City ​​of Witches 943

Chapter 943 – #204_Image Change

#937

1.
Lydia had stormed into the location of the android production facility, a place that was practically the heart of the city.
The resistance from the Angels was so fierce that the word “desperate” seemed appropriate.

Lydia, who was confident in her ability to endure a long battle and boasted that she could handle anyone except perhaps Duke Tiferet, was having a hard time.

The amount of gold Lydia spent to deal with tens of thousands of Angels was astronomical.

If you were to estimate the cost of the actual gold coins, as well as the special gold coins made by grinding up death row inmates, it would be enough to launch at least three rockets.

However, consumption and investment are two very different concepts.

Lydia, who had spent an amount that would make even a seasoned witch pale, believed in the truth that sometimes a bold investment brings even greater returns.

“Oh, you pretty things.”

Lydia stuffed the relatively intact destroyed Angels and the corpses of the witches who were the Angels’ source into her subspace.
She didn’t forget to carefully package them to prevent the merchandise from deteriorating.

After confirming it herself, the potential of the Angels was limitless.

Right now, even if she took the samples, she lacked the technology and the infrastructure to properly utilize them, but what if she could create them and Lydia had control over them?

It would be possible to obtain power that was incomparable to a mere floodgate.

After all, weren’t they the ultimate weapons of a world that had conquered witches?

She didn’t know how long it would take.
She didn’t know how much capital would be needed.
She didn’t know how many researchers would be mobilized.

But Lydia had eternal life, immense wealth, and countless subordinates.

Smiling brightly as she envisioned a golden future, Lydia finally reached the top floor of the Central Tower.
The Tower of Babel of the vile humans.

The city’s night view, engulfed in flames and destruction, was spread out far below, befitting its grandeur as if it would reach the end of the sky.

In the center, an armillary sphere that automatically marked the movement of the celestial bodies was slowly rotating.

That was the floodgate.
An artifact that could manipulate the flood and control the behavior of the homunculi.

[Warning Warning]
[Please step away immediately]
[This facility is restricted to authorized personnel only]

Loud warning sounds rang out.
It was surrounded by a strict barrier, perhaps to extract the energy needed to produce Angels, but it was meaningless.

The Angels had already suffered near-total annihilation after a mutual destruction with the homunculi, and Lydia had smashed the rest of them to pieces.

-Whirr!

As Lydia carefully grabbed the floodgate after deactivating the barrier, space twisted and a small ‘door’ appeared.
It was a door to the outside of the ‘Ark’, to the present world.

Beyond the shimmering boundary, the stormy sea was still raging.

“Hmm….”

The sound of Lydia’s heels stopped as she was about to step outside, carrying the floodgate as spoils of war.

“Huum…. Let’s think about this.”

Lydia had already made contact with Duke Tiferet’s group.
As soon as she saw the king of the homunculi, she ran to the central tower to get the floodgate.

Since it was a temporary alliance anyway, a sudden escape could be seen as a cute gesture.
It wasn’t like she had openly stabbed them in the back.

Anyway, she had obtained both the floodgate and the source of the Angels too easily.

Judging from the Angels’ surrender recommendation during the battle, which loudly proclaimed, ‘A comrade has died, so surrender,’ Urshula and Priscilla were also dead.

She had already achieved what she wanted (the floodgate),
She had also obtained a bonus (the deaths of the hardliners Urshula and Priscilla),
And she had even obtained an unexpected fever bonus (Angel samples, Angel source).

An ordinary person would be overjoyed at such unexpected good fortune and would try to swallow everything they had in their hands.
But Lydia was far from ordinary.

She was more greedy than the average person, and therefore, she made different choices than the average person.

She placed the floodgate back in its original position with a note that read, ‘It’s a gift.’

“Alright. I’m in a good mood.”

Lydia judged that this would create a sharp confrontation between Gehenna and Hexennacht for a while.
It was the structure she wanted most, maintaining the balance.

From that point of view, maintaining a friendly relationship with Duke Tiferet was worth more than this ‘floodgate’.
Since she had already been marked as a deserter, there was no need to steal the floodgate and incur their wrath.

After all, even if Lydia had the floodgate, she would be under strong pressure from the hardliners.
If she were to cause another flood (or if it were to happen again due to some unknown reason), it would only incur the wrath of Duke Tiferet and the entire Gehenna.

Her goal was achieved at the point of stopping the flood without handing the floodgate over to the hardliners.
It would be like holding onto a white elephant to be greedy for a floodgate that anyone could hold as long as it wasn’t the hardliners.

Therefore, she would hand over this white elephant to calm the flood and return Dorothy as promised.
She would appease Duke Tiferet’s possible anger and buy his goodwill.

This was the ideal picture Lydia was drawing.

Of course, it was an issue that she could decide on so easily because of the ‘Angel’ overachievement.

Lydia hummed a tune as she stepped through the door.

2.
Three weeks had passed since Lydia had left the floodgate in the Ark.

The flood had been stopped.

She had ordered all the homunculi to cease their activities and go into ‘hibernation’.

If the floodgate could control the homunculi like the ‘King of Beasts,’ it could have been a truly formidable weapon, but even this was an achievement that an individual could not accomplish, so she had to be satisfied.

