City of Witches

༺ Witch of Fortune (1) ༻

1.

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion.

All of a sudden, a sharp harpoon protruded from behind Sharon’s back.

It had jagged edges, just like teeth, creating a strange and unsettling feeling as it pierced through her body.

Intense emotions surged within Siwoo as his sense of reality began to fade.

Fear consumed him.

He felt as if his consciousness was trapped within his body.

Though Sharon was receiving such a blow, he couldn’t move a muscle.

He had to consciously breathe and each time he had to struggle against the weight of reality.

-Thud!

Just before Sharon’s body fell down.

Siwoo bit his tongue, snapping himself back to his senses.

Only after he felt the pain in his partially severed tongue that produced an eerie crunchy sound, did he manage to move his body and catch Sharon.

‘She’ll be fine.’

‘It shouldn’t be anything too serious.’

‘This is just a minor incident.’

She had been chatting happily just a moment ago.

Besides, she wasn’t just anyone, she was a witch, she wouldn’t die that easily.

Knowing how mischievous she was, Siwoo was half-sure that she was just faking her injury to tease him.

“Sharon, hey, can you hear me?”

He carefully turned her motionless body over.

Her gruesome injuries that were hidden under her cloak were now on full display.

At this point, the harpoon had lost its shape and turned into the black seawater, revealing a hole about the size of a ping pong ball.

On her solar plexus, there was a deep wound that went through her back.

There were traces of saw blade cut in that gaping red hole.

Her pink flesh, muscles, and faintly visible ribs were all gruesomely exposed to him.

“Ugh…aah…”

Sharon’s body trembled with a shock.

Siwoo remembered something about not removing the object that penetrated through someone’s body.

Because it would only worsen the bleeding if anything.

Her wound convulsed, with each convulsion, it gushed out a significant amount of blood.

It was as if her heart was trying to expel the blood out of her body, just like a malfunctioning sprinkler.

Siwoo clumsily tried to stop the bleeding, but in the end all he could do was to watch the bright red blood spurt through his fingers.

He watched everything unfold as if in a daze.

‘Sharon…is…dying…?’

Just the thought sent shivers down his spine.

Part of his tongue was already cut off and the blood from that wound filled his mouth. But at this point, the smell of blood was already so strong that he couldn’t tell whose blood he was smelling.

“Ah…”

Until now, he had been overly confident.

He had boasted about his feat of defeating several Homunculi.

Felt prideful about how he defeated Della.

Because people kept on praising him over how fast he was improving…

He had acted all high and mighty, as if he was someone special.

And now he was facing the consequences of his own arrogance.

Seeing Sharon dying and spitting up blood like this made him feel like the world was mocking him.

Telling him, ‘This is the cold reality you’ve been living in’.

‘The consequences of your arrogance are staring at you in the face.’

It served as a stark reminder that the peace he had been enjoying was just a fleeting moment inside the cage he was living in.

He felt utterly powerless.

Normally, he’d explode with anger at this point.

He’d ignore any further consequences, jump into action to defeat the Homunculus in front of him and save Sharon.

But…

When he locked eyes with the Drowned Witch’s bulging eyes, all his determination vanished.

The dark, murky water around him seemed to have dampened his fighting spirit.

His shadow armor crumbled away.

The armor that had always bailed him out of tough situations was now failing him.

Instead of doing something about it, he was just holding onto Sharon’s bloodied body.

-Clang!

At that moment, all kinds of weapons appeared, floating above the water.

Anchors, chains, ropes, harpoons…

Even a guillotine blade that was slightly wider than the ones they used for executions was there.

“Don’t stare too deeply into the darkness.”

At first, Siwoo thought he was hearing things.

He had never considered the possibility of a third-party barging into the situation.

Because someone who had lost both his wit and determination to despair did not dare to seek hope again.

The voice that called out to him sounded too calm, totally did not fit the tragic scene that was unfolding.

“That monster on the black surface of the water, came from fear. As it spawned from fear, it grows stronger by it.”

Suddenly, the other person revealed herself.

Her ultramarine-blue hair flowed down to her hips, blending into her dress as if it was part of it. Wearing the same color, her eyes pierced through the monster’s features without any signs of wavering.

Though her dress looked like a loose bathrobe in a glance, her alluring and captivating presence couldn’t be hidden. Her teardrop-shaped beauty mark near her eyes only added to her charm.

This was the witch who openly flirted with Siwoo at the Contact Point prior to this.

Cybele Periwinkle.

“The more a witch experiences the fear of death, the more defenseless she becomes when facing the Drowned Witch. With fear enveloping her, her dark imagination would go deeper, deeper than those without it.”

Holding a pure white rapier in one hand, Periwinkle calmly positioned herself between the pair and the Homunculus before looking down at Siwoo.

There was no sympathy or empathy in her gaze.

Only a piquing interest that she threw at him without a care.

“It seems like you have experienced death up close.”

“Please…help…I-I don’t…j-just Sharon…”

Desperation swelled within him as he pleaded, with his words faltering due to his swollen tongue.

His mind was already paralyzed, making him unable to let out anything but this feeble plea.

The Drowning Witch’s corrosion had already reached the depths of his mind.

“You know, usually I’d just steer clear of this kind of mess, but since I find you interesting, I’ll make an exception. I’ll give you a hand.”

