I Became a 6★ Gacha Character-Chapter 526: Kanpf’s Great Leap Forward 1

The witch was dead.

I wasn't sure if we could even call it a witch anymore—it resembled more of a tentacle monster or those pale-white tentacle trees that produced doppelgangers in the Tower... but regardless, it had died miserably.

Maybe choosing Mills the scout as a companion let us skip the final absorption pattern. After swallowing those poisoned test subjects, the witch had gulped down over twelve different poisons and alchemical solutions, melting away without leaving behind even a fist-sized chunk of flesh, let alone a human form.

"Heh, hehehe, Master, can you see this...?"

"Let's give her some time alone and search the ruins of the hut."

"That's a good idea."

Seeing Elize crying and laughing while staring at the miserable remains of the mad witch who had used people as toys and test subjects, I slowly turned and headed toward the collapsed hut.

Honestly, her half-crazed behavior—screaming at the sky, muttering, then breaking into uncontrollable laughter—was frightening to approach. Everyone seemed to agree she needed time alone, so we carefully began investigating the hut ruins while trying not to make noise.

The hut had been shattered from the inside out by Grace's attack—what viewers had named the "Storm Arrow"—so there wasn't much to find.

"Oh, this is still usable."

"Hmm... should we take this too? It doesn't seem to have gone bad."

-Look at them casually pocketing what's probably poison

-Is that poison or alchemical solution? Either way, they're definitely planning to use it as poison LOLOLOL

-Stop picking up weird stuff and check if there's a basement already ㅋㅋ

-Isn't finding a hidden basement door under collapsed ruins a total cliché?

-I just ate and I'm worried we're about to find some gore in the basement

Han Se-ah and Mills had found a few bottles, presumably dangerous alchemical catalysts stored in magically treated containers. Finding almost nothing made the situation even more suspicious.

"Come to think of it, didn't those test subjects come charging from behind the hut?"

"You're right. Let's check that area too."

After collecting mysterious potions from the hut ruins and finding nothing but the stench of excrement in the storage area where the test subjects had emerged from, Elize finally composed herself and approached the hut.

Jacob and I had thoroughly combed through the ruins, even sweeping away debris like dust, but we hadn't found a basement entrance or anything suspicious. As Elize arrived at the now completely cleared hut site, still bearing tear stains on her face, she silently waved a bizarre wand.

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The strange wand, made from the dried forepaw of a bear-like monster, wiggled left and right. As the claw-like part of the wand curled like a clenching fist, a large door suddenly appeared in the bare dirt floor.

"So it was outside the hut, not inside."

"Sorcery is fascinating. I couldn't sense a trace of this."

The basement door beside the small hut. Though this description might make it sound tiny and cramped, the entrance alone was nearly as large as the hut itself.

It made sense—if she had used both humans and monsters as test subjects, the entrance had to be large. A witch who experimented on both humans and monsters, capable of subduing even high-rank mercenaries given enough time, would likely have used medium to large monsters as test subjects too.

My thoughts were confirmed when, immediately after opening the massive door and descending the stairs, we were greeted by taxidermied ogres and trolls.

"Ugh, shit! That scared me. Why would anyone make these?"

"These aren't ordinary taxidermy. Judging by the chemical smell similar to the test subjects outside, she was probably trying to create enhanced monster soldiers while preserving their external form."

"But she got bored and abandoned it halfway through, I imagine."

Mills explained while sniffing the air, and Elize added cynically. So this was what they meant by researching all kinds of sorcery for fun without any depth.

She had tried enhancing monsters with sorcery before giving up, attempted implanting tentacles before abandoning that too, tried mixing different monster species together, combining humans with monsters, developing drugs with different effects on humans versus monsters, dabbling in alchemy... but never finished anything.

Did this witch have something like ADHD? The viewers were asking similar questions about the chaotic remains in the basement. She hadn't thoroughly researched anything, just created countless victims.

"Take whatever you want. Though... there doesn't seem to be much worth taking."

"Just a few alchemical reagents, then."

It seemed the quest reward would come from Elize rather than the witch, as there was nothing worthwhile in the basement. With nothing but test subjects that made our skin crawl, we quickly returned outside.

