Chapter 2756: Their Respective Enemies

When the first bell tolled after midnight at the side tower of the Golden Music Hall (Author's Note), most of the citizens, already deep in slumber, had no idea what was about to happen that night.

In the long, dim corridor of the club, a lady dressed in an ice-blue gown reached out to push open a tightly shut door, and the noblewoman standing by the window watching the moon turned to look at her at that very moment.

Her eyes examined the stranger appearing at the doorway with great interest, and she let out a very affected and pretentious "Oh~" before snapping open the fan in her hand with a *swish* to cover the lower half of her face, allowing the moonlight to illuminate only a portion of her upper face:

"Although it's not quite what I expected, but—"

The rising temperature caused the air in the room to distort, and the sudden crimson of her eyes made that beautiful face become twisted:

"Believer of the Winter God, I have always killed one whenever I see one (Demon Language)."

In the ruins of a deserted village northwest of the city, following a flash of flame, the figure of the nun walking alone here turned into a phantom and vanished under the moonlight.

And in that burning village maintained by the power of a relic, when the Ghost of Resentment, crawling in the center of the village, looked toward the village entrance with a premonition amidst the fire, what it saw was the nun, her body covered in fire-red cracks, holding a black scythe in one hand and a burning greatsword in the other, walking toward it.

The flames spontaneously avoided that nun wearing a silver eye patch, and as she gradually raised her head, the dense patterns on the eye patch lit up one by one like flowing water.

Feeling an instinctive threat, the "Ghost of Resentment" leaped high into the air and then slammed down toward the nun.

But when it landed, it discovered that the surrounding flames were gradually dying out, and beneath its feet was no longer the earth scorched for a hundred years, but a dark, cold body of water. The light of the Underworld Moon shone from behind that resentment at this moment, and at the same time, there was the nun's faint sigh.

Deep in the dense forest, the doctor, walking alone in the dimness, plucked a leaf from his hair, closed his eyes to listen to the sound of the wind for a moment, and then continued forward.

Pushing aside the bushes, he stopped and looked up at the pitch-black behemoth walking silently through the forest before him. Even with his current level of perception, upon seeing the creature's appearance, he still initially mistook it for a part of the forest rather than a walking giant.

"Did you not see me?"

The doctor shouted loudly in the silent forest, and the silently walking giant stopped. As it opened its eyes, the forest floor where its gaze swept was completely ignited by a great fire.

The great fire thus illuminated the doctor, and also illuminated the monster that had deer antlers, horse hooves, a tiger's body, a leopard's tail, an ox's face, monkey ears, and human hands, and was carrying a massive, rounded log on its shoulder. The crimson eyes failed to ignite the doctor, because the moment the doctor was stared at, he was enveloped by a darkness deeper than the night.

Thus, a massive shadow spread deep within the forest, and even flames could be swallowed by this darkness.

Viewed from above, a black sphere enveloped this part of the forest, and inside the sphere, flames and darkness intertwined, silent and still, unknown to anyone.

In the northern part of the Vesta Woodlands, the black scabbard of the 【Blade Without Edge】 pushed aside the grass, and then Xia De abruptly stopped. Visibility in the dark forest was poor, but he still relied on his Darkvision to see those young people standing stiffly ahead.

These people looked like the "lucky ones" who had come here to camp with George Conde; at this moment, their faces were pale and their bodies rigid. After being watched by Xia De, flames suddenly ignited on each of their heads, followed by their limbs and then their entire bodies.

Amidst terrifying screams of "Ah~", the burning corpses lunged at Xia De one after another, and upon getting close to him, they exploded on the spot with a boom~.

Although the 【Blade Without Edge】 appeared to be a scabbard, it could itself be considered an unsharpened sword. Xia De thrust it into the ground beneath his feet, and a golden shield immediately unfolded, rippling constantly as it withstood the successive explosions.

The continuous sound of explosions did not travel very far, only startling the birds resting in the area.

They certainly could not stop Xia De, and when a somewhat disheveled Xia De pushed aside the last patch of grass and stepped out of the darkness into the firelight, only the person waiting for him remained in the woods.

There was no fire here, only the campfire illuminating the ruins in the woods. Luggage was scattered all over the ruins, and the owners of the luggage had been blown to pieces, corpses and all.

As for the ruins themselves, apart from the bricks and stones on the ground and a few low walls standing around, only the huge stone archway directly opposite Xia De remained standing.

