The Divine Hunter

The noisy villagers all dispersed.

The dilapidated Kael Sirens regained their former serenity.

The soft sunlight illuminates a solitary figure in the snow-colored courtyard.

Kelda put his hands behind his waist, his eyes turned to the Snake Sect witcher, his face was expressionless, his eyes were full of pressure, and he implied blame.

"You shouldn't kill them, Roy, you are too impulsive." Kelda spoke first before the three asked.

"I gave them a chance!" Roy shook his head with a firm attitude, "The last time I spared these two scumbags, they dared to come to the door without repentance, spitting feces! Let them die immediately without pain, already My greatest kindness."

Roy's eyes lit up, and he said with admiration, "But I didn't expect your Axif seal to be so powerful that it could hypnotize a group of people at the same time! And there's no need to stare. This is the blessing of the 'roar' and the 'sign' flapping its wings. ' power?"

"Boy, no matter how powerful your power is, it shouldn't be abused to harm humans..."

"I don't think so..." Roy looked directly into his eyes and confronted him tit for tat, "Although they are human, they break the bottom line of personality. What is the difference between them and monsters?"

"It's normal for a witcher to kill monsters."

"But their actions have failed, but they are powerless to struggle. There is no need to do so." Kelda shook his head, his eyes full of disappointment. "Obviously, you and the Griffin are pursuing a different philosophy."

Roy's cheeks twitched.

Is this brainwashed by the "forgiveness" in chivalry?

As a serious knight of the goddess of the lake, he is not so rigid!

Witchers don't kill innocent people, he understands.

But let it go regardless of the situation.

So what's the use of this force?

When to decorate and furnish?

Roy was still standing on Kyle Siren's land, unmoving.

But the figure is a little stiff.

"Teacher!" At the moment of stalemate, Cohen took a deep breath with a hint of hesitation on his face.

There was awe in his tone, but more worry, "What happened just now?"

"why…"

"Why...you have no shadow?"

...

A gust of cold wind blew from the distant sea below the Dragon Mountain, blowing over the cliffs... Kelda's long gray-brown hair fluttered in the wind.

His thin figure seemed to fly off the ground.

"Why, your hand, your face..." Cohen remembered the scene just now, chasing the villagers who were scurrying around, after leaving Kyle Siren.

The teacher's cheeks and the backs of his hands became pale and rotten, revealing horrific corpse spots.

Until now, there are still some traces that are different from ordinary people.

"Are you hurt? Or under the curse of an ogre?"

Ignatius suddenly hugged the arm of the person next to her.

She also saw that scene... She was still rejoicing that there is evil, but Master Kelda solved this almost unsolvable problem without much effort.

Surprise can turn into fear in an instant.

"I'll tell you the answer later," Kelda said slowly, "but not now."

"Dodge!"

"Master Kelda, do you have the heart to continue to deceive your poor disciple?" Roy shook his head suddenly, "You won't tell him the truth at all!"

The experiences of the past two days passed through Roy's mind like a tide.

Kelda and Vesemir were born in the same era, the latter was three hundred years old, while he, according to Roy's observation, was only one hundred and ninety-three years old.

A horrific avalanche happened a hundred years ago in Kyle Siren... There were very few survivors.

Kelda was shadowless in the sun, and revealed the corpse and decay of the dead.

All the information converged, and he had a vague guess in his mind, but some key information was still missing.

"Master Kelda, you should look in the mirror. I've seen this expression on the face of my teacher Leto." Roy said moved, "then he quietly endured fatal danger."

The odd-colored iris turned to Cohen, and the young Griffin apprentice quietly tensed his face, his fists clenched tightly.

Kelda stood silently in the courtyard.

"That's what you're going to do, deal with the crisis alone, but don't say a word to your disciple."

Roy stared at his pale, aged cheeks,

"But are you sure you can handle this challenge?"

"I thought that the older you get, the more open-minded you are, why don't you speak frankly about your troubles?"

"Cohen can share your worries for you."

"I am also willing to help you."

Roy said sincerely, "Although I'm just a rookie who has just stepped into the witcher's way, a trivial bystander with extremely limited abilities...but I'm not alone."

"I'm not alone!"

He accentuated.

"Behind me stand eleven brothers of the Witcher Brotherhood, and a warlock."

"Although you are extremely pedantic!"

"But as a peer, I agree with some of your views." Roy emphasized, "If you need it, you speak, and I will be happy to help."

"If you feel bad about it, you can even consider it a commission."

"As for the reward...you look at it."

Old Kelda's face changed for a moment.

Standing for a long time, he sighed, and the sun shone through the depression and helplessness on his face.

"Come in..."

...

The same house as yesterday.

The four sat around the dark dining table.

The entrance to the basement is engraved with a sealed circle.

The firelight illuminated the chiaroscuro face of old Kelda.

He told a story in a dull, hoarse voice.

There was a difference between the avalanche of Kyle Siren and what Roy heard from Cohen.

But between this point, is the distance between life and death.

