Collecting her thoughts, the Eastern Witch watched as birds flying from afar plummeted into the lake, unable to float in the dark, murky water, sinking unstoppably to the bottom.
Only a few birds managed to fly around the lake in time, avoiding the fate of drowning.
"Come out, Mage! Stop hiding!" the Eastern Witch roared.
Unexpectedly, with her shout, one of the colorful birds among the surviving flock actually left the group on its own, flew to the front, and spoke in human tongue:
"Alright, I'm out."
The voice from the colorful bird's mouth was clearly that of a clear, young boy.
That simple?
He actually came out!
The Eastern Witch was startled.
"No wonder I didn't find where you were hiding just now; turns out you yourself transformed into a bird," the Eastern Witch chuckled.
"The magic of controlling birds and shapeshifting, a very interesting combination. If you hadn't come out on your own, I would indeed have to spend some time looking for you... Just kidding, I would just kill all the birds indiscriminately!"
The most beautiful of these birds, with rainbow-like colorful feathers, landed on a branch and continued to speak in human tongue:
"I've revealed myself because I want to negotiate with you, naturally."
The other dozens of birds still circled the Eastern Witch vigilantly in the air, seemingly ready to act as a meat shield for their master, blocking the Eastern Witch's attacks.
"You are Sage Rhine, aren't you?" the Eastern Witch said, "Do you think you can defeat me and save the Queen?"
Sage Rhine... The Queen vaguely felt she had heard that name before.
"That Mage from the Northern Rose Kingdom? It seems he was also involved in the alliance between the neighboring Sea Kingdom and Ender? That must be the name, right?"
"But Rhine is the Sage of Rose Kingdom and an ally of Ender, so he shouldn't have any relation to Ender. Why would he want to save me?!"
The Queen was utterly confused, completely unable to grasp the situation.
"What do you want to talk about with me?" The Eastern Witch's expression was hideous and terrifying, and her body slowly floated up from the ground, hovering in the air.
"I must kill the Queen today and extract her soul. But if you cooperate, I can consider sparing your life!"
Uh... The Eastern Witch really hates the Queen. If she knew that the 'Queen' who drove her away was actually Aurora and I in disguise, her expression would surely be very interesting. Rhine chuckled inwardly.
The colorful-feathered bird raised its proud neck:
"I want to make a trade. The content of the trade is that you give me that pair of magical silver shoes and leave immediately. In return, I will pay an equivalent price."
"How fanciful," the Eastern Witch's ugly face showed an evEndereper smile, "What reward can you offer?"
"The reward I can offer is..." On the branch, the colorful bird paused deliberately mid-sentence, waiting a few seconds before saying:
"Not killing you."
The Eastern Witch, suspended in the air, burst into laughter.
As if she had heard the funniest joke in the world.
The next second, her eyes instantly sharpened, filled with murderous intent and rage.
"You are merely a Mage with a small reputation in two or three small kingdoms. You are not worthy!"
The Eastern Witch pointed her magic staff at the colorful bird on the branch, and purple magic gathered at the tip of her staff.
As she was about to cast her spell, all the birds circling her shot out like arrows from a bowstring, charging towards the Eastern Witch, trying to protect their master!
The Eastern Witch completely ignored the birds rushing from all directions.
She knew her own methods and was very confident that these birds could not harm her at all!
And, it was too late...
Whoosh!
A purplish-black ray shot from the tip of the Eastern Witch's staff, hitting the colorful bird on the branch squarely.
Thud.
The colorful bird completely lost its life, falling from the branch to the ground, raising clouds of dust, and turning to ash.
It was dead.
"Just like that?"
The Eastern Witch was a little surprised.
The next moment, her eyes narrowed.
"No!"
"That most beautiful, colorful-feathered bird is not the Mage's true body; it's just a decoy!"
The Eastern Witch's dangerous premonition suddenly triggered.
She was not proficient in prophecy and divination, but she had studied widely and dabbled in this area. In situations that threatened her life or might cause significant loss, she would instinctively have a premonition.
