readytorunbook Chapter 154 The Witcher Eve, Part 2
Chapter 154 The Witcher Eve, Part 2
The sudden outbreak of battle caused all the passersby to instinctively avoid the area, fearing that the intense fighting would affect them.
"Demon, won't you reveal your true form?" The attacker dodged the surrounding vines and various magical interferences, but the witch's attacks did not disrupt her rhythm at all. Instead, she calmly pulled out another crossbow from her body.
Without any hesitation, the crossbow bolt was fired at the zither; the entire process was done without even aiming.
The powerful arrow shot straight towards Qin with a whooshing sound, and was about to hit Qin's head, but Qin casually reached out and caught it.
"How could this be?" The attacker seemed to have not expected this to be the case.
"The exorcising arrows are useless against me. Does that prove I'm not a demon?" Jean tossed aside the arrow that had been aimed at him.
"Then why do you have such a strong demonic scent on you—" The attacker did not stop and continued to confront the unarmed Qin.
But faced with the unarmed harp, the attacker discovered that even if he could damage it, the wounds would heal rapidly within seconds: "You still say you're not a demon..."
As the battle progressed, the attackers' attacks became increasingly frenzied—but this also meant that she was launching a final counterattack.
She was not a god but a human. In her mind, it would only take a moment for her to kill the demon and leave, but the battle had dragged on for so long that she knew her defeat was inevitable.
A demon immune to exorcism weapons, and two formidable demon servants—this defeat was well-deserved.
No matter how much effort she put in, or how fierce her attacks, this demon before her could easily neutralize them. He hadn't even revealed his true form yet; what kind of demon was this…? He was many times stronger than the lower-level demons she had hunted before.
After her final, desperate strike failed to hit her opponent, she finally collapsed from exhaustion, unable to withstand the relentless attacks from all around her. Eventually, countless vines enveloped her.
“You actually had a chance to escape, didn’t you?” Qin asked.
He didn't recognize the person who attacked him; he had no recollection of them whatsoever.
Judging from her desperate stance, one might think he had killed her parents...
“Kill me…” The attacker’s eyes were bloodshot, making her look even more sinister and terrifying, especially with her half-disfigured face. “What are you pretending for?”
"Qin, what should we do with this person?" Elena asked.
This is a real problem. Executing those who attacked them without any explanation would be satisfying, but it would inevitably cause a lot of trouble. At least, the laws of any kingdom would not allow such a thing. The sensible approach would be to hand it over to the law enforcement agencies of a nearby kingdom for a fair trial.
However, even choosing the latter option comes with its share of troubles.
“That’s it, she won’t live much longer,” Qin said. “Oh, I don’t mean execute her, even if we do nothing, she won’t live much longer.”
"What do you mean?" Elena asked, puzzled.
"Her knife is a very interesting knife," Qin said vaguely.
“You saw it yourself, neither your knife nor your crossbow bolts could effectively harm me. Why don’t you believe I’m not a demon?” Jean said to the attacker. “You know very well that even when fighting a high-ranking demon, a demon is a demon, and your knife and arrows will harm it. Am I right, Miss Witcher?”
"Then why do you have the aura of a demon on you?" The witcher admitted her identity, and after completely losing her fighting ability, she finally showed the willingness to talk.
"Don't you have it on you too?" Qin retorted.
"I'm different...I..."
“People who have been possessed by demons will have this smell—but are they necessarily demons?” Jean said. “I’ve met people similar to you, but they weren’t as irrational as you.”
“I know what you’re thinking. You’d rather kill a thousand innocent people than let one guilty person go free.” Jean didn’t give the demon hunter a chance to speak. “You know very well that what you’re killing may not be a demon, but you just want to use that thought to spur and numb yourself to keep killing. Anyway, you’ll die if you come into contact with a demon’s aura, that’s what you think.”
It seemed that Jean had hit the nail on the head, and the Witcher chose to remain silent.
“Don’t you think someone like you is more evil than a demon?” Jean said.
"What do you know! What right do you have to criticize me!" the Witcher cried out, seemingly because Jean had hit a nerve and denied her long-held values, making her retaliation all the more intense.
But she was completely bound and unable to move.
“You know very well that even if I do nothing, your life is nearing its end. If you don’t mind, I can hear your story,” Jean said. “At least now you understand that I am not your enemy, and I also hate demons.”
“What’s the use… a story is just a story, and the dead will never come back,” the Witcher said.
Qin did not respond.
He merely offered the witcher advice; it didn't mean he was genuinely curious about the man's story. Because a demon resided within him, he wasn't the only one being hunted.
But in the past, demon hunters would stop once they knew they weren't hunting demons, unlike this one who was so obsessive.
Qin had seen similar knives before; they were powerful weapons used to sacrifice one's own life for a special attack against demons. Conventional magic and weapons were largely ineffective against demons; only such specialized demon-targeting weapons could be truly effective.
However, since there are very few demons walking among humans, and even fewer threatening ones, an ordinary person might never encounter a demon in their entire life. Moreover, the side effects of this weapon are so severe that its numbers are extremely limited.
Their owners are usually witchers who harbor extreme hatred for demons.
Demons are exceptionally sensitive to the scent of death, and Jean herself is inhabited by a demon; this instinct is passive—so Jean can easily deduce that the witcher before her is on the verge of death due to overuse of this sword.
It is obvious that before she met Qin, she had hunted down many demons with this knife.
“My name is Eve,” the witcher finally agreed.
I don't know why, maybe Qin was right about everything, or maybe she subconsciously didn't want to bury all of her past with her.
“I come from Mokarich of Twilight,” Eve said.