Game of Divine Thrones

Chapter 31: Witch's Sanctuary 1

A full moon hung in the night sky.

Hong Yuri led her vampires in a battle against a group of Chimera specimens.

Hwarrrk

Her Black Flamed Whip wrapped itself around the Chimera’s body, filling the area with the smell of burnt rotting flesh.

.

“Ugh, how disgusting! Who created these things.”

Hong Yuri complained as she pinched her nose. Woohyuk who was standing nearby, responded.

“It was Lucas, an infamous Alchemist.”

Lucas had delved deep into the secrets of forbidden biological experiments, flying under the radar of the Holy Aeperian Empire.

Later, he had joined up with Logan in order to create his Elite Undead Guards.

He was one of those guys that he had to take care of when he arrived at the Eeth continent.

“Anyways, we need to settle this area quickly because my vampires are having trouble due to being unable to resupply their Blood energy.”

Currently, the only place where Hong Yuri had been able to feed on a creature's blood so far had been the Harpies’ zone.

It was quite exhausting to always visit the area of those half human half bird mosnters, simply to satisfy her thirst.

“Bear with it a bit longer, soon enough you will be able to feed on humans.”

On any of the paths, after crossing three areas, one would find themselves at the Valley of Kings.

It was an ideal place for vampires. There was no shortage of targets to feed on.

“Are there seriously no other monsters besides these undead in the Witch’s Sanctuary? If only there was a Centaur…”

The Centaurs could be found in the second area on the left path, the place where Samuel was currently struggling to overcome.

Although they weren’t as tasty as the female Harpies, they were still much better than Goblins or Lizardmen.

“There will be some Ravens soon.”

Large crows with black, razor sharp wings. They looked rather strange, and the vampires would need to take care when sucking on their blood so as to not cut themselves.

Hearing Woohyuk’s news, she could only lower her head in frustration.

“Let’s just quickly kill this Witch and get it over with.”

“Ah, but I’m not planning on killing her. I want to take her alive.”

“...Huh?”

“She is very valuable.”

It was the reason he had sent Hong Yuri to the right path, all so that he could keep this Witch away from the others.

If it had been Samuel that had been sent here, the attack on the Abandoned Castle wouldn’t have been done properly.

Although he had the perseverance, his skills just weren’t up to par.

“What are you planning on doing with the Witch?”

“You will know soon enough.”

Woohyuk wasn’t like Logan, that would just go around without a plan. Hong Yuri, on her end gave up on asking, and just focused on killing the monsters.

“Kiaaaahak!”

A Chimera with the combined parts of a wolf and leopard rushed towards Woohyuk.

It was rather fast because it had been designed with the purpose of being speedy.

Still, Woohyuk could easily read its movements. As he slashed twice with Grandia, its body was split into four, sending pieces of flesh scattering.

‘I can finally use some techniques.’

His Strength and Agility were now rather high, so using basic skills was possible.

What needed at the moment from his sword attacks was speed. After all at this level, it would help shorten the amount of time it took to slaughter his enemies.

Chawaahahak!

His sword drew an arc through the air, flexible and able to predict its enemies movements. Its movement was both graceful and beautiful enough to be considered as a form of art.

[Art of Killing]

In the Martial Arts world the techniques would have different names, but it made no difference to Woohyuk, someone who had once stepped into the Sublime realm, even touching upon the mysterious Divine realm.

Leaving behind the mutilated Chimera corpses on the ground, Woohyuk stepped into the Witch’s Sanctuary

An endless cemetery that spread out across the ruins.

A deathly silence filled the air, as not even a single mouse was in sight. Only the occasional cawing of crows.

Feeling frightened, Hong Yuri clung to Woohyuk.

“I’m scared, It feels like a ghost might pop out of nowhere.”

“Are you afraid of ghosts?”

“Not really, it’s just this whole creepy vibe….”

Woohyuk let out a sigh, a vampire that was afraid of being in a cemetery.

“You have nothing to worry about, you are the Blood Queen.”

Unlike regular vampires, she wasn’t at all easy to kill.

First you would need a Holy Relic to stop her from regenerating, then you’d need to completely deplete all of her blood energy. After that, you still needed to stake her in the heart and leave her outside in the sun before being able to kill her completely.

