City ​​of Witches 634

Chapter 634 – #128_Labyrinth(5)

#634
1.
The battle was over.
The banquet hall, which was at least somewhat presentable, if not exactly lavish, had been reduced to ruins, as if it had been bombed.

“Hoo…”

Siwoo deactivated his armor and reviewed the recent battle.
Leaving aside the two who were taken out with a preemptive strike the moment he sensed them, there was the battle against the 20th-tier Great Witch.

The result was Siwoo’s overwhelming KO victory.
To put it roughly, it was the result of enduring the difficult days of being matched with challengers since his silver rank days.

Even being 20th-tier puts you in the top 1% of the entire witch population.
He had achieved victory against such an opponent using only the Angel’s Ring, without even properly utilizing the Red Branch or the Ribbon.

“My teacher was right about everything.”

There was something Elroa always emphasized.
‘You don’t always have to be stronger than your opponent. It’s enough if you can surpass them in the one move that decides the match.’
Exactly this.

In that sense, the Angel’s Ring he received from Dorothy this time was a great magic that allowed him to showcase the tactical doctrines he had learned from his teacher most efficiently.

It allowed for a tremendous stat boost, albeit for a moment.
The Mercury Witch hadn’t expected such explosive overclocking, which was why she was so easily defeated, wasn’t it?

“……”

Of course, it wasn’t without its drawbacks.

The Angel’s Ring was certainly an excellent doping tool, but it demanded a great price.

The overload caused by the intense movements and massive magic power usage, several times his normal capacity, was still steadily feeding back into Siwoo’s body.

The muscles all over his body were screaming.
The burning pain in his magic circuits was tearing through his body with every heartbeat.
The time from when he used the Angel’s Ring to the end of the battle.

“Just 2 seconds…”

His condition was this bad after only that short time.
Judging by this trend, it seemed that 5 seconds would be the limit if he wanted to avoid worrying about aftereffects, and maybe 10 seconds if he considered minor injuries.

“Anyway, what should I do?”

He could see the three witches sprawled out in the middle of the ruins.
The Mercury Witch, who had been hit in the waist by a spear and sent flying like a tennis ball.
One witch who had fainted with her eyes rolled back, and another who was lying down with her body twisted in an odd position.

First of all, it was clear that these outcasts had tried to harm Siwoo.

If Siwoo hadn’t won the battle, they would have satisfied their desires in some way.

But did he feel any lingering ill will? Not really.
Was it because he had won too easily? Or was it because they were less malicious compared to the enemies he had faced so far?

He pulled out his shadows and put leashes around the necks of the three witches.
Freely manipulating shadows was his specialty, so if he created thorns inside them in an emergency, they would act like explosive necklaces.

Then, the Mercury Witch stirred.

Her elegant appearance was nowhere to be seen, her whole body covered in dust. She made a strange ‘uuuugh’ sound, feeling her injured waist, and then her eyes met Siwoo’s.

“……”

And she immediately froze like a frog facing a snake.

“Don’t move. If you show even the slightest sign of resistance, I’ll kill you right here.”

He spoke intentionally coldly and calmly.
It would be troublesome if she resisted as soon as she regained consciousness.
It would be better to scare her.

“Ah…”

Alice, who had lost consciousness, looked around and asked.

“Ma, Manya and Malisha…?”

She still seemed disoriented, but she looked like she was in the throes of fear of loss, as if she had realized she had dropped something precious.
When he gestured to the location of the two, she…

“Manya! Malisha!”

She jumped up and ran to the two, completely turning her back to Siwoo, and checked on their condition.

Siwoo had eyes that could read the flow of magic, so he knew.

If Alice had used magic for the sole purpose of saving herself, there was a high probability that she could have escaped.
Even if there was a considerable difference in level, it was not easy to track down a witch who was running away with all her might.

But her magic was deployed from the start without the option of escaping alone.
And the reason was probably for those two.

Seeing this, he also thought that there were no people who were completely bad.

It was also why Siwoo didn’t feel particularly great anger towards the three witches.
Like with Dorothy, he might be able to understand if he heard their circumstances.

“Hoo…”

Alice let out a sigh of relief, realizing that the two were not seriously injured.

To prevent any possible tricks, he approached her, and Alice turned her body around, spreading her arms wide like a mother protecting her baby bird, blocking Siwoo’s approach.

“D-don’t come…!”

Her voice was cracked, and her eyes were already filled with the spirit of defeat. The arrogant demeanor she had at the beginning was gone.

“What are you going to do to us…”

Courage barely squeezed out.
Alice glared at Siwoo with clenched teeth.
However, she looked like a prospective victim trembling in front of a murderer, making him feel like he was the bad guy.

“That’s something we should talk about now.”

He wasn’t trying to make a subtle threat, he was being sincere.
Honestly, he was still wondering what to do with the three of them.

