Chapter 718: Loyalty to Her Belief
“Snowwolf. Your right — about four hundred fifty meters.”
The branches shifted in Leaf’s particular signal. A pause, and then: “Are you going to wait for Ashes?”
Andrea had already worked out the distance. Nine hundred paces. She was already walking.
“Let Ashes know where I am when she gets back.” She glanced at the treetops, confirming the sight line. “It’s only a wolf. With you watching, it can’t surprise me.”
She said it matter-of-factly rather than boastfully. Her first target had tested the new ability and confirmed what she’d expected. The compressed air columns were clean, controllable, and powerful enough to render a demonic boar unconscious from close range without killing it. Distance required adjustment — the energy spread over longer arcs — but the derivative she’d developed on the ship addressed that. She could lock trajectory now, which meant anything in her sightline was simply a matter of timing and power.
Even a two-winged hybrid wouldn’t get away.
She moved through the trees with the unhurried precision of someone who has genuinely stopped being afraid of the forest.
“I’m sorry for dragging you into this,” Phyllis said. She was watching Agatha move ahead of her through the snow, finding the natural paths between the drifts with the ease of someone who had spent time in colder places. “I agreed without thinking it through.”
“Why apologize? I prefer this to the laboratory.” Agatha glanced back at her. “If I’d had no time, I wouldn’t have agreed at all.”
“Then — should we simply capture a few to meet the minimum? The king did say friendship first.”
“He said it. That doesn’t mean the others believe it.” Agatha paused and tilted her head slightly, listening to something. “You could see it in their faces when they lined up. Lightning and Andrea would compete even without a prize. The prize is just permission to take it seriously.”
Phyllis considered this. She was not wrong.
“And since it’s a competition,” Agatha continued, “and since we’re representing Taquila—”
She stopped walking. The crystals in her palm had been forming without Phyllis noticing — a continuous small process, the way some witches breathed.
Leaf’s branches shifted. “Wolf-eagle hybrid. Two hundred meters directly behind you, approaching fast.”
Phyllis stepped back and turned. The forest behind them was white and still. Then the stillness broke: a white-furred shape moving low through the trees, wings pressed flat against its sides to avoid the branches. She hadn’t heard it at all.
The temperature around Agatha dropped sharply — not an observation but a physical fact, the air tightening and hardening. The snow on the ground stiffened. Ice crept outward from where Agatha stood, sheeting over the packed snow in a thin transparent layer that caught the light.
The hybrid lunged.
Agatha threw the ice crystals underhand rather than overhanding them — not at the creature but ahead of it, forcing a dodge to the left. The hybrid landed wrong on the newly glazed surface, legs skidding in different directions. It went down.
Before it could recover, Agatha was already moving — skating, almost, across the ice she’d made, arriving at the animal’s side before it finished falling. Her hands found its flank and she pressed, and the ice worked inward from her palms. Within seconds the hybrid was half-encased — head and forelegs free, the rest of its body locked in a translucent shell.
She stepped back and assessed her work.
Phyllis watched with the particular attention she gave to things she wanted to understand properly. Agatha’s fighting style had none of the formal techniques the Union’s combat branches had developed — it was built from observation and improvisation, which was consistent with what Phyllis knew of the Quest Society’s scholarship. But the instincts were genuinely good. The combination of terrain control and timing placed her opponent at a disadvantage before the decisive moment arrived, which meant the decisive moment required less of her.
“How did you detect it approaching? I heard nothing.”
“I spread a thin layer of ice at my feet before we entered the forest. It transmits vibrations from anything moving on snow.” She looked at the encased hybrid. “We can leave it here until we’ve caught more. It won’t freeze to death quickly enough to matter.”
“I see.” Phyllis began to walk. “Should we find the next one?”
“Yes.” Agatha fell into step beside her. “Quickly.”
She was serious. The contest had not been a concession to social obligation — she genuinely intended to win it.
Phyllis found, after a few more steps, that she could not leave the question unasked.
“Lady Agatha—”
“Just Agatha. We agreed on that.”
“Yes.” She hesitated. “You said the Witch Union’s sisters might be the heirs of the new era.”
“I think that’s true.”
“I want to ask—” She chose the words carefully, because they were precise rather than diplomatic. “Where does your loyalty lie? With Taquila, or with Neverwinter?”
Agatha stopped walking.
She turned to face Phyllis directly, and Phyllis met her eyes without looking away, because the question was important enough to be asked honestly and receive an honest answer.
“With my belief,” Agatha said.
“Belief.”
“Yes.” There was no hesitation in it. “My belief is that the only way to survive what’s coming is for Taquila’s survivors to come to the Western Region and fight under Roland Wimbledon’s leadership. That’s what I want. That’s what I’m working toward.” She tilted her head slightly. “Is that the answer you were looking for?”
Phyllis thought about it.
“No,” she said. “But it may be the right one.”
Chapter 718: Loyalty to Her Belief
“I’ve scored the first point!”
Andrea gracefully lifted her long hair to shake off the snowflakes, turned toward Ashes and said, “It’s now your turn to transport it.”
“Wait… Why me?” Ashes stared at Andrea.
“Because you’re strong,” she said flatly, “this is a team competition, and naturally we’ll need to work together. Don’t forget that we represent the honor of Sleeping Island. If we lose the match because you were too slow in moving the beasts, I’ll report you to Princess Tilly.”
“Overwhelming victory! Nightingale, did you see that?” Andrea looked proudly toward Ashes and felt an immense satisfaction. Ashes looked displeased yet had no choice but to bend over and carry the unconscious demonic boar.
After all, Andrea would not be able to move such a heavy thing.
