Chapter 9: The Witch's Reply
Houses built from black timber and stone slabs were scattered across a labyrinthine mountain range. At the very peak of those mountains, a massive tower rose from the earth, its spire nearly brushing the clouds.
Decay. Ruin.
A suffocating aura blanketed the entire mountain range — this was the dwelling of the Witch of Pride: Terminal City.
Outside the tower, a figure in a wide black robe walked slowly inside, a crow perched on his shoulder and a letter in hand. It was The Priest.
Crystal staircases of every variety occupied most of the tower's interior, and at their very summit, the Witch of Pride, Ilya, sat upon her throne, chin resting in her hand, gazing down below.
The Priest dared not ascend the stairs. He bowed his head low, his voice echoing through the tower: "Lady Witch."
Ilya's tone was flat: "You're back, Priest."
"How are things at the border?"
The Priest replied, "Terrible."
"Those adventurers are like madmen — fearless, recklessly invading the territories of the demon creatures, their strength rising at a terrifying pace."
"The vast majority of Domain Lords stationed at the border are already dead."
Hearing this, Ilya furrowed her brow slightly. "What about the other Witches' borders?"
The Priest nodded. "The same. Some have already begun to encroach on the central regions."
"Hmph. A bunch of trash, all of them."
Ilya waved her hand dismissively. "Understood. You may go."
The Priest made no move to leave. Instead, he held out the letter with both hands: "Lady Witch, this is a letter from Xia Er, the Undead Archmage. The Undead Territory he governs is currently the only domain along the border that has not fallen."
"Oh?"
Ilya seemed to perk up with a hint of interest. She extended her hand, and her magic power drew the letter swiftly into her grasp.
She tore it open and read through the contents in short order.
Ilya rather liked the word "servant" that the sender had appended at the very end. To her, nothing was more pleasing than watching someone submit to her will.
"Interesting — but I dislike all this flattery inside. Far too calculating."
"Hmph."
At that cold snort, a layer of cold sweat broke out on The Priest's back. It was clear she was not entirely pleased with the letter's contents. To avoid stirring up trouble, it would be best to make himself scarce as soon as possible.
He had just turned to leave when he was suddenly called back.
"Hold on — I haven't written my reply yet."
The Priest: …
Didn't you just say you disliked the letter's contents?
He quietly raised his head, only to find that her expression was one of unmistakable satisfaction.
Indeed — even when satisfied, she had to put on an air of complete indifference on the surface. That was Lady Witch's signature style.
Before long, the reply letter arrived. The Priest dared not read it; he hastily sealed it and had the crow take it in its beak.
"Deliver it to the Undead Territory. Be quick about it."
* * *
Not long after the bounty post went up, Qiu Yue received messages from many players, all claiming they would head to the Undead Territory and take down the boss.
But after briefly checking their strength, Qiu Yue declined to hand the bounty over to any of them. She knew that the Undead Archmage was no ordinary level-30 boss — his intelligence was exceptionally high, and only a Tier-1 player would stand a chance.
Soon enough, however, she received a particular message.
[Hello, client. I'm a streamer. My player ID is Dao Shan, level 36, job advancement complete, class: Rogue. Solo-clearing level-30 dungeons is no problem for me.]
Job advancement was currently one of the most significant benchmarks for measuring a player's combat power.
Once a player reached level thirty, their original starting class would unlock a variety of different branches — for example, a Mage could unlock [Undead Mage] or [Lightning Mage] — and their strength would undergo a qualitative leap. However, the materials required for job advancement were quite difficult to obtain.
Qiu Yue had great respect for the weight that a completed job advancement carried, but the last part of his message gave her pause.
Qiu Yue: [Are you sure you want to solo it?]
Dao Shan: [Yes. This kind of mage-type dungeon isn't much of a challenge to solo. I just cleared a level-30 dungeon a little while ago.]
Qiu Yue: [To be honest with you, this boss is different. The devs made a stealth change — a Tier-2 adventurer party was wiped out by it not long ago.]
Dao Shan: [Skill issue. Trust me — I'll stream the whole thing live, guaranteed solo clear.]
Qiu Yue: ……
[Fine.]
After replying, she assigned the bounty to him, transferred a portion of the payment upfront, and opened his livestream.
"Alright, brothers, the bounty's been accepted — getting ready for the solo run!"
Dao Shan was brimming with confidence about this mission.
As a Rogue who had already completed his job advancement, he had plenty of experience dealing with fragile, low-health enemies. By leveraging his class's high-agility traits and kiting around, he could dispatch them with ease.
He had even cleared the Forest Fiend earlier without taking a single hit.
He quickly traveled through the teleportation gate to the Beginner's Adventure Village, and after a bit of trekking, soon arrived near the Undead Territory.
"I remember there being a hidden passage here during the last closed beta — it bypasses most of the soldiers and leads straight to the castle…"
Dao Shan stood before a raised mound of earth, carefully surveying the area. Before long, a pitch-black tunnel entrance appeared before him.
"Looks like it hasn't been patched yet. In that case, I'll skip the small mobs — I'll leave them for you guys."
As a professional gold farmer, Dao Shan knew exactly how to earn money in the most efficient way possible.
His objective was simple: kill the boss. Clearing the small mobs was easy enough, but the time invested wasn't proportional to the reward, so Dao Shan decided to skip them entirely.
Fwump.
He lit a torch. The light scattered some of the darkness, making the surroundings barely visible.
As he walked, Dao Shan kept up a running commentary to liven up the stream: "Rogues have Night Vision as a passive — no matter how dark it gets, it looks like broad daylight to me…"
"This torch is lit purely for your viewing experience."
[Nice, streamer's got attention to detail — full marks!]
[Rogues are that OP? Too bad you can't make alt accounts in this game, otherwise I'd want to try playing an Assassin too…]
[Okay, that's actually pretty cool…]
Comment after comment scrolled across the screen, capturing Dao Shan's full attention. He strode forward briskly — and completely failed to notice that he had quietly stepped on a certain abnormal protrusion in the floor.
Click-clack…
The sound of some mechanism triggered beside his ear. In the next instant, the solid ground beneath him collapsed, revealing a deep pit bristling with spikes!
Dao Shan was startled, but quickly recovered. He immediately reached out and grabbed the edge, about to haul himself up — when in the very next instant, a massive boulder came crashing down from above.
"Who the fuck set these traps?!"