NOVEL WEB Chapter 892
“Golden Rose.”
It was the gift given to me by Shaman Park Jinseong.
Its color had changed.
‘Wait, this is gold, right?’
Gold is the unchanging metal.
It doesn’t rust or tarnish.
As beautiful as its radiant light, it embodies the metal of unwavering faith.
But the color of that metal had changed.
The moment she realized this, Odilia’s complexion completely shifted.
The countless questions and anxieties swirling in her mind evaporated, replaced by a sinking feeling in her chest that something was terribly wrong.
At an unbelievable speed—possibly the fastest she’d ever typed in her life—she texted Park Jinseong.
『The Golden Rose just changed color! Is it an ominous sign? Do I need to do something?』
Sure, there were typos and spacing issues, but who really cared?
She was fast, at least.
And it seemed Shaman Park Jinseong sensed Odilia’s urgency, for he replied almost instantly.
『Shaman Park Jinseong: What color did it change to?』
『It’s red.』
Was it the pressure of the moment?
Or was it the speed of Jinseong’s response that made Odilia’s text riddled with even more typos?
Still, luckily, it was readable enough, and that allowed Park Jinseong to respond easily.
『Shaman Park Jinseong: If that’s the case, then the metal may have been affected by the energy of fire, or its power has surged and encroached upon the energy of wood, which is a bad omen.』
『Shaman Park Jinseong: It’s a situation that poses a threat to you or warns of one approaching, so you should drop whatever you’re doing and hide right away.』
Odilia turned pale as she read Jinseong’s response.
No, maybe she went completely white.
Her face contrasted sharply with the color of the discolored Golden Rose she wore.
Odilia began moving in a panic as if her veins had stopped sending blood to her face.
Slowly waking from their substances, some witches, and those still under the influence, all faded away from her mind as she dismissed them.
In an instant, Odilia turned her focus away from the other witches and began rummaging through the items in the formation.
Crash!
She pulled the tablecloth off the table piled high with food and drinks, kicking away dishes that had fallen to the floor as though she couldn’t stand to look at them. She threw down scraps and converted what’s become waste into compost by scattering seeds over the remains of the feast.
But as with most things considered bad, recognizing it was often too late, and Odilia’s desperate efforts were no different.
Bang-!
Bang-!
Bang-!
A sound echoed through the banquet hall, cutting through even the barriers of the formation, vibrating clearly in the air.
Odilia stiffened in reaction to the ominous tremors.
‘It’s a familiar vibration.’
Vibrations can arise from many reasons.
A lunatic might be blasting the place with an RPG-7 or tossing grenades, or maybe the building was about to collapse due to shoddy construction. Perhaps there was a sudden earthquake shaking the structure, or a warrior might be going mad and ripping trees from the ground as if they were mere weeds.
But Odilia’s subconscious whispered that this vibration was different from all those ‘unknowns.’
This vibration, she had experienced it, and it was deeply etched in her memory. She knew this vibration, which was why she felt such urgency and anxiety right now.
Bang-!
Bang-!
Bang-!
Memories surfaced within Odilia’s subconscious.
Uninvited, the sounds around her pierced her mind, like a fishing line baited with a heavy hook, dragging up memories she’d rather forget. The horrible turmoil kept her lips trembling.
Countless people.
Those marching in boots, marching in step.
Torches illuminating the night, the shards of broken glass sparkling in the flickering light.
‘Why? Why?’
The so-called rational beings she prided herself on were closing their windows and covering their ears against the outside sounds, the so-called civilized people who read philosophy accepted the slaughter as just another part of life. Systematic, mechanical slaughter, transformed into a hunt.
A multitude of people leading selected livestock, pretending to be human, but genetically and spiritually, they were different. The doomed animals felt their fates as they were led to slaughter, calling out Dana Dana.
Those sounds of that time.
A horrifying melody of that era replayed in her mind.
That dreadful tremor, that dreadful sensation was reemerging.
Odilia shivered, her lips quivering.
In the cold memories.
Hot torches, sparkling glass, distant screams mingled with countless curses, clearly brought forth a single cynical remark.
「Those inferior beings (Untermensch) are like pests. There’s no end to killing them.」
That nightmare sound flickered through Odilia’s mind.
It was the whisper of a demon, the eager cries of a beast disguised in human form.
‘I must get away. I must escape.’
Odilia struggled to break free from the trauma echoing in her mind.
She averted her gaze to push those vivid memories back to the depths of her subconscious, instead reaching for the feel of the Golden Rose on her wrist, focusing on its texture to ground herself.
