Modern World Warlock

The following day, after Trinity gave Dante all the information she managed to gather about the witch, Baba-Yaga, the warlock made his way to the backyard of the mansion, where Camille was waiting for him.

When he arrived, he saw Megan and Vesnia talking with the handler, wearing light winter clothing and boots.

"Alright, Dante. These two will be your team for your mission," Camille said without greeting the warlock.

Of course, he wasn't opposed to the idea. Megan was one of the most competent people he had ever met, and Vesnia had been doing her best to fit in with the rest of the team.

"So, we are looking for a witch, huh?" Megan asked, noting how she would have thought everyone was crazy a year ago if they had made that suggestion.

Considering everything they have lived thus far, looking for a witch seemed like a walk in the park.

Thanks to Vesnia's cybernetic body, she would be able to detect any signs of life on a large radius that stretched for miles around her, and while her system wasn't able to detect magic, it would at least reduce their search area.

Camille didn't give them a time frame for them to return, but she still mentioned that they shouldn't stay away for more than a few weeks.

Since there was a secret organization looking for Dante, staying in one place for a long time could potentially bring him trouble.

After the three of them agreed, they boarded a helicopter that took them to a private airport, where they boarded a private plane with Russia as their destination.

During the flight, Megan decided to take a nap while Dante read an old book describing the story of Baba-Yaga.

There were many different depictions of the witch. Some of them referred to her as a devil. An old crone who would lure and kill their prey in horrible ways, then display them around the forest as a warning.

Others talked about the witch as a benevolent being, able to heal incurable illnesses and guide lost hunters in the woods on the right path.

Vesnia seemed curious about the book after watching Dante intently reading its contents, so the warlock began to narrate the passages in the book to her.

Understanding that Baba-Yaga was depicted as a guardian figure who could bring both assistance or danger to whoever encountered her, Vesnia compared her to Dante.

For a warlock, it was easy to recognize someone's intentions by merely looking at the umbra flowing from their bodies. If they showed no malice or ill intention, then Dante would always act friendly and nonchalant.

However, when a person's malice was clearly visible, Dante would act much more intimidating and distrustful, with reason.

The theory of Baba-Yaga being a warlock popped into Vesnia's head, but many of the tales that mentioned the witch never talked about summoning demons or anything alike, so she waved her theory aside.

The most common theme that Dante had spotted among different stories involving the witch was the ability to turn people into frogs—a notion he found quite ridiculous.

Hearing their conversation, Megan opened her eyes and softly spoke up, explaining that turning people into frogs was a classic theme for witches in fairy tales all around the world.

Still, not even Dante had seen such a powerful and ridiculous spell, so he couldn't believe it existed until he saw it.

After flying for a little over nine hours, the plane landed on a private airport in Siberia, where the trio took another helicopter ride that took them deep into the tundra forest.

The Siberian tundra forest was known as the transition zone between two biomes, and it was also the most popular place where people had supposedly seen the witch.

Although most accounts and stories were hundreds of years old, the fact that so many of them took place in the same area was good enough for them to start there.

The snow under their boots was soft and pristine, with the sun shining brightly across the landscape.

Dante wore a nice winter jacket that Sophia had gifted him, even though he could use a simple spell to keep his body warm, he still decided to wear the coat simply because Sophia gave it to him.

Carrying backpacks full of supplies, the helicopter made its exit and left the trio stranded in the tundra forest, leaving only the sound of nature to envelop them.

The tundra forest wasn't dense. The trees had quite a lot of space between them, and there were open areas and hills that allowed them to get a beautiful view of their surroundings.

Vesnia started using her radar to detect any signs of heat nearby, but all she could detect were a few animals wandering around.

Still, none of them expected to find the witch on their first day, though they at least wanted to get a clue on which direction they should go.

While standing at the top of a hill, covered in a mantle of soft snow, Dante squinted and looked around, sharpening all of his senses to look for the smallest signs of magic to no avail.

He could sense that the mana in the air was pure, which was normal considering they were in an area far away from bustling cities that diluted the mana in the environment.

Thanks to the pureness of the energy, Dante was able to drastically increase the range of his magic detection. Nevertheless, not a single sign of the witch appeared.

After the trio kept walking north for hours, the sun started to set, prompting them to build their tents and a fire pit to keep themselves warm at night.

Vesnia didn't exactly need the warmth of the fire, as her cybernetic body was able to endure temperatures of -50 degrees Celsius, but she still helped set it up.

Thankfully, Paige had given them an invention of hers that she had created long ago—A self-building tent.

All they needed to do was drop a fist-sized capsule on the ground, which opened and extruded metal rods that extended and perfectly aligned themselves until a cold-tampering tent was built in mere seconds.