The Divine Hunter

Adselbyn, west of Wellen, home to the Lady of the Woods.

The green water flows on all sides, reflecting a verdant mountain, which is not very majestic, but full of vitality and covered with lush vegetation.

There is a small village at the bottom of the mountain, where villagers have lived for generations and worshipped the Lady of the Forest.

Every spring, the three witches will hold a Sabbath feast in this Balder Hill, calling all the followers of Willen together, accepting the offerings they have collected for a year, and distributing magic acorns.

Then a blind priestess would choose three of the faithful: a strong boy or a handsome girl, to spend a good night with the lady.

The next day, the favored boys and girls will return safely, happily forget their names and most of their past memories, and start a new life.

Large chunks of information flashed through Roy's mind.

During the Balder Mountain Night Banquet, the security was heavily guarded, with sentries everywhere, and there were even demonic guards summoned by the old witch, and it was almost impossible for witchers to sneak in secretly.

But now more than half a year has passed since the night banquet, most of the sentries have been withdrawn, and Mrs. Lin Zhong has also left Balder Mountain to go down to Warren. The defense of this base camp is at its most empty and fragile.

The blood from the heart of the tree smeared all over the body, obscuring all the breath of the witchers, allowing them to deceive the ears and eyes of the dense whispering in the crevices of the mountain road, and the mountain guards wandering on the mountain road.

The two made their way up the rough, steep rocks along the side of the trail, unimpeded, to a position close to the summit.

Standing on a platform, looking up, you can see that there is a huge oak tree at the top of Balder Mountain. Its branches extend around and hang down on the mountain wall, like the tentacles of a giant octopus in the deep sea. The entire mountain top is shrouded.

It is difficult for a single tree to form a forest, but this oak tree has grown to the size of a small forest, and has undergone some kind of mutation. The smell of decay and wickedness, the abundance of magic, the energy of chaos haunts its broad canopy.

The snake pendant buzzed softly.

The two stopped the response of the pendant between their necks.

In fact, this place was a sacred place for druids hundreds of years ago, but after the old witch came here, she destroyed the Ring of Velen and deformed the sacred oak tree on the top of the mountain.

The two witchers walked towards the front entrance,

A huge six-meter-high, old and quaint wooden door leads to the only way to the sacred oak tree on the top of the mountain.

They stepped on their toes and came to the sides of the wooden door and pushed gently. To their surprise, the wooden door was not locked and was easily pushed open by them.

Then the two exchanged glances, clenched the silver sword tightly, formed the seal, and the cat body got in.

On a sunny day, the light is abundant, illuminating the structure inside the wooden door. First, there is a long and deep passage, with pale yellow ferns growing on both sides, and there is a faint sound of heavy breathing at the end of the corridor.

"Snort - Snort - Snort -"

A certain person, or some kind of creature, is dozing off inside the cave.

The witcher grew more cautious, tiptoeing against the wall, controlling his breathing and heartbeat.

There were some unexpected harvests during the walk. Roy found that the ferns in the cave were not ordinary plants like dandelion, sage, and celandine—

elk fern

Ferns

Year: two years

Born: Willen Adselbin, Tirnalia.

Efficacy: treatment of whooping cough, alchemy base.

"Tirnalia?" Roy frowned as he pondered the name of the place. This place does not belong to any country in the current world, but the capital of another world where the Ain El tribe lives.

Wild Hunt's plants appear in the old witch's hideout, further proof of the close connection between the two.

Roy thought about taking a few ferns as samples, stretched his hand halfway and then retracted it. If this alarmed Forgarth and the old witch, and the action failed, it would be a big mistake.

He resisted the urge.

After quickly turning a corner, the two came to a spacious cave.

There was a hazy yellow light all around, candles were lit in the corners, and two paths appeared in front of the witcher. One was on the left, with an upward slope, and the other was behind a raised rock wall, occupied by a behemoth. .

It lay on its back, snoring and sleeping deeply, completely unaware that there were two more uninvited guests in the cave, and it was exposed to their swords defenselessly.

The witcher did not act rashly, but looked at the bloated monster with bated breath.

It was extremely fat, chubby like an overgrown troll, and from the witcher's point of view, its hill-like belly could be seen rising and falling with its purring sound.

Except for a small piece of cloth under the crotch, the monster was completely naked, and the exposed skin was red from hot water, but there were several black patterns on the waist, arms, and forehead. A pair of hooves like cows and sheep, surrounded by thick black and thick hair, two black and bloated fists on both hands, only three fingers as thick as carrots.

Further up, it has a pair of sharp, curved horns on the top of its head, a characteristic feature of the demon species.

From this, Roy thought of the special monster, moved his nose, smelled a faint sulfurous smell in the air, and confirmed the identity of the other party more and more.

Forgas

Age: 350 years old

Sex: Male

Identity: Demon (the dumber and weaker among the demons), Mountain Keeper (Guarding the road to the top of the mountain for the three witches.)

Life: 320

Mana: 130

Attributes:

Strength: 20

Agility: 8

Constitution: 20

Perception: 6

Will: 7

Charisma: 4

Spirit: 13

Skill:

Brimstone Flame lv5: Intermediate fire elemental magic, consumes medium mana, uses the fire element and the restless brimstone in its body, and sprays highly poisonous flames, causing burns, ignition, and poisoning effects at the same time.

Primary Demon Body (Passive Curing): Demon species have extremely strong vitality, HP +120, any minor injuries can be quickly healed, and they are immune to toxins. Digestion is extremely powerful, and the horny skin provides good resistance to blows.

...

Roy clearly remembered that there was a similar trial in Kyle Morhan of the Wolf School, asking the witcher apprentice to slip away from the sleeping Cyclops in the cave.

