Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 132

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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132. Protix Forest (3)
“A wish? What are you talking about?”
“If you’ve entered my domain, it’s only natural to make a wish.”
The Old Witch spouted logic that sounded absurd to anyone listening, humming a quiet tune. She seemed confident in her abilities. Her demeanor was remarkably composed.
We were no different. Mister and Min-jae exchanged puzzled glances.
“It doesn’t seem like she’s actually granting wishes.”
“…The Monkey’s Paw? Could it be something like that?”
“What’s the Monkey’s Paw?”
“It grants wishes, but if you ask for money, your family dies and you get the life insurance payout instead.”
“Ah, in an abnormal way?”
“Yes.”
Even as we conversed, the Witch continued stirring the boiling cauldron with ease.
As smoke rose from the green liquid in the pot, she nodded.
“Children. Who will make a wish first? You’d best decide quickly.”
“You’re just granting wishes?”
At my question, the Witch’s body stiffened momentarily as she turned away. Then she rotated only her head toward us and continued speaking.
“You need a sacrifice. I grant wishes according to the value of the sacrifice.”
Her neck had twisted nearly 180 degrees—quite grotesque. The Witch flashed a sinister smile.
“You’d best decide quickly. Wishes are first-come, first-served.”
“First-come, first-served?”
“A minimum of one, a maximum of four.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You can offer four as sacrifices for one wish, or divide one into four. The more valuable the sacrifice, the greater the wish’s value.”
At the Witch’s words, everyone’s expression hardened. This was why Chun-bae had called it a “sacrifice-type Hidden Dungeon.”
-Probably, the wishes will actually come true. If you want greater strength, your Strength stat will increase. If you ask for an elixir, she’ll give you one.
‘That’s normal?’
-Affirmative. You receive it in exchange for the sacrifice.
So it meant sacrificing a teammate who entered the Gate with you and receiving compensation in return.
-Probably, even if we’d gone right initially, there would have been more forks.
‘While the Imps attacked?’
-Affirmative. There would have been more severe attacks. No matter how many times you chose the right path, you’d ultimately be lured here regardless.
The guild members, momentarily panicked by the Witch’s words, became exasperated.
“Is she insane?”
“Is she asking us to sacrifice ourselves?”
“She’s a Witch. I knew something was off when she started talking about wishes.”
“Could those Imps outside be people who were sacrificed?”
The Old Witch, turning her head again, continued stirring the cauldron without regard for us.
“Tick-tock, tick-tock. Children. Time is money. Offer a sacrifice, and you can leave the forest without trouble.”
Even before meeting the Witch, I’d thought this was a difficult Gate, but it was far more malicious than that.
Usually, Hunters at this level maintain teams for long periods and develop deep bonds, but not all of them do.
There were certainly hunters who would fall for such divisive tactics.
After all, some teams harbored internal discord, and hunters were people obsessed with growing stronger.
‘If I say it that way, they might think they’ll be sacrificed first and rush to speak up.’
But I wasn’t worried about my guild members. I had something far more precious filling my Subspace than whatever reward that Witch offered.
No sane person would trade a goose that laid golden eggs for a reward that wasn’t even gold.
-Since it’s also a Gate that tests a team’s unity, most would have had no choice but to offer sacrifices.
That’s when Chun-bae spoke up.
‘No choice?’
-In sacrifice-type Hidden dungeons, enemies that are considerably stronger than the Gate’s level appear.
‘Ah, I see.’
Enemies “considerably” stronger than the level… It was Chun-bae speaking, but I felt no concern whatsoever.
We were already beyond “considerably” stronger than our level. I shrugged and glanced back at my guild members.
“Does anyone want to volunteer as a sacrifice?”
“Pardon?”
“…?”
I’d thrown out the joke to lighten the mood, but my guild members’ expressions turned strange. Only Han Chul let out a nervous laugh.
“Of course, I was joking. I’ll take that as a no.”
“Obviously!”
I turned my gaze toward the Witch.
“They say no one wants to be a sacrifice… So what happens if we don’t offer one?”
“Since you’ve entered my home, a sacrifice must be given.”
“So if we refuse?”
