Want to be human, but cube-like

Seeing the witch crawling towards them, Alex helped Xiangzi off her back.

"Keep running forward."

She took a steak out of her bag and said as she ate it.

"There are still about 200 meters to go. Try to find the exit. I'll hold the witch off here."

At the witch's speed, it's impossible for them to reach their destination before she catches up.

Moreover, Alex herself couldn't be sure whether she would actually be able to find the exit once she reached those coordinates.

It's all just speculation.

"This is too dangerous!"

Although he knew this was the only way at the moment, Xiangzi couldn't help but shout.

"It's fine."

At this point, there was no time for Alex to explain to Xiangzi in detail that she wasn't actually afraid of death; she could only offer simple words of advice.

Clenching his teeth, Xiangzi, having no other choice, could only turn and run towards the other end of the tunnel without saying a word.

Alex turned around as well, her expression now fully saturated. She gripped her katana tightly and glanced briefly at a door in the distance.

She wanted to go and see it, but clearly, she was now willing but unable to.

Before them, the banker witch charged straight toward them, her target clear: Alex, who had just injured the familiar. The giant roulette wheel was facing directly at her.

A huge shadow loomed over Alex, and just as the witch's hand was about to strike, she turned slightly to look at the room beside her.

Inside were several familiars who had just hidden themselves.

The Azure Phantom Sword pierced through space, bringing Alex with it, and appeared above the head of one of the familiars in the room.

"boom--!"

A loud crash rang out outside the door. Ignoring the familiar beneath her, she didn't linger and once again used the Phantom Sword to teleport above the witch's giant roulette head outside the room.

Looking down at the ground, a huge crater had been smashed into it by the witch. If Alex hadn't dodged that attack, it's hard to say whether she could have survived it in her current state without any armor.

In mid-air, Alex gently swung the nameless sword [Puppet], and pale white blade light fell on the roulette wheel one after another, but failed to leave any marks on it.

Alex lightly stepped into the air, using Instant Step to ascend once more, dodging the witch's swinging fist. Just before reaching the tunnel ceiling, she flipped over, her feet planted firmly on the ceiling, and with a powerful push, she drew her sword, transforming into a white blade with immense kinetic energy.

It swept across the witch's body from top to bottom.

"Boom!"

Alex landed heavily on the ground and looked back. She saw that the Banker Witch's dark body had been cut open.

[98%]

The life gauge above the field of vision finally dropped by a visible fraction.

If damage can be inflicted, then it means that the enemy can be defeated.

This information allowed Alex, who had been on edge, to breathe a slight sigh of relief.

But then she glanced at the durability of the katana in her hand, which was less than one-fifth of its original value.

However, the prerequisite for defeating an opponent is that one's own weapons can still be sustained.

There was no time for her to think any further. Alex, who had once again used the Phantom Sword to appear above the witch in a flash, turned around, stepped on the Phantom Sword, and used the momentum to leap behind the witch's wheel-shaped head.

It's probably at the back of the neck—if this witch even has a back of the neck.

Avoiding the witch's possible line of sight, Alex thrust her sword towards the junction of the roulette wheel and the black curtain, leaving a faint mark on it. Then, she twisted the blade, instantly unleashing dozens more sword beams that tore the black curtain apart, leaving it as tattered as a rag doll.

[95%]

But despite the seemingly severe damage, the damage displayed on the meter didn't even reduce the witch's health by one-tenth.

"Crack!"

The sword in Alex's hand broke in two and spun to the ground.

Having anticipated this, she immediately drew her next nameless sword, "Puppet," and with a quick step, dodged the witch's attack with another swing of her hand. Then, she stepped on the witch's massive hand and thrust the sword downwards with all her might.

Before the witch could clench her fist and slam it down in pain, Alex drew her sword and leaped up, stepping on the witch's dark arm as she charged towards the roulette wheel. With a powerful stomp, her body shot like an arrow towards the spot that had just been torn apart.

But this time the witch seemed to have realized something. She suddenly twisted her body and turned her head to face Alex.

Alex was still on her way to it when, before she could react, she discovered that the giant wheel in front of her had finally started to spin.

Immediately afterwards, golden jewels shot towards her like bullets from a machine gun.

