The Witch Hunter System

At the northwesternmost border of the Great Ratholos Empire, a grand rift existed, splitting the lands of the Great Ratholos Empire from the Raging Tempest Kingdom, one of the seven witch kingdoms of the north.

The grand rift wasn't naturally formed but created by the early conflicts between the seven witch kingdoms and the Great Ratholos Empire after the Holy War against Gehenna ended.

After all, the vast land of the seven witch kingdoms used to be an undeveloped wilderness divided by countless minor feudal lords prior to Gehenna's appearance.

In the original history of Pangea, many countries had sent troops to join the war efforts to put a stop to Gehenna's invasion. Many witches had sacrificed themselves in the Holy War, but even more so for men.

After the end of the Holy War, the witches did not return to their home countries. They stayed in the north, formed the seven kingdoms of witches on the underdeveloped northern lands, and declared their independence from the rest of Pangea.

Naturally, such an act was no different from defection and betrayal.

That was the beginning of the bad relationship between the seven witch kingdoms and the other countries on Pangea.

Several countries had sent punitive forces to bring back their runaways on multiple occasions, and the Great Ratholos Empire was no exception.

The repeated conflicts created the grand rift of today and definitively divided the territories of the Raging Tempest Kingdom and the Great Ratholos Empire from each other. As a result, the Great Ratholos Empire and the other southern countries eventually gave up pursuing their runaways.

Although they never verbally acknowledged the seven witch kingdoms' independence, their silence and lack of actions thereafter were no different from one.

Since their last contact, the grand rift, which was later called the Great Divide, had grown incomparably wide and deep that no one had attempted to cross it in the past two hundred and fifty years nor knew what lay at the bottom of its depths.

Dust clouds and storms obscured its depths during the day, and darkness hid it at night.

Nevertheless, if there was one thing everyone in the region certainly knew, it was that a fair number of witches and men were buried down there.

On the southern edge of the Great Divide, a sturdy outpost of metal stood erected to observe and guard against the northern witch kingdoms. The Great Divide might have separated the territories, but it was also a great cover for the daring who wished to cross and infiltrate the other side.

Irondust Fortress was the name of the outpost.

An extremely muscular and bald man adorned in rough animal hide, leather, and fur, full of battle scars, sat by the edge of the northern wall, gazing into the depths of the Great Divide as he reminisced history with a half-empty wineskin for company.

The bald man didn't seem particularly special besides looking like a battle-hardened warrior, but he was the only general in charge of the north – Dubrolf Thorfnir.

He was also a mighty Peak-level Rank 4 Body Refiner.

From time to time, Dubrolf Thorfnir would sip from his wineskin and pour some of his cheap red wine into the depths of the Great Divide like he was toasting the spirits of the fallen warriors in the region.

"General, take a look! What do you think that is?!" a Low-level Rank 2 warrior on watch duty suddenly exclaimed from the far left-hand side of the wall, prompting Dubrolf to look over.

Dubrolf followed the direction pointed by the warrior's finger before his lazy eyes flashed with focus as they narrowed on the faint pillar of blue light in the distant horizon.

"This is…" Dubrolf frowned.

Even after observing the faint pillar of blue light, Dubrolf couldn't confidently guess what it was. That said, there weren't many things that could be blue, light-like, and sky-piercing.

The pillar of blue light could be the result of a powerful spell, or… it could be a pure concentration of mana.

Dubrolf didn't like either of the two possibilities he could think of.

Regardless of the two possibilities, it appeared to be something that would only benefit the witch kingdoms. It was hard to predict how the witches would act if the balance of power were broken by them.

"This pillar of blue light is coming from… the Verdant Wood Kingdom?" Dubrolf guessed before quickly changing his mind, "No, that's not right… It should be the Black Rose Kingdom!"

But upon realizing the pillar of blue light was coming from the Black Rose Kingdom, Dubrolf revealed an even more unsettled expression.

The Black Rose Kingdom had undergone so many astonishing changes that even the Great Ratholos Empire, which didn't share its borders, had heard about them.

