"[Haste]. [Sprint]," she spoke aloud, with no intention of wasting another second.
The moment she moved, the forest responded.
Trees bent aside. Bushes parted. Roots sank into the earth, paving a path forward for Lee Joo-Hee.
It was a mystical sight—nature itself yielding to her passage.
Barefoot, each step resonated through the soil.
Waves of life surged into her body, then flowed back out, carrying information—status reports from all five fortresses scattered across the forest.
When she opened her eyes again, a smile curved her lips.
"Finally found you, you bastard," she murmured.
"It took so long I almost thought I'd finish this quest without collecting more treasures."
She came to a stop and spoke calmly, "Killua. Come out."
From the shadows, a goblin emerged. It hurried forward and dropped to one knee before her.
"I greet the Witch of the Yambol Forest,"it croaked reverently.
"This goblin offers his devotion with all his heart."
Lee Joo-Hee had earned that name after the goblins—those she had broken through violence and torture—finally submitted to her will.
Through countless killings, she had mastered and recorded the [Goblin Tongue] to perfection. Communicating with goblins had long since become trivial.
And with that mastery came something greater.
She had learned and perfected [Goblin Shamanism], drastically increasing the proficiency of her skill [Verdant Growth].
The forest was no longer merely terrain.
It was hers.
With a sigh, Lee Joo-Hee scratched her neck.
'If not for the effects of the title, I wouldn't have accepted such a name,' she thought irritably.
'Witch… how dare they call me that.'
_________________
[Witch of the Yambol Forest]
— An epithet bestowed only upon the strongest shaman of the Yambol Forest. It grants dominion over the forest and enables the user to freely manifest their will within it.— Acquired through the recognition of thirteen [Goblin Shamans].
_________________
'Still… those goblin shamans were useful,' she admitted internally.
They had taught her their magic, their chants, their methods.
'And with their incantations, I'll finally capture that golden goblin and complete this quest at once.'
The thought alone made her giggle.
Then she laughed.
At that sound, Killua's body began to tremble violently.
'A-Almighty Gral...!,'he prayed in panic.
'Please grant me mercy—she's l-laughing again! Please, just one more day to live! I swear I'll live in peace! I'll help all goblins! I'll offer all my faith to you—anything, just please—!'
The forest remained silent.
But the witch kept smiling and finally said lightly, "Well, that's enough. You've done a great service, Killua."
She dropped a heavy pouch at his feet. Essence stones clinked softly inside.
"Eat these. Grow stronger than you are now. If fate allows… I'll be needing your help again."
Killua barely had time to react before she poked him with her staff.
'That is if we ever cross paths again.'
The simple touch sent him collapsing to the ground, hands clawing at the soil as terror seized his body.
"P-PLEASE HAVE MERCY, G-GREAT WITCH—!!"
Lee Joo-Hee clutched her stomach and burst into laughter.
"P-PFFT—HAHAHAHA!!!"
"Hey, you're really funny as always~"
She wiped a tear from her eye, still smiling at the first shaman she captured.
"I might be human, but after spending this many hours here, I'm not unreasonable enough to kill you for no reason. So relax—stop shaking already."
Slowly, she raised her staff high into the air, lips curling into a mischievous smirk.
"And didn't I tell all thirteen of you? You taught me a great deal of knowledge… so it's only right that I return the favor."
She slammed the staff into the ground with all her strength.
"Trees of Deception. I plead to you. I seek you..."
The forest answered.
The silence shattered as wind rushed inward, spiraling toward her.
Mana surged violently as intricate, glowing lines spread across the ground, forming an enormous magic circle.
Veins bulged along her skin in ecstatic tension. Her eyes glowed a deep, sinister green. Her hair lifted skyward, caught in an unseen storm.
"Hail the kin of everlasting roots. All of ancestry. Nigh of greater wood..."
Each word of her chant carried power far beyond what the world's magic system could comprehend—ancient, alien, and forbidden.
Killua collapsed to his knees, screaming silently under the crushing mana pressure.
Even the two goblin shamans hiding several trees away were forced down, their bodies trembling violently.
