Release that Witch

The Mad Demon guards howled with rage, snatched up their bone spears, and their arms began rapidly expanding.

Lightning would have dropped the weapons and fled immediately if this had occurred in the past. However, she was now well aware that there was one more Spider Demon to kill. The only way for her to avoid the infuriated Mad Demons would be to distract them.

She thus flew straight upward and flitted past the treetops. The moment she fluttered out of the sight of the demons, she turned around abruptly and streaked across the forest. At almost the same time, two bone spears darted up toward her through the dense branches and twigs and whistled by.

Lightning heaved a deep sigh of relief, wheeled around, and headed straight to her next target as Maggie instructed.

Her heart, however, plummeted to the bottom of her chest as she felt a surge of ominous feeling when she saw the second Spider Demon.

The Spider Demon was about to shoot, its stone pillar aloft in the air and its intertwined veins emanating a venomous blue glow!

Yet Lightning had yet to load her gun.

It was too late.

”Maggie, distract it. Stop it from shooting the stone pillar!”

”Owh!”

The goshawk, which had been hovering above the forest, plunged and soon transformed into a giant Devilbeast as it dropped.

The Mad Demons guarding the Spider Demon were confused as they were pressed to the ground.

Maggie’s enormous body crashed into the Spider Demon with a loud bang similar to a gunshot. Obscured by the dust in the air, the Spider Demon stumbled, swung sideways, and almost slumped to the ground on his back.

Just at that moment, the stone pillar left the Spider Demon and hit the Mad Demons who had lost their balance. The pillar swept over the ground, hurtled straight into the forest at a horrific speed, and rolled upon the ground before it came to a complete halt a few yards away. It snapped into pieces as it struck the ground and created a fan-shaped clearing in the dense forest.

”Nicely done!” Lightning exclaimed as she loaded the gun and took aim at the Spider Demon, which was now struggling to straighten up in the earnest with its legs flying in all directions. Nevertheless, Lightning would not let it do so.

The grenade landed precisely on the Spider Demon’s stomach. The flames and heated air resulting from the explosion created a large hole on the other side of the demon’s body.

After confirming that the Spider Demon was immobilized, Lightning hoisted up Maggie, who had returned to her normal appearance, and asked, ”Are you OK?”

”I’m fine! I used the biggest muscle on my shoulder to strike it!” Maggie said with confidence as she rolled up her sleeve and swung her arm casually. Her face, however, instantly screwed up in pain as she shot her hand upwards.

”It appears that your muscle isn’t strong enough...” Lightning said softly while stroking Maggie’s head. ”I’ll feed you a lot of barbecued meat in the future so that next time, you won’t get hurt. But now, I need you to hold up a little longer. Can you do that for me?”

”Yes!” Maggie said while nodding vigorously.

”Then come on,” Lightning said as she crouched down and placed the pigeon on her head. ”Let’s go help the others in the name of the Neverwinter Exploration Group!”

...

”Bang!”

Andrea pulled the trigger and shot down a demon who had just poked its head out.

How many had she shot?

Her jaw was numb with pain. She could taste the blood between her teeth and felt chipped metal scrubbing her tongue. She was not sure whether it was rusty iron or her own broken teeth.

”Perhaps dozens?”

Andrea believed she had shot down at least ten demons. However, the demons did not retreat but, on the contrary, retaliated even more fiercely.

The Mad Demons, whom she had never taken very seriously before, suddenly became very difficult enemies. Since there were so many of them, they attacked the witches from various directions. Andrea was glad that she had this advanced weapon, otherwise It would have been almost impossible to stop them.

Technically, the forest was not an ideal place to have a gunfight since the Mad Demons could easily dodge bullets while throwing spears at them between the trees. The God’s Punishment Witches equipped with firearms but no shields, on the other hand, could only rely on their physical combat skills to avoid the demons’ attacks.

To make things worse, there was also a high level Senior Demon, probably transformed from the Lord of Hell, that was apparently a lot weaker than Ursrook in terms of magic power but with a more sturdy, muscular physique. It had developed the nasty habit of using trees as its weapons. Every time it unrooted a tree, the God’s Punishment Witches needed to work together to block the attack. Meanwhile, it also constantly built mounds of earth to protect the other demons. As a result, the joint attack of both the Senior Demon and the Magic Slayer significantly slowed the witches down.

Andrea repeated her movement mechanically. She loaded the gun, took the aim, and then shot. She was slowly losing track of what she was doing as pain and fatigue washed over her.

”Andrea, watch your right-hand side!” After two rounds of spearing, Sylvie yelled.

A group of Mad Demons distracted the God’s Punishment Witches. The Magic Slayer wrenched himself free from Ashes’ giant sword and streaked at Elena and Andrea like a ghost.

Andrea raised her gun, but Ursrook sliced her weapon in half with a knifehand strike.

Then there came the second blow.

Everything seemed to freeze in that split second. Andrea saw a ghostly blue light erupt from the Magic Slayer’s clawed hand as it was about to swing down at her.

It was over.

She braced herself for death as she was paralyzed by fear.

Nevertheless, death did not visit her this day.

At the last moment, Elena whipped around and took the full blow.

The cut reached Elena’s ribs and inner organs. Even though she was a God’s Punishment Witch, it was impossible for her to continue to fight.

Elena fell to the ground.

”No — ” Zoe shouted, who turned around and fired at Ursrook furiously. The Magic Slayer failed to dodge such a close-range shot. His shield finally shattered and his body was covered in bullet holes from which blood spurted out.

To Zoe’s surprise, the Magic Slayer leered. He flew through the air backwards and planted his hand into his body, as though he did not feel any pain. His wounds immediately healed by themselves as his magic power welled up.

”Monster...” Sylvie, who saw everything, mumbled involuntarily in despair.

”I kill to improve and upgrade. It’s very impertinent to call me a monster,” Ursrook said with an air of irony as he returned to the other Senior Demon and took a gas tank from the latter. ”Your every single wound and all the energy you’ve lost will nourish me! You should have foreseen your failure. Stop struggling, for it’ll only increase your pain. If you yield now, I will grant you a painless death as a reward for your valiance!”

”Go to hell!” Zoe snarled. ”I’ll never yield to a demon, even if I have to die over and over again. I’ll tear you into pieces!”

Andrea, however, did not hear the conversation. Everything, including the gunshots, the growls, the screams, and the warnings, seemed so far away from her. She slowly crawled to Elena and held the latter in her arms, muttering, ”Why did you... save me?”

”Aargh...” Elena coughed out blood and murmured with a faint smile, ”I should have been killed years ago. I lived longer than I should simply because I want something in return. We’ve reached our limits, but you still have great potential. Doesn’t that give me a good reason to save you?”

While looking at grief-stricken Andrea, Elena gently stroked her cheeks and said, ”Don’t be sad. I don’t feel pain at all. Really, it’s nothing. I’m just... a bit... tired.”

Her voice gradually trailed away and her breath became deep and steady as if she had fallen asleep.

Andrea held Elena’s hand reassuringly. Her vision blurred.

Presently, the witches had completed stopped. Two more God’s Punishment Witches were down, and the demons slowly closed in.

”Are we going to end up dying here?”

Andrea felt her strength start to escape her. A surge of giddiness flooded over her, and she lost her balance and fell to the ground.

Dark clouds scudded across the sky, a premonition of an upcoming storm.

In the overcast, leaden sky, she dimly spied a fleck of gold glimmer through the thick clouds.

This was the last thing Andrea saw before she lost her consciousness.