Lord Of The Lost

Alice flicked a strand of golden hair over her shoulder and smirked.

"The old witch threw me in."

William frowned.

"Explain."

Alice sighed, leaning back dramatically.

"She used her half-broken [Anchor Pen] to write a future where I would 'find my way through the maze.' Then, she shoved me in.

She thought she was being clever, but she didn't anticipate something going wrong.

You see, I was also switched from 'descended body' to 'true body.' My real world became my new 'descended state.' I escaped her grasp, for now."

She tilted her head, her green eyes full of mischief.

"Though… considering how long I've been missing, there's probably chaos back in the real world."

William's thoughts snapped to attention.

"The old witch… Who exactly is she?"

At that question, Alice's expression shifted.

A flicker of fear passed through her usually carefree face.

She took a slow breath, as if steeling herself.

"She calls herself the Queen of Magic."

—!

William's pupils shrank.

Queen of Magic.

He had heard Sofia mention that name before.

Another title of hers was—

The Witch of the Waste.

A figure of legend. A force of nature.

William stared at Alice in disbelief.

Even Sofia's powerful mentor, the Witch of the Misty Forest, had fled her homeland because of this woman.

The Witch of the Waste was an entity beyond comprehension.

Even worse; right now, she was supposed to be outside the Blizzard Fortress.

How did Alice run into her?!

William couldn't stop himself from asking.

"How… did you even meet her?"

Alice's expression turned sheepish.

"Well… when I first entered the game, I took two steps—just two—and suddenly, BAM! Old Witch right in my face."

William: "…"

He had struggled through hell and back, pushing his way through various obstacles before finally meeting Calcifer, the royal magician.

And this girl?

She took two steps and met one of the most feared figures in history?

What kind of absurd luck was this?!

But then, William remembered something.

There were 1,000 beta testers.

Yet the total number of players in Border Town only added up to about 900.

Which meant… there were 100 missing players.

Their starting points weren't in Border Town at all.

Alice was probably one of those missing 100.

And if she had spent all this time under the control of the Witch of the Waste…

No wonder she looked so traumatized.

But at the same time… was it good luck or bad luck?

Alice seemed to read his thoughts. She pouted.

"It's not luck at all! The old witch has a magic mirror; one that shows the person she's looking for."

William frowned.

"Who was she looking for?"

Alice's eyes shone with pride.

She placed her hands on her hips and declared confidently,

"Well, obviously, she asked the mirror: 'Magic mirror, magic mirror, who is the most beautiful woman in the world?'

And the mirror showed—ME!"

William: "…"

What the hell is wrong with this game?

William had met narcissistic people before, but Alice's level of self-admiration was on another plane of existence.

That being said, it was undeniable—she was stunning.

Her face looked as if it had been meticulously sculpted by the hand of a god, elegantly defined, perfectly symmetrical.

Her emerald-green eyes were clear and radiant, like sunlight filtering through a forest canopy.

Her long golden hair cascaded like spun silk, and her rosy lips formed a natural pout.

She had the posture of nobility, exuding an effortless grace. The white lantern skirt she wore only enhanced her elegance—its soft, layered folds adding a dreamlike quality to her movements.

Her waist was slender, and her figure was the kind that could make sculptors weep with envy.

But that was all.

No matter how breathtaking her appearance was, she was still just human.

True bewitching charm, the kind that could captivate souls, twist minds, and make even the most rational person throw their life away for a single smile, was something far beyond just good looks.

Alice, for all her beauty, did not possess that kind of power.

At most, she was like a top-tier celebrity—capable of turning heads, making people pause for a second look, maybe even stirring up fleeting infatuation.

But to truly control others with mere presence?

She was far from that level.

Besides, beauty was a double-edged sword.

For every person who might treat her favorably, there would be others who would see her as a trophy, a target, or an object of obsession.

Given her pure, untainted gaze, she had likely grown up in a sheltered, privileged world.

William figured that in her normal life, her presence alone probably brightened rooms and sped up heartbeats.

But William was not "normal."

He had zero patience for fairytale nonsense.

The Witch of the Waste has a magic mirror?

So what?

Does that make you Snow White?

He glanced at Alice, picturing her reaction if he punched her straight in the face with his sandbag-sized fist.

She'd probably cry for days.

William sighed.

"I don't have time for fairy tales. Just tell me your story."

Alice perked up mischievously.

