CHAPTER 50: CHAPTER 50: TURNING OVER THE CROW’S NEST (3500 WORDS)

Seeing that Aiven didn’t turn around to flee, the Crow Witch grinned, revealing jagged black and yellow teeth, and laughed eerily like a crow.

She casually plucked a black feather from her arm and tossed it towards Aiven.

The feather floated down gently...

Not knowing what trick she was up to, Aiven held his sword ready, concentrating on defense but not initiating an attack.

The abilities of magical transcendent beings are unpredictable, and it’s no different even when they become demons. The Crow Witch most likely inherited some of her witch abilities from her lifetime and should not be regarded as an ordinary monster.

Caution is a virtue.

However, if a few years had passed, the experienced Aiven would definitely not allow a magical position to cast spells at will without interference, slashing down with his sword would be the right course of action!

One second, two seconds...

When Aiven realized something was wrong, he found himself suddenly stiff and unable to move.

It was as if he fell into a nightmare, though his eyes were open and his mind was clear, his body wouldn’t respond.

Clearly, this is a type of spiritual witchcraft, even the initial endless circling, thinking he’d encountered a ’Ghost Wall,’ was one of its peculiar effects.

Thankfully, it’s not just Aiven who lacks combat experience against different Extraordinary Path opponents!

The Crow Witch evidently doesn’t understand the vast difference in witchcraft resistance between an ordinary person and an Official Knight, it’s fine when she subtly misled him earlier, but this frontal spiritual witchcraft attack is insufficient to fully control Aiven after his Extraordinary Transformation.

Crack—

Just as she jumped down from the tree, ready to feast on the boy’s fresh heart and liver.

Sizzle—

A brilliant sword light rushed towards her, slashing through half of her shoulder effortlessly before she could react.

"Thud!"

A limb that seemed like either a wing or claw fell to the ground.

Had Aiven’s body not been a bit stiff, causing the sword’s point to deviate, her ugly head might have hit the ground instead.

Caw—!!!

With a piercing shriek from the Crow Witch, Aiven felt a sharp stab in his brain. As he hesitated, countless crows swooped down from the sky, blocking his path of pursuit.

Having suffered once, Aiven didn’t dare let such a monster escape, and through the barrier of crows, he saw the Crow Witch staggering backward, quickly about to hide behind the trees again.

Without hesitation, he drew his short firearm from his waist, "Data Visualization" analyzed the crows’ flight paths, finding a fleeting gap, and Aiven decisively fired.

Bam—

The Crow Witch fell with a thud, an ugly hole blown in her head, leaking white, dark red decayed matter all over the ground.

A foul stench spread across the forest.

Flap-flap—flap-flap—

The murder of crows still blocking Aiven panicked, scattering in all directions.

Casually spinning the gun, Aiven blew the smoke from the muzzle and stylishly holstered the firearm.

Just as Aiven was about to breathe a sigh of relief...

"Caw—!!!" "Caw—!!!"

Two more shrill cries echoed from different directions.

No time to loot the body, Aiven turned and sprinted away! His handsome face twisted to the extreme, whether from anger or fear was unclear.

"Damn, there are two more?!!!"

...

While Aiven was fleeing desperately towards the outskirts of the Chaotic Wood Forest, three oddly-dressed figures strode into the mist-shrouded swampy woodland.

Wearing matching long leather coats, military boots, longswords at the waist, and carrying three standard short firearms each on their bandoliers, their hands gloved, exposing no skin.

Most bizarrely, they all wore full-coverage bird-beak masks with clear crystal lenses near the eyes for visibility.

With their black attire, from afar it seemed like three large crows had arrived!

Their longswords and firearms bore a silver emblem of a humanoid crow, suggesting they belonged to a formal official organization.

"Sean, Sedliss, though you’ve just joined the Crowman Team, the mission protocol must be strictly followed from now on," said the leading figure, his voice somewhat distorted through the mask, but clearly audible to the other two.

"We’re still a distance from the target, Sean, repeat the gathered intel," he ordered.

"Yes, sir!" responded one of the following individuals.

Mission Target: The demon "Crow Witch".

Species and Traits: A twisted witchcraft creature, take note of possible spiritual witchcraft.

Known Information: The earliest sighting was two days ago, four hunters wielding bows were killed by the demon...

"Mission Objective: Determine if the newly emerged Crow Witch is related to the ’Three Sisters’ roaming from the Frostleaf Forest. If unrelated, eliminate immediately, if related, weaken and remove as much as possible while ensuring personal safety."

Two days ago, hunters discovered a humanoid monster with crow traits in the woodland near the saltwater swamp. After casualties, a survivor reported the situation to the town hall.

Subsequently, the Crowman Team from the kingdom’s extraordinary incident management department dispatched a three-man team for follow-up actions.

"We’ve entered the Crow Witch’s reported activity area. I order, enter combat status now.

Check equipment and talismans, stay alert for spiritual attacks, adopt a combat formation, forward! For Her Majesty the Queen!"

The leader advanced, with two newcomers flanking defensively, starting the operation.

"For Her Majesty the Queen!"

...

Flap-flap—

Caw-caw—caw-caw—

Amidst the relentless crow assault, Aiven sprinted through the forest.

