Chapter 308 Chapter 306 Epilogue
The ratmen receded like a tide, disappearing into the dark streets and alleys, leaving behind a ground littered with bodies, loot, and weapons.
Ji Ma glanced at the personal system floating before her, noticed the remaining magic power was at twenty-one percent, and breathed a sigh of relief while holding her chest.
A stammering voice broke the silence, “Who are you?”
“Hmm?”
Ji Ma’s golden eyes shifted, fixed on the nearby Skali Sword Saint Henry, who was limping, blood oozing from his shoulder, and bearing a bite wound inflicted by a ratman. Were it not for his status as an extraordinary being, he would have already collapsed.
A weakling barely worthy of notice…
Ji Ma looked down on him, instinctively raising her chin as her golden eyes gazed down with disdain, uttering, “It has nothing to do with you.”
The black-armored bald man tossed her the “Bloodied Songstress”; she caught it and snapped her fingers.
To Skali Sword Saint Henry, the fearsome warrior who had driven back numerous ratmen, bowed humbly in salute before fading from view.
His anxiety grew as he saw the veiled horned woman preparing to leave. He dropped his sword, knelt halfway, and said, “I’m very sorry; I stole the honor that belongs to you.”
Ji Ma continued walking. “Conceited.”
Her voice changed, and thus, Skali Sword Saint Henry did not detect her true identity.
“Please, wait.” Skali Sword Saint Henry struggled to speak: “Let everyone understand that it is you who achieved this great feat, and I have nothing to do with it… I’m sorry, if I admit it, they’d think I’m being humble, that I’m a fraud.”
Ji Ma stopped, stepping on a pile of headless ratman bodies, turned back, and the smile behind her veil became habitual:
“So what? It was you who charged forward, you who led the others, you who pushed onward.”
“But…”
Skali Sword Saint Henry had much to say, such as he intended to lead everyone to flee, and had he not been attacked, he would have long been beaten to death, but took a wrong turn.
The so-called charge was merely driven by fear of the ratmen’s sorcerous machines; he only wished to engage quickly to avoid being turned into a beehive.
“If not for inexplicable luck…” Skali Sword Saint Henry recalled how he was ambushed by three ratman assassins and thought that had he not bothered to don his armor, he would have died sooner.
He couldn’t help but feel a wave of fear, “I would have died; I have never truly been brave.”
“How boring, does it really matter what you think inside as long as you act bravely, mortal?” Ji Ma continued, taking another step: “Accept the honor that others give you properly.”
“But…”
Ji Ma deceived: “Do mortals always like to court death?”
“Alright.” Skali Sword Saint Henry lowered his head: “I will accept the honor.”
“That’s good.” Ji Ma continued: “By the way, after accepting the honor, ratmen will regard you as a thorn in their side, constantly sending assassins to kill you. But you have no choice; even if you refuse the honor, others will still force it upon you.”
Skali Sword Saint Henry had yet to understand the meaning of this mysterious demonic girl when he heard voices behind him.
“The ratmen are retreating!”
“Hero of the Empire!”
“Long live the Sword Saint!”
He turned around to see ten soldiers crossing the corpses, rushing towards him, tears streaming down their faces.
The imperial soldiers ran to his side, eager to help him up. Skali Sword Saint Henry quickly raised his hand, pointing at Ji Ma, saying: “It was she who drove them back—”
Halfway through, he was surprised to find that the veiled demon girl had already vanished without a trace.
He let his hand drop, allowing the soldiers to lift him onto their shoulders as they carried him back to the unyielding administrative building, chanting: “Henry! Henry! Hero of the Empire, butcher of ratmen.”
Before long, cheers of survival erupted in the administrative building…
The body of a headless rat sharpshooter slumped to the ground, while a ratman beside it stared in fear and disbelief at its own headless corpse, the corpse’s hand still tightly grasping the rat sharpshooter.
Ji Ma appeared from the air, looking down at the rat sharpshooter, which resembled a Gatling gun.
“Strange technology, making such a weapon without gunpowder.” Ji Ma took the rat sharpshooter, “Interesting, I’ll take it back for research.”
She checked the rat sharpshooter; unsurprisingly, its power source was a dimensional stone, which was a crystallized form of magic power. For living beings, it was extremely dangerous, capable of inducing mutation, akin to hazardous radioactive materials. But the ratmen were already twisted creations.
Being a demon herself, Ji Ma was unaffected, so she confiscated all six rat sharpshooters, disappearing into the night wind.
The next day.
Ji Ma faced an angry Jenna, smiling as she explained:
“Sister Jenna, don’t be mad. Women age quickly when they’re angry.”
“Although I kept it from you, the outcome is good, isn’t it?”
“Everything was under my control; I set a trap to nearly wipe out the ratmen army; this isn’t a small feat but rather earnest work for the people! Doing good deeds without leaving a name, what kind of spirit is this?”
Jenna, who was nearly infuriated, was easily appeased by Ji Ma, or rather, resigned.
Jenna led her army, forcefully returning to Olli City in three days.
After maintaining some order,
She organized personnel to produce a cure for the Black Death, even the critically ill patients could be cured. Everything was developing in a positive direction.
Jenna paid special attention; the severely ill patients she treated before the campaign had not survived to this day. In the chaotic city, these unaccompanied critically ill individuals had no ability to care for themselves.
