"Wait, so you're actually the Sloth Witch!"
Loren cupped Paqina's face, enunciating each word, leaving her completely bewildered.
"What Sloth Witch? I'm not lazy at all..."
"Never mind..."
Loren released Paqina's face. This was really hard to explain.
The Sloth Witch being the most diligent—that made perfect sense.
"It's a shame I sent all those zombies' heads to Noah. If you were there, figuring out the principle behind their transformation would've been easy..."
"Did you notice anything from those zombies before?"
"I didn't look closely enough back then, so I didn't find much... but I did notice there wasn't much magical residue on them. It was like they weren't zombies controlled by a necromancer at all, more like... mantises controlled by horsehair worms."
"Any trace of curses?"
Loren thought for a moment before asking. Paqina simply shook her head.
"None."
"Why? It can't be that they're actually controlled by a virus, can it?"
Loren was struggling to process this. He'd considered many possibilities, with curses being the most likely—using them to turn people into zombies, then spreading the curse through contact.
A virus seemed really unlikely. After all, this was a magic-dominated Western fantasy world. Having something so scientific pop up was genuinely unscientific.
"Forget it, there's no point dwelling on this now. We'll figure it out when we get back. Maybe Noah's already researched the zombies' principle."
Noah was a talent in physics. Making him study biology was a bit of a mismatch.
"Everyone, go rest for now. I'll call you when we find the Angler."
"Actually, you don't even need to show up. I can handle killing the Angler myself."
Loren yawned as he walked into the cabin, with everyone else following behind him. After everything that had just happened, there was no way they could stay as carefree as before.
"Master Mentor... how can we help you?"
On the way back, Naclis suddenly spoke up.
"Hmm..."
Loren fell into thought. The Witches were strong, but not strong enough—they couldn't participate in the truly high-stakes battles.
To qualify for entry into Loren's future plans, they needed to have the strength of an Angel.
Witch power was heavily dependent on mentality. If they blackened, they could instantly gain Angel-level strength.
And all it would take for them to blacken was for Loren to fake his death. The emotional groundwork was already laid perfectly.
"Train your Arcane Ability more. It has a suppressive effect on the Orthodox Gods."
Loren had no intention of using this method. He would never harm the Witches in any way, especially not through something that would inflict such severe emotional damage.
"Arcane Ability, huh..."
Naclis glanced at her own shadow. Reflection poked her head out to greet her, startling Paqina.
She quickly realized this was the effect of an Arcane Ability and also understood why Naclis sometimes acted so strangely—that wasn't her at all.
"Why are you all crowding around?"
On the ship, everyone had their own room, yet they were all crammed together around Loren right now.
"After what you just said, how could we possibly feel at ease?"
"Fine..."
Since Laila had put it that way, there wasn't much Loren could do.
He knew he shouldn't have revealed things this early, but he was afraid he wouldn't have time to explain later.
"I'll write down the materials and procedures for the Severance Ritual. Memorize all of it. That way, even if Mirrorheart and I aren't around, you'll still have a way to deal with the Orthodox Gods."
Loren took out paper and a pen and began writing.
Instinctively, Loren was making preparations for a rainy day again. But from the Witches' perspective, it looked like he was making his final arrangements.
The only ones keeping their cool besides Mirrorheart were Lilith, who still wore that dazed, adorable expression while lying on Loren's lap.
With one hand writing the ritual on paper and the other stroking Lilith's face, she smiled blissfully.
She had probably fully believed what Loren just said—that even if he died, he would come back to life. That was why she wasn't worried.
Soon, Loren finished writing the first ritual. It filled several sheets of paper. The Severance Ritual was extremely complex, after all—a fundamental ritual capable of directly severing a concept.
"This paper contains the Bountifulness Severance Ritual. It can strip away the concept of Bountifulness. It's for dealing with the God of Bountiful Harvest. Memorize it."
"This..."
Scarlett leaned in to look at what was written on the paper and instantly felt like she might faint.
"Scarlett, you don't need to look. Your job is just to provide materials when the others need them."
"Oh."
Scarlett let out a silly laugh and stepped back.
"Master Mentor."
Just as Loren was about to write down the second ritual, Lilith suddenly spoke up.
"What's wrong?"
Loren stroked Lilith's hair as he spoke.
Right now, he felt somewhat guilty toward Lilith. He had dragged her into these conflicts. She wasn't a Witch—she had no reason to oppose the Church at all.
If Loren hadn't taken her away, she could have lived her whole life in the Uridia Kingdom until he dealt with the Orthodox Gods.
When that time came, she could still live normally—she'd just have to be careful about the sun.
"The next time you come back to life, will you come find me first?"
Loren hadn't expected Lilith to say that. He'd even considered the possibility that she might want to leave.
"Hmm, I promise."
After receiving Loren's affirmation, Lilith didn't smile like she usually did. Instead, she extended her finger.
"Let's pinky swear this time. I'll never forget you, and you'll never forget me, okay?"
Lilith held out her fair pinky finger, her blood-red eyes filled with seriousness.
"Alright."
Loren reached out and hooked his pinky with hers.
Lilith's innocence brought an involuntary smile to Loren's face. No matter how troubled he felt, seeing her face always calmed him down.
After hooking pinkies with Loren, Lilith suddenly began adding to her words.
"If you can't come to me first after resurrecting... second is fine too. Anna probably needs you more than I do... and Naclis too... come to me third, okay..."
Lilith thought hard, pushing her own position further and further back.
"Just... make sure you come find me. I'll wait for you, no matter how long."
"Even if I have to wait until black and white swap places again..."
Her voice grew softer and softer, less confident.
"If you can't come find me... that's fine too. Just remember me, okay... That's settled!"
Lilith suddenly smiled and pressed her thumb against Loren's.
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