Stranger, you have stepped into the "Corridor of Time".
Message from the ancient god "Father of the Infinite Tree":
Spring of the Fifth Era 5177, Broken Isles, Lost Lake.
Event: A witch in pursuit of eternal beauty.
Duration: thirty minutes (1/3).
"The Broken Islands? After the five continents of east, west, south, north and center, this time, we are actually on the sea?"
Xia De thought with some surprise.
You get additional information.
The figure of the Infinite Tree Father watches over you.
The ancient god of time has given you a test.
Help mortals visit the gods and learn the secrets of eternal beauty.
The Father of the Infinite Tree will give you rewards: Ritual - Moonlight Water, Ritual - Sunlight Fire.
"The reward this time is two rituals?"
Although he was somewhat surprised, past experience had proven that any reward given by the Infinite Tree Father was very useful to Shade, so even though it was a ceremony, he was happy:
"This time, the Ancient God of Time gave me knowledge of the moon and the sun. I don't know what the next time will be."
The familiar white fog around him had appeared more than once, so Xia De didn't think too much about it. He took a step forward with excitement.
The white mist retreated silently to both sides, as if a curtain had been drawn. What appeared before Shade was the lake at night, and the mist lingering on the lake.
"It's night again?"
But if you look closely at the night sky, the stars are obscured by fog, and even the moon becomes extremely hazy.
In front of him was the quiet lake in the night, and in the middle of the lake he could vaguely see the island in the middle of the lake covered by fog. Looking back, he saw low bushes and lush forests. However, there was also abnormal fog in the bushes and forests. The fog was not particularly humid, but when he inhaled it into his lungs, Xia De felt a little dizzy.
There are ingredients in the fog that inhibit brain activity.
"Is this fog a tranquilizer?"
A tranquilizer of extraordinary power.
The night was very dark, and no one could be seen around. Although they were deep in the forest, they could not hear any insects. Instead, a strange rustling sound came from the bushes behind them, and quickly approached Xia De who was standing on the shore. Xia De had no interest in knowing what it was, so he walked towards the lake:
"Walking on water."
This is a spell that was learned after absorbing the divinity of the Lord of the Scarlet Spiral hidden in the golden pearl. Shad borrowed its power when he fought Joe Yin Barton in death.
He successfully raised his foot and stepped onto the surface of Lost Lake, standing steadily on the water. But the next moment, extreme coldness surged from the soles of his shoes to his feet, and instantly spread to his whole body. Xia De froze there, leaving only a breath he exhaled subconsciously.
The temperature here is close to midsummer, but the breath I exhale is white and cold.
Not only was his body frozen by the coldness coming from underwater, but even his soul felt blocked. And as time went on, the coldness became stronger and stronger, making Xia De feel like he was about to be assimilated by the lake water:
"Sure enough, Lost Lake is just as unsafe as places like Hope Town and Dreadfort."
The primordial fire burning in his body was trying its best to fight against this strange cold. The frozen Xia De barely lifted his legs and ran towards the island in the middle of the lake. Every step he took left a thin piece of ice in the shape of a footprint on the lake surface, and the closer he got to the island in the middle of the lake, the more unbearable the cold became:
"Ragarai's Leap!"
Because the materials for the spell were prepared in advance, he used the magic directly at this moment. But Shade failed, because this area actually prohibited the power of space movement:
"Transform into a red butterfly!"
The whole person was scattered in the mist above the lake, turning into a group of red butterflies. The butterflies emitting red light and spreading red spots flew over the water, of course not touching the water surface. But the surrounding mist was not only a powerful tranquilizer, but Shade, who had transformed into a red butterfly, felt his consciousness assimilating with the group of red butterflies in the thick fog in just a dozen seconds, so he had to change back to human form again.
He hurriedly ran forward a few steps, but felt the cold was unbearable again, so he turned into a group of butterflies again.
As Shade got closer to the island in the middle of the lake, he saw light in the mist. There was a not particularly conspicuous bonfire on the shore of the island in the middle of the lake, and the people around the bonfire also noticed a group of red butterflies flying towards them. Then they saw the group of red butterflies transform into a tall human figure in the mist, and the human figure quickly transformed into red butterflies:
"Someone else is here, help her."
This was the language of the late Fifth Age, which Shad had studied in his textbooks, but was not particularly proficient in.
As the clear female voice fell, a flying snake shot towards Xia De from the shore of the lake island, but Xia De soon realized that it was a hemp rope. The flight of the hemp rope completely violated the basic rules of physics and had no tendency to fall. Unfortunately, after it flew less than half the distance, it suddenly fell rapidly to the water as if being pulled by an invisible force.
"Chains of Sin!"
Xia De waved his hand forward, and the chains flying out of his sleeves rushed into the fog like flying snakes.
