Chapter 342: Inner Demons

In a groggy, delirious dream, Celia struggled to open her eyes.

“Ansu...”

She murmured subconsciously.

A scarlet wasteland stretched out before her. The campsite was completely empty. There was no Ansu, no Vera, and none of their other companions...

Only the wind swept through the dead grass, making a soft, rustling sound.

Celia looked toward the dark, twisted, withered woods nearby, and her entire body suddenly shuddered.

For she saw... standing in the gaps between the dead trees, a tall, slender figure.

The figure stood motionless, wedged among the withered branches. Its eye sockets were sunken into two dark voids, and the corners of its mouth were pulled back at an angle that did not belong to the living.

It was Samantha again.

She stood right there, staring intently at her, as if she had been watching for a very long time.

A lingering specter.

“Celia...” A hoarse voice seeped out from the dark, withered woods.

“Celia... you...”

Celia's entire body tensed. Mana quickly gathered in her palms as she stared warily at the figure.

“What on earth are you trying to say?!”

That bizarre face split open into a dark gap, and its voice suddenly grew sharp: “Celia... you wretched traitor!”

“To think I painstakingly nurtured you for ten long years... How dare you betray me!”

“You were the one who tried to kill me first! I was only defending myself!” Celia shrieked back, her voice torn to shreds by the wind sweeping across the wasteland. “You only nurtured me because you wanted to take over my body! I was merely saving myself!”

Her surging mana suddenly exploded. A roaring shockwave tore through the air, piercing straight through the figure.

The figure shattered instantly, ground into dust like dead leaves, scattering in the wind along with the charred, broken branches.

Celia panted heavily, her chest heaving violently as she turned to look for Ansu.

“Ansu...”

“Ansu, where are you?”

There was no response on the vast, empty wasteland.

The person who could always put her mind at ease seemed as if he had never existed...

Samantha let out bursts of bizarre, inhuman laughter, appearing once more like a lingering specter.

Celia whipped around. In the dark, withered woods, a face had grown on every single twisted tree trunk. Every face bore the exact same bizarre smile, staring at her from all directions.

“Look, Celia.”

Countless mouths spoke at the same time, merging into a chaotic, grotesque chorus.

“I told you—I cannot die.”

“Get away!” Celia's body radiated black mist as her filthy mana poured out uncontrollably.

One destructive spell after another blasted into the woods. Dead trees exploded in half, sending wood chips flying everywhere. Soon, the ground was covered with the shattered remnants of broken branches.

But those broken branches suddenly changed form. They were not made of wood, but of writhing flesh... fingers, arms, shattered bones...

Celia's pupils shrank to pinpricks, and she froze in place.

She watched helplessly as those severed limbs crawled slowly on the ground, fingers flexing like maggots. The broken flesh and bone squirmed and slithered, reassembling in a grotesque fashion, growing larger and more twisted as they merged...

Until finally, a bloated, colossal monster of flesh and blood piled up before her eyes.

Samantha's ugly, deformed face was embedded at the top of the mass of flesh, her mouth still curled into that bizarre smile.

“Celia...”

“My dear student, my sweet daughter... You cannot shake me off... You will never be able to get rid of me for the rest of your life...”

“Why... aren't you dead?!” Celia's voice was hoarse, the massive shock causing her to growl repeatedly. “Why aren't you dead?! What on earth do you want?”

Samantha's voice slowly seeped out from within the flesh monster. “Do you still remember... my final curse?”

Celia's pupils contracted slightly.

The curse.

The final scene in the demonic realm, the venomous words Samantha had spat out with the last of her strength—of course she still remembered them.

“Did you think that by destroying me, you could live happily ever after together?”

“No! Of course not!”

Samantha's voice suddenly became clearer, like a whisper pressed against her ear:

“Celia, my foolish and conceited student... my most perfect masterpiece... You always take things for granted, just like a naive little girl...”

“Do you truly believe that if you hadn't used coercion, hypnosis, and psychological suggestions back then... he would still have fallen in love with you?”

Celia's body froze.

“You don't actually believe that without those methods, you could still love each other? That you could still be together??”

Samantha's voice suddenly rose, her mocking laughter incredibly grating.

“How laughable! The moment the hypnosis is lifted, the moment you lose complete control over him, the inertia of fate will drag everything back on track! Do you think he can withstand it? He will only walk the path he was originally meant to take...”