Whoever awakens the giant will become the giant's food.

However, the threat level of this demon is far less than that of the giant. From the observed information, Roy and Leto will definitely be able to kill it, especially now that it is in an undefended state.

But doing so would surely disturb the old witch who was ten miles away and interviewed the three of Oaks, so the two could only give up temporarily.

Roy turned to the slope on the left and walked over first. According to memory, this road led to the top of the mountain. Letho followed, dodging the rubble on the ground.

Benefiting from the cover effect of the blood of the tree heart, the two slipped away from Fogarth's eyelids smoothly, passed through a dark path and came to the back of Balder Mountain.

The wind was howling, and the sun shone through the green plants all over the mountains. Looking down, the buildings in the villages below the mountain became as small as ants, and a winding stone road in the mountain led the witcher to the huge tree on the top of the mountain. oak tree.

"Corrupted Oak Arendelle"

angiosperm deciduous tree

Year: One thousand sixty years

Born: Willen

? ?

Acorns hung sparsely from the oak branches like stars in the night sky—most of them had been picked at the Balder Hill dinners in the spring and distributed to the followers of the Lady of the Woods.

The size of the common acorn bean, with a reddish-brown shell, they are fist-like and the same black color as the trunk of the oak tree.

The lush branches and leaves are also dotted with two or three acorns intertwined with gold and pink, which are hidden at the highest point of the oak tree, more than 30 meters in the air.

It's hard for ordinary people to reach, but it's not hard for a witcher. Letho rolled up his sleeves without hesitation, gearing up.

"What are you doing, Leto?"

"Do you need me to say that?" The bald-headed man looked up at the oak tree with his arms crossed, and his tone was a little childish, "A long time ago, when we were training in Gusvid, Oaks and I climbed trees a lot. You wait, I'll pluck those three golden acorns right away."

Roy rolled his eyes, "Don't move yet!"

"Little devil, it's time for the old witch to come back. Even we have to explain it here!"

"You don't feel it?" Roy said softly, his palms caressed the rough branches of the oak tree, closed his eyes, and his face was gentle, "Is it crying?"

Leto's expression became solemn, and the brows under his bald forehead were wrinkled into mountains and rivers. "What's the meaning?"

"Lesso, you know that I can communicate with Wilt, and also with some other non-human races, such as Golfing." Roy explained, "Usually, plants are not within the scope of my communication. But This oak is different, it's very spiritual, it's a living person."

Just now, when Roy observed "Arendelle", the oak tree also conveyed a sad mood to him.

At that moment, he seemed to see a helpless and desperate woman surrounded by the fetid silt in the swamp.

"Then what did she tell you?"

"You can also try to listen."

...

"Kungulan...Kungulan..." A mature woman's voice reached the bottom of his heart using the witcher's arm touching the tree trunk as a bridge.

The voice was calm, gentle, full of trustworthy power, but occasionally hoarse and trembling, clearly suffering from some kind of torture.

Roy took a breath, and took out the blood gem that had been injected into the heart of the tree in his pocket. Immediately, the soul in the gem began to hit the crystal wall frantically, and the woman's voice became surprised and excited.

Just like two lovers who have reunited after a long absence, close friends who have forged a deep friendship.

But because of the barrier of the blood gem, they could not reunite.

At this moment, Roy finally realized that the heart of the tree he sealed was indeed an ancient Druid, otherwise how could this oak tree be so excited.

"Kungulan...help me...save me..."

"How can I save you?" Roy thought aloud, and then looked up at the huge oak tree, thinking that he couldn't take the whole oak tree away. That would be unrealistic, unless he was at the level of an elf sage. The warlock shot.

"Pain..." The woman couldn't express the words as completely as a normal human being, and her words were extremely concise, "purify me... expel evil..."

"What evil?"

"Old witch... extract... earth... magic... evil... I... bear..."

The bald man next to him, who was also listening, couldn't help but withdrew his hand and rubbed his eyebrows in distress, "You mean, the old witch draws magic power from the land of Willen, and then transfers some bad things in the magic power. into your body?"

In response, the oak tree suddenly began to shake its branches and leaves, scattered leaves and acorns fell, and a cold wind blew through the air, and there was a faint whimper of a woman in the cold wind.

"Don't get excited!" Roy stroked the rough bark of the oak tree, "We deeply sympathize with your experience, but unfortunately, we are just witchers, we don't have the magic power of warlocks or druids, we can't help you, and time It's too late, we must leave now!"

Roy anxiously looked at the sky in the distance, with a strong premonition that the three sisters were already on their way back!

"You can't do it...then... Kungulan... shot!"

"How to let her take action?" Roy had a thought in his mind, and then shook his head frantically. "no!"

"Please...let Kungulan...take me...naturally...reward..."

Roy held up the blood gem with a gloomy expression on his face.

Unleash Kungulan's soul, she will undoubtedly destroy the sacred oak tree, and how many people will starve to death when the farmers of Velen have no more oil to water their crops?

Should this sad "ecological balance" be broken?

"Little devil..." Leto shook his head, "If you drag it on, don't ask for the acorns, let's leave!"

"I will come to relieve you in the future..." Roy Anjin's pupils glanced at the tall oak tree at last, and gritted his teeth, "But not now!"

"Whizzing--"

Gabriel fired several arrows at the largest mature acorn on the golden oak.

"Boom, boom," three fist-sized, heavy pink and golden acorns fell to the ground.

"Go!" Lesso waved his hand, put all the fruits into the space ring, grabbed Roy's arm, and ran down the mountain.

At the end of the field of vision, in the distant horizon, a black cloud composed of crows is approaching the top of the mountain!