Chapter 3023: The Hunting Ritual of the Moon Witch

Xia De looked at the face of the purple-eyed girl sleeping soundly in the water vapor:

"Yeah, they are the same person... I don't quite understand, she could have just brought me here, why did she have to endure the fatigue and..."

The gentle voice in his ear seemed to be truly produced by vibrating air. "She" sounded even gentler:

【Girls occasionally also want to be cherished, especially when they feel vulnerable, don't they?】

After nodding gently, Xia De held Luvia and walked out of the hot spring. Little Mia's little ears twitched a few times at this moment, but the cat didn't seem to be woken up by him.

So Xia De took out a simple wooden bed from his pocket and placed it on the ground beside the hot spring, and then laid out the bedding. Finally, he held the sleeping Luvia and placed her on it, and finally put on suitable clothes for her and covered her with a quilt.

Of course, the cat was also moved to the side of the pillow, and the cat called softly, which was probably very enjoyable.

After doing all this, he also put on his own clothes, walked a few steps away, and took out Miss Olandon's doll. Looking at the doll, he hesitated for several seconds before restoring the Yellow Moon witch.

"Oh! Flora Winster and I have exchanged feelings about being turned into a doll by you. This is indeed even more terrifying than being locked in solitary confinement."

This was the first sentence the blonde witch said after appearing. After speaking, she looked around and then looked at Luvia lying on the small bed not far away. She didn't ask anything, just reached out and hugged Xia De directly:

"You've worked hard."

"Um... I haven't had time to do anything yet."

"But you intend to do something, don't you?"

Holding Miss Olandon's hand, Xia De told her about what he had experienced after waking up from the clearing.

Although he hadn't entered the city yet, the living things in the forest area now covered by the giant tree's canopy were probably really just the three of them and a cat. The Vesta Forest was now in a state of being unable to leave, so in the twenty-plus hours remaining before 11 PM tonight, they would spend it here.

Although the witches of the Fifth Era hadn't experienced things beyond the ordinary like "time jump," and were just as surprised as Xia De and Luvia that the tree had such power, she also easily understood the current situation:

"So when they reappear, we will be missing two Chosen Ones and a demigod witch in the field of time?"

"That's how it is."

Xia De hesitated and wanted to say the solution Luvia gave, but the gentle witch had already made up her mind, and now was the time for her to do the "right thing."

Miss Olandon, however, spoke first and asked him:

"Xia De, do you still remember what I said to you before this great battle?"

"We said a lot of things, and I remember them all, but I don't know which one you are specifically referring to."

The witch's face suddenly became a bit flushed:

"I said at the time, if you encounter trouble in this great battle and lack necessary power, then please come to me."

"Yes, I remember."

The determined witch looked at Luvia and the cat lying together not far away, so the words that had reached her lips were swallowed back. But she was ultimately a witch living in the Fifth Era, and she was different from the modern witches:

"Since there is still a lot of time left, I want you to help me complete a ritual now... a hunting ritual."

"Hunting?"

The Outsider vaguely felt that the matter she mentioned was very likely consistent with what he hadn't said yet:

"What do I need to do?"

The witch looked at him again:

"With this hot spring as the center, you go into the forest to hide, and I... will find you. You must try your best not to be caught by me, and you can even counterattack when I find you. Yes, you must try your best, absolutely no faking."

"I see..."

"Our ritual will be carried out during this period of time, and time is very abundant."

She pursed her lips slightly and looked up at the canopy. Through the gaps between the branches and green leaves, one could vaguely see the moons in the starry sky:

"It's already a full Yellow Moon, is this fate?"

Thinking this, she ordered Xia De:

"Go hide, Xia De. But no matter where you hide, I will find you, catch you, and then... go, Xia De, I'll give you ten minutes. Then, my ritual will begin."

"Okay... remember to apply protective power to Luvia and Little Mia before you go. Although only we are left here, safety first."

Xia De said, and then left here, looking back every three steps. Blaney Olandon stood by the hot spring and watched him disappear, then rubbed her slightly hot face with both hands, only then showing a shy look.

There was indeed a lot of time, so Xia De wasn't in a hurry at all. After entering the forest, he didn't go far before turning into a silver cat and jumping onto a tree. Among all his transfiguration forms, the cat was the smallest, and the silver fur was easier to hide in the snow, which was very advantageous in the game of "hide and seek."

