Chapter 121

‘Emergency! Emergency!’

If I get caught, I’m dead!

Trembling all over, I stilled my presence as much as possible and curled myself into a tight little ball.

If I stay like this, maybe I’ll just look like a clump of fluff…!

‘Please just walk past. Please!’

I was shaking like a leaf, praying I wouldn’t be discovered, when a high, lilting soprano voice drifted over.

“That’s strange…. Where did he go? Did he have help? It would’ve been difficult to escape the underground prison alone….”

The voice was far too clear and crystalline to belong to a terrifying witch.

Even as I quivered in fear, curiosity crept in. What did the Witch of the Crescent Moon look like?

“He’s still such a nuisance…. Ahh… how irritating…. I need to kill him before he grows any more….”

…But the words that followed were nothing like that beautiful voice. They were vicious.

‘Before he grows any more… is she talking about Lycian?’

Compared to how he was when fully grown, young Lycian seemed considerably weaker.

‘So she means to get rid of him before he becomes strong.’

It seemed our little one wasn’t yet skilled at handling the power of time. That must be how he’d been captured by the Witch of the Crescent Moon in the first place.

“Haah…. That damned fox bastard….”

‘Huh? A fox?’

Lycian might act sly around me sometimes, but he’s a half-dragon.

And yet the Witch of the Crescent Moon was calling him a fox too?

‘Was she talking about someone else…?’

As I puzzled over it, heavy footsteps thudded closer, followed by a gruff voice.

“Master! Excuse me for a moment! Tonight’s ingredients were placed over there….”

“Hm? Ah…. Right.”

Ingredients for dinner?

Does a witch have to eat too?

‘No, wait—’

Why is my body being lifted along with them?!

‘Aaah! Someone save this hamster!’

Damn it, the pile of junk I was hiding in was a heap of food ingredients?!

“Then I’ll head to the kitchen now!”

“Good. If you see the human brat, break his ankles if you must—just make sure he doesn’t get away.”

“Yes, Master!”

The witch’s cook stomped off again.

Still hidden among the ingredients, I cautiously poked my head out to assess the situation.

I couldn’t see the witch from this angle. Only the cook’s thick, muscular blue forearm filled my view.

‘Blue skin? Definitely not human!’

The cook must be one of the witch’s creations… or perhaps a humanoid Monster that could speak.

As he trudged noisily along, he muttered to himself.

“Poor Master…. Because of what happened a thousand years ago, she was left with an incomplete body that has to consume food…. That damned Purifier! That awful dragon of time!”

‘What happened a thousand years ago?’

Still curled up, I widened my eyes.

It seemed the witch had once suffered a devastating blow. At the hands of none other than a Purifier and Ortemius.

‘I’ll have to ask Uncle Orte about it later.’

While the cook made his way to the kitchen, I lay low and waited for my chance.

At the same time, I kept studying the map, calculating the optimal escape route in my head.

‘…Why is my brain working so slowly? Did my intelligence turn into a hamster’s too?’

Just as a flicker of anxiety crept in, the cook arrived at the kitchen.

‘Now!’

The instant the pile of ingredients landed on the table with a heavy thud, I dashed forward and leapt down.

Fortunately, a soft sack of grain cushioned my fall.

Careful not to catch the cook’s eye, I slipped swiftly out of the kitchen.

Once in the corridor, I followed the route I’d mapped out beforehand.

‘Good. If I just keep going like this, I’ll be fine!’

My heart pounded as freedom drew near. Just a little farther, and I’d be out of this castle…!

But the moment I reached the eastern gate in the castle wall—

“…A hamster?”

“…!!”

Of all the rotten luck, I ran straight into the Witch of the Crescent Moon!

‘Damn it! I was almost there!’

She studied me intently as I stood frozen stiff. The unfathomable depth in her gaze sent a primal chill down my spine.

‘S-scary.’

Now that I could see her clearly, I didn’t have the luxury of being awed or curious.

Her bloodless face was as pale as the moon. But not a warm full moon—more like the sliver that rises when the world is at its darkest.

“Why is there a hamster in my castle? I don’t recall having a hobby of keeping vermin.”

Something like jellyfish tendrils—thin and wavering—floated behind her back.

Calling it hair felt inaccurate, but it was attached to her scalp nonetheless.

“I see.”

Clap. She brought her hands together lightly and curved her entirely white eyes—no distinction between sclera and pupil—into a smile.

“You’re the one who helped the half-dragon brat escape, aren’t you?”

What kind of pinpoint accuracy is that?! Are you a fortune-teller or something?

I trembled at the witch who seemed even more uncanny than any shaman.

I needed to run… but whether from fear or something else, my body refused to move.

‘Move! I said move! You useless little hamster body!’

She extended her hand toward me. The tip of her index finger pointed directly at me.

Her eerie voice pierced my rigid ears.

“Reveal your true form.”

“…!”

An irresistible force pressed down on me—and in an instant, my body swelled.

‘The transformation’s undone…!’

I was left stunned by the witch’s power. She had effortlessly nullified Morpheus’s ability.

Back in my original form, I found the Witch of the Crescent Moon staring at me.

Then, as if she’d realized something, her expression shifted—strange, unreadable.

“…You’ve returned?”

Huh?

Um… yes? This is my original form, though?

Carefully, I moved the hand hidden behind my back and pulled an item from my inventory.

‘Don’t Move! A water gun that freezes the target in front of you for 10 seconds.’

I didn’t know if it would work on her, but the system had told me to actively use my items…!

‘Maybe—just maybe—I can stop her for a moment!’

I’m trusting you, system!

I thrust my arm forward and fired the water gun at her.

Caught off guard, she failed to dodge the stream of water that shot from the nozzle.

“…!”

The droplet that struck her solar plexus froze instantly, spreading like frost.

In the blink of an eye, she was covered in crystalline snowflakes, frozen solid like ice—and I seized the opening to pull out another item.

‘Emergency Escape Bomb!’

An item capable of dealing physical damage to its target.

I hurled all ten bombs at the witch.

Then I spun on my heel and bolted toward the eastern gate.

KWA-KWA-KWAAANG!!

A tremendous explosion roared behind me, a blast of heat slamming into my back.

The power was far greater than I’d expected.

Right on cue, a system message popped up in the air.

‘Are you insane?!’

Twenty-times-compressed Dragon Breath? Isn’t that basically a nuke?!

I immediately spammed the purchase button. Eight full sets dropped into my inventory.

‘Th-this is crazy….’

I pulled out one set of the nuclear weapons.

And as I fled the witch’s castle, I threw them in every direction.

KOO-KWA-KWAAANG!!

Deafening explosions erupted one after another, the air thick with blistering heat. I felt like the protagonist of some Hollywood blockbuster….

“Huff… haaah….”

Once I reached the forest, I leaned against a tree trunk, gasping for breath.

‘I seriously thought I was going to die!’

In the distance, the ancient castle was engulfed in towering flames.

Black smoke billowed high into the sky. The bombs I’d thrown seemed to have reduced the place to utter ruin.

‘If we ever meet again, the Witch of the Crescent Moon definitely won’t let me off the hook….’

Shuddering, I forced myself to keep walking.

I had no idea exactly where I was, but I needed to find people first.

I had to ask someone for help…!

‘Lycian is His Highness the Imperial Prince. The imperial family must’ve dispatched the knights and launched a full-scale search….’

That was when—

“Ah…!”

In the distance, I saw flickering silhouettes of people carrying torches.

I ran toward them frantically, shouting at the top of my lungs.

“Over here! There’s someone here!”