Iron cut down the specters from the ghost army that rushed towards him.
He had practiced his basic swordsmanship and Imperial basic swordsmanship to the point that it had been ingrained deep down in his bones. However, despite his swordsmanship being the most basic out of them all, his mana and his perfect posture were more than enough to deal with the specters and ghosts that rushed towards him.
The bodies of the specters that had been materialized through the blue flames were as hard as steel, but they were not a match for a steel that had been smelted for a much longer period of time. Steel that was made urgently was bound to collapse under a steel sword that was made by a true master craftsman. Even if the steel sword got hurt and weakened in the process, a true master’s steel sword would not break.
Some would say…
‘Sometimes, you need to know when to back down.’
While others would say…
‘Sometimes, you need to be broken to truly survive.’
And that was true. Iron had also lived like that in his previous life. But he regretted living like that. There were people who died from his own judgement. People who had been used. People who roared from frustration. All of these people passed through his head. They were the reason why he chose to never be broken nor shaken in this life. And that thought had led to the creation of his steel.
―Quite good, kid.
“……”
The Ghost King spoke in admiration as he watched Iron steadily cut down hundreds of his army. Then, it began to move personally as it swung his huge scythe towards Iron’s exhausted body that was hurt and battered by the ghost army.
Seeing this, Iron quickly corrected his posture and raised his sword to block the huge scythe wrapped in blue flames.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Despite the merciless assault of the flame-covered scythe, Iron still maintained his posture.
Seeing him remain steadfast, the small pumpkin doll increased the intensity of its attack even further. Even the numerous specters from the ghost army attacked Iron, making the fight more difficult for him to endure.
He swung his sword until his arms burned from the strain. Shoulder. Thigh. Waist. There was no part of his body that wasn’t injured. But he still stood firm.
―You’re quite tough.
Despite receiving the attacks of a being that was far stronger than him, the boy still stood firm and unrelentless. Just looking at him made the pumpkin doll feel exhausted. So, it thought that it should end as it prepared for a strong final blow.
―Your comrade will appear if you’re able to stop this. If that happened, then, it’s my defeat.
The pumpkin doll’s scythe increased in size even further. Then, the ghost army all turned into blue flames that got sucked into the scythe.
―You’ll probably grow into the biggest obstacle to our plans if you survive this.
The pumpkin doll containing the Ghost King, pushed all of the power that it could muster into its huge scythe.
The Ghost King couldn’t use much power since it needed to maintain the specters and ghost trees to block the rangers and the Ghosts but it still made sure to gather enough strength to crush the young man in front of it.
“I’ll just ask you one thing.”
When the Ghost King heard Iron’s words, it tilted its head as it lifted the huge scythe covered in blue flames.
―If it’s something that can be answered.
“The witch here… is she only one person?”
The Ghost King guffawed at Iron’s question.
He had managed to notice this just now. But up until they reached this place there was no witch that appeared. Only the Ghost King, her familiar, appeared to stop them.
At first, he thought that it was because of the dimensional crack. But over time, he realized that no other familiars had appeared. So, his thoughts ran wild. It seemed like the Witch Queen was alone in this place. He thought that if it was the existence that led the witches, an existence that was beyond the master level, then she was strong enough to do something this ridiculous even if she was alone in her realm.
―Right. There is only one ‘she’ that exists. She’s the last and strongest witch.
“Alone… She’s dealing with all of the elites in the Northeast alone?”
―The Queen’s realm is a place that even a grandmaster would dare not enter… Isn’t that obvious?
The Ghost King swung its scythe towards Iron. It swung its scythe as if he had enough of his questions and had already listened to his final words.
But at that moment, the mana in the surrounding flocked towards Iron that created a strange sensation in his body. The gust of wind created by the mana extinguished the blue flames that wrapped around the huge scythe.
The flame created from the souls of the void insects were instantly cleared by the black gust of wind that flew around Iron. Even the specters burst out in a sprinkle of light when the black wind passed by them.
“Thanks.”
Iron immediately raised his sword properly when he felt Owl’s help.
