing with a wisp of dark energy. Tang Qiu sharply raised her head to look at it.
“What... is that...” Tang Qiu raised her staff and quickly recited an incantation. A ring of light appeared at her feet, just in time to crush the skeletal hand that shot out from the ground into dust.
The scarecrow remained motionless, yet it was enough to send a chill down one's spine.
Tang Qiu cautiously retreated to Lucille's side and turned her head to look at her.
Lucille turned her head, her gaze meeting Tang Qiu's for a moment. She frowned and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“No...” Tang Qiu said thoughtfully. “I was just thinking, what do we do if the Black Witch isn't here?”
“Destroy her dark array,” Lucille said coldly.
“But what if her real body isn't here, and she just left something to watch this place...” Tang Qiu spread her hands helplessly. “What then?”
Lucille turned to look at the scarecrow, her expression blank.
Tang Qiu raised her staff, trying to cast a light spell at the scarecrow. “I just have my suspicions,” she said.
Just as the light spell was about to hit the scarecrow, it was intercepted by a burst of mist. The mist devoured the light elements, and the scarecrow remained standing there, unharmed.
“But... now I can confirm it.” Tang Qiu slowly lowered her staff, her sky-blue eyes fixed on the scarecrow. She raised her voice. “Your Excellency the Witch, do you not plan to come out and greet your guests?”
“Marshal Lucille of Edry has come to visit in person, yet you send out a mere scarecrow to receive her while you hide in the shadows. Isn't that a bit damaging to a witch's prestige?”
“Ah, I forgot. Black Witches can't be exposed to the light.” Tang Qiu's tone was one of sincere apology. “But this scarecrow doesn't seem much better, does it? What do you think, Your Excellency the Witch?”
Lucille watched the priest who was so freely “borrowing” her name to provoke the witch, her expression unreadable.
The scarecrow let out a cold snort, its voice sharp and chilling. “It seems priests are arrogant no matter where they come from. Is that what you learned from your Light Goddess?”
Tang Qiu chuckled lightly. “The Light Goddess merely guides us to illuminate the darkness.”
Her staff of light flashed. As she spoke, Tang Qiu suddenly unleashed the light spell she had already prepared. A dazzling white light enveloped the scarecrow, and the surrounding mist gradually dissolved in the face of the light elements. Tang Qiu’s expression was grave as she continuously muttered the incantation, keeping the white light fixed on the scarecrow.
The Light Spell was the most offensive of the low-level light magic, and a bane to all dark creatures. Even Lucille, standing beside Tang Qiu, felt a little uncomfortable and couldn't help but take a step back.
The scarecrow fell silent within the white light. Its arms and legs suddenly burst into flames, burning the straw to ash and leaving only a bare head atop the dark wooden stick.
Tang Qiu slowly lowered her staff, her face pale from the exertion of mental energy. She took a deep breath, but just as her focus relaxed, a cold, bony hand suddenly seized her ankle. The ground beneath her collapsed, and a powerful force began to drag her down.
With lightning speed, Lucille grabbed Tang Qiu and pulled her to her side, then lifted her foot and crushed the skeletal hand that had followed.
Tang Qiu leaned against Lucille, her brow furrowed. She looked up at the scarecrow and murmured softly, “Things are about to get tricky.”
Her light magic was no match for this Black Witch.
The scarecrow, now just a bare head, let out a cackling laugh. The ground suddenly shook, and the massive figure of a Half-Human Monster emerged from the thick fog, carrying a mangled corpse on its shoulder. The pure white priest's robes were soaked through with blood. Beneath the torn fabric were stark white bones, stripped of flesh. On its only intact arm, the mark of light had grown dim and lusterless.
It's Jane... Tang Qiu's eyes widened for an instant before she looked away, her lips pressing into a thin line.
The Half-Human Monster threw the priest's corpse down in front of the scarecrow. A black crow emerged from the fog, plunged its sharp beak into her chest, and pulled out her heart.
“A monster summoned with the heart of a priest... the very thought is thrilling.” A wisp of black mist drifted from the scarecrow, enveloped the heart, and floated toward the stream.
As the black crow pulled out Jane's heart, Lucille keenly sensed the person beside her stiffen for a moment. She glanced at Tang Qiu. Though her face was expressionless, her grip on her staff had tightened.
