The Witch's Anatomical Notes

Chapter 96

Gold-Eater Beast

The sound of something crawling rustled in the mine tunnel, and everyone held their breath, tensing up.

At the same time, golden light flickered across the dim rock walls of the mine.

“It… it’s native gold!”

The miner brothers cried out and lunged toward the chunk of ore embedded in the rock wall.

Just the exposed part was already as big as a human head. If they could dig it out, it would be enough to live in wealth for several lifetimes.

But just now, there had clearly been nothing there…

“Watch the crevice!”

Ash shouted, thrusting his longsword into the crack in the rock beside the brothers.

Clang—

With an ear-piercing screech of metal striking metal, his longsword actually snapped in two.

At the same moment, a tail covered in scales lashed out sideways like a whip.

Ash rolled aside, narrowly avoiding the powerful blow, but the miner brothers had no such skill.

With a dull thud, the long tail struck the younger brother’s lower back squarely, and the two of them screamed as they were flung several meters, slamming against the rock wall.

Everything happened too quickly. Lucy had just raised her Fractured Crystal Reverse Scale Shield when the attacker had already withdrawn into the crevice, fleeing deeper inside.

Without hesitation, she chased into the passage, but the crisscrossing tunnels soon swallowed the swift figure.

When she returned to the site of the attack, the younger miner brother was curled up under the damp rock wall, groaning, his clothes soaked through with blood. The elder brother was clutching his broken arm and cursing.

“That wasn’t native gold at all! That beast tricked us! Wuu… wuu…”

Lucy picked up the broken shortsword from the ground.

A row of gear-shaped notches had been left along the break, as if some creature had bitten it clean through.

“Miss Olivia, they’re both badly hurt. They need to return to the surface for treatment,” Old Mike said, his face ashen.

One had a shattered arm, the other was gravely injured. The days ahead would be hard for them.

Lucy hesitated briefly, but still took out half a bottle of Apprentice-Level Life Potion and handed it to Old Mike.

“You all go back.” After explaining how to use it, she continued, “Remember to keep your mouths shut.”

Ash hoisted the injured man onto his back. Old Jack hesitated and asked, “Miss Olivia, aren’t you coming with us?”

The only response he received was Lucy’s silhouette slowly fading into the darkness.

The old miner sighed, then followed Ash, their figures hunching as they disappeared into the shadows.

After parting from the four of them, Lucy proceeded alone, searching for traces of the Gold-Eater Beast amid the dim tunnels, surrounded by her wraith servants.

Even after she returned to the starting point, she still had not found any useful clues.

She looked toward the chunk of brass ore in the corner, the same piece that had disguised itself as native gold, and suddenly recalled the Atlas describing how Gold-Eater Beasts were almost pathologically obsessed with precious metals belonging to wizards.

A spark of inspiration flashed through her mind. She retrieved a small glass vial from the Abyss of Nightmares, which contained the Time Sand Silver she had obtained during the Tri-Tower Tournament.

This silver-white, sand-like metal ranked among the most valuable of all precious materials, making it the perfect bait.

The moment the Time Sand Silver appeared, rustling sounds rose deep within the rock crevice.

A faint smile tugged at Lucy’s lips.

So this creature hadn’t gone far at all.

She deliberately poured the grains into her palm, toying with them while the magical energy ripples surged through the mine.

At that instant—

Several meters away, the rock face suddenly fractured. A grayish form burst from the wall, whipping up a gale as it hurtled toward her.

“You’ve finally taken the bait!”

Lucy whispered coldly.

In that same moment, twelve wraith servants hidden in the shadows revealed themselves at once, pouncing on the swift figure together.

Realizing it had walked into an ambush, the enchanted beast halted, exposing a body that resembled a pangolin by seventy percent.

The only difference was that, due to its draconic metal bloodline, a pair of sharp horns sprouted from its head.

The servants’ claws barely brushed the armored scales when blinding sparks erupted.

That layer of metallic carapace was so hot it seared the intangible bodies of the wraiths, making them sizzle with a shrill hiss.

Next, the Gold-Eater Beast’s throat bulged. A conical chunk of metal shot forth at incredible speed.

Two wraith servants failed to dodge in time. They dissolved on the spot into black smoke filled with agonized faces.

Having struck its mark, the Gold-Eater Beast let out a shriek like a crying infant. Its barbed tail swept aside as it lunged headlong toward Lucy.

