The Most Powerful Witch in History

-Kiyaaaak!
-Kyaak!

Blazing flames, burning monsters. A fire in the shape of a dragon swept through the chaotic mine interior.

“…”
With that precise yet powerful flame skill targeting only enemies, the hideous and barbaric goblins turned to ash and disappeared, leaving only a few small embers and four humans, including myself, in this place.

“Uh…”
“W-What…”
“…”
As all the situations surrounding them changed drastically, the three-person party could only stare blankly, none of them daring to open their mouths hastily.

The smell of burning stung the nose in the quiet silence. When no one seemed inclined to move or speak first, I was the one who finally took a step.

“…”
I approached the frozen adventurers gruffly. Then, I slowly crouched down in front of the swordsman whose shoulder had just been stabbed by a goblin’s dagger.

“…Healing.”
I used a healing skill to treat the swordsman’s wound. With a healing skill in the 700 level range, I could easily treat such a wound.

“Y-You are…”
The swordsman receiving the healing looked at me with eyes filled with half curiosity, half fear. After pondering for a while as if buffering, he finally blurted out a question.

“Who are you…?”
“…”
Such a simple question after such long deliberation. Before I could answer that question, the blonde female archer standing beside also addressed me in a highly excited voice.

“To sweep away those goblins all at once, that’s really amazing! And that technique earlier was so cool too!”

The archer spoke with sparkling eyes despite having nearly died.

“…Thank you for saving us. We almost died.”
“…”
Following the archer, it was none other than the healer who spoke. She bowed her head modestly and conveyed her gratitude for saving them.

“…”
To their words of thanks, I simply nodded silently.

“Ah, it doesn’t hurt at all…”
“…”
As the healing skill finished, the swordsman swung his now-healthy arm around with an amazed expression. Their healing skills in the 200 level range wouldn’t be able to treat wounds to this extent, so perhaps he couldn’t help but be amazed.

“…Thank you again for helping us.”
“…”
Seeming to feel much better, the swordsman smiled and offered me a handshake. I shook his hand briefly two or three times up and down with my still expressionless face.

“…We are ‘Green Leaf’, an adventurer party representing the Village of Beginnings.”
The swordsman introduced themselves, pointing to the archer and healer behind him. Although their credibility as the village’s representative party was questionable given they had nearly died to goblins, I decided to believe them for now.

“…I’m Arianna.”
Since exchanging names is polite, I introduced myself to them as well. Then the blonde archer clapped her hands and asked me with a bright smile:

“Arianna! Are you an adventurer?”
“Yes.”
I showed them the adventurer card I had just been issued from my pocket in response to her question. Despite revealing my name and identity, the three-person adventurer party called ‘Green Leaf’ continued to ask me questions as if they still had many curiosities.

“…That flame magic from earlier, I’ve never seen it before. Are you perhaps a sage from the magic tower?”
“That’s right! The precision and intensity of burning only the goblins, it seemed like magic that only great mages could use!”

Whether because they were NPCs, they defined ‘skills’ as ‘magic’. To these adventurers curious about my job, I answered gruffly:

“…I’m a witch.”

Witch.
A quite rare job even in Deal and Attack due to its overwhelming weakness in close combat. But because I had proudly risen to the top ranks despite such disadvantages, I had tremendous affection for this ‘witch’ job.

“Eh? A witch?”
“Really? You’re not lying?”
“…”

At my answer, the three-person adventurer party showed signs of being startled. When I looked at them quizzically for their rather extreme reaction to just stating my job, the healer muttered with a profound expression:

“So there was still a living witch…”

“…?”
A witch who was ‘still’ alive – I couldn’t understand what she was muttering. Come to think of it, the thieves I met last time said something similar, didn’t they? Perhaps there was some setting hidden in this world that I didn’t know about?

“…What do you mean by a witch who’s still alive?”

I asked the adventurer party with a tone of incomprehension. To my question, the adventurer party showed an expression of even greater incomprehension than me.

