<p>**Chapter 41: The Witch’s Palace Surrounded by Evil Gods**</p>
<p>People from the Lower City require procedures and entry fees to access the Upper City, but those from the Upper City can leave freely.</p>
<p>So, after a brief identity check, Shaya left the Upper City.</p>
<p>Of course, the identity was fake.</p>
<p>The security situation in the Lower City is poor, and monitoring of supernatural phenomena is much less stringent than in the Upper City. Additionally, due to the overall poverty of the area, there were no carriages available for transportation. As a result, Shaya found a hidden corner and quickly used the “Shroud of Concealment” to stealthily move in the shadows.</p>
<p>As he passed by Aileen’s shack, he took a quick glance but found she was not home.</p>
<p>Perhaps she was at her grandfather Peter’s place.</p>
<p>Shaya didn’t think much of it and hurriedly left.</p>
<p>Upon arriving at the secret base, he didn’t rush inside but instead wandered around the nearby streets, trying to gather information about the Night Shadow Association killer.</p>
<p>As expected, in the overall oppressive and dull environment of the Lower City, just making a living was extremely difficult, and the death of an unidentified person would not attract much attention.</p>
<p>Confirming that this matter had disappeared from the public eye, Shaya let out a sigh of relief and returned to his small room.</p>
<p>Even so, being cautious by nature, he decided it was time to change bases soon.</p>
<p>After entering the basement, Shaya thought for a moment, then found some monster blood mixed with secret silver and redrew the magical array on the ground, appropriately reducing some of the material at certain nodes.</p>
<p>After a brief ritual, accompanied by the dust of the Virtual Realm Stone swirling above the eerie pattern, familiar silver flames rose again, revealing a mirrored passage before Shaya.</p>
<p>“The Witch Miss shouldn’t be angry… I hope.”</p>
<p>Recalling the cool figure from his memories, Shaya said uncertainly.</p>
<p>He then stepped forward, and his entire being vanished into the mirror.</p>
<p>……</p>
<p>Damn old woman!</p>
<p>When Shaya came back to his senses, an unprecedented sensation of falling enveloped him, and his heart jumped.</p>
<p>After crossing the teleportation passage, he was shocked to find himself transported to a dark abyss devoid of light, surrounded by jagged stone pillars and cliffs, as if he had fallen into a deep well straight to the underworld!</p>
<p>Shaya’s tiny body was rapidly descending at a speed consistent with the laws of physics, with no end in sight.</p>
<p>Where is this?</p>
<p>Although filled with questions, it seemed no one could answer Shaya right now.</p>
<p>So, he engaged in self-rescue.</p>
<p>“Hot Wind Technique!”</p>
<p>Accompanied by a chant, a deep red magical array appeared in each of his palms, the incantation being relatively simple and clearly the most basic apprentice magic.</p>
<p>But for Shaya at this moment, it was a life-saving spell!</p>
<p>With maximum power activated, two columns of wind shot out from the magical arrays in his palms, and a thrust generated from thin air instantly slowed Shaya’s descent.</p>
<p>Shaya currently had an intelligence score of 46, which wasn’t small even among sorcerers, so he was very adept at using apprentice magic. Coupled with a massive amount of magical power, he could afford to release this low-level spell lavishly.</p>
<p>After a few seconds, Shaya’s body came to a stop in mid-air, his palms facing down, exhaling hot air, and he remained suspended in a rigid posture.</p>
<p>“Too bad I don’t have a set of Iron Man armor.”</p>
<p>Looking at his current posture, Shaya joked bitterly.</p>
<p>Although he was still under the aftereffects of “Exploding Fighting Energy” and felt weak, this only involved the force of the knight system and had little to do with his magic training, so his magical power was still reasonably abundant.</p>
<p>This also rang an alarm bell for Shaya.</p>
<p>The rewards given by the system were so generous, not to let him develop a single route, but to pursue both martial and magical training.</p>
<p>It seemed he would need to raise his level in the sorcerer route soon.</p>
<p>With this thought in mind, Shaya directed his gaze around.</p>
<p>This abyss-like place was dark and lightless, but from the strands of cold black mist swirling around, it seemed he was still on the Northern Continent, not too far from where the Witch Miss was.</p>
