Aftermath

"What? Is there someone in town you care about? Or can't you get over that hurdle in your heart?"

the Witch asked.

Her followers burst into laughter. The loudest of them all was the butler of Baron Byrd, whom she had specifically pointed out. His face beneath the hood was twisted with madness, his eyes bulging and his mouth stretched as wide as it could go. Ethan was genuinely worried that he might laugh himself to death.

He guessed this might be some peculiar kind of welcome ceremony.

The Witch's followers had all gone through the same process.

"Since that's the case, let me help you. Do you see this rain? It's the gift I prepared for this town."

The Witch extended her right hand, letting the torrential rain gather in her palm. "I heard that your sheriff is a graduate of the Enlightenment Society. She must have already discovered that Riverside Town's water source has been contaminated. She should be mobilizing the entire town against me right now, shouldn't she? But drinking water isn't the only water source capable of carrying a curse. The effects may not be as obvious, but it will let them experience the agony of their bodies rotting away bit by bit."

She emphasized her words. "Yes, everyone you know will eventually die. The only difference is how long their suffering will last. What you're doing is actually helping them find release. You wouldn't want them struggling in despair for too long, would you?"

The Witch's voice was drowned out by the rain and manic laughter. The laughter around them gradually transformed into beastlike howls.

Ethan's gaze swept over Baron Byrd's butler. The man in his fifties was laughing as though he had lost his temper.

This was why Ethan disliked going out.

He lived in a world fraught with danger. It was so dangerous that the moment one tried to leave town, they would sooner or later be surrounded by Evil God Cultists or Dark Creatures. In fact, he had imagined scenes like this countless times. Only this time, it was truly happening before his eyes.

The good news was that he had spent plenty of time thinking about it.

He sorted through the situation at hand.

The evil Witch had returned through Baron Byrd's daughter, intending to kill everyone in town with a torrential rainstorm. That also meant she was at least a Third-tier Transcendent.

Third-tier was the threshold people had established. Those who crossed it had already surpassed the realm of humanity, becoming existences ordinary people could not comprehend.

In other words, he was facing an Evil God Cultist with a group of followers, one who thirsted for revenge against Brookwood Town.

The three heroes who had once defeated her were all dead, and their descendants were incapable of carrying on their legacy.

Therefore, Brookwood Town's fate had already been decided—it would be destroyed by the Evil God Cultist, and every soul would be offered to the Evil God Bazatos as a sacrifice.

Such an overwhelmingly unfavorable situation left Ethan with no other choice. Every line of thought he had ever pursued led to the same conclusion.

—No witnesses could be left alive.

The frail body of a spellcaster meant he could not expose himself in the open and become a target for others to ambush.

So from now on, he had no choice but to start considering the aftermath.

"Where are you going?"

the Witch asked in astonishment. Ethan's response had caught her off guard. Rather than answer her, he simply turned around and walked toward the cabin shrouded in the downpour.

This had originally been one of her favorite spectacles.

She loved watching a person be crushed by despair and turned into a puppet that obeyed only her commands—everyone here had become one in exactly that way.

"To get a jar."

The reply came through the rain.

"What do you need a jar for?"

"The weather forecast said there would be hail today."

Hail?

Had he been frightened senseless, or had despair caused him to have an emotional breakdown?

Boring.

"You—"

The command came to an abrupt stop. The Witch suddenly sucked in a sharp breath. The tearing pain made her grit her teeth. Stunned, she looked down at her raised palm. At some point, a hole had appeared in its center. The rainwater she had gathered spilled from the puncture and merged back into the downpour.

A bone-chilling cold surged from the wound throughout her body. No blood seeped from it; the instant it was pierced through, a layer of ice had formed over it.

An Elemental Shaper!?

An absurd thought surfaced in her mind.

Why would an Elemental Shaper appear in a godforsaken place like this?

Why hadn't she seen him chant or cast a spell at all?

It had all happened in the blink of an eye, leaving her no time to think. She saw Ethan take only two steps forward, and then all laughter vanished. The people who had been laughing wildly a moment earlier toppled forward. When the Witch looked closely, she noticed fist-sized wounds covering their bodies.

Their flesh had been torn apart, their bones punched through—enough to send anyone with trypophobia into a panic.

They still wore smiles, as though they had not realized they were already dead.

The same thing was happening to her.

She suddenly remembered the meteor that had fallen from the clouds on the night of the blood moon. That ill-timed disaster had interrupted the sacrificial ritual and allowed Brookwood Town to cling to life for a few more days.

Now that she thought about it...

Had that actually been a spell cast by someone?

What kind of joke was this?

What kind of joke was this!

She took a step forward, and her unsupported body fell straight onto the rain-soaked mud.

Thud—

This was the consequence of a spellcaster exposing himself in the open.

All noise outside the cabin had disappeared, leaving only the patter of rain.

"Miss Chloe, could you bring me that jar over there?"

"Cluck!"

This was the largest jar in the cabin. It had originally been used to store miscellaneous items. Ethan emptied out the dust-covered things inside and piled them on the table. He took out a sheet of parchment, stuck it onto the jar, and wrote Becky's name on it.

Then came Baron Byrd's butler.

Ethan explained to Miss Chloe, who had tilted her head, teaching her the technique. "This is a tradition from my hometown, used to honor the spirits of the deceased. You burn the dead into ashes, place the ashes in a vessel for mourning, then find a place with good feng shui and bury it."

In his opinion, Fireball Spell and Ice Arrow had many uses.

They could provide light, ward off the cold, disperse heat, or create water sources. They brought countless conveniences to daily life. The only thing he disliked was using spells in battle. For instance, altering the form of rainwater and turning it into a hailstorm was a change brought about by the beginner-level Ice Arrow. But that also meant he had to deal with people's aftermath again.

Fireball Spell could do an excellent job of removing the Traces those people had ever existed.

"Miss Chloe, I have an important question for you."

The pen in Ethan's hand stopped, his gaze profound.

"Cluck?"

Chloe straightened up, looking somewhat nervous.

"Other than Becky and the butler, what were everyone else's names again?"

The sudden incident and the circumstances had made him forget to ask every person's name, creating enormous difficulties in handling the aftermath.

Miss Chloe first gave him a confused look, then anxiously glanced around. Apparently, this was a difficult problem for her too.

The stalemate lasted for nearly two minutes.

"I know."

Ethan picked up his pen again and added the names of the other victims afterward.

Butler B, Butler C, Butler D...

He was overcome with grief.

Miss Becky and her seven old butlers rested here in eternal peace.

Thanks to regulareader for the 1,000 Qidian Coins donation!

Thanks to Head Explosion for the 666 Qidian Coins donation!

Thanks to Name, Oath for the 500 Qidian Coins donation!

Thanks to Cluck Cluck Fake Sister Controller for the 1,500 Qidian Coins donation!

Thanks, everyone, for your monthly votes and continued reading~