“Huh? What do you mean, what do we mean?”
“…Didn’t you survive the Empire’s ‘Witch Hunt’ 15 years ago?”
“Witch Hunt…?”
“Yes, the so-called ‘Witch Massacre’ carried out by the Empire’s ‘Sword Saint’ leading his subordinates.”
“What…”

I furrowed my brow deeply at this incident and setting I was hearing for the first time in my life. This wasn’t something that had appeared in quests or events during my 12 years of playing the game. Indeed, from the ‘adventurer card’ I didn’t know about to this ‘Witch Hunt’, perhaps there were many events and settings hidden in this world that I was unaware of.

“Ah, don’t worry! Adventurers and the Kingdom are friendly to witches! Nothing will happen to your safety and security!”
“That’s right! To begin with, that incident itself was a rash action by the Empire and that crazy ‘Sword Saint’…”
“…”

Seeing my serious expression, the adventurers hastily added in a tone saying not to worry at all.

While the Empire and Sword Saint are insanely hostile, the Kingdom and adventurers are friendly to witches – what an absurdly complex setting.
I really wanted to give whoever came up with this setting a flick on the forehead.

“Hah…”
Letting out a deep sigh at the large amount of information I suddenly learned, I moved my steps deeper into the mine.

Although I wanted to learn more about that Witch Hunt incident, that could wait until later. For now, solving the given quest and gaining experience points was the priority.

“Huh? Huh? Where are you going?”
“It’s more dangerous inside! Let’s escape from here quickly with us!”
“That’s right, I can sense the energy of an unknown being, a very evil energy.”
“…”

The adventurers each uttered words of warning as I tried to enter deeper into the mine. But as long as the difficulty was marked as ‘Hard’ and not ‘Nightmare’, there shouldn’t be anything that posed a major threat to me. I just made a gesture indicating there was no problem and continued walking.

“W-What should we do?”
“Yeah? Maybe we should at least get out of here…”
“…”

The sound of the adventurers’ urgent discussion could be heard from behind. Just before I disappeared from their sight, the male swordsman called out to me loudly, having finally made some decision.

“Arianna!”
“…”

The three adventurers ran towards me instead of escaping the mine. Approaching me, they nodded as if resolved and said:

“We’ll go with you.”
“…”
“…No matter how I think about it, letting a beautiful lady like Arianna go alone doesn’t seem like proper manners for a man.”
“…Ugh.”

The swordsman winked at me while spouting cheesy lines. It was the first time I felt nauseous since possessing Arianna’s body. It seemed that even witches didn’t have particularly strong stomachs compared to humans.

“That’s right, no matter how dangerous, as adventurers we must complete this mission.”
“…We’re adventurers in the 200 level range, we can be of considerable help.”
“…”

The archer and healer gave somewhat more normal reasons compared to the swordsman. Faced with their earnest pleas, I fell into thought for a moment.

If it was an ultra-high level mission, a ‘Nightmare’ difficulty quest, I would have abandoned them mercilessly because I wouldn’t have the leisure to protect and look after anyone. But at least in ‘Hard’ difficulty, I thought I could pay some attention to them.

Moreover, as they said, they were adventurers in the 200 level range, so they should be able to handle mobs that came one by one on their own.

This ‘mob handling’ role alone seemed reason enough to bring them along.

“We won’t be a burden!”
“Please allow us to accompany you!”
“We have our honor as adventurers too!”
“…”

I looked over the three-person party reaffirming their resolve once, then slightly nodded.

“…Do as you like.”
“Yes!”
“Thank you!”
“Please tell us right away if you get hurt anywhere.”

When permission was granted, the adventurers clenched their fists. Despite nearly dying just moments ago, they seemed quite proud of their profession as ‘adventurers’ to pursue the quest to the end, which was impressive for NPCs.

“I’ll take the lead.”
“…”

The swordsman took the lead, holding a longsword in one hand and a torch in the other. I, the healer, and the archer followed in that order.