【This is not hide and seek, but hunting.】

"She" corrected softly.

After jumping onto the tree, the cat curled up at the intersection of the branch and the trunk. To prevent being detected by traces of spellcasting, he didn't even use illusions.

The ten minutes passed quickly. There was only the sound of wind passing through the forest covered in drifting snow. When the countdown ended, the witch didn't appear in front of the cat immediately.

It waited for a while, and seeing that Miss Olandon still didn't appear, it began to suspect in its heart whether it was hiding too cleverly. The rustling sound finally appeared.

The sound sounded like the wind blowing snow off the branches, but after careful discrimination, it was clearly something stepping on the snow and approaching.

The alert Xia De cat scanned the surroundings, but it was too late. By the time his eyes really determined the other party's position, the object making the sound was already very close to his current position.

And when his eyes really determined the position, that mother lion with bright yellow fur had already rushed to the tree where the cat was, and then with a violent kick, climbed up the trunk directly to the tree.

"A lion? Wait a minute, is this a creature that should be in the Vesta Forest?"

The lion's claws grabbed toward the small silver cat, but the Xia De cat didn't stay in place waiting to be caught. The cat's light body fell from the tree, and after falling into the snow and rushing up again, the lion also pounced on it from the sky.

The lion opened its giant mouth, and the scarlet tongue with barbs licked toward the silver cat, as if wanting to roll it into its stomach in one bite. But the mother lion only licked it once, and the small cat exploded into a group of red butterflies, flying toward the canopy above. The butterflies passed through the gaps between the branches without touching any branches, successfully reaching the top of the canopy.

The drifting heavy snow almost dyed the entire canopy silver-white, and looking out, one couldn't see the edge of this canopy at all, only feeling that it had become like flat ground covering the forest area.

The starry sky above was vast, and the clouds couldn't cover the three moons. The amber moon was as full as a plate. But Xia De didn't have time to appreciate the night view tonight, because after the red butterflies flew out, a series of collision sounds came from under the canopy, until a canary with bright yellow feathers flew up from under the canopy.

The radiance of the Yellow Moon filled this place, and the canary was like a drop of melted gold, passing through the night wind with a scorching heart and drilling straight into the red butterfly swarm. The butterflies were like red-clothed girls wearing light veils, startled by the sudden intruder, but they entangled the canary with lingering entanglement.

Wings trembling, the canary flapped its wings frantically amidst the butterfly shadows, beating the fragile wings of the butterflies. The translucent, glowing red butterflies were like thin silk under the moonlight, and the sound of the bird and butterfly touching was faint but long.

The butterfly swarm seemed to be avoiding, but they circled again and again, approaching the bright yellow bird; the canary's feathers shone with luster, and every violent flap of its wings in the snowflakes made the butterfly shadows sway like a tide.

Butterfly wings and bird wings touched and separated in mid-air, and the fluttering was like naked bodies touching each other. Under the chaotic yellow moonlight, the butterfly swarm gathered more and more intensely and circled around the canary. The red piece was like burning desire dancing in the air. The canary's flapping wings didn't stop, the butterfly shadows became more chaotic, and everything was hidden in the dreamlike night.

Until the night wind blew, a silver light flashed in the butterfly swarm that originally seemed to be playing, and the bright yellow bird was bound by silver light rings and fell down.

So only a piece of scattered red remained in the moonlight. In that piece of red, a silver little wolf landed, and then ran toward the distance on the canopy with all its might.

【Doing this is not gentlemanly at all. Originally, she was flirting with you, but you took the initiative to strike.】

In the whistling wind caused by running, "She" said with a smile.

"She said I could resist just now, I didn't break the rules."

Although the canopy didn't look flat as a whole, after being covered with thick snow, it looked like a boundless mountain snowfield under the starry sky.

The silver wolf ran rapidly on the snowfield in one direction, and the small footprints left on the snow were soon covered by the falling snow. At this moment, he thought of the gray wolf girl he met in the Fifth Era again, and thought of the "Way of the Wild" she described:

"When Miss Bister travels alone and runs under the moonlit night, does she have such a mood too?"

Soon Xia De ended such wild thoughts, because he heard a more rapid sound of stepping on snow behind him.

The running silver wolf turned his head to look back, only to see a leopard cat with yellow stripes chasing rapidly on the snowfield under the starry sky like a flowing light and shadow. ===== CHAPTER 3024 =====