Chapter 1 After Figuring Out the Situation

After figuring out what was going on, the group of witches could only stare at each other awkwardly, perhaps with a hint of fear hidden in their hearts: they hadn't expected that taking such a big risk to rescue someone would end up ruining one of Hesperiana's major plans, and even expose the slumbering place of an ancient vampire. Hesperiana's own anger might not be the most terrifying thing; what was most terrifying was the revenge from the blood clan. For the blood clan, which placed extreme importance on hierarchy and seniority, an ancient ancestor of ten thousand years had an unimaginable status among all blood clans. If those reclusive families knew that a group of witches, eager to show off, had attracted demon hunters to besiege their ancestor's "tomb," would anyone here survive?

These witches still didn't understand the special nature of Vivian, the famous pauper, within the blood clan...

Hao Ren glanced at the indignant Hesperiana and the silent witches, while also wondering how this matter was resolved in the original history. In the original history, there was no participation from himself and Lily, these two powerful external aids, so perhaps the witches' actions simply didn't succeed, or even if they did, they didn't cause too much impact. After all... in the eyes of demon hunters, the threat index of a hundred witches probably wouldn't add up to that of a single werewolf.

"Alright, alright, anyway, what's done is done, we have to consider what to do next," the witches didn't dare to speak, and Barn also remained silent, so Hao Ren had to speak up to break the deadlock. "The demon hunters will definitely receive the message, and the fact that they haven't shown up directly probably means, just like Hesperiana said, that they've gone to request support."

"Sigh—" Hesperiana let out a long breath. "I know, there's no use in getting angry after things have happened. By the way, I haven't asked your name yet, and you're a friend of Vivian, how did you end up mixed up with this group of muddle-headed witches? And what's the deal with this werewolf beside you?"

The little bat spirit looked at Hao Ren with a hint of seriousness and a rather imperceptible respect, apparently Hao Ren's previous efforts to build trust and "prestige" were quite successful.

"My name is Hao Ren, and this werewolf next to me is Lily. Both of us have known Vivian for a long time—you know, Vivian is an anomaly within the blood clan. As long as you don't provoke her, she can get along with any race. As for these witches... I just happened to run into them. At the time, I didn't know your plan, I thought you really got captured, so I followed them to rescue you in a hurry."

"Vivian is friends with werewolves?" Hesperiana stared at Lily as if she were a rare animal, which elicited a widened-eyed stare in return. "She does get along with many races... but with werewolves, it's just 'getting' along, in the literal sense... tsk tsk, this werewolf must be an unprecedented oddball."

If an ordinary werewolf heard Hesperiana's remarks, they would have probably already exploded, but Lily just wrinkled her nose, made a face at Hesperiana, and then lowered her head to munch on her snacks again.

Hesperiana: "...She really is an abnormal one."

"What are you planning to do next?" Hao Ren looked at the little bat spirit. "The demon hunters will come sooner or later, and there definitely won't just be one or two of them this time. Vivian's slumbering place probably can't be protected. Are you going back to Shadow City to call for reinforcements?"

"Shadow City won't send anyone," Hesperiana bit her lip, her face full of contempt. "They're all a bunch of cowards who have been scared out of their wits. It's better to let them die than to have them come out and fight head-on with the demon hunters' hunting squad—and to be honest, no sanctuary today really has the ability to confront demon hunters head-on. Once Shadow City is exposed, it will inevitably be completely besieged by demon hunters, and no one can afford that risk."

It seemed that Hesperiana hadn't yet established her own power in the Athens Sanctuary, lacking the right to speak and appeal. She was just using Vivian's fame to be a leisurely yet unremarkable second-generation noble in that city. No wonder she could only run out to handle this matter alone this time, without even a subordinate by her side.

"Then we can only consider moving Vivian away," Hao Ren wanted to say that if he took action, he might be able to go head-to-head with that group of demon hunters, but then he thought that his real target was Vivian, so he subtly guided the topic without showing any emotion. "Do you know the specific location of her slumber?"

"You don't know?" Hesperiana had a puzzled expression on her face.

"I only roughly know that it's in this area, the specific location isn't clear," Hao Ren spread his hands. "She suddenly ran off the last time she went to sleep."

"Oh, that's in line with her usual style," Hesperiana didn't suspect anything. "What you said is also what I'm thinking... perhaps we can move Vivian out, but it's not easy. I need a few helpers to help me deal with the magic alarms there—you guys, you should all be familiar with shadow magic, right?"