The only thing that was left in front of him was a cluster of mana in the shape of a huge scythe. That was the only thing left that he needed to endure.
‘I can do it!’
Iron swung his sword to parry the huge scythe that was aiming to split him into two.
His sword, which had been compressed to its limit, blackened a bit slightly following his steel-like will.
The strange sensation that he felt back when he was blocking the dark elf’s attacks in Winter Mountains suddenly appeared once again. And at that very moment, the mana in Iron’s sword began to change.
Then, the pumpkin doll’s scythe and Iron’s sword collided.
Boom!
The collision created a huge shock wave that shook the very earth itself. But despite the huge shock, Iron’s sword did not shake. Even his two legs remained steadfast and solid as he endured the attack.
―What a good sword.
Crack, crack, crack!
The Ghost King looked at his scythe in disappointment when it saw that it was not able to pierce through Iron’s steel-like mana.
Iron frowned when he saw the pumpkin doll’s eyes drooping sadly. It looked a bit distorted right now. And it was strangely disgusting.
―Boy, having this good sword must be because of your abilities.
The moment the Ghost King said this, the wall from behind them exploded. Before Iron knew it, Lintel’s sword was already trying to stab through the pumpkin doll. However, the Ghost King’s huge scythe immediately parried Lintel’s sword away.
―I think it’s time for me to head back. Will you be fighting with my Queen for the 2nd round? Sounds fun.
The Ghosts flocked one by one around Iron after the Ghost King had disappeared.
“Are you alright?”
“…Yes. I survived thanks to this sword.”
Carl Gustav stared at Iron, who was focusing on his sword. Even back in Winter Mountains, during the death crisis when they fought with the dark elves, the one that created a miracle was none other than Iron’s sword. Perhaps, it was thanks to the adamantium’s firm and stable presence that the sword was able to maintain its shape despite the mythril being cracked and broken. But because his sword was broken in the Winter Mountains, they had to melt a general’s broken sword to repair Iron’s sword.
“Treasure and cherish your sword a bit more. Is it going to be like this every time?”
Lintel rebuked Iron when he saw his sword was fairly damaged. Iron smiled bitterly as he felt his conscience get pricked a bit.
“Save the chat for later.”
Carl helped Iron fix himself up as he said so.
Each of the Ghosts used potions for their first aid while they helped each other wound bandages and medicinal herbs on their wounds. They immediately moved right after they fixed themselves up.
The ground began to shake when Owl moved from inside the torn black screen.
“The witch?”
“No. It’s our ally.”
Iron chuckled as he felt the divine power in his body increasing. The hand that was holding his sword tightened as strength filled him once more.
Then, the ground collapsed as a gigantic owl that could only be seen in fantasies appeared. It’s two huge eyes shone a bright blue light towards the sky which instantly broke the witch’s barrier.
When the barrier broke, they saw Crimson’s Storm Sword, which was dealing against the witch’s magic from outside the barrier, swirling around fiercely.
“It’s really a dimensional crack…”
The scenery that they saw after the witch’s barrier and magic disappeared was a gigantic building and gate made out of countless void insects. The building was made by stacking the huge void insects together, even the gate was fixed by using the void insects as some sort of cement. It was so bizarre but was still made possible thanks to the handiwork of the witch.
“Illusion magic? No, manipulation sorcery? How was she able to manipulate them?”
Lintel couldn’t help but mumble to himself when he saw that the witch even had the power to manipulate the void insects. Her abilities were truly magnificent.
“Is this an ancient witch? How amazing.”
Even Crimson admired her powers when he came down to the ground.
Which person in the entire world would ever think of using the void insects in this way?
“So that’s why there were not much void insects earlier.”
Lintel finally realized that this was the reason why there were only a few void insects compared to the situation that they experienced in the Winter Mountains.
Crimson’s brows twitched when he saw that the witch was still manipulating the void insects that appeared to strengthen the area near the gate.
She left enough void insects to territorialize and spread contaminated mana while using the rest in this way. This way, she wouldn’t need to worry about bringing in the mana to grow the dimensional crack.
