The Cornflower Witch

Book 2: Chapter 75: The Sect That Worships Evil Beings

Vol 2 Chapter 75: The Sect That Worships Evil Beings

"Hundred-Eyes Sect!"

Upon seeing the three large floating eyeballs, the pursuers immediately shouted the name of this evil sect.

Just as the 'Twin-Snake Cult' betrayed humanity and worshipped the two-headed serpent, during the Third Alien Star Impact, some humans, awed by the power of the alien star creatures, began to worship and believe in them. One faction in particular worshipped those alien Eye Tyrant monsters, forming a special sect organization that outsiders called the 'Hundred-Eyes Sect'.

Compared to the notorious 'Twin-Snake Cult', the 'Hundred-Eyes Sect', while evil, had not yet reached the level of being universally detested by both man and god. In fact, some small regions and countries would secretly collude with them, all for the sake of obtaining the combat power this sect could provide.

Cultivating a formal 'Third Tier' professional was extremely difficult. Roughly one formal Third Tier professional would emerge from every 200-300 First Tier Transcendents. Such an extremely low success rate made small countries particularly desperate for combat power and talent, something ordinary organizations couldn't satisfy.

The power of the 'Hundred-Eyes Sect' lay in this: as long as they successfully performed the 'Evil Eye Ritual', they could briefly open a passage to another world, allowing a Third Tier Eye Tyrant to descend into this world. They would then form a Fiend Contract with the cultist performing the ritual, allowing it to temporarily remain in the present world, granting them the combat power of a 'Third Tier' creature.

Of course, this method had many drawbacks. First, the 'Evil Eye Ritual' itself went against the will of the world, resulting in a low success rate. Once it failed, the person performing the ritual would suffer severe backlash and die.

Secondly, even if an Eye Tyrant from another world was summoned, how to form the contract and how to stabilize the core secret art were both high-difficulty problems. Failure in any one of these steps would result in backlash, severe injury, or even death.

Generally, only fanatical believers unafraid of death dared to participate in such sacrificial rituals....

"How could people from the Hundred-Eyes Sect appear here?" Both the pursuers and the rescued prince and princess were somewhat surprised.

It was true that the Hundred-Eyes Sect was revered in certain small places, but among the major surface organizations and countries, they were wanted fugitives. This time, they actually dared to appear within the borders of Regas.

"Prince, and Princess, please come with us."

From the woods, a group of people dressed in dark red robes emerged. Their outer robes were imprinted with eye patterns of varying sizes, unsettling to the mind.

Seeing this, the remaining personnel guarding the Prince and Princess hesitated. Although the pursuers were dangerous, these cultists before them weren't exactly trustworthy figures either.

While they hesitated, the pursuers would not. Upon seeing these members of the Hundred-Eyes cult, their actions became even more urgent.

Several assassins from the shadows no longer hid, leaping directly from the dim corners to charge at Prince Jabers, who was hiding in the rear.

When faced with the gray-white barrier blocking their way, their figures momentarily became hazy and blurred. In this state, the originally defensive gray-white barrier seemed unable to recognize them, allowing them to pass through. In the midst of this danger, Princess Mursa urgently shoved Jabers aside, suffering several sword wounds herself.

"No!" Jabers roared.

In an instant, his eyes turned blood-red as he turned towards the distant cultists.

"Kill them, kill these pursuers! I'll agree to whatever you want me to do!"

After a brief, hushed discussion amongst themselves, the cultists in the shadows nodded.

The three floating Eye Tyrants once again unleashed beams of light, sweeping across the area, piercing the bodies of pursuer after pursuer. From the shadows, multiple assassins dressed in cultist robes also rushed out, engaging their fellow assassins among the pursuers in shadowy combat, soon leaving many enemies dead on the ground.

Several minutes later, the pursuing force was routed, with only a few individuals escaping upon seeing the situation turn bad. At this moment, the dim woods fell quiet once more.

Several leading cultists, surrounded by their members, slowly approached the Prince. They bowed, then looked down at the severely wounded Princess Mursa.

"We have a way to heal the Princess. We ask that you, Prince, come with us."

At this moment, Jabers glanced at the wary knights and attendants beside him and made up his mind.

"Fine, I'll go with you. I hope you keep your promise."

Seeing the Prince agree, the remaining few knights now had no choice but to obey. In truth, they were also at the end of their rope, their strength exhausted, with little room for resistance.

Half an hour later, this group left the area, disappearing into the distance. A black owl arrived belatedly, perching on a branch, surveying the corpses and traces below, a strange light swirling in its eyes.

Soon, several more night birds arrived at this grove. They perched on branches, exchanging glances.

'Prince Jabers should have escaped from here.'

'But his trail is now lost.'

'Most of the pursuers are dead. The wounds don't seem to be caused by knights or warriors.'

'There aren't many groups with beam attack capabilities. Either mages, or some strange creatures.'

'The Mage Alliance wouldn't care about the life and death of a small country's prince. It should be strange creatures.'

'There's a residual aura of the 'alien star'. Some trees along the path also show 'Distortion' pollution. The guess is alien star creatures.'

'The Hundred-Eyes Sect. It must be them.'

'Daring to snatch someone from right under us Witches? They really don't take us seriously.'

'Release the information. Put out a bounty on them.'

'Understood.'