<p>In this regard, Octave had not deceived him.</p>
<p>But to hit such a small probability himself?</p>
<p>Shaya smiled wryly and looked upwards, not seeing even a glimmer of light.</p>
<p>This deep well-like place had only two paths to choose from, up or down.</p>
<p>After estimating the distance above, he figured that even if he expended all his magical power, he might not be able to fly out of here, and he would ultimately succumb to falling.</p>
<p>According to Octave’s description, even if the teleportation had deviated, it should still be close to the destination.</p>
<p>Let’s take a gamble!</p>
<p>With this thought, Shaya canceled the Hot Wind Technique and let his body fall deeper into the abyss.</p>
<p>In this lightless place, especially surrounded by remnants of black mist, the psychological torment felt like time passing unbearably slowly.</p>
<p>He didn’t know how long it took.</p>
<p>Perhaps a few minutes, or maybe just a few seconds. Finally, at the edge of his vision, a majestic palace outline emerged in the depths below.</p>
<p>At the same time, that eerie, cold, mad feeling of being cursed began to envelop him.</p>
<p>“!!”</p>
<p>As he clearly saw the scene before him, Shaya’s pupils contracted, and he hurriedly used the Hot Wind Technique to suspend himself in mid-air.</p>
<p>According to the Witch Miss, her palace was sealed by the gods, unable to escape, and Shaya could indeed see the anticipated scene at a glance.</p>
<p>It was a spherical membrane seal enveloping the entire palace, intricately wrapped with iron chains on the outside, and countless ancient spell writings circulated above, just looking at them caused a stinging pain in his eyes, almost making him cry.</p>
<p>The exterior of the seal faintly swirled with familiar black mist, obscuring the scene inside the palace.</p>
<p>This spherical palace was like a floating island, suspended in the center of the deep well-like abyss channel, blocking the entrance below.</p>
<p>Gazing around, he could vaguely see a large amount of black mist accumulating below, seemingly trying to burst through the palace’s obstruction.</p>
<p>To put it metaphorically, it was like a gas stove from a previous life, where the palace was the pot placed on it, the fire outlet was the entrance below the abyss, and the black mist was the flames fiercely supporting the palace.</p>
<p>It seemed that as long as the palace was moved aside, the black mist would surge upwards with unprecedented force!</p>
<p>But that was not the main point.</p>
<p>What shocked Shaya the most was that, at this very moment, countless silhouettes, eerie and deep as ghosts, were slowly drifting around the outer perimeter of the palace seal, seeming as hungry as a pack of sharks sensing blood, indistinct murmurs and howls echoing faintly!</p>
<p>These silhouettes varied in size and shape.</p>
<p>Some wore tattered ethereal cloaks and carried broken scythes, others had countless pale hands moving slowly, some were surrounded by slippery, sticky tentacles, while others had no physical form at all, only a hazy humanoid shadow.</p>
<p>The one that made Shaya’s cold sweat break out the most was a giant vertical pupil imprinted in the void, seemingly sensing the presence of a living being, slowly rotating its eyeball before casting a gaze.</p>
<p>Evil God.</p>
<p>This was the thought that instantly flashed through Shaya’s mind.</p>
<p>Under the gaze of this indescribable existence, Shaya’s body reacted instantly, a torrent of mysterious knowledge pouring into his mind, threatening to tear his soul apart!</p>
<p>Amidst a splitting headache, Shaya’s skin began to itch violently.</p>
<p>Looking at his arm, he saw numerous fissures appearing on his skin, with several slowly quivering and then vigorously pushing open!</p>
<p>Those fissures were countless eyes growing from Shaya’s skin!</p>
<p>Unknowable God!</p>
<p>Shaya profoundly experienced this truth for the second time in his short life.</p>
<p>However, he did not panic. Being killed by a villain allows one to become stronger; this was the only and strongest ability the system had given him.</p>
<p>Out of caution, Shaya decided to open the system to check.</p>
<p>Little did he know, this cautious action saved his life.</p>
<p>[The target cannot be classified as a “villain”. Please reselect, cherish life, starting with yourself.]</p>
