Chapter 524: 5 Ancestral Witches, The Decision

Chapter 524: Chapter 524: 5 Ancestral Witches, The Decision

Brandon Barton frowned slightly. "Ma’am, we just completed our own mission, and happened to..."

"Happened to?" Rosa laughed, a bitter edge to her smile. "Child, there’s no such thing as ’happened to’ in this world. The fact that you’re willing to stay and fight the Ancestral Witches makes you our benefactors."

Brandon Barton fell silent for a moment, then asked the question on everyone’s mind:

"Where are the Ancestral Witches now? What exactly are they?

"Miss Sullivan said the Ancestral Witches... can’t be considered human anymore?"

All eyes focused on Rosa.

Rosa lowered her head, gazing at the Demon God’s Pillar in her hand, and remained silent for a long time.

So long that Dexter Luther thought she wasn’t going to answer. Then, she finally spoke.

"The Ancestral Witches... there are five of them."

Her voice was hoarse and slow. "You should already know that after they killed a God, they devoured my brother—the Demon God’s body."

Everyone nodded.

"But they didn’t simply ’eat’ him."

Rosa looked up, a strange light glinting in her cloudy eyes.

"They divided the task. The five of them each devoured a different part of him."

"One person devoured the internal organs."

"One person devoured the brain."

"One person devoured the eyes."

"One person devoured the limbs."

"And one more—" her voice dropped, "—devoured all of my brother’s blood."

A dead silence fell over the wooden cabin.

Dexter Luther swallowed hard. "So... we have to kill five... monsters... fused with the Demon God’s Power?"

Rosa looked at him and slowly nodded.

"That’s right."

"So what do we do now?" Matthew Dawson asked. "Find them one by one and kill them?"

Rosa shook her head. "It’s not that simple.

"After devouring different parts, these five individuals gained different Abilities and took on different forms.

"They’ve scattered across the world, each occupying a territory and becoming its ’master’."

She paused, then continued, "Take this Demonic Forest, for example."

A chill ran down everyone’s spines.

"The master of this Demonic Forest—" Rosa’s voice was low and grim, "—is the Ancestral Witch who devoured my brother’s blood."

"The Blood Ancestor."

Having heard about the sacrifices from Seraphina Sullivan, Brandon Barton’s pupils contracted slightly. "Is that who Kyle Kane and the others were making sacrifices to?"

Rosa nodded. "Correct. The Blood Ancestor possesses the strongest Demonization Ability among all the Ancestral Witches.

"Through sacrifice, she can grant ordinary people the ’Demonization Blood,’ allowing them to obtain Extraordinary Abilities similar to Players—those are the Awakeners you encountered."

"But she doesn’t grant this Power for free."

Rosa’s gaze sharpened. "With every gift, she drains the Life Force and soul of the one making the sacrifice.

"Those who receive the ’Blood of Awakening’ may seem to grow stronger, but they are actually taking step after step toward their own deaths."

Seraphina Sullivan recalled the state Kyle Kane and the others had been in—greedy, crazed, their desire for Power overwhelming all reason.

’They really were walking toward their deaths.’

"What about the other four Ancestral Witches?" Heath Summers asked.

Rosa took a deep breath and began to explain slowly:

"The one who devoured the internal organs is known as ’The Viscera Witch.’ He hides in a swamp to the north, where it’s said a poisonous fog lingers year-round, causing any creature that enters to suffer corrosion until only bones remain."

"The one who devoured the brain is known as ’The Progenitor Witch of Intellect.’ He occupies an Abandoned City in the west. It’s said the place is filled with bizarre traps and mechanisms, and all who enter are toyed with at his whim."

"The one who devoured the eyes is known as the ’Ancestral Witch of the Eye.’ He hides on a high mountain in the east. They say his eyes can see through all illusions and can also drive anyone who meets his gaze into eternal madness."

"The one who devoured the limbs is known as ’The Progenitor Witch of Limbs.’ He roams the Desert in the south. His speed is incredible and his Power is terrifying. He is the only one of the five Ancestral Witches who actively hunts humans."

When Rosa finished, silence once again descended upon the cabin.

Five Ancestral Witches, five directions, five completely different Abilities and forms.

And they were just a group of Players.

Even though they had some Abilities and had been through quite a few dungeons, facing five Demigod Level monsters...

"Feels..." Dexter Luther scratched his head and struggled to speak. "Feels like this is gonna be a little tough."

No one refuted him.

Because he was speaking the truth.

Matthew Dawson sighed. "Our survival mission in this dungeon is almost over. It’s a thirty-day mission, and more than twenty days have already passed.

"If we only cared about completing the mission, we could just find a place to hide and wait to be sent back when the time is up."

He looked at Seraphina Sullivan, his eyes questioning.

Seraphina Sullivan didn’t speak.

Vincent Sharp gave a bitter smile. "That’s how hard Trial Dungeons are. You either complete a nearly impossible mission, or you fail the rescue mission."

Heath Summers nodded, his tone tinged with helplessness. "It can’t be helped. Each of us has to save a hundred Native People, and there are only so many of them here in total.

"If we don’t kill the Ancestral Witches and completely solve the problem of Demonization, the number of Native People will only continue to decrease.

"In the end, no one will be able to complete the mission."

Dexter Luther’s head was starting to ache. "So we’re all roped into this together, huh? If we don’t kill the Ancestral Witches, it’s game over for everyone?"

Seraphina Sullivan finally spoke. "That’s the gist of it."

She stood up, her gaze sweeping over everyone present.

"Therefore, we need more Players."

"Not just a few, not dozens, but as many Players as possible."

She said, "There are thousands of Players in this dungeon. Like us, they need to complete their missions, which means they need to kill the Ancestral Witches. If we can rally them, unite them to fight those five monsters together—"

She paused, then said, word by word:

"Then it won’t be a suicide mission. It’ll be a hunt."

Brandon Barton’s eyes lit up. "You mean..."

"We split up," Seraphina Sullivan said. "We’ll form several teams, head in different directions to find more Players, and convince them to join us. Once we’ve gathered enough strength, we’ll launch a crusade against the Ancestral Witches together."

Leaning on the Demon God’s Pillar, Rosa stood up, the light of hope flickering in her cloudy eyes.

"Child, you’re right," she said, her voice trembling. "I’ve lived too long, always thinking I had to rely on myself, on a select few. But to deal with those five beasts, we truly need everyone’s strength."

She looked at Seraphina Sullivan, then at everyone else in the room.

"Are you willing to be the ones to persuade them?"

Dexter Luther was the first to stand up. "I’m willing! It’s not like we have anything better to do!"

Matthew Dawson also nodded. "I have no problem with that."

Sean Chandler nodded silently.

Brandon Barton glanced at his own teammates, then looked at Seraphina Sullivan. "Count us in."