Chapter 9: Extraterrestrial Guests

Description

The wind in Granitnuo Forest seemed colder than usual, and the days since Antuxi left were much harder for Tunzuo to endure than she had imagined.

For the first few days, Tunzuo was immersed in the grief of losing her guardian.

She sat on a broken wall, hugging her long, umbrella-style magic wand called Huanye as she stared blankly at the moon, but soon, the instinct for survival forced Tunzuo to face a cruel reality—she was hungry.

It was not the craving for cake or dessert, but a hunger and thirst that seemed to be draining her from the very depths of her soul.

“This dump… why is there not even a trace of magic power?”

Tunzuo frowned tightly, looking at the mutated wild boar she had just pierced with a shadow spear.

But Tunzuo wasn’t sure if she should even call the creature in front of her a “wild boar.”

Its body was the size of an adult boar, but its skin was not normal pigskin; it was a translucent, gelatinous substance, as if its body were filled with some high-pressure liquid.

Through the wrinkled skin, one could clearly see the chaotic and entangled internal organs—the heart was actually located in the waist and abdomen, and the stomach hung from its neck like a squirming tumor.

The most disgusting part was its back, where the spine should have been; instead, more than 10 long, thin limbs similar to human arms grew densely.

These limbs were pale and weak, and the finger joints were scratching the air unconsciously, as if begging for something.

“Ugh… how could this disgusting creature even grow like this?”

Tunzuo fought back her nausea, and the Huanye in her hand turned into a shadow spear, piercing the beast’s neck.

The beast let out a strange howl; the sound did not resemble a pig squealing, but rather dozens of people screaming shrilly.

Tunzuo opened her mouth and bit into the beast’s neck, and the fishy, foul-smelling liquid flowed down her throat.

“Pfft! It tastes terrible! And… there is no magic power at all…”

Tunzuo spat out the fur in her mouth in disgust, her face turning even paler.

As a witch, Tunzuo’s energy source was high-purity magic power.

During her training with Antuxi, she either devoured alchemical products specially made by her or absorbed the vast amounts of magic power Antuxi radiated casually; she had never experienced the taste of food shortage.

But now that Antuxi was gone, Tunzuo realized that the world she was in was practically a desert of magic power.

The magic power drifting in the air was pitifully thin, like a few drops of water remaining in a dried-up riverbed, nowhere near enough to satisfy a witch of her level.

“If this keeps up, I’m going to turn into a mummy…”

Tunzuo sighed and stood up shakily.

In order to find food, she had to drag her magic-starved body and begin wandering through this desolate, ruined world.

She walked through city ruins that had once been prosperous but were now reduced to crumbling walls, and she saw disgusting beasts twisted and driven mad by magic radiation.

This world seemed to have suffered some kind of devastating blow; the earth was cracked, the sky was always gray, and occasionally one could see the remains of huge, long-dead machines half-buried in the sand, silently telling the story of past glory and destruction.

“Was this place… also a battlefield for witches in the past?”

Tunzuo touched a broken stone tablet.

It was carved with runes she couldn’t read, but the lingering aura made her feel a hint of familiarity.

“Whatever, it’s none of my business. I just want to find a place to sleep now…”

Tunzuo was in bad shape.

Because of the lack of magic, the magic circuits in her body had begun to run sluggishly.

Her already pale skin started to become transparent, and even her dark green pupils had dimmed considerably.

She had tried to prey on those mutated beasts, but the magic power contained within them was too little and full of impurities.

Every time she ate one, Tunzuo had to expend a lot of effort to filter out those impurities, which was a net loss.

“So tired… really so tired…”

Tunzuo walked to the depths of a relatively sheltered canyon.

There was a large, flat rock here where sunlight barely reached.

The cold and dampness were the perfect bed for Tunzuo.

“No, if I don’t eat something, I’m going to starve to death… but there’s really nothing edible here…”

Tunzuo leaned against the rock, and her body slowly slumped until she collapsed on the ground.

She knew she had to find a way to solve this problem, but faced with extreme weakness, any thought seemed pale and powerless.