Hearing Woohyuk’s detailed description, Hong Yuri couldn’t help but be filled with curiosity.

“Have you killed one before?”

“A long time ago.”

[Alice]

Upon arriving on the main continent, she had entered a contract with Gremory, one of the 72 Demon Kings. All of it had been for sake of saving the one she loved.

That woman had been deprived of her Blood Queen class this time, but she was sure to still be quite the nuisance.

Although it wasn’t to the point that he would go out of his way to search for her, if they were to cross paths, he would instantly get rid of her.

“You seem to have experienced everything.”

“Does that frighten you?”

Hong Yuri waved him off with a surprised expression.

“No, nothing like that….”

You’ve had a tough life… But those words got stuck in her mouth, and she never spoke them outloud.

‘Honestly we were never that close.’

He simply wasn’t the outgoing type to quickly become friends with others, and she didn’t have a lot of things in common with Woohyuk back then.

When he had encountered some difficulty, she had kept her distance. Although she would like to cheer him up, she constantly worried about making his life more difficult by meddling instead.

Because she had been quite popular back in school, if she were to show too much affection towards him, it would instead attract the jealousy and ire of her many admirers.

‘But now things are different.’

She wasn’t sure if she could survive in this world without Woohyuk. He was the only one she could rely on, and Woohyuk needed her as well.

A sort of companionship.

Although she was still weaker than him, at least she could still provide a helping hand if he was in a tough spot.

‘I like his manliness.’

At some point she had begun developing feelings for him, and the more she got to know him, the stronger the attraction became.

If this went on, she just might fall in love….

As Hong Yuri was dealing with this internal dilemma, Woohyuk suddenly stopped walking.

“What is it?”

Hong Yuri asked, nervous that he might have somehow become aware of what she was thinking.

“Some annoying guys have appeared.”

Woohyuk then pointed at the branches up on the tree. An unkindness of Ravens were staring back at them.

“There are so many …”

Without needing to count, it was obvious that there were more than 30 of them.

Although flying monsters were tough to deal with, Woohyuk had already prepared a countermeasure.

Chaak!

A leather whip shot out, wrapping itself around one of the Raven’s ankles.

As the Raven flapped its wings in vain, attempting to escape, Woohyuk swung it around like a kite, smashing it into its kin.

“Caaaw!”

Ravens that weren’t able to avoid the collision in time, drop down to the ground.

Seeing their prey arrive before them, the vampires rushed out with their weapons drawn.

Puuk! Puuk!

A sword was embedded in one of the Raven’s eyes. Although their wings were sleek and sharp, their head and legs were basically defenseless.

It wasn’t all that hard to take care of them as long as they aimed properly.

‘The real problem still awaits.’

The Ravens merely acted as scouts for the Witch. The third eye located on their forehead acted like surveillance cameras within the Sanctuary.

By now, the Witch had surely been alerted to their presence, so they had to move quickly.

While avoiding the sharp black wings of the Ravens that flew around like arrows, Woohyuk equipped his Airwalker Boots.

“You hold them in position with the whip, and I’ll do the rest.”

“Alright”

Hong Yuri nodded back, as she focused on the Ravens flying in the air, her eyes turning a blood red.

[Bullet Time]

Vampires were able to momentarily heighten their reflexes and movement speed by sacrificing a porting on their Blood energy.

Chahak!

The leather whip snapped out, wrapping itself around the ankle of a Raven that had been flying a bit too low.

As Hong Yuri separated one from the group, Woohyuk began jumping into the air.

Huuk Huuk

Jets of high pressure air were emitted from the soles of his boots, allowing him to soar up even higher.

Sukuk

A series of strange midair acrobatics ensued, as he cut apart the Ravens and blood rained down to the ground.

Seeing a festival of blood take place, the vampires were naturally beyond themselves, pouncing on any of them that dropped to the ground.

As the Raven hunt had come to an end, Skeleton Soldiers were one by one beginning to appear within this cemetery.

“Make sure to feed, we will be quite busy after this.”

The vampires needn’t be told twice, as they sank their fangs into the corpses, using their ability to replenish the Blood energy.

They had been quite famished.

Woohyuk then summoned all of his undead troops and slowly made their way forward.

“Are we not sticking around to hunt them all?”

“We can’t afford to waste time.”