However, even if the Black Rose Kingdom's developments improved humanity's winning chances against Gehenna, there were many countries that wouldn't be happy with it. Dubrolf and many high-ranking members of the Great Ratholos Empire were no exceptions.

No one wanted a kingdom of witches to become the leader of humanity.

"Summon all commander-level warriors to the war council room. We are having a meeting!"

"Yes, General!"

Following Dubrolf's order, one of the sentries quickly hurried off to carry out the task without the slightest delay or hesitation.

A few minutes later, twelve barbaric-looking warriors, full of their own battle scars and stories, were gathered inside the war council room with Dubrolf. None was weaker than a Low-level Rank 4 Body Refiner.

They gathered around a large, round stone table with a detailed map laid out on top of it.

However, the map didn't possess the subject of interest for their gathering; it only contained details of the Great Divide, the Great Ratholos Empire's northwestern borders, and the Raging Tempest Kingdom's southern borders.

"Everyone should already know why I've called you heard. The emperor had decreed any discoveries, big or small, related to the seven witch kingdoms, and the Black Rose Kingdom, in particular, should be reported to him immediately."

"Which one of you is willing to ride back to the capital with haste and inform His Imperial Majesty about the pillar of blue light?"

"I am willing, General!"

"I am, General!"

…

Dubrolf's question received all twelve willing answers from the attending commanders in the meeting.

"It's good that you are all willing. However, I only need one person for the job," Dubrolf stated before picking out one person, "Vath, you do it."

"At your command, General!" Vath immediately answered with a solemn salute.

"Godspeed, Vath."

"Yes, General!"

Shortly after Vath headed out and called his wyvern down from the sky, he immediately departed for the Great Ratholos Empire's capital city.

Afterward, Dubrolf turned his attention to the remaining elven commanders for advice.

"It's not a short distance to the capital, and we don't know how long the pillar of blue light will remain. Given our limited information, His Imperial Majesty might blame our Irondust Fortress if we don't take extra measures to collect more information on the pillar of blue light."

"Who has a good idea on how we can collect more information about the pillar of blue light in the Black Rose Kingdom?"

"How about contacting the dark organizations, General?" a commander suggested.

"Contact the dark organizations?" Dubrolf repeated before spouting with disapproval, "You must be kidding me, Vevolf. That's your good idea? After the revelation regarding the Assembly of Silent Night, who still dares to make dealings with the dark organizations?"

"Let us not even mention the Assembly of Silent Night's bases in the Black Rose Kingdom and Holy Knight Empire have been uprooted. The other countries are busy hunting down their remaining branches."

"Everyone is trying to disassociate themselves from the Assembly of Silent Night to avoid being labeled as an accomplice of Great Devil Helcan's Contractor. Even Midnight Company and Nightmare Order are under scrutiny of whether they are affiliated with Gehenna's other Great Devils."

"And yet, you suggest we should seek the dark organizations for help?" Dubrolf asked with a frown.

Originally, Pangea had a divided belief regarding Gehenna's intentions.

Some believed the Gehenna's seven Great Devils couldn't wait to invade Pangea again and that they were only biding their time for a better opportunity. Others thought Gehenna's seven Great Devils had given up on Pangea due to their lack of invasion since the last Holy War.

As such, a fair number of countries didn't mind the existence of a Devil's Contractor, even after learning there were six hidden on Pangea.

After all, ever since people learned about their existence through the demon intel extraction, the Devil's Contractors have not brought any disaster upon Pangea.

But after news of Ulrich Salazar's scheme spread after the war between the Holy Knight Empire and the Black Rose Kingdom, many people realized Great Devil Helcan wanted to weaken Pangea by causing the human countries to wage war against each other through his contractee.

As such, the whole of humanity was finally wary of all Devil's Contractors—as it should be.

"I'm sorry, General," Vevolf apologized before saying, "However, I don't think we have any other options if we desperately need the information. The Black Rose Kingdom is too far from us."

"Actually, we do have another option," another commander suddenly mentioned.