Chapter 28: So, I… … . Part 1

“Kyaaaa!!”

The Aberrant Witch let out a piercing scream.

Her cry parted the mist of the swamp and echoed far into the distance, signaling her presence in the murky cavern.

Soren glared at the Aberrant Witch.

‘Why was she screaming like that?’

‘Could it be… she’s calling others?’

He regretted not reading the strategy guide to the end.

Still, he had heard that encounters with her were rare, so he hadn’t been too concerned.

But the dungeon, as always, showed no favor to adventurers.

“What the hell is that?!”

“It’s the Aberrant Witch!”

At Soren’s shout, the party instantly prepared for battle.

At the forefront was Moss.

Witches corrupted by darkness were generally weak to holy magic—it seemed he meant to exploit that fact.

Loreia aimed her crossbow, and Bork snorted through his nose as he gripped his axe.

Soren took a step back and rummaged through his bag.

The path ahead was narrow; unless they retreated, fighting was their only option.

“Kyaaak! KyAAAK!!”

Yet while they got into battle formation, the Aberrant Witch made no move to attack.

She simply let out shrill screams, wailing in place.

Black tears streamed from her black eyes.

Where they hit the ground, something began to squirm and sprout.

Soren narrowed his eyes.

‘Black Claw Flower?’

From the black tears soaking the ground, flowers began to grow.

He knew those flowers.

The Black Claw Flower—inhale too much of its pollen, and you’ll begin to hallucinate.

Each time the witch shed a tear, those cursed flowers bloomed beneath her.

Soren’s expression turned grim.

The flowers didn’t naturally spread pollen far, but there was no telling what the witch might do with them.

“Everyone, cover your nose and mouth! Those flowers cause hallucinations!”

The party, who had been staring blankly at the flowers, hurriedly searched their belongings.

They each used cloth to cover their faces, and Soren did the same.

Luckily, the Black Claw Flower’s pollen had large particles.

A single cloth could block it completely.

“KYAAK?! KYAAAAK! KYAAAK!”

Perhaps their actions startled her, because the Aberrant Witch shrieked again and stretched out her hand.

In that instant, a sharp tingling shot down Soren’s back.

A thick, suffocating feeling filled the air—so intense it made his legs tremble.

There was the stench of death lingering in the air.

“Kid! Move!”

Bork rushed in and shoved Soren with his shoulder.

His bag flew back behind them, and the two of them tumbled into the muddy ground.

Squelch!

A black spike burst from where Soren had just been standing.

He stared at it, swallowing hard.

The wicked thorn looked sharp enough to shred soft human flesh without resistance.

“That’s the Aberrant Witch?!”

Moss, gripping his shield, stumbled backward and asked.

Soren quickly nodded.

“What the hell is she? Do you know anything else, kid?!”

Bork pressed.

But Soren could only shake his head.

He knew she was an Aberrant Witch.

That was it.

They’d have to figure it out as they fought—or find the answers that were already written.

Soren’s eyes turned to the bag lying in the mud behind him.

The strategy guide was in there.

If someone asked if it was really necessary to check it, Soren could only nod.

‘The guide clearly said this monster is dangerous. If we don’t know how to fight her, we’re in trouble.’

‘If it were just a goblin or kobold, they could beat it down without much thought.’

But not the Aberrant Witch.

Soren quickly scanned his surroundings.

The witch raised her hand again—this time, Moss was in her path.

Crackle!

A bolt of black lightning erupted from the tip of Soren’s staff.

It was the spell Destructive Strike, imbued into a low-grade rune.

BOOM!

“KYAAAA!!”

The strike hit the witch squarely in the face.

She flailed her arms wildly.

A direct hit to the face—a solid blow.

But Soren wasn’t about to celebrate.

Even though it hit her dead-on, the Aberrant Witch only screamed and clutched her face.

Beneath her fingers, her pale face was completely unharmed.

It hadn’t been a meaningful attack.

“Kahhhkhlahr.”

Without giving her time to recover, Soren summoned the rune’s power again.

Three venomous spikes burst from the tip of his staff.

At the same time, Loreia, who had been silently closing in, struck.

Thwip! A crossbow bolt flew.

But even while covering her face, the witch batted it away.

Her fingers had grown—long black claws, sharp as longswords.

She raised one clawed hand.

The deadly claws slashed toward Loreia faster than she could retreat.

“Loreia!!”

“UOOOHHH!!”

Bork charged in, breaking into the fight.

At the same time, Soren’s three poisoned thorns embedded themselves into the witch’s back.

It wasn’t time to relax yet.

Poison affected goblins in a matter of seconds, but humans took about a minute.

