The Witch's Anatomical Notes

Chapter 114

A Senior's Kindness Yet to Be Repaid

"You… you're insane!"

The dog's fur bristled, and its three-inch body nearly bounced onto Lucy's upturned nose. "According to the laws of the Realm of Death, unless the Realm of Life offers a sacrifice, not even the Seven Gods may interfere with souls—"

Wait!

Before finishing the sentence, Fenrir abruptly fell silent.

It turned its head toward the Styx—weren’t these souls just sacrificed to the Death God, the Sleeper?

Besides, strictly speaking, the laws of the Realm of Death couldn’t truly bind Lucy. After all, she wasn’t a being of the death side.

As for what displeasure the Sleeper might feel from her preemptively consuming the sacrifices—that was a problem for later.

Right now, what Lucy needed to do was escape the Chief Arbiter’s pursuit with over ten million souls in tow.

The high-ranking wizard nearby had listened to the entire exchange, unconsciously swallowed a gulp, and tried his best to reduce his presence.

Though the Anatomy School was already considered a twisted academic branch across the Wizard Continent, this Lady Lucy before him was likely the most abstract figure even within that school.

She was not only sailing down the Styx in her physical body—she now actually intended to devour over ten million sacrificed souls!

Even though he understood Lucy was trying to save these souls, the entire process still made his skin crawl.

"My lady?!"

The distracted high-ranking wizard jolted at the sudden voice.

"W-what is it?"

"Steady the vessel. I want to test the ability of [Soul Devour]."

"Understood."

Taking on the role of a laborer, the high-ranking wizard vigorously rowed the oar, striving to keep the ark stable amidst the churning Styx.

Lucy swiftly reached into the river and scooped up a blurry soul.

She hadn’t expected it but the moment the soul emerged from the water, it called her name.

"Lu… Lucy!"

"You are…" Lucy narrowed her eyes to get a better look. "Senior Karen!"

Karen, dragged out of the Styx, looked utterly bewildered.

After the fall of the West Tower, he had been killed by the Eternal Silence Blackthorn and heretics that overran the high tower. He had been drifting along the Styx when someone suddenly fished him out.

"What’s going on?"

Karen had no idea what was about to happen. "What are you doing here?"

"Long story," Lucy replied, still gripping Karen without the slightest intent of letting go. "To put it simply, Master Theodosius and I ran into some trouble in the Realm of Death, and just happened to crash into the Old Three Gods trying to descend by sacrificing the entire Principality of Kolo…"

"But let’s skip that. I need your help with something, and I hope you won’t mind."

Help?

As long as he could survive, not to mention one favor—he’d gladly agree to a hundred.

"Go ahead, tell me how I can help." Karen puffed out his chest. "But before that, could you maybe put me down first?"

Being held up in the air by a girl with one hand was, in the end, a bit uncomfortable.

However, Lucy showed no intention of letting go. Still gripping his soul, she said:

"It's great that you're willing to help voluntarily." A sly smile crept across her lips. "To return to the Wizard Continent, we need to pass through the Gate of the Dead, but the gods of the Realm of Death are hunting us… Don’t worry, I’ve already found a way to deal with Him. I just need you to cooperate by letting me eat you."

"???"

Karen’s face was full of disbelief.

Please explain—what did you mean by “just let me eat you”?!

Back when she recommended him to Wizard Fernando, hadn’t she said she owed him a favor and would definitely repay it?

And now this was her way of repaying a favor—by eating her benefactor?!

He instinctively glanced at Lucy’s lips, then abruptly shook his head. No! He was a proper person aspiring to become a wizard.

"Don’t worry," Lucy said. "I’ve obtained a law-based ability that allows me to temporarily boost my powers by absorbing souls. Once I take care of the death god, I’ll spit you all back out. There’s absolutely no danger to your lives."

"……"

"Really, I’d never lie to you."

"No! Don’t even think about it!"

Karen began struggling desperately.

Lucy sighed. Chief Arbiter Zoe was still pursuing them along the Styx. She needed to test the effectiveness of Soul Devour as quickly as possible—after all, with millions of souls involved, even a slight miscalculation could result in massive casualties.

"Looks like I have to say sorry. Senior, I owe you another favor now."

Karen, knowing he was doomed to become ‘food’, turned deathly pale.

"Please… don’t tell anyone I was eaten."

"Don’t worry, you’ll be joined by tens of millions more in a bit."

With that, Lucy yanked Karen up and, under his despairing gaze, opened her mouth and activated [Soul Devour].

"Wait! I’m not ready y—"

Karen’s form melted like syrup, eventually becoming a wisp of pale white mist.

He had now completely lost all sense of self, reduced to nothing more than a pure clump of soul energy.

Lucy inhaled lightly, and Karen was absorbed into her mental sea via [Soul Devour].

"To maintain soul vitality, I need to preserve at least sixty percent of the soul power… Let’s try absorbing twenty percent first."

As Karen’s soul power was extracted, Lucy’s mental strength began to surge, rising quickly from 32.3 to 32.8 before stabilizing.

"Senior Karen, a Tier-3 apprentice like me, only increased my mental strength by 0.5?" Lucy mused. "Looks like the conversion rate of [Soul Devour] isn’t very high."

As mental strength increased, diminishing returns would become more and more apparent. Later on, even ten thousand ordinary souls might not raise her mental strength by 0.1.

"So? How did the soul taste?"

The dog, Fenrir, asked impatiently.

"It didn’t have any particular flavor—just felt like inhaling a puff of mist."

Lucy licked her lips and answered truthfully. "However, this method of boosting mental strength is indeed fast."

Devouring a single soul had the same effect as meditating for five days.

"I knew you'd enjoy that sensation," the dog panted, rubbing his paws together sinisterly. "Once we make it out of the Realm of Death alive, I’ll open the Gate of the Dead for you when the time comes. Then you can just fish a few souls out of the Styx and devour them."

"If we work together, it won’t be long before you reach the level of a Star Ring Wizard… keh keh keh!"

Lucy glanced sideways at the dog radiating ominous energy.

Even without using her Soul Scent, she could tell this creature was definitely scheming something.

…

When the ark finally drifted to a stop at the riverbank net, the waiting wizards immediately swarmed around.

"What’s the situation at the Gate of the Dead?"

"Can we still pass through it to return to the Wizard Continent?"

"When are we setting off—"

Their questions poured out all at once, but then they suddenly noticed Lucy now held a three-inch-long white puppy in her hand, while the high-ranking wizard who had rowed looked extremely awkward.

Everyone’s hearts sank—had something changed in the plan?

"We did run into some trouble," Lucy said gravely. "Although the Gatekeeper, Fenrir, has been dealt with, the Gate of the Dead has been sealed off by Chief Arbiter Zoe..."

She recounted everything she had seen and heard in detail, and the group instantly fell silent.

Lucy raised the white pup in her hand. "This is the soul projection of the Gatekeeper, Fenrir."

The pup bared its teeth and lifted its head, seemingly trying to appear more divine, but its palm-sized body lacked any real presence.

As for fear of so-called gods…

Fear was simply a creature’s instinctive response to the unknown. What wizards strove for throughout their lives was to strip away that fear and unveil the unknown to all.

To these official wizards, so-called “gods” were nothing more than more powerful life forms.

Thus, upon learning that this was one of the Old Gods, the expressions on their faces showed not fear but curiosity.