<p>Watervad?</p>
<p>Shaya was filled with confusion.</p>
<p>Looking at the horrifying condition of his body covered with eyes and glancing at the strange void vertical pupil, Shaya couldn’t figure out how this thing was disassociating itself from the label of “villain.”</p>
<p>The Witch Miss, so beautiful, couldn’t escape the fate of being a “villain”; what right did this big eyeball have?</p>
<p>But his physical condition didn’t allow for further thought. Since the golden finger had indicated that being killed by the void vertical pupil wouldn’t lead to resurrection, Shaya also wouldn’t be foolish enough to verify the truth of this claim.</p>
<p>Fortunately, there were countless evil gods around the palace, and to survive, he could only choose one randomly.</p>
<p>So, enduring the pain of corruption, Shaya turned his gaze to another location.</p>
<p>It was the closest point to the outer membrane seal of the palace, where a pitch-black blob of goo floated, seemingly able to transform into any shape at will.</p>
<p>At this moment, it was slowly forming a powerful, sharp spike, seemingly ready to pierce the surface of the seal.</p>
<p>That’s it, you stinky goo!</p>
<p>The Hot Wind Technique burst forth, and Shaya’s falling body twisted at an angle as he charged towards the location of the pitch-black goo!</p>
<p>“Stop! If you want anything, come at me!”</p>
<p>……</p>
<p>Agnes, as usual, sat on the steps in the center of the palace, quietly reading an ancient book.</p>
<p>She was engrossed, taking a long time to turn to the next page.</p>
<p>Having lived here for so long, there was little entertainment to pass the time aside from books.</p>
<p>Despite having the means to create void objects and scenes, she couldn’t manifest scenes that didn’t exist in her memories.</p>
<p>Clearly, after being sealed in the abyss for so many years, her limited memories had been vividly relived countless times in tangible forms.</p>
<p>“……”</p>
<p>At a certain moment, the Witch seemed to sense something and suddenly looked up, directing her gaze towards a specific point above the palace, her sight piercing the void to see the scene outside the seal.</p>
<p>That gaze concealed a hint of complex emotions.</p>
<p>People from the Lower City require procedures and entry fees to access the Upper City, but those from the Upper City can leave freely.</p>
<p>So, after a brief identity check, Shaya left the Upper City.</p>
<p>Of course, the identity was fake.</p>
<p>The security situation in the Lower City is poor, and monitoring of supernatural phenomena is much less stringent than in the Upper City. Additionally, due to the overall poverty of the area, there were no carriages available for transportation. As a result, Shaya found a hidden corner and quickly used the “Shroud of Concealment” to stealthily move in the shadows.</p>
<p>As he passed by Aileen’s shack, he took a quick glance but found she was not home.</p>
<p>Perhaps she was at her grandfather Peter’s place.</p>
<p>Shaya didn’t think much of it and hurriedly left.</p>
<p>Upon arriving at the secret base, he didn’t rush inside but instead wandered around the nearby streets, trying to gather information about the Night Shadow Association killer.</p>
<p>As expected, in the overall oppressive and dull environment of the Lower City, just making a living was extremely difficult, and the death of an unidentified person would not attract much attention.</p>
<p>Confirming that this matter had disappeared from the public eye, Shaya let out a sigh of relief and returned to his small room.</p>
<p>Even so, being cautious by nature, he decided it was time to change bases soon.</p>
<p>After entering the basement, Shaya thought for a moment, then found some monster blood mixed with secret silver and redrew the magical array on the ground, appropriately reducing some of the material at certain nodes.</p>
<p>After a brief ritual, accompanied by the dust of the Virtual Realm Stone swirling above the eerie pattern, familiar silver flames rose again, revealing a mirrored passage before Shaya.</p>
<p>“The Witch Miss shouldn’t be angry… I hope.”</p>
<p>Recalling the cool figure from his memories, Shaya said uncertainly.</p>
<p>He then stepped forward, and his entire being vanished into the mirror.</p>
<p>……</p>
<p>Damn old woman!</p>
<p>When Shaya came back to his senses, an unprecedented sensation of falling enveloped him, and his heart jumped.</p>