“Down!”

The Gravity Impact Staff activated. The beast, suspended in midair, felt its body abruptly pulled downward, crashing heavily into the ground with a muffled boom.

In the next instant, more than a dozen Venomous Fangs aligned into a single line and struck the prone Gold-Eater Beast one after another.

Venomous Fang, a Zero-Ring Witchcraft, had been further refined by Lucy through system simulations and empowered by the Rotten Fang Wolves’ magical patterns.

Now it not only carried neurotoxins but also gained greatly enhanced penetrating power, plus a corrosive venom. In terms of potency, it already rivaled most Tier-1 Witchcrafts.

Moreover, the corrosive toxin inherited from the Rotten Fang Wolves worked wonders against hardened armor.

When the plume of smoke raised by the fangs finally dispersed, palm-sized wounds marred the beast’s armored back.

Judging by the color of its blood, this Gold-Eater Beast had definitely been poisoned.

But in the instant Lucy allowed herself to relax her guard—

The Gold-Eater Beast, which had seemed to abandon resistance, suddenly lifted its head. As its throat swelled and contracted, a terrifying jet mixed with all manner of precious metals erupted from its jaws like a torrent of plasma.

Sss—

From the moment it had been created, the Fractured Crystal Reverse Scale Shield had never once been broken. Now it emitted a shrill, mournful cry.

In the next instant, the dark red semicircular arc shield shattered into countless fragments.

Yet it was precisely that fraction of a second’s delay that allowed Lucy to activate her Phase Wing Leap and blink to the other side.

After unleashing that jet, the Gold-Eater Beast seemed to have expended the last of its strength. Its body went limp and collapsed onto the ground.

Lucy, who had nearly been caught unprepared, patted her ample chest, feeling cold sweat streaming down her back.

Had she not maintained the Fractured Crystal Reverse Scale Shield’s model out of caution, even with the High Elvish script reinforcing her, she would never have had time to dodge that attack.

Lucy waved her hand, opening the entrance to the Abyss of Nightmares.

“Let’s hope your enchanted organs are worth all this trouble.”

As Lucy disappeared, tranquility returned to the depths of the mine tunnel.

Elsewhere—

With Ash and Old Jack’s help, the miner brothers finally emerged from the mine.

After swallowing the potion Lucy had given them, they had not recovered completely, but at least they had kept their lives and their arms.

However, on the way home, the two of them grew more and more resentful as they stared at the two lonely gold coins in their hands.

“Damn it, why did that old bastard only give us this little money?!”

“Yeah, even that idiot Ash got ten gold coins. Is this how Old Jack promised Mother he would take care of us?!”

Walking behind them, Ash scratched his head, entirely unbothered that they were cursing him to his face.

The two brothers cursed and grumbled the entire way.

When they finally reached their doorstep, the younger brother suddenly stopped in his tracks, his gaze fixed on the distance.

Along the main road, four heavily armed Tower Knights were escorting an ornate carriage slowly forward.

The younger brother’s eyes glued themselves to the carriage, whose panels were inlaid with the crest of the Thousand-Eyed Tower. He suddenly grabbed his brother’s sleeve and whispered, “Look at that emblem! That’s a high-ranking wizard of the Thousand-Eyed Tower!”

The nearby miners also noticed the approaching retinue and quickly bowed their heads, stepping aside with deference.

But in that moment, as though possessed, the younger brother broke from the crowd.

“Milord, I have important information to report!”

Ash’s eyes went wide in shock, but when he tried to stop him, it was already too late.

At that instant, a cold voice issued from inside the carriage.

“Speak.”

“Honored lord, we discovered someone trespassing in the restricted zone. It was a black-haired free wizard…”

A hand wearing a black obsidian ring lifted the curtain, revealing half a face shrouded in shadow.

When the brothers finished stammering through their account of what they had witnessed in the mine, that pale finger flicked a single gold coin into the snow.

“No one infringes upon the Tower’s property. Lead the way.”

The sound of the coin rolling across the snow made Ash’s whole body tremble.

Old Jack had been wrong about them. These two fools didn’t even know what it meant to keep their word.

And did they really think that if Miss Olivia were captured by the Thousand-Eyed Tower’s wizard, the rest of them who led the way would survive?

Realizing this, Ash gripped his broken sword and sprinted off in the direction Old Jack had gone.