Two weeks ago, at the palace of the White Kingdom.
"Aurora, you must have noticed a problem," Rhine said with a smile, "Every time I turn into an animal, I'm naked, but when I turn back into a human, I'm still wearing clothes."
"Aurora, do you know why this is?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Aurora was quite speechless.
"That's because," Rhine explained, "after the body transforms, the clothes integrate into the new form, temporarily disappearing and becoming ineffective, only to reappear after the transformation is undone."
"Teacher, what are you trying to say by this?" Aurora vaguely guessed that her teacher had a hidden meaning.
"Do you remember, last time, when the Eastern Witch activated her last remaining silver shoe to escape from us, she first transformed back into her human form."
Rhine said with a half-smile:
"Even if we defeat the Eastern Witch again, she might still escape by relying on her last remaining silver shoe.
"So, we need to design a scenario, one where the Eastern Witch must maintain her dragon form and dare not transform back into a human…"
…
Time returned to the present.
As Aurora cornered the Eastern Witch at the bottom of the sea, the Ender Warships on the surface faced the same predicament.
Because Aurora intercepted the dragon that the Eastern Witch had transformed into, the Sea Hag could finally spare energy to deal with the situation on the surface!
She floated up from the abyssal blue sea, untouched by the "Water of Inevitable Sinking," and reached the surface, looking at the Ender Warships that were firing, and raised her arms.
On the surface, the dark and deep shadowy waters expanded again, spreading towards the more distant Ender Warships.
In an instant, two more Ender Warships sank into the dark water.
The Soldiers on board cried out for help, struggling desperately, but they never resurfaced.
"Oh no, this is bad, the shadow on the surface has started to expand again."
The faces of the Ender Soldiers on the remaining eight or nine warships turned pale.
"Full rudder, full rudder! Turn as quickly as possible to avoid this area!"
Captains issued commands one after another.
The warships that had just been fiercely firing at the White Kingdom's pleasure boats now had to stop their bombardment and retreat in disarray, like startled birds, fearing that a moment's delay would result in being swallowed by the dark waters behind them.
During this process, two more Ender Warships unfortunately sank.
"Officer, order a retreat, let's not make any more meaningless sacrifices!"
"The enemy has a sorcerer who is familiar with the sea. On the high seas, we cannot defeat them."
A Soldier cried to his officer.
The officer in armor bit his lip.
He looked at the fleet, which had lost more than half its ships, and the few remaining warships fleeing in all directions, his face also extremely pale.
After a brief hesitation, the officer finally mustered all his strength and gave the order:
"Retreat."
At the same time.
On the White Kingdom's pleasure boat, the Soldiers and sailors cheered as they watched the Ender Warships stop their bombardment and flee in panic.
"Victory, we have won!"
"The enemy has fled!"
Many Soldiers and sailors even ran to the ship's rail and waved to the Sea Hag floating on the water beside the ship:
"Thank you, Your Excellency, Witch from the Sea Kingdom!"
They knew that this court sorcerer of the Sea Kingdom was the greatest contributor to repelling the formidable fleet!
The Queen stood on the deck, watching the Ender Warships flee further and further away, and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
She also smiled at the Sea Hag floating on the water and waved her thanks:
"Once Aurora kills or captures the Eastern Witch, everything will be over."
—Approximately a week ago, at Rhine's arrangement, two peripheral members of the Witch Society met for the first time "offline" in reality to discuss today's plan.
The elderly Sea Hag did not speak, but smiled and nodded at the Queen, who wore a crown and expensive sheer clothing.
She then looked towards the dark waters behind her, her gaze seemingly able to penetrate the gloomy sea to see Aurora's battle with the dragon.
She saw the dragon bleeding profusely, crimson blood spreading in the seawater; she saw the dragon trying to escape, to flee this dark, buoyant-less water, but was stopped by the faster Aurora; she saw the dragon growing weaker and weaker, possibly collapsing at any moment under the combined effects of suffocation and severe injury…
So, even those core members of the Witch Society, who were once so high and mighty, have their day of reckoning? The Sea Witch couldn't help but think, then turned to the Queen on the ship and said:
"Aurora's side is also going very smoothly. It should be over soon."