“Are you afraid?”
Tang Qiu glanced at Lucille, a faint smile appearing on her face even in such a situation. “I am.”
“With your strength, you have no need to fear her.” Werewolves are natural-born warriors. Like vampires, they possess enviable speed and strength, but they are luckier than vampires because their power grows with time.
Unlike vampires… whose strength is forever fixed within a strict hierarchical system.
Tang Qiu froze, looking at Lucille with confusion. Just as she was about to ask what she meant, Lucille vanished.
Just before the heart, enveloped in black mist, could fall into the stream, it was snatched by a pale hand. Lucille coldly crushed the heart, then teleported in front of the scarecrow. With a sharp twist of her hands, she snapped it in two, and the bare head rolled to the feet of the Half-Human Monster.
The Black Witch's furious voice came from within it, “Damn you, I'll send you both to hell.”
“I'll use your hearts to summon a monster that will slaughter everyone in Edry.”
Countless monsters surged from the thick fog, instantly overwhelming Lucille and Tang Qiu. The bloody water in the stream churned even more violently as the fog gradually condensed, transforming into a grayish-green flame.
Lucille weaved through the monsters, her movements swift and decisive. In no time, she had cleared an open space around them.
She looked up, scanning the surroundings for the figure of the blonde priest.
Tang Qiu was surrounded by countless monsters, and one of her light staves had already been snapped. She tossed aside the useless staff, and just as she was about to pull out a new one, the Half-Human Monster's giant hand descended from above, completely enveloping her in its shadow.
The life-threatening pressure made Tang Qiu's heart clench. Her blood suddenly began to boil, and her joints started to itch, as if something inside her was about to explode. Her mind went blank.
However, the expected danger never came. Lucille had appeared at some point, leaping into the air and sending the Half-Human Monster flying with a single kick. She landed with her back to Tang Qiu, frowning at the ever-increasing number of monsters.
With the crisis averted, the boiling in Tang Qiu's blood gradually subsided. She flexed her slightly sore fingers, took out a new staff, and looked past the monsters at the approaching grayish-green flames. Her eyes narrowed. “What is that?”
She didn't know much about the Black Witches' dark magic.
“...Dark flame.”
“...Sounds pretty powerful.”
Lucille's tone was flat. “Any cleric below the rank of Priest will be turned to ash on contact.”
A certain cleric below the rank of Priest paused upon hearing this, then earnestly told Lucille, “Please make sure to keep that flame at a safe distance from me.”
Lucille: “...”
The circle of grayish-green flames grew smaller and smaller. Lucille and Tang Qiu had killed most of the monsters inside, but the flames were now only about ten meters away.
While dealing with the last Half-Human Monster inside the circle, Lucille’s arm accidentally brushed against the fire. The grayish-green flames instantly flared up as if to devour her, but she managed to dodge away.
Her sleeve was burned to ash. Lucille retreated several steps and looked down at the wound on her arm, her expression icy.
Tang Qiu went over to check on it, wanting to use a healing spell on her, but she dodged away.
“Your wound...” Tang Qiu was a little worried.
Lucille lowered her arm and shook her head, her expression blank. “It's nothing.”
They had dealt with all the monsters inside the circle, but the flames were still closing in. The ring of fire had shrunk again. If they didn't find a way out soon, they would be consumed.
As Tang Qiu rubbed her staff, pondering what light spell she could use, the Black Witch's voice suddenly rang in their ears. “Look what I've found.”
“A vampire.”
The Black Witch chuckled lowly. “To think you're actually a vampire. A vampire hanging around with a priest. Interesting.”
Upon hearing the word “vampire,” Lucille’s expression was one of clear revulsion. She leaned against a tree trunk and sat down, completely ignoring the Black Witch.
Tang Qiu, who was trying to figure out how to escape, froze and subconsciously looked at Lucille, doubting her own ears.
A vampire?
Although Lucille's dark red eyes had made Tang Qiu suspicious before, vampires carried an aura of darkness that a priest should be able to detect.
But she had never sensed anything like that from Lucille.
“An injured vampire next to a delicious priest,” the Black Witch’s voice was laced with temptation. “Don’t you want to drink her blood dry and heal yourself?”
