“… Where is she?” Samimi frowned.
“Right beneath our feet,” Wolfie said.
“Huh?” Samimi was shocked. “She’s not buried down there, is she?”
“No, what are you thinking? She’s in the Underground Prison.” Wolfie was speechless.
“Lady Samimi, what should we do?” Priestess Rebecca stomped her foot in frustration as she came back. “Personally, I think we should just let her die.”
“You’re so hateful.” Samimi muttered, spitting out the words.
“Don’t you hate her too? She betrayed us!” Priestess Rebecca snapped angrily. “She used to badmouth you behind your back! She tried to get you kicked out of the team! Always scheming against you! And she even stole your shampoo!”
“How do you remember all that better than I do?” Samimi looked toward Wolfie and asked, “Wolfie, what do you think? You suddenly told me about her. It can’t be that simple, right?”
“It’s because I sensed a powerful presence upstairs,” Wolfie analyzed. “If we only rely on our current strength, it might not be enough. I think we need to coordinate all our forces.”
Wow! The dumbest one in the dormitory actually gave a serious strategic analysis. Samimi really wanted to rant, but the battle situation was critical. It was definitely not the time to complain. It was uncomfortable.
Just like Niubao, Wolfie clearly had a natural beast instinct. Usually, she seemed like a slowpoke, but in urgent moments, she would suddenly come up with brilliant ideas.
“I object! Even if we rescue that woman, she won’t be grateful. She’ll stab us in the back again and take credit with the Orange Lion. She’s just a sycophant.” Rebecca was the first to protest.
“Hmm…” Samimi was also troubled and took a moment to think.
But time waits for no one. From upstairs came continuous booming sounds—Niubao had already started fighting.
Close-quarters combat indoors was Niubao’s world, especially since Fire Mages were nearly helpless in such confined spaces. Their chanting was slow, and there wasn’t enough room to cast spells properly. Their powerful magic could easily explode and harm themselves.
In indoor combat, Niubao and Wolfie could easily suppress all the Fire Mages.
“Take us to see her.” Yet Samimi still accepted Wolfie’s suggestion.
“Lady Samimi!” Rebecca exclaimed.
“Don’t worry, I won’t forgive her. If she wants to take revenge on the Orange Lion, we can temporarily cooperate. After we deal with the common enemy, I’ll personally settle the score for her betrayal.” Samimi spoke each word firmly.
“Alright.” Rebecca had nothing to say after hearing that.
“Wolfie, lead the way,” Samimi said.
Wolfie led the two of them to the damp staircase behind the stairs, where a rusty door waited below.
The three slipped through the door into the underground chamber a large prison.
“I’ve always wondered, why is there an underground prison beneath the Magic Users’ Dormitory?” Samimi asked curiously.
“I don’t know either,” Wolfie shrugged.
“It’s meant for confinement. In the past, there were more rebellious magic users than now. Constant challenges, constant fights. Those who lost would be locked up. But now the Five Great Academies have formalized the ranks, so such insubordination no longer happens,” Rebecca explained.
They passed a series of empty cells, arriving at the last, darkest, most gloomy prison.
The three stopped in front of the iron bars, noticing shattered utensils and scattered food on the floor.
Inside the cage, the Witch was nowhere to be seen in full form only a shrunken figure huddled on the ground. Her wildly growing white hair wrapped around her body, with just a pair of filthy feet exposed.
Everyone exchanged glances, their expressions filled with confusion. What was this about?
“Bemore: Joshua, are you still alive?” Samimi spoke the name with a trace of anger, clearly not hiding her hatred.
If she weren’t a kind-hearted (?), broad-minded (?), and magnanimous (?) book transmigrator, a local from this other world would have already reduced this traitor to a pulp.
Hearing Samimi’s voice, the white-haired figure trembled slightly. She was still alive.
After a long silence…
“Are you here to kill me?” the white-haired figure finally replied in a hesitant voice.
“You? Not even worth it. You’re just a two-faced, despised dog traitor. Not worth us risking breaking into the Flame City Fortress for.” Rebecca cursed loudly.
“We’re here to take down the Orange Lion.” Samimi added.
“Then… why are you here? To mock me?” the white-haired figure cried out pitifully.
“Exactly. Right after we storm the fortress, the first thing we’ll do is mock you,” Samimi laughed coldly twice.
Such cold-blooded cruelty! The white-haired figure fell silent, like a corpse, completely still.
“Lady Samimi, Niubao is still fighting upstairs. Don’t waste time here.” Rebecca was starting to lose patience.
“Bemore, if you still want to be a person, get up,” Samimi said bluntly. “Let’s go take down the Orange Lion together, then settle our personal grudges.”
The white-haired figure twitched slightly.
“Are you going to be a coward here your whole life? The Flame School no longer regards you as one of their own. You were abandoned even by your leaders when you acted as a mole. You just quietly accept your imprisonment? Look at yourself now do you still count as a person? Do you still have dignity? Haven’t you thought about revenge?” Rebecca scolded, even harsher than Samimi.
…The white-haired figure began twitching.
“Even as a traitor, can’t you be one with some backbone? I’d be disgusted for a lifetime if someone like you betrayed me. Don’t force me to despise you forever,” Samimi complained. “Even if you want revenge, I’d just feel sick about it.”
Hearing the word ‘traitor’ laced with such venom, the white-haired figure suddenly shook violently!
“You want to use me too? I won’t fall for it again…”
But after trembling a couple more times, she gave up and shrank back into a ball like a turtle.
“You really are the clown of clowns! A lost cause! Your mother gave birth to pork rather than you! You don’t even fight back when you get beaten! Stop calling yourself a Witch and just call yourself the Clown King!” Samimi couldn’t hold back anymore and cursed wildly.
“They’re here!”
“Attack! Attack!”
“Spit out the flames!”
Suddenly, several fiery mages burst into the Underground Prison, blocking the exit and shooting flames straight at Samimi and the others.
They used a kind of flamethrower-like fire attack, covering the entire passage in a scorching dragon of flames.
With no way out, Samimi and the others were trapped inside, burning!
“These guys…”
Samimi raised her hand and summoned the Wall of Thorns, blocking the incoming fiery blasts and protecting her companions.
“Haha! Burn them all to death!”
“Let’s help incinerate them and that damned Witch into ashes!”
“Let them never be reborn!”
The frenzied Fire Mages shouted in rage.
“It’s you…”
The Clown King Bemore suddenly stiffened, recognizing those voices.
They were the senior students who usually bullied her with cold violence and harsh words!
Her wild, tangled white hair seemed almost alive, gradually loosening to reveal her true face.
Well, only two days had passed. What kind of change could there be? Just a little dirt. Even dust can’t block the peerless beauty of a female lead.
But Bemore’s hair had grown wildly. In just two short days, her hair length dragged on the ground.
Even Samimi had no idea what exactly had happened to her.
And surprisingly, the Witch who couldn’t be awakened by Samimi’s harsh words was now roused by a few random people.
“I recognize your voices even if I die… I will never forgive you…”
Bemore let her hair down. Her voice was hoarse like a ghost’s, her eyes wide and furious, like a demon.
She stepped toward the iron bars, grabbing them with both hands fiercely.
But the iron bars were reinforced with runes, not so easy to break.
Yet, flames suddenly ignited on Bemore’s hands, bright red and fierce, melting the rune-etched iron cage directly before their eyes.