In late autumn, the surrounding trees were already bare, but the archway was still covered with lush green vines and moss. George Conde was standing under the archway at this moment, his hands behind his back, facing away from the campfire, and only turned around when he heard Xia De's footsteps.

The eyes of the young man, who was otherwise quite handsome, had turned crimson, and a few sparks were emerging from his normally yellow hair. He was not at all surprised by Xia De's arrival; the group that had just "greeted" Xia De showed he had been prepared long ago.

"I thought I had hidden myself very well. I even reached a deal with that lady in the Lake of Love, asking her not to reveal my identity to anyone for the time being. I thought that appearing as a victim would be fine, but how exactly did you see through my identity, Witcher?"

Compared to Xia De coming to find George Conde, it seemed more like the other party was waiting for Xia De's arrival:

"How about we exchange answers."

Xia De said, and although it was somewhat unexpected, he was not about to retreat immediately.

He stood at the edge of the campfire's light:

"And how did you know that I would come to find you tonight?"

The flames in George Conde's eyes had already caused the corners of his eyes to split, and with the two eyes as the center, the cracks in his facial skin looked as if they were about to blow his entire human face apart:

"Isn't that a simple question? Any plan you carry out in this woodland cannot escape the woodland's own perception. Although I don't know about those plans of yours that took you away from the woods, knowing you would appear here tonight is enough."

It answered the question voluntarily, and Xia De also answered the question voluntarily:

"You shouldn't have made contact with me. Remember our meeting before the Harvest Festival concert? I have a special method to perceive your stench at close range."

As he spoke, he raised his left hand, which wore the 【Witcher Seal】, and shook it. This was certainly not a lie, but it remained to be seen if the other party could understand.

And so, the demon under the archway nodded in realization:

"That can be considered my oversight. It has been so long since the Third Era that even I have forgotten some of the skills of you Witchers.

The hunter from a hundred years ago used his soul to call upon a relic to seal me; the hunter from thirty years ago severely wounded my core, making me unable to actively gather my split bodies; and now it is you. Even though I disguised myself so well, I could still be recognized. Hunter, oh hunter, our entanglement has spanned tens of thousands of years, and even this world has become different from the past, but only our encounters with you remain as they always were."

The eyes, which seemed to be burning, had now caused the entire face to be covered in fiery cracks. Its hair had also changed from yellow to a crimson overflowing with sparks, and the voice, as it spoke, had unknowingly gained an echo in the empty woods:

"Do you know where this is?"

It suddenly asked an irrelevant question. Xia De, standing before the campfire, looked around with his peripheral vision; the remaining traces of the ruins had no distinguishing features, and his map did not even mark this as an ancient ruin.

It was just that the stone archway under the moonlight seemed increasingly strange at this moment, and fiery cracks had even appeared on George Conde's skin. But this was different from the "Ember of First Flame" state of Xia De and the nun, because as the fiery cracks appeared on the demon's skin, its skin was also darkening, making it look like magma seeping through the crevices of obsidian.

Xia De did not know where this was:

"I don't know, temple ruins?"

"Yes, yes."

It opened its hands toward the campfire in front of it, and the flames surged toward its pitch-black palms until they formed a great flame sword in its hands.

Xia De took out the "Exorcism Potion" he had prepared, shook the water bag vigorously to fully mix the layered "Moonlight Water" and "Holy Water," and then drew the liquid out, letting it coat the scabbard of the 【Blade Without Edge】.

"Even powerful Old Gods departed one by one in the Fifth Era, but at this time, with these stars shining upon the Sixth Era, I am still here."

The flames around its body gradually spread to the archway behind it, first igniting the green leaves and vines clinging to the archway, and as they withered in the flames, it ignited the entire gate.

The power of whispers and blasphemy made the night grow deeper, and the flames erupting from George Conde's body illuminated the two of them at this very moment:

"Perhaps you also know that there exists a truly ancient one in this woodland that has remained since the First Era. Very powerful, extremely powerful... and fortunately, that ancient one is not hostile to me. After I did some things for it, I gained its power.

This archway built by the followers of the Old Gods was originally something I could not use, but with that one's power, even I can open it for a moment."

The ignited archway pillars finally caused a vortex of flames to appear inside the empty archway. And from that vortex, red high heels stepped out first, followed by Lady Shatara, who walked out laughing while covering the lower half of her face with a burning feather fan:

"Good evening, young man." (Demon language)