The charred tree trunks pointed to the sky like the fingers of Giant struck by lightning.
Unburnt magical Embers floated among them.
Ian stood amidst the ruins of the Dark Forest he had burned to the ground. Thick smoke drifted slowly above the ruins, lingering like a ghost, adding to the eeriness of this desolate land.
Just as the old witch fled, he turned back.
There stood a woman of extraordinary beauty, wearing a magnificent crown, a crown woven from dark silver metal, Diadem not with jewels but with miniature stars.
They are actually operating slowly.
Compared to a crown.
The woman was wearing a simple white dress, but upon closer inspection, it became clear that the material was neither silk nor linen, but rather a substance that Ian could not identify.
Or perhaps it is power.
With her light steps, the trajectory of stars appeared and disappeared on the hem of her skirt.
"Intruder."
The woman's face was almost unnaturally beautiful—not the alluring beauty of Veela, but a cold and pleasing beauty reminiscent of glaciers and diamonds.
As she walked, an astonishing scene unfolded: in the ruins of the burned Dark Forest, the twisted trees seemed to have been resurrected, sprouting tender black buds and growing rapidly; the dark plants also broke through the soil, stretching their branches and leaves and regaining their vitality in the blink of an eye.
This eerie forest, bathed in her presence, seemed to come alive. Crimson flowers bloomed on the ground, their petals covered in black veins that resembled the movement of human eyes. It must be said that the plants here were extremely dark, completely at odds with the sacred aura emanating from the woman.
It was like watering a carnivorous plant with holy water from a church, or planting a rose garden in a cemetery. Ian's temples throbbed, and the tip of his wand trembled slightly involuntarily.
He felt a terrifying sense of oppression emanating from the woman.
It was as if... facing a deity.
but.
Nevertheless, Ian pointed his wand at the woman. He couldn't help it; the woman sent chills down his spine, filling him with a profound and terrifying sense of danger.
The visitor was still hostile.
"Commendable courage, Legend in the Deteriorating Magic Era."
Clearly, the woman had deduced the era in which Ian lived through this spellcasting tool. Her gaze fell on Ian's wand, her silver pupils narrowing into two thin lines, as if weaving within her eyes. Her voice was like a superposition of countless sounds, from the clear, crisp to the hoarse, and even interspersed with inhuman hissing.
Ian felt a wave of dizziness.
It was as if the other person's words contained a terrifying Magic Power.
"Are you the owner of this place?"
Ian suppressed his discomfort, his voice more stable than expected. After all, even if Ariana couldn't bring reinforcements, he still had a trump card to turn the tide.
"No."
The woman gently shook her head, her hair swaying softly with the movement, like black silk.
"I am merely a resident, a hider." She raised her hand, a falling ash turning into blood in her palm. "And you, you scared away my Forest Keeper."
That's very impolite.
Her voice was crisp and cold, like ice crystals colliding.
"Did I scare away your Forest Keeper?"
Upon hearing this, Ian almost turned into Michael with a completely bewildered expression. Anyone with eyes could see that the old witch who had fled earlier was clearly scared away by this woman in front of her.
How did it become that he scared away the old witch?
Is this how you calculate accounts?
"If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext!" This woman's skill in distorting the truth is so adept; judging from her behavior, she must be quite old. After all, the force of that punch, disregarding the facts, was truly extraordinary.
"It was clearly you—" He swallowed the rest of his sentence. The way the woman tilted her head, waiting for him to continue, reminded him of Dumbledore's expression when he was toying with Voldemort.
Um.
In short, it's a cat playing with Rat.
"I'm leaving now. Pretend I was never here." Ian made a move to leave, but he was also secretly on guard. Sure enough, the moment he took a step, the woman didn't speak, but the plants in the forest seemed to receive some kind of command. The newly grown black vines formed a loose circle around him.
The vines began to emerge from the ground like pythons, quickly intertwining and multiplying, each one trembling slightly, as if sniffing out the little Wizard's Magic Power Fluctuation.
"This is also to prevent me from leaving."
Ian's suspicions were confirmed.
The woman heard this.
There was no denial either.
" Legend, very rare, so you need to become my new Forest Keeper." The woman spoke as if discussing the weather, rather than the personal freedom of a Legendary Wizard.
The next moment.
Ian immediately felt an invisible pressure bearing down on his entire body, as if unseen hands were grabbing him from all directions. It was clear that there was no room for negotiation on the woman's side.