Despite evolving to C-Rank through the essence stones she had given them, they could feel it—the success born from countless lives sacrificed to teach Lee Joo-Hee and to craft that staff.
Killua could only think in despair and delight, 'T–This human… she's more of a d-demon than any shaman—!! If it's her, then our life's mission will soon be—'
"…And grow, thou disaster that surpasses all it has known. Earth, rampage with all that you are…"
This was [Goblin Shamanism].
Not orthodox magic.
Not refined sorcery.
A sacrificial art.
And the price—
The thousands of corpses piled beyond the fortresses.
_________________
[Freedom of Goblin Macabre]
Total Goblins Killed: (7,896/10,000)
Time Remaining: 4 hours, 1 minute, 3 seconds
_________________
The chant was long, but every word was etched into her memory—burned there by the teachings of dozens of goblin shamans.
Even with [Mana Control] at 100, the spell devoured mana at a terrifying rate.
Yet her staff pulsed with life.
It was all because of "it".
The quest scroll.
The two-meter staff she and the shamans had crafted housed the [Exclusive Class Quest Scroll], continuously restoring her mana and health through direct contact.
Once, prolonged exposure would have wracked her body with pain.
Now, through control and circulation, she expelled excess healing with ease.
At its tip sat a compressed orb—treasures scavenged from countless goblins, crushed and fused into a single core.
Wood bulged and breathed as if alive.
Thus, the staff was born.
[Everlast]
A grand wooden staff forged through sacrifice and dominion. A never-ending source of rejuvenation and power.
As the incantation deepened, its chants shifted—no longer mere bestial language, but hymns of enticement and command.
At the very center of the magic circle, a pillar of violet light erupted skyward.
It was beautiful.
The interlocking formations of the magic circle, the raw authority of shamanism, and the sheer scale of control radiating outward blanketed the forest's vicinity.
This was no longer a spell—it was dominion.
'This was something I could never have imagined when I first arrived in this world. And yet now, despite being born without magic, I manage to reach this stage fast,' she thought, her incantation continuing without pause.
The forest began to die.
Trees, bushes, grass—everything withered, rotted, and collapsed into ash.
As the land decayed, the shamans fell to their knees, faces turned toward the violet pillar in worship, while conjuring a layer of barrier around them.
Now that Lee Joo-Hee understood their language, she realized something unsettling.
Monsters were not simply mindless beings.
They were also creatures shaped by manipulation, trapped by weakness just like humans.
'Just who on earth is this Gral they keep invoking…?'
'There had been no mention of such an existence in the original story. And yet—Gral appeared in every shamanic spell, every ritual text, every half-rotted tome those goblins possessed.'
A myth without origin felt contradictory to her.
'That being must have existed… at some point... Then—'
The land around her was now barren.
Ashes spiraled upward, drawn into the massive violet pillar along with the lingering lifeforce of plants and the remnants of thousands of goblin corpses.
The goblins knelt tens of meters away, eyes glazed, drawn to the light like fireflies to a flame.
[Fragmented Tongue of Babel] + [Verdant Growth]
Lee Joo-Hee closed her eyes and released her grip on the staff, 'It's time to end this.'
"ALVIS VIENNAX REVILENCIA"
FWOOSH—!!
Mana detonated outward.
Her body and staff lifted into the air as a dark green pillar of mana erupted from her position, spearing upward and colliding with the violet column.
The two lights intertwined—green and purple merging into a single, overwhelming phenomenon.
Nearby, Killua wiped cold sweat from his brow, eyes fixed on the converging pillars. It didn't take long for him to steady himself.
'Just amazing kekeke~!! The golden merchant the Witch ordered captured… should be dead by now.'
'But sigh...even she is struggling—constantly revitalizing herself with that strange, powerful paper.'
'Then… it's time to tell them.'
He pulled a small piece of carved wood from his waist and snapped it in half.
...
[World Quest has been generated.]
"Huh—?"
Despite the agony of being drained dry and forcibly regenerated by mana, Lee Joo-Hee froze as a panel appeared before her eyes.
[World Quest has been completed.]