The Divine Hunter

What is "shasha"?

It was the sound of grains of salt sliding down his fingers.

The first quarter moon shone on Kadel House, and under the tall hornbeams in the courtyard, stood three figures wrapped in thick cotton coats. They bury their heads in front of the horn tree that several people embraced, each with a torch, and let the white salt grains between their fingers scratch through the rough bark...

After a while, the intact bark cracked a strange hole, which quickly became larger, and gradually became like an open vertical pupil, suddenly rounded, huh - the corners of the eyes were drawn to both sides, where the hornbeam was touching the ground. A half-human-high oval tree hole was formed.

Roy put the torch at the entrance of the cave, and he could see a gentle slope extending downward. The slope was covered with vines, broken leaves, dead branches and soil. At the same time, a strong earthy smell wafted from the entrance of the cave.

"What's next?" Roy turned and glanced at the two ladies in pink cotton coats. He was also wearing pink cotton coats and looked rather funny, but there was no way. There were only two women living in the whole school, and they were willing to split up. It's good to have a cotton coat for yourself.

He still had to listen to the witcher's advice.

"If you don't tell me, then I'll tell you! Three people can't go down at the same time..." Roy said solemnly, "One has to stay outside to take care of it, and sprinkle a ring of salt around this horn tree to prevent the things inside from running out. "

"I have to go down..." Roy took a deep breath. There was a big killer hidden in his space. According to the witcher's notes, he had every chance to kill monsters.

"This is my territory. I've been occupied by that dog for so long, and I even stole a few of my children. It's a good deal!" Slipped down the slope.

"Then you stay outside!" Roy got into the tree hole before Vivien opened his mouth. "Don't worry, Sister Vivien, I will help you bring him out!"

...

Roy held a torch in one hand and slid down the dark corridor with the soft slope in the other.

After sliding down less than ten latitudes (3 meters), he landed smoothly.

The next second, the short boots on his feet were wet, and there was actually water on the ground under the tree hole, which just submerged his ankles, but the water was bone-chilling. Roy couldn't help taking a breath and shivered all over. No wonder the witcher made him wear more clothes, the temperature in the tree hole was seven or eight degrees colder than outside.

The torch swung around in a circle, and Roy saw that Kadel was not far ahead, he bent his knees and squatted in a guarded posture, and quietly hooked at him.

What they were in was a dark underground space, surrounded by walls covered with sticky mud, slippery moss and vines, and ponds filled with bizarre rocks.

In addition to the wider space in the center, there are several narrow holes in the corners of the four sides. How narrow is it? People can only lie on the ground and crawl on their hands and knees. From time to time, strange frogs and snakes squeaked from these holes, rippling back and forth between the central stone walls.

Roy can't imagine, is there such a space under the horn tree originally, or is it created by the monster called the Hunter Ghost?

He waded behind the filthy and icy groundwater behind Kadel, glanced at the holes everywhere, and a terrifying thought appeared in his heart?

Could it be that there is a hunter ghost living in every hole?

No, the witcher wouldn't cheat his apprentice like that, and if that was the case, he would definitely bring it up in his notes.

So the hunter is in one of the holes, choking off the newest prey with vomit.

Roy and Cadell exchanged glances. The latter raised his chin to the nearest hole and silently took out a dagger from his waist. The dagger was evenly smeared with fine grains of salt, and the other hand held a torch. , and got into it with a short body.

Roy followed. Inside the hole was a narrow and cramped tunnel, no more than two feet high. The trousers that had just climbed into the calf were soaked with ice water, and the sticky soil on the walls on both sides was clinging to the shoulders.

Mobility is extremely inconvenient.

The two of them crawled in cautiously with the sound of their breathing, and from time to time there were strange "hissing" sounds and erratic airflow coming from the front and rear passages.

This made Roy feel terrible, his face jumped tightly, and he didn't dare to breathe. If the monster attacked from behind his butt in this awkward posture, how should he resist?

He could only keep looking back, lest a grimace suddenly appear in the dark tunnel.

Soon, the two climbed to the deepest part of the tunnel, a slightly drier spherical nest covered with broken branches and leaves and the bones of small animals.

Although there is no hunter ghost, there are traces of its feeding in the nest. Human bones, small skulls, leg bones, and vertebrae are piled up in every corner. The size is much slender than that of adults, and the surface is dyed with a strange light. yellow.

Obviously belonging to children.

Cadell picked up a bone, her face full of murderous intent, and her teeth were about to break. She might have other purposes in creating the school, but she did treat students with no reservations.

They quickly searched for two more holes, and after each search, they carried the skeleton of the deceased to the hole as a marker.

By the fourth hole, halfway through the climb, I heard a clear grunt, like something was vomiting.

They held their breaths, the firelight flashed forward, and a ghost appeared in the darkness.

A slender humanoid, skin covered with dark silt and moss, limbs slender like branches, was lying on the corner of the nest like a dog, spewing yellow fluid intermittently towards a bulging mass.

As soon as it was lit by the fire, it immediately turned around. His cheeks were as thin as a skeleton, his two black nostrils were sunken inward, and his pale eyes were bloodshot, full of rage and madness. Its mouth had its upper and lower lips removed, and its gums were exposed, and its teeth were covered in translucent saliva from the recent vomiting.

It was startled by the firelight, and in the blink of an eye, like a spider, it retreated into the shadows of its lair.

The two quickly chased up with torches, but did not find the thing.

