Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 720 - 601 The Mystery of Blackfire

Chapter 720: Chapter 601 The Mystery of Blackfire

The White Salamander’s slaughter was in full swing, its scales turning from pure white to a deep, blood red, emitting an even more powerful aura of carnage. Standing close to it, one felt their blood drain away, vitality dissipating.

After consuming the paintings, it discovered that humans had also taken many of them away in the chaos, leaving it without any paintings to feed on.

Out of spite, the White Salamander slammed the ground, its tail smashing down fiercely, and the International Trade Building began to collapse under the manic assault of the White Salamander!

"Roar!"

By this time, Kanako and the others had already boarded the Shuttle Machine and were evacuating quickly. They retreated to the air and looked down from above.

Only Masasuke Hazuki remained on the fractured floor, looking down as the Battle Witches like Jin Yuxiu had already covered the evacuation of the guests.

Masasuke Hazuki enveloped himself in auras and incantations and rapidly jumped down to engage the White Salamander. His katana struck hard at the heart of the White Salamander, penetrating effectively, but only leaving a mark. In a few breaths, it healed and even gained stronger defenses.

"Come back! Go!" Seeking Shadow shouted at him.

Masasuke Hazuki leaped backward, dodging the White Salamander’s sweep, then chanted a spell, turning into a mist and returning to the Shuttle Machine.

In bursts of dust and explosions, the entire International Trade Building rapidly cracked apart, reduced to a honeycomb-like shell, collapsing around itself.

Within the dark, the colossal and terrifying figure of the White Salamander faded away, as if it too, like 101, possessed some form of teleportation ability, vanishing from everyone’s detection range in an instant.

Inconceivable...

After the White Salamander’s rampage, the large chunks of the building’s wreckage fell towards the roadways on either side, crashing onto the ground with a monumental impact, blocking the traffic routes.

The torrential rain washed over the heaps of concrete and rebar, as if shedding tears for the corpse of a building.

The Yunding Group, which operated the International Trade Building, immediately issued a vague public statement.

Only those who had witnessed the White Salamander’s ferocity knew just how powerful this monster was.

"How can we kill such a thing? Is it also... an underling of the Great River Goddess?" Kanako whispered.

"We might have a way to discern its true nature," Masasuke Hazuki said, taking out his katana, gathering the dark golden blood that had stained it into a vial for submission.

"Mine too..." 102 collected the blood traces he had struck.

Most of the White Salamander’s pale blood dissipated upon contact with air, leaving only the true, pure golden blood.

"The paintings, the Peacock Paintings... we have managed to get two of them," 101 turned and saw two aluminum boards inside the cabin.

"We got them for free! A zero-cost acquisition!" 102’s eyes lit up.

"What does the White Salamander want with those paintings? If it is a servant of the Great River Goddess, it should not be here; rather, it should be protecting the followers of the Great River Goddess to ensure the smooth completion of the ritual... So who sent this kind of monster?" Kanako was still pondering.

The paintings were merely a projection of the ’memory’ power of the Great River Goddess, drawn by Painter Wu during his mental breakdown. Could it be that the White Salamander also harbored secrets it wished to uncover? Or was it serving a more powerful being?

"What do we do with the paintings we’ve taken? Are we supposed to use them to understand some knowledge?" 101 wanted the things she had desperately claimed to have worth.

"The first painting should reveal how to handle Blackfire. We need someone to read it," Kanako considered deeply before making a judgment.

"Who will look at it?" 101 asked.

"I will... I’ve had training in resisting Supernatural Powers," Shallow Dream volunteered. As a member of the Witch Council, she had received top-notch education. Additionally, Farosa and Kirino Reisei had once translated ancient texts into modern script, from which she had greatly benefited.

Without delay, 101 took Shallow Dream and the painting to a secluded room in the Xisheng Hotel.

Now, two large aluminum boxes lay before Shallow Dream. 101 used the Shilou Maru to gently slice one open, allowing Shallow Dream to see the Peacock Enigma Paintings themselves.

"I want to know how to extinguish the ’Black Fire’ once and for all..." Shallow Dream silently contemplated the knowledge she sought, then her gaze shifted to the Peacock Enigma Painting.

Shallow Dream held her breath.

Upon a cursory inspection, Wu the painter had depicted a grand ancient temple on the canvas. Rituals associated with the Great River Goddess were conducted there, with people upholding traditions since time immemorial, repeatedly offering sacrifices, hoping to gain a sliver of wisdom from the Great River Goddess.

In the foreground of the temple stood rugged ceremonial towers, appearing like grotesque ancient guards. Their main structure was built of yellow clay and gray bricks, the exterior laced with gold leaf, giving it an extraordinary sacred and precious appearance. Yet their shape was so peculiar, almost as if they hailed from another civilization, one that didn’t worship geometric shapes but embraced wild, maniac growth, indicative of their revolutionary ideals.

These towers stretched towards the sky, as if chasing the firmament, regardless of how bizarre their proportions seemed, reminding Shallow Dream of a child’s scribbles.

Behind these towers was a relief wall, upon which the monumental face of a woman was carved, her eyes closed as if she were indifferent to the people, refusing to respond to any form of their calls.