But with so many dead, people had become numb, and today they finally reached a hopeful day; they were too happy to think of anything else.
Jenna worked tirelessly for many days, imparting the secret recipe for treating the Black Death, teaching hands-on, and finally, resolved the epidemic in Olli City.
At the same time, she trained many doctors, armed with knowledge of treating the Black Death, who boarded boats to spread the healing knowledge across the empire.
This mysterious plague, which had ravaged half the empire, seemed destined to fade into history without incident.
The ships carried not only doctors but also the confiscated rat sharpshooters, which were tightly sealed in blessed boxes to prevent contamination of normal people.
However, when the ships reached port, the imperial citizens were astonished to find that all the rat sharpshooters had vanished without a trace.
Were it not for the witnesses’ earnest assurances and someone displaying shields riddled with holes from the rat sharpshooters’ fire, they might have thought it was battlefield rumors.
One can imagine that several years later, scholars who had buried themselves in ancient texts for many years, convinced that their prolonged studies had made their minds sharper than everyone else, would write a paper arguing the non-existence of ratmen.
They would assert that the so-called rat sharpshooters were battlefield rumors, a product of soldiers being stimulated in battle, rambling nonsensically. Such nonsense perfectly aligned with the needs of imperial political struggles, serving to demonize political opponents.
However, these future events held no meaning for Ji Ma. She never cared.
For her, the most significant gain from resolving the Black Death in Olli City was understanding how to effectively utilize her abilities.
Using divination and dream-infiltration to gather intelligence, deliberately fabricating rumors, and continually constructing “truths” to deep-root embedded fear, which could be directly slaughtered by the “bald brute.”
“I’m really powerful.”
Ji Ma couldn’t contain her excitement as she wrote the battle summary, each combo connecting seamlessly, perhaps more impressive than a diamond player who only knew how to swing a great sword?
Moreover, my “Wailing Succubus” ability grants me considerable damage enhancement when facing enemies I have harmed.
Ji Ma happily wagged her tail, adding this segment to her battle summary, relishing the joy similar to studying game mechanics and builds.
After finishing, she reviewed the battle report.
Ji Ma stretched lazily, suddenly inspired as someone wished to enter her dream palace.
It was Jenna, arriving as promised. With prepared materials, she was ready to heal Ji Ma’s soul wounds.
Ji Ma hurriedly went to greet Jenna. The first question upon meeting was:
“Jenna, how are your aftereffects now?”
After reading the notes from the epidemic doctor and drinking the virus-laden green soup, Jenna developed some aftereffects.
“Nearly fully healed.”
Jenna looked much better now. The dark circles under her goose-egg face had vanished without a trace, with only a faint medicinal fragrance on her, her white robe spotless, skin shimmering softly, her figure tightly wrapped yet unable to conceal her imposing outline.
Ji Ma was thrilled, but upon hearing Jenna’s response, she recalled her divination result for Jenna. The divination indicated that there could be permanent aftereffects left on Jenna’s body.
Ji Ma did not ask; since Jenna didn’t mention it, the aftereffect must be something Jenna was unwilling to discuss.
“Then hurry and treat it.” Ji Ma lay back on the bed, her outspread wings relaxing down as if ready to enjoy a massage: “I can’t wait.”
“Okay.” Jenna put down the medicine box, took out incense, and lit it, “What specific symptoms do you have from your soul injury?”
“Since the last battle with George against the Mother of All Beasts, my soul injury has flared up again; once my magic power falls below one-fifth, my chest hurts—really painfully.”
“That’s serious.”
“There’s another aftereffect,” Ji Ma said: “After that, I have this constant itch in my muscles, and I often need a full-body essential oil massage.”
“This symptom is a bit strange.” Jenna foolishly accepted: “I’ll give you a rejuvenating essential oil treatment after.”
“Great.” Ji Ma broke into a big smile: “I’d better add some holy water, to stimulate my body.”
“Okay, that’s my job.”
“And I’ve recently developed some kind of mammalian infant syndrome.”
“I’ve never heard of that.”
“I just made it up because the symptoms are… hard to mention.”
“Ji Ma, I’m a doctor. You can speak freely.”
“You know I’m oviparous.” Ji Ma said: “But since my soul injury erupted, I’ve started to long for my mother like a mammal.”
“What does that have to do with mammals?”
Ji Ma said: “So now I find it hard to resist the symbolism of bounty in breasts, can you let me have a glimpse of your bounty while you massage me?”
Only then did Jenna understand Ji Ma’s meaning; her face turned red, and she reached out to smack Ji Ma on the head, saying: “Ji Ma, you’re being lewd.”
Ji Ma caught Jenna’s wrist, grinning: “Just joking! I have no bad intentions. By the way, only George can smack my forehead; but that’s only temporary.”
Not long after, the treatment officially commenced.
Ji Ma lay on the cold stone bed, allowing Jenna to massage her. She inhaled the fragrance of the incense, drowsily drifted off to sleep, resting peacefully, with all her troubles slipping away.
————
The third volume of Witch’s Bloodline ends here.
Additionally, regarding yesterday’s mention of a double update, it referred to the combination of yesterday’s chapter, totaling six thousand words; I did not clarify this properly.