The basic policy was to hand them over to his teacher, but…
If he did that, he would have to drag them around like tails while he had to catch the homunculus, which was annoying.

But he couldn’t just let them go, since they had committed a crime, so they should be punished.
He didn’t know what kind of punishment would be given in this case.

“Hmm…”

It might be good to settle with money.
Witches were all rich, so they might be able to give him 8 billion.

Then he could secure the donation for R’lyeh without having to catch the homunculus, and if it was money he had obtained by beating up an outcast who had committed a crime, his big mother-in-law would acknowledge it too.

“Then…”
“W-wait a minute, listen to me.”

Then, suddenly, a loud voice hit his ears.
It was amazing that she still had the energy to speak so vigorously.

“Yes, what is it?”
“…Sorry for attacking you.”
“Of course you should be. Why did you do this?”
“…To, to sell you…”
“To whom?”
“To someone who would pay a lot…”

It was what he had expected, so it was not surprising.

“You’re not going to apologize empty-handed.”
“I’m not planning on letting you off for free either.”

Alice, who was talking about the compensation she should obviously give, and Siwoo, who was responding curtly.
He was about to gratefully accept if they promised to give him money or good magic items, but…

“Ugh…”

Alice bit her lip and used a cleansing spell.
She didn’t have enough magic power left to use a decent spell, so he just left her alone.

The dust that had covered her disappeared, revealing her noble appearance.
However, her expression, which was full of fear and intimidation, was even pitiful.

“Huh?”

Alice closed her eyes and then spread open her blouse as if the buttons were about to pop off.
The black underwear that could be seen through the white blouse revealed the figure beneath it.
It was a suggestive lingerie that looked like her nipples would say ‘hello!’ if you just slightly pulled it down with one finger.

Hmm, about a D cup.

“I, I’ll do anything…! I planned everything.”

Alice’s neck turned red as she spoke in a trembling voice.
What was she trying to do…

“What is this?”
“You were going to rape me anyway, right?”
“Huh? No, I wasn’t.”
“Don’t lie! You can’t believe that you wouldn’t even touch a pretty witch like me when she’s defenseless! I can’t believe it!”

Siwoo was dumbfounded.
Of course, if he had a relationship with Alice, he might be able to get some useful magic.
Since she was 20th-tier, she was a pretty high-probability gacha boob.

But he had no intention of getting stronger by committing an act that was tantamount to rape.
He had no intention of making her pay with her body.

What excuse could he make to the rest of his lovers, who only looked at Siwoo despite his already complicated love life?

Above all, Siwoo’s research was gradually revealing that magic copying was not omnipotent.

In cases where it was compatible with existing magic, like the Angel’s Ring, it was possible to level up with synergy.
However, there were also cases where it was not, for example, the magic of his little mother-in-law, which he couldn’t really use in battle.

Similarly, Alice’s magic was based on alchemy.
It was a magic that was quite different from Siwoo’s style.

If he were to take that magic, he could expand the spectrum by lining up blocks side by side, but it would not be enough as a resource for growth.

“I’ll do anything you tell me to… So… please don’t touch these kids and let them go…”

Alice, who was swallowing her humiliation and begging desperately, regardless of the circumstances.
Just as Siwoo, who had been speechless, was about to open his mouth.

“Male witch, please do whatever you want with me instead! I have bigger breasts and wider hips than Alice, unnie…”

Manya, who he thought had lost consciousness, suddenly stood up and grabbed Alice’s arm.

“That’s right! We’re more delicious.”

Malisha, who had also been pretending to be dead, stood up and shouted at Siwoo.
Alice, who was flustered, shouted at the two as if she was frustrated.

“What are you doing! You should have just kept pretending to be passed out!”
“But! I couldn’t just watch Alice, unnie, get defiled…”
“Please leave it to us. You’ve worked so hard for us every day.”

“We’re bisexual… so we’ll be less repulsive than unnie. If I can save unnie by sacrificing myself… I’ll do it a hundred times.”
“Manya… Malisha…”

Alice’s expression, which was usually so venomous, was now a mess with tears welling up.
When did these immature fools start thinking this much?
It was touching.

It seemed that in the minds of these three women, it was already a foregone conclusion that Siwoo would line them up and take them one by one.

“You stubborn idiots…”

The three of them, leaving Siwoo with a sullen expression, hugged each other warmly and confirmed their love for each other.
Manya and Malisha stood up with sharp eyes.

“Hey, male witch! If you try this older sister once, you won’t even look at other witches!”
“If it’s the two of us, we’ll be enough to replace Alice, unnie, right?”
“Witches are all about their rank, but women are all about how soft their skin is.”
“……”

It was time to end this melodrama.

“No, instead of your bodies, give me a generous amount of alimony.”

Siwoo held out his palm with a nonchalant expression.