Chapter 147

Chapter 147

Spendthrift Necromancer (147)

CalamityAt the center of the Caesar Continent.

There stood an enormous tower raised so high it seemed to pierce the heavens.

At its highest floor sat a throne from which one could look down upon everything.

This place existed solely for the Witch Iris.

A pitch-black crystal orb rested before her.

Through it appeared Wraiths overflowing with sinister energy.

The Necromantic Knight Order.

A knight order that had devoted its loyalty to her for hundreds of years.

So faithful that even a woman as eccentric as Iris asked after them with a measure of warmth.

“Is it over?”―Yes. The Northern Fortress has fallen, and Bellitas has returned to the earth.

“You explained things properly to the Dragon?”―As you commanded, Witch. It didn't seem completely convinced…… but it doesn't appear eager to make an issue of it.

“What are those idiots going to do about it?”

Iris answered with a cold smile.

The enormous organization she belonged to, the ‘Eastern Witch Society,’ had extended its reach across countless dimensions. The Caesar Continent was no exception.

It was one of the planets belonging to the lowest-tier dimensions. Originally, this place had been classified as a ‘Danger Zone.’

Mutakta, King of the Orcs.

Because his power had been absurdly beyond what should have been born within a mere lowest-tier dimension.

Trying to extend their reach here would require excessive manpower, making the return on investment awful.

But things were different now.

One day, Mutakta abruptly disappeared. The Eastern Witch Society discovered that fact and immediately dispatched Iris.

It was essentially like pioneering a new continent.

There had been only one problem: the Witch Society wasn't the only organization to send personnel.

The Dragon Legion.

They had dispatched a Dragon as well.

The two organizations were roughly equal in strength.

The Witch and Ice Dragon stationed here were the same.

Since fighting would only hurt both sides, they established an agreement. It was loose, but it had worked well until now.

Neither side gained anything by breaking it.‘But things are different now.’Those stupid Dragons wanted territory regardless of whether the creatures living there survived.

The refined Witches of the Society, on the other hand, made most of their money by procuring corpses for experiments and harvesting the resulting byproducts. She'd been enjoying a splendid harvest from all the fresh corpses here.

She'd diligently offered tribute upward and racked up plenty of contribution.

Enough that the higher-ups watched her with satisfaction.

But now, the corpses were on the verge of disappearing entirely. From Iris's perspective, continuing to honor the agreement meant taking a loss.

That was why she'd allowed the Northern Fortress to fall.

A kind of deliberate work slowdown.

The Ice Dragon probably knew.

So what?‘Continents with Orcs are rare enough already.’Orcs reproduced quickly and had plenty of offspring, making them perfect sources of corpses.

She'd landed a posting on such a profitable continent. She had no intention of giving it up easily.

And this wasn't even some major conflict.

How many planets did the Witch Society and Dragon Legion have their hands in?

At every level, both sides jockeyed for position and fought over their share. Iris was merely doing the same.

North, West, South, East, and Center.

Looking at the five regions marked across the map of the Caesar Continent, Iris smiled.‘Let the Orcs breed for a while…… I'll need to give them the North and West for that.’As for the Ice Dragon.

She could let it freeze and feast on the South and East.

If she promised to freeze the other regions again in the future, it probably wouldn't revolt outright.

If she could offer another huge batch of corpses as tribute afterward.

Perhaps she could dream of promotion from a mere Apprentice Witch into a full Witch.

“Hmmmm.”

She was humming happily when.

Rumble!

Pitch-black storm clouds began gathering over the enormous tower. Tremendous Magic swirled through them.

Craack……!

The sky itself began breaking apart as though glass were cracking.

“……

Huh?”

Iris stared blankly.

Because the phenomenon was painfully familiar to her.

Dimensional transfer.

She herself had torn through dimensions and arrived here the same way.

But…….‘What?’Enough Magic was gathering to crack the sky itself?

This wasn't a phenomenon some mere Apprentice Witch could cause.

At minimum, a full Witch was needed to gather that much Magic during dimensional transfer.

Then.

Through the fractured sky, a figure riding a broom appeared.

A smooth neck.

Ordinary living beings were supposed to have one head attached to one neck. The Witch before her was different. Three heads grew from the same neck.

A glittering insignia adorned her chest. Its shape resembled a pitch-black raven. Iris's eyes widened.‘The Raven School?’Only seven Great Witches existed within the Eastern Witch Society. And Witches belonging to the school of Ananke, the one known as the Raven Lord among them, wore insignias like that. She wasn't merely a full Witch—she had also grabbed hold of a golden lifeline.

Iris couldn't understand why a being of that stature had come to a lowest-tier dimension like this.

That was when.

All three heads stared straight at Iris.

“I am Lruye, a full Witch of the Eastern Witch Society and member of the Raven School.”

“Little Apprentice, where is this place?”

“And who are you?”

Questions poured forth.

Unable to even dare look directly at all three faces, Iris carefully lowered her head.

“I am Iris, Apprentice Witch of the Eastern Witch Society. I was dispatched to oversee the Caesar Continent.”

At those words, Lruye's three heads looked toward one another.

“An Apprentice Witch? Then this is a lowest-tier dimension?”

“This wasn't our destination.”

“Let's ask.”

A raven suddenly appeared beside Lruye.

A Raven of Ananke.

A bird personally raised by the Great Witch, with one assigned to every member of the Raven School.

Its role was simple.

It warned of ill omens.―Caw! Roll-roll, thud! Roll-roll, thud!

Like now.

