## C425
The Jungle Witch.
She was unlike any Dark Elf Cale had met before.
Whisper—
Branches swayed, enveloping her like living vines, moving like snakes.
"Leaves."
Her hair was a beautiful black, like the night sky, but unlike other Dark Elves, she had leaves that not only adorned her, but grew from her.
-I don't know if she's a Dark Elf or a plant.
As Super Rock had said, the Jungle Witch was peculiar.
"She doesn't even have a name."
They simply called her the Jungle Witch.
—"Are you the Creator?"
When she asked again, Cale stared at her.
"……"
"……"
Dark eyes like a moonless night.
She was blind, but she had led a territory and a race in this treacherous land.
Cale slowly opened his mouth.
—"No."
—"Mmm?"
As she had asked if he was the Creator, he answered with the truth.
—"I'm not the Creator."
His voice conveyed disbelief.
—"And I'm human."
—"Ah—"
The Witch couldn't help but sigh.
—"You're human? Not the Creator?"
She seemed bewildered.
—"Then why do I feel absolute power in you?"
—"What?"
Cale was equally confused.
After a moment of hesitation, she spoke again.
Whisper—
The leaves trembled as if reflecting her emotions.
—"I've kept a secret, never spoken aloud, hidden all this time."
Eh?
Confusion was etched on Cale's face.
His goal was to ally with the Witch to secure the Demon Kingdom's support, but rescuing Choi Jung Gun from Demon World and diverting the Five-Colored Family's attention were priorities.
He had planned to leave Alberu here, exchange brief greetings, and leave.
But things weren't going as he expected.
—"Since I was very young, I could see the essence of things."
Whisper~
Instead of her fingers, a branch extended, pointing at Alberu.
—"I could tell that this man was a Player."
Then, the branches rose towards the sky.
—"I could tell that this world was a game."
Mmm.
Cale realized she was a variant, like Count Lupeh of the Third Evil, Kingdom of Darkness.
—"And I could tell that this world was changing."
Mmm.
Alberu sighed beside him.
—"Originally, this world was a combination of numbers. Made of zeros and ones."
Cale was genuinely surprised.
—"After seeing the truth, surviving here wasn't difficult. I always saw the loopholes, the solutions. But I planned to live in silence, fulfilling my role in this game as long as my people could survive."
Perhaps even more remarkable than Count Lupeh, the Witch could see the system itself, not just virtual reality.
—"But now, this world is starting to feel real to me."
She extended her hand.
Whisper—
The branches entwined around her.
—"These trees are now real."
A gentle smile appeared on the Witch's aged lips.
—"My life is becoming real."
A being not born, but created.
A being with tasks, not destiny.
This is how she had lived, until now.
—"I'm not just a created existence. I have the opportunity to exist for myself."
To live a real life.
Something she had only dreamed of for so long was now before her.
—"How could I let it slip away?"
She couldn't.
The Witch wanted this world to become real.
But—
—"That God of Chaos, right?"
She didn't want it to fall into ruin.
—"The night that being appeared, I saw this world become more real, and an immense power trying to invade it. Probably the God of Chaos' power."
So when she sent scouts, she also sent her right hand with skilled warriors.
—"And then I realized: that power was divine."
That overwhelming presence.
A force that seemed to tear the very fabric of the world.
—"For years, I've felt a presence similar to that power."
Cale tensed.
Eh?
A presence similar to the God of Chaos' power?
His pupils trembled.
—"That presence has grown stronger, more violent. Like a silent storm brewing."
And that storm—
—"It felt like an impending catastrophe."
The Witch had carried this fear alone.
She never spoke of her power, acting only as an NPC should.
—"I knew I was the only one who felt it, but I couldn't talk about it."
The reason was simple.
—"Because I was born different. If they discovered me, I would disappear."
Ah.
Cale finally understood.
She wasn't a variant like Count Lupeh, who had awakened to the truth.
The Jungle Witch was a bug.
A bug from the start.
—"I hid, knowing they could replace me if they discovered me."
She hid well.
Never speaking of the world's secrets, suffering in silence.
But now she knew it was time to speak.
—"I waited in fear, hoping the Creator would come for me."
The Creator would recognize her usefulness.
—"Even when that immense power grew, the Creator didn't act. Either he couldn't locate it, or he was powerless to stop it."
Her finger pointed.
—"When this child came to me, I knew the Creator knew about me."
She pointed at Alberu Crossman.
Alberu had received a mission from the system: become the first Dark Elf Emperor and find the Witch.
"Ah."
Now Cale saw the whole picture.
"This damn system—"
It had also been fighting under the watchful eye of the Transparent Corporation.
The Witch looked at Cale.
—"I feel the Creator's power in you."
—"Ah."
Now Cale understood.
The Creator she was talking about was the system.