<p>After crossing the teleportation passage, he was shocked to find himself transported to a dark abyss devoid of light, surrounded by jagged stone pillars and cliffs, as if he had fallen into a deep well straight to the underworld!</p>
<p>Shaya’s tiny body was rapidly descending at a speed consistent with the laws of physics, with no end in sight.</p>
<p>Where is this?</p>
<p>Although filled with questions, it seemed no one could answer Shaya right now.</p>
<p>So, he engaged in self-rescue.</p>
<p>“Hot Wind Technique!”</p>
<p>Accompanied by a chant, a deep red magical array appeared in each of his palms, the incantation being relatively simple and clearly the most basic apprentice magic.</p>
<p>But for Shaya at this moment, it was a life-saving spell!</p>
<p>With maximum power activated, two columns of wind shot out from the magical arrays in his palms, and a thrust generated from thin air instantly slowed Shaya’s descent.</p>
<p>Shaya currently had an intelligence score of 46, which wasn’t small even among sorcerers, so he was very adept at using apprentice magic. Coupled with a massive amount of magical power, he could afford to release this low-level spell lavishly.</p>
<p>After a few seconds, Shaya’s body came to a stop in mid-air, his palms facing down, exhaling hot air, and he remained suspended in a rigid posture.</p>
<p>“Too bad I don’t have a set of Iron Man armor.”</p>
<p>Looking at his current posture, Shaya joked bitterly.</p>
<p>Although he was still under the aftereffects of “Exploding Fighting Energy” and felt weak, this only involved the force of the knight system and had little to do with his magic training, so his magical power was still reasonably abundant.</p>
<p>This also rang an alarm bell for Shaya.</p>
<p>The rewards given by the system were so generous, not to let him develop a single route, but to pursue both martial and magical training.</p>
<p>It seemed he would need to raise his level in the sorcerer route soon.</p>
<p>With this thought in mind, Shaya directed his gaze around.</p>
<p>This abyss-like place was dark and lightless, but from the strands of cold black mist swirling around, it seemed he was still on the Northern Continent, not too far from where the Witch Miss was.</p>
<p>In this regard, Octave had not deceived him.</p>
<p>But to hit such a small probability himself?</p>
<p>Shaya smiled wryly and looked upwards, not seeing even a glimmer of light.</p>
<p>This deep well-like place had only two paths to choose from, up or down.</p>
<p>After estimating the distance above, he figured that even if he expended all his magical power, he might not be able to fly out of here, and he would ultimately succumb to falling.</p>
<p>According to Octave’s description, even if the teleportation had deviated, it should still be close to the destination.</p>
<p>Let’s take a gamble!</p>
<p>With this thought, Shaya canceled the Hot Wind Technique and let his body fall deeper into the abyss.</p>
<p>In this lightless place, especially surrounded by remnants of black mist, the psychological torment felt like time passing unbearably slowly.</p>
<p>He didn’t know how long it took.</p>
<p>Perhaps a few minutes, or maybe just a few seconds. Finally, at the edge of his vision, a majestic palace outline emerged in the depths below.</p>
<p>At the same time, that eerie, cold, mad feeling of being cursed began to envelop him.</p>
<p>“!!”</p>
<p>As he clearly saw the scene before him, Shaya’s pupils contracted, and he hurriedly used the Hot Wind Technique to suspend himself in mid-air.</p>
<p>According to the Witch Miss, her palace was sealed by the gods, unable to escape, and Shaya could indeed see the anticipated scene at a glance.</p>
<p>It was a spherical membrane seal enveloping the entire palace, intricately wrapped with iron chains on the outside, and countless ancient spell writings circulated above, just looking at them caused a stinging pain in his eyes, almost making him cry.</p>
<p>The exterior of the seal faintly swirled with familiar black mist, obscuring the scene inside the palace.</p>
<p>This spherical palace was like a floating island, suspended in the center of the deep well-like abyss channel, blocking the entrance below.</p>
<p>Gazing around, he could vaguely see a large amount of black mist accumulating below, seemingly trying to burst through the palace’s obstruction.</p>