By the time they took care of all the Skeleton Soldiers within the cemetery, the sun would be shining in the sky.

They had to keep pressing forward.

“Right, your goal is the Witch.”

Using her tongue to wipe the blood around her mouth, Hong Yuri caught up to Woohyuk as she walked beside him.

Elite monsters were the key to any zone. Even if they weren’t Boss monsters, they would still give additional rewards if you were the first to kill it.

“But where is the Witch? Now that you mention it, I don’t even know where it is we are going.”

“She’s in the Chapel.”

This had been a part of Elrond’s territory.

Although it was now under a Witch’s Curse, many of the previous structures remained intact.

Woohyuk thought back to the past as he cut down a Skeleton Soldier using Grandia.

‘Back then lots of people lost their way in here.’

Due to the heavy mist within the cemetery, if you ever stepped off the path, it was very hard to get back.

The terrain didn’t help either with its many hills, so if you ran around blindly one could easily trip up and become injured

‘Just like Inoue.’

That guy had suffered from injuries due to being too hasty and pushing his troop too hard in order to break through the line of Skeleton Soldiers.

Of course they had Return Stones so it wasn’t like everyone had been killed, but because of that Woohyuk had to take over his role as leader for that raid.

“Oh, but I’m a vampire. Can I even go inside a Chapel? What if there are relics….”

“The Witch’s Chapel was originally designed as a place of worship for Lilith. It was only later remodeled by humans for more orthodox worship.

Following the war between the Gods and Demons, Lilith had been sealed, falling into a long slumber. She was only able to awake once more due to the waning power of the Gods.

Ever since that time, the Chapel had resumed its original function, and any relics found inside were now Corrupt.

“Then can I find some useful items in there?”

“Of course.”

In the Witch’s Sanctuary, there were mainly items that were Corrupt and affiliated with Darkness.

Hong Yuri raised her black whip, a look of anticipation plastered across her face.

“I think I’m beginning to understand why so many boys in our class would play games all day long. I guess they must also be busy hunting now right?”

“They are probably sleeping now, it’s late”

An eternal sleep most likely.

As he thought about his classmates’ faces, he swung down with Grandia.

* * *

Even despite taking a shortcut, they had been walking for quite some time, and the Witch’s Chapel was not yet in sight.

Weary, Hong Yuri couldn’t help but ask.

“Woohyuk, how much longer is it?”

“We’re almost there now.”

Woohyuk had repeated that same phrase more than once now. It had been six hours since they’d entered the Witch’s Sanctuary.

Even for the Blood Queen, endurance wasn’t her strong suit.

“Don’t they have items like blood transfusion packets here? Or even some sort of syringe injections….”

“You’ll find it in the Chapel.”

Although they weren’t nearly that modern, there were certain items that allowed you to store quantities of blood.

As Woohyuk was diligently explaining it to Hong Yuri, the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard.

“So you’ve appeared.”

It was the Witch’s first Guardian.

A giant monster that was basically an amalgamation of different body parts, just like a Chimera.

[Abomination]

Because it was an Undead type, it wasn’t possible to simply kill it by cutting its neck or stabbing it in the heart.

“You take the Ghouls.”

Following behind it, there was an army of about 100 Ghouls, their eyes a glittering blue.

A type of monster that was both stronger and more intelligent than a Zombie. They could infect a mortal through their bite, but of course it wasn’t something that Vampires needed to worry about. After all, they were also just another kind of undead.

“Did you guys hear that? Kill them all!”

Following Hong Yuri’s lead, her Vampires leapt into the air, baring their fangs.

As the battle began in earnest, Woohyuk led his undead to engage the Abomination.

Bang!

Bone fragments assaulted the Abomination as he used Corpse Explosion on a Skeleton Soldier.

Still the damage wasn’t much. It was covered in the tough hide of an Elite Monster, so it didn’t take much damage.

‘That won’t be enough.’

It looked like he would have to personally step in. A glint passed by Woohyuk’s eyes as he stabbed Grandia into the Abomination’s body.

Puuk!

He was able to cut through the tough hide, exposing the flesh behind. Feeling threatened, the Abomination shot out a dark green Poison Mist from its body.

[Breath of Death]

If one was to inhale it, their whole body would become paralyzed, It was a poisonous magic that targeted one’s mind.