Witch Monastery-Chapter 327:The Beholder’s Innate Ability

Without their masters' commands, the zombies instantly became even more chaotic—wandering aimlessly, without any sense of direction or purpose—until Charles finished them off, one by one, their corpses disintegrating under the purifying light.

The battle with the zombies was over in no time. Afterward, the other witches began cleaning up the battlefield, while Hattie walked over, casting Prestidigitation to clean the grime off Charles and make him look brand new.

Yet his expression was still sour—who wouldn't be, after making a fool of themselves in front of all their girls?

Adele covered her mouth, barely hiding her laughter as she sidled next to Charles, teasing, "Hey, what happened to your unbeatable Eldritch Blast? Why'd you rush up with that twin-bladed polearm for melee? That's not really your style, you know."

For all her teasing, there was a hint of concern in her tone; she didn't want to see him embarrassed like this.

After surviving so many dangerous moments together, her impression of Charles had clearly improved—only her jealousy, and desire to keep her mother to herself, had made her so wary of him.

But now, believing that Willo had completely cut ties with him, Adele was beginning to instinctively treat Charles as someone reliable—someone close.

Charles sighed. "I need the practice. No matter how many times you train in the practice room, only real life-and-death battles temper your skills. If I never test myself in the field, I'll never master close combat."

Adele pouted. "But you're a spellcaster! Isn't that what warriors are for? Spellcasters like us should just stay back and change the tide with magic!"

"You, my friend, are definitely thinking about this all wrong."

Charles looked at her in surprise. "Spellcasters aren't all-powerful. What do you do if you run into a Globe of Invulnerability, or an Antimagic Field?" 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Adele pursed her lips again. "Easy: let our teammates handle it. Besides, aren't those spells a long way off? If I remember right, Antimagic Field is an eighth-level spell—when are we ever gonna run into foes using stuff from the top circles? Probably never in our lives."

Charles gave her a long look. "You really don't know much about beholders, do you?"

Adele froze. "Uh… what about them?"

She honestly didn't know; all she'd heard was that beholders could shoot all kinds of magical eye rays from their eyestalks to attack or control their enemies.

You really couldn't blame her. Beholders were so rare that hardly anyone bothered to study them, so even in the Adventurer's Guild's Monster Manual, accounts were scarce—and most adventurers barely memorized the common monsters, let alone exotic stuff like beholders.

Seeing this, Charles gave her a serious look. "Then now you'll understand why I've been training so hard in melee."

"Every beholder is born with the power to manipulate anti-magic. Normally, they use their eye beams to attack, but if they feel outmatched, they open up their antimagic field—then let their minions take out any spellcasters left helpless inside!"

Adele's beautiful eyes went wide. "Antimagic Field? Built-in? Wait, seriously?"

She had no knowledge of this and was instantly filled with doubt. Charles shrugged. "You'll see it for yourself soon enough—this is a classic trait, unique to beholders."

"I mean, what good would it do me to lie? Magic has its strengths and convenience, but it's got plenty of weaknesses as well—weaknesses that can be exploited. Magic isn't a cure-all, much as we love it—and most of those weaknesses, we rarely get to experience, but still."

"In higher-level battles, in more complicated environments, it's critical to have non-magical ways to fight. You can't just rely on spells for everything."

He held Adele's gaze. "You've still got a lot to learn."

Adele fell silent—not out of stubbornness, but because she really didn't know this stuff. Confronted with her own ignorance, she immediately began to reflect.

Up ahead, the nuns had already finished clearing the battlefield—picking up cultists' coins, gear, spellbooks, plus whatever goods those zombies had been lugging.

No surprise: it was all contraband, mostly illicit potions and black-market supplies. The group could only shake their heads, then confiscated the cargo and dumped the bodies—both cultist and zombie—straight into the sewage.

It might be winter, but sewer scavengers were still plentiful. Within days, those corpses would be stripped to the bone—and after the next thunderstorm, the floods would sweep it all into the sea, erasing every trace from Liberl Port.

Maybe those bodies had secrets or stories of their own, but none of that concerned Charles.

They moved on.

Liberl Port's sewers were sprawling; even with this group's stamina, it took a while before they reached their target.

It was a heavy, locked iron gate; at a glance, it looked just like the other utility closets used by sewer workers. But when Charles stepped up and cast Prestidigitation to wipe away the rust and grime, a rough drawing was revealed on the door—a large eye, with eight lines radiating out.

The symbol of Xanathar's Guild—the entrance to their secret dungeon. Charles took a deep breath and tried the door: locked, of course. He drew his twin-bladed polearm, and with two heavy swings, sliced easily through the iron. The whole dungeon lay exposed before him.

A long passage yawned beyond, stretching into the unknown.

Adele blinked in surprise and hurried over, eyeing the map in Charles's hand. She muttered, "That can't be right… it's not marked…?"

Charles grinned. "Of course it's not marked. If the beholder's lair was highlighted on the official maps, he'd have been wiped out years ago."

"It's loaded with traps—stick close. Right now, my memory's probably our best shot at surviving. If I haven't set foot somewhere, you probably shouldn't either."

Adele pouted, just as Willo spied her and shot her a warning look—dragging her back by the arm and murmuring, "If the Priest says something, just do as he says. In places like this, his judgment is our best bet."

Adele ducked her head and agreed. Mom was right—she'd empty her mind and just follow Charles's orders.

Charles stepped inside—and in his ear, the mosquito relay buzzed with Andny's voice: "Master, watch out, there's a Dark Elf ahead!"