Chapter 381: Witch’s Homunculus
Every passing second in the western region of the Ultras Continent carried enormous weight...
Ultras forces had been strategically deployed throughout the western zone—chosen to host the final phase of the Witch’s Game.
Players had taken their positions, awaiting the signal.
From the east, Godfrey’s army was slowly advancing toward their objective.
But strangely enough, neither Godfrey himself nor his Empyrean, Gvardiol, were seen among the troops.
From the south, a different army marched.
A terrifying force of a thousand elite warriors from the High Blood—many of them Rank S, armed to the teeth with deadly gear.
They were the Southern hammer of Ultras, commanded by none other than Mergo’s closest follower...
Lawrence.
A wild beast in the body of a manchild .. hardly suitable for command.
No one in the Ultras army knew how to deal with him. So, they chose to follow from a distance, careful not to provoke him. After all, the only one who ever tamed that monster... was Mergo.
Lawrence didn’t understand the complex strategies his master used to discuss.
He only knew one thing:
March to the marked destination.
Ultras had gathered enough force to spark a full-scale war against the Empire itself.
Yet their target was not a rival army...
It was something else entirely.
The direction they were marching toward...
Was the very location of Phoenix Sunlight’s group.
And that fact was all too clear to Ghost Umbra, who had been slipping through the shadows for days now .. searching for Frey.
But instead of finding his friend...
The silent killer had stumbled upon something else entirely.
Lethal armies. Terrifying warriors gathered for one purpose ..
Annihilation.
And the ones they were meant to annihilate... were none other than the Elite Class.
If Phoenix and his group were to face an army like that head-on, not even their strength would be enough to survive.
Between finding his missing friend—whose fate remained uncertain, dead or alive—and returning to warn the others...
Ghost Umbra stood at a crossroads.
He had seen with his own eyes what the enemy had prepared for them.
"I still have Selina’s Mark... I can catch up to them if I move at full speed."
As long as he carried that mark, he could always track the others .. unlike Frey, who had no way to find his team.
And so, Ghost made his decision.
Return. Warn them.
Blending into the shadows once more, the silent killer dashed off, retracing his path toward the group he had left behind.
He had to reach them quickly—only then could he resume his search for Frey.
For a brief moment, dark thoughts clouded his mind. Why would the Ultras deploy such a powerful army just to wipe out a class of students?
But he didn’t have long to dwell on it.
His instincts flared .. danger was incoming.
He immediately leapt to the side, barely avoiding a massive sword that had pierced through his shadow without resistance.
Ghost tumbled back, colliding with a giant boulder. As he scanned his surroundings for the attacker ..
He found him.
Or rather, the man made no effort to hide himself to begin with.
Standing atop the hilt of his greatsword—planted deep in the ground—was a man Ghost had never seen before.
Orange hair. Gold teeth. A lightning-charged aura dancing around him.
Draxler.
He smiled down at Ghost as he gripped the sword and pulled it free from the earth, crackling sparks following his every move.
"There you are, you little runaway rat."
Cloaked in his deadly aura, Draxler walked toward Ghost, who now held his daggers—ready for combat.
"You really should’ve stayed put and played your role in the Witch’s Game."
"The Witch’s Game?"
Ghost asked, unsure of what he was talking about.
Draxler chuckled mockingly.
"Your little detour nearly messed up the entire game. So we had to... improvise. Looks like your fight starts earlier than the rest."
He spoke casually, as if talking to a friend—not an enemy.
That carelessness gave Ghost the opening he needed.
In a flash, he lunged forward—his daggers just inches away from Draxler’s neck.
But ..
Draxler caught both blades with his bare hands and flashed his golden grin once more.
"In such a hurry to die, assassin?"
And in less than a second, Ghost felt his chest collapse under the weight of a devastating kick.
He was sent flying—again crashing into a boulder and coughing up blood.
He tried to rise ..but his body barely responded.
With one hand on his chest, Ghost quickly estimated the damage—at least three to four broken ribs. The power difference was overwhelming.
"Ahaha... Beatrice is the worst, man. Always making me clean up the mess her little game leaves behind."
With a casual swing, Draxler unleashed a massive wave of lightning.
It obliterated the ground Ghost had stood on just moments before—leaving behind a smoking crater of utter destruction.
Ghost barely dodged it ..but he knew.
Draxler wasn’t even trying yet.
"You keep ranting about this dumb game... what the hell are you even talking about?"
Ghost asked, drawing a pair of violet-glowing daggers from his shadow—SS-ranked weapons he had retrieved from Londor.
He knew he couldn’t win unless he gave everything he had.
But Draxler didn’t seem concerned. It was as if he had already accepted the outcome.
"You want to know what the Witch’s Game is?"
Whoosh!
Draxler vanished .. reappearing to Ghost’s right mid-swing, lightning surging along his blade. But Ghost narrowly dodged and retreated back.
"It’s the game that will decide your friends’ fate, assassin."
"And it’s already begun."
BOOM!
The ground around them exploded in a storm of electricity as Draxler unleashed serpents of lightning, hissing and crashing toward Ghost—who dodged every strike with expert precision.
"Look forward to it, boy."