This woman wasn't making a proposal; she was announcing a decision.
How could the young Wizard possibly agree to such an unreasonable request? Without a word, he immediately unleashed his most powerful offensive magic— Fel Energy Burst.
A blinding green light shot into the sky, containing immense energy that swept across the surroundings like a reversed waterfall. Wherever the green light passed, space itself began to distort and collapse.
It was a grand affair.
It is also very powerful.
The green light transformed into a dazzling "nuclear bomb," carrying an aura of world destruction.
but.
Ian knew in his heart that there was a huge gap between his strength and that of this woman. He couldn't expect his magic to harm her. She was just trying to buy him time to escape.
After all, a woman who could frighten an old witch into fleeing must possess unfathomable strength. That's why, after releasing his magic, Ian immediately donned his Flying Cloak and turned to run.
Super speed boost.
He suddenly darted several hundred meters away. The Apparition restriction in this forest was not without limits, and Ian's idea was to quickly run out of this limit and then Apparition away.
No matter how powerful the opponent is.
It seemed impossible for them to leave this Dark Forest. Ian's plan was quite good; he flew several hundred meters, and then couldn't help but look back at the situation behind him.
However.
You won't know until you see it.
Upon seeing this, Ian was also startled, his eyes widening in shock. The woman, facing the nuclear-explosion-like magic, hadn't employed any means of defense.
She simply let the magic blast her over, and then, to the little Wizard's utter disbelief, she emerged unscathed and calmly from the surge of magic.
Magic seemed powerless before her, unable to harm her in the slightest. The fel Magic Power, strong enough to dissolve Legend body, bypassed her like a docile pet. She even had the leisure to reach out and catch a wisp of drifting green light, letting it linger on her fingertips, an act that seemed to mock how weak Ian's magic was.
certainly.
The women actually had a pretty good opinion of this magic.
"Very creative magic."
The woman's voice pierced through the roar of the explosion and came clearly.
But you may not even know who you're facing.
The moment those words were spoken, the woman's figure had already disappeared in front of the erupting green "nuclear explosion," Ian only felt a chill rush straight to the top of his head.
Smack
Almost in the blink of an eye, before Ian could even react, the woman appeared directly in front of him. Ian couldn't dodge in time and crashed headfirst into her, feeling only a soft surface before falling from the air. His magic cloak lost its effect, but thankfully his buttocks weren't smashed into eight pieces.
"Don't resist."
The voice suddenly appeared beside my ear.
Ian could even feel the cool air rising from the woman's breath.
He looked up.
The woman was already within reach.
I was so close I could count the number of her eyelashes.
The woman raised her hand and pointed a finger at Ian's forehead. Ian felt a terrifying force rushing towards him, a force that seemed to engulf him like a surging tide.
Faced with this force.
Ian felt as if the whole world had shrunk down to just that one finger.
" Blazing Journey!"
Ian was greatly shaken, and gritted his teeth, releasing the magic again without hesitation.
A blinding light burst forth from the tip of his wand.
In an instant, an endless sea of fire surged and spread out from Ian. This flame was not the scarlet or orange-yellow of ordinary magic, but a pure golden flame like the midday sun.
The whole world seemed to be enveloped in this golden light.
Clearly, Ian's flames incorporated elements of Ancient Greece prayer rituals—the moment the flames formed, the temperature of the entire Dark Forest surged to an extreme level.
The newly reborn, twisted plants turned to ashes at a visible speed. Golden waves of fire, accompanied by rolling heat, swept towards the woman like a roaring beast.
" Sun God Fire?"
The woman was engulfed by flames. Although the flames did not harm her in the slightest, they did bring her to a standstill. Her cold and beautiful face was filled with astonishment.
The powerful aura surrounding him fluctuated briefly under the intense heat of the impact. It was unclear whether this was due to the flames or because he realized the power contained within Ian's flames.
At that very moment.
A dark shadow shot into the sky from the sea of fire.
Ian decisively activated his Animagus form and flew into the sky. As soon as he completed the transformation, he felt all the restraints vanish instantly, like ice and snow meeting the sun.
Hehehe!
Ian abruptly stopped his flight, as if he had made a decision, and turned around, hurtling towards the woman's face like an arrow.
He still has the moral principle of not hitting someone in the face.
so.
Ian simply pecked straight at the woman's head.
This demonstrates his magnanimity.
However.
"Damn it! Get out of here!"
