Exiled Prince: I'm the Unexpected Extra in the Novel-Chapter 135: The Witches

The War for the North [23]

One of the girls gliding through the darkness stepped forward.

She had lush, wavy green hair and hypnotic eyes glowing with the same hue.

In appearance, she was around twenty years old, unarmed, and seemingly completely defenseless. However, the aura she radiated was in stark contrast to her defenseless appearance.

The girl walked confidently toward Cassian, barefoot on the snow.

There was a strange, non-rhythmic limp in her gait, as if reality was bending around her.

Cassian tried to summon his katana, but his limbs did not obey his commands.

His mind clouded, his vision tingled. It was as if he was being pulled into the deepest, most inescapable layer of a dream.

His consciousness flickered for seconds. When he came to, he felt a strange lightness in his body.

His eyes widened. His perspective had changed, he was closer to the ground.

He looked at his hands; those calloused, adult hands had shrunk, his skin had turned as white as marble.

His black hair turned white from root to tip, reverting to its old state. The darkness in his eyes vanished, and blood-red irises pierced the night.

The disguise spell was canceled. Cassian was now in his true form.

The green-haired girl watched Cassian’s transformation with delight. A crooked, childish smile appeared on her face.

"We found you," she whispered.

She reached out her hand to touch Cassian’s face, those white cheeks.

SLICE!

A wet, sickening sound tore through the silence of the night.

Suddenly, hot red liquid splashed onto Cassian’s face.

The hand the green-haired girl had extended toward Cassian was cleanly severed at the wrist and fell bloodily onto the snow.

Instead of suffering or screaming, the girl just looked at her empty wrist in astonishment.

Then, when she looked up, she realized Cassian was not where he had stood moments ago.

A few meters away, General Hareth stood tall.

The old man was gone, replaced by a warrior whose stance resembled a mountain. The hunch of his years had vanished; his legs were planted firmly on the ground like tree roots.

The General held Cassian by the scruff of his neck with his left arm, holding him in the air just like a mischievous kitten.

In his right hand was his silver sword glowing with blue runes. Fresh blood dripped from the tip of the sword.

"Sorry ladies, but this boy belongs to my duchess," Hareth said. His voice was like thunder.

The green-haired girl called out to the girls behind her.

Her voice didn’t hold the horror of someone who had lost an arm, but the petulance of a child whose toy had been taken away.

"Sister! This old man cut off my arm! Can I kill him? Please!"

From the circle formed by the girls, another girl with blonde hair, red eyes, and a noble stance stepped forward.

She picked up the severed hand from the ground with disgust, as if picking up trash. She came to Ivy’s side and pressed the hand to the severed wrist.

A green light flashed, and the hand fused back into place in seconds, as if it had never been cut.

"I told you, Ivy," the blonde girl said in a cold voice. "This is what happens when you approach Lilith’s charge too carelessly. He is not an ordinary person."

Ivy puffed out her cheeks and muttered like a child. "Hmph! But I was curious about him! I wanted to be the first witch to touch him!"

The blonde girl pinched Ivy’s cheek hard. "First we need to get rid of that old wolf."

General Hareth narrowed his pale yellow eyes and looked at the members of this freak show in front of him.

Seeing the severed arm heal in seconds, the seriousness on his face deepened.

He knew very well what these girls were. They were witches. Hundreds of years ago, after facing empire-wide genocide, they had retreated to the north.

Since then, they had maintained their existence in the shadows. Cryomara, for reasons unknown, had allowed them to continue living in the north.

The General had only encountered witches a few times until today. Almost all of these encounters were inspections carried out by Cryomara’s order; official duties to check if the witches were attempting anything dangerous.

However, after the Obsidian Dawn events, the witches were left completely unchecked.

He slowly placed Cassian on his feet behind him.

"It seems they are after you, son," he said, gripping his sword with both hands and taking a combat stance. "Stand behind me."

Cassian was frozen. His mind was piecing together the key words from the girls’ conversation.

Lilith... Charge...

And this strange group consisting only of women, possessing supernatural powers... All of them young, all of them beautiful, and all of them deadly.

It didn’t take long for Cassian to connect the information.

That group rarely mentioned in the game’s story, appearing in the shadows in only a few side quests, whose existence was purely a mystery.

"The Witches."

Those remaining from Lilith’s lineage.

