City ​​of Witches 636

## Chapter 636 – #128_The Labyrinth (7)

#636

1.
At that moment.
Siwoo, having subdued the trio of exiles who had suddenly attacked him in the labyrinth, was in the midst of negotiations.

Compared to the life-or-death battle he had fought before, the expenditure wasn’t significant, but he had no intention of letting them go without getting something in return.
And he had no intention of releasing the exiles, who might harbor ill intentions at any moment, without taking any measures.

Siwoo came up with one good solution.

It was to hand Alice over to the location point.
According to his teacher, the current world was in chaos after Duke Keter’s will was officially recognized.

With public enemies, who no longer needed to be mindful of others, running rampant, even exiles, who were originally inclined towards evil, were becoming public enemies in droves.

In the process, the witches who had agreements with the political and business circles of various countries were fleeing to Gehenna, causing the infrastructure for homunculus subjugation to collapse.

Therefore, he came up with the ingenious plan of having Alice provide free service at the location point for the next five years.

If a Great Witch of the 20th level joined the front lines, it would provide a breather in any region.
In addition, he planned to make the attack incident disappear in exchange for receiving compensation.

“You don’t have money? You don’t even have 5 billion?”

Alice had nodded with a tearful expression, even at the prospect of free service.

But not everything could go smoothly.
A problem arose while they were negotiating the settlement.
He scratched his head in bewilderment.

“It’s true…! Would we lie?”
“That’s right, we’re beggars.”
“We wouldn’t have come to catch homunculi if we weren’t.”

They were wearing decent clothes and jewelry, so he thought they were witches with some wealth like Periwinkle or Della.

“Then how much can you give?”
“If we squeeze everything out… 1 billion?”
“Mister Witch, how many witches do you think carry around a lot of cash…”

1 billion…
It was by no means a small amount, but it was far below Siwoo’s target.

The moment they heard the amount of 8 billion, they did a somersault and foamed at the mouth, so it didn’t seem like they were just trying to save money, but it was worth digging a little deeper.

“What about research funds?”
“The Iranian government provides a certain amount as a condition.”
“If you’re scouted by the country, you get an annual salary, right?”
“Alice gets money every five years when she renews her contract, but she spent it all last year…”
“Can’t you get an advance?”
“I told you, no…”
“Do you have any businesses?”
“No…”

This doesn’t work, that doesn’t work.

He couldn’t even go hunting homunculi because of these burdens, and now they were whining about not being able to pay compensation.
Unable to bear it any longer, Siwoo spoke in a nonchalant voice.

“If you don’t have money, I’ll take goods too. Don’t you have anything easily convertible to cash? Real estate, gold bars, anything like that? If you keep acting like this, I’ll become a gangster.”

As soon as they heard the words “easily convertible to cash,” Manya and Alice’s gazes turned to Malisha.
Realizing their subtle gazes, Malisha’s eyes widened belatedly.

“Absolutely not…! How can I sell my child because of debt!”

Most of her collection consisted of H company items that even wealthy people couldn’t buy even if they waited with bundles of money because there was no stock.
Alice and Manya knew that if they sold everything, even as used items, they would easily get more than 5 billion, as the value would actually increase.

“What child are you talking about with a bag? Mister Witch, she has a lot of luxury bags.”
“Shut up! Hey! That one has a lot of expensive sports cars!”
“Sorry, but I drive my car a bit roughly, so it’s hard to get the original price even if I sell it. It’s better to sell your bag.”

Where did the image of protecting each other go? Manya and Malisha were now launching internal accusations.

“What nonsense! Do you even know how hard I worked to collect those? Just kill me instead! Kill me!”

Was there some kind of brand hidden in the bag? Her frantic resistance made it seem that way.
Siwoo couldn’t hide his displeasure at Malisha’s hand grabbing his collar.

“Hey. Do you think this is a joke?”

It seemed like they were taking him too lightly.
Although it wasn’t in his nature, he subtly held out the Red Branch.
Malisha, as if regaining her senses, gasped and let go of his collar.

“Ugh… ugh…”

Instead, she staggered to a corner and began to sob.
Alice covered her head as if she had a headache and said.

“If Malisha sells her bag, I’ll sell your car too.”
“Huh? Sister? What did you say?”
“I said I’ll sell your car too to match the price. That’s fair, right?”
“Ah, no… Even if I sell it, I’ll barely get two-thirds of the price…”
“I bought it anyway. Shut your mouth? Go and comfort Malisha.”

Manya, in a panic, staggered towards Malisha and began to sob with her.

Alice, looking apologetic, cautiously moved closer.

“I’m sorry, it’s not that I don’t want to compensate you properly. I don’t want to incur Duke Tiferet’s wrath either. But as you can see, the situation isn’t good. Can you postpone it a little?”
“I need the money urgently, so it’s difficult. How do you even spend your money…”
“I do… tend to spend it lavishly.”

He was wondering if he should just pay them a visit and take everything valuable when it happened.

“…Bloom.”
“What, what, what! Say it with words!”

In an instant, a shadow spread like black ink, forming armor.
Alice, mistaking it for an attempt to use force because things weren’t working out, screamed.

-Kwaaang!

A powerful sword strike landed behind Siwoo.
Forcing himself to shake off the heavy impact that felt like his waist was breaking, he half-turned his body.