"Only if you tell me yours too~"

William wordlessly raised his battle-worn axe, the sharp edge gleaming under the dim light.

The threat was clear—talk, or lose your head.

Alice gulped, quickly changing her tone.

"Okay, okay! I'll tell you everything!"

William listened carefully as Alice unraveled her story.

She had been tricked.

Or rather, she had been lured.

When she first encountered the Witch of the Waste, she didn't know who or what she was dealing with.

The Witch studied her intensely, as if she were some rare specimen.

At first, Alice didn't think much of it.

But then, the Witch started capturing other players.

20… 30 of them.

All taken.

No one knew how she found them.

But unlike Alice, the Witch wasn't particularly interested in the others.

She extracted their souls and sealed them inside strange artifacts.

Players who had been sealed this way could never log off.

And if you couldn't log off, then your real body would remain in a coma.

Permanently.

Through the whispers of other captive players, Alice learned a terrifying truth—

If they could log out, they'd return to the real world.

But she never had the chance to try.

Because she was the first one to be sealed.

She was the first test subject.

Alice gritted her teeth, clearly recalling the horror of being trapped.

But then, she said something unexpected.

"But honestly… she didn't treat me that badly."

William's brows furrowed.

"Explain."

Alice shrugged, fiddling with a strand of golden hair.

"Well, she taught me a lot of things.

Magic, alchemy, secret knowledge… She even helped me level up.

In terms of 'game progress,' I probably had the fastest growth among all players."

She let out a half-laugh, half-sigh.

"But of course, there was a catch."

"She studied me like a lab rat."

The Witch of the Waste wasn't just collecting players at random.

She had a specific reason for choosing Alice.

William couldn't shake the feeling that Alice had something… different.

Something that made her special.

But Alice herself didn't know what it was.

And the Witch never told her.

She only kept her close, watching, testing, experimenting.

And whenever she left the floating castle, Alice would peer out the windows, staring at the world below.

She described a frozen city—

An ice-covered fortress, its walls made of solid, glistening ice, standing defiantly against the howling winds.

It was a magnificent sight.

William immediately recognized it.

"Blizzard Fortress…" he muttered.

Alice nodded.

"Yeah. That's what the other players called it.

The Witch's castle floats above it.

And if my guess is right…

She's keeping an eye on something or someone, inside that fortress."

A cold chill crept down William's spine.

If the Witch of the Waste had a reason to watch Blizzard Fortress so closely…

It could only mean something big was brewing.

And Alice—for some unknown reason—was a key piece in this puzzle.

William's grip on his axe tightened.

"One last question," he said.

"How the hell did you escape?"

Alice grinned.

"I stole one of her magic items and wrote my own fate."

William's eyes widened.

"You… used an Anchor Pen?"

Alice winked.

"I only had enough ink to write one sentence.

But it was enough to get me here."

William exhaled sharply.

This girl…

She was way more dangerous than she looked.

The Witch of the Wilds had once told Alice that Blizzard Fortress was more than just a battlefield—it was a tomb, the final resting place of one of her greatest enemies.

That enemy had been dead for eight hundred years, yet the descendants of the knights she once led were still standing in defiance, doing everything in their power to keep the Witch from advancing.

According to Alice's knowledge, those knights were not human, they were the descendants of seven legendary dwarf warriors.

After the fall of the Dwarven Kingdom, not all dwarves perished. Some survivors remained, and among them, these seven warriors became the most renowned, known for their loyalty and unyielding resistance against the Witch.

Now, however, the Witch of the Wilds was marching on Blizzard Fortress.

If she breached the stronghold, nothing would stop her from reaching Border Town—

The same town where all players had started their journey.

For Alice, things took a turn for the worse right after the last Full Moon Night.

The Witch of the Wilds, having found a rare opening, finally had more time on her hands—

And she used it to study Alice.

The Witch of the Wilds was an unfathomable existence.

She possessed a relic of the gods—

A talking, broken quill known as the [Anchor Pen].

This artifact originated from the Scarlet Theater and had drifted through time for over a thousand years, passing through many hands before falling into hers.

Unfortunately, the quill had lost its divine power.

In its prime, the [Anchor Pen] could forcibly lock a chosen future into reality, overriding all other possibilities.

Even if a future did not exist, it could be created from nothing.

A story could be rewritten.

A fate could be altered.

A dead man could live again.

But now, the quill was only a shadow of what it once was.