"As we get closer to the central lake, there will probably be more things to come."
As Shade spoke, he looked up at the night sky over the sparse dead branches, and saw Miss Sylvia's figure out of the corner of his eye:
"The approximate time when the stars will reach the correct position is around 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning, so we still have seven hours to go."
"I didn't expect that the trouble this time was not the dangerous enemy, but the long journey."
Miss Carina said with a smile, and Shade nodded and continued to flip through the "Secret of Immortality" in his hand.
This book originally belonged to the Sexes Higher Medical School, but was found to contain fragments of poems, so it was obtained by the Witch Council. Before Shad left home, Luvia divined for him and the result was "book", so before setting off into the swamp, Shad borrowed this book from Miss Carina, but he did not find anything special about it.
"This book was written at the end of the Fifth Era. It records the witches' methods of maintaining their skin. If the secret techniques are used properly, one can indeed maintain beauty for a long time."
Xia De muttered in his heart:
"Secrets to eternal youth, skin care, eternal beauty..."
He raised an eyebrow.
Miss Carina, who was leaning on Shade, suddenly said:
"Shad, I heard from Tifa that you are good at telling stories. Tell me a story before dinner. Just treat it as a way to relax before the final battle."
Miss Sylvia in the tree curled her lips. Of course she could hear the noise below, and she even suspected that Carina Cavendish let her hear it on purpose.
Xia De turned his eyes away from the ancient text on the book:
"What kind of story do you want to hear?"
He didn't want to tell a story about a shipwreck before the final battle, and he had already told this story many times.
"Any story."
Xia De nodded, and then saw Miss Aurora walk out in the light:
"There is no special news from the parliament, but Sister Defulin contacted the speaker and gave me a note. There are some hidden contents on it for Shade."
She handed the note to Shad, who took a look at it. The general meaning was that if Shad reached the lighthouse first and the seal was about to be opened, he could stabilize the power of the "Original Fire" by touching the flame to keep the seal from being broken.
The flame on Shad's body was given by the "Fire Keeper" Sister Defulin, so when Shad touched the flame of another primordial fire, the nun could quickly sense his location.
"The nun thought of the worst."
He explained to the witches:
"If I really encounter that situation, I think I might not care about Legins Prisha, but stabilize the seal first."
After all, even if Lakins Prisha became the chosen one, nothing would happen immediately, but once the evil creature was unsealed, there would be a disaster. Moreover, in the task that Luvia originally gave to Shade, witnessing the ceremony of the chosen one and confirming the identity of the chosen one was a must, and killing Lakins Prisha was the best she could do.
They had plenty of time to deal with this before the 13th Chosen One showed up.
"It's up to you to decide. The mission the Council has given us is just to witness the ceremony of the Chosen One with our own eyes... What story does Shad want to tell?"
Miss Aurora asked with a smile, lifting her skirt and sitting on the heated stone. Miss Sylvia fell from the tree like a feather, and Miss Avril and Miss Scarlett, who were setting up the ceremony outside, also came back.
"Let me think... How about the story of ice and snow?"
Shade asked, thrusting his hand into the snow beside him and picking up a handful.
The group sat down around the campfire, only Miss Catherine was still standing by the campfire stirring the thick soup, but she also smiled and tilted her head to look at him.
"It's a long-ago story. In the kingdom in the far north, the king and queen had an unknown problem. Their eldest daughter had extraordinary magic power. The girl with long silver hair could easily freeze any object and create fantastic scenes of ice and snow..."
Deep in the deserted swamp, the light from the campfire could not illuminate a large area. The sorceresses listened quietly to the only man present, telling stories from his hometown. Miss Catherine, who was making soup, prepared dinner and delivered hot soup to everyone.
The undead skeleton horse had no life instincts and was quietly still beside the tree, but the firelight made the shadows of the people scattered in all directions on the snow. The curling warm smoke rose from the soup bowl, slightly drunken on the cheeks, and Shade, sitting on the stone, continued to tell the story of the princess sisters and ice and snow in this uninhabited swamp and in the blizzard.
The original background of this story is very similar to the current era, so he hardly needs to make any adaptations. After finishing the story, he sipped the somewhat cooled broth. The Duchess still leaned on him to absorb the heat. Miss Aurora was the oldest lady present. She tilted her head and smiled at Shade:
"It's a very good story. I think I will remember this evening. After I become a grown-up girl, no one will be able to tell me stories anymore."