<p>To put it metaphorically, it was like a gas stove from a previous life, where the palace was the pot placed on it, the fire outlet was the entrance below the abyss, and the black mist was the flames fiercely supporting the palace.</p>
<p>It seemed that as long as the palace was moved aside, the black mist would surge upwards with unprecedented force!</p>
<p>But that was not the main point.</p>
<p>What shocked Shaya the most was that, at this very moment, countless silhouettes, eerie and deep as ghosts, were slowly drifting around the outer perimeter of the palace seal, seeming as hungry as a pack of sharks sensing blood, indistinct murmurs and howls echoing faintly!</p>
<p>These silhouettes varied in size and shape.</p>
<p>Some wore tattered ethereal cloaks and carried broken scythes, others had countless pale hands moving slowly, some were surrounded by slippery, sticky tentacles, while others had no physical form at all, only a hazy humanoid shadow.</p>
<p>The one that made Shaya’s cold sweat break out the most was a giant vertical pupil imprinted in the void, seemingly sensing the presence of a living being, slowly rotating its eyeball before casting a gaze.</p>
<p>Evil God.</p>
<p>This was the thought that instantly flashed through Shaya’s mind.</p>
<p>Under the gaze of this indescribable existence, Shaya’s body reacted instantly, a torrent of mysterious knowledge pouring into his mind, threatening to tear his soul apart!</p>
<p>Amidst a splitting headache, Shaya’s skin began to itch violently.</p>
<p>Looking at his arm, he saw numerous fissures appearing on his skin, with several slowly quivering and then vigorously pushing open!</p>
<p>Those fissures were countless eyes growing from Shaya’s skin!</p>
<p>Unknowable God!</p>
<p>Shaya profoundly experienced this truth for the second time in his short life.</p>
<p>However, he did not panic. Being killed by a villain allows one to become stronger; this was the only and strongest ability the system had given him.</p>
<p>Out of caution, Shaya decided to open the system to check.</p>
<p>Little did he know, this cautious action saved his life.</p>
<p>[The target cannot be classified as a “villain”. Please reselect, cherish life, starting with yourself.]</p>
<p>Watervad?</p>
<p>Shaya was filled with confusion.</p>
<p>Looking at the horrifying condition of his body covered with eyes and glancing at the strange void vertical pupil, Shaya couldn’t figure out how this thing was disassociating itself from the label of “villain.”</p>
<p>The Witch Miss, so beautiful, couldn’t escape the fate of being a “villain”; what right did this big eyeball have?</p>
<p>But his physical condition didn’t allow for further thought. Since the golden finger had indicated that being killed by the void vertical pupil wouldn’t lead to resurrection, Shaya also wouldn’t be foolish enough to verify the truth of this claim.</p>
<p>Fortunately, there were countless evil gods around the palace, and to survive, he could only choose one randomly.</p>
<p>So, enduring the pain of corruption, Shaya turned his gaze to another location.</p>
<p>It was the closest point to the outer membrane seal of the palace, where a pitch-black blob of goo floated, seemingly able to transform into any shape at will.</p>
<p>At this moment, it was slowly forming a powerful, sharp spike, seemingly ready to pierce the surface of the seal.</p>
<p>That’s it, you stinky goo!</p>
<p>The Hot Wind Technique burst forth, and Shaya’s falling body twisted at an angle as he charged towards the location of the pitch-black goo!</p>
<p>“Stop! If you want anything, come at me!”</p>
<p>……</p>
<p>Agnes, as usual, sat on the steps in the center of the palace, quietly reading an ancient book.</p>
<p>She was engrossed, taking a long time to turn to the next page.</p>
<p>Having lived here for so long, there was little entertainment to pass the time aside from books.</p>
<p>Despite having the means to create void objects and scenes, she couldn’t manifest scenes that didn’t exist in her memories.</p>
<p>Clearly, after being sealed in the abyss for so many years, her limited memories had been vividly relived countless times in tangible forms.</p>
<p>“……”</p>
<p>At a certain moment, the Witch seemed to sense something and suddenly looked up, directing her gaze towards a specific point above the palace, her sight piercing the void to see the scene outside the seal.</p>
<p>That gaze concealed a hint of complex emotions.</p>