Roy glanced vigilantly, while Cadell frantically scraped the ball of vomit. He actually pulled out a small head with blond hair,

"Hey, child, can you hear me?" Cadell wiped the dirt on his face with his hands, revealing a thin and delicate face, and the boy's eyelids moved twice.

Roy looked at this face, and the fog in his mind was instantly revealed... A dusty memory became fresh again.

He suddenly realized,

"I remembered, it was you who was missing, little Tom!"

The little boy who greeted him on the first day, the orphan who had a bright smile and liked to show his two front teeth and lived at the school.

In Kadel's house for more than half a month, this guy will review with him every day after school, and the two of them can be considered to have a little friendship... "I almost completely forgot about you."

He rubbed the child's head, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up. The nervousness and fear he had before disappeared, and he was in a good mood. "Fortunately we arrived in time this time! How do you feel, little Tom?"

"Roy? Headmaster Cardell? I'm... what's wrong?" Tom opened his eyes in a daze, his voice weak, "Little..."

"What did you say?"

"Little...heart!"

puff--

A ghost fell from the ceiling without warning, knocked Roy down, crumpled into a ball, and rolled to the side twice.

Together.

It had the upper hand, sitting on Roy with its right paw raised. Under the firelight, the awl-like slender and sharp nails, flickering coldly, suddenly swiped toward the neck—

The other hand stopped its wrist halfway.

Roy's bruised left hand grabbed the attacking claws, and his right hand grabbed a crossbow arrow out of thin air, clenched his fingers tightly, and poked the arrow into its eye socket first.

"Woo-woo-"

The boy hunter made a strange cry like a baby crying, billowing white smoke and dark green blood flowed out of his eyes, and a huge force suddenly erupted, breaking free from Roy's hand, screaming frantically and rushing to the side to drill. into the tunnel.

In an extremely awkward posture, it wriggled in the tunnel like a slippery loach and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Roy, take Tom out first, and give this to me!"

Kadel dropped the words and chased after the blood trail with a dagger and a torch.

"Huh... It's dangerous, I almost capsized in the gutter!" Roy breathed a sigh of relief. Just now, the sharp claws cut his throat, and everything would be meaningless by then.

"Are you... hurt?" A weak greeting came from the side.

"Tom, don't worry, I'm fine." Roy wiped the cold sweat on his face and quickly rescued the boy from the sticky vomit. It also looks a bit like boiled cheese. Roy rubbed a fist-sized ball and stuffed it into the space.

Then he climbed out of the tunnel with Tom on his back. There were no twists and turns on the way, and the hunter boy did not know which tunnel he was pushed into by Kadel.

Roy arrived at the entrance of the tree hole smoothly, dragged the vines up the slope and handed Tom to Vivien outside.

The woman was surprised and delighted, and hurriedly put on a coat for the shivering boy.

"Roy, you found..."

"There is no time to explain now, the monster has not been solved yet, I have to help Kadel and take care of him!" Leaving a sentence, Roy returned to the tree hole without waiting for her to ask again.

Following the blood trail, he found the two opposing sides in the deepest part of the fifth cave. Both Kadel and Hunter Ghost were wounded. The former covered the bloody abdomen with one hand, and shook the torch to protect himself with the other hand. His face was pale. Obviously it won't last long.

The Hunter Ghost was not feeling well either. He was blinded in one eye, and Kadel used a dagger to cut dozens of fine wounds on his body, but these wounds did not bleed any more.

Apparently the salt on the weapon is far from enough to kill.

Roy was thoughtful and called out the crossbow.

"Whoosh-" A cold arrow hit the Hunter Ghost's knee, it trembled all over, half bowed its body, opened a bloody mouth at Roy who was attacking, and let out a threatening growl, ready to pounce.

Roy ignored it, pulled the string and set the arrow, and another arrow hit its other knee.

In a few seconds, Hunter Ghost became a lame man. Even if it could heal itself, it would take time, at least in a short period of time.

"Principal Cadel, get behind me!" Roy stepped back while continuing to shoot the monster's legs.

Kadel was puzzled when he heard the words, but still obeyed Roy's words, maintained a defensive posture, and slowly retreated with him.

At the moment, the scene turned into two people retreating into the tunnel, while the hunter was hiding in the innermost part of the lair, separated by a distance of 20 minutes, the ugly face like a skeleton kept grinning at the two of them, and the black claws like a demon. He waved frantically in mid-air, making a threatening gesture.

It is like a mad dog provoked by humans. Even if it is full of anger, it is afraid of the weapons and torches in the hands of humans and never dares to rush over.

When the distance between the two parties reached thirty minutes, Roy suddenly had a green glass jar in his hand and threw it forward with a little charge. The glass jar drew a straight line in mid-air and hit the hunter.

"boom--"

The glass shattered, and there was a short and violent explosion. The entire nest erupted with brilliant fire, the fire snake jumped and twisted recklessly, the air seemed to be ignited, and the temperature rose several degrees.

The boy hunter in the center turned directly into a human-shaped torch, with astonishing heat and light, it walked towards Roy and Kadel step by step in pain and wailing, but its legs had already been abolished, and it couldn't catch up at all. The speed at which the two retreated.

The power of the Dancing Star is so amazing that even the sparks falling from it will quickly ignite the litter around it.

The fire grew stronger and stronger, and after the tunnel, the entire nest was on fire.

It walked in the flame's lair for about two minutes, exhausted all its strength and fell to the ground, turning into a pile of coke.

"Kill the boy hunter.

Gain 100 experience points. "

Having retreated to the entrance of the tree hole, Roy breathed a sigh of relief.

"We have to hurry and get the bones of those poor children out!"