Watching the raven flap its wings and speak, Lruye's heads responded.

“Roll-roll, thud?”

“Something rolling?”

“Not coincidence. Something interfered?”

Lruye's heads seriously interpreted its message.

“Who called us here? The Dragon Legion?”

“No. Looks like a Dragon got dragged here too…… so we can't tell yet.”

“Either way, it'll take a month before we can transfer dimensions again.”

Iris cautiously looked at Lruye and asked.

“Um, Lady Lruye.”

“Yeah.”

“You called?”

“Speak.”

“About that…… an ill omen appeared. Is that really all right?”

Lruye's three heads snickered.

“Tripping while walking is an ill omen.”

“Being fated to die is also an ill omen.”

“It's all relative.”

“Ah…….”

Iris scratched her head.

She'd only known that the raven warned of ill omens. She hadn't known the detailed mechanics.

Apparently whether something was trivial or catastrophic, if it counted as an ill omen, the bird simply blurted it out.

“Then may I ask what you intend to do?”

That was when.

Lruye's six eyes rolled as they stared at Iris.

“Little Witch.”

“Go ahead.”

“Tell us every strange thing that's happened recently. Don't leave out a single one.”* * *The sky cracked apart beneath a shroud of darkness.

The ground trembled.

The Orcs enjoyed it as though riding an amusement-park attraction, but the Elves were different.

The Elves murmured uneasily.

Then one Elf began running toward him.

Elise, Forest Keeper of the Mother Tree.

It felt like it had been forever since he'd seen her.‘It actually has been.’Nearly four months had passed since he last entered this Hidden Gate. Thanks to this Elf, he'd eaten Divine Fruit and easily taught his Skeletons Alchemy.

Before he could even express how good it was to see her.

She spoke with a rigid expression.

“……

It's similar.”

“What is?”

“Hundreds of years ago, when the Witch and Ice Dragon appeared. It was like this then too. Darkness fell, and the sky split open. That's…… a sign of calamity. And…….”

Elise continued, her eyes trembling.

“This is even worse than back then. It wasn't this severe that time…….”

“You saw it yourself?”

“……

Yes. I was alive then too.”

The conversation gave him a fresh sense of the average age of Elves. And her words let him infer one thing.‘The Witch and Ice Dragon. Did beings above them arrive?’Conveniently, other information came to mind.

Cedric's pet Dragon, Gleipnir.

Hadn't they mentioned the Dragon Legion and Eastern Witch Society among the materials needed to make him? If the Witch and Ice Dragon belonged to organizations like those.

It wouldn't be strange for higher-ranking beings to visit.

He looked at Cedric.

“Cedric. Think this is related to those organizations you mentioned before?”―Most likely. That's dimensional transfer. It's how Witches and Dragons move between dimensions. Looks like both sides were dragged here.

“Both?”―Look at the top and bottom. The patterns are different.

Just as Cedric said.

The upper sky was cracking like a spiderweb, while the lower portion looked as though it had been sliced open in one straight line.

Really, this guy kept producing new information like an onion with endless layers.

The Witch and Ice Dragon.

Cedric had probably remembered information about the Eastern Witch Society and Dragon Legion from the moment they first entered this Gate.

The reason he hadn't mentioned it was obvious.‘He probably didn't want me thinking about it yet.’It wasn't difficult to understand.

On his first entry, he hadn't even dared consider directly fighting the Witch or Ice Dragon. He'd been low-Level then, with only curses and Summon Skeleton as his Skills.

That was Cedric's style too.

“Perfect.”―Are you going to kill them?

“Obviously. Cedric, don't you want to ride your pet Dragon?”―……

He isn't a pet. He's my comrade.

“So you don't want to ride him?”―Of course…… I want to.

Cedric's pupils blazed with undisguised desire.

Fair enough. The Bone Dragon he'd seen in the First Arrangement had looked incredible.

“Then we have to kill them. We're strong enough now that it's doable, right?”―Hmm…… true. A phenomenon of this scale suggests a full Witch. The Dragon shouldn't be an Ancient Dragon either.

Elise, who had been listening blankly, asked.

“Are you saying you're going to kill both of them?”

“That's the plan.”

“I thought last time you were planning to make them fight each other…….”

“There's no need for that anymore. As you know, Lady Elise, I'm from another dimension.”

He explained the situation to the blankly staring Elise.

In short.

After clearing the Northern Fortress and while time here was stopped, he'd become far stronger than expected.

“Time stopped here?”

“Something like that.”

Either way.

He was beginning to understand why Super Lucky Guy had activated while the Dice had paradoxically landed on 1.

A higher-ranking Witch and Dragon had arrived?

Put differently, hadn't the ingredients for his pet Dragon just delivered themselves?‘Then I have to kill them.’Indomitable activated when he refused to yield before difficulty.

And what exactly counted as difficulty?

The Witch and Dragon.

Making them fight each other while he watched from behind with his arms crossed didn't sound like adversity.‘The hardest option is obviously.’Simply smashing everything himself.

That had the highest chance of triggering Indomitable.‘And if things go wrong, I can detonate the Nuclear Bomb.’Though judging from Cedric's reaction, it probably wouldn't come to that.

The Witch's base was in the center of the continent.

The Ice Dragon's was in the south.

They were currently in the north, so if they just headed downward and killed everything along the way, the Gate would be cleared.

“That's settled. Urkan!”―Gruk! Big Brother, you called?

“We're going to kill the Witch. Coming?”―I'm coming!

Orcs began gathering from every direction with bright smiles.