On the commercial street of Mandrake City, a burly man was being pinned to the ground by several puppet knights. Nearby, Lily stood in front of Anna with a stern expression, protecting her.
She approached Clint, drew the Bloodsucking Sword from her waist, and pointed it at his forehead, asking in a deep voice: "Who sent you? What is your purpose?"
Clint spat viciously, but in his current position, he couldn't even tilt his head to look at Lily properly, let alone have his spit reach her.
"You won't talk, huh? Fine. Our Mandrake City prison has plenty of ways to make you speak. Take him back."
After giving the order, Lily addressed the nearby crowd in a loud, commanding voice: "Everyone, don't panic. This man is an assassin sent by an enemy force to Mandrake City, intending to create chaos. If anyone recognizes him, please report to the city guard camp. Rewards will be given based on the value of the information provided."
Having reassured the panicked merchants, Lily turned to take Clint to the city guard's dungeon. Interrogating criminals didn't require her to do anything personally. The dungeon had magical devices capable of forcing confessions.
But just as Lily turned, Clint's body suddenly swelled violently, and a powerful magical energy began to radiate from him.
"Not good!"
Lily's heart jumped. Without thinking, she thrust her sword forward. In situations like this, the safest solution would normally be to flee. But there were too many civilians around. If she ran, there could be significant casualties. For the newly rising reputation of Mandrake City, that would be unacceptable.
Her only option was to eliminate him before he could self-detonate.
However, even after her sword pierced Clint's heart, his swollen body showed no sign of stopping.
"Not good!" Lily exclaimed.
At that moment, a barrier of water erupted in front of her. Behind her, Anna was holding a magical necklace and made a release gesture. It seemed she had activated magic through the item.
But this was only a feint in her panic.The pendant merely enhanced a cleansing magic array. The magic itself was a disguised death spell, though due to the suddenness of events and Anna's limited power, the spell was only low-grade.
The next moment, a violent explosion erupted from within the water barrier. Clint's entire body had turned into countless pieces of blood and flesh, surging wildly against the water shield. The surface of the barrier bulged repeatedly, as if the flesh would break through at any moment.
The water, however, was extremely resilient. Most of the bulges receded shortly afterward.
The two magics clashed for some time. Just as the water barrier began to weaken and was close to collapsing, the blood and flesh finally stopped exploding. After the last shockwave faded, the water barrier shattered into a puddle, and the remaining blood and flesh were freed from its confinement .This time, the scattered blood and tissue no longer posed any threat.
Anna wiped a few splatters off her face and hurried to Lily's side, asking anxiously: "Are you alright, Lily?"
"I'm fine. I just need to change my clothes."
Lily looked down at herself, covered in blood, but remained unfazed. Having survived in Mandrake Territory for so many years, she was accustomed to blood-soaked scenes. After all, she was also a member of the bloodline.
But then, Lily suddenly sensed something unusual about the blood. Since Hel had returned and given her the red bloodline of the progenitor, her control over blood had improved significantly. She was now one of the beings who understood blood better than almost anyone in this world.
She could clearly feel that the blood on the ground, besides Clint's own, contained another kind — one that stirred a deep desire within her. Its allure was only slightly weaker than Hel's blood.
"This isn't right… this blood is abnormal."
Lily's face darkened as she looked at the bloodied remains, then turned to the nearby city guard captain: "Contain everyone within a ten-meter radius. I suspect this blood carries some kind of toxin. Take them to the city guard dungeon. Anna, you come with me. Some of the blood splashed on you as well."
She crouched by the blood, carefully using her spiritual power to absorb the remains into her space ring. Secretly, she also controlled the blood that had seeped into the ground, condensing it back together. This ensured that no trace of it remained in the area.
At the city guard barracks, when Hel arrived, Lily was calming the unlucky merchants who had been splashed with blood. Most were visiting Mandrake City for business and had no training for such emergencies, often gawking at the chaos like naive deer. The locals, however, didn't interfere. During the beastman invasion, Blake had briefly militarized the citizens to maintain order and safety. When the city guard acted, they instinctively kept a safe distance, avoiding interference.
"What's the situation?"
Hel asked as she entered, speaking to Anna and the gathered merchants, though she had already deduced what happened the moment she saw Anna.
A golden buff tag had appeared above their heads:
[Blessing of the Wise Witch: Temporary large increase in wisdom and perception, minor permanent increase in spiritual power. This is a benefit from the blood of the Wise Witch, and also carries traces of her divine aura. Duration: 7 days.]
A Wise Witch? Clearly, this incident was far from simple.