"One hundred years ago, the mage who coveted the magical knowledge of the academy used the accusation that the church placed on the witcher's head, and launched a devastating avalanche on a winter night."

"The entire Kyle Siren was completely submerged in a terrible avalanche."

"All the witchers in the castle were killed."

"You survived!" Cohen interjected nervously.

Kelda glanced at the disciple with a reassuring smile on his face, but he ruthlessly put a stop to his life. "No, I'm dead too!"

"How is it possible, I don't believe it! I have lived with you for forty years, and your routine is the same as a normal person," Cohen stood up in disbelief, grabbed Kelda's hand, and still felt to body temperature.

"You are obviously still alive!"

And Ignatius took his hand, and shook his head at him with a bit of reluctance on his face.

Kelda cracked the corners of his mouth, revealing a wry smile, "I had this illusion in the beginning, I was still alive-I was lucky to survive in the lowest room of the castle, along a natural path between the thick snow. Slit passages, past one after another, embedded in the ceiling, on the walls, or half-armed with snow, the corpses of compatriots who died of suffocation."

"Climbed to the ground."

"But in fact." He suddenly choked up, his eyes were empty, "I climbed out of the tomb in the back mountain, and I saw sixty-six grave bags and tombstones. Kelda was written in front of me."

Cohen sat down slumped, his face sluggish.

Roy remained silent, his pupils dilated like almonds.

He guessed this ending.

So one hundred years later, Kelda's age still stops at one hundred and ninety-three years old, far from Vesemir of the times.

He imagined it.

Crawled out of the snow and saw his own tombstone, a pile of graves of siblings. Completely submerged home.

How cruel and desperate.

What mysterious power helped Kelda to stay in the world as a living person for a hundred years?

"Korn, I'm sorry, the teacher lied to you..." Kelda's tone changed, and he said guiltily, "Grandmaster Elan implemented the way of knighthood into the depths of his soul."

"And the knights will never abandon their comrades, leaving me alone in the dilapidated fortress."

"In fact, on the night of the avalanche, he was the only one who survived by observing the stars outside the castle - he dug up the bodies of all his comrades from the snow and buried them in the back mountain. Then he left Kael Siren."

"I totally understand his decision - his efforts still fail to salvage the world's malice towards witchers, and faith collapses."

"And from that day on, he lost all his comrades in the Griffin faction and was alone."

"With a double whammy, he left Kyle Siren in a heartbroken manner."

Roy sighed.

His impression of Elam changed slightly.

Witnessing the destruction of the home that has been operated and maintained for hundreds of years, and the transformation of siblings into cold corpses, the philosophy that has been adhered to has been completely broken.

What else can be done?

Kelda stared at the dancing flames in the fireplace, memory and gratitude flashed in her amber pupils,

"Before the great master Elan left, he left a letter describing his mental journey, as well as the "Notes of Hunting Demons" that recorded all his knowledge. Bury it in me, the tomb of this unfinished student."

"And it was this "Notes on the Demon Hunter" that changed everything."

...

Kelda said softly in an erratic tone,

"A series of very fortuitous circumstances collided...for reasons I can't explain - this place of magic from time immemorial."

"That huge natural disaster."

"Sixty-five dead."

"Fifteen sources of law."

"Everyone's strong feelings of unwillingness..."

"Driven by various factors, the "Hunter's Notebook" buried in the soil has quietly mutated."

The old man's eyes swept across the locked basement door, his face was complicated, and his love and hatred were intertwined. "It has life and strange magic."

"It chose me...and I was freed from the purgatory of death."

"Wait..." Roy rubbed his temples, "Are you sure it was a book that saved you?"

Kelda nodded.

Igsena's eyelids jumped, as if she had heard a horror story.

Cohen shook his head in disbelief, "You mean the "Hunter's Notebook" that I once read, which records all the knowledge of the school: magic seals, swordsmanship, alchemy potions, spells, and secret methods of the Griffin School?"

"To be precise, "dhu saov morc" is written on the cover of the book, which is translated from the ancient language as "Book of Shadows"..." Kelda sighed, "I have reached some kind of contract with the Book of Shadows, There was an indescribable bond between us...it used the natural magic beneath my feet to wake me up."

"And at the beginning of the resurrection, everything was normal for me." There was a hint of uncontrollable joy in Kelda's tone.

"I also got a magical note-"Book of Shadows" has an incredible ability, without the need to write by hand, all the knowledge in my mind, the knowledge I am learning, and even my life experience, all will be automatically recorded. in the book."

"There are endless blank pages in the book. When one page is memorized, a new page will appear. It is more convenient and worry-free than the transcription of a warlock."

"The only reason it exists is to pursue knowledge."

Roy was amazed, patted the restless Golphin in the hood at the back of his head, and almost couldn't help whistling, "This is the treasure that all scholars dream of."

Kelda nodded, "And I like to dream, and I like reading books more than dancing swords."

"Book of Shadows and I are a perfect match!"

Roy suddenly realized that it was for this reason that old Kelda became one of the sixty-sixth.

A smile finally appeared on Kelda's face, the smile quickly subsided, and her expression became more depressed.