“I've heard that a priest's blood is the most delicious delicacy for a vampire.”
“Hehehe... How do you think you'll die? Burned to ash by the flames, or drained dry by the vampire beside you?” the Black Witch asked Tang Qiu maliciously.
Tang Qiu came back to her senses slightly, thought about it carefully, and said with a smile, “I think it'll be neither.”
The Black Witch snorted coldly. “Then let's see. An injured vampire resisting the urge to drink blood? What a joke.”
Lucille closed her eyes to rest, turning a deaf ear to the Black Witch's words.
After the Black Witch fell silent, the atmosphere grew quiet. Tang Qiu opened her mouth but didn't know what to say. She was shocked that Lucille was a vampire, but this was the person who had saved her from danger so many times. She couldn't bring herself to voice any accusations.
Tang Qiu averted her gaze from Lucille. At a time like this, instead of dwelling on Lucille's identity as a vampire, it was better to think about how they could escape.
After all, the flames were getting closer and closer.
Lucille had said that clerics below the rank of Priest couldn't handle the dark flame, and Tang Qiu's experiments proved she wasn't lying. The light spells she cast, even with two staves, had no effect whatsoever.
Tang Qiu lowered her staff, feeling a sense of defeat for the first time since arriving in this world. Her gaze slowly shifted to their only remaining hope: Lucille.
“We're going to die here,” Tang Qiu said with a frown. “Aren't you going to think of something?”
Lucille's eyes were closed, as if she were asleep.
Tang Qiu walked over and squatted in front of her, glancing down at the burn on her arm. After a moment of silence, she asked, “If your wound was healed, could you get us out of here?”
Lucille’s eyelashes trembled as she slowly opened her eyes. Tang Qiu was startled to see that her dark red irises had deepened to the color of blood.
She hesitated for a moment, then said softly, “...You can drink my blood.”
Lucille looked at her with a calm gaze.
Under Lucille’s gaze, Tang Qiu shrugged helplessly and sighed. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not some noble priest planning to sacrifice myself to save you.”
“You can drink my blood, but only until your wound is healed.” Tang Qiu paused. “On the condition that you get me out of here too.”
Lucille watched her quietly. An overwhelming thirst welled up inside her, and her gaze fell involuntarily to Tang Qiu’s neck, tightly covered by her collar.
She asked in a hoarse voice, “You don't want to die?”
Tang Qiu gave a helpless, light laugh. “I think very few people would answer no to that question.”
Lucille lowered her gaze in silence for a moment, then slowly reached for Tang Qiu. Her fingers undid the top button of her collar, but just as she reached for the second, her wrist was caught.
Tang Qiu rolled up her sleeve, dangling her slender wrist in front of Lucille. “Here.”
Lucille grabbed her wrist and snorted coldly.
“I trust that a person of Marshal Lucille’s character won’t go back on her word,” Tang Qiu couldn't help but say. Her free hand secretly gripped her staff as she lowered her gaze, watching Lucille lean closer to her wrist.
The soft skin of her wrist and the strong pulse beneath it were a siren's call to Lucille. Yet, at the very moment she was about to bite down, she stopped. Her brow furrowed, her eyes a mixture of hesitation, resistance, and disgust. She pulled back slightly, as if wanting to give up.
It wasn't until she heard Tang Qiu's questioning prod that Lucille looked up, her gaze fixed on Tang Qiu. She slowly pressed her lips to the warm skin of her wrist, opened her mouth, and sank her sharp fangs into the soft flesh. Warm blood gushed forth. To a vampire's palate, the taste was so exquisite that Lucille's eyes darkened.
The sharp pain in her wrist made Tang Qiu press her lips together. She looked down, meeting Lucille’s gaze. In her peripheral vision, she saw the wound on Lucille's arm healing. Her grip on the light staff tightened, and she raised it slightly.
Lucille glanced down at it, then her left hand shot out, pinning Tang Qiu’s other wrist. She leaned forward, trapping Tang Qiu completely beneath her, and continued to drink from her right hand.
“That’s enough, Lucille.” Tang Qiu’s hands were pinned, her staff flung far away. She could only remind her in a low voice.
However, Lucille just stared intently into her eyes, showing no sign of stopping.
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