Each target reacted differently.

‘How long would it take to affect an Aberrant Witch?’

Still, there was hope—the low-grade Venom Rune had lethal potency.

The witch flinched when hit, but showed no other reaction.

While she was briefly staggered, Bork closed the gap.

“O ancestors, watch over me!”

One flaw in the plan:

The ground beneath them wasn’t solid stone or packed dirt—it was swampy mud.

Bork rushed in, with Moss following close behind to back him up.

But they weren’t fast enough.

“KYAAAK!!”

The witch had regained her senses.

She raised her head and screamed again—this time, her voice carried invisible force.

“W-whoa!”

“The ground—watch out!”

Bork and Moss stumbled in place as the very earth beneath them convulsed.

And not just their location.

Even Soren, who had been running for his bag, lost his balance and wobbled.

‘This is insane!’

Unable to keep his footing, Soren collapsed into the mud with a splat.

Foul, fishy swamp-muck covered his face.

No time to clean up.

He could hear the earth being torn open behind him.

“Loreia!”

“Smoke! Smoke cover!”

“So annoying…!”

“KYAAK! KYAAA!”

***

Amid the chaotic battle, Soren lunged for his bag.

‘Just a little more… a little more…!’

His fingers scraped at the edge, barely brushing it.

A few desperate grasps—and then, Soren finally grabbed the corner of the bag.

“Soren! Watch out!”

Before he could even feel relief, Moss’s warning rang out.

Soren immediately rolled sideways.

It was disgusting, rolling in that swamp, but the payoff was huge.

CRACK!

He had narrowly avoided death.

A vicious black thorn ripped through the air right where he’d been.

Its glossy black surface reflected his frozen face.

Soren swallowed hard.

Just now… he had almost died without even a sound.

Various objects were within reach, and soon, a strategy guide resting on a shallow surface was touched.

Flipping through the pages quickly, the sound of paper flipping echoed.

“Moss! You need healing!”

“Loreia, please distract it!”

“It’s, it’s impossible…”

The battle grew more intense.

The witch’s claws scraped relentlessly against Moss’s shield.

As a result, the newly forged shield buckled under the pressure, its metal edges bending uselessly.

Moss’s scythe, soaked in mud, struck the witch’s claws away, the dull sound echoing all around.

“Soren!”

Moss shouted once again after fending off another claw attack.

His cry asked why Soren wasn’t helping, questioning what exactly he was doing.

“Just buy us some time! We can figure out the strategy!”

“I understand!”

Moss nodded with a delay, as though something was off.

Soren, unfazed, focused again on flipping through the ominous swamp section of the strategy guide.

Not here, not here…

‘Found it.’

It wasn’t hard to find the part he’d previously read.

Soren had a habit of folding corners when reading.

“The Strange Witch is a wandering goddess of sorrow, Truse, who, through her blessing, can control the anomalous phenomena of the gloomy swamp. To fight them, countermeasures against the anomaly are essential.”

Thud! Boom!

“Ugh… Ereipion!”

“My Moss!”

“Even the weapons are blessed!”

“No more miracles possible!”

“An opening!”

“The fluid-caused black claw flowers induce hallucinations, and the claws are as tough as steel. They are immune to poisoning, paralysis, and infection. Although it appears as though there are no eyes, faint red light can be seen deep in the dark eye sockets.”

“Remember, the Strange Witch is not blind. These creatures are weak to vision-obscuring techniques, and their necks are their vulnerability.”

Soren’s thoughts clicked into place.

Techniques to obscure vision.

A memory flashed through Soren’s mind like a lightning strike.

Thinking back, after the destructive blow to her face, the witch had seemed unusually disoriented.

No time to hesitate.

“The neck! The neck is the only weak spot!”

“Got it!”

“Understood!”

***

After sharing the weakness, Soren hastily drew out the cursed copper.

With his other hand, he gripped his staff, muttering as he aimed at the Strange Witch, who was desperately clawing through the mud.

“The dark shadow of the moon, may you bestow the blessing of the blind on this wretched being.”

Kun Allak liked the darkness.

To cast his spell, darkness was required, and fortunately, the dungeon was filled with it.

The dense darkness of the swamp began to collect around Soren’s staff.

Soren glanced at the gathering shadows beneath the staff.

“Kun Allak has arrived. What do you wish for?”

A strong desire, like a sharp scrape against his heart, stirred within Soren.

With greed and desire dripping from this yearning, his consciousness sank deep into it.

The moon and the blind god gazed into Soren’s bag, pondering.

Although unseen, their presence was unmistakable.

‘Hands to replace eyes.’