"The true Mage Rhine is in..."
The Eastern Witch instantly understood the enemy's trick and was about to react.
Too late.
The birds rushing towards the Eastern Witch did not attack her with their beaks but flew past her.
One of the birds—the most ordinary one, completely indistinguishable from the others in the flock—as it flew beneath the Eastern Witch in mid-air, gently lifted its wing, allowing its feathers to lightly brush against the Eastern Witch's silver shoe.
At the moment the premonition triggered, the Eastern Witch, suspended in the air, instinctively lifted her feet, preventing the bird's feathers from touching her silver shoes.
—Her intuition told her it would bring misfortune!
However, because her attention had been distracted by the previous decoy, the Eastern Witch's movements were still a step too slow. Her left shoe dodged the bird's feathers, but her right shoe was still lightly grazed by a feather.
But that was all.
"Strange, after being touched by the bird, the magic of my silver shoe is still there; no problems have appeared."
The Eastern Witch was greatly surprised to find that her silver shoe was unaffected.
The bird circled in the air and landed in a clearing in the forest, transforming back into the silver-haired young man's appearance in a cloud of white mist.
"What a pity, it only touched one shoe..."
Rhine flipped his right hand, and the silver shoe from the Eastern Witch's right foot, which he had just touched, appeared in the young man's hand.
And of the Eastern Witch's pair of silver shoes, only the left one remained.
Everything that just happened, from the sky full of birds distracting attention to the colorful bird that revealed itself, was a ploy designed by Rhine specifically against the Eastern Witch!
Regarding this core member of the Witch Society, Rhine believed that truly killing her would be extremely difficult, much harder than dealing with that Old Witch from Ender.
Since the Eastern Witch of this world had gathered various magics, she must have some self-preservation methods that were difficult to overcome.
Therefore, Rhine's main objective in this battle, from beginning to end, was only to snatch the Eastern Witch's pair of silver shoes, depriving her of the ability to travel freely across the continent!
"So that's it, you can take items you've touched."
"Your true body is the most ordinary bird, mixed in with the large flock, not that very conspicuous, colorful-feathered, human-speaking bird. The latter was just a decoy to distract my attention."
The Eastern Witch narrowed her eyes, staring at Rhine.
The young man stood in the wind, his silver hair and white robe swaying with the breeze.
From this child-like Mage, she felt a deep sense of difficulty.
"That's right," Rhine shrugged, "Actually, I can't speak human language when I transform into an animal. But I can imbue birds with the magic of speech."
Rhine then weighed the silver shoe in his hand again and looked at the Eastern Witch's left foot, which now only had one silver shoe.
"It's a pity, my original plan was to snatch both your shoes at once. Now I'm very disappointed."
Rhine said with a smile, his expression showing no hint of disappointment.
As expected of a core member of the Witch Society, she truly isn't easy to deal with... Rhine mused inwardly.
The Eastern Witch of this world, after gathering the strengths of many, is several dimensions more powerful than the original villain who was crushed by a house!
To deal with this formidable enemy, Rhine and Aurora discussed and finally devised a multi-layered plan specifically targeting the Eastern Witch.
This plan was named—
The Three Birds!
...
At the same time.
The Queen, who had quietly left the battlefield, was running through the emerald forest.
To avoid being discovered by the Eastern Witch, the Queen dared not ride a flying broomstick and could only travel on foot.
She recalled the scene just now, becoming even more confused.
"I've seen that silver-haired boy; he was there when I tried to kill Aurora."
"So, he is the famous Mage Rhine!"
"What on earth is going on? I tried to harm his companion before, so why would he still save me? Wait, since my poisoned apple failed, he shouldn't know the apple was poisoned, right? Maybe he doesn't know I tried to harm his companion?"
"Never mind, I won't worry about it. I'll just get back to the Kingdom first."
The Queen passed through a patch of woods, and the area ahead suddenly opened up, revealing endless beautiful scenery.
At the foot of the mountain lay her familiar royal city!
"My palace, my city, my Kingdom. Your Queen is coming home!"