The sudden use of magic wasn’t an attempt to use force to collect the debt.
It was because he felt a strong killing intent that made his skin tingle from behind.

“……”

Appearing out of nowhere was a black witch who seemed to have just swung the blow.

“Wow, you blocked that?”

A witch with many piercings in her ears appeared, grinning.

His mouth went dry instantly.
He could tell at a glance that both witches were above the level of Great Witches.
Not only that.

The blow that had just been unleashed.
The Red Branch, which had taken the impact, was still trembling.

Even though it wasn’t a trick like Dorothy’s use of absolute power, the power contained within it was comparable to his teacher’s.

“There’s no time. You take care of the stragglers. I’ll take this one.”
“You’re taking all the good stuff? I’m also interested in the Mister Witch.”

Siwoo was stiff, but Alice’s face was completely white.
If a weak-hearted person received a terminal diagnosis, they would have that kind of expression.

“Who are they?”
“The, the Sword Witch and… the Silent Witch…”

Alice, who had been in the current world for a long time, recognized them at a glance.

Let’s say the Silent Witch was okay.
Maybe this formidable Mister Witch could handle her.

But that black hair, black eyes, martial arts uniform, and Japanese sword were the symbols of the Sword Witch, a notorious bloodthirsty killer.
She was a major public enemy that one had to run away from with all their might if they happened to encounter her.

“Alright, you don’t have any magic power anyway. It’s time for everyone to sleep.”

But the despair of Alice, Manya, and Malisha didn’t last long.
Manya and Malisha didn’t have the power to resist a 20th level curse in the first place, and Alice had used up almost all of her magic power after her fierce battle with Siwoo.

“Run…”
“Sister…!”

The three of them couldn’t even properly resist the sleep magic emitted by the Silent Witch and collapsed.
As a result, the only people standing on two feet in the already ruined banquet hall were Siwoo and the two public enemies.

Plan B was not the operation that the Corpse Witch knew.
At the same time, it wasn’t just a simple retreat strategy either.

It was merely a trick to shake off Duke Tiferet, who was blinded by rage.

The treasure in this labyrinth wasn’t just for Duke Tiferet.

The Mister Witch, who was originally supposed to be taken care of by Sadalmelik, was lost and wandering around.

They couldn’t immediately eliminate Duke Tiferet, but if they secured his disciple, they could connect to the second and third plans.

“Well, my job is done. Do you need help?”
“I don’t need it. Leave first.”
“Is that okay?”
“I’ll be at the rendezvous point in five minutes.”
“If you’re late, I’ll go first?”

Before Siwoo could do anything, the Silent Witch took the three of them and disappeared.

He couldn’t bring himself to stop the witch who was taking the three of them.
It was impossible to escape with the three of them against such powerful enemies anyway.

If it were Sharon and the twins lying there, he would have risked his life to find a way, but he had no intention of being reckless when he was barely able to take care of himself.

“……”
“……”

Rinne of the Sword silently pointed her sword forward.
Originally, this was neither a battle nor anything else for her.

It was merely a feeling of picking up bait to lure Tiferet out again.

She had no interest in the first Mister Witch or anything like that.
She thought he would be so weak that he was pathetic.

The opponent, who seemed to have obvious strength, didn’t attract Rinne’s attention at all.

However, seeing the Mister Witch withstand her surprise attack, her thoughts changed.

It was clearly a silent blow from a blind spot.
Any ordinary witch would have been cleanly subdued by the surprise attack, but he had dealt with it cleanly.

Moreover, the way he created armor and then raised his spear was unusual.
It wasn’t about discussing the hierarchy of levels, but about discussing the trained state of a martial artist.

Not just taking a stance, but the overall evenly spread sense of ki.
A stable footing that could deal with an attack from any direction.
Even the spear tip was straight and unwavering.

As expected of Tiferet’s disciple, it was a restrained movement that made one admire it.

Rinne asked for his name.
The exchange of questions and answers, which only occurred when she judged someone worthy of fighting, was a kind of ritual.

“What’s your name?”
“…Shin Siwoo.”
“I am Rinne Samakiel.”

It seemed like the labyrinth was still doing its job, but he didn’t know when Tiferet would pop out and interfere.
She had no intention of dragging out the battle.

Rinne immediately lowered her stance and took a drawing stance.

She planned to settle it with one blow.

A chilling mist spread around her flexible body.
The core magic that supported her swordsmanship was only ‘inertia control,’ but a witch of the 22nd level couldn’t possibly have only that skill.
The surroundings were gradually sinking into the sticky mist.

This ‘single mist’ was a particle magic that severely restricted magic operation.
To put it in perspective, it was like having to draw a picture on a pure white canvas, but then scattering ink all over it.

It restricted certain types of magic indiscriminately.
The only magic that could be used without hindrance in the single mist was magic that had to be integrated with the spirit, like physical enhancement.

In other words, it created a very advantageous stage for Rinne, a specialist in close combat.

It was a technique that had no meaning for Duke Tiferet, but it was very effective for ordinary witches.

Siwoo saw through all of that at a glance.

The opponent was trying to settle it in one go.
This mist severely hindered magic that required the use of magic power outside the body, such as the Maiden’s Loom and dimensional teleportation.

Then, like he did a moment ago, he would use the Angel’s Ring and then enhance his body.

The only thing left was who had the better close combat ability.

If he didn’t fight back with all his might.
He would die.