“He will kill you without hesitation, eliminate you—the World Ending Witch—and return light and a future to the world!”

Bizarre laughter exploded, sounding like thousands of crows flapping their wings at the same time.

“The journey to the South is your end! Hahaha—I look forward to meeting you both in hell!”

The laughter stopped abruptly.

The bloated flesh monster collapsed suddenly like a popped bubble, dissolving into the crimson mist.

Celia snapped her eyes open, feeling as if she had just escaped from drowning.

Her forehead was drenched in cold sweat, and the clothes on her back were already soaked, clinging tightly to her skin.

“Celia? Celia?”

Ansu was right beside her, supporting her arm. Seeing her eyes clear up, he let out a sigh of relief.

“You're finally awake.”

Hearing this gentle voice that always put her at ease, Celia felt her heart soften and calm down.

Ansu glanced helplessly to the side. “You were talking to yourself in the air again just now.”

Celia followed his gaze. The withered woods had already been reduced to a messy pile of broken branches and shattered wood on the ground, looking as if they had been torn apart from the inside by a violent force.

“What... did I do?”

Celia's voice was so hoarse it was barely audible.

“You kept shouting Samantha's name and then rushed over to blast everything to pieces.” Ansu brushed the wood chips off his sleeves. “I could only stand aside and watch.”

Celia lowered her head and slowly raised her wrist.

The blood-red eye pattern was embedded in her skin, its pupil-like lines contracting slightly, as if staring at her coldly.

Though she had regained her senses...

Still.

Every single word Samantha had just spoken was clearly etched into her mind...

She looked up in a daze, meeting Ansu's worried gaze: “I know... you definitely won't believe me, but I really saw Samantha again just now...”

“I know.” This time, Ansu showed no impatience whatsoever, only replying gently, “But she's gone now, isn't she? You've also recovered, so don't worry. Everything is fine.”

Arguing with a patient who was deep in hallucinations and saw another world was completely pointless.

He could only follow her logic for now to calm her down.

“Ansu...” Celia's nose tickled, her voice carrying a rare vulnerability.

“It's so good that you're still... still by my side...”

She leaned gently against his shoulder, her forehead resting against his collarbone, her soft, silver-white hair spilling over his arm.

“Of course I am,” Ansu said softly. “I've always been here. Stop letting your mind wander.”

“Mhm...” Celia finally let out a tired smile. “As long as you're here, I won't lose myself... Ansu, you must always be here, okay?”

“Don't worry.” A smile appeared on Ansu's face, but in truth, he had no confidence at all.

It wasn't that he would leave Celia, but rather, if she fell into this 'inner demons' state again and had eccentric conversations with a non-existent Samantha...

Wasn't he practically non-existent in her delusional world...

He wouldn't be surprised by anything an enraged Celia might do under Samantha's instigation. The Miss Witch before him was practically a highly unstable time bomb...

No, a timed nuclear bomb.

“Go get some rest first.” Ansu took a deep breath, pushing down his stray thoughts, and coaxed her to sleep.

Only when she fell into a deep sleep would she quiet down, allowing him to continue exploring and search for the Filthy Heart.

“Isn't it still daylight?” Celia looked up. “We didn't set out all that long after dawn... It's not time to camp and rest yet, is it?”

Ansu lied without batting an eye. “You remember incorrectly. It's already night. Because we've gone too deep into the crimson plague zone, it's impossible to distinguish between day and night.”

Celia blinked blankly, looking up at the unchanging crimson canopy.

“You're too tired. The mana backlash has scrambled your mind, making you confused.” Ansu's tone brooked no argument. “That's why you need a good sleep even more, understand?”

Looking at his worried face, Celia obediently nodded. “Mhm.”

Ansu took her hand and went to pitch the tent.

The canvas rustled in the wind. He worked quickly, and before long, he had set up a spacious, clean military tent.

Then, he tucked Celia into her sleeping bag and sat beside her, gently patting her back as if soothing a child who had finally cried themselves to sleep.

Before long, Celia's breathing finally stabilized.

In her sleep, her brow furrowed slightly and then slowly relaxed. The fingers that had been tightly clutching his hem finally let go.

Ansu sighed softly.

“Good night.”

...