Below a bas-relief stood a huge peacock, as if guarding the safety of the goddess.

How splendid... Its wings and tail feathers were so beautiful that they intoxicated the onlooker, and the fanned peacock shared knowledge and memories with Shallow Dream.

The peacock phantom was just a few strokes of sketchy lines, yet Shallow Dream felt completely absorbed into it, and indeed she was. Her expression subtly shifted as her spirit followed the peacock’s apparition into the misty ancient memories.

The enigma painting revealed a corner of those memories.

— To "extinguish" the black flames, you must know how they were created.

Shallow Dream suddenly saw a vast ocean, and above it, a black engineering ship of even larger dimensions dropped a giant war spear into the sea, slowly moving in a set direction, cutting a huge gash in the ground that the ocean water poured into layer by layer.

This ship, like the temple complexes Shallow Dream had seen before, did not seem to be made by humans; it was a creation of an even older civilization, far more advanced than the civilization Shallow Dream was currently part of.

She watched in fear.

Shallow Dream looked up to see the sky full of fast-flying azure shuttles, advanced in style, all traveling at higher altitudes, almost touching the sky, their speed, shape, and technology all far advanced. She had never seen shuttle machines that could fly so high and yet be so small.

The enigma painting took her into the ancient memories... Probably tens of thousands of years old, Shallow Dream thought to herself.

Shallow Dream saw colossal structures growing in the distance, titanic black iron towers connecting the sky, and unimaginable man-made celestial bodies moving along their orbits, with the sun itself enveloped by ring-shaped shadows.

This civilization harnessed the world, the stars, and the sun, reminiscent of the interstellar megastructures Shallow Dream had seen in science fiction projections—space elevators, orbital habitats, stellar rings.

"...Y’fim, Y’fim gesiv dereg’ri..." someone broadcast from the engineering ship in secret script.

Shallow Dream felt dizzy; to her, it was secret script, but to the beings of that era, it was their everyday language.

Then, she saw the belly hatch of the engineering ship open, and many bound women were dropped into the abyss.

Shallow Dream was stunned—there were too many women—were they Witches? Tens of thousands! She saw them collectively thrown into the Abyss, and beneath it, black flames had already lit up, with high tongues licking the air like monsters devouring flesh, consuming these women.

Their bodies joined the black flames, disintegrating into ash, fueling the growth of the Blackfire.

This was too cruel. Shallow Dream felt extreme fear. Soon, those women turned into Black Fire Witches, completely becoming formless beings, wailing in despair as they circled around.

Only a few Witches became Black Fire Witches; many were simply consumed by the flames. The rest tried to escape from the ocean but were soon dragged back as if by invisible chains, never truly able to leave. Shallow Dream looked carefully into the Abyss, and at the bottom...

The peacock cried out, and Shallow Dream’s consciousness returned from the memories.

She was back in the real world and quickly moved away from the painting, sweating profusely, heart racing, backing away several steps.

When she looked at the painting again, there was no longer any trace of the peacock, as if the paint that had depicted the peacock had all evaporated.

She screamed, and the medical team outside quickly came in, administering a sedative to Shallow Dream. She quickly felt much better, and the feeling of fear was soothed.

The other medical staff carried Shallow Dream to a medical bed, wheeled her into an observation room, connected her to health monitoring equipment, and asked her a set of questions to ensure her mental state was normal.

"What did you see? Did you find the method to extinguish the Blackfire?" Kanako rushed over upon hearing the news, dismissed the others, then squatted down beside her to inquire about Shallow Dream’s thoughts.

"I know... I understand now..." Shallow Dream gasped for air.

The memories of the Great River Goddess were too vivid; Shallow Dream felt as if she had experienced them herself.

"It’s alright, we can talk about it when you feel better." Kanako comforted.

"No, no, I need to speak while I still remember... Blackfire, Blackfire was a method used by a super-ancient civilization for mass execution of Witches... It was too cruel... They deliberately used Blackfire to burn and murder Witches, it was too cruel." Shallow Dream repeated.

"I’ve made a note of it..." Kanako recorded the message and sent it back to Nestor Headquarters.

"There’s more, there’s more. The fire on the Dark Isle during the Black Fire Innovation was just a small fire, nothing on the scale of the super large Abyss I saw!"

"Hmm? Tell me more, we should be able to locate its corresponding position in modern times." Kanako felt they were getting closer to solving it, to truly defeating the Black Fire Innovation.

"It... it has several characteristics, I saw more, not just memories, but also... it should be the source of all Blackfire... It is the oldest Blackfire, and it might even power other sources. If we find this Great Abyss, we should be able to extinguish Blackfire from its most fundamental origin! Also, the Dark Flame Witches created from Blackfire cannot stray too far from their birthplace because the super-ancient civilization created Blackfire to punish and kill them, and they are bound by some force; they probably can’t... reincarnate normally either, so Blackfire must be used, to exterminate Witches, it’s their technology." Shallow Dream spoke in fits and starts.

Kanako nodded repeatedly, the painting really paid off.

As the secrets of Black Fire Innovation were unveiled, the doomsday of those arms dealers was not far away. Kanako continued to listen to Shallow Dream’s narration, seeking more secrets.