Of course, the world did not return to normal.

The mystery had already been unveiled, and humans still remembered the witches.
Still, peace had come to a world that had been on the verge of apocalypse, and the leaders of each country were working hard to manage the chaos.

My teacher and Rinne, who had each fought fierce battles, were focusing on their recovery and receiving treatment from Ms. Sua.

While Siwoo and Rinne were at a level where they could recover with some rest, my teacher’s case was a little different.

Ea Sadalmelik was dead.
My teacher had finally achieved her revenge after a long wait.

However, the price for using her power recklessly remained.
Her spirit body was magically ruined, and about half of her contracts were sealed for the next few decades.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t worried, but it was ambiguous whether it was something to cry about.
Not only had she survived, but the expression my teacher had been making recently seemed more cheerful than ever.

The precariousness that seemed like she would break at any moment inside the Ark was gone, and she had made a splendid return as the dignified and majestic Elloa Tiferet.

In addition, it was as if she had unloaded the burden she had been trying to carry.

It was a very fortunate thing.

“Hmm.”

Another thing to count among the spoils was this ‘lotus’ that was now on the table.
The lotus, which had devoured Ea’s offerings, had regained its original brilliance with her demise.

It was my teacher who had dealt with Ea, and the ownership was hers, but she willingly handed the lotus over to Siwoo.
He had obtained an EX-grade artifact, just like the Red Branch.

In fact, Siwoo had recently realized that his growth had reached its limit.
The point where he had defeated Urshula was the highest point Siwoo could reach for now.

Even this was an absurd growth rate and sufficient strength.
There wouldn’t be many opponents in the witch society who could stand against Siwoo.

If it had been Siwoo before, he would have been satisfied.

“This is not nearly enough.”

However, he had almost lost my teacher.

My teacher, who was pale and cold.
He couldn’t do anything even at the moment she was stepping into the boundary of death.

He was barely able to hold her hands thanks to a miracle that he still couldn’t understand, but that moment was nothing but terror.

It was still not enough.

Enough that no one could dare to touch them.
Enough that he wouldn’t have to lose his precious people.

He had to become even stronger.

In that sense, the existence of an artifact that could open his blood vessels at this moment when it was difficult to replicate the seal was special.
He couldn’t use it properly yet, but he was planning to start full-scale research as soon as he returned to Gehenna.

-Knock knock

“Siwoo, are you inside?”
“Yes, come in.”

The door opened, and Elloa, wearing pajamas, came in with a light step.

She had been sleeping for about 12 hours a day these days, so she was mostly in her pajamas.
As an aside, about 3 hours a day was spent cuddling with Siwoo in bed.

They were having regular relations in the hope that the amplification of magic power would help with her recovery.

“I came because I missed you.”
“Did you just wake up?”
“I just woke up, but I missed you again.”

My teacher, like a rabbit wanting her owner’s touch, sat on Siwoo’s lap and smiled as if she would melt away.
She poked Siwoo here and there with her delicate fingertips.

It was my teacher’s secret sign, who was too embarrassed to say openly, ‘I want to love you, love you’….
It was truly a lovely gesture.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her deeply.

“You’ve been quite the charmer lately.”
“A charmer? You have no respect for your teacher.”
“I’m the teacher in bed, aren’t I?”
“Siwoo…!”

My teacher was flustered and didn’t know what to do.

“Am I wrong?”
“…Siwoo, I have dignity and prestige as a teacher.”
“Hmm, I think I saw a pink-haired witch pretending to be a rabbit yesterday….”
“That’s, that’s…. Isn’t it because you keep making me do it?!”

Just as they were exchanging sweet and sticky jokes like lovers in their prime, and Elloa’s buttons were being undone one by one.

“Well, well, well, the relationship between master and disciple is very good, isn’t it?”

A languid, nasal voice suddenly interrupted.
A witch in a nun’s habit, with her arms crossed, was grinning mischievously as if she had found something very interesting to watch.

“Ms. Dorothy!”
“Yeah, I’m here~ darling.”

As promised, Lydia had returned Dorothy, who had been a prisoner.
Siwoo hugged Dorothy tightly while dangling Elloa, and for some reason, my teacher kept getting in between them.

Thus, the ‘Flood Incident’ that had disturbed the present world seemed to be coming to an end.

3.
Around that time.

“Shit!!!!!!”

Lydia was stomping her feet in frustration.

The Angel samples and source she had brought with so much effort.
These spoils, which she had believed would bring her golden glory, were all trash.

To be precise, they had all turned into an unidentified ash and disappeared shortly after leaving the Ark.
Even though she had cast such thorough preservation magic on them.

In the first place, the Ark itself was an arrangement prepared by the Witch of Creation for the witches.
It was only natural that she had taken measures to prevent any elements that could be a threat to ‘witches’ from being taken out.

Lydia, who had no way of knowing this fact, had wasted a huge amount of gold trying to catch the Angels.

“Ah…. My head is throbbing….”

It is said that Lydia had been breaking innocent wine glasses for weeks due to the loss of her investment, which had not even recovered its principal.