The Stagnant Witch’s Survival Method

Kayla wore an expression of disbelief.
She probably expected to hear some unpleasant words, but she didn’t expect to be told so blatantly to get lost.
While she was in a daze, I drove the point home even further.

“I don’t accept it. I won’t do it. I won’t associate with you at all, so never approach me again.”
“Ha, ha… You, have you gone mad?”

Even though there’s a hierarchy between ranks, Kayla couldn’t accept the situation where I was ignoring her so blatantly without any respect.
But what are you going to do about it, fight here?
I wasn’t particularly afraid.

Kayla’s eyes turned red.
As our gazes met, tension flowed.
With a hardened face, she opened her mouth.

“This won’t do, I need to make you feel the difference in rank personally to bring you to your senses.”

A red aura enveloped the surroundings.
A force fired at an invisible speed towards one of my arms.
She probably wouldn’t kill me, but I could feel her intent to cut off one of my arms.
Isn’t this reaction a bit cruel just for touching her temper?

As a golden transparent veil burst out, the air trembled finely.

[Dark Sphere]

A dark sphere formed above my hand.
I could probably use Rank 7 magic now, but I haven’t properly learned any and the after-effects would be large.
So I should mainly use Rank 8 magic.
The sphere swelled towards Kayla, who had her eyes wide open.
If she had stood there blankly like that, she might have been swept away and killed by the sphere.

But she reacted before that.
It must be the effect of the .
A power that reads movements and allows perfect reactions.
Good eyes meant she could read all the flows in battle.

She rolled on the ground.
As it happened to be a muddy ground, her whole body was covered in mud.
With an expression that seemed not just hurt in pride but torn to pieces, Kayla looked at me.

“Even if you contracted with a powerful demon, this is an incomprehensible level.”

She quickly got up and stepped forward.
Black magic energy and blood-red vital energy slowly enveloped the surroundings.
Blood poured from her hand, forming a blood-made sword.

“To think I’d have to use this against a mere Rank 9.”

Kayla with her blood sword shot forward.
As that speed was about to become a spear piercing through the air, I immediately reacted to avoid it.

But the red light of the Demon Eyes completely saw through my movement.
This is why the difference in rank is so huge.
Without my special abilities, mental fortitude, and contract with a powerful demon, I wouldn’t even be able to compete at all.

The sword aimed at my arm once more, and the golden barrier blocked it.
Kayla narrowed her brows and swung the sword again.
With a sound of air being torn, the blood-made blade almost touched my body in an instant.

But this time too, the barrier blocked it.
With strong resistance, the blood sword was deflected.
A loud boom resounded.
-Kwaaang!

“How annoying, but you can’t use that infinitely, can you?”

From Rank 7, witches become quite powerful in close combat due to the effect of Demon Eyes.
Like how she can rampage like a madwoman with a sword.
Moreover, she must have contracted with a demon who was a swordsman, as it synergized even more with those Demon Eyes.

Bang-!

Again, a huge explosion burst out before her sword could touch my body.
It was magic I created to push her away.
I partly wanted to test my power right after rising to Rank 8, but it feels like things are getting bigger.
But if I was going to consider such things, I would have restrained myself from the start.
Having decided to change my action strategy, I didn’t particularly refuse this struggle with her.
Besides, I had some confidence too.

And to gauge how strong I am.

[Dark Spear]

A spear of black shadow is created.
One way or another, using Rank 8 magic was less strenuous.
I take a stance and throw it.
As I throw the spear of magical energy gathered in my hand, it instantly heads towards Kayla’s forehead.

Kwaaaang-!

As I throw the spear from a distance, a large explosion spreads a wide cloud of dust.
The aftermath must have been considerable, as small structures around were swept away by the wind.

And I couldn’t watch this comfortably.
Her rank was too high to be taken down by just that, and sure enough, I saw a small figure escaping from the dust cloud.

-Swooosh!

That figure soon rushed right in front of me.
Certainly, I can’t underestimate Rank 7.
A smooth hand that dug deep into my body grabbed my collar.
There was no time to block.
It was too fast to react, and not threatening enough for my power to automatically respond.

It just grabbed my clothes.
In that state, she slammed me to the ground.

Kwaaang-!

“Kyaaak!”

It feels like my bones are breaking. No, they probably did break.
How can being grabbed and thrown by hand feel like being tossed in a traffic accident?
Transcendent strength firmly gripped my body, and the blood-made sword aimed at my forearm.

“If you submit now, I won’t cut.”
“Ha, I’ve been thinking this all along, but you really are monsters that can’t be associated with.”
“Still running your mouth…”
“Flash Sword.”

Slash-!

I had a hidden power to induce carelessness.
No matter how hard and tough one becomes as they rise in rank, in the end, human flesh is still human flesh.
And it’s not harder than stone, right?

Kayla looked over her shoulder with unbelieving eyes.
Below that was cleanly empty.
You’ve been trying to cut my arm off all this time? I should return the favor.

“Keu, aaaaaaaaargh!!”

She writhes in terrible pain, clutching the empty space where her arm was cut off.
Watching Kayla rolling on the ground, I staggeringly got up.
Ah, it really is broken.
How long will it take to recover from this?

“I won, huh?”

I actually predicted it, but I didn’t know if I could really win.
I have various powers and my own methods, but the decisive reason was indeed her carelessness.
She didn’t think she would lose to a mere infinitely weak young witch of Rank 9, so this result came about.