She looked at the witches and the wizard Barn. Madam Marie quickly nodded upon hearing this. "Of course, shadow magic is the foundation of our path to black magic. But... with the strength of our group, can we really be of help to you? That's the slumbering place of an ancient blood clan..."

Obviously, this witch didn't want to be used as cannon fodder by Hesperiana in that mysterious slumbering place.

"Don't worry, as long as you know about shadow power," Hesperiana nodded. "I can handle the most difficult and dangerous parts for you. I just need some manpower to help maintain the stability of the shadow boundary—Vivian is slumbering in an ancient castle nearby, but no one has ever found any clues in the castle. This is because the castle has been enchanted, its true face is always outside the observer's sight, and half of the castle has sunk into an unreachable shadow world. I know the route to that shadow world, but because Vivian is slumbering, she won't open the door for us, so we can only open the door from the outside—wizards, your task is just to prevent shadow power from leaking into the real world during the opening of the door, attracting the attention of the demon hunters. I think you can handle this level of task, right? As long as you can perform well this time, I will write off the trouble you caused this time, and I can also personally take you to Shadow City."

The witches nodded one after another upon hearing this, as this made the difficulty much smaller.

"A key is needed to access the shadow world," Hesperiana said, taking out a small black crystal from who knows where. It looked like a piece of obsidian, but its surface had some pulsating blood-colored threads like breathing. "At the same time, it is also a guiding beacon in the shadows. You should familiarize yourselves with its aura now. If someone accidentally falls into an illusion or a shadow cage after we enter the castle, just follow the direction of this aura and keep walking forward, and you will be able to reunite with me."

The wizard Barn couldn't help but look up and sincerely praise when Hesperiana took out the key: "What pure shadow energy... ordinary human wizards probably couldn't extract such a crystal in their entire lives."

Barn's sigh made the witches nod in agreement, only Lily didn't care: she felt that this black stone wasn't as pretty as the "Wang's Treasures" she had collected...

The black crystal was passed around in everyone's hands, and everyone carefully recorded the magical fluctuations emitted by the crystal. The witches first "circulated" it around, and then Hao Ren and Lily took it over, and finally it was passed to the wizard Barn's hand.

While Barn was carefully stroking the shadow crystal, Hesperiana began to explain her next arrangement: "The demon hunters are probably mobilizing people at this time, and the time left for us is very limited. Everyone should make necessary preparations tonight, and we must set off immediately at dawn, striving to arrive at the castle before noon tomorrow. The midday sun will weaken the shadow power in the castle, and I will be able to break the door faster, while also avoiding alarming the soulless guards in the shadow world—this time Vivian has been slumbering for more than two hundred years in one breath, and the soulless guards she has set up have probably become particularly violent, so let's avoid as much trouble as possible..."

Hesperiana was only halfway through her words when Hao Ren suddenly felt a strong sense of crisis in his heart.

And Hesperiana was only a moment slower than him, and her expression changed drastically as well. "Be careful!"

Several bright silver threads suddenly appeared in the misty air, these were the trajectories left by the holy silver crossbow bolts tearing through the air. Hesperiana and Lily instantly pounced and dodged in different directions, and Hao Ren also strengthened his rigid shield as soon as possible. However, the witches didn't react so quickly: one witch was hit in various vital parts by three crossbow bolts in the blink of an eye, and before she could even let out a scream, she was devoured by the divine power on the crossbow bolts, and the whole person was ignited into a raging human-shaped torch and quickly turned to ashes. Two other witches, although they were lucky enough to avoid fatal injuries, were grazed by the powerful energy carried by the crossbow bolts, and fell to the ground seriously injured on the spot!

Following closely, all kinds of rune spells and more crossbow bolts flew in from all directions, as if the scythe of the Grim Reaper swept through the air, the killing intent filled the sky!

The witches seemed to realize what had happened, and screamed in unison:

"Demon hunters! It's demon hunters!"

"Find cover quickly!"

"Hide, hide!"

While casting their respective protective spells to buy time, everyone quickly looked for places to hide. The wizard Barn summoned large patches of earthen barriers to block the direction with the most intense attacks, which allowed people a moment to catch their breath. Hesperiana squatted behind an overturned statue, preparing a counterattack spell while gritting her teeth: "Damn it, how did they get here so fast!"

Hao Ren shouted loudly: "Obviously, these demon hunters didn't go to headquarters for support, they came straight here!"