With a wave of her hand, a four-leaf clover gently landed on Sharon’s body.

“That should prevent her wound from getting worse.”

After treating Sharon, Periwinkle pointed her rapier at the Drowned Witch, donning a cool pose.

But, it was clear that her stance was sloppy even in Siwoo’s eyes, despite him not being exactly an expert in martial arts. That was how unskilled she was.

With a proper stance, she could look more intimidating with a wooden stick, let alone a rapier.

The witch in question didn’t seem to care, though. She only wore a serene smile, seemingly remarkably relaxed.

“Alright, let’s deal with this annoying thing quickly.”

Surprised by her sudden intervention, the Drowned Witch was enraged, refusing to entertain her for even a second.

It opened its mouth wide, making a grotesque and repulsive expression.

-Kuoooh!

As the sound echoed, the entire room trembled.

It had been in plenty of fights, so it clearly knew how to use its strength in these kinds of situations.

The monster’s weapons of choice were weird as they weren’t like your regular weapons.

As if the whole point was to make the opponent feel grossed out and scared just by seeing it.

At this point, their surroundings were already completely decayed.

Just like with its weapon, the monster did this intentionally to evoke a bigger fear in its opponents’ hearts.

A simple tactic to weaken its opponent while strengthening itself.

At least that was how Periwinkle saw it.

“You’re so ugly. Just seeing you grossed me out.”

In response to her insult, weapons from all directions stormed in like a tempest.

A total of six anchors flew through the air, making creepy noises. Several harpoons shot out of the water, all were aimed at her.

In the face of this destructive onslaught, Periwinkle only made a simple move.

She didn’t move her mana, nor did she set up any fancy defenses.

Instead, she just took a step forward.

-Bang! Clang! Kwang!

But, by just doing that, something already happened.

The upcoming anchors and harpoons became all tangled up and broke apart as they chased after their targets.

Rusted chains and rotten ropes collided with each other in the air, creating a loud noise, bouncing off in all directions as if they were out of control.

Even though the shattered fragments scattered in all directions like a cluster grenade, not a single one of them hit Periwinkle’s body.

By some ‘coincidence’, all of them missed her.

“Today, my fortune is unbelievably good, well not like it isn’t always good.”

Momentarily thrown off by the unexpected turn of events, the Homunculus swung another massive anchor at her.

“Ah, right.”

As if she had just remembered something, Periwinkle turned around to face Siwoo.

By doing this, she exposed her back to the enemy.

Yet, by some twist of fate, the giant anchor narrowly missed her, barely even grazing her.

“I forgot to mention something. If I were to help you, will you do me a favor in return?”

Siwoo couldn’t believe what was happening in front of him.

The overwhelmingly strong opponent that he thought he couldn’t even lay a finger on was being trampled effortlessly by her.

Such was the prowess of a grand witch.

Her power surpassed that of his own that he had been stupidly boasting about.

“I’ll take that as a yes since you seem unable to respond to me anyway.”

Periwinkle turned her attention back to the Drowned Witch without waiting for his reply, all ready to face the Homunculus.

She casually followed the retreating monster with relaxed steps.

-Kuoooh!

A sudden cry erupted from the previously silent monster, resembling the cry of the damned from the depths of hell.

“Getting nervous now? Don’t you know monsters are scarier when they’re quiet?”

Its attacks became even more ferocious.

Except that its previously carefully planned attacks had turned into a wild flurry as it swung its weapons haphazardly.

But the result stayed the same.

Whenever Periwinkle calmly moved her footsteps, as if strolling through a garden, strange coincidences kept on happening.

It was like when the bullet used during a Russian roulette turned out to be a dud.

Like when a grenade went off next to her, but all the shrapnel missed her.

This kind of coincidence kept repeating itself.

-Kuooo…kuooo…

The Drowned Witch slowly backed up until its back hit the wall.

A strange, groaning sound escaped her. If any normal person heard it, the sound would definitely terrify them.

Its bulging eyes darted around, trying to look for an escape route.

“Are you scared?”

The water that had risen so high had already receded until it was only enough to wet her heels.

In their surroundings, the decayed interior started to go back to how it was before, as if time had been turned back.

Periwinkle was convinced that she’d win.

Her overwhelming ego, unfazed by the thought of death, didn’t even budge at the face of the corrosion.

Though the Homunculus had some semblance of intelligence, it wasn’t that smart.

At least it was smart enough to know that it could no longer win this battle.

As soon as it realized this fact, the monster swiftly made its decision to escape.

It focused its everything to find an escape route.

In that split second when its attention was shifted, a white rapier was extended toward it.

-Kuaaak!

Though its movement was slow, the Drowned Witch couldn’t react in time.

All it could do was staring at the pure white blade as it pierced its chest.

Its face was filled with shock and it wasn’t an exaggeration.

Generally, Homunculi was quite resilient.

Once it acquired seventeen eyes, one would need a heavy-duty sniper rifle just to make a dent on its body.

But, even though the rapier was only infused with a little bit of mana, it managed to cut through the rotten and burned flesh like tofu, destroying the Homunculus’ core.

Periwinkle’s cold, ultramarine eyes watched it as its life ended.

“My fortune is unbelievably good today, too bad that yours aren’t, though.”

And just like that, the one-sided fight came to an end.