The Witch’s head snapped toward me. Her indigo eyes fixed on me.
“Then you all become the sacrifice.”
I tilted my head.
“Is there no other option? Like, we beat you down, find some treasure here, and leave the forest?”
The Witch laughed grotesquely. Her mouth corners rose so exaggeratedly I thought they might reach her ears.
“I expected you to make the right choice from the start… but an impudent child has arrived.”
“Your manners are pretty foul for an old woman, aren’t they?”
“…”
A moment of silence.
As if she’d heard something wrong, the Witch’s head tilted. Then her eyes fixed on me with a look that could devour.
“You brat…!”
The moment I pushed the crossguard of the Flowing Sword with my left thumb, the Witch reached out her hand.
It wasn’t an attack. We remained still as the Mansion receded from us. It felt like my vision kept cutting out.
When it stopped, we were standing in an Empty Lot outside the Mansion. Shallow swamp squelched beneath our feet.
“What is this…?”
I didn’t know what magic she’d used, but she’d hurled us out of the Mansion.
Chun-bae’s warning came through.
-Be careful. This is no ordinary opponent.
That seems to be the case.
I couldn’t tell if it was because the interior of the Mansion was precious to her, or because of the Imps outside.
Though we’d been separated among the Imps in an instant, our situation wasn’t entirely disadvantageous.
In the cramped Villa, the Dragon Knight had difficulty fighting properly.
Suddenly, my body felt considerably lighter. Lee Shin-hee had cast a buff right before combat.
The timing was excellent. The moment I drew the Flowing Style Sword, the Old Witch extended her hand again.
Black vine-like magic flew toward us.
* * *
Whoosh—!
Han Hye’s first action was to open two Subspaces behind Seo Min-jae and Lee Shin-hee.
The Subspaces, opened at right angles, remained open at the top but could completely block the rear.
With Kim Han-chul guarding the front, things became considerably easier.
—Whoosh!
I charged forward and wrapped Blaze around the Flowing Style Sword. I’d already used two Subspaces. Even with a level increase, I could still only open two Gates, so I had to block the magic directly.
My plan was to annihilate the magic itself with Blaze. The attempt succeeded.
With a sharp sound, the scattering Blaze collided with the black vine and incinerated it.
The Witch’s eyes widened. It wasn’t my strongest strike, but the magic itself had burned away and vanished.
“Mister! Can you handle the Imps?”
“Don’t worry!”
Han Hye excelled at one-on-one combat, while the Dragon Knight had advantages in multi-enemy battles. We’d been using this fighting style for a long time.
But now the destructive power was different. With Kim Han-chul protecting the rear, Han Hye and Choi Chul-gi could rampage far more freely.
—Boom!
Choi Chul-gi’s Bi-Yong Sword pierced through the charging Imps. On the other side, Seo Min-jae’s magic struck hard.
Of course, we couldn’t block everything perfectly. Some Imps squeezed through the gaps.
“Face me—!”
But with Kim Han-chul present, there was no problem. He’d drawn all the aggro from the Imps that broke through.
While Kim Han-chul held the line, Seo Min-jae and Choi Chul-gi supported him.
The method was simple. Lee Shin-hee cast a protective barrier on Kim Han-chul, and we used appropriately scaled magic.
To be honest, the Dragon Guild members thought things were easier now than before.
‘There’s no hallucination or auditory illusion.’
Since there was no fog in the Empty Lot where the Witch lived, no hallucinations or auditory illusions occurred.
If they existed here too, the difficulty would spike dramatically.
Of course, Han Hye deserved the most credit for why the guild members found things easier now.
She was drawing the Witch’s attention entirely to herself.
—Whoosh!
Standing between the guild members and the Witch, I blocked the incoming magic. I couldn’t charge forward.
It was because of the Subspace barrier I’d erected behind Lee Shin-hee and Seo Min-jae.
Effective range: 40 meters. Since the Witch was casting magic from a distance, the Subspace would disappear the moment I moved.
I wasn’t impatient. Once I cleared the nearby Imps, I could freely target the Witch.
‘Still, I’m grateful for that.’