The woman didn't seem to appreciate it. The once elegant and composed woman had completely lost her composure. In her panic, she began to stumble and run, waving at Ian to shoo him away.
His movements appeared quite clumsy.
Her hasty escape caused her crown to tilt slightly. She ran, he chased; she had no wings and could not fly, Raven raven's sharp beak precisely pecking and carving at her head.
Finally, it didn't even spare the forehead. With a nimble flip, the Raven left a vicious peck on the woman's earlobe, this time drawing out a drop of silver blood.
The Raven swallowed it whole.
immediately.
Soaring into the sky.
With a flap of his wings, he stirred up the burning golden ash, and using the billowing smoke and pervasive mist, he swiftly vanished into the thick, dark clouds above, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
The woman fell to the ground.
The elegance, nobility, and sacredness vanished, replaced by a mask of pain—a grimacing face covered in welts, her expression one of utter exasperation.
" God Eater!! It's that filthy thing, Medivh!!!"
The woman shouted through gritted teeth, but her tone was full of helplessness and frustration, as if she felt she had been cruelly mocked. She stood up in a fit of anger and stomped her feet helplessly.
Just as the woman was speaking eloquently and uttering fragrant words...
On the other side.
Ian had already pierced through the clouds, soaring through the Misty Illusion, traversing one gathering place after another for the dead, heading towards the ancient Castle he knew so well.
The little Wizard had no idea what was going on. After transforming, it seemed as if he had "built-in navigation," knowing exactly how to fly and where to reach his destination.
The wind howled in his ears, and he flapped his wings with all his might. Soon, a familiar ancient Castle appeared in his eyes. The tall and majestic Castle looked sinister under the dim sky.
but.
Ian felt at home.
He landed directly on the open ground in front of the Castle and reverted to human form.
Not far away, a Dragon lay there, its enormous body like a small mountain, its scales shimmering with a cold, hard light in the dim light, and its snoring sound as loud as thunder.
"Long time no see, big guy." Ian touched the Dragon's skin. The Dragon was still snoring, but it also gently exhaled a breath of warm air in response to Ian.
Pushing open the heavy door, Ian entered the Castle. The hall was dimly lit, with torches flickering on the walls. He saw Morgan leaning against a bench at the dining table, his back to him.
A golden plate floated in front of the wicked woman.
Ian slowly approached, only to be somewhat surprised to find that the disc contained footage of his confrontation with the woman in the Dark Forest, every detail crystal clear.
"Teacher, have you been spying on me?" Ian couldn't help but ask, his tone still carrying a hint of resentment, though it was only directed at the woman he had encountered in the Dark Forest.
"Shouldn't I be the one calling you teacher?" Morgan didn't turn around, as if he had already sensed Ian's arrival. He gently stroked the edge of the golden disc, and the scene switched to the ruins of an Ancient Greece temple.
"You've really got some nerve, not messing with Wizard anymore." Morgan sighed, his tone seemingly full of admiration for Ian, though Ian could tell it was sarcastic.
The young Wizard does have some ability to discern this.
Who did I run into?
Ian couldn't help but ask, feeling that Morgan must know the truth. This wicked witch seemed to be hiding many secrets, even more mysterious to him than Merlin.
"Who else could it be?"
Morgan chuckled and spoke.
"Congratulations, as Wizard, you have successfully provoked the God of Witchcraft, the God of Witches — Circe." Morgan's eyes revealed a mocking expression.
She loved seeing Ian's shocked, stunned expression.
"Gurgle~"
Ian was actually somewhat prepared, but he still couldn't help but swallow hard. He had clearly sensed the woman's terrifying aura and realized he might be facing a dead god. Suddenly, Ian remembered the old witch and, on a whim, immediately asked Morgan about it.
"There's also an old witch, she's a god too, I think. I feel like I'll have a hard time fighting her." Ian was very confident in his strength, so he felt that anyone he couldn't beat must be classified as a god or something like that.
"God?"
Upon hearing Ian's guess, Morgan laughed as if she had heard a particularly funny joke, and she even patted the long table a few times while touching her stomach.
"..."
Ian was completely bewildered.
And Black Witch Morgan gave her answer after she had finished laughing.
"You couldn't beat your senior sister—no, you couldn't beat your grand-disciple—and you even had to give her a hand? That's the most hilarious thing I've heard in days!"
Morgan looked like he was laughing so hard his stomach hurt.
His pectoral muscles were twitching and pulsating.
(End of this chapter)