"Hold on for a little longer. We're almost there," Annie said.

They were walking on hard gravel. Each step they took would cause a drilling pain in their feet. Iffy really wanted to stop but Annie was strongly pulling her forward and tightly clutching her hand. Annie did not even slightly slow down her pace no matter if they were crossing through the brambles and thorns or the ice cold stream. From behind, she looked as determined as a mountain.

"Annie, I'm really tired..."

Iffy begged again.

She felt as if her soles were on fire, her entire body was in unceasing pain, and her chest was feeling compressed no matter how hard she inhaled. She felt as if she was dying.

Annie softly sighed and leaned forward to listen to the ground, and she pointed at a raised stone not far away and said, "Let's take a rest over there."

The very last trace of strength rose from the bottom of Iffy's heart once she heard that it was time to take a rest. She clenched her teeth and quickly walked to the giant rock and collapsed there; she even wished to stay there for eternity at that moment.

Annie did not instantly sit down. She surrounded both sides of the rock with the broken branches that she found nearby for camouflage. It felt like a cozy nest with both of the branches and the natural ceiling-like tilted rock. Unfortunately, they were still on an uneven, rocky ground that hurt their b.u.t.ts and the small s.p.a.ce was not big enough for both of them to lie down.

"The church won't find us since we've run this far."

"Don't let your guard down, and it's still not far enough from them."

Annie was as alert as a wildcat, always with her ears up, listening and monitoring everything around her. However, she was a lot tougher than the wildcat. She was accustomed to the pain and compared with the cruel Judgement Army, Annie was more like a silent predator.

"Does the Bloodfang a.s.sociation... really exist?"

They were two of the five witches who were searching for the Bloodfang a.s.sociation. After leaving Graystone Stronghold, they had been intercepted by the church, so they had decided to act separately. Iffy had been walking towards the east for three days and nights before b.u.mping into Annie while the others were totally out of contact.

"Of course," Annie said while rubbing her toes. "I heard that they're on the Wolf Tooth Island across the sea."

"But, how could we cross the sea?"

"Just walk towards the sh.o.r.e and look for a boat." Annie comforted. "Don't worry, just leave it to me."

"Okay," Iffy softly answered.

Annie took a piece of dried pork skin out of the baggage and held it in her hands. Some white smoke instantly sprung out of it while it became boiling hot and soft as the cloud. "Let's eat first, we'll continue the journey after eating," Annie said.

That was Annie's ability, whose palms could set the branches and sticks on fire and cook the food as well. Iffy devoured the skin like a wolf and then drooled over the skin in Annie's hand. Annie smiled and threw half of hers to Iffy and said, "You eat more. I'm not very hungry yet."

It was time to continue their journey after Iffy finished eating the other half of the skin and licking each of her fingers.

Iffy was struggling to get back on her feet, but before she could get out of the cave, the branches around it suddenly started to tremble.

It was not the swaying motion of the autumn wind, but a series of light and fast-paced trembles, as if something was coming in their direction.

Annie's eyes instantly widened in fear and said, "Horses! They're approaching on horses! Run!"

Iffy felt as if she was being pulled up and started to run subconsciously. The drilling pain below her feet returned. As her body did not really recover, it was very difficult for her to even stand, not to mention running.

She turned around and saw more than ten galloping horses appeared at the end of the rocky beach. Their speed was not too fast which might be because the soldiers worried about hurting the hoofs of their mounts. However, it was still fast enough to catch both of them who were running on bare feet.

Iffy thought that they could not escape.

Or rather, she could not escape.

Iffy wrenched her hand away from Annie's grasp and said, "You go first."

"I'll carry you."

"You can't run fast enough that way!"

"Just listen to me. Be quick."

The Judgement Army on the giant horses was approaching when Iffy was hesitating. Iffy noticed that some had lifted their hand crossbows and thrown spears.

The b.u.mpy gravel ground suddenly collapsed at that moment and the riders in the front fell into the pit, screaming. The platoon hurriedly spread out to avoid the trap, but the horses suddenly knelt down on the ground one by one. A group of red-dressed silhouettes unexpectedly popped out in front of the church soldiers as if they were rising from the ground. The ma.s.s shooting of the close range arrows caught the Judgement Army off guard, and the soldiers who were lucky enough to avoid the arrows could not escape and were hunted down in the ambush. More than 10 soldiers from the church were all lying dead on the stone beach within seconds.

After that, they quickly stripped the armors from the soldiers, taking away their dry food and baggage, along with the G.o.d's Stones of Retaliation.

One of them walked towards Iffy and Annie.

"Are you looking for the Bloodfang a.s.sociation?"

"How do you know?" Iffy asked in surprise.

"Yes, my Lord," Annie quickly pinched Iffy's hand and said. "We're both witches. The other three of us were lost on the way. Could you please help them?"

"We don't have the manpower to attend to the other witches." The woman took off her hood and revealed her short fiery-red hair. "If your partners couldn't reach here by themselves, they're not qualified to join the Bloodfang a.s.sociation." She paused and said, "Of course, not everyone who gets here can join the Bloodfang a.s.sociation either."

Iffy could feel that Annie was holding her hand tighter.

"What're your abilities? Show me."

After seeing their abilities, the red-haired woman looked at Iffy and nodded. "You can go to the Archduke Island." And then she looked at Annie and said, "But you can't."

"Why?" Iffy asked.

"My Lord, I..." Annie said.

"I'll be sending you to another witch a.s.sociation, but not the Bloodfang a.s.sociation." The red-haired woman interrupted Annie in a cold, hard voice. "You can't become a combat witch, and the Bloodfang a.s.sociation doesn't need a cook."

...

"What're you crying for?" The red-haired woman impatiently reproached Iffy. "The Lord's going to be angry if she sees your crying face."

"I... want to be with Annie..."

"Hopeless little brat, she's nothing but a burden."

"She's not, she saved me!" Iffy swallowed her tears and said, "Annie is the true combat witch that you need..."

"Pfft... Whether you're a combat witch or not is determined by the ability you got in the awakening, not strong limbs," the red-haired woman said relentlessly. "You think that she's more powerful than you. That's because she's five or six years older than you. In fact, you have far more potential than she does."

"Where are you... going to send Annie?"

"It's none of your business."

Iffy felt like crying again.

The red-haired woman frowned and said, "Listen, the Lord doesn't like cowards. You can't mention about the past if you want to survive in Archduke Island."

...