“Loren... what are you talking about... what’s all this about dying or not dying...”
Loren ignored Laila’s question and continued arranging his affairs on his own terms:
“If one day I really leave for a while, you all follow Mirrorheart. She might be a bit twisted, but she’s only twisted around me. She’s still very reliable...”
Originally, Loren didn’t want to talk about these things, but some issues wouldn’t disappear just because he didn’t want to discuss them.
Everyone understood clearly that Loren had become like this after hearing the news about the Divine War, but the Divine War couldn’t affect Loren at all.
No matter which god ultimately won, Loren would be their honored guest. So, the only reason Loren was this worried was them.
His group of Witches.
“Mirrorheart, you know about the Severance Ritual, right?”
“I do.”
Seeing Loren so serious, Mirrorheart stopped joking and turned solemn as well.
“Good. That way, even if I’m not here, you can go deal with the Orthodox Gods...”
As Loren continued speaking, it sounded more and more like a final will:
“I’ve been collecting everything needed for the Severance Ritual for a long time. It’s all stored in Scarlett’s space. Except for some of the most important materials, everything else is ready.
“In the remaining time, we can focus on finding what the ritual needs... The easiest to obtain would be the heart of an Extreme Cold Dragon. It’s in the Lost Snow Mountains, already dead from pollution...”
“Loren!”
Laila shouted, cutting him off. Tears were shimmering at the corners of the Witches’ eyes.
“What are you crying for? Didn’t I say I can come back to life?”
“You said before that the underlying logic of this world is that life is equal, and no one can resurrect.”
Anna held Loren’s hand and repeated the words he had once spoken.
“...”
That was indeed something Loren had said, and it was the truth. Even if Loren claimed now that he had made it up to deceive Noah, they wouldn’t believe him.
“I’m perfectly fine right now, so why are you so scared?”
“You’ve always been like this—you can see far ahead and make preparations in advance...”
It was Anna speaking again. She knew Loren well enough to leave him speechless.
“Loren, I want to leave for a while...”
As Loren and Anna were talking, Laila suddenly interjected:
“Your danger comes from us dragging you down. You’ve done enough for us. I can’t keep holding you back.”
Hearing this, the other Witches understood Laila’s intention.
“You’ve raised me for so long. I think it’s time for me to stand on my own.”
Anna followed up immediately. Naclis, standing beside her, chimed in:
“With me taking care of Anna, you can rest assured.”
Amid Paqina’s confused gaze, all the Witches except Scarlett expressed their desire to leave. Then, Scarlett’s usually dull brain suddenly sparked with an idea:
“My ability is very important to you, and I don’t know how to use it, so...”
Scarlett abruptly pulled a gun from her space and aimed it at her temple:
“If I die, you can record my ability. That would be a huge help to you...”
Scarlett, usually the most timid, showed not a shred of fear in her eyes, even in the face of death.
“Enough!”
Loren roared and slapped the gun out of Scarlett’s hand. The bullet that flew out pierced the ceiling.
If Loren had been even a second late, Scarlett might have really died here.
In fact, Scarlett’s method wasn’t wrong. The World Card could indeed record Witches—Witches and humans were separate entities, and recording a Witch wouldn’t even affect a human.
What’s more, the World Card could actually use the Arcane Ability of the recorded Witch.
From the moment he met Scarlett, Loren had thought that if he had her Arcane Ability, he could speed through everything.
But, Loren didn’t need it.
“What the hell are you thinking?”
Loren wanted to ask why her brain had suddenly gotten sharp at a time like this, but he was afraid Scarlett would actually find a way to carry out this plan.
“Listen up, all of you. From the moment I arrived in this world, I swore no more tragedies would happen. No matter what, I will always protect you.
“The Sea God is an evil god, but an evil god is still a god. Their sense of time is different from ours. When It says ‘soon,’ it could mean hundreds or even thousands of years. We have plenty of time.
“If you stay by my side, I can protect you. But if you leave me, once you’re discovered, you’re as good as dead.
“Don’t think about whether you’ll drag me down. We’re a family. There’s never been any such thing as dragging each other down. We are one—share in glory, share in loss. There’s no separation between us.”
As he spoke, Loren pulled everyone into a hug.
“You... you all...”
At last, Paqina realized something:
“Are you all Witches?”
“What’s the big deal? Aren’t you one too?”
Anna shot back at Paqina, who immediately fell silent.
In her fantasies, she imagined confessing her identity to Loren at some romantic moment. Then she would close her eyes and quietly await either Loren’s blade or his kiss.
Instead, her biggest secret had just been blurted out like that.
“I...”
Paqina didn’t know whether she should be happy or sad. In the end, she sighed and still managed a smile.
At the very least, Loren truly liked Witches.
“Ah-bah, ah-bah...”
Lilith didn’t really understand what was happening. She wore a dazed, adorable expression and clung tightly to Loren.
She didn’t know what was going on, but she loved hugs.
“Alright, thinking so much about this now doesn’t matter. Life has to go on...
“The Angler isn’t far from us now. Let’s kill it, talk to the Merfolk, and then leave.”
“Okay.”
After being comforted by Loren for so long, everyone’s spirits had lifted a bit. Still, a sense of urgency had settled deep in each of their hearts.
“By the way, Mirrorheart, when I came out, it looked like you had something to say. Do you know anything?”
“The apocalypse might be related to The Singers. After all, it falls under Their authority...”
“The Singers, huh...”
If it was The Final Singer, that would be troublesome. Loren really didn’t know how to deal with Them.
Based on the infinite stacking method from Lilith’s story, this Singer wasn’t something that could be handled with raw stats.
“Forget it. We’ll deal with The Singers later. They’re probably just here to clean up the mess left by the Orthodox Gods. As long as we wipe out all the Orthodox Gods before The Singers arrive...”
Loren shifted the topic and asked Paqina:
“Paqina, what’s your Arcane Ability?”
“My Arcane Ability is called Origin Insight. It lets me see the essence of things. That’s how I noticed something was off about Seraphina before...”
“Origin Insight?”
When Loren heard this Arcane Ability, he froze. He was very familiar with it.
It was the very ability of the Sloth Witch he had been searching for.
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