The Witch's Anatomical Notes

Chapter 82

Infiltration and Assault

The path deeper into the gorge had turned out to be even more arduous than expected.

The closer they drew to the central area, the denser the crying-faced trees grew. Twisted trunks revealed faces that seemed to wail and laugh at once.

The roots of the crying-faced trees formed an intricate network underground, pulsing like veins to deliver some kind of energy outward.

The squad, composed of fifteen of the strongest captains, had to stop at intervals so that Talia could sense the orientation of the roots below.

"It shouldn’t be far now."

Talia examined the roots and spoke. "The magical energy reaction within the roots is increasing. There must be something nearby..."

Before she could finish, Lucy abruptly covered her mouth.

A Tier-2 apprentice of the Mechanical School beside them swiftly released a mist, enveloping the entire squad.

Seconds later, a team of green-robed wizards emerged from a crack in the rocks a hundred meters away, completely unaware of the assault squad lying in ambush so close by.

"Seventh patrol reporting in. The eastern node is intact," the leading wizard said to the skull in his hand. "Those idiots are still beating each other bloody over the badges—"

His voice cut off at once.

A Tier-1 apprentice who had transformed into a mantis thrust his forelimbs straight through his chest.

As though it had been a signal, several captains skilled in close combat charged out of the mist in quick succession.

The glow of defensive witchcraft flickered incessantly.

But before these powerful captains, all defenses were reduced to nothing.

Olivia’s Spear of Time pierced precisely through the last man’s hand just as he tried to activate his badge.

The entire process took less than five seconds. In that brief moment, more than a dozen apprentices of Eternal Silence Blackthorn were cleanly slain.

Lucy crouched down to pluck the badge from the sole survivor. The Saint Radiance of the Judgment of Truth and Falsehood lit up between her brows.

"Is the array core over here? Here or there…"

"?!?!"

A few minutes later, Karen smashed the apprentice’s skull with a single punch.

Lucy said, "The core of the array was located deep underground. Eternal Silence Blackthorn still had a hundred apprentices guarding it. The strongest among them was a Tier-3 apprentice of the Occult School named Branny Love."

She had not managed to learn the specific effects of the array from the captive, as this already fell beyond the scope of the Judgment of Truth and Falsehood.

"Do we need to return and bring in more people?"

The wizard who had used the Mantis Transformation Witchcraft still had bloodstains on his body.

The apprentices of the Witch’s Cottage preferred this kind of visceral, close-quarters slaughter.

"No."

Lucy straightened up, the Saint Radiance between her brows fading away. "More people would only be a burden."

After speaking, she took off the green robe of the patrol squad and wrapped it around herself, transforming into an apprentice of Eternal Silence Blackthorn.

The other captains followed her example.

Once they disposed of the corpses, the new 'patrol squad' was born.

Following the direction from which the patrol had come, they soon located the entrance hidden within the mountainside.

As they moved deeper, the magical energy in the air grew increasingly violent, and the contamination value gradually climbed.

On the rock walls, the roots of the crying-faced trees had thickened to the width of an arm. Their surfaces bore ridged patterns resembling human facial expressions, sometimes weeping, sometimes grinning viciously, sending chills down their spines.

At that moment, another patrol squad approached head-on.

Just as the two groups passed one another—

"Stop!"

The disguised squad halted as one. The close-combat wizards had already begun silently constructing witchcraft models, while the other apprentices all reached for their witchcraft tools.

"May I ask, sir, what are your orders?"

Hain, who was walking among them, turned around with an utterly natural smile on his face.

This made the Tier-2 apprentice who had spoken pause slightly, easing the suspicion in his heart.

"Just received word. The wizards of the Witch’s Cottage have already betrayed us. Those dim-witted fools have gotten mixed up with the Tower of the Four Sages. Sooner or later, we’ll deal with them… The altar over there needs manpower. Your squad will head over now."

"Understood."

Once the two squads had passed by each other, everyone let out a long, heavy breath.

If they had clashed in that place, it would have been impossible to fight their way to the core of the array.

However, after receiving that “dim-witted fools” remark, several captains from the Witch’s Cottage clenched their fists so tightly their knuckles creaked.

If not for the enemy’s overwhelming numbers, they would likely have already rushed over to tear the other squad limb from limb.

Following the vines along the rock walls, the assault team continued downward.

At that same moment, in the deepest part of the cavern, at the central altar core.

Tier-3 apprentice Branny Love watched her subordinates, more than a dozen apprentices proficient in arraycraft, inspecting the array core with an unsightly expression.

From the way they kept wiping sweat from their foreheads, it was clear they had encountered serious trouble.

"What exactly is going on?" Branny said coldly, her skin pale.

The two leading apprentices grew even more tense.

One of them turned back and stammered, "Milady, the ‘guiding beacons’ around the perimeter of the array have lost contact, and some of the root nodes have also been destroyed."

"How is that possible? Our Eternal Silence Blackthorn has planned this for two hundred years. I will not allow it to fail under my watch!"

Branny seized one of them by the collar, her full red lips parting to reveal two sharp fangs, scarlet eyes brimming with murderous cold. "It must be those idiots from the Tower of the Four Sages!"

"Tell me, how can we repair those beacons as quickly as possible?"

The other apprentice hurriedly replied, "We must bury the corpses of apprentices next to the damaged beacons to cultivate new crying-faced trees and recreate the nodes."

Branny released her grip on his collar.

"Someone!"

…

In the corridor outside the central altar, no one responded.

Where were the people posted in the passage?

Branny’s expression shifted slightly.

Only then did she realize that, at some unknown point, an absolute silence had fallen beyond the chamber.

She slowly turned around, the witchcraft in her hand already formed.

Boom!

The rock wall exploded with a deafening roar as an enormous gray bear over four meters tall charged into the central altar, bellowing.

Human Transformation Studies!

"Witch’s Cottage! So you truly have betrayed the alliance!"

Branny shouted in accusation.

The only response waiting for her was the roar and spittle from the bear’s throat.

"Courting death!"

Branny swept her hand, flinging out a cloud of blood mist.

The mighty Earthen Direbear Transformation was immediately hurled backward, crashing through several massive stone pillars.

But in the instant she flung the bear away, Branny saw more than a dozen wizard apprentices stepping one after another through the shattered rock wall.

All manner of witchcraft gleams flickered.

The terrifying surge of magical energy made the entire cavern tremble violently.

Branny’s face shifted dramatically.

"Bloodspawn Manifestation!"

She shrieked as her body dissolved into a cloud of bats.

As a wizard of the Bloodline School, perhaps her attack and defense were not the strongest, but her survival rate was second to none.

Even so, the majority of the bats were shredded by witchcraft.

The few that survived rapidly retreated to the array core, reforming Branny’s figure.

But now her face was deathly pale, no different from a corpse, and there was not a patch of unbroken flesh left on her entire body.

The apprentices of Eternal Silence Blackthorn atop the altar had also reacted. In the narrow cavern, both sides erupted into an exchange of witchcraft bombardments.

"Activate the array right now!" she shouted, seizing an apprentice who was cowering behind the central array.

"N-no… impossible!" the man stammered, trembling. "The array was already incomplete, and now so many nodes have been destroyed…"

"I don’t care!"

She shoved him aside and strode up the altar.

The gray bear emerging from the rock wall roared, "She’s trying to activate the array—stop her quickly!"