Chapter 195: Things More Important Than Sleep

"Report from Arthas. He says he found the boy in the Stoneman village."

Hecate lowered the paper slightly, suppressing her growing anticipation before looking at the other Grand Witches.

"He’s alive?" Melisandre asked right away, unable to hide her curiosity.

She was the strongest Death Witch and the leading figure of the Death Path someone who understood the Underworld better than anyone else.

She was also the original inventor of a spell that allowed its user to open a temporary pocket dimension connected to the Underworld.

It was only a small space, mainly used by Death Witches to store undead soldiers and certain resources while keeping them preserved. It wasn’t a direct connection to the Underworld like the main entrance. Even so, creating such a connection was enough to prove how deeply Melisandre understood the realm.

She knew better than anyone that if someone who wasn’t a powerful Shadow or Witch fell into the Underworld, there was no way they could survive even 1 hour.

"Apparently, he is alive and very healthy." Hecate’s eyes returned to the words on the paper.

"The problem is that the Stoneman Chief seems to be keeping him there. He refused to hand him over to Arthas, claiming that the boy is a guest of their Mother."

"A guest of a Desolation?" Bellatrix’s voice suddenly rose. "And the Devouring Desolation of all of them? She’ll eat him alive!"

The Devouring Desolation was known as the most mindless of the territory rulers. She had no enemies, no allies, and no purpose beyond eating.

Even while sealed, she remained one of the most dangerous beings in the Underworld.

Seeing the worry on Bellatrix’s face, Hecate hesitated to tell them the next part. In the end, she let out a quiet sigh, as keeping it to herself would cause more trouble.

"It seems the seal on her is losing its effect as well. The Stonemen asked Arthas to arrange for it to be renewed before it breaks completely."

"No way! I need to go save him!" Bellatrix immediately jumped out of her chair and started rushing toward the door.

She made it only a few steps before crashing into an invisible wall and falling backward.

Pain shot through her head. Her face twisted as she slowly looked up, her eyes watery, at the blonde-haired Grand Witch sitting in a copper-colored robe.

"Triss! Why did you do that?" Bellatrix slowly got back on her feet, holding her forehead.

"You stupid Witch. Do you think you can simply leave the Tower whenever you feel like it?" Triss scoffed. "It’s not even your turn."

"But he..." Bellatrix wanted to argue, only to close her mouth when she saw the intense looks from the other Grand Witches.

Her shoulders dropped while she reluctantly returned to her seat.

Being a Grand Witch came with responsibilities. One of them was a restriction on how many of them could leave the Tower at the same time.

The Tower was where they governed the entire Witch World and maintained control over their relations with the other realms.

Long ago, they had established a rule that unless there was a threat capable of destroying the realm itself, at least 4 Grand Witches had to remain inside the Tower at all times. Whenever someone needed to leave, they took turns according to a fixed rotation.

Hecate had been the last one to leave when she went to investigate the sudden break in the seal at the Underworld entrance.

Before her, Bellatrix had left the Tower because she claimed she was feeling depressed and suicidal. She hadn’t returned for an entire week, leaving it unknown where she spent her time on a vacation.

Now it was Triss’s turn.

Triss wasn’t particularly interested in leaving the Tower anyway. She preferred spending her free time sleeping, so she casually spoke up.

"I can give my turn to anyone who wants it."

Bellatrix’s lowered shoulders suddenly rose again, her eyes lighting up. She was already beginning to stand when her excitement died just as quickly.

"Except Bellatrix." Triss gave her a cold side glance.

Bellatrix’s green eyes immediately welled up. She found Triss’s behavior completely unfair, with the hurt on her face almost enough to make her cry.

Before that could happen, Hecate stepped in.

"Please calm down. No one is in danger yet, so there’s no reason for us to intervene."

She glanced back at the report.

"It seems the Stonemen have something they want him to try. That’s why they asked Arthas for 2 days before letting him go."

Hecate paused to gather everyone’s attention again.

"Apparently, they also realized that there is something special about him."

Every Grand Witch focused on her.

"They are currently having him try to move the rock."

The room became quiet.

They all knew about the enormous, smooth, oval-shaped rock blocking the entrance to a tunnel in the Stoneman village.

It had been there for the entire 280 years since the Witch World first encountered the Stonemen. According to their records, it had already been there for thousands of years before that.

The Grand Witches believed it was an entrance to another realm.

For 280 years, they had tried everything they could think of to open it. Neither the strongest physical force nor the most powerful spells had been enough to move or destroy the rock.

Every realm they had discovered so far had its own unique entrance. Each one seemed to have a different requirement for crossing into it.

The Underworld could be entered by passing through boiling water.

The Fairy Hive could only be reached through dreams.

The Realm of Giants was located inside a cloud high in the sky.

Even the last unknown realm discovered by their expedition team had its own strange requirement. They had only managed to return because of Magna, and they still had no idea how the entrance truly worked. All they knew was that one had to pass through a specific area at a specific time.

As for the entrance in the Stoneman village, all they had found was an indestructible rock blocking the way. They didn’t know how to open it, let alone what kind of realm lay beyond it.

It wasn’t even a seal, considering Hecate’s Breath of the Matriarch of Order had failed to break it.

The Stonemen possessed only one story, passed down through countless generations, that offered any clues about the entrance and the realm beyond it.

According to them, it was related to the time when the Matriarch of Fate emerged, a realm created by her as a gift for the population of the Underworld.

That was all they had, though. There was still no clue, even in a story thousands of years old.

"If he can really move that rock, then I might really start believing that he’s some kind of god."

Triss suddenly looked more interested than she had been in years.

She wasn’t the oldest among them, but she had experienced life the longest because of her unique bloodline trait. So far, she had lost interest in everything.

But now, for someone who rarely wanted to leave the Tower, this was one opportunity she wouldn’t mind giving up her sleep for.