Just like the hemp rope, the chain was pressed to the water surface soon after it flew out, but fortunately, the chain of sin restrained all forces, and the invisible force was also slightly affected, allowing the end of the chain to barely touch the end of the hemp rope.
The witch who was manipulating the rope on the shore of the lake island seemed to know the magic of the live rope trick. The chain and the front end of the hemp rope were tied together tightly in a dazzling way. Then a huge force came, and the rope and the chain were stretched straight at the same time. Xia De's feet were instantly lifted off the ground, and he was actually pulled directly to the shore by that force.
"Oh~"
He staggered from the water to the shore, knelt down beside the campfire, shivering and reaching out his hands to keep warm. If the rope hadn't appeared, he really felt that he would be assimilated into water by the coldness, and that feeling even made him almost touch the edge of the spiritual rune water.
"man?"
As the pale Shade tried to warm himself, a voice beside him said, but then another voice retorted:
"Your Majesty, this shouldn't be a man, otherwise how could the effect of the curse not appear?"
"But he looks like a real man. Miss Theresa, Sexes should have taught you not to be fooled by common sense... although the current situation is indeed very strange."
The first voice that appeared said this, and this voice was also the one that said it wanted to help Shade.
The witch, called "Your Majesty," asked Shade, whose heart was still beating violently, in a low voice, as if she was afraid that her voice would scare him:
"Sir, since we rescued you, could you please introduce yourself?"
"Sorry, I... Let's take a break. What's under Lost Lake? Besides the cold, I can sense something more terrifying."
After saying this, I realized that the two witches beside me probably couldn't understand what I said, but I didn't expect the second voice, the lady called "Miss Theresa", to answer:
"There are more than one thing under the Lost Lake. As long as they don't touch water, they won't wake up. You are really brave to walk over here on the water."
"If there is no other way, I don't want to do it."
Xia De's body temperature gradually returned to normal. He held on to the ground and tried to stand up while looking at his surroundings.
This is indeed the edge of the island in the middle of the lake. The island itself is not big and is covered with low shrubs. Even with the fog, you can see the whole picture almost at a glance.
In the center of the island was a dilapidated tower, an obsidian building that looked even more out of place in the dark. Shade only took a glance at it, then immediately looked away, and began to breathe heavily again.
A great being, even more "greater" than this island, this lake, and this overseas jungle, is in the tower. It is a true god. She can definitely sense the people by the lake, but she has no ill will towards them, so she should be a good god.
Looking at the witches around, Shade was very surprised to find that there were not just two witches by the campfire, but eight ladies.
However, except for two of them, the other six were all dressed in black and white maid outfits.
They lowered their heads and did their own things, either maintaining the bonfire, or using their powers to disperse the white fog, or performing rituals to alert against danger.
The two witches who were not wearing maid skirts, the two ladies who were talking to Shade, looked at Shade warily.
The witch called "Your Majesty" stood closest to Shade. Shade knew at a glance that this was another thirteenth-level witch.
She wore a purple robe, with long wavy hair hanging down to her waist. She wore three gemstone alchemical rings on each hand, and a pointed hat inlaid with white, black and pink diamonds on her head.
Her eyes were brown, with tiny sparks of light in them. Seeing her beautiful face, Xia De was startled, but he immediately adjusted his expression and said very respectfully:
"Thank you for saving me. If it had been a second later, I would have been lost in the lake."
"Although your strength is not strong, you are really brave. We just used a special method to open the door and come to the island in the middle of Lost Lake. In all these years, you should be the first person who dares to walk on the water."
The tall lady in the peaked hat said, looking at him curiously:
"These maids are my servants."
She introduced that the weakest of the maids was at least level six, and the two strongest were level ten. Although the maids were doing their own things, Xia De could feel that they were secretly looking at him.
This was the time when he met the most people during his adventures in the past.
"This is Miss Schultz Theresa, a tenth-year student at Sukses Medical College, and my distant niece."
She pointed at the young girl next to her, who looked nothing like the witch who was speaking. She wore round-framed glasses, her long blond hair was tied into more than ten braids, and she was examining the man in front of her.
After introducing the people here, the 13th-level witch called "Your Majesty" asked Shade again. Although there was a gentle smile on her face, there was no smile in her eyes:
"So, sir, who are you?"
"I am a traveler from a foreign land."
Shade said, brushing off the dirt on his clothes that had rubbed off from kneeling in front of the bonfire, then looked at the witch and asked softly:
"Excuse me, are you...?"
The witch raised her lips and narrowed her eyes:
"Although I don't know your gender, since you are using extraordinary powers, how could you not even know me?"
"You are..."
Xia De pretended to think, and then suddenly realized:
"The ruler of Witton?!"
"Yes."
The witch, who wore a pointed hat and whose clothes and accessories all had spirits and elements, said softly:
"I am the Witch Queen - Violet Marshall."