But is a Rank 7 still a Rank 7 even like this?
I was a bit daunted by the sight of her staggeringly getting up even with one arm blown off.
Just in case, I tried to use Flash Sword one more time, but her red eyes saw through the trajectory of the sword.

What worked once didn’t work twice.
Hmm, that’s a bit disappointing.
I immediately picked up my broom.
I had no intention of continuing to fight against her as she was about to go berserk.

“Where… are you trying to escape to?”

Her smooth, beautiful voice gradually changes into something bizarre.
One of the most powerful witch abilities.

That beautiful body was gradually showing traces of a monster.
This, I really need to fly away.

As I was about to fly at high speed on my broom, a sharp, long blood line stretched out towards me.
Crack, the golden transparent barrier blocked it again, but that blood line didn’t stop at one.
Crack-!
This time twice.
I really used up all the times.

I was about to close my eyes tightly and grab the broom, intending to flee while taking the blood line that was being fired again.
From the sky, a heavy presence came crashing down.

It’s a face that I’ve seen often enough to feel quite welcome now.
Elender.
She muttered while grabbing Kayla.

“We clearly warned you.”
“Let go…”
“Even Carmia, whom you serve, swore. You’ve already crossed the line.”
“I said let go…!”

As Elender opened her mouth and quietly chanted something, the true power of Rank 7 came crashing down from the sky.
Magic that couldn’t be compared to Kayla, who rose through tricks and dependence on demons.

[Black Lightning Current]

The magic that had torn apart monsters before descended.
Perhaps because the power was enhanced, when the lightning burst out, a ringing filled my ears with only a beep- sound, and the windows of buildings shattered all at once.

I tightly closed my eyes at the darkness that was impossible to handle.
The current of darkness swallowed the surrounding light.
My head was still dizzy.
Barely supporting my body that was about to collapse, I looked ahead with my returned vision, and in front of Elender, only torn witch robes remained.

She silently looked at the traces of Kayla.

I asked, just in case.
Although it was a satisfying and good thing that she died, if a big civil war breaks out in the Witch Society because of this, it would become a troublesome problem for me.

“Will it be okay?”
“From the moment she broke Elder Carmia’s oath not to approach you in any way, there won’t be anyone to speak up for her even if she dies like this.”

Come to think of it, Elder Elune did say that this wouldn’t happen again.
Since she can’t always protect me, she must have set up some kind of device, and that device must be Carmia’s oath?

Once Kayla broke that and approached me, Elender had a justification to kill her.

“Then, that’s fortunate.”
“Phew, so are you okay?”
“Ah, well, I’m fine…”

Thud.
As soon as I spoke, my body collapsed to the ground.
Was this the natural result of fighting an enemy one rank higher?
Elender looked at me with an exasperated expression and said,

“Now that I see, you really push your body hard, Grace.”
“Ehhh, my cheek, my cheek hurts.”
“That’s the point, you rascal.”

She stretched my cheek like it was rice cake, and I had to suffer through it.
Should I say this is the price I paid for being too cocky right after promoting to Rank 8?
If I had organized my realm more and trained, I could have won easily.

But Kayla appeared too quickly and wafted her dirty blood smell at me.
Being right next to it really made my irritation soar.

So I fought, and somehow the result turned out like this.

Elender, who was holding me tightly, made an apologetic expression.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think this would happen despite our promise.”
“It can’t be helped.”

I’m not such a cold-blooded person that I don’t consider such circumstances.
She approached me on her own without listening to the oath made by her leader, what could be done?
Rather, it wasn’t so bad for me.
It was a good experience to face a Rank 7 once.

Thinking this, I was about to open my mouth.

But my body fainted first.
I must have been quite tired.

**

“It’s sweet.”

Carmia smiled as she drank the blood in her teacup.
To her, the taste of blood was always sweet and delicious.
The ecstasy that rises when she happens to be covered in that blood is a pleasure that’s hard to bear.

“I want to drink it every day, bathe in it every day, but that old Elune, how she cherishes those livestock so much.”

She said this to the woman lying on the bed as she completely emptied the blood in her tea.
Putting down the teacup with red energy remaining, Elder Carmia turned around and looked around.

Corpses, corpses, and more corpses.
Hundreds of corpses filled the room.

“Elder Isoldia, it’s time for you to wake up.”
“…”
“Well, even if you don’t want to wake up, you should. We have so much to do together.”

Carmia looked at Isoldia, one of the only three elders of the Witch Society who was severely injured and still collapsed, and smiled contentedly.

“Originally, it wasn’t Elder Isoldia’s role, but another child’s, but Elder Elune is protecting that child too much.”
“…”
“We plan to bring that child after things are finished, so please stop resting now.”
“Carmia.”

The eyes of the collapsed woman slowly opened.
Isoldia spoke in a very calm voice.

“You’ve done something very dirty.”
“Dirty, you say?”

Carmia smiled widely, not a ceremonial smile, but one that almost split her mouth.

“It’s to fill the empty seat of the Witch Society’s leader.”
“You can’t be sure she’s dead, can you?”
“But the fact that she hasn’t returned until now means one of two things. Either she’s dead.”

Carmia raised two fingers and then folded her middle finger, then her index finger.

“Or she’s abandoned us.”