CHAPTER 836: CHAPTER 6: UNDEAD WITCH

Renie paused slightly, hugged her knees, her face turned a bit rosy, and she turned her head to look at Fisher beside her and laughed,

"Ah, that sentence just now deserves ninety points, an excellent little detail, not bad."

"Mm-hmm."

Fisher remained noncommittal, watching the increasing firelight at the base of the mountain, his expression gradually growing serious, he said,

"Renie, you don’t have much combat ability. You should head down the mountain first, head south to McDowell’s Luxiang Castle. We’ll meet there afterward... they have a lot of people, and I’m not in good shape now, worried I can’t take care of you. I’ll find a way to regroup after picking up Emhardt."

Renie didn’t move, instead she reached out and kept drawing circles in the snow in front of her. Looking closely, it seemed like an endlessly repeating figure-eight.

"Your eyes can barely stay open. You’ve become so weak yet still rushed over to see me. Now you’d need a miracle to escape... Do you trust me that much? When we were in Nali, you still suspected I was the Undead Witch, yet if I were the Undead Witch, I wouldn’t be able to die, right? When Hart called you just now, you rushed over, and why did you stand in front of me to block the shots?"

"I never said I trust you..."

Hearing Fisher’s words, Renie angrily stopped drawing circles, turned her head, and wanted to hit his shoulder, but seeing him so weak, she made two air punches as a warning, making Fisher laugh,

"It’s just that no matter how big the probability in reality, people subjectively trust the things they want to believe... Even if my reason tells me the probability of you being the Undead Witch infinitely approaches one, since you told me you’re not, I wouldn’t dare to gamble even on the tiniest possibility. After getting to know you, I often find myself wondering, what if you’re really not the Undead Witch?"

"If you’re not some powerful Undead Witch, then being outside for this long without any news, wouldn’t it be dangerous? If you got hit by a bullet, would it hurt, could you die... I still remember the first time we crossed the Schwali border and you got shot, lying weakly on a hospital bed, and I also remember you in Nali cutting your hand and crying as the blood flowed."

The firelight ahead grew closer, Fisher tried to rise with the Fluid Sword, but as Renie’s fragrance wafted around his nose, his eyelids and body grew increasingly heavy, making him feel uncontrollably dizzy.

Engulfed in Renie’s fragrance, Fisher, usually fond of sleeping, found it now an inconvenience.

He forced himself to perk up and continued,

"But later I was relieved, whether you are or aren’t the Undying Witch has nothing to do with whether you’re Renie. If I go find you, and can be 100% sure you’re truly safe, 100% sure you won’t be hit by bullets, then it doesn’t matter if you’re the Undying Witch..."

"We’ve known each other for long, but aside from me, I’ve never seen you with other family and friends. It seems since knowing you, you’ve always been alone... maybe it’s naive, but I’m afraid if I don’t come to find you, no one else will. Seeing you return safely puts my heart at ease."

Renie stared blankly at Fisher before her, until the deep and pleasant fragrance from her dragged his consciousness down into drowsiness, closing his eyes, before succumbing to irresistible sleep, he uttered the half-sentence left unsaid,

"I meant to say earlier... Renie, can you promise not to leave in the future?"

Renie’s deep eyes faintly trembled as she gazed at Fisher, who had spoken and then peacefully fell asleep, waiting several seconds before gently cradling his head in her arms. Sitting elegantly, her legs bent to the side, naturally forming a lap pillow enveloping him in an intimate embrace.

Weakness and coldness retreated completely at this moment. Renie’s pale, soft palms gently caressed the fragile gentleman’s cheek, then softly whispered,

"Alright, you fool..."

Unfortunately, Fisher had already fallen into a deep sleep surrounded by her fragrance, unable to hear her sincere reply at this moment.

"Fisher! Help! Ah! The great Emhardt is about to sacrifice himself!"

The approaching firelight reached them, led by the erratically moving Emhardt, who immediately flew toward Fisher and Renie, noticing the gentle atmosphere in the ruined house.

"Fisher, you..."

But as soon as he entered, the golden light around Emhardt dimmed slightly, and he fainted entirely unconscious, falling to the ground. Renie gave Emhardt an apologetic glance and waved her hand to pull his square book form back into Fisher’s arms.

Soon, more than a dozen members of the Witch Research Association, holding torches, dangerous magic, swords, and fire pistols, approached the ruin with sneers,

"The Mother Goddess’s gift isn’t something a mere witch can enjoy alone, come back with us to Kado, we shall bring prosperity..."

But before he finished, the woman with black hair sitting on the ground stroking the tired gentleman ahead had already spoken, her voice gentle and ethereal, without looking at them,

"I once vowed to take no lives from among the living creatures here. This is the last warning; retreat immediately, or face irreversible doom."

"Hilarious, irreversible doom, well I..."

The leader sneered, stepped forward, then in the astonished gaze of all, his flesh gradually separated, bone, skin, blood, soul all hovered irregularly in midair, yet he remained alive.

His teeth and organs detached and floated while still speaking in different places, his soul twisted and stretched, maintaining human consciousness.

"W-What’s happening?!"

At this point, all textiles on those behind them twisted and morphed in form, changing in defiance of worldly logic, first into metal, then into glowing unobservable objects, scorching and decaying their companions’ flesh.

Many members of the Witch Research Association were horrified and attempted to flee, but on turning back found their forms warping and distorting, entwining with earth and air, spiraling into unavoidable chaos.

"Aaaah! Elder, save... save me!"

Before the house, all members of the Witch Research Association were plunged into extreme chaos; not just their worn items, soon their bodies, souls, even nearby gravity and fate all collapsed and decayed, engulfed in chaos.

In the room, the serene woman still gazed down at the sleeping gentleman in her lap, showing no sign of intervention.

The nearly mad elder’s body distorted grotesquely, his floating eyeball staring at the room in disbelief, his teeth and tongue gone long ago, just attempting to speak, but finding his voice far away, coming from the mangled flesh behind him,

"You... who exactly are... you...?"

A deep, pervasive fragrance suffused the area, as Renie in the room lifted her gaze slightly, looking at the endless growth and chaos leading to annihilation, her expression unchanged.

Yet, in the profound depths of the night, at the sky’s limit, a giant pale disc was slowly rising, cool moonlight spilling over the vast land, covering all sound and activity, even stopping the raging blizzard, rendering it motionless...

It was the moon, exceedingly bright yet utterly cold.

In that pure, limitless moonlight, the consciousness of all living creatures in the Witch Research Association disintegrated into chaos, endlessly suffering, leaving only the pervasive fragrance and the plain female voice briefly resuming then ceasing.

Renie’s purple eyes lowered again, simply gazing at Fisher in her arms, whispering with a smile like a murmur,

"I am the Undying Witch..."

The next second, the Northern Realm’s night became entirely silent.