"That's good." The Queen gasped, her tense mood finally relaxing.
Around her, the White Kingdom's guard Soldiers were cheering.
They called out the names of their great Queen and the Sea Witch.
"Praise Her Majesty the Queen, praise the Witch of the Sea Kingdom!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
The smell of gunpowder gradually dissipated. The gentle sea breeze blew, finally dispelling the mist that hung over the sea. Golden sunlight spilled onto the sea, like golden flakes scattered on the azure water.
What a beautiful sight…
The Queen looked at the beautiful scenery on the sea and smiled.
Suddenly, her hair stood on end, sensing danger from behind her!
A sharp shriek rang out behind the Queen, a sound almost more unpleasant than crying.
"Who's there?"
The Queen whirled around.
A ghostly blue spirit had appeared behind her at some unknown time. Her face was old and ugly, with two lines of crimson blood tears flowing down her face, her expression twisted and pained.
Even though the fleet had retreated, the Old Witch's ghost had not forgotten the master's initial order:
"Assist the Eastern Witch in killing the Queen of the White Kingdom. If the sorcerer Rhine comes, restrain him as much as possible."
Just now, she had used the excellent stealth ability of a vengeful spirit to quietly infiltrate this beautiful pleasure boat, just waiting for this moment to deliver a fatal blow to the Queen.
"Ah!"
The Queen retreated in panic, falling to the ground, watching as the Old Witch's vengeful spirit pounced on her.
"Protect Her Majesty the Queen!"
Several Soldiers nearby also noticed the anomaly and rushed towards the Queen.
They drew their bayonets and lunged at the vengeful spirit, but their attacks merely passed through the ghost, having no effect whatsoever.
The Old Witch's vengeful spirit extended her hands, full of wrinkles and blood, about to grasp the Queen's neck.
Suddenly, a sky-blue beam of light struck the vengeful spirit, sending her flying more than ten meters away.
The Queen turned her head and saw the Sea Witch floating in the air, casting a spell at the critical moment to save her.
"Fortunately, it's just a ghost full of resentment. It hasn't retained all of its magic from when it was alive."
The Sea Hag recited a few more spells at the vengeful spirit. The vengeful spirit also recited spells to counterattack.
The pale-faced Queen finally recovered from the sudden attack:
"I'll help you, I'm a Witch after all."
The two Witches joined forces, casting spell after spell, and in just a few moments, easily subdued the vengeful spirit.
The Sea Hag sealed the vengeful spirit in a bubble.
"Now, everything should be alright, right?" The Queen wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Just then, an agile figure leaped out of the sea and onto the ship.
It was Aurora!
The golden-haired girl had just drunk another potion, and her legs had already transformed back from a mermaid tail to human legs.
And slung over her shoulder was the Eastern Witch, who had already transformed back into human form, unconscious and severely injured.
"I originally intended to kill this Witch directly. Unfortunately, Teacher has very important questions he must ask her, so I had no choice but to show mercy and spare her life."
Crack!
Aurora threw the Eastern Witch heavily onto the deck.
The violent impact forced the severely injured Eastern Witch to stir from her unconsciousness, turning on her side and coughing up seawater.
The last remaining silver shoe on the Eastern Witch's foot had been removed and was now in Aurora's hand.
The accompanying Soldiers and sailors gathered around, pointing and gesticulating at the Eastern Witch.
"She's the Witch who brutally massacred civilians in the Royal City, right? We finally caught her!"
At this moment, they were all stirred with emotion.
In the reformed, new White Kingdom, even a powerful Witch would face the law for her crimes!
The Queen and the Sea Hag stood on either side, staring at their former colleague from the Witch Society.
The trial was about to begin.
"Teacher will be back soon."
Aurora said coldly to the Eastern Witch, who was severely injured and unable to fight:
"Later, he will ask you some questions. You will answer honestly."
"Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough."
The Eastern Witch struggled to support her body, which was suffering from severe blood loss, constantly spitting out salty and bitter seawater, but the corners of her mouth were upturned.
She was smiling.
She was actually smiling!