A foreigner's journey

For the villagers of Ilok Village, legends of fairies and witches have been circulating since ancient times.

Perhaps they are just stories told to children by storytellers and parents. Some people have claimed to have encountered such strange things, but there is no clear evidence. In fact, even among the people born and raised in Yilok Village, fewer and fewer people believe in this legend.

As a subsidiary territory of the French King's Church, the superior lords of Ilok Village continued to impose heavy taxes on the people under the pretext of the war with the Kusha Empire. For the poor Yilok Village, it is already very difficult for the villagers to survive this winter safely without starving to death.

"So, you came to this village to find out clues about the witch because you heard the story about the witch?"

An old man with a face as deep and wrinkled as the ravines in the field sat on a tree stump at the entrance of Yilok Village, looking at the travelers in front of him.

What a strange person. It was obviously the cold early winter, but the person in front of me was only wearing a thin black hooded cloth robe. The hood covered most of his face and only his chin was exposed. He was holding a long, crooked wooden staff in his left hand, and his right arm was empty.

Heather nodded while leaning on crutches: "Yes, I have always been obsessed with the legend of witches. I accidentally heard the legend of witches here in the Mitland area, so I rushed all the way here. It took me more than half a month. It’s time.”

"Then you may be disappointed, Traveler."

The old man rubbed his knee joints, which had become increasingly painful due to the sudden drop in temperature, and sighed:

"The witch is just a story that has been passed down since ancient times for this Ilok village. There has never been any evidence that the witch really exists. Thank you for your hard work, you have come all the way from Mitlan to get here, but the Ilok village is already too poor to receive outsiders. You are a traveler, please come back."

Turning sideways and looking in from the village entrance, Heather found that this village was really poor. There are not many stone houses, most of them are wooden houses. The people in the village can't be said to be skinny, but they don't have much energy either. Their faces are pale and frowning, and they are obviously bent down by the burden of life.

Looking away, Heather rubbed her chin and smiled: "No problem, I'll leave right now."

After saying that, Heather walked towards the old streets outside the village without hesitation, leaning on the wooden stick.

What a strange person... The old man looked at Heather's retreating figure and sighed in his heart again. It's not that Ilok Village hates outsiders, but that the village is really no longer able to entertain any guests. The people in the village have tried their best just to survive the winter.

It is true that some villages will take desperate measures to trick a single traveler into spending the night in the village and then kill him or take his money, but the old man does not want to do this. He didn't know what the other people in the village thought, so he could only try his best to persuade this lonely traveler not to enter the village. Alas... when will these hard times of never-ending war come to an end!

The old streets outside the village were built many years ago. There are almost no traces of stone bricks, only the paved dirt roads remain. Occasionally, you can see scattered broken stone pillars on both sides of the street, which retain traces of time.

It didn't take long for Heather to see a large area of ​​dense jungle with no boundaries visible in front of her eyes. The trees in the forest are twisted and strange, and even if the sunlight shines down through the tree branches, it will only form strange and changing light spots, just like the dark forest where the villain witch lives in a fairy tale.

"Is this here?" Qi Shi asked in his heart.

"Yes, the Spirit Tree Forest. Without the witch's invitation, it is impossible to break through the blockade and enter the interior by ordinary means."

As soon as she entered the jungle, Heather changed from the weak traveler she had pretended to be outside, and moved vigorously through the forest. Every time she jumped, she would pass several meters, and the branches of the trees and the wind continued to rustle in her ears.

"Maybe we can force the witch out by burning down this jungle." Ruan Qishi said the terrible plan as if nothing had happened. Ever since she left her world of swordsmen, in her opinion, all humans except Heather were just like weeds. When it comes to weeding, it's natural to do it in a neat way.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't say things like setting fire to the forest in such a relaxed tone! The education I received does not allow me to do such a thing casually."

Heather, who was running in the forest, complained and suddenly stopped.

Deep in the deep forest, directly in front of Heather, a figure appeared at some point.

This is a knight riding a war horse, but his appearance is incomparable to others. The war horse is covered in ferocious skeleton armor, and its eyes have no eyeballs but a dim light. And this knight's whole body was completely covered by a pair of extremely ferocious skeleton armor, and even his head was covered by a complete skull helmet. There was a scarlet light flashing in his eyes, and the cloak behind him was slowly fluttering in the wind.

There is a long sword hanging on the side of the horse's back. The hilt is covered with thorns and spikes, and the shape is strange.

Heather squatted on a tree branch, holding a long wooden staff in her arms, looking at the strange skeleton knight from a distance, very quiet.

The skeleton knight's upper and lower jaws did not open or close, and the voice came from behind the helmet, which was slightly dull:

"...You are not a being within the [Principle of Time], so who are you?"

"Are you sure you want to chat here?" Heather tilted her head.

"I just came here to take a look, but I didn't expect to encounter such a [coincidence]. No, this is not a thread of cause and effect, but something more wonderful..."

Clang! The skeleton knight held the hilt of the sword on the horse and slowly pulled it out, pointing the tip of the sword at Heather:

"Is your goal here [Witch]?"

"That's right. You can give in. I'm looking for the main entrance of the witch's house. If I can't find it, I'll have to set the forest on fire."

"That's not okay."

The horse's hooves suddenly jumped up from the ground, and the knight and the horse turned into a lightning-fast shadow and rushed towards Heather! At the same time, Heather's figure disappeared from the place and appeared more than ten meters away using [Shaving].

The branch of the tree where he was before and the surrounding trees were silently cut into smooth sections, and the figure of the Skeleton Knight disappeared without a trace.

Using the wooden staff as a fulcrum, Heather jumped up high on the spot, avoiding the sudden attack from behind. The wooden staff covered with domineering energy could not even leave a scratch on its surface, but it was split into two by the sword light.

"What a shame, I really like that stick."

Heather rolled over and landed on the ground, glancing at the wooden staff broken into two parts. It was not an ordinary physical attack, but a higher level of power! You can't let this kind of attack fall on you.

Thinking of this, he clenched his left hand into a claw, and with the light of the fire, a gorgeous cross sword appeared in his hand, [Absolute Kingship]!

The sword-wielding wizard and the skeleton knight stood in the forest, facing each other from a distance.