Parthian Ancient Kingdom, Rock Cellar City.
Two days had passed since the three demons were sent back.
During that time, Iver's convoy had not entered Rock Cellar City. Instead, it had continued waiting outside the city. Iver himself had brought several ritualists inside to study the ritual. He had also brought Sherlock along to help them apply spell defenses against the curse.
Although the Troll Witch who had continuously used Curse Nova: Petrification as the foundation of the Ritual Array had been killed by Iver—and as an aside, Iver had also come up with the name of this skill, since he had no idea what it was actually called—some active curse still remained.
As the foundation of the ritual, the Troll Witch's soul had nearly been burned away.
In fact, even if Iver had not come to deal with him, he probably would have gradually burned away after some time... perhaps a week or two, before dying completely and crumbling into ashes.
By killing him, Iver had truly set him free, allowing his soul to enter the Dream Realm.
Even if he had to reenter the cycle of reincarnation carrying information shattered into fragments, that was still better than being completely annihilated in body and soul. Besides, perhaps some Angel might take an interest in him.
Although the three ritualists had been stationed here to drum up business, they had also been tasked with protecting the Troll Witch and preventing anyone from killing him before he burned away.
—Since the enemy did not want him to die, Iver was determined to make sure he did.
It was precisely because the Troll Witch had died prematurely that the ritual had been abruptly interrupted before its complete fulfillment.
According to the ritual's original design, once it was fully completed, the petrification should