Witches Need No Mercy

"The rules are simple." Eugenia jumped down from Terror Claw's head and walked over to Vivian.

She gently lifted the girl's chin with one finger, as if examining a work of art.

After admiring her carefully for a while.

Eugenia turned around and walked toward the distance as she said:

"Since you were obedient enough to tell me your name, I won't bully someone younger than me. If you can withstand my next five attacks, I'll not only let you go and end this ritual, but also give you a generous gift."

As she spoke, the woman walked over to the rows of subordinates kneeling before her—the followers of the Fire God Cult.

Then she turned around, stared into Vivian's eyes, and lightly snapped her fingers.

Pfft!

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

The bodies of all the Fire God Cult followers kneeling in the first row exploded in unison, as if bombs had detonated inside them. Flesh and blood flew everywhere, and they died beyond dead.

This cold-blooded and merciless act had been directed at her own teammates! It not only frightened the two players who had followed Vivian and originally planned to watch the plot unfold, but also made Liao Zixuan's eyelids twitch violently.

Ruthless.

Truly ruthless!

Look at that—this was what a real Witch was like!

"If you pass the trial, I'll help you wipe out every follower here who saw you today and knows about you."

"That way, you won't have to worry about the Fire God Cult coming after you for revenge later."

"So, are you satisfied with my gift, Vivian?"

Eugenia spoke as if she were mentioning something utterly insignificant.

What was even more terrifying upon closer thought was that the followers kneeling before the woman had clearly heard their Bishop say she would kill them. She had even put those words into practice, yet they still showed no reaction at all.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. Their bodies merely trembled more violently, their knees sank lower, and their heads bowed further.

They didn't dare resist Eugenia—or perhaps they simply couldn't.

"Fine. I accept." Vivian nodded and took a step forward by herself.

The girl assumed a defensive stance and mobilized all her magic power to raise a Magic Barrier. Against an enemy of this level, Vivian would no longer hold back.

However, when Eugenia saw the girl like this, the corners of her lips suddenly curved upward strangely, and an amused anticipation appeared on her face.

"Are you ready? We're starting now. Three... two..."

When the woman counted down to two, she suddenly waved toward a certain direction.

Distracted, Vivian subconsciously looked over as well. But in the next instant, the girl's expression changed completely.

The place Eugenia indicated was the huge iron cage holding the Outlanders—in other words, the group of beta-test players led by Chang Lu Man Man.

At that moment, the iron cage, which had been suspended from the rock wall by a single rope, had its supporting rope suddenly severed by a Fire God Cult follower under the woman's command.

Whoosh!

Having instantly lost its support, the iron cage began plummeting from midair at tremendous speed.

Waiting beneath it was a lava brazier Eugenia had prepared long ago, filled with terrifyingly scalding molten lava.

In other words, if the cage continued falling, everyone trapped inside would die horribly, swallowed by roaring flames and melted by the high-temperature lava until not even dregs remained.

"F*** you!"

"You stinking ****!"

"Your ****ing **** can **** rot in ****!" Inside the cage, Chang Lu Man Man instantly transformed into a foul-mouthed berserker.

Even while the cage fell and intense weightlessness gripped him, he still found time to curse every woman in Eugenia's family, including Eugenia herself.

But unlike him, the other players in the cage were nowhere near as carefree.

Many of them screamed in terror, their legs going weak and their faces filled with fear. Some of the more pathetic ones were already crying and calling for their mothers.

Don't think that was ridiculous.

Although this was merely a game to the players, it had to be remembered that it was fully immersive, with an incredibly realistic experience. For everyone involved, it was no different from personally going through it once.

If someone pushed you from a building several stories high, with a basin of roiling lava waiting below, it could still scare you half to death even if you knew it was all fake.

Just as Chang Lu Man Man prepared himself to die heroically, and many of the more timid players shut their eyes and waited for death, unwilling to see what would happen to them,

Clang!

Screeech—

A shrill sound like an emergency brake echoed through the cavernous lair.

Chang Lu Man Man and the dozen or so players in the cage suddenly realized that the weightlessness in their bodies had vanished.

"W-what... what happened?" Many of the players who had closed their eyes opened them in confusion, only to see that their entire iron cage had somehow been wrapped from the outside in azure-blue energy.

"Boss, look! It's that new female NPC!" One of Chang Lu Man Man's subordinates excitedly slapped him on the shoulder, then pointed toward Vivian.

But the moment he finished speaking, Chang Lu Man Man beat him mercilessly.

"What do you mean, 'new female NPC'?! What female NPC?! Watch your mouth! Don't you have any manners? Didn't you hear her introduce herself earlier? Vivian—Miss Vivian!"

More and more players inside the cage noticed the commotion around the girl.

The little girl had originally been using both hands to maintain the Magic Shield with all her strength. Now, however, she had freed one hand, which glowed with magical light as she aimed it at the iron cage containing the players.

It was obvious.

Vivian had diverted some of her magic power to forcibly halt the cage's fall from midair and continued pouring power into it to keep it suspended, saving them.

Goddess!!

She was so strong—my Goddess!

"Did you start recording?!"

"Did you get it?! Did you record it?!"

"This is precious footage of my Goddess! Even if I die, you'd better record it for me!"

If this had been an anime, there would definitely have been two little stars sparkling in Chang Lu Man Man's eyes. After all, who didn't like being rescued by a hero? Of course, the reverse worked too.

However, before the excitement of being noticed by the Goddess could fade, the situation suddenly took a sharp turn for the worse. The players' hearts, which had just settled down, rose into their throats again.

Because—

"One!" Bishop Eugenia's countdown ended "just in time."

She gave Vivian no chance to catch her breath.

A long spear wreathed in flames condensed above Eugenia's head.

"Great God of Fire above, gather the sharpness of the world here and forge it with blazing fire—Flame Spear Technique!" After a brief chant and casting sequence, Eugenia lightly pointed one finger at Vivian.

Buzz!

The flaming spear hovering above the woman tore through the air. Like a mighty warrior's full-force throw, it slammed into Vivian's Magic Shield at tremendous speed.

Boom—

The Flame Spear exploded. The collision between the two spells made the entire underground lair seem to tremble. The Flame Spear Technique was a genuine second-tier spell, and its power far exceeded any attack Vivian had encountered before.

Worse still, the girl was currently splitting her attention between two tasks. A considerable portion of her magic power was being used to keep the players' iron cage suspended in midair, preventing it from falling into the lava brazier.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Vivian was injured for the first time and coughed up blood.

Although the Magic Shield had been pierced into a spiderweb pattern by the Flame Spear Technique and was on the verge of collapse, it had still blocked the attack. Vivian was desperately repairing it.

"Looks like I still underestimated you." Even though Eugenia knew Vivian likely possessed terrifying magical talent, surprise still appeared on her face.

A profession that had only just entered the first tier had blocked a second-tier spell—and while splitting her attention in two at that!

But—

"Heh heh. Naive." The woman's expression gradually twisted into a kind of fanatical madness.

"Since you want to become a Witch, then as your elder, I'll give you your first lesson." Eugenia gave a low, mocking laugh at Vivian, who still refused to abandon the players.

"Witches... need no mercy!"

A terrifying aura rose steadily from Eugenia. The elements throughout the cavern seemed to be stirred into motion, while dense, mysterious runes gathered over the woman's body.

The momentum alone, even at the beginning, had already surpassed the scope of a second-tier spell.

There was no doubt.

This was—

The pinnacle of power attainable by those below level 40 before undergoing the "Transcendent Breakthrough"—the power known as that of "mortals."

A third-tier spell!