Chapter 179: The Grand Witch’s Investigation

The 3 Witches and their Shadows quickly shook off their shock and instantly bowed their heads to greet the woman who stood at the very top of the food chain in this world.

"Lady Hecate Kingsley."

Hecate received their greeting with only a small nod and smile as she looked around the small study room.

There was only 1 couch, and all the available space already seemed to be occupied, so she simply moved to a corner and sat down in the empty space.

But she did not fall, as a chair seemed to appear beneath her at the same moment.

She even leaned back and crossed her legs, making herself comfortable before saying, "Please sit."

With her permission, the 3 Witches, still in shock, immediately took their seats, with Rowena and Aveline sitting side by side on the couch while Celeste sat behind her study desk.

Their Shadows had nowhere else to sit, so they remained standing, only stepping back behind their respective Witches.

Even they looked tense, as they were fully aware of who was sitting casually in front of them.

Titus especially couldn’t help feeling conflicted, as it hadn’t even been that long since he had seen the legendary Shadow Arthas, who had come to their territory to take Magna.

Now, not long after that, the Witch of that same Shadow had come here and was even sitting casually in their study room. It was an event he had never imagined could happen in his lifetime, making him wonder if his mind was playing tricks on him.

While he was lost in these conflicted thoughts, he suddenly felt the Grand Witch’s eyes on him, causing his body to tense slightly.

He had no idea how powerful the Witch was, only knowing that she was unimaginably powerful.

He had only heard a few rumors about her spells, one of the most widely discussed being that she could erase someone’s entire existence with nothing more than a look.

Even though it was only a rumor, it was still enough to make him sweat slightly under the pressure of those gray eyes.

Fortunately, Hecate did not put too much pressure on the young Shadow and instead smiled softly.

"You look pretty healthy for a dead man."

Normally, those words would make any man pee in his pants without knowing what they meant, but Titus instantly understood what she meant and why the Grand Witch had come to visit them.

Apparently, his death and return had caught her attention as well.

Although Celeste and the others had not yet reported what had happened to the Tower, it was not surprising that someone like Hecate had already learned everything through her own means.

Still, Celeste did not want to appear guilty and quickly said, "Sorry, Lady Hecate. I was about to submit a report to the Tower, but I simply didn’t have enough time."

Normally, this would have been a serious matter, especially since strange things like the appearance of those ghosts were supposed to be reported immediately. Even the smallest abnormality could be a sign of something much greater.

Hecate raised a hand and waved it dismissively. "Don’t worry. I’m already aware of what you’ve been through."

She was surprisingly easygoing, which made the Witches feel relieved inside.

"I’m not here to question your resource conflicts, so don’t worry. I’m here for something else. I’m trying to understand something."

Her eyes were still fixed on Titus as she continued.

"Last night, the entrance to the Underworld was broken for a while. And strangely enough, it happened at the same time you died and came back. I’m trying to figure out if the 2 things are connected."

"The entrance to the Underworld was broken?" Celeste and Rowena exchanged glances, shock and sudden realization appearing in their eyes.

Aveline was no different. Although she hadn’t seen the ghosts herself, she was still shocked to hear that the entrance to a realm had been broken.

It could now explain the appearance of the ghosts, as they were probably lost spirits that had wandered through the broken passage between the 2 realms.

’So we were just lucky?’ Celeste thought, finding it too much of a coincidence that everything had happened on the exact night when they were about to lose their lives, and when Titus had died.

That thought changed when she heard Hecate’s further explanation, her eyes still fixed directly on Titus.

"The real connection is not that the entrance opened and you came back from death. It’s that someone you know opened it."

"Someone I know?" Titus became confused, as he couldn’t think of anyone he knew who could be powerful enough to pull something like that off.

While he tried to think of a name, nothing came to mind.

Then Celeste suddenly whispered a name.

"Magna?"

Hecate’s gaze instantly turned toward her, her eyes narrowing. "You look like you know something."

Suddenly exposed to that questioning gaze, it was now Celeste’s turn to feel tense and pressured after her husband.

She wasn’t thinking clearly when she said his name. It had simply slipped out of her mouth.

She had remembered the time Magna told her about his dream and how real he said it had felt, then connected it to the news that Titus’s brother had returned.

She had never reported that incident to the Tower, nor had she even written anything about it to her mother, Seraphina.

But now, feeling that the 2 events were closely connected and pressured under Hecate’s gaze as though she were under a spell, she began to speak.

"A while ago, he told me about a dream he had. He said it felt very real, and he seemed deeply affected by it."

Hecate shifted in her invisible chair as she gave the story her full attention.

"He said that in his dream, he kept opening a door. The very same door as that one."

She pointed toward the handleless study room door.

Hecate shifted her gaze toward it and felt that it looked strangely familiar.

There was nothing special about it, except for the fact that it had no handle, but for some reason, she felt like she had seen it somewhere recently.

Then she remembered that she had not seen it before, but had read its description in a report.

"It’s the door the last expedition team passed through before returning from an unexplored realm."

She was quite surprised to see that exact same door, described in the report, standing in the study room of a random Witch.

Celeste nodded.

"After he told me about his dream, I received a message from the Tower saying that Titus’s brother, who had been lost for 10 years in an unknown realm, had returned after passing through that exact same door. The letter clearly stated that his brother hadn’t opened the door. Someone else had opened it for them."

Now everyone was looking at Celeste with shocked expressions, including Titus.

"Wait... You mean Magna opened the door in his dream, and that’s how my brother got out?"

They were all skeptical about it, as it was difficult to believe something like that.

Except for 1 person.

After hearing the story, Hecate became even more certain that the boy possessed some ability to travel between realms.