The Harvester

Chapter 167: The White Witch

A few moments before Kaelith found Rakna, Flavia and Tyran were facing the Boss on the last floor of the Dungeon. It was a giant zombie with two heads. Its eyes were red and crazed and it wielded a spiky chain that was wrapped around its waist, upper body, and arms.

“RRAAAAA!!” The zombie yelled and brought his two fists to the ground. It shook the entire floor and dug a sizeable crater. The chain was dragged by the movement and turned into a deadly whip headed in Flavia’s direction.

She calmly eyed the weapon and her pupils dilated as her telekinesis bent its trajectory so that it would be buried next to her. She then decreased her weight with gravity and flew toward the head of the zombie with her sword at the ready.

At the same time, Tyran charged at full size and stomped on the zombie’s arms before it could lift them again. He then bit into one of its necks, causing it to roar in anger. Flavia came soon after and applied telekinetic pressure on her blade before stabbing the second neck with all the momentum she had accumulated through her flight.

She twisted the greatsword and widened the wound until the muscles around were weak enough for her to use her telekinesis again. She concentrated all of it on the open gash and huffed as the giant’s neck snapped loudly. As if on cue, Tyran managed to tear out the second head along with a part of the zombie’s spine.

When the two were done, they jumped back and watched the Boss stagger before it collapsed on the ground, immobile. Flavia sighed when she was sure that it was over. “It was a bit tricky… but where is the hidden part Rakna mentioned?” As she said so, a System window appeared.

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❮ ◈ ❯

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You have completed Marie’s Tomb!

Difficulty: Normal.

Number of Participants: 1 | Average Level of Participants: 51.

Rewards: 10 000 Talys, Manesis Chest plate.

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—

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The Host has been detected to be eligible for the Hidden Floor!

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Do you wish to leave regardless?

Yes/No

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❮ ◈ ❯

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“Well, that’s right on time,” she commented with a smile and selected no. Immediately after, the body of the two-headed zombie doll dispersed into particles and in its place, the earth was pushed to the sides to reveal a wide underground staircase.

Flavia nodded at Tyran, who shrunk his body a little so that he could enter without trouble, and they started going down the stairs. There was nothing fancy about the slanted tunnel and it didn’t appear either old or new.

When they reached the bottom, the sight that was presented to them was a spacious room with a high roof. The floor was tiled with expensive-looking material and the walls seemed to be covered in something similar to plaster. There were also several paintings and statues as decoration.

Other than that, there was pretty much nothing else. However, there was one notable thing. At the far back, there was a massive painting that took nearly the entire surface of the wall it was hanged on to. The painting was the portrait of a beautiful woman with snowy hair and eyes. Her clothes were also pure white and her skin was extremely pale.

“I wonder if that’s supposed to be the Marie from whom this Dungeon was named,” Flavia thought out loud and tried to get closer to the painting when Tyran suddenly blocked her path with one of his legs. “Tyran…?”

The fledgling Asura snarled and lowered his center of balance whilst glaring at the painting. Flavia also decided to take a closer look and after half a minute, she gasped as the woman depicted moved her eyes to look at them.

“Hm… that beast has quite the flair,” her mouth moved as she spoke. “I wanted to do it quickly and without disruption. I just needed her to get a bit closer. Well, it doesn’t matter,” she expressed and slowly began to detach herself from her two-dimensional confinement.

She stuck her arm out first, then her head, and she pulled the rest of her body like that. Her bare feet landed on the cold floor of the room and she smiled coldly at her visitors.

“You are right,” she said. “My name is Marie. But you can call refer to me as the White Witch, Vellai Cuniya. It is a… pleasure to make your acquaintance,” she stated and performed a formal greeting by lifting the edges of her one-piece dress.

Flavia raised her guard and prodded her spiritual energy, preparing herself to use her telekinesis at a moment’s notice. “Are you perhaps a Hidden Boss to this Dungeon?” She asked cautiously.

“Hm, a Hidden Boss? That is not an incorrect way to put it. However,” Cuniya grinned. “You were looking for a certain hidden piece in this Dungeon, right? The one that requires you to be a mage-class fighter. It normally opens a secret room back on the third floor where you will be given a test of your magical talent and given rewards based on the result.”

Flavia scowled because of what she was implying. “Are you saying…?”

“Yes. I’m afraid I’m not the secret prize you’re looking for,” she declared and raised her hand. “I’m your unluckiest draw.”

In the blink of an eye, a magic circle whirled into existence in front of her and launched a formless mental spell. The speed was such that everything happened in less than half a second. Flavia only had the time to notice it and completely failed to react.