Despite being suspended in mid-air with nowhere to brace herself, Alex didn't need to dodge at all. She swung her blade, deflecting all the connected jewels back at her.

The golden light, like laser light falling on a mirror, was reflected by Alex onto the witch's own roulette head.

"Boom--!"

A series of huge explosions rang out, the roulette wheel's attack ceased, and fire and smoke completely enveloped the witch's head, making it temporarily impossible for Alex to see the situation clearly.

She used a teleportation technique to leap to one side of the wall, swiftly sliced ​​out a block, slammed it against the wall, and placed it under her feet.

Standing atop the high wall, Alex cautiously watched the witch's movements amidst the smoke and dust.

Don't be fooled by Alex's seemingly effortless demeanor. In reality, her opponent could easily outlast her until she runs out of all the weapons in her inventory without necessarily being defeated, while she might not be able to withstand even a casual attack from her opponent.

In this battle, Alex was practically dancing on the edge of a knife.

…………

PS: The main reason he was chased so desperately by the familiar was because Xiangzi was by his side.

Alex! What makes you weak is your desire to protect others!

That sounds like something a villain would say.

Volume 1: Chapter 51 The Middle-Aged Man in the Room

In the dim light, in the increasingly dilapidated tunnel, a drama of beauty and giant beast dancing together is unfolding.

If this twisted and bizarre witch can also be called a behemoth.

The pure white curved blades kept slicing across the witch's body, like a spider weaving a scattered web in the air, covering the witch's entire body.

The enraged witch, shaking her enormous wheel-shaped head, followed the spider's movements, repeatedly raising her hand to strike it.

The walls on both sides of the tunnel had been smashed open, revealing the rooms inside. Several familiars, who had been hiding, were huddled in a corner of the room, trembling with fear.

Her silver-white hair swayed in mid-air like a crescent moon, reflecting a clean luster above the jewels on the giant roulette wheel. The girl silently observed the witch's health while using her Instant Step to dodge attacks one after another.

[82%]

She used several nameless swords [Puppet] to reduce the witch's health to this number.

The ground was now littered with shattered stone bricks, no longer possessing its former golden brilliance. Several broken wooden swords could be seen silently stuck in the ground around the witch.

Using the Phantom Sword again, Alex teleported above the witch's head, regaining her height and dodging a few drops of golden liquid that had just splashed over and almost touched her. She looked down.

Golden, viscous liquid was constantly seeping from the edge of the giant roulette wheel head, dripping onto the ground and forming a large golden puddle directly below the witch.

Ever since Alex returned all the jewels that the witch had shot at her, once the explosions subsided, she saw the liquid flowing down from the other side.

It was as if she had been beaten and was crying.

Alex didn't know what it was, nor was she interested in trying to touch it to see what would happen, so she could only choose to avoid it as much as possible.

Stepping on the Phantom Sword, Alex kicked it into the witch's head again. Instead of continuing to attack it, she leaped up and approached the top of a broken wall, landing gently.

Taking advantage of the witch's attention being drawn to the phantom sword and before she attacked, Alex opened her backpack and took a look.

The one in his hand was the last nameless sword, "Puppet."

Alex quickly crafted a new workbench in her backpack. She had just taken a picture of it and hadn't even crafted the wooden sword yet when she suddenly felt a pang of fear. She immediately exited the interface and, without even removing the wooden planks from the workbench, jumped down and landed on the ground.

"boom--!"

With her fists clenched, the witch smashed the wall she had just been standing on, along with the workbench, into pieces with a single blow.

"So annoying!"

Alex muttered something under her breath, then turned to look around. When she saw several familiars huddled together behind her, she glared at them.

The reason for making a new workbench is that the previous workbench also disappeared in the same way.

During the battle, Alex tried many times to find an opportunity to synthesize several nameless swords [Puppet], but the witch did not give her such an opportunity at all. As long as Alex stood in one place for more than two seconds, she would be attacked by the witch immediately.

In just two seconds, Alex had to complete the process of crafting, placing the workbench, crafting the wooden sword, and then crafting the katana from the wooden sword. This operation was quite challenging for her.

And each time, she has to synthesize a new workbench.

After all, the witch wouldn't give her the time to slowly chip away at the workbench blocks.

