Cara could hear the shortened breathing of the other witches.
Someone else has to take over,
said Cara loudly,
Leaves, you will carry me next.
The walk through the Impassable Mountain range was especially taxing during the snowy winter season. Every day, the forty-two witches had to find a suitable place to the camp, where they also could re-empower their badge so that they could resist the freezing temperatures at night.
Yes, respected Mentor,
the witch in front of Cara answered while squatting down. When Leaves stepped to Cara’s side, Cara summoned one of her magic snakes and had it wrap around Leaves’ arm. She then used it to pull herself up, so that she could stand. As the snake touched Leaves’ body, Cara noticed that Leaves started trembling slightly.
Damn Nightingale, Cara bitterly thought, if only she hadn’t repeatedly refused my offer of mercy, I wouldn’t have minded taking her back into the ranks of us sisters. But since we are almost coming close to the critical moment, I can’t afford to take any risks.
And what was the result of my kind offer? Without any hesitation, the damn traitor took the first chance to escape, she even tried to stab me to death …
This is what happens when I’m too kind! Cara’s brain boiled in rage, Nightingale’s blow had directly pierced her spine. Although Leaves was able to heal quickly heal her wounds with herbs, Cara’s lower body was still paralyzed and without any feeling.
Wait until I reach the Holy Mountain! There I will gain the power to gather more witches, and with their help, I will one day cut you into thousands of pieces!
While fueling her anger, Cara suddenly heard a voice
Respected Mentor, there are demonic beasts ahead of us.
The voice belonged to Scarlett, who was responsible for scouting. With her eyes, she was able to see through all obstacles and immediately discover any trap in front of her. She even had the ability to see fast moving objects clearly, which was demonstrated during one confrontation with the Church where she was able to knock away a crossbow arrow with her bare hands.
Put me down immediately. Leaves, you will also go and assist them.
Leaves nodded as she crouched down and placed Cara on a stone. Cara’s sore hand directly fell into the snow, from where a cold feeling spread through to her whole body, making her unhappily think, you can’t even remove the snow before you putting me down?
But she didn’t say it out loud. After all, Leaves was an irreplaceable member of her sisterhood. Previously Wendy with her kind temper had been responsible for recruiting new members for the Witch Cooperation Association, while instead Leaves had been responsible for maintaining the morale and courage to ensure that the witches would follow Cara’s orders. Without her ability, I’m afraid that we would have already lost more than half of our members to the witch hunts.
When thinking of Wendy, Cara’s heart began to hurt. She had never expected that Wendy, together with whom she had created the Witch Cooperation Association to help as many witches as possible, would betray everyone for the sake of Nightingale.
Even after Wendy had blown her away, she didn’t want to kill Wendy. The venom released by her magic snake
Suffering
was only acting slowly, but it would cause unbearable pain immediately. After letting Wendy suffer for a short time, Cara had planned to let her snake
Nothingness
bite her and remove the toxin. She had just wanted to teach Wendy a lesson. But no matter what, without the help of her magic snake, the venom was incurable. So Nightingale made the wrong decision by taking Wendy away. Without the bite of
Nothingness
, Wendy wouldn’t be able to live one more day.
Did that mean that the former nun was destined never to reach their final destination with her sisters?
Cara didn’t care about the other runaway, Lightning. She had only recently entered the Witch Cooperation Association and only seemed to have the ability to fly. She had always supported another view on how they should look for the Holy Mountain, even sometimes questioning the Holy Book. Whenever that girl acted against the will of the Witch Cooperation Association, Cara wanted to throw that talkative little girl into the snow and strangle her.
At the moment when the two wolf-like demonic beasts emerged from behind a corner on the mountain path, the witches were already prepared and awaiting the attacks from the demonic beasts. All the sisters without fighting abilities were placed near the end to keep them safe. Leaves was the first to release her magic, aiming at the weeds close to the feet of the demonic beasts. Soon green tendrils broke through the snow and wrapped themselves around that of the enemies’ feet. Another witch, with the power to control the air, begun to drain the air around the demonic beasts. Thanks to this, the two monsters soon fell into a state of asphyxiation. And were soon foaming at their snouts and began convulsing before finally falling to the ground.
This was the power of witches that Cara had been looking for. Within a group of mortals armed with swords these wolves would have wreaked havoc, but in front of us witches they perished within seconds. Clearly, only we, witches with the power of magic are loved by God. If only there wasn’t such a thing as the God’s Stone of Retaliation – bah, to the hell with the stone, she spat towards the ground, if that stone didn’t exist, how would the Church be able to suppress us?
Respected Mentor, let’s continue forward,
said Leaves when she came back to Cara.
Have someone else carry me.
Cara sighed,
You are too tired from the fight.
After the battle, they continued further along the path. At noon, the women responsible for finding the next camping ground discovered a place with less snow, thanks to its leeward arrangement. After reaching the place, they decided to take a break and eat in order to recharge their stamina.
One witch with the ability to work with stone began to work her magic. When the soil and gravel began to move and shoved the snow away, it seemed that the ground came alive. Soon the ground was flat and dry. One after another the witches began to carry out their duty, like making a fire and setting their pot on it to cook some porridge. They started to heating some snow until boiling and then added herbs which were strengthened by Leaves together into the water, which immediately started exuding a sharp fragrance.
Everyone please give your badge to me,
cried a little girl with rare red hair like a raging fire. It really matched her ability, since her power also had to do with fire. It’s allowed her to heat any objects she was in contact with. The badges which had provided so much relief for the Witch Cooperation Association had been singlehandedly created by her.
Even though at first glance her ability seemed insignificant, the truth was, that she was of great help to the Witch Association Cooperation. Especially during their march through the Impassable Mountain range, where they couldn’t find anything to warm themselves with. In the cold snow, it was very easy to lose heat from their bodies until eventually falling unconscious.
After everyone had eaten wheat porridge, the witches packed their bags and started moving along. According to Cara’s conjecture, the so-called Gates of Hell, was in fact, the gateway to the Holy Mountain. The Church deliberately changed its name to Hell to prevent the witches from finding the Holy Mountain. According to the Ancient Books, they needed to cross a total of three stone gates, the last line before the barbaric lands. Usually, they were hidden deep in the ground, only during the blood moon, would the stone gates come to the surface.
After they had set out from the camp, the witches had to walk for about half of a month through the Impassable Mountain range, but soon they would leave the mountain range, setting foot into the middle of nowhere. During these last days, the demonic beasts appeared more and more frequently.
Quick, quick, quick, look … what is this?!
Suddenly someone shouted in horror.
Cara looked in surprise in that direction, becoming immediately stunned out of horror.
There was a city flying in the sky!
The sky was still gray, and the snow was still falling out of the very low clouds. But within the clouds, there was a city, partly hidden and partly visible.
Those buildings were built in a pattern I have never seen before, they look like spires standing side by side. If the black dots are windows within the spires with an average size, the spire would reach a height of hundreds of meters! This isn’t something a human could build! Even the proudest building of the Church, the Cathedral at the Hermes, which they call the Tower which reached the Sky, was only 50 meters high!
Since this had to have been built by non-humans, then there was only one answer: This city has been constructed by the hand of God!
Cara had difficulty in restraining her excitement, throughout the whole time the voice within her heart shouted – I found the Holy Mountain!