The prairie was no longer the dark, sorcery-created space from before—the moon had set and the sun was rising. Despite the decaying flesh, shattered hut ruins, and upturned earth scattered across the prairie, the sun rose slowly, unconcerned, offering a beautiful dawn.

"Um, about that."

"Something on your mind, Irene?"

"Where exactly are we? We seem quite far from the village."

※

Our first side quest in the Empire had been executed perfectly.

Except for the return journey.

If we hadn't had food in our inventory for the return trip, we might have been forced to eat wild animals or monsters while wandering the prairie, but that's a story for after the quest completion.

"Ugh, I wonder when the Tower will open again? After all this trouble, I'm sick of side quests and the Empire... I just want to turn my brain off and clear the Tower."

-Turn your brain off? As if you ever had one to begin with

-No! Our little angel needs to finish the armor quest first, pleeeease!!!

-Looks like Grace had some kind of epiphany, maybe she's close to reaching 6★? Let's get some gains before leaving

-This girl's not just a homebody, she wants to be a Tower-body too

-Isn't there some strengthening event in the Archipelago? Like special enhancement stones for each region, similar to the stone dwarves?

Elize, having completed her revenge, gave us generous rewards before vanishing without a trace.

Mills received the herbs he'd been promised and various medicinal ingredients for a sickly child. He must have found it deeply satisfying to feed all those poisons to the mad witch, as he got enough to fill a large sack.

Daughter-obsessed Jacob received bracelets for his wife and daughter. Elize explained they would ward off nightmares and bad luck, which made him grin widely as he pocketed them.

Our party received a small gem—more precisely, something like amber made from tree sap. We obviously hadn't accepted it for its monetary value, but for its sorcerous properties.

It supposedly contained pure natural energy that repelled evil forces, probably providing some resistance to black magic or damage reduction. We'd decided to have the stone dwarves craft it into a bracelet. It was too bulky for a ring and would be cumbersome, and making it into a necklace would be uncomfortable for Irene with her Goddess pendant.

"But seriously, hmm."

"Isn't Katie's armor still perfectly usable? We can always come back to the Empire later, right?"

"Exactly. At this rate, we'll probably defeat the Four Heavenly Kings, hit a roadblock in the Tower, then come back to the Empire and do this all over again, don't you think?"

And that's how, after completing the quest and receiving our rewards, Han Se-ah ended up sprawled listlessly in her room.

Though we hadn't been away that long, she was already desperate to clear the Tower. Her gaming style must be the type to ignore side quests and rush straight through the main storyline—seeing her immediately clamoring to return to the Kingdom after just one witch quest made me want to flick her forehead.

Well, it didn't matter—the party's destination was the leader's decision.

After organizing our items and replenishing the food we'd consumed while wandering the prairie, we had two options. One was to head back toward Sibedev territory to fulfill the ghostly wish in Katie's magical armor by learning about the Wesley family ancestors. The other was to return to the Kingdom and pester the Magic Tower wizards about when they'd open the gate.

"Roland!"

"What is it, Jacob?"

Han Se-ah was rolling around on her bed in the inn, saying adventurers never departed immediately for the next quest after returning, so we had time to rest before making a decision.

Grace and Irene had gone shopping, while Katie had left alone for a tour of the blacksmiths, curious about Imperial weapons. I was in the first-floor dining area, slurping iced coffee for the player, when Jacob suddenly burst through the inn door.

"A message from the Kingdom! The door has opened, but something strange is happening!"

"The Tower's always been strange."

When I responded dismissively to Jacob waving papers frantically, he thumped his chest in frustration. His booming voice and blue gorilla-like appearance were so loud that even Han Se-ah, who had been doing a bed broadcast upstairs, heard and came down to the first floor.

If this hadn't been lodging borrowed through the Archipelago's Adventurer Guild branch manager's connections, someone might have picked a fight with the lunatic shouting so loudly. Fortunately, our hero was the only one lounging in bed in broad daylight, and I was alone in the dining area.

When I took the papers Jacob was enthusiastically waving and placed them on the table, unbelievable contents caught my eye.

Tower gate, blockade lifted

Encounter with non-human species claiming to be forest fairies

Hostile toward humans

"If stone dwarves were actual dwarves, then forest fairies must be elves? And you still want to stay in the Empire?"

Those brief lines were enough to make every viewer unanimously scream for us to leave the Empire.

Enjoy the chappy!