Chapter 1315 – ##15_Who’S The Strongest?
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1.
One winter day.
Siwoo looked at Lluella with a disgruntled expression.
“What is it that you keep doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“No, it’s just that it feels like you’ve been following me around for the past few days.”
“Hmm? Does it displease you that your wife follows her husband?”
Lluella pretended to be nonchalant, but Siwoo wasn’t just saying things for no reason.
For about three days, Lluella had been hovering around Siwoo, maintaining a distance that seemed like she was about to approach but never quite did.
Like a stray cat.
‘At first, I thought it was a problem with our sleeping arrangements?’ So they had a hot night, but that wasn’t it either.
Lluella had enjoyed it very much, but even after that, she kept following Siwoo around, wearing an expression that suggested she had something to say.
“Siwoo. Are you busy today too?”
“As you can see. I’m quite free these days.”
These obvious, pointless questions she kept throwing out were proof.
What on earth was going on that was making Lluella, who always went straight for what she wanted, circle around like this?
“Shall we have a drink together for a change?”
“Hmm? That sounds good.”
By this point, Siwoo was starting to feel uneasy, so she lured Lluella with the bait of drinks.
Lluella was a heavy drinker, but Siwoo could also hold her liquor well, and Lluella’s tongue tended to loosen up more than usual when she was drunk.
After the two of them had emptied a bottle or two of strong whiskey, and a tipsy flush had risen on her soft cheeks, Lluella finally revealed her true purpose with some difficulty.
“You want me to tell you about the enemies I’ve fought?”
“That is correct. Strictly speaking, I wish to hear how strong those enemies were.”
That’s right.
Lluella was still a young witch.
She was at the age where she’d be thrilled by the question, ‘Who would win if a lion fought a bear?’ and she was even a military enthusiast.
Siwoo had fought countless strong opponents, so she wanted to hear about those experiences.
She also wanted to play a little VS game.
“I know it is a rather undignified thing to do…. But wouldn’t you be curious?”
There was only one reason why she hadn’t done so.
Even though things had turned out well in the end, Siwoo had risked her life fighting those opponents.
As a wife, she wondered if it was okay to consume those tumultuous experiences as mere entertainment.
Lluella, who was usually the only one who mattered in her world, was surprisingly thoughtful in unexpected ways.
But from Siwoo’s perspective, it wasn’t such a difficult request.
“You made that request so difficult? Of course, I can do that for you.”
“Is that truly so? I was deeply concerned that I might touch upon your unpleasant memories.”
“It’s alright.”
“Ooh!”
“You should have said so sooner.”
“No, no. It is enough that I can hear it now, is it not?”
Lluella bounced on the cushion, delighted.
Her eyes sparkled brightly, as if the alcohol had completely worn off, and she hugged the cushion tightly.
“What should I start with?”
“Since we’re at it, I would also like to hear who among us is the strongest.”
“By us, you mean…”
“Excluding you, of course.”
It seemed she also wanted to determine who was the strongest among her lovers.
“That seems like a question with a predetermined answer.”
“Are you referring to the pink-haired one?”
“Yes, I am.”
In fact, the most important factor in a battle between witches was their hierarchy.
Hierarchy was equivalent to class.
But among Siwoo’s lovers, there were three who were of the 23rd hierarchy.
Eloa, Amelia, and Lluella, who was the subject of today’s conversation.
However, hierarchy didn’t determine the outcome.
It varied depending on compatibility, experience, and the inherent strength that couldn’t be measured numerically.
In that regard, her teacher was one of the witches closest to the title of the strongest.
She was not only experienced but also had an indomitable fighting spirit and mental fortitude.
On top of that, she had self-magnetic magic that was specialized for one-on-one battles.
“Hmm…. I can accept that. I, too, am not very confident if I were to face the pink-haired one.”
Lluella seemed to know that much.
“Then, if I were to fight the blonde one, who do you think would win?”
“That’s a problem that requires some thought.”
Amelia hadn’t been on the battlefield much, but the strength of her particle magic lay in its versatility.
It meant that she would have a certain level of high and low points in any situation.
On the other hand, Lluella could display overwhelming firepower and endurance on the battlefield of the sea, but conversely, her advantages were buried on land where she had to summon seawater separately.