-Kyak!
“Die!”
-Kyaaak!
“Not a chance!”
“…”

The swordsman and archer dealt with the goblins that attacked intermittently as we went deeper into the mine. Seeing how skillfully they handled mobs that came one at a time, it seemed they hadn’t gained their level 200 ranks for nothing.

Above all, I found it extremely comfortable that I could just walk quietly without using any skills.

“…It’s here!”
“…”

After walking for about an hour, a large plaza appeared before our eyes. As soon as we entered that wide space with traces of the mine remaining here and there, the healer stopped in her tracks as if sensing something.

“…That’s right.”
As she said, I could certainly feel some unknown evil energy here.

-Foolish humans.

And as if responding to that feeling, a being wearing a black robe, looking similar to a ghost, gradually revealed itself in mid-air.

-Why do you seek to throw away your lives when you are so weak?

“…”
This unknown being overwhelmed us with its booming voice. Except for me, the other adventurers stepped back, startled by that voice.

“W-What is that?”
“A ghost?”
“I don’t know… But one thing’s for sure, I can feel a very, very strong energy.”
“…”

Leaving behind the others speculating on the identity of the black-robed being, I slowly read the blue letters flickering above its head.

LV. 468

“…”
Demon Spellcaster.
A monster that usually appears as a mid-boss in the Demon King’s castle, in the so-called ‘supporter’ position that casts buffs on mobs. Now I could understand why mere goblins had become so strong.

Even slimes would become strong if they received buffs from a 400-level spellcaster. The unknown being the receptionist lady mentioned seemed to refer to this demon spellcaster.

-…Do you think you lot who barely defeated some goblins can face me?

“…”
The spellcaster was quite talkative for such a heavy atmosphere. I stared at him blankly while picking my ear, looking bored.

-You and I are on different levels. Be grateful that you can die by my hand.

“…How pathetic.”
To him spouting cliche lines, I raised my staff with a sigh. Having confirmed it was nothing special, just a demon spellcaster I had killed countless times before, there seemed no need to waste time unnecessarily.

“Huff…”
I pointed the tip of my staff at the spellcaster and activated a skill.

“…Back Blast.”

-I shall make you my first sacrifi… Huh?

As I started generating a fireball at the tip of my staff, the spellcaster paused mid-sentence and glanced at me.

-…What are you doing? Surely you don’t think you can kill me with such a trivial spell?

“…”
The demon spellcaster burst into laughter seeing me prepare ‘Back Blast’, a skill that fires a flame beam. Perhaps intimidated by his confidence, the three adventurers hastily tried to stop me.

“A-Arianna, let’s run away for now!”
“That’s right, let’s not provoke him and bring reinforcements!”
“That guy is a monster of at least level 400.”
“…”

They were extremely tense, sweating coldly. The demon spellcaster laughed even louder seeing their appearance.

-You have smart companions! Run away if you want to live!

He continued laughing while taunting me. Being provoked by such a mere 500-level demon castle trash was so ridiculous I couldn’t even laugh.

“…Sigh.”
Furrowing my brow deeply, I fired the enormous fireball gathered at the staff’s tip towards the spellcaster in the form of a beam. As they say, ignorance leads to suffering – the spellcaster didn’t even try to dodge, just continuing to laugh.

-I’ll take as many of those magic attacks as you like! I have innate resistance to magic… Huh?

“…”
…Perhaps it was much faster and more powerful than expected, the spellcaster froze before finishing his words. For a brief moment, a range of emotions crossed his face.

-…W-Wait, wait a moment,

“…Fool.”

Magic, or skill resistance, is only effective when there isn’t much level difference between the two parties. What could a mere 400-level do?

-Wait, actually, I’m not rea-ready yet… Gwaaaaah!

“…”
The spellcaster was struck directly by the flame beam of tremendous speed and size before he could finish speaking. He burned away without leaving a single speck of dust, along with the stylish black robe he was wearing.