Cuniya smirked as her spell was about to hit its target but that was quickly replaced by surprise as a figure stood on the way.

Tyran received the invisible blow and instantly began to roar in pain as something tried to crawl into his mind and destroy his ego. But his Magic Immunity and Reflection kicked in to resist the brunt of it until he got rid of the rest with his Magic Eater.

On the other side, Cuniya grunted and held her temple. ‘Backfired? Impossible,’ she thought as the spell she had just launched partly turned against her. ‘That spell should have been enough to make even a level 80 Host into an empty shell…’

Meanwhile, Tyran was shaking his head to clear his mind. On top of that, a few veins had popped and his nose had started bleeding due to the shock. The Dreorin realized on the spot that even if he could resist the spell’s intent, he would probably suffer lethal damage to his brain if it was used too many times on him.

“Tyran, are you okay?” Flavia asked quietly and cast Reinforcement on herself while Cuniya was still pondering what had just happened. The T. Rex nodded in response and coated his body with his fiery aura, vaporizing the blood dribbling from his nose.

“Magic Reflection… Magic Immunity… and an unknown magic absorption,” the White Witch said with a thoughtful tone. “How curious. I truly wish I could use analytic skills if just to see what kind of creature you are,” she said with a relaxed smile, clearly unfazed that her spell had been resisted.

She even laughed with a bit of eagerness. “I wonder how long you’ll last.”

Flavia gritted her teeth and kicked the ground together with Tyran. She expanded her senses to the entirety of the room and took control of the statues nearby with her Nirvana Skill. She turned each one of them into many small spikes and shot them at the Witch from all sides. In conjunction with that, Tyran breathed in and released his Fire Breath.

Cuniya calmly waved her hand and erected a white barrier around her that pulverized every single spike upon contact. She pointed her hand at the fire breath and clenched her fist. The flames were then oppressed by a strange force before being extinguished in an instant.

“Have you forgotten? This Dungeon’s monsters are all given my blessing. Magic… won’t work on me. I am the superior magic nemesis here,” she declared and drew another magic circle. “Let’s see how you fare against this one.”

Once again, the attack was too fast to be perceivable with the naked eye but Tyran’s innate Magic Detection from the Asura’s bloodline allowed him to both perceive and understand any kind of magic that is cast within the range of his senses.

He growled and put himself on the way of the spell to stop it from reaching Flavia and forced his mouth closed when it started eroding his mentality. This one was stronger but this time, he was able to properly activate his Magic Eater to shave off a bit of its potency.

“Again?” Cuniya frowned and then retreated as Favia dashed at her at a speed far surpassing her level thanks to her Nirvana Skill. The White Witch glanced at her and was about to cast her spell for the third time but the next thing she knew, Tyran burst into flames and boosted himself into the air, and dropped right above her.

She dodged him but her expression became slightly annoyed. Her eyes glowed eerily in the T. Rex’s direction. Without delay, the latter deciphered the magic cast and tried to assimilate it but he soon realized that the magnitude was nothing like the ones before. He froze on the spot and cried out in pain as blood came out of his nose and eyes.

“Tyran!” Flavia shouted and ran to him.

Cuniya watched the T. Red suffering and when the Asura’s mouth closed and his eyes lost all their life, she scoffed. “You brought this upon yourself. If you behaved, I could have let you live on as my faithful puppet,” she said disdainfully and then looked at Flavia. “It’s your turn; there is no point in resisting. You’ll only make things harder for both of us.”

The Witch scowled when Flavia ignored her in favor of infusing mana into the corpse of the large Dreorin. “What are you-?!” One of Tyran’s claws twitched and she interrupted herself.

“Impossible! My magic should have fried his brain!” She yelled and fiercely waved her hand. Flavia was promptly hurled away from Tyran and sent crashing on the wall of the room, cracking part of it and destroying a few paintings in the process.

Cuniya approached the carcass of the beast she had thought she killed. “Is this… Death Energy? Is this thing a high-class undead?” She muttered then slightly panicked as she noticed a new flow of mana entering the dead body. She snapped her head around to look at Flavia.

She was still unable to move due to the attack she had suffered and a current of blood even blinded her left eye, but her hand was up and positioned as if she pressed on a button.

Cuniya instantly understood the situation. “Someone else raised this undead,” she said darkly. “It couldn’t be you. Who was it?!” She questioned. She had every right to be wary since she knew that such an undead could only be made by a very powerful caster, or at the very least, a powerful item that no one on the Thirteenth Plateau should have.