Cassian reached for his katana with a trembling hand. He had to fight.

But the moment he gripped the hilt, a cold, slender hand covered his own.

Foreign fingers slipped between Cassian’s fingers and locked tightly. It was like a lover’s hold, but the only thing it felt like was death.

Cassian’s katana slipped from his fingers and fell onto the snow.

Thud.

Cassian couldn’t breathe. His heart fluttered as if it would stop. He turned his head slowly, mechanically to his side.

The woman holding hands with him...

Had pure white hair just like him.

Had blood-red eyes just like him. Her features... It was as if a female and more mature version of Cassian, his reflection in a dark mirror, stood right beside him.

The woman wasn’t looking at him, she was just holding Cassian’s hand and watching the General. But her presence was crushing Cassian’s soul.

When General Hareth noticed this sudden and intense mana change behind him, he quickly turned around.

"Take your hand off him!" he roared, swinging his sword at that white-haired woman.

However, the sword couldn’t reach its target. The other witches intervened in an instant.

"Hey grandpa~" A short, purple-haired girl floated in the air, looking at the General. A mocking smile played on her lips. "Why aren’t you under the ground like your peers?"

"What impudent brats!"

Hareth gritted his teeth. Along with the anger swelling inside him, he poured his mana into his sword.

One by one, the runes on the sword glowed as if awakening. "SNOW FANG: THIRD FORM!"

The sword drew a horizontal arc. First, the air froze. Then the snow cracked like glass.

Then, a massive wave of electrically charged ice advanced, mowing down everything in its path.

Trees were uprooted, trunks shattered.

The witches formed a purplish shield in front of them and met the general’s attack.

"It holds!" shouted one of the witches. "They smiled." But General Hareth... was not someone to be underestimated. The ice wave strained the shield, cracks spread, and in the next moment...

’The shield shattered’.

The purple-haired girl’s eyes widened. She didn’t even have time to react.

"Huh?"

The sword strike was about to land on her neck. CLANG!

Black chains suddenly appeared, tearing through the air. The chains wrapped around the girl’s abdomen and violently pulled her aside. The girl was flung into the lap of another witch. "I thought I died," the girl exhaled deeply on her knees.

Without stopping, the General turned around. He had to save Cassian from the white-haired witch.

But he paused when he looked at Cassian. The white-haired woman and Cassian’s entire bodies were covered in pitch-black flames. Even though he felt the ominousness radiating from these flames, the General didn’t stop. Just as he was about to reach them...

Vines shot out from the snow and tried to grip his legs tightly.

Hareth cut through the vines with his sword without struggle.

This time two witches appeared in front of him and sent a combined lightning wave towards the general.

The General blocked the spells with his sword. And just as he lunged forward to cut one of the Witches... Those chains again... Pulled the witch and flung her far away.

Just as the General stepped on the spot where that witch stood moments ago, the ground beneath the General’s feet glowed.

"BOOM!"

Snow melted, muddy earth and dust were thrown into the air. The field of vision was momentarily obscured. But the Witches didn’t stop.

"Now!" shouted the blonde one.

Dozens of spells rushed at the general simultaneously. The sky was cloaked in chaos composed of fire, lightning, and dark magic.

Even inside the muddy smoke, with his experience, Hareth spun his sword like a propeller, creating a defense line. Spells crashed against his sword and scattered left and right, toppling trees, melting snow.

When the spells subsided, a silhouette emerged from the smoke. General Hareth.

One of his legs was severely injured, perhaps broken. His armor was smoking. The plate on his shoulder had melted. Blood trickled from his forehead.

But he was still standing. Without losing a moment, he turned around. He looked at the spot where he had left Cassian. "Cassian!" His voice knotted in his throat.

The snow... was empty.

Cassian was gone. That white-haired woman was gone.

Only Cassian’s katana stood alone on the snow. The mana bond on it had been severed.

When the General realized he was too late...

"See you, grandpa..."

Mocking whispers coming from the depths of the forest, mixed with the wind, echoed in chorus.

The witches were gone. And they had taken Cassian with them. General Hareth dropped his sword with trembling hands.

The sword stuck into the snow with a dull thud. Its runes still hadn’t faded.

The old man fell to his knees. running his hand through his white hair, he whispered in horror: "...Cryomara is going to kill me."