After being alert, the Crow Witch’s mental misdirection could no longer affect Aiven’s judgment, and he swiftly advanced along the path he initially carved.

Aiven hadn’t expected that the flock of crows, originally fleeing, would return upon hearing the calls of other "Crow Witches," causing him immense trouble in his escape.

Clang—

Attacking while sprinting.

The longsword in Aiven’s hand seemed to have turned into a beam of silver light, cutting down each of the enormous crows, fearless of death.

At this moment, he dared not gamble with his body against the abnormal-looking crows, unsure if their claws and beaks were tainted with deadly poison or bacteria.

Fortunately.

After activating the Extraordinary Transformation of his body, Aiven’s physical attributes had surpassed human limits; purely wielding the sword, he could persist for a long time.

Yet, Aiven couldn’t afford any relaxation now.

Not long after slaying the first "Crow Witch," he was surrounded by an even larger flock of crows, heavily stalling his retreat.

Knowing that two Crow Witches could catch up at any time, no matter how many ordinary crows he killed, it was meaningless.

If there were only one Crow Witch behind him, Aiven might try to kill it, but the issue was that there were at least two.

He bet that if he dared to counterattack, they wouldn’t mind taking turns to paralyze him and commanding the endless crow flock to tear him apart.

The deadly chase lasted nearly thirty minutes.

Aiven estimated he was close to the forest’s outskirts; even the occasional water puddles and mud pits had virtually vanished, affirming his directional choice wasn’t wrong.

Seeing ordinary crows failing to stop Aiven, with two eerie "caw" sounds, five crows larger than eagles accelerated from the forest behind.

Hearing the familiar "caw," Aiven sensed the Crow Witches were very close, and these five gigantic crows were likely their last resort.

Without slowing his pace, Aiven braced himself, constantly vigilant against the oversized crows soaring overhead.

Caw—

Caw—

With the crow calls, the attack arrived as expected, but it was not a physical assault as imagined. Instead, it was the Crow Witches’ spiritual witchcraft, with a disgustingly unsettling effect.

"Witchcraft · Lost Will!"

Five attacks landed simultaneously, surrounding Aiven with an endless, overwhelming sense of despair.

Despair! Utter despair! He couldn’t muster any energy.

His agile steps grew heavy, and wielding the sword felt like swinging a mountain, with a series of negative, dispirited voices echoing from his heart.

"Why run? Fleeing is so exhausting. Forget it!"

"Life inevitably reaches an end, sooner or later; what difference does it make?"

"Arms too tired, such a heavy sword, I want to drop it..."

If ordinary people faced such an attack, they’d have surrendered, but Aiven gritted his teeth, using immense willpower to counter the engulfing despair.

In fact, this was somewhat like the breakthrough of an Official Knight, using one’s will to combat negative emotions. Having relevant experience, Aiven could persist.

"Damn it, need a chance to kill these cursed birds first!"

Caw—

"Officer, noises ahead like crow calls!"

On the other side, a team of three Crowmen slowly approached the battlefield.

Upon hearing, the Crowman officer signaled to everyone to conceal themselves, cautiously advancing towards the noise. Efficient and skilled, they were evidently professionally trained elites.

As the group drew closer, the crow cries and wing flaps grew louder, soon reaching the brink of the human-avian battle.

"Hiss—such enormous crows!"

Sedliss, though elite among peers, was young, and while he’d seen countless bizarre demons in monster guides, witnessing them firsthand was a first.

"Someone’s fighting crows, such strong swordsmanship!"

Each had different focus points; Sean continued to ask:

"Officer, should we help?"

Unaware of being ruthlessly watched, Aiven suddenly made a successful assault, killing two large crows using spiritual witchcraft. Despite their unique abilities, they were essentially mundane; aside from their larger size, their melee skills weren’t much better than ordinary crows.

Aiven was relieved that these large crows’ attack range was quite limited, and the "Lost Will" attack needed proximity to him. If they could cast debuffs like a Mage from afar with crow swarm protection, even Aiven would struggle.

Whoosh—

"Third one, slay!" Taking advantage of their close approach again, Aiven repeated his agile maneuver, like a monkey, leaping off treetops, sword swinging, aiming to cut down the third large crow.

Unexpectedly, after several encounters, the clever crows learned smartly, seeing him leap up, quickly flapped their wings to ascend, narrowly escaping.

Only harmed by Aiven’s sword tip on its wing, the crow flapped desperately to maintain balance, wobbling down to the side.

Aiven gracefully pirouetted on the treetop, using the trunk for momentum, diving down like a predator.

Murder intent strong!

If the crow landed, it must be completely eliminated!

Caw—

"Not good, it’s Lost Will! Quickly dodge, stay far away."

Coincidentally, the injured large crow wobblingly landed right where the Crowman team hid. Suddenly, Aiven saw three strange black figures jump from the grass, startling him.

"Damn, did I stir up a crow’s nest today?!!"

Aiven felt he’d cursed more today than his entire lifetime combined.

The Crowmen couldn’t care about Aiven’s emotions.

As the three evaded by jumping, the silver talisman around their necks had already weakened the Lost Will effect. The experienced Crowman officer swiftly drew his gun while retreating, firing rapidly.

Bam—

"Caw!" The short crow cry abruptly ended.