Rescue
Rescue
The witches subconsciously held their breaths. Then they saw some green smoke rising at the spot where the Blackfire touched the pillar. However, that was not the color of the smoke itself, but a reflection of the light of the Greenfire.
The Blackfire penetrated into the crystal.
"How is it?" Tilly asked.
"It's a bit difficult, but I can cut it open," Anna replied.
Suddenly, changes occurred in the Frozen Coffin. With a crisp clicking sound, a few cracks appeared around the area where the Blackfire penetrated. It looked as if the entire pillar was suddenly covered by cobwebs. Almost at the same time, Shavi held up a shield to protect all the witches.
But there was no explosion as they had expected. The crystal just broke into pieces and fell off, exuding coldness from its core. Now, the witches found that the transparent pillar was actually composed of two layers, and its inner layer was a genuine ice crystal. Instantly, everybody could feel a chill, and the temperature of the surrounding areas dropped rapidly.
Fortunately, Anna quickly stopped the temperature from dropping and managed to raise it to normal degree.
Under the baking of Blackfire, the ice crystal began to melt even faster, and its transparency declined drastically. A while later, the pillar didn't have an angular shape anymore. It kept on melting and shrinking under warmth, like ordinary ice did. But Tilly noticed that there was no large pool of water on the ground. The melted ice had turned into mist and drifted away, as if the Frozen Coffin had never existed.
After the whole ice crystal had melted away, the woman sealed inside appeared.
She seemed still in her deep sleep. Her long hair and robes had no trace of being soaked, and they looked the same as they did before she was sealed. Losing the support of the pillar, the woman fell back feebly, only to be held by Ashes in her arms before she fell to the ground.
"Is she still alive?"
"She's weak, but her heart is still beating," Ashes pressed the woman on her chest and said, "This... is really incredible."
It was indeed incredible. Tilly found that in less than a week since she arrived at Border Town, she had witnessed more bizarre things than she had in the past year. But she was also a little relieved, because the identity of the person who had survived a freezing cold ice crystal was almost certain a witch.
At least this adventure wasn't for nothing.
As for her name, her origin, and the reason why she was trapped in the ruins... all these puzzles could wait until they got back.
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Andrea felt a bit bored waiting outside the cave. Now and then she looked down the hole, wishing to see Tilly return as early as possible.
No trace of demons was spotted around the ruins. Even demonic beasts were rare to see. Occasionally, some demonic wolves or demonic boars popped out of the forest, but before Andrea pulled out her bow, Nightingale had darted her daggers on their heads.
Time seemed to slow down. Apart from her, all the guarding witches were from the Witch Cooperation Association. She couldn't find anyone to chat with to kill time. Although the woman called Wendy looked very kind, Andrea couldn't pluck up the courage to start a conversation with her.
As an unmarried female upper nobility of the Kingdom of Dawn, elegance and reservedness were her essential qualities.
"Never mind. I probably should talk to Nightingale. I heard that she used to fight against Ashes and ended up with a draw. Since I'm prying into my old enemy, this doesn't count as starting a conversation.
"Yes, it should be my homework." She thought to herself.
She dusted off the snow on her head and looked up, only to surprisingly find that Nightingale had disappeared.
That girl who had blonde curly hair and looked as graceful as nobility had been leaning against the basket all along. Now she was nowhere to be seen. "Oh right, her ability seems to be concealing herself."
Keeping that in mind, Andrea calmed down to feel the surrounding sounds. When vision couldn't come in handy, ears and noses could be good helpers for capturing the whereabouts of the opponents.
Then she heard a series of rustling footsteps.
"Is that Nightingale?"
"No, it's not," Andrea thought to herself. Then a creepy feeling hit her. Those footsteps weren't from one individual. There must be a group drawing near, right in the jungle ahead of her, no further than 100 steps away! She kept her eyes wide open, but she could see nothing but a scene of quietness.
The footsteps seemed to be in arm's length. "Damn it. Those enemies are transparent!"
Before she could sound an alarm, a roar suddenly burst near her ear.
There was a flare appearing midair, followed with an air wave, and then came out an oddly shaped monster. It had a narrow head and a pair of sharp claws, which made it look like a mutant mantis. But what made it different from any other insect was that it was walking upright.
An arrow shot out of the flintlock smashed part of its face. Black blood was blown out of its head and almost splashed on Andrea.
The monster collapsed on the ground. Then she saw Nightingale's flying white cloak and hood.
Then came a second shot!
"Damn. I was too careless!" Andrea tightly bit her lips. "Nightingale noticed the danger earlier than I did."
She summoned the Magical Longbow. But without knowing where to shoot at, she slowly retreated to the basket, standing alongside the other witches.
With four more shots later, four more monsters fell down, each being killed by one single shot.
When Nightingale showed herself beside a monster, Andrea put away her weapons and walked swiftly to Nightingale.
"What are they?"
"Either demonic beasts or demons." Nightingale squatted, fiddling with those creatures' fangs and claws. "But judging from their blood color, they look more like demonic beasts."
"When did you notice them?"
"The time they appeared." Nightingale smiled. "In Mistland, the magic powers glowing on their body are as prominent as stars in the night sky."
"Could demonic beasts have that ability?" Andrea frowned.
Nightingale smiled. "Uh... probably the demonic hybrids are special."
At the same time, the seven witches who had gone down to the hole returned. Coming with them was a blue-haired woman on Ashes' shoulder.
"Is she the one who called for help in the ruins?" Andrea walked toward them and asked.
"That's right." Tilly nodded. "I'll tell you the details when we get on the Farsight. The longer we stay in this forest, the more insecure I feel. Oh, was it alright on the ground?"
"A few odd demonic hybrids came, but they are all dead by now," Nightingale shrugged and said.
The hot air balloon quickly lifted off. The basket went across the tree tips and began to move to the direction of the town. Right then, Sylvie exclaimed, "Oh dear, what are those down there? Are they demonic beasts?"
"Demonic beasts?" Andrea stuck out her head and looked toward the ruin, but didn't see anything.
No, something was moving on the ground indeed, because the bodies of those dead monsters were suddenly half missing, and the black blood was scattered by trampling. At the junctures of soil and snow, one could see some weird twists, as if seen through a glass. One might miss it without watching closely.
"Still the same old demonic hybrids," Nightingale carelessly said. "There are about a hundred of them rushing into the hole... Maybe they are tempted by the smell of the dead giant worm and go for a good meal." She yawned. "But none of that is our concern."
.