“If it’s the sea, I think Lluella would have the upper hand, but if it’s on flat ground, I think Amelia would win.”
“Oho, that is similar to my prediction. Your insight is more useful than I thought.”
Siwoo wondered if she had been too blunt and might have upset Lluella, but surprisingly, Lluella accepted what she had to.
There was no need to mention Kybele and Sharon here.
Kybele was a non-combat witch, and Sharon’s firepower was too weak due to the difference in hierarchy.
“Then, what if Dorothy or the black-haired one were to fight me?”
“Hmm, I’d say Lluella would have the upper hand by about 8 to 2 or 9 to 1? There’s also the basic difference in hierarchy, after all….”
“Then, what about Dorothy VS the black-haired one?”
Both were strong in close combat, with one having absolute defense and the other being a dealer who had put everything into her attack stats.
Lluella seemed quite interested in this topic.
But Siwoo gave a simple answer.
“I think Linne would have the advantage by about 7 to 3.”
“They are of the same hierarchy. Isn’t that too harsh a score for Dorothy?”
“I don’t think Linne’s combat power is that of a 22nd hierarchy. I think she’s probably the strongest among the 22nd hierarchy.”
“Is the black-haired one that strong?”
“Yes, I think she could even have a 50/50 chance if she started in close range against Lluella.”
“Hoo…! She always calls me ‘Papa.’ I thought she was a witch who couldn’t act her age, but the black-haired one is quite something.”
“I recommend not saying that in front of her.”
Among the 22nd hierarchy witches she had fought or seen so far, there probably wasn’t a witch who could gain an advantage over Linne.
In the first place, she had lived for a long time, and as a belligerent witch, her combat experience was overwhelming, and her magic itself was very aggressive.
Still, she felt sorry for Dorothy if she only said that, so she added a word.
“But Dorothy is stronger in bed.”
“I know that too. The black-haired one is a pushover, isn’t she?”
“Do you have to say it like that….”
Next, they moved on to the main topic, ‘the combat power ranking of the enemies Siwoo had fought.’
First, she organized the list.
20th hierarchy: ‘The Silent Witch’ Rosie Alu.
21st hierarchy: ‘The Aquarius Witch’ Ea Sadalmelica (at the time).
22nd hierarchy: ‘The Witch of Desire’ Bianca Bellili, ‘The Witch of Rebellion’ Urshula von Himmelslauf, ‘The Witch of War’ Herja Valhiri.
23rd hierarchy: ‘The Golden Coin Witch’ Lydia Magnus (she had just become a 24th hierarchy, but most of the battles were fought as a 23rd hierarchy, so she was considered a 23rd hierarchy).
24th hierarchy: ‘The Witch of Proverbs’ Orselia Limos.
Homunculus: Fully awakened Red Knight.
Excluding Dorothy and Linne, who had defected to their side, these were the ones she had fought properly, right?
Even though she had excluded the less important fights, it was still quite a lot, and she was reminded of how she had managed to survive.
Each one of them was a notorious enemy that was still talked about.
“The Silent Witch? That’s a name I’ve never heard before.”
“Honestly, she was the weakest. I caught her without the Red Branch. But she was very good at position boards.”
“What about the pink-haired one’s enemy? Wasn’t she a 23rd hierarchy?”
“She was only a 21st hierarchy when I met her. But honestly, I don’t know how strong she was.”
She had fought her in a human body, not as a witch, and her opponent had been toying with Siwoo, so she hadn’t gone all out.
Thinking about it again, that bitch deserved to die.
“You said Linne is the strongest among the 22nd hierarchy? Then what about the other 22nd hierarchy enemies?”
“Now that I think about it, there are a lot of 22nd hierarchy witches. Originally, Dorothy and Linne were also there.”
“Then, if we rank them excluding those two, what would it be?”
This required some thought, but the answer came quickly.
“Bianca is probably superior to the other two by about 6, and Herja and Urshula seem to be equal.”
Bianca, who had kidnapped Takasho, was the winner.
Of course, Urshula, who used gravity and bending, and Herja, who was the thunder god herself, were also powerful, but Bianca, who used all sorts of artifacts and had the longest range among the witches, was on a different level of difficulty.
“Then, what if that Bianca were to fight me?”