I had worried about the sand spears that Seo Min-jae could summon from beneath the earth, but the Witch didn’t employ that type of magic.
That didn’t make it easy, though. She was a Witch who exceeded the Gate’s level. All manner of spells came at Han Hye.
“Persistent, aren’t you…!”
Black tendrils, spears, flames, missiles—I had to deflect every single spell with pure reflex.
Among them were curses, and Chun-bae immediately warned me.
-Those are curses. You must block or evade them as a priority.
‘Don’t worry.’
If Imps had mixed into this melee, the Witch’s relentless barrage would have been far more lethal.
But thanks to my guild members’ exceptional skill, I could avoid the danger.
Leading with the protective barrier Han Hye had erected—the Subspace Wall—Kim Han-chul shielded the guild members.
A structure where I could focus entirely on the Witch. The Dragon Guild’s composition had become complete.
‘Bringing Han Chul on board was truly the right call.’
He was playing a crucial role. Originally, Han Hye would have needed to cover the rear guard instead of Choi Chul-gi, who handled the trash mobs.
All while blocking the Witch’s attacks. Now I could concentrate the searing blaze—which even burned through mana—solely on the Witch.
While Han Hye marked the Witch, the rear-guard guild members had managed to thin out the Imp numbers considerably.
Kim Han-chul shouted.
“Now! You may proceed!”
At his word, Han Hye nodded and kicked off the ground, sprinting forward. In that instant, the Old Witch’s eyes blazed as she stretched out her hand.
Around the Witch, hovering roughly two meters above the ground, the form of black mana churned violently.
“How dare you! My children!”
And toward the charging Han Hye, it erupted. Like dozens of tendrils, sharp black mana lashed out from every angle without mercy.
Centered on the Witch, it stabbed inward from all directions toward Han Hye.
Han Hye grinned wickedly. It looked like a finishing blow, but it wouldn’t work on me.
I didn’t block it with the searing blaze. Instead, I used Leap.
Pop!
And I drove my blade, brimming with searing heat, into the Witch’s back. Whoosh! Violent flames erupted from her solar plexus.
The Witch was floating roughly two meters above the ground? That meant nothing to me.
As gravity pulled my body downward, the Flowing Sword passed through the Witch from her back to her lower half.
“Screeeech!”
The Witch let out a grotesque shriek. She tried to transform her body into black mana to escape, but…
It was useless. The raging searing blaze was consuming her body.
“Granny. That won’t work on me.”
“You… I’ll tear you to shreds…!”
In that moment, the Witch abandoned her escape. Even if she reconstructed herself, her core wounds were too severe. Instead of fleeing, she vented her fury. The movement of her mana felt ominous.
As Han Hye faltered, Chun-bae shouted.
-Evade!
At Chun-bae’s word, Han Hye used Leap.
Pop!
The moment I left that spot, the Witch’s body detonated. Deeply sinister black mana exploded outward in all directions.
At a glance, it was unmistakably dangerous.
-When dealing with creatures like that, you should also consider the option of self-destruction.
‘Right. That was close.’
-It’s not over yet….
‘It’s fine. I know.’
Han Hye gazed downward. A single frog was visible in the Swamp. There had always been frogs in the Swamp, but….
With my spatial awareness, there was no escaping my sight. Something that hadn’t been there before now existed.
‘Most importantly, I still haven’t received any experience points.’
It was the moment Han Hye pretended not to notice and took a step forward.
-Since it exhausted all its mana in the explosion and transformed into a frog, it should currently be in a mana-depleted state. Capture might be possible.
‘Is that so?’
Han Hye opened a Subspace and pulled out a glass bottle. Then she brought it down hard toward the frog jumping below.
The frog trapped inside the glass bottle stared at Han Hye.
“Old Witch. What are you doing? You can’t fool my senses.”
The frog glared at Han Hye with wide eyes, but there was nothing it could do in its mana-depleted state.
Han Hye picked up the glass bottle and shook it.
“Do you want to live?”
“….”
“Then you’ll have to hand over everything precious.”
Han Hye smiled wickedly and gestured toward the Villa. What could possibly be inside the Villa of a Witch who grants wishes?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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