“Stay here and don’t move. I’ll be right back,” said the Extraordinary to Andrea, as she placed the sturdy demonic boar rack on her shoulder.
“I know. Hurry up.”
After Ashes left, Andrea looked up to the forest and asked, “Leaf, could you please tell me where the next demonic beast is?”
“It’s on your right about 450 meters away. It’s a snowwolf.” The branches swayed. “But aren’t you going to wait for Ashes?”
“Of course not. That’d be way too slow.” Andrea thought for a moment and said, “Hmm… that’s about 900 paces away. I’m going to head off. Could you
please let Ashes know my new location?”
Leaf was silent for a moment before replying, “I understand.”
“Don’t worry. It’s only a stupid wolf. With you around to remind me, it can’t touch me.”
Even the gigantic demonic hybrid she met last time was defenseless in front of her new abilities—the original magic arrows were incredibly powerful but only had a range of 10 paces. Now as long as she had enough power, she could shoot to a distance of more than 100 meters. She even had a derivative skill that allowed her to hit accurately without fail. Even if the demonic beast had two pairs of wings, it would not be able to escape her attack.
This time, she was confident about winning!
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think he’d get you involved in such a trifle.” Phyllis looked at Agatha who was walking in front of her and said, “I only casually agreed to it at that time.”
When Phyllis first heard about the proposal, she did not think too much about it because she had lost her palate and the Chaos Drinks were no longer appealing. What made her agree to it was simple curiosity—anyway it was better than being idle and she could take the opportunity to observe the Witch Union’s fighting ability. She did not expect that this hunting game was actually a competition and that her teammate would be Agatha, once the youngest Senior Witch.
“It doesn’t matter. This is much better than staying cooped up in the lab and researching the Magic Stone. It’s good to go out and get some exercise,” said Agatha, shrugging her shoulders. “If I didn’t have time to spare, I wouldn’t have promised His Majesty in the first place.”
“Is that so? Then… shall we just grab a few demonic beasts to make up the figures?”
“How could we do that? This is a competition.”
“But I thought the king of the common people said that friendship was first and that competition came second? The others also agreed to it.”
“I don’t think that’s what they really feel. You could tell from their expressions what they were thinking. Even without the Chaos Drinks as prizes, Lightning and Andrea would still be unwilling to lose.” Agatha paused and said, “If it’s just a normal game, then that doesn’t matter. But now we’re a team that represents Taquila, right?”
“Yes…” Phyllis suddenly felt that Andrea was full of fighting spirit.
“In that case, if it’s a competition then we need to win.” Agatha paused in her footsteps and some crystals condensed in her hand.
Leaf’s voice could be heard almost simultaneously. “A wolf-eagle demonic hybrid is 200 meters behind you and approaching quickly!”
Phyllis retreated two steps and looked behind toward the snow-white forest. A slender white-haired monster appeared in the snow with a howl. Its wings glided as if it were sliding on the ground, and the beast made almost no sound. It was no wonder Phyllis did not notice the enemy approaching from behind.
As the temperature near Agatha plummeted, the snow suddenly became hard ice. As the enemy approached, she threw the sharp ice crystals in her hand to force the hybrid to dodge and then caused it to lose its balance on the smooth ice.
The Senior Witch remained stable on the ground. She effortlessly glided to the side of the monster, placed her hands on its fur and instantly turned it into half an ice sculpture.
Phyllis admired Agatha’s flowy uninhibited way of fighting and could see why she was a part of Taquila. Although Agatha was a member of the Quest Society and had never experienced a real battle, she could still see that Agatha had put in a lot of hard work in combat training. In particular, when
she combined both pace and ability, she was in an advantageous position to take the initiative—any enemy fighting with her on the ice would certainly fall under her control.
“How did you manage to find it?” Phyllis asked curiously.
“I summoned a thin piece of ice at my feet that could help me to detect the enemy as soon as it entered the snow.”
“I see…” She looked at the mixed species whose body had been covered with ice crystals, except for its head that was hanging out. “Should I drag it now to the city wall?”
“Just leave it here. Since it won’t freeze to death that quickly, we can wait until we catch a few more.” Agatha waved her hand and said, “We have to find the next demonic beast as soon as possible.”
Phyllis realized that she was serious. This young Senior Witch did want to win the competition.
Is it because she represents Taquila? So in the future negotiations, will her loyalty lie with Neverwinter or the Taquila survivors?
This question left Phyllis feeling uneasy.
She only took a few steps before she could not resist saying, “Lady Agatha…”
“Don’t address me like that. Just call me Agatha,” she said as she turned her head. “Didn’t you say that the Taquila witches were no longer ranked in terms of ability, but that everyone was equal?”
“Yes… there has been a gradual consensus since Lady Eleanor sacrificed herself and fewer and fewer companions have survived… Neither the higher ascendants at the Union nor the most common Original Witches should ever be separated by rank. It was Pasha who suggested ‘Every witch is equally important’.”
“And I’m no exception.” Agatha nodded her head and said, “The people in the Witch Union call each other sisters, and sometimes I think they’ll be the heirs of the new era.”
“I see,” Phyllis hesitated and said, “Can I ask you a question… What exactly do you think of the Taquila Witches and Neverwinter?”
“I guess you wish to find out which side I’m loyal to?” Agatha said as she stopped in her tracks.
Phyllis did not avoid looking at Agatha and this was very important for them.
“I’m loyal to my own belief,” Agatha replied.
“Belief?”
“That’s right, so I hope you’ll be able to move to the Western Region of Graycastle and join hands with Neverwinter in the fight against the demons under the leadership of Roland Wimbledon.”