By year's end, before winter's conclusion, the royal capital of Regas, White Cliff City, fell. The Grand Duke of Regas and the Crown Prince died fighting in the city, while the remaining nobles surrendered in large numbers. From then on, there were no longer any powerful resistance forces within Regas territory. Its division between the Kingdom of Ante and the Eagle-Scorpion Khanate became a foregone conclusion.

Although the country of Regas ceased to exist, the royal bloodline was not extinguished. Some claimed that Prince Jabers and Princess Mursa had escaped before White Cliff City fell. Many speculated that the Prince and Princess had likely taken refuge in the Hidden Grove.

The Hidden Grove did not give a direct answer to this speculation. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Ante and the Eagle-Scorpion Khanate no longer sent people to investigate Prince Jabers, as if they were convinced he would not reappear.

...

Shadow World, within the Darkmist Mountains.

After several days of arduous trekking, Sylutia's group finally arrived at the frontline garrison, 'Flint Fortress'.

The tall city gates slowly rose, pulled by chains. Then, Sylutia's group, along with their supplies and personnel, slowly drove in. Greeting them were several members clad in black robes.

"Welcome, Student Sylutia." The leading black-robed man placed a hand over his chest in a simple salute.

"My name is Dickens. I am the fortress quartermaster. Please follow me."

He guided Sylutia's group to the tower at the base of the fortress, arranged for them to unload their goods, and then registered each item.

"We are very grateful for the precious food Student Sylutia has delivered. However, this was not part of the expected resupply plan. May I ask what Student Sylutia intends?"

Only after arranging for the items to be stored did he inquire what Sylutia wanted in return. It seemed that no matter what this young girl asked for, there was no chance of getting this batch of food back.

Regarding this, Sylutia shook her head slightly, unconcerned, and then began conversing with this quartermaster.

"I need a batch of fuel. Also, I'd like to know what your main products are here, and what supplies you are lacking."

Hearing this, Dickens seemed to have met a kindred spirit, launching into a lengthy explanation to this young girl. Listening to his account, Sylutia gradually organized the information.

'Flint Fortress' was a garrison point within the third gorge at the base of the Darkmist Mountains. It was rich in a peculiar black stone. If the edges were ground away, a dark red interior was revealed. Strangely, however, if completely split open, the inside was entirely black.

The characteristic of this stone was that it generated heat upon collision, usable for ignition, hence it was called 'flint'. Unfortunately, it could not burn by itself;

only violent collision could generate heat.

Apart from flint, the area around this fortress grew many twisted forests—trees polluted by the 'Distortion' Aspect. They could also burn, but burning produced polluted black smoke. They needed to be turned into charcoal first to remove the pollution, and only then could the relatively pure charcoal be used as qualified fuel.

"We can provide you with charcoal. However, each time, Sylutia will need to exchange food for it. We can exchange five jin of charcoal for one jin of food."

"Five jin is too little. Seven jin." The girl shook her head. That exchange rate was too low.

"This..." The other party hesitated.

"If you're not willing, I'll go ask at other garrisons." It wasn't as if only this frontline garrison had charcoal.

"Alright, seven jin it is." The other party agreed directly. In truth, they were still profiting from this, as charcoal was only valuable here. In resource-rich rear garrisons, no one would buy it.

Afterwards, Sylutia learned about other local specialties.

"Frontline garrisons all participate in battles against monsters. If you want to buy materials from these monsters, they will be exceptionally cheap." He informed her directly.

"Secondly, we also produce a type of 'black crystal' that accompanies the flint. It is extremely hard in nature and suitable for inscribing runes and brands, used in the manufacture of special artifacts."

"I haven't heard of that before. Is it something you discovered recently?" Sylutia had also reviewed a lot of information about the Darkmist Mountains before coming.

"Correct. This is a special gem excavated from the mines just two months ago. It's not currently for sale to outsiders. We would only consider exchanging a small portion if you could bring food of Rare grade or higher quality."

"I see. Understood." After agreeing, Sylutia and the members took a good tour of this magnificent fortress. Reportedly, it housed roughly 2000 people, most of whom were Second Tier Transcendents. There were over forty Third Tier professionals, and the garrison's highest commander was the Fifth Tier General Sefan.

"General Sefan is constantly busy defending against monster assaults outside the fortress, patrolling and inspecting everywhere. He rarely even has time to rest inside the fortress. Usually, management is handled by several deputies." Dickens explained to Sylutia.

"If your garrison develops well and can provide more food, our manpower here could become slightly more abundant."

"There are two main obstacles to expanding deeper into the Darkmist Mountains. First, the massive and dangerous number of monsters. Second, the long and difficult-to-supply logistical lines."

"This is a distribution map of the various garrisons within the Darkmist Mountains. Consider it a personal gift from me to you, Sylutia." Before parting, Dickens gave her a detailed, annotated map.

"I hope to see Student Sylutia again in a few months."

Loaded with carts full of charcoal and some monster materials, Sylutia waved goodbye to the other party and embarked on the return journey once more.

Meanwhile, after over a month of traveling while hiding and dodging, Prince Jabers, led by members of the 'Hundred-Eyes Sect', arrived in the Shadow World beneath the surface continent via a special method.

Seeing the twisted, bizarre trees around him and the thick, perpetually unyielding dark clouds pressing down on the sky above, this prince, accustomed to a life of luxury, finally realized he was no longer in the sunlit surface world, but had arrived at the shadows beneath the continent.

"This... is this the homeland you spoke of?"