CHAPTER 40: WITCH

***

Noctis looked on as the black sinewy goopy coagulating ruddy void liquid one by one melted from the grips of the branches bound of the tree in the middle of the lake as his process took just a moment too long to freeze them all.

Soon every bit of the creature’s void eventually coalesced into one giant spider, added into the creatures were the tides that hadn’t been turned into water.

The good thing was that he at least managed one full tide and one half of another into water and thus the spider was at least somewhat smaller than the monstrosity that formed the first time he encountered this but he knew it was still going to be a massive pain.

The water on his wrists soon formed an icy blade with a wooden handle as a magic-esque blade rested in his hands with massive roots and vines jutting out of the water from the pond.

Despite the massive size, Noctis did not feel much worry.

It wasn’t just because it was at least the dozenth time that he came across this, no he wasn’t worried since the first time he saw it.

It could just be this void messing with his senses but more than that he felt it due to the change in his internal energy too.

It was weird but it gave him a feeling of detachment from even the most pressing situation in front of him.

Truly quite weird.

Noctis jumped with all his might as the hill sized spider slowly started taking shape.

Along with him the roots, with silvery bluish ice encasing them, ran towards all eight legs of the arachnid, starting a tussle between constantly melting black void and trying to freeze and binding of it by the roots.

Above Noctis hacked away the liquid at the head of the , dodging its massive mandibles with the help of the vines.

His short sword froze void wherever it hacked but the massive quantity added more and more to stop him in his tracks.

Noctis knew it was going to be a battle of attrition. He had to calculate and execute with very little margin of error.

A thin smile played on his face as he plunged his sword down.

’Let’s have some fun.’

***

"It is her. She is a witch."

A slight goosebump ran down his whole body as the soldier looked at the dark face so close to his face, breathing cold air at his neck.

The soldier visibly shook a little as he shifted a little to the back, simultaneously pushing the face back with his hands.

"Hey, keep some distance, will ya!?"

The man finally took a step back as his face came into the soldier’s vision.

He had massive dark circles under his eyes and his cheeks were sunken caves. Along with the massive eyes and its dead stare the man looked quite unsettling to the soldier at this time.

He was pointing one of his hands towards the crowd behind his back as quite a few villagers looked at him weirdly as they talked among themselves in hushed voices.

"It is her. She is a witch."

"Huh what? Right, I heard you the first time. So here’s the thing.

We are here only for the matter regarding the last full moon, this stuff you should take to the village chiefs or priests in the nearby towns. Alright? You can go back now."

"She is a killer. She killed her husband. Killed her child. Brought about a bad harvest. Killed our cattles. Killed my wife. She must be the reason. She is a witch. It must be her. It must be her... must be her..."

Although his voice got lower and lower his stare was still dead focused on him as was his hand fixed in a certain direction.

Tracing his arms the soldier saw an old woman with a downcast face and shoulder in the midst of the crowd. She looked quite tired for some reason.

Looking back at the man’s eerie stare, the soldier didn’t know what to do.

In the end he looked towards his captain, asking for advice with his eyes.

The captain also had heard and seen all that went down. He was currently looking at the man accusing the woman of murdering his wife with narrowed eyes.

"You say she killed your wife. Do you have any proof or any other eye witness to testify to this claim?"

The man glanced towards the captain with a forceful turn of his head as he glared at him with silent fury.

"She is a killer. She killed her kin. Killed her own child. Brought about bad luck. Killed our livestocks. Killed my beloved. She is a curse we bore. She is a witch."

He reiterated every word to the captain word to word in a much harsher tone.

The captain looked down with his eyes closed while he massaged his head with his palms.

The soldier understanding the situation got unnerved for the villagers sake as he hurriedly said to him,

"Ok alright. We got it. You can go back now."

"Arrest her. BURN HER!" The villager, rather than backing down, shouted to the soldier’s face, gathering everyone’s attention towards them.

"Ok look here. We can’t randomly go arresting people on allegations. There’s a process to this. You go to the chief, he talks amongst the peers and then you present to a judge from a town. Now go back, we have other matters to cover."

"She is a witch. A witch. Kill her. Kill her. Kill her."

"Now listen here you shithead. If you can’t produce any proof we are not going to waste anymore time on this. If you still want to pursue this, go convince the inspectors and judges in the nearby towns. Do you understand this?"

The captain interrupted the villager as he moved a little closer to the villager and said sternly.

The villager looked intimidated by the captain’s presence but seemed to still have something to say.

However before he could say anything he felt himself being pulled back by someone from his back.

"Mercy my lord."