Unlike the Magma Golem, the Black Witch did not have a fixed respawn location in the forest. She would appear in certain places at random. Back then, the players spent a lot of time and effort to finally pin down the Black Witch's location and fight her.
As a reincarnated person, of course, Mohai knew an easier way.
In fact, the Black Witch's activity area was the entire Black Witch Forest where she had the ability to teleport anywhere in the forest.
Therefore, Mohai did not have to waste time searching for the Black Witch since it would be easier for the Black Witch to come to him instead.
Mohai, who was on Level 13, found a Black-robed Ritualist who was on Level 15 with men around him. However, the Black-robed Ritualist did not dare attack Mohai who trespassed the area. He only warned Mohai and told him to leave.
Mohai did not leave, but he did not attack the ritualist either.
A while later, a black figure appeared before Mohai.
It was the Black Witch!
The Black Witch covered her slender figure with a black robe and her hands that were also covered with a pair of black gloves were gripping a dark red staff. She was also wearing a large pointy witch hat that covered half of her face.
She was the other Level 20 Boss outside Guggenheim.
Other than the dark red staff, the Black Witch, as her name suggested, was fully dressed in black. No one had ever seen her face, and upon death, her body would burst into flames and nothing would remain.
"What's a bandit leader doing in my forest? A few of my ritualists were killed the other day. Were you responsible?" asked the Black Witch with a warning tone. Her pointy hat twitched slightly as if it was a sign of her sizing up Mohai.
When he had still been a player, he had fought the Black Witch before, but that was it and he could not understand the witch's language back then. He did not expect the witch's voice to be this pleasant and she sounded quite young.
The thought that the age of the Black Witch should not be a concerning point flashed through his head.
Judging from the Black-robed Ritualist's reaction and the Black Witch's warning, Mohai realized something about Notoriety.
After all his bandit goons had leveled up to bandit leaders and killed tens of thousands of players, Mohai's Notoriety in the Monolith Stronghold had reached 9 points.
Mohai knew 10 points was an important threshold, but it seemed like even 9 points in Notoriety started to work even outside of the Monolith Stronghold.
If his Notoriety was not that high, the Black-robed Ritualist might attack him and the Black Witch might not come to him instead.
"Black Witch, my lady, you must be joking. I don't know anything about your ritualist, but I'm here to discuss something with you. A little collaboration, you might say."
Of course, he could not admit that he had killed the ritualists for the souls, so he quickly covered it up with the intention of his visit.
"That Magma Golem has been causing a ruckus in the Monolith Stronghold in the past two days. Is he looking for you? Do you want my help to deal with the Magma Golem?" asked the Black Witch.
"Yes." Mohai nodded.
The Bosses were as smart as players. The excuses that Mohai prepared were all thrown down the drain after the Black Witch asked her question.
"I've been the Magma Golem's neighbor for so long and I know how he is. Him getting out of his cave for you means that you have something he desires. I can't think of any way to stop him from hunting you down and I don't think you have anything of value that can interest me. Regardless, tell me, why don't you just give it to the Magma Golem? That guy might hold a grudge against you, but if you give him what he seeks, at least, you can save yourself some trouble. You might be able to ask him for help if you run into some other problems in the future. In comparison, I can't always protect you since you've gotten on his wrong side. Even if I can save you from dying now, he will still come after you in the future."
The Black Witch was terrifyingly calm, and she was able to pinpoint the problem from the start.
If someone else tried to trade the mission scroll from the Nine-Tailed Fox with the Black Witch but tried to achieve something else under the table, one would have to face the wrath of the Black Witch.
"No. I have something the Magma Golem wants, but I won't give it to him and I won't trade it with you either. I actually have something else to offer." Mohai then took a black crystal orb out from his bag.
It was the Darkness Orb.
The Darkness Orb that he told the Ghost to steal was actually the bargaining chip that he wanted to use in the trade with the Black Witch.
In the past, when the first story arc of the game started, the Black Witch actually gave the players a mission to retrieve the Darkness Orb.
