Although Hazel planned to take down the Gnolls scavenging through the Whole Foods Market building, she wasn’t stupid enough to waltz inside and fight them. That was way too dangerous, even if she was over level twenty.

  Which left them with only one option; she needed to lure them out. Thankfully, she already had a plan to do just that. And that was bombarding them with spells until they ran out of fear.

  “Alright, cover me,” Hazel told Astrid, keeping her eyes, or in this case, her Astral Eye trained on the building.

  “Right,” The dark elf nodded, pulling out her bow in preparation for a battle.

  A moment later, Hazel summoned multiple Mana Bolts while keeping them levitating in the air with Telekinesis. At the moment, she could only control eight to ten bolts at a time. This is because controlling any more than that would put a massive strain on her mind.

  While keeping the bolts in the air, Hazel hurled a couple of them into the building. The bolts zipped through the air before entering the premises. There was a loud crash sound accompanied by several yelping sounds from within. That meant the Gnolls heard the noise and were startled by it.

  However, despite the loud crash, Hazel could tell that the Gnolls inside weren’t attempting to flee outside. She could hear them grunt and such from inside, but none of them were trying to leave the building.

  Noticing this, Hazel expelled a heavy sigh, feeling a bit annoyed by their current situation. “Good grief, just come out already. I’m on the clock here.”

  Hazel proceeded to send in a couple more mana bolts, hoping that those would force the Gnolls to leave. She even sent them through a different entrance to make the one in front of her and Astrid more appealing for the Gnolls to use as their escape route.

  Another crashing sound was heard followed by more hyena-like yelping from the Gnolls. A few seconds after that, nothing happened.

  A surge of anger washed over Hazel, threatening to overtake the witch and force her to kill the gnolls out of frustration. However, after taking a couple of deep breaths, the anger raging inside subsided, allowing her to think more calmly.

  This was a good call on Hazel’s part since that provided enough time for the Gnolls to finally take action as all six of them rushed out of the market store in a hurry. Emerging through the broken sliding glass doors, the hyena monsters abruptly stopped in their tracks upon spotting Hazel and Astrid in front of them.

  The Gnoll at the front narrowed its piss-color eyes at the two players, clearly wary of them. Hazel responded by raising her hand and waving at the small force of hyena monsters while displaying a wide yet devious smile on her face.

  “Thank you so much for coming out to greet us!” She said cheerfully, though her words were laced with venom, displaying her subtle hostility. “Since you guys took the time to come out and see us, I think it's only fair for me to properly see you!”

  Declaring this, Hazel reached for her blindfold, grabbed it, and then pulled it off her face, revealing two glowing purple eyes as they stared intently at the Gnolls before them.

  As soon as Gnolls were caught in the witch’s line of sight, all of them froze in an instant. None of them were able to move due to the effects of her Evil Eye skill. Their faces were stricken with fear and horror as they remained under the gaze of Hazel’s evil eyes, unable to do anything as long as she continued to stare at them.

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  Hazel resisted the urge to smile, afraid that she would look like some sadistic dominatrix who took pleasure in the pain and fear she was inflicting on the monsters. The corner of her lips trembled, threatening to curl up and reveal the devious and malicious smile of the Witch known as Hazel Thatcher.

  As she struggled to maintain her composure, another part of Hazel focused on the mechanics behind her Evil Eyes, taking note of how the Gnolls were affected by her power. The basic premise behind the current capabilities of Evil Eyes was that as long as she maintained visual sight of her target, they would be under the effects of it.

  To further test that theory, Hazel decided to close her eyes to check. Before she did, she gave Astrid a heads-up, so the dark elf knew what was happening, and would be prepared in case something bad was about to happen.

  With Hazel’s eyes closed shut, her vision returned with the help of Astral Eye, allowing her to see the Gnolls without her Evil Eye skill triggering. Just then, she watched as the humanoid hyena monsters slowly regained their ability to move. Their once fearful expressions are now replaced with shock...and a hint of hostility toward the person responsible; aka Hazel.

  The Gnolls turned and glared at the Witch, displaying their hostility at full force. Their eyes narrowed as their lips were peeled back as they snarled, revealing the jagged, razor-sharp teeth that they likely planned to use on Hazel to tear her apart piece by piece.

  Several growls came from the Hyena creatures as they prepared to charge at the Witch and Dark Elf, feeling determined to kill both of them for what they did. Or at least what Hazel did.

  Their feet kicked off the ground in sync as the Gnolls made a beeline for their new targets. However, they were only able to take a few more steps before Hazel opened her eyes once again, activating her Evil Eyes on the monsters.

  Once again, the Gnolls abruptly stopped in their tracks as if gravity had increased on them. Hazel watched their bodies tremble with fear along with their expressions reverting back to being filled with dread and terror, like they were facing some kind of powerful and overwhelming being before them.

  Witnessing this firsthand, Hazel could no longer hold back from smiling, and like a dam unable to contain the water, the floodgates were open. Her somewhat neutral expression then shifted into a wide, sadistic grin while she continued to stare at the Gnolls trembling in her presence.

  She now gave off the genuine appearance of a wicked witch. All she needed to do now was produce some kind of witchy cackle and her persona would be complete.

  “Man, this is honestly pretty fun...” Hazel said, her wicked smile still plastered on her face. “But, I guess I should end this little experiment now since I have more than enough information regarding these eyes. Thanks for being my little test subjects, Gnolls! I’ll make your deal painless!”

  As if likely understanding her, the Gnolls turned pale, realizing that their lives were about to be extinguished in the next few seconds. None of them could even make an effort to escape, due to them being under the paralyzing gaze of the witch’s evil eye.

  Unable to escape from certain death, the Gnolls could only watch as Hazel summoned five Cursed spears above her. The accursed javelins pulsed a violent purple while emanating an overwhelming aura of malice.

  The Gnolls then trained on Hazel, who maintained the same wicked grin, making her look like a villain. And for all intents and purposes, she certainly was. To them at least.

  “Goodbye~!”

  These were the last words the Hyena monsters heard before seeing the five cursed spears zip toward them with malicious intent. Their bodies were then torn apart as the javelins pierced their bodies multiple times, creating holes the size of their fists each time.

  Once they were riddled with holes, their vessels could no longer maintain their structure and fell apart. Blood and viscera spilling out and coating the concrete street in crimson.

  More kill notifications flooded Hazel’s vision, including two that caught her attention.

  [Evil Eye Is Now Rank 2!]

  [Astral Eyes is now Rank 2!]

  Seeing that both her ocular-related abilities had improved, Hazel’s wicked smile only widened, making her look more malicious and evil than before.

  Before she could take a look at what changed with her abilities, Astrid’s voice momentarily pulled her away.

  “You should really do something about that smile of yours,” The dark elf advised. “You’re starting to look more like a witch when you do that.”

  Hazel hesitated to turn and face her partner, knowing that she would end up being affected by her evil eyes. Then again, after what she just told her, she was a bit tempted to risk it.

  “I’ll...work on it,” she said hesitantly, not wanting to express her annoyance at Astrid’s comment.