“How about… I just take a nap first?”

Tunzuo thought vaguely.

“Maybe if I fall asleep, I won’t be hungry… maybe when I wake up, I’ll find something good to eat…”

This was an instinct of a living creature facing a dead end—hibernation.

Tunzuo stopped resisting the sleepiness that surged like a tide.

She closed her eyes, and her body began to slowly sink into the shadow of the rock.

But before falling into a complete sleep, Tunzuo needed to do one last thing—find herself a bodyguard.

“Shadow Kin… hear my command…”

Tunzuo’s voice was weak and hoarse.

She lifted her hand, her fingertips tracing an obscure and elegant trajectory in the void.

[In The Name Of The End, Weave The Net Of Night]

[Sleeping In The Deceptive, Watching In The Silence]

[Gather Shadows Into A Python, Protect Me In My Slumber]

Following Tunzuo’s low chant, the shadow beneath her began to boil violently.

A behemoth was taking shape.

The black mist condensed, stretched, and hardened, eventually turning into a giant python that was dozens of meters long.

The giant python was covered in pitch-black scales.

Each scale looked like a black mirror, reflecting the dead world around it.

Its hideous vertical pupils were two clusters of burning, dark green ghost fire, emitting the pressure of a predator.

The Shadow Python was the manifestation of Tunzuo’s magic power and willpower; it was her most loyal guardian—a Shadow Beast.

This was a summoning spell Antuxi had taught Tunzuo.

“Guard this place… whoever dares to wake me up… eat them…”

After Tunzuo said this, she lost consciousness.

Her figure completely merged into the shadow beneath the giant python, and she entered a long state of semi-hibernation.

The giant python slowly coiled up, surrounding the rock where Tunzuo slept.

It raised its head high, its dark green eyes staring fixedly at the entrance of the canyon like a statue from hell, unmoving.

Time passed bit by bit, but for Tunzuo, who had fallen into a deep sleep, time had lost all meaning.

Maybe a day had passed, maybe a month, until one day, the originally dim sky was suddenly torn apart by a dazzling red light.

Rumble—!

The huge roar shattered the tranquility of the canyon.

A silver battleship, several hundred meters long, slammed into the planet’s atmosphere with terrifying inertia.

Complex magic circles flowed across the surface of the battleship, and blue ion flames ejected from the stern, leaving a long trail in the sky.

[WARNING! WARNING! Atmospheric Friction Coefficient Is Abnormal! Magic Concentration Is 98% Below Standard Value!]

[Correcting Landing Posture… Searching For A Safe Landing Site…]

Inside the battleship, alarms rang one after another.

“Damn it, the environment in this dump is even worse than I imagined!”

In the cockpit, a short-haired girl in a red tight-fitting combat suit was sweating profusely as she operated the console.

Her name was Liuli, a high-ranking Red Kite witch who specialized in fire magic.

“According to the star chart, this should be the abandoned planet labeled K-739. Based on the data, it was completely destroyed during the Great Witch Expedition 300 years ago.”

Sitting in the co-pilot seat was a tall, intellectual-looking witch with long, pointed ears.

Her name was Huana, a high-ranking Elf witch proficient in nature and healing magic.

“The magic concentration is too low. Even maintaining the basic shield of the battleship is a struggle.”

Huana frowned, looking at the bright red error data on the screen.

“Captain, are we really going to land here? What if this junk ship falls apart?”

“What are you afraid of? We are a Class-B Witch Exploration Team!”

Sitting in the captain’s seat was a mature woman with a gentle temperament and deep blue long hair.

Her name was Anlin, a high-ranking Siren witch.

She was the captain of this team and the most powerful of the three high-ranking witches.

“According to the monitoring report sent back by the starport, a terrifyingly high-energy magic reaction suddenly appeared on this planet 3 years ago.

That fluctuation even penetrated the nebula and triggered the starport’s emergency alarm.”

Anlin pointed to the light point still flickering faintly on the screen.

“If it were before, I would have thought it was some ancient relic waking up, but that energy fluctuation was too pure. It didn’t look like a relic at all, but rather… some kind of living thing.”