Draxler laughed as more of his deadly aura flared.
"It’ll be one hell of a game."
Busy fighting for his life, Ghost could no longer warn the others.
They were now walking blind into the unknown...
...
...
...
Far from where Ghost and Frey struggled alone in the western reaches of the Ultras Continent...
Phoenix and his team had finally reached the gate marked on their map.
After traveling over a hundred kilometers while avoiding enemy patrols, they had made it.
They had finally arrived.
That colossal gate ..their only way back home stood before them.
"Finally..."
Scarite Sunlight collapsed to the ground, overwhelmed by the realization that they were actually about to leave this cursed land behind.
"Don’t lower your guard. We’re not home yet."
Phoenix’s voice was firm as he motioned to Selina to inspect the gate.
The map had been accurate—too accurate to be a trap—but the risk of being attacked before activating the teleportation remained high.
Selina, without delay, began casting a spell to modify the gate and accelerate the transfer process, aiming to return them to the Empire as quickly as possible.
The whole operation would only take a few minutes, allowing everyone to breathe a little easier.
"Once the gate is activated, all of you will leave as agreed .. while I go back and retrieve Ghost Umbra. Is that clear?"
His words were directed at Snow and the others, who had previously insisted on staying behind to wait.
But Phoenix had convinced them otherwise. He promised to bring Ghost back himself.
Once they were gone, he could use the Witch’s Mark in his possession to instantly locate Ghost.
With only one person to worry about, Phoenix believed he could rescue him swiftly .. fly him home, if need be.
In the end, the young lord of House Sunlight had managed to persuade them all—Danzo, Sansa, and even Snow.
None of them were truly convinced.
But they could do nothing except follow the plan they had all agreed to.
Now, they stood before the gate—their only path home.
"I don’t like this..."
Danzo muttered with a scowl, folding his arms as he stared at the gate, now glowing with Selina’s magic.
"Returning while others are left behind... walking through this gate and leaving so easily... it’s all just too simple. Too convenient for a land as brutal as this one."
It felt wrong. Too easy.
Could they really escape this continent so effortlessly?
Danzo was uneasy. Deeply so.
Snow Lionheart, gripping his sword tightly, didn’t disagree.
"We have no other choice. This is the only path forward."
Aside from the map they had previously found, there was no clue where else to go. Following it was their only option.
Snow hadn’t wanted to leave in the first place, but he suppressed his emotions for the sake of the group, not wanting to cause unnecessary trouble.
And so, one by one...
They found themselves standing before the gate, glowing with a swirling white light.
"It worked, everyone!"
Selina shouted joyfully as she completed the activation.
"Once this gate links to its counterpart in the Empire, the imperial mages will recognize my magic and open the way. We can finally go home!"
Hope surged through the group, who had spent what felt like an eternity in the hellscape of the Ultras Continent.
"We can finally go back..."
Standing at the gate, Sansa Valerion froze—lost in thought.
"What’s wrong, Sansa?"
Adriana stepped up beside her, a warm smile on her face.
"We’re finally going home. Why the long face?"
"Adriana..."
Sansa sighed, trying to convince herself that everything was fine.
"This is the second time I’ve run away from this place since I was first kidnapped. I just... can’t shake this strange feeling growing in my chest."
"Like all roads are somehow leading me back here... back to the Ultras Continent."
As Sansa spoke her thoughts aloud, Phoenix began ordering the group to pass through the gate. One by one, they began stepping forward.
Only Adriana and Sansa remained behind.
Adriana smiled.
"You’re right... Sansa."
Sansa turned to her, puzzled, as Adriana’s gaze remained fixed on the glowing gate.
"All roads do lead back here. To the Ultras Continent .. including this one."
"What are you talking about?"
"It’s a trap."
"What?"
"Didn’t you hear me? It’s a trap. One that will take us all into the final stage of the game."
Adriana’s warm smile twisted into something else .. something sinister.
At the same moment...
The gate’s white glow suddenly turned blood-red and pulled everyone inside without warning.
"This is the Witch’s Game, after all!"
As the red light consumed them like a black hole, Adriana’s body glowed as well—revealing a violet dress and a refined hat atop her head.
Her once gentle smile transformed into something far more terrifying.
Only she and Sansa remained outside the gate, which had just swallowed everyone else whole—triggering the magical trap Beatrice had prepared from the very beginning.
"What’s wrong, Sansa? Kihihihi~"
Adriana laughed wickedly as Sansa stood frozen in shock.
Standing before the crimson vortex...
"You look like you’ve seen a ghost."
And with those words ..
Everyone had been teleported.
Each person, alone.
Each sent to a different place.
Each facing a chosen opponent waiting just for them.
Phoenix Sunlight stood before Godfrey.
Seris Moonlight came face to face with a man she hadn’t seen in a long time ..Baylor Moonlight.
Snow Lionheart faced the masked figure V, his old nemesis.
Ragna Claude stood opposite Lorance, the man who murdered his father.
Dawn Polaris found himself confronting a strange woman he had never seen before.
Daemon Valerion encountered two S-class warriors of the High Blood.
Each had met their destined enemy ..
And with that...
The final round officially began.
The Elite Class’s last struggle... had begun.