If Flavia had a strong backing like that, Cuniya would be in danger. She had some control over the Dungeon’s structure but a strong Host would be able to bypass every resistance and kill her.

“Tch, I guess I will find out when I possess you,” the White Witch said and started walking to the incapacitated woman after confirming that Tyran was unconscious.

Flavia grunted and her face contorted in pain as she manipulated her telekinesis to support her body. She stood up with a bit of struggle, her headache making her worried that she might have a concussion.

“What is… your magic?” She managed to voice. This was something she had been confused about the second that they started fighting her. Her scans had been useless in that regard. It didn’t work on this supposedly Hidden Boss, most likely because she was higher-leveled.

Her spell that seemingly attacked one’s mind, her shield that repelled their attacks, her ability that somehow nullified magic, and how she sent her flying with a wave of her hand. None of it looked like any of the elements Flavia had seen until now. It wasn’t anything like Wind, Barrier, or even her Telekinesis.

Cuniya smiled and stopped a few meters away from Flavia. “It’s natural for you to not know. This is an affinity only I possess. Since you’re about to experience it, I can tell you. Possession; that is my magic.”

“Possession?” Flavia furrowed her eyebrows, her hands hiding behind her back as she charged a certain spell that would either be her saving grace or a waste of time. She could only hope that it would not be noticed.

“Possession Magic has many applications. For example, as long as it’s magic that is of my level, it will become harmless to me if I will it. I can also ‘possess’ the air to make it bend to my will and it of course applies to minds as well. In fact, my body itself is also a product of my magic,” the Witch declared and moved her arm forward, which then abruptly fragmented into pieces.

Cuniya looked at it detachedly then pointed at the blank painting she had emerged from. “This is the result of me possessing that painting. Truth is, if either you or that beast had managed to hit me even once, I would have died. I waited until this day to come out because I needed a new vessel to possess and take over. But if I want to perform a ‘perfect’ possession, not everyone is suitable.”

“And I am… that suitable vessel?”

“Indeed. Truthfully, you are so compatible with me that it’s still hard to believe,” Cuniya smirked. “Perhaps we are similar in ways that both of us wouldn’t know.”

“I’m nothing like you,” Flavia scoffed.

“I will not say otherwise. But that is inconsequential. Do you have any last words?” Cuniya asked as mana gathered around her. “Also, do not think that the magic that you have been preparing will be able to save you.”

Flavia was silent for a moment before her body was shrouded in a multicolor light. “There is one thing that Vera told me before she taught me my magic,” she said out of nowhere and Cuniya tilted her head in confusion. “It cannot be controlled. Even by me.”

“What do you…?” The Witch felt some amount of concern wash over her. Then, Flavia’s spell finally consolidated and formed a spinning dark purple sphere. “This! You are a-!!?”

Flavia grinned and let go of the spell. She had pumped all of her remaining mana into it. This was the main reason why she had readily accepted when the System offered her to relinquish Tyran’s healing to Rakna. It was her only chance in her opinion.

“[Three-Fold Chaos – Rampant Mayhem!]”

The sphere produced a booming sound that shook the whole floor and burst into a concentrated ray of raw chaotic energy. Cuniya rapidly put all of her efforts into defense. It briefly protected her and split the ray. It strayed away and hit several spots of the room, destroying whatever it touched.

“This can’t be happening!” She yelled as her body was being destroyed due to the strain. But she nonetheless did all she could to resist it.

Flavia gritted her teeth and poured everything she had into the spell, even expending her spiritual energy to constrict the path of the ray and increase its density.

Cuniya gradually lost her arm, then part of her legs gave in, her left shoulder, and a chunk of her stomach. But it was only until half of her head disappeared that she lost the clash. Her magic was order and control in nature; chaos was precisely the opposite of that. Even if her level and all her attributes were stronger than Flavia’s, she was simply her worst match-up.

‘Not again!’ She thought as the dark purple energy engulfed her entire body. ‘You accursed Chaos Witches! Do not think you have won!’ Before she was completely erased, when only one of her eyes remained, refusing to give up, she conjured one last spell that went unnoticed within the storm of energy.

‘Enjoy your victory while you still can! It won’t last long,’ she silently screamed and laughed as the last bit of her vanished under the might of the Chaos spell. When the energy died down, there was no trace of the White Witch left.

Flavia fell to her knees immediately after, having exhausted both her psyche and mana. She only had the time to hear the System notifying her of something before she blacked out, unaware of the faint power that had infiltrated her being.