She recalled.
The message from Park Jinseong.
That the Golden Rose turning red was an ill omen, and she needed to escape.
A soldier distracted by random thoughts is the first to fall in battle.
What mattered was to solve the crisis right in front of her.
Odilia began to draw on her life force.
Instinctively recognizing the threat, she focused and started channeling her life energy into the seeds she’d scattered. Additionally, she infused every fiber of her specially crafted dress, turning the cloth she wore into living plants.
Thus, the realm of luxury and indulgence began transforming into a bizarre jungle full of strange plants.
Thorny vines erupted from food scraps as the attire she wore formed flower buds and quickly blossomed in brilliant colors.
The pollen released by the flowers gleamed beautifully as if trying to mimic the galaxy, scattering into the air, while the crawling thorny vines, like those receiving their destinies, willingly absorbed the pollen, transforming once more.
Crack.
Creak.
With the sounds of flesh tearing and wood splintering, they began to grow at lightning speed.
Some resembled a mix of bamboo and cactus; others took the form of the Manchineel tree; some had the toothy shape of a Rafflesia.
And those flowers sprouting started to move, rewarding their gardener.
Whoosh-!
At that moment, the formation was lifted in silence as they willingly burst forth from themselves.
As the barriers fell, the inside and outside landscapes blurred into incomprehensible chaos in that split second.
Plants resembling the Manchineel tree shot spikes laced with neurotoxin in all directions, while the thorny vines burst their fruits, releasing sleeping gas everywhere. Those numerous fruits spread their seeds far, just as they had been, growing rapidly like a flood.
It was the will of the Great Witch, an instinct to expand their territory.
Unless something special intervened, this bizarre garden of plants would quickly expand, covering the banquet hall.
Whoosh-!
But unfortunately, the plants’ gratitude was stomped into reality.
The spikes flying at near supersonic speed turned to ash in the flames that erupted from the ground, and the seeds meant to root and sprout were withered like plants in a drought, completely drained of moisture.
Moreover, the sleep gas they had unleashed…
“Odilia. No matter how strong a witch’s life force is, you can’t just spray gas carelessly like that! Sleeping toxins are really bad for skin health.”
…was neutralized by someone’s intervention.
“Or maybe we should think of it like Botox. Seems to depend on how you use it! But still, it’s a little weird for someone from Germany to use gas, so better not.”
“Aah….”
Odilia turned toward the source of the voice, unable to help the gasp escaping her lips.
A gun barrel painted black.
A bent magazine.
Red dots aiming everywhere on her body.
Many people were holding guns.
Whether they were disguised as workers in overalls, dressed in waiter uniforms, or as waitresses, despite the varied outfits, their stances looked like they had trained at the same place, as identical as could be, just like the firearms they bore.
And among those people stood a familiar face.
“Joanna…?”
“Yup, that’s me. The organizer of the donation auction for the restoration of St. Patricius’s Mosaic, the guardian witch in green, and an exceptionally earth-conscious witch, Joanna!”
We’d known each other for ages—perhaps not close enough to call ourselves best friends, but hardly strangers. I’d felt a tinge of jealousy over her successful business endeavors and frowned at her obsession with green, but I had never regretted our friendship…. She was, for all intents and purposes, a Great Witch.
It was Joanna.
“And while I may not be dramatic, I’m also the one responsible for this little event due to some compelling reason, and I’m here to make you a polite and kind proposal.”
Great Witch Joanna flashed a smile and looked at Odilia.
Then, as if to draw her focus back to herself, she slowly began to speak while maintaining eye contact.
“Odilia, listen closely.”
Her voice was enchanting and powerful, and Odilia, unable to help herself, found her mind slipping toward Joanna’s proposal….
Pop-!
At that moment, a syringe came flying from somewhere and lodged itself into her body.
“Huh, what…?”
Odilia, bewildered as the syringe stuck in her, reached out to pull it out.
But how powerful was the drug? Not even a second passed before her vision began to blur, and the world started spinning around her.
She tried to resist, focusing on summoning her life force, but strangely, her life force wouldn’t respond.
‘Ah, the drug must be some sort of cocktail. Mixed with something.’
Her thoughts faded.
Her vision blurred.
“Hehe, if you feel sleepy, there’s nothing you can do about it. I’ll continue the polite and kind proposal after you wake up.”
And just before everything turned black…
“Sleep well.”
…Odilia heard Joanna’s voice.