Sometime after Astoria and Ember stopped in front of the cave entrance with wary expressions, Helia and the others caught up.
“What’s the matter? Is there something wrong with—”
“Leave now, and you may be spared. Otherwise, enter and die!”
Helia’s question was quickly interrupted by the Fallen Witch’s ghastly voice that echoed out from the depths of the cave.
“Oh. That’s the problem,” Helia uttered with surprise upon realization.
Just like Astoria and Ember, her expression quickly turned solemn as she stared into the darkness of the cave entrance.
A Fallen Witch was not necessarily strong, but even High Witches could be harmed or killed by them through curses and other dark magic, which were very troublesome to handle and treat.
“But this voice is a little familiar…” Helia softly muttered with furrowed brows shortly after, causing Astoria and Ember to turn their attention to her.
“You recognize who the voice belongs to, Lord Helia?” Ember quickly before she suddenly paused and recalled something.
“Now that I think about it, didn’t you enter these caves with Lord Aeliana a few years back? Have you known about this Fallen Witch since the incident with Lord Aeliana?”
“You know, it’s a grave crime to shield a Fallen Witch instead of reporting them upon discovery, Lord Helia,” Ember mentioned solemnly.
However, Helia quickly denied Ember’s suspicions with a shake of her head, “Absolutely not, Marquis Ember. If I had known there was a Fallen Witch here, would I still be surprised like you?”
“However, it is also true that I kind of recognize this Fallen Witch’s voice, no matter how ghastly it became,” Helia openly added shortly after.
“Who is it? It shouldn’t be Lord Aeliana, right?” Ember guessed before casually adding, “After all, she turned into a Plant-type Abomination and was executed by her mother a few years back.”
“You don’t actually believe that, do you, Marquis Ember?” Helia made a forced smile and said, “If Lady Solana truly killed her daughter back then, the Curse of the Purple Umbala wouldn’t still be around.”
“Lady Solana may have fooled everyone for a year. But after three years? Anyone would start to suspect that the Plant-type Abomination was still alive, even possibly roaming freely in these mountains.”
“But it’s unheard of for an Abomination to recover their minds and become a Fallen Witch,” Astoria mentioned.
“I never said that familiar voice belonged to Lord Aeliana,” Helia stated.
“That said, I won’t deny the possibility that Abominations can recover their intelligence and become Fallen Witches. After all, we have to assume anything is possible when it involves magic.”
“However, this Fallen Witch’s voice isn’t Lord Aeliana’s,” Helia conclusively stated, yet at the same time, seemingly avoiding the main question.
Nevertheless, Ember wasn’t going to let her go until she gave her an answer.
“Then who is it? You have to give me an answer, Lord Helia,” Ember interrogated with a firm tone before adding a threat, “Otherwise, I will have to suspect that you are colluding with a Fallen Witch to bring harm to the kingdom.”
“It’s… my elder sister, whom I thought had passed away for thirty years now,” Helia said with a sigh.
“Your… elder sister?” Astoria glanced at Helia with surprise.
At the same time, she quickly understood the reason for Helia’s hesitation.
Lord Helia wasn’t always the Lord of Redpine City; the position of Lord of Redpine City originally belonged to her elder sister, Elvira Ashenborn.
During the Holy War, Elvira Ashenborn burned away much of lifeforce to slay many demons and protect her young sister at the same time.
As such, the discovery of Elvira Ashenborn being alive must have weighed on Lord Helia’s mind.
“You should understand that even if Elvira Ashenborn is alive, she is no longer your elder sister. She has become a Fallen Witch, someone who has delved into forbidden magic, corrupted her soul, and joined the dark side. She is now an enemy of all witches and humans,” Astoria mentioned.
“Abominations can still be spared for research, but Fallen Witches have to be killed on sight,” Ember firmly stated.
“I will be adjusting this expedition’s objective. Hunting the remnant members of the Assembly of Silent Night is secondary. Slaying the Fallen Witch is our primary objective. Nevertheless, nothing is more dangerous than blindly entering an evil witch’s lair.”
“Those who want to stay, stay. As for those who want to leave, now is the time for you to fuck off,” Ember stated harshly, leaving no face for any cowards that may want to go.
At the same time, her words served as some mental pressure that prevented people from quitting. People can leave, but not without being shamed.
Even so, fifty hired mercenaries still left, leaving behind only a hundred and fifty Senior Witches and Aura Masters, who were mostly part of Lord Helia’s private troops or Ember’s expedition force.
Only a few hired mercenaries remained, and they were all Aura Grandmasters.
The rest were either part of the group that just left, killed along the way by the other wolf-men, or still recuperating from their wounds in the camp.
Shortly after, Ember increased her fire output, shooting a huge ball of blazing flames in the sky before it scattered into different directions.
All the trees in the area were quickly reduced to ashes along with the minuscule antimagic spores in the air, creating a cursed-free zone.
“Rest up and restore your strength. It will be needed for what we may have to face inside,” Ember instructed the remaining people that stayed behind.
Shortly after, she turned to Astoria and Helia.
“We need to figure out how we want to deal with this Fallen Witch,” Ember said objectively.
“Right…” Astoria nodded before inputting her opinion, “The Fallen Witch must have orchestrated Lord Aeliana’s tragedy. But for the Fallen Witch to only reveal herself now, it must mean she has some confidence in dealing with all of us.”
“I am of the same opinion, Headmaster Astoria. Lady Elvira disappeared thirty years ago. Thirty years is a lot of time for a Fallen Witch to grow. I’m afraid the Fallen Witch has grown extremely powerful by now,” Ember mentioned before turning to Helia. “What do you think, Lord Helia?”
“I… I have the same thoughts,” Helia replied, but her mind was seemingly elsewhere.