No one knew how to get it back then, but a player got lucky.
After the Black Witch distributed the mission, the player happily took the Darkness Orb to the Black Witch and wanted to complete the mission. To his surprise, before he got into the forest, the Magma Golem jumped out, killed him, and took the Darkness Orb.
Solo-killing a Boss was nearly impossible for the players back then, and after the first story arc began, the Magma Golem received a power surge, so the players could not kill him for quite some time.
In order to retrieve the Darkness Orb, the Black Witch worked with the players and sieged the Magma Cave together.
The Black Witch and the Magma Golem fought each other in the cave. Only then, the players found out that the Darkness Orb actually belonged to the Magma Golem and that particular player actually stole it from the cave.
Starting from that mission, the players viewed the Bosses' intellect differently.
"I'm interested. Tell me what you want me to do." The Black Witch's hat twitched slightly as though she was scanning the Darkness Orb.
"Not much. You just have to stall the Magma Golem every time he comes after me. The duration of the contract is a month, and after that, the orb is yours," Mohai said.
As long as the Magma Golem was alive and running, it was impossible for the Black Witch to kill him and she would not turn against him just because of this.
"I can do that. This is the Goddess Contract. As per the contract, I'll stop the Magma Golem every time he comes after you and you must give me the Darkness Orb after a month. Also, the contract also states that I can ask something of you and you must agree."
The Black Witch nodded and a Goddess Contract appeared in her hand. When she swung her hand around, the contents were written down. It then flew to Mohai.
Mohai found out that the Goddess Contract also existed among monsters. He glanced through it and realized that it was a little different from the contract formed with players.
When a player hired a monster to do his bidding, the player must list the rewards first before handing it to the system, but the Goddess Contract between monsters did not have such requirements. That was why the Black Witch added an extra condition below the reward to prevent Mohai from backing out of the deal.
The contents of the contract was simple: the Black Witch had to stop the Magma Golem whenever he went after Mohai. If the Black Witch did not help, the contract would be ineffective, and if the Black Witch kept her part of the deal, Mohai would have to deliver the Darkness Orb after a month.
The contract was by no means foolproof, but after some thoughts, Mohai did not say anything. He pressed his finger to it and the contract was in effect.
"The Magma Golem will be coming at night, so be prepared."
Mohai nodded at the Black Witch before he put on the Nightwalker Cloak and headed back to the Monolith Stronghold.
…
"The Magma Golem is in the Monolith Stronghold again! Let's go have a look!"
"The Boss is really powerful!" A single attack wipes out a whole bunch of players!"
"Holy sh*t! Guess what I saw?! Another Boss! The Boss of the Black Witch Forest is here at the Monolith Stronghold as well!"
"For real?"
"Of course! If I lie, I'll lose my d*ck!"
"He's right. I saw them both! Two Bosses appearing at the same spot! What's going on in the Monolith Stronghold tonight?!"
"Let's go. Let's go have a closer look!"
Due to the Magma Golem's appearance last night, a lot of players who missed it last night came by early and tried their luck in the Monolith Stronghold.
"They didn't just find the Magma Golem, but they even found the other Level 20 Boss outside Guggenheim, the Black Witch!"
Right after the news got out, it captured the attention of many players.
"The Magma Golem and the Black Witch are fighting!"
"Fighting? No way! I feel like the Bosses are working together! A single spell from any of them can wipe us out easily. We can't even get near!"
The game forum reached a boiling point when the two Bosses appeared in the Monolith Stronghold. It even got the attention of the players who were not from Guggenheim.
The attacks from the two Bosses were terrifying. Although there were a lot of players around the place, no one could get close. The players who died at the hands of the Bosses surfed the forum instead of reviving themselves.
"Breaking! The two Bosses seem to be working together! They are going after a bandit leader!"
That shattering piece of news spread like wildfire in the forum.
Following the news, a short clip was uploaded to the forum thread. The video clip had been taken from a distance behind a bunch of stones in the Monolith Stronghold. The Magma Golem and Black Witch were standing opposite each other and in the center was a bandit leader.