บท 5: Elimination-Type Witch Hunt
Without mana, the human body was frail. But right now, Vaan was witnessing himself scrunching steel objects into scrap metal without any Aura Reinforcements or magic. It was pure physical strength.
"This shouldn't be possible unless mana had been perfectly fused with my body, altering it..." Vaan's eyes suddenly flickered with a sharp glint.
"Even new generations of witches, who boasts of high affinity with mana couldn't achieve perfect fusion with mana..."
"Whether it is thanks to the system or the Heaven-Swallowing Physique, it is evident that I am destined to walk a different path from the others."
Vaan quickly managed to piece everything together regarding his body's changes before his ears picked up sounds of distant footsteps with his enhanced hearing.
'Someone is coming. I better hide since waking in the wasteyard can only mean that I was pronounced dead,' Vaan thought, immediately burrowing himself into the pile of junk.
Being discovered alive would only put him in an unfavorable position.
'Being a stud is still alright, but I definitely don't want to become a lab rat for these bitche—I mean witches.'
Shortly after Vaan was hidden, two witches-in-training arrived before tossing Servant Luwg's decapitated corpse rolling down the piles of rubbish in the wasteyard.
"Finally got rid of that filthy body. I need a nice warm bath to cleanse myself after this," one of the witches-in-training spoke while dusting her hands.
"Same." The other witch-in-training agreed before sighing sadly, "I didn't expect that we would lose Librarian Eniwse today. She was such a nice and wise Senior Witch."
"Yeah... turning into an Abomination is such a horrible fate—and becoming a Wyvern-type Abomination, no less. I would also hate myself to death if I transformed into such an ugly thing."
"Yeah... I hope someone can put Librarian Eniwse to rest quickly so she can be at peace."
"It's all the fault of that spoiled princess. If only she didn't touch Librarian Eniwse's new servant, she would not have gone berserk..."
Shortly after the voices of the two witches-in-training were too distant to be heard, Vaan exposed himself from a pile of junk with a gloomy expression.
"Three months after Lifar turned, even Eniwse also transformed?—Even becoming a Wyvern-type Abomination?" Vaan bit his lips so hard he started to bleed, finding solace in the pain.
Although they held a master-servant relationship, Eniwse was not like other witches, who were indulgent in pleasure and disdainful toward men.
She treated him with proper respect as a man in private rather than a servant.
Of course, he played a big factor in her change in attitude towards him after he successfully courted her with ulterior motives.
Nevertheless, it does not change the fact that Eniwse was his woman, just as he was her first man after taking her first time, just a bit over a month ago.
"My research, my project, even my woman—all gone. That f*cking bitch, Isabelle, needs to pay for ruining everything." Vaan proceeded to bite his thumbnail with a frown.
"Now that my physical strength has been enhanced to the same level as a Rank 1 Aura User, killing a newly-ascended True Witch will not be a problem with the right weapon and preparation, let alone an unawakened Apprentice Witch."
"However, getting away after killing Isabelle will be a problem, especially with the City Lord being a Senior Witch and her father being a Rank 2 Aura Master..."
The problem made Vaan's frown deepen further.
"If I am going to kill the City Lord's daughter, I will need to be done covertly after making my plans and preparations." His eyes soon flickered with a decisive glint before turning to the junk in the wasteyard.
"I never had the chance to come to the wasteyard before and only managed to procure my research materials through Eniwse, considering it is both embarrassing and humiliating to a witch if her servant is seen rummaging garbage..."
But since he was here now, he could not waste the opportunity presented before him. What is seen as garbage by others—is seen as treasures by him.
"One man's garbage is another man's treasure, was it?" Vaan shook his head before searching for useful parts in the pile of junk.
"The wasteyard gets cleaned out at the end of each month. Right now, there are still three days until that time. However, dead bodies usually don't get dumped in the wasteyard, so this could only be happening because it is near the end of the month."
"Still, the longer I linger in the wasteyard, the more unpredictable the variables. In other words, I have to make my move tonight and leave the city..." Vaan furrowed slightly, recalling demon beasts roams in the wild outside of city walls.
"Oh? Fire Crystals and Thunder Stones; these two items make quite a good reaction when clashed, akin to exploding gunpowder… Which idiot threw these two objects into the wasteyard together?"
Shortly after, Vaan fell silent.
He had been working on a firearm model that made use of the current world's magical minerals—and had even reached the last step in creating his prototype.
It only lacked the bullets.
"I can make the bullets here and pick up the desert eagle prototype I left in the library office later, but there's no telling that it wouldn't get picked up by someone else..."
Furthermore, bullet production was complex with the lack of tools, not to mention the loud noise.
"Guns are no good. I need a silent weapon like a short sword..." Vaan's gaze soon fell on a broken steel sword of half-length before his eyes flickered, "This broken sword should do. It just needs to be whetted and enchanted."
Vaan began calculating the strong vitality of unawakened witches before considering the tools and equipment needed for his survival in the wild.
"It's a pity that this system seems like the non-sentient type. I will have to figure out its usage on my own." Vaan sighed.
Ding!
<A witch hunt has been updated>
<Elimination-type witch hunt: Slay Isabelle Gleriath>
<Hunt completion reward: ???>
The sudden notification rang in his head before he softly exclaimed, "Oh? Speak of the devil."
"Elimination-type witch hunt, huh? Seems like there are other types of witch hunts. Still, if this is all there is to the system, it will be pushing me to side with the demons."
Vaan frowned in thought.
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