Her closest attempt to succeed was to craft the wooden sword and then immediately leave, only to smash the extra crafting table she had just created on the ground upon moving to a different location.

Just as he was throwing the wooden sword in, the witch slapped him down, and all his previous efforts were in vain.

After several attempts, the result was that only half a set of oak planks were missing from the backpack.

The broken wall slowly collapsed, and Alex quickly dodged the falling debris with a few quick steps. She took out a steak, ignoring the surrounding smoke and dust, and took a big bite.

Then, he put it back in his backpack, chewing on it, and used the Phantom Sword again to teleport to the familiar's head in the room on the other side of the tunnel, dodging the giant hand that was about to strike.

This is probably one of the few advantages of becoming like this.

Alex discovered that even if she ate a food in several portions, she could still regain a small amount of fullness.

Unlike before, where you had to completely eat a piece of food to restore saturation, you no longer had to walk slowly in place, making it impossible to avoid monster attacks and forcing you to stand still and take hits.

Stepping on the familiar that she had chosen as her teleportation target, Alex landed back on the ground. She cut off another piece of steak and took another bite. While the familiar was still trembling, she aimed at the large hole in the wall and kicked it away.

Chewing on her beef, Alex watched the familiar streak through the air in a golden arc before plunging into the pool of golden, viscous liquid beneath the witch.

Then, several particle effects suddenly appeared on its body. Before Alex could even count how many there were, it sank down and disappeared without a trace.

It's probably melted.

Before she could even mourn the untimely death of her familiar, Alex, who had just swallowed a mouthful of beef, cut out her last remaining unnamed sword, "Puppet," and teleported out of the room, dodging yet another blow.

Before the witch lifted her hand out of the room again, she glanced at the minimap.

At this moment, Xiangzi had already run to the coordinates of the destination she had told her earlier. Judging from her movement trajectory, she seemed to be running between several rooms, probably looking for an exit.

If there really is an exit, it's probably in one of those rooms.

Looking again at the room where I had just seen a neutral unit icon, I noticed that a few familiars had probably gone in. Several red dots had gathered around the middle-aged man's icon, but there seemed to be no conflict between them. On the minimap, they were just quietly gathered together without any other movement.

Ever since the witch went mad, these familiars seem to have all lost their aggressiveness and only know how to hide.

Alex looked up and saw that she had been intentionally guiding the witch's movements to pull the battlefield this way, and that room was now quite far away from them.

At least we don't have to worry about the aftershocks of the witch's attack affecting that room.

Alex didn't know why there was a middle-aged man who looked like an ordinary person hiding in the room. She didn't have the ability to bring him out and rescue him, but she could prevent him from being affected by her battle with the witch.

This is the only thing she can do for him right now.

…………

P.S. From the moment the witches first appeared until the behavior of the familiars here, there have been constant hints that the habits of witches and familiars in this world are quite different from those in the original Madoka Magica manga. I'll explain how these differences occur later.

Volume 1: Chapter 52 Now We Have Weakness Potions

As Alex pondered how much more time she could buy for Xiangzi, she looked up and saw that this time the witch was no longer attacking her with just one hand, but was instead clenching her fists together and slamming them down hard.

Before she could turn off the minimap, Alex used her Phantom Sword to teleport above the witch's head and dodge the attack. She turned around, stepped on the Phantom Sword stuck in the witch's head, and was about to open her backpack to craft a new workbench while waiting for the witch's next move.

But what they saw was that this powerful blow had actually smashed a deep crack in the ground.

"Boom--!"

The tunnel finally gave way to the witch's relentless destruction. With a deafening roar, the crack widened and spread far into the distance at both ends of the tunnel, until it disappeared from sight.

Alex's heart skipped a beat. She glanced at the minimap and discovered that Xiangzi had just run to the middle of the tunnel.

That's exactly where the cracks are about to spread.

He quickly leaped down, not caring about conserving the durability of his nameless sword [Puppet]. After landing, he drew his sword and slashed at the wrist of the giant hand.

A flash of cold light appeared, and several fine wounds appeared on the witch's dark arm. After glancing at the durability of her weapon, she crouched down and charged forward. A white light pierced through the witch's two clasped hands at the same time. After the charge, she stopped and turned around, and with an upward thrust, she barely managed to raise the witch's hands several meters.