“A living thing? You mean a powerful witch once operated here?”

Liuli’s eyes lit up.

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t we be rich? If we can find the lost technology of a powerful witch or an unrecorded witch inheritance, the points for this exploration would be maxed out! We might even be promoted directly to a Class-A team!”

“Don’t get your hopes up; it could also be some kind of dangerous magic beast.”

Huana poured cold water on Liuli.

“We’ve come all this way, so we certainly can’t go back empty-handed. Captain, where is the treasure most likely to be hidden?”

“There is a canyon area near the center of the planet. It is the only place on the entire planet with a high magic concentration response.”

Anlin operated the battleship, slowly lowering its altitude.

“Prepare to land, girls. Keep your spirits up. No matter what is down there, don’t let your guard down.”

The battleship let out a low roar and finally stopped on a relatively flat wasteland.

The hatch opened, and three beautiful figures leaped off the battleship.

Anlin was wearing a deep blue trench coat and holding a strangely shaped staff.

A sky-blue gem was embedded at the top of the staff, emitting a gentle, water-like glow.

Liuli wore a fire-red short skirt and carried a heavy, crimson greatsword, looking both sexy and violent.

Huana wore a cyan-green robe and carried a white branch magic wand, her temperament cold and ethereal.

“So desolate…”

Liuli stepped on the cracked ground and kicked a stone away in disgust.

“There’s not even a bug. Is there really going to be treasure in this place?”

“Don’t speak. My magic perception is reacting.”

Huana closed her eyes, feeling the weak flow of magic in the air.

“Deep in the canyon ahead, there is a very stable high-magic fluctuation. Although it is masked by some kind of power, I can still sense its existence.”

“Then let’s go.”

Anlin waved her hand, and the three turned into three streaks of light, flying toward the canyon.

And when the witch team arrived at the depths of the canyon, the sight before them made the three well-informed high-ranking witches gasp in shock.

“What… what kind of monster is this?”

Liuli pointed forward, her voice trembling slightly.

At the very bottom of the canyon, a massive, pitch-black python was coiled there.

Its body resembled a dark mountain, and the soul-stirring shadow aura was terrifying.

Under the protection of the python, a huge rock was flickering with a faint, ghostly light.

The high-magic fluctuation that had led Anlin and the others here was coming from that rock.

“Such a strong shadow aura…”

Huana tightened her grip on her magic wand, her face becoming somber.

“This is definitely not an ordinary magic beast. Its soul strength… might even exceed ours.”

“Whatever it is, let’s take it out first! We can just kill it and study it later!”

Liuli was short-tempered; she grabbed her crimson greatsword and was about to rush up.

“Wait!”

Anlin grabbed Liuli.

“Don’t be impulsive. Look at the giant python’s eyes.”

Anlin pointed at the giant python’s dark green vertical pupils.

“It’s not attacking us. It’s just… guarding something.”

“Guarding?”

Liuli tilted her head in confusion.

“Guarding that broken rock? Could it be that there’s some treasure inside the stone?!”

“No matter what it is, since we’re here, we definitely have to check it out.”

Anlin took a deep breath, and her staff tapped the ground lightly.

“Prepare for battle. If it dares to move, kill it without mercy.”

The three witches cautiously closed in, and as they approached, the silent giant python finally reacted.

It slowly raised its head, and the dark green ghost fire in its pupils burned violently.

A terrifying pressure swept across the entire canyon in an instant.

“Hiss—”

The giant python let out a low hiss, the sound filled with warning and cruelty.

It slowly raised its upper body, its massive frame blocking out the sky as it attempted to swallow the three uninvited guests before it.

“It seems it doesn’t want to let us pass.”

Liuli licked her lips, the desire for battle in her eyes growing even stronger.

“Then let’s fight! Just in time to try my new move on it!”

“Watch out!”

Anlin shouted.

As she waved her staff, a sky-blue water curtain instantly spread out in front of the three.

Because the next second, the Shadow Python had already opened its bloody mouth, and a jet-black shadow flame, carrying the power to destroy everything, came rushing toward them!