Chapter 165: A Blessing in Disguise

Magna a while ago wasn’t chanting the honorable names to seek help from the Goddess or make the girl feel pity for him and show him mercy.

He had a reasonable mind, anyway, knowing neither of those things would work.

His intention was to prepare the spell he was about to cast, since there was no way for him to speak once he was inside the water.

He was planning to use the spell he had copied from the Faceless Witch, the one with defensive properties that could regenerate his body at an incredible speed.

There was just one problem with his plan. He currently didn’t have enough mana to cast the spell or keep it active.

For that, he had no other option than gambling.

The moment he fell into the water, the unbearable heat immediately started to scorch his flesh, boiling him alive.

Even his high Stamina wasn’t making things better. The only thing it did was let him feel the pain for longer without dying immediately.

His muscles spasmed. His skin quickly started stretching and shrinking, restricting his ability to move and making swimming less and less of an option for escape.

He wasn’t planning to do that anyway. Even if he somehow managed to swim out, the Drakon girl was there and would surely send him back the moment he got out.

Instead, using all his willpower, he endured the pain, opened his mouth, and gulped down a large amount of boiling water.

The unbearably hot water burned everything it touched as it passed through his mouth and down his throat before filling his stomach.

Now his body was burning from the outside and starting to boil from the inside too, making the process of dying even faster.

Nevertheless, death wasn’t his only option anymore. His guess and hope turned out to be correct when Gaia’s mechanical voice rang in his ears.

[New substance detected... Mana Water...]

He quickly checked his mana reserve.

Mana: 4.3%

Just one gulp gave him so much mana that he didn’t stop. He took a few more gulps, filling his stomach, then waited until his mana reached the level he wanted.

He then remained completely still in the water, slowly sinking toward the bottom.

He only started to slowly release the air remaining in his lungs, vibrating his vocal cords to produce the sounds needed to activate his mana and draw the spell pattern through his mana channels.

He showed incredible willpower and focus doing that. Enduring the pain of being boiled alive while also drowning wasn’t something he had to go through every day.

But he had become quite used to being tortured, thanks to all the mutations he had gone through so far.

At last, with the last bubble of air leaving his mouth, the pattern was finally ready.

Since he had already prepared the spell’s activation by chanting the honorable names before falling into the water, he instantly activated the spell.

His body had already lost almost all ability to move, with his skin badly burned, his muscles tight, and damaged. Now, even that little ability to move was completely gone.

But in exchange, his body began to heal at an incredible speed, almost like time had suddenly started flowing backward for him.

His skin quickly regained its healthy appearance. The damage to his internal organs from the 2 punches, along with the burns caused by the boiling water, began to heal.

Even the feeling of suffocation from the lack of air started to fade. The spell was even taking care of his body’s need for oxygen.

These weren’t the only effects of the spell, of course.

While the spell was active, spending mana to restore his body, it was also absorbing mana from the water and quickly filling his mana reserve again.

The water held an incredible amount of mana. Magna could even follow the rising amount by looking at his stat panel.

On top of that, something even more incredible and exciting was happening.

Another group of system messages started popping up one after another in front of his eyes.

[Your Stamina increased by 1.]

[Your Stamina increased by 1.]

...

..

.

[Your Stamina increased by 1.]

’My comeback will be incredible.’ Thinking with excitement, Magna continued sinking toward the bottom of the water like a stone.

The red light on the surface of the water grew farther and farther away above him as he sank deeper, yet he felt no despair.

—

Somewhere in the Black Forest, a carriage was making its way along the narrow dirt road under the moonlight, pulled by 2 large, muscular white horses.

Inside were 3 women sitting silently, their expressions serious.

One was Celeste Winterborne. With her blue robe and hat, she remained calm and almost expressionless.

The other was an older-looking woman wearing a dark red robe and Witch Hat. She was Rowena Cinder, her brows drawn together as impatience showed in her eyes.

The last one looked even older than her. She wore a dark green robe and Witch Hat, carrying a serious and heavy air about her.

After the alliance found out the location of the Golden Sunberry farm, they suggested sending Celeste and Rowena for the job, since their territories were quite close to the location.

As for the green robed Witch, she was the head of another family from the alliance named Aveline Rosewood, a household renowned for its expertise in nature and plant spells.

Since their mission was to destroy a farm and potentially fight Sable Thorn, who also specialized in plant and nature spells, she was the council’s choice to be part of the attack party.

"Our first priority is to destroy the farm," Aveline said, going over their mission since she was the oldest and strongest among them.

She was actually a 12th Trial Witch, at the same level as Sable.

"Only if we deem it possible to secure it and take it completely intact will we take it without damaging it," she added in a more serious tone, since the farm was quite valuable if they could snatch it undamaged.

That was actually the main reason Aveline Rosewood was tagging along with them. She would cast the appropriate spells to relocate the farm after snatching it from the enemy.

After the carriage traveled for a while longer through the dense trees, the forest gradually thinned out as they entered a new area that looked more like a muddy swamp.

The carriage suddenly came to a stop before going any farther, and the 3 Witches stepped outside.

Celeste looked around, calmly scanning the area. "This place is very close to the Giant Crimson Lizard’s lair."

Hearing that, Rowena’s already creased face frowned even more. "Could that Sable have placed the farm here as a trap?"

The Crimson Lizard was the most fearsome monster, a deviant that lived like a boss in the Black Forest.

Even simply harvesting its scales usually required 3 12th Trial Witches working together.

Of course, taking its scales was a more demanding task than directly fighting it to kill it, but it was still enough to show how strong and deadly the beast was.

Aveline was thinking the same thing as she reminded them, "Send your Shadows to check the area. If the beast is somewhere close, we’ll stick to the first plan and destroy the farm immediately."

The 2 Witches immediately nodded. Corvo and Titus emerged from their shadows, fully clad in their armor, before rushing off in opposite directions.