"I thought this "Book of Shadows" was a gift of fate. During the first two years of the resurrection, I indulged in the sea of ​​knowledge."

"Later, I set off again, left Kyle Siren, went to the outside world to experience, search for the traces of Lord Alan, and instinctively recorded more knowledge,"

Cohen's cheek muscles quivered, his lips moved, and he wanted to ask something.

Kelda interrupted him,

"My students, as you can see, for the first eighty years, I went in and out of Kyle Siren unimpeded, and no matter how far I went, I didn't have any negative symptoms on my body."

"But the Book of Shadows cannot leave the castle. There is an inseparable connection between it and Kael Siren."

"What if you have to take it away?" Roy asked.

"It will disappear from the arms and return to this land." Keldar paused and continued,

"My daily life is no different from a normal witcher... I picked you up in a countryside in Keville during a trip."

Old Kelda looked at the students with tenderness on his face, and his tone turned soft, "You were only seven years old at that time, a skinny little devil who suffered from smallpox and purulent skin... Abandoned by poor parents."

"I brought you back to Kyle Siren, cured you, and spent a few years training as a Griffin witcher."

Cohen hissed excitedly, his eyes flushed.

Roy was not without emotion when he saw this.

The connection made by the life-saving grace is no less than the law of accident, right?

"Everything was fine before that, but it's almost eighty-fifth years since I was resurrected." Kelda shook his head, "All kinds of sequelae erupted - no matter how bright the sky, the fiery red sun, can't shine my shadow. ...I lost it forever."

"So in order not to show my flaws, I dare not appear under the sun again, and the after-effects are not only that," Kelda said, "Once I leave the magical place of Kel Siren, there will be corpse-like marks on my body immediately, The skin starts to fall off and the body gives off a rancid smell. The longer you leave it, the more pronounced the abnormality becomes.”

"This has caused a lot of trouble for me." The old man grinned and laughed at himself, "For more than ten years, whenever I go to other places, I have to put on that thick cloak - soaked in woodcutter's oil for many years. Add a cloak of dust from travel and grease from food to cover your skin and smell. Otherwise, you will be regarded as a ghoul or a ghost."

"But the symptoms gradually worsened." Kelda's face showed deep helplessness,

"It's not just my body, I started to lose my mind. Today, if I leave this magical place for more than ten minutes, I will lose my mind, turn into a walking corpse, and return to this fortress in a blur."

"Hiss..." Roy took a breath. If at first, "Book of Shadows" gave him the impression that he was a partner on an equal footing with Kelda.

Well now, a real master of an abusive slave!

"No wonder..." Cohen's face was gloomy and his voice was hoarse, "I haven't seen you leave that hillside or bask in the sun in the last ten years."

"You're always in the room, under the eaves, at that desk, studying the literature every day until late at night."

"It's all because of the Book of Shadows!"

Cohen slammed his fist on the table, reproaching himself.

In recent years, he has been out and about most of the time, and it is rare to return to visit the teacher.

He ignored the teacher's various anomalies, and ridiculously regarded it as a kind of habit.

"My stupid apprentice! Men should be brave enough to take responsibility, but don't be a scapegoat, it has nothing to do with you," Kelda patted him on the shoulder, "This is my choice."

"It longs for infinite knowledge, and I also love knowledge... I thought we were the most tacit partners... Join hands to enter the secret passage of knowledge." The old man sighed heavily and took a book from the bookshelf at will, "But yesterday After that, I suddenly realized that it was just my wishful thinking.”

"That magical book that used me only as a tool to acquire knowledge..."

He was suddenly silent and opened the book.

"And tools have a lifespan." Roy glanced at Cohen, who was tense.

"Suddenly attacked last night, it was it that was choosing the next tool." Kelda stared at Roy and continued, "The boy who always talks about the Brotherhood, obviously you have some kind of ability to make the Book of Shadows "The desired trait."

"It moved it even more than my old friend Vesemir who lived for three hundred years."

"So, it chose you, not my disciple Cohen."

"Beat you, occupy you, control you, and recreate a tool."

"Sunlight weakens the shadows, so it acts at night. It failed last night, then, after the sun goes down tonight, it will continue!"

A hint of surprise flashed in Roy's iris.

Does Book of Shadows sense my extraordinaryness?

Can you just write a book and want to enslave me? !

"Teacher..." Cohen was puzzled, "but why can it mobilize the long-dead Griffin senior?"

"Why is it?"

"Thanks to Roy, I discovered this secret! Actually, I should have realized the problem long ago. The Book of Shadows is full of life journeys of members of the Griffin faction," Kelda's eyes were filled with flames, "because of death To my compatriots in that great avalanche!"

"It has imprisoned the soul!"

"Their knowledge and memory were also greedily and thoroughly seized by it!"

"From today, it has become my enemy!" Kelda turned his eyes to the sealed basement, his face was complicated, his eyes were full of gratitude and hatred, "I want to find a safe way to destroy the "Book of Shadows" ", rescued more than 60 old guys!"