“But the Witch of Desire is no fun if she joins this game. She’s specialized in long-range combat, so it wouldn’t be a normal fight, would it?”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
The Black Knight had carried the fight as a proxy back then, but if Bianca hadn’t imposed a self-penalty by narrowing the range of the battlefield, the fight itself wouldn’t have been possible.
Come to think of it, this is quite fun.
“This is the last question. Who was the strongest enemy?”
“Kuh, that’s difficult.”
The fully awakened Red Knight, who was called the worst homunculus in history, was good even if you put him at the 24th hierarchy level.
Even though her teacher wasn’t in full condition and was forced into a one-versus-many battle because of the White Knight, she hadn’t been pushed into a disadvantage, had she?
That alone was enough proof that the Red Knight was strong.
She had also won a few battles by using the EX-class artifact, the Red Branch, that he had left behind.
“But I think Orselia would have easily crushed the Red Knight.”
The reason why the Red Knight could gain an overwhelming advantage against most witches was that ‘he was immune to magic attacks and only took physical damage,’ and his close combat power was also immense, but Orselia was swinging her tentacles hundreds of times the speed of sound from afar.
Even if she gave him distance, the backup ability of the Box-Arca would have regenerated even the spirit bodies that had been shattered by the distortion field.
Arca’s ability wasn’t just limited to ‘erosion.’
“So, I think Orselia would have overwhelmed him by about 9 to 1.”
“What about that ill-tempered Golden Coin Witch?”
Lydia was a 23rd hierarchy, but she had crossed the wall of the 24th hierarchy at the end of the battle, and since she was a conceptual being, she was given an extra point in the hierarchy.
On top of that, she used the abnormal sacrifice of gold coins made by grinding up witches, so she was a special type of witch in many ways.
But the Red Branch’s distortion field had the effect of neutralizing Lydia’s ‘worthlessness,’ so it didn’t allow for extra lives.
Wasn’t it because Siwoo had stabbed the Red Branch into her side that she had reversed the fight that Lydia had been winning?
But the conclusion wasn’t so simple.
There was one more thing to consider.
It was Lydia’s artifact ‘Mistilteinn,’ which had once killed Siwoo’s Red Branch.
If it had been the Red Knight, he wouldn’t have been able to revive the dead branch, and if that was the case, Lydia would have easily won.
“I think Lydia would win by about 7 to 3…. I’m not sure.”
“Is that bitch that strong?”
“Honestly, if I hadn’t killed her back then, a lot would have changed.”
Lluella, who had a history of losing in the battlefield she was most confident in, didn’t seem to like the fact that Lydia was strong.
She had been having fun until just now, but her brow furrowed.
“But the Witch of Proverbs wouldn’t lose to the Golden Coin Witch, would she?”
“Hmm…. I guess that’s true.”
Lydia was a person who moved according to her desires.
For her, the temptation of the Box-Arca would have been a trap she couldn’t easily overcome.
In fact, Siwoo was lucky, but Orselia’s Arca was a sweet trap that swallowed and melted her opponents.
But then, another question couldn’t help but arise.
What if Lydia had seen through the temptation and identity of the Box-Arca?
Even if she couldn’t erode it like Siwoo, what if she had at least nullified it?
Then, Lydia’s chances of winning could have been considered again.
Measuring a witch’s combat power was complicated, but it was even more complicated for conceptual witches.
“Hmm…. Ummm….”
“Honestly, that Golden Coin Witch isn’t that special, is she?”
Lluella seemed to want to hear Siwoo say, ‘Orselia stomps Lydia,’ but since it had become serious, it was difficult to answer easily.
Before she could even say that Orselia had a 6 to 4 advantage, Lluella got angry first.
“Eeeh! This is no fun! I shall leave now!”
Of course, Siwoo knew very well how to cheer Lluella up.
“Don’t leave now, stay a little longer.”
“Uwot?!”
Siwoo grabbed Lluella’s wrist, lifted her up, and headed straight to the bedroom.
“Uwaaa…! I understand! I understand…! You’re the best in bed…!”
“Right?”
Siwoo patted Lluella’s backside, who was acting as a backstop, and re-established that Siwoo was number one in bed for Lluella, who liked power balance games.
Well, something like that.
Lluella’s life in bed was peaceful today as well.