"This kind of bedtime story is really interesting... Are the two sisters married?"
Miss Sylvia asked curiously, holding the bowl of soup and looking at Xia De, who asked suspiciously:
"They are sisters. Besides, why are they getting married?"
"Aren't we lovers?"
Miss Carina also asked suspiciously, wondering if she had heard the story wrongly.
Although the journey was long, the road ahead was dangerous, and the road behind was non-existent, sitting around the campfire and listening to a heartwarming story on a stormy night still made everyone feel much better.
They were chatting in good spirits, exchanging complaints about the terrible terrain inside the Great Swamp. Miss Aurora once again mentioned that the other witches in the council let the three people in this operation decide their actions according to the situation.
The original plan was to rest here for forty-five minutes before setting off again, but when Shad drank his second bowl of hot soup and Miss Carina said with a smile, "Shad, do you want to continue drinking soup?", a thick white fog floated silently from the central area of the Great Swamp.
Miss Aurora, who was resting with her eyes closed, first noticed the thick fog drifting from the central area of the swamp. No one had ever seen such fog in a blizzard.
Not only was the strong wind unable to disperse the fog, even the rituals set up by the sorceresses outside the camp had no ability to detect or counter the fog.
By the time everyone stood up from the campfire, the inexplicable fog had covered their camp and continued to drift away.
The thick whispering element meant that the strange fog must be related to the relic. The three witches exchanged a few words and thought that it was very likely that this was the miasma of the angel-level relic. This relic did not have a so-called main body and could only be summoned.
Once it appears, the fog will irreversibly spread around the summoning location.
This fog is not only poisonous, but also can suppress any supernatural power regardless of friend or foe. It is very easy to get lost in the fog, and the appearance of the fog will also summon some strange things. Compared with the angel-level relics with clear records, there is very little information about this relic.
"No time to rest, set off immediately."
Miss Aurora gave instructions, and after extinguishing the bonfire, she checked everyone's condition one by one:
“There will be no more rest time. We will go directly to the island in the middle of the lake in the swamp. The Pantanal Voodoo Society itself does not have many high-level warlocks, but this is their territory, and no one can let down their guard.”
As soon as the words fell, a loud whistle suddenly appeared in the sky obscured by white fog. Then, a huge black shadow flew over their heads, but because the alert ceremony was still in place, the black shadow did not notice them and continued to fly away.
"dragon?"
Miss Sylvia swung one end of her scarf behind her.
"Not sure what kind of dragon it is, don't worry about it."
The twelfth-level witch said, sprinkling some crystal powder on her wrists:
"It's 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening. Let's go. If nothing unexpected happens, we should reach the central lake of the swamp at 11:40 p.m.."
Among all the people present, Xia De was the only one wearing the most bloated clothes. The ladies' clothes did not look like what they would wear to go out on a snowy winter night. The ladies in Gaohuan naturally had ways to keep warm and resist the cold. They did not need to affect their beauty in order to maintain their body temperature.
The next journey was much more dangerous than the afternoon's. Not long after leaving the last resting place, the dragon-like creature that appeared in the blizzard caught up with everyone again.
Although Shade had the Higgs Dragon Head Stone in his hand, this relic was still a little bit useless against a real dragon in good health. Fortunately, the witches were strong enough, and even though it was best not to fly too high in this area, they still worked together to repel the monsters above the fog layer.
The Great Witch of Balance, Carina Cavendish, used the secret technique of "Law" to forcibly pull the dragon down, causing it to fall into the dead forest. The Great Witch of Light and the Great Witch of Space cooperated with each other, using the magic of light to bombard the unfortunate dragon in the dead forest like a reflection in a mirror.
The light illuminated a small area of the night sky, and it seemed that there were others fighting in the distance. The dragon had strong defense, and after realizing that this group of people were not easy to provoke, it escaped in the fog with Miss Sylvia's dangerous "space cutting", but one of its claws was swept away by the chaotic space.
Until the end, everyone still didn't know what it was, but they were sure that it was definitely not a normal dragon.
“You run really fast.”
Miss Aurora was not satisfied with the battle situation. She stood on a branch covered with frost and snow, watching the dragon disappear in the fog. Her dark red skirt swayed backwards in the wind and snow. This figure was enough for Shad to remember for many years.
"He's looking at me?"
The witch blowing the wind on the treetop asked in her heart.
"Yes."
"Another me" gave the answer, and the witch's lips curled up into a smile.
－－－－－－－Off-topic－－－－－－－