Chapter 167: Narcissa, the Death Witch

The massive Lizard, which had now turned into a skeleton for unknown reasons, didn’t look any weaker than its previous self. If anything, it looked even more deadly.

With its frenzied attacks, every time it swung its massive, clawed bony hands, the trees, rocks, soil, and everything else in its path were torn apart.

Its tail, stretching for several meters, swept through the area like a whip, destroying and flattening everything it passed through.

The worst part was that Rowena was simply a terrible match for it. Her fire based spells left not even a scratch whenever they struck its bones, since the beast was naturally resistant to fire.

Fortunately, with Celeste possessing water and ice spells, if she joined the fight, they had a good chance of turning the battle around despite how one-sided it currently looked.

The enemy they had to face, however, wasn’t only the Skeleton Lizard.

While Celeste was preparing to join the fight, a voice suddenly rose from behind her, immediately drawing her attention.

"How is it... my new pet?"

When she turned to look, she saw a woman standing not far away with a rather twisted smile on her face.

She was wearing an entirely black robe, and her black Witch Hat was decorated with small skulls.

Celeste looked at the Witch’s face, taking in her light brown hair and deep black eyes, before muttering her name heavily.

"Narcissa Nightshade."

She was one of the heads of the enemy families and probably the Witch Celeste had been most afraid of encountering.

What made her especially dangerous was not only being a 12th Trial Witch. Her spells specialized in death magic, a field she was extremely proficient in.

She was the kind of Witch who always traveled with an army at her side.

"Be careful. We’re surrounded."

Titus called forth his massive ice shield and took his position, his eyes scanning the numerous corpses beginning to rise from the ground around them.

Hundreds of undead emerged from the earth. Some were nothing but skeletons, while others still had bits of rotten flesh clinging to their bones. Crude weapons were held in their hands.

They didn’t look particularly strong, let alone durable. Most of them would probably be torn apart by a single punch.

But what made them frightening wasn’t their strength. It was their numbers and their ability to regenerate.

As long as the Witch had mana, they would never truly die. They could always rise again from wherever they fell and continue fighting.

While Titus kept his attention on the undead army, Celeste’s expression hardened further.

"Are you the one who turned the Deviant Lizard into a skeleton?"

She already knew the answer. It was right in front of her, yet she still found it ridiculous.

First of all, killing it had to be incredibly difficult. No sane Witch would willingly risk the losses that would come from fighting it.

Keeping it alive and periodically harvesting its scales would have been far more profitable.

And even after killing it, turning it into a skeleton puppet should have been nearly impossible, even for a 12th Trial Witch. A deviant monster’s willpower had to be incredibly strong, strong enough to resist obeying someone else.

Narcissa laughed, finding the question rather amusing. "Who else could it be but me?"

Her voice and behavior were incredibly arrogant, but what she said wasn’t wrong.

There was no other Death Witch in this region powerful enough to accomplish something like this, after all.

But of course, it was obvious she hadn’t done it alone.

She was a selfish Witch who would never help anyone, even someone from the same alliance, without receiving something more than enough in return.

Celeste figured Sable had probably asked for her help with the farm and, in exchange, Narcissa had demanded her help killing the Giant Crimson Lizard.

The more likely possibility was that the 2 12th Trial Witches had combined their strength to kill the beast.

Thinking this, Celeste warned her Shadow, who was protecting her back, in a low voice. "Be careful. Sable has to be around as well."

Titus was already thinking about how they could get out of this situation, but hearing that made his thoughts even more chaotic.

Rowena and Corvo were currently trying to hold off the Giant Skeleton Lizard, and they were already struggling just to survive.

There was no way Celeste and Titus could win against this 12th Trial Witch without getting help.

And if another 12th Trial Witch, Sable, appeared on top of that, it would mean certain death for them.

Titus’s grip on his shield tightened, his voice coming from behind his frozen helmet. "I’ll make an opening. Make good use of it and escape."

Hearing him, Celeste’s eyes trembled slightly, but she quickly collected herself and said firmly, "Okay."

She knew exactly what this meant. This would probably be the place where Titus would die so she could escape.

She was fully aware of what she was accepting, but it wasn’t something she had decided in the heat of the moment.

It was a decision they had made years ago, ever since Faye was born.

If one day they faced a situation where they couldn’t save both of their lives, then one of them would sacrifice themselves so at least the other could escape.

When they made that decision, they had hoped it would never happen.

Unfortunately, life was the kind that would eventually force them to face exactly what they had feared.

Celeste kept her emotions shackled using her Serene State and took a step back, her back touching Titus’s cold armor.

The thunderous destruction of the Skeleton Lizard and the fire spells burning and tearing apart the surroundings created a chaotic backdrop, but none of it reached Celeste’s ears.

Like she had suddenly gone deaf, she could only hear the calm yet heavy breathing of the massive man protecting her back.

As the undead army surrounding them began to move, each one advancing toward them, she whispered one last time.

"I’ll find you later in the Underworld."

Then she began chanting her movement spell.

"O Vein of the Living World, River that has flowed since before the First Dawn, Silent Mother of Rain and Sea..."

Before she could finish the chant, Narcissa, who had no intention of letting them escape, was already one step ahead. Her chant was a notch faster.

"O Eclipse of the Fading Sun, Darkness that has gathered since before the First Light, Blind Mother of Ash and Ruin. Call the dead from their resting place."

Suddenly, high pitched screams rose from all around them, trembling through not only their ears but also their very souls.

Celeste was forced to stop her chant and cover her ears.

Warm, thick blood began to trickle down from her hands while she felt dizzy, her head throbbing with pain.

Realizing her movement spell wouldn’t work under these conditions, she immediately changed the final words to her attack spell.

"By the footprint of frozen time, let the blood of the world turn to frost. Unravel, Glacial Calamity."

She pointed her hand toward the ground. An incredibly cold bluish beam of ice gushed out, aimed directly at the earth.

The ground quickly froze as frost spread rapidly across the area, freezing the rushing undead army and turning the entire ground into a sheet of ice.

It didn’t stop there. The ice even reached the place where Narcissa was standing.

But before it could touch her, her Shadow emerged in front of her to block it.

It looked like a skeleton made entirely of polished bronze, clad in eerie black knight armor. It held a massive, pitch black, rusted greatsword in its hands, swinging it down to stop the ice before it could reach her.

Narcissa’s smile widened, like she was enjoying watching her prey struggle.

"Go. Kill the Witch first."

Then she began chanting her next spell, one meant to make her enemy feel even more desperate and shatter their spirit piece by piece.

"O Eclipse of the Fading Sun, Darkness that has gathered since before the First Light, Blind Mother of Ash and Ruin.

Manifest thy throne upon the living world. Unseal the gates of the Underworld."

A thin slit appeared in the fabric of space in front of her. It slowly widened, its two sides pulling apart like an invisible wound being torn open.

There was nothing on the other side. Only endless darkness, so deep that nothing within it could be seen.

The screams began to rise, coming from inside.

Cries of agony spilled from the darkness, spreading throughout the entire area. A moment later, countless footsteps echoed from within, followed by the constant clicking of bones.

It was an army of the dead, about to cross into the world of the living.

Human skeletons, feline skeletons, bird skeletons, and even the monsters such as goblins, lizards, and trolls poured out one after another, quickly filling the area.

As Celeste and Titus watched the undead army emerge, looking more numerous and stronger than the ones surrounding them, the last bit of hope of escaping seemed to fade from their eyes.

Narcissa laughed happily as she looked at them. "How is my collection? Be happy. You will be part of it soon."