The night was cold.
Outside the witcher's hut.
The blade reflected the bright moonlight, and the two figures danced silently.
Two hands with abrupt blue veins clasped Guvisher tightly, and Roy stood the sword diagonally at his waist, like a plough in the ploughing field, the tip of the sword pointed straight to the neck of the hooded witcher, and his feet were firmly in the T-step. Bulls start to move slowly and sideways.
Oaks bowed his body slightly, pointed the tip of the sword in his left hand to his opponent's eyes, and held the blade in his right hand, with his toes lightly on the ground, pacing along with him.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
The two collided violently.
Dazzling fast