“I should crush that first.”
As soon as Crimson’s Storm Sword flared up, the witch’s magic flew in and kept him in check. Huge amounts of specters also appeared in the sky.
Two Moons also began to move towards the dimensional crack. It used the mana of the Black Forest to help it get close to the dimensional crack.
At that moment, the witch that they had been looking for so much suddenly appeared.
―Hoot!
Two Moons’ anger surged as it fired lights from its huge eyes. However, its welcoming attack did not hit the witch at all. Crimson tried to chase the witch who was moving around between flashes but he was forced to fight the black ball of light that he had fought earlier.
“This… It hurts my pride.”
Crimson smiled bitterly when he saw the witch dealing with Two Moons while keeping him in check.
Even though his time to step down from his duty was fast approaching, he still couldn’t believe that he would be treated like this. It inevitably hurt his pride. He had no choice but to admit that the witch was truly a strong existence. She was an existence that did not fall behind despite dealing with Two Moons and a master level being.
In addition, the pumpkin doll from earlier also appeared and fought the Ghosts once again.
“For real… The witch is really fighting them alone?”
She managed to stop the army with her dolls, ghost trees and her familiar’s specters all the while directly dealing with the master and Two Moons. Her abilities were truly amazing.
While watching the hectic battle that showed the tremendous abilities of the witch, Iron’s consciousness suddenly blurred.
“Ugh!”
“Iron?”
Iron suddenly staggered and lost consciousness for a moment as he slashed his sword out. But what was most surprising was the fact that the specters and the witch’s dolls did not attack him despite the obvious gap in his defences.
The moment he saw this, he realized that what he had experienced was caused by the witch.
‘Monster.’
Despite fighting against Crimson and Two Moons, the witch was still able to do this to him. There was no other word fit for her except for the word monster.
Iron’s consciousness completely faded as this final thought flashed through his head.
“A divine beast contractor… there weren’t that many back in the ancient times. Quite interesting.”
When Iron saw a young woman slowly walking out from deep within the darkness of the space, he immediately understood who she was.
“Witch?”
“Fufu… Just like the Ghost King said, your head really works well.”
The witch created a chair out of thin air before sitting down seductively.
“The Ghost King told me that a little kid wants to ask me something… So, I worked very hard, you see.”
Iron stared at the witch seriously when he heard her words.
“But do you know what it means to ask a witch?”
Iron shook his head in answer to the witch.
“A price. When you ask a witch something, you should always be ready to pay the price worthy of the answer that you want to know. I don’t know what you’re asking but do you have that price?”
“What if I don’t have that price?”
“Then, all of this is meaningless.”
The witch stared at Iron as she said this. She looked like she did not hold much expectations so it did not matter if Iron had nothing to offer in return.
“You believe that I have no price to pay you?”
“Otherwise?”
“Then why did you call for me here?”
“I’m just… a bit curious about the person who signed a contract with Two Moons?”
The witch smiled sensuously as she spoke.
“I was wondering why someone who had their nose held up high even in ancient times was willing to sign a contract with a human.”
The witch chuckled as she twirled her finger in the air.
“If you don’t have the price to pay then this opportunity…”
“I have.”
“Hm? You have? Just so you know, your vitality is too insignificant and cannot be used as a price.”
The witch smiled as she looked at Iron.
Iron realized that the witch was lying when she told him that the child’s vitality was of little value. She was just reluctant to take a young child’s life away.
“I have information about me.”
“Hmm… But is it something that I need to know?”
The witch looked like she wasn’t that interested in his story. But Iron just smirked at her.
“It’s probably quite interesting.”
“Fine. I’ll listen to it and tell you something that corresponds to it.”
Iron’s smile deepened when the witch accepted the deal.
The witch now had no choice but to reveal information to him as a red thread suddenly appeared and connected them together. When Iron confirmed that the witch would not be able to back out, he quietly opened his mouth.
“I’m not from this place.”
“What?”
“That’s literally what it means. I’m not from this world.”
The witch’s pupils shook the moment she heard Iron’s words.
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