Quickly, Soren rummaged through his bag.

A shriveled pair of monkey hands emerged from his pocket.

“Manipulate as you see fit, great Kun Allak.”

The monkey hands crumbled into powder, which quickly dissolved into the air, carried away by the wind.

Swish!

The shadows gathered beneath the staff sharply cut through the drenched mud and shot forward.

Soren whispered under his breath as the shadows, like tadpoles swimming under the surface, streaked toward the witch.

“Kyaaah?!”

The shadow struck cleanly.

As soon as the shadow touched the Strange Witch’s eyes, she doubled over, clutching her face.

Soren was sure of it.

These creatures were most terrified of having their vision blocked.

“Now’s our chance!”

The party members, noticing the witch’s change, gripped their weapons and charged toward her.

Soren quickly adjusted his bag and ran with them.

The thick, sticky mud clung to his feet as he sprinted.

“Ugh!”

Crack! Snap!

Bork’s axe came down like lightning on the witch’s arm, crimson blood splattering, and black claw flowers bloomed in the gap of the wound.

Moss struck at her legs from the opposite side.

One of her legs grotesquely bent, and the Strange Witch staggered before kneeling.

Loreia didn’t miss the opening.

Appearing from the shadows, Loreia’s dagger quickly aimed for the witch’s neck.

Soren also summoned a devastating strike with his staff.

Loreia’s dagger aimed to decapitate the witch, and the black lightning gathered at the tip of Soren’s staff.

Then, everything changed in an instant.

“AAAHHHH!!!”

The Strange Witch let out her final scream.

Just as she released the loudest scream yet, her body crumbled, and pitch-black darkness poured out in all directions.

It was an impenetrable darkness that swallowed everything—light, people, and even the sounds of the swamp.

The eerie silence of not even the smallest sound, not even a whisper of wind, spread through the air.

‘…What happened?’

Soren retraced the events in his mind.

Loreia had definitely mounted the Strange Witch’s shoulder, bringing down her dagger toward the neck.

Soren had launched his strike to completely immobilize the witch’s legs.

No, it was unclear whether he even launched it.

Before he could properly see the outcome, thick darkness engulfed everything.

The darkness that burst from the witch consumed everything—light, people, even the sounds of the swamp.

Gulp. A distinct sound of swallowing echoed loudly.

The rapid beating of Soren’s heart echoed in his ears.

Soren carefully moved his feet.

He couldn’t just stand still.

Plod—

The sound of his footsteps on the ground was different from before.

It wasn’t the squelching sound of mud but the sound of solid ground beneath him.

When Soren opened his eyes wide, a faint reddish light filled his vision.

Just three steps away, suddenly, a campfire appeared.

***

“Everyone.”

Around the campfire’s light, the party members revealed themselves.

Soren scanned their conditions.

There were no visible wounds.

Everything seemed fine.

“Soren, are you okay?”

“Yes, what about the others?”

“I’m fine.”

“I’m okay too. But what is this place…?”

Bork cautiously turned his head, looking around.

The ground beneath them, illuminated by the campfire, was dry, not the muddy swamp they’d just fought in.

“My foot…”

“…!”

A foot, trapped in the darkness, refused to move.

Soren couldn’t hide his anxiety.

Something was very wrong.

[The travelers lost in the deep mountains… made camp and lit a fire.]

A strange voice echoed from somewhere in the dark.

The voice, like metal scraping against something, sounded thick and unpleasant.

“Who, who are you?”

Moss asked, his voice trembling.

At first, only his foot wouldn’t move, but soon, his gaze locked on the campfire, and his body froze.

[One lit the fire, one caught the fish, one gathered the wood, and one sang a song.]

And then, it appeared.

A creature, slithering from the darkness, twisted as it approached.

Its body was red, constantly wriggling, and it pulled out tentacles, crawling across the ground.

Its elongated face was white, with no features.

It made another sound.

[But the one who lit the fire… stuck his hand into the campfire.]

Bork began to move with a creaking sound.

Flustered, Bork’s eyes wildly shifted, but his body kept moving, his hand reaching into the center of the blazing fire.

Ssss—!

“AAAHHH!!”

Bork screamed as red embers scattered everywhere.

At that moment, the wriggling creature from in front of the fire rapidly closed the distance to Soren.

Soren stared at it with wide eyes.

[And so, I… ]

The creature trailed off.

Soren remembered the section in the strategy guide.

[Anomaly. So, I… ]

A sharp, tingling murderous intent was clearly emanating from the monster before him.

Its oppressive malice pushed Soren to act.

[So, ‘what about you’?]

Hurry, continue the story.