Chapter 144: Thunder Summoning Technique

They had been planning to intervene and help Polly finish off the other two Ghost Witches. The saying, "the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t," applied to Ghost Witches just as well.

But when they saw the state of the battle, they all stopped in their tracks, found an open spot, and settled in to watch the show.

The "aunt" had likely been a puppet controlled by the Demoness all along; she lay lifeless on the ground. Meanwhile, Polly and Sally had begun a bitter feud between sisters.

"Taught by the same mother, so neither can get the upper hand," Victoria said, stretching her neck as she stood. She was probably the only one who hadn’t completely let her guard down, but that didn’t stop her from cracking a joke. "Oh, dear. It seems they’ve run out of items. Whatever will they do?"

What else could they do? Ghost Witches aren’t just Casters; their bodies are powerful weapons. After exhausting their inventories, the two sisters began a spectacular, all-out catfight.

They didn’t have much in the way of fighting technique, but their imposing, two-meter-tall frames were enough to send dust and stones flying. Ming Datiss tried to help, but as a non-Caster, he was just getting in the way. He was sent flying by the aftershocks of the two Ghost Witches’ brawl, his fate unknown.

"Damn it, are you just enjoying the show?!" Polly roared. "You, boy! The Hand Mirror I gave you! Where is it? Give it to me, now!"

Dawn was already breaking. Although a thick blanket of clouds still covered the sky, if this dragged on any longer and the local diurnal creatures started to stir, the situation would become much harder to control. They had to end this quickly.

"You were holding something back?!" Sally’s attacks grew as fierce as a tempest. "You bitch! How dare you keep a trick up your sleeve to use on me?!"

Even though the onlookers were clearly not Polly’s servants, Sally didn’t need a genius to know they wouldn’t be helping her. This knowledge only made her attacks more vicious.

"Give me the Hand Mirror!" Polly shrieked, clearly at her limit.

"So, what will you do?" the Gold Dragon asked, watching Ron with great interest. "Help one? Or the other? Help neither? Or will you be the fisherman who reaps the spoils?"

Ron took out the Hand Mirror. He glanced at the sky, then at the two Ghost Witches locked in their unending battle.

"Polly, it’s not that I won’t give it to you," Ron called out. "Look, here’s the situation: if I toss it over, you might not be able to grab it. If you grab it, you might not get a chance to use it. And even if you use it, you might not get a chance to aim... So how about I do it for you? What do you say?"

"JUST! DO IT!"

Polly forced the words out through her teeth. They were the last she’d get to say, because in the next instant, Sally’s claws shot into her mouth and seized her tongue.

CRACK!

Ron smashed the Hand Mirror onto the ground. High above, a thundercloud that had long been gathering its power drifted over, settling directly above the two Ghost Witches at Ron’s direction.

"Don’t move... yeah, that’s it, that’s it... a little more to the right... perfect—" Ron raised his right hand high into the air, then swiftly brought it down.

"Summoning Thunder!"

It wasn’t that Ron didn’t want to be a little more creative; alas, this wasn’t his spell, so he couldn’t set his own trigger phrase for the Casting. Regardless, with Ron’s shout, a bolt of lightning—white tinged with blue, blue tinged with cyan, and the cyan holding just a hint of purple—KRA-KOOMED down from the clouds, engulfing both Ghost Witches at once!

"It seems you chose the fourth option: to be the fisherman who profits," the Gold Dragon said, looking at Ron with keen interest. "And that sparks a further question: what was your objective in choosing that path?"

"An innate sense of honor? A chivalrous spirit? The duty and responsibility that comes with being a Lord? Or was it a simple calculation of your own interests?"

"What exactly drove you to make such a choice? I’m not criticizing, you understand. I’m simply curious."

"Have you asked other people this question before?" Ron asked as he walked forward, the light of the lightning having faded.

The Thunder Summoning Technique was effective, but not enough to kill both Ghost Witches in one go. They were merely dazed and immobilized by the blast, not even knocked unconscious.

"You can hit them again. You can keep using it until the spell fails completely," the Gold Dragon said, following behind him. "The others’ answers were more or less the ones I just mentioned."

"In the beginning, I was quite serious about investigating this. But then I discovered some beings will lie to save face, so I stopped pressing the issue."

"So, what’s your answer?"

"My answer is: I’m helping Polly." Ron was responding to the Gold Dragon’s earlier question. He then directed the others to help carry Polly away. Once he confirmed they had reached a safe distance, Ron waved his hand again, and another bolt of lightning slammed into Sally.

"Heh... good..." The rescued Ghost Witch coughed out a puff of black smoke. The last of her strength gave out, and she fell completely unconscious.

"Why?" The Gold Dragon was even more confused. "You... let one of the Evil Creatures live? Are you some kind of naive do-gooder?"

In his long life, the Gold Dragon had seen all sorts of people, dragons, and other beings, but he still couldn’t understand Ron’s actions. "You hurt her, and then you saved her?"

"That’s because I couldn’t aim accurately," Ron shrugged. "I tried, but I failed."

"As for saving her, it’s like the old saying goes: ’The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.’ I think keeping her alive is for the best."

"A Ghost Witch, living near your territory?" The Gold Dragon’s eyes widened. "Are you insane?!"

"What’s the alternative?" Ron said, looking up at him. "Do I look like I have the manpower and resources to manage this place? We haven’t even started rebuilding Aiksuuri at the Green Swamp Town ruins yet!"

"You know what a mess this Delusional Land is. Let’s see... in the few months we’ve been here, what have we run into? Lizardmen, Frogmen, Ghost Witches, Mire Throat Monsters, Kobolds, slavers, and various dragons!"

"If I kill her, this land becomes completely vacant. What do you think will move in to occupy it next? Do you know? Or do I?"

"Then just clear it out again," the Gold Dragon replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Not all of us have several thousand years to live, my friend. This place is more than a week’s travel from my trading post, you know?" Ron rolled his eyes. "Sure, I could kill her. Are you going to take her place? You want to stand guard here and make sure no other monsters show up?"

"It’s not easy finding a creature you can actually talk to. If I kill her, and the next thing that moves in is something you can’t even reason with, we’ll be spending all our time running back and forth dealing with it instead of getting anything else done."