Yes, more than a god or a world, the system was the true Creator.
—"You're talking about the Red Hand."
The Red Hand—the system's hammer against those who broke the rules.
—"The Creator shared his power with me."
The Witch reacted.
—"So, you and the Creator are allies?"
—"Yes."
Cale answered briefly, then leaned towards her.
—"Jungle Witch."
That immense and violent power she had felt—
—"The power you've felt. What direction does it come from?"
He had only recognized it after feeling the God of Chaos' power.
—"The divine power you felt—where does it come from?"
The Witch had felt a god's power.
And there was only one God like that.
The Absolute God.
Surely, she was referring to that power.
So far, Cale had no way to locate the Absolute God. But he now had a clue.
The Witch spoke.
—"The west."
The branches pointed towards the west.
A growing presence, increasing in power.
—"The presence stopped expanding, but its violence intensified."
If the birth of the Absolute God was near, this fit perfectly.
—"I can't describe how terrifying that violence is."
Tremble.
Her leaves, branches, and hands trembled.
—"I waited to tell the Creator. I thought he would recognize my worth and come."
The system didn't know the Absolute God's location.
The Transparent Corporation—no, the Transparent Blood and Five-Colored Families had hidden it well.
But a bug knew.
—"I came at the right time, Jungle Witch."
Cale asked her:
—"That power belongs to the Absolute God. At the time of his birth, this world will no longer be the one you've lived in—or will live in."
—"I see."
She nodded calmly, as if she had expected it.
—"To locate it precisely, I must leave. I need to travel towards that presence. But I've never left the Demon Kingdom."
For fear of being discovered and erased.
She didn't say it, but Cale understood.
—"You need a guide."
—"Yes. And someone to hide me."
True.
The Witch had to remain hidden.
The Transparent Corporation's administrators would erase any bug they found.
It was a miracle she had survived so long.
Despite her caution, as one of the four leaders of the Demon Kingdom, they should have discovered her.
"But they didn't."
There was only one answer.
Cale looked at the air.
—"You heard everything, right?"
He spoke to the system.
"The system hid the Jungle Witch."
It had deliberately left this bug intact.
And now, it planned to use her—hence Alberu's mission.
—"You know what to do."
A system like this would know exactly what it needed.
Buzzing—
Cale's vision distorted.
[@#%-]
Illegible text flickered.
Under the close watch of the Transparent Corporation, the system had become more cautious, more hidden.
But its control had also strengthened.
[# mission, #%% you can hide the bug #%#%]
Its message was clearer than before.
—"Alright. Then give me the mission."
Buzzing—
The air distorted.
"Mmm."
Alberu tensed beside him.
[Hero's Mission!]
For Alberu.
[Hero's Companion Mission!]
For Cale.
The content was the same.
[Accompany the Jungle Witch to her destination.]
[Time Limit: None]
"Eh?"
"Eh?"
Choi Han and Rosalyn received the same mission.
"¿Mmm?"
Raon tilted his round head.
[Hero's Companion Mission!]
He also received it.
Hero: Alberu Crossman.
Companions: Cale, Choi Han, Rosalyn, Raon.
—"Rosalyn and I will take care of things here."
—"We'll stay hidden from the Wanderers. The Dark Elves will cooperate."
Alberu and Rosalyn stayed in the Demon Kingdom, while Cale moved away.
—"Let's go."
Eruhaben, Raon, Choi Han, and the Heavenly Demon were with him.
—"We'll pass through the Seventh Evil, then to Demon World through Apitoyu."
Demon World.
They had to find Choi Jung Gun.
Along the way, they would pick up Choi Jung Soo and meet with Team Leader Sui Khan.
"What have they been doing lately?"
They weren't helping Choi Sun-hee on the Third Earth, so what were they doing?
Cale frowned as they left the Demon Kingdom towards the Seventh Evil.
There—
Flap, flap.
A tiny dragon, even smaller than Raon, flapped its wings.
"¡Nyaaa!"
Hin puffed out his chest proudly.
"Our little one is flying very well now!"
At his side, On smiled tenderly at the Dragon Half-Blood, Eden Miru.
"Mmm."
Cale noticed Eden Miru's existential crisis but chose to ignore it.
Instead, he greeted a human standing rigidly nearby with discomfort.
"So, uh... how have you been?"
Clopeh Sekka smiled, his eyes shining.
"I've been waiting."
His gaze burned.
"You've written another legend."
Raon's voice screamed in Cale's mind.
-Human! Clopeh's eyes have gone crazy!
Yeah, don't tell me.
Cale's heart pounded as he looked at Clopeh's disturbingly fervent expression.
He was terrified.
Clopeh Sekka...one of the most useful person (tool) that Cale has at his disposal, but is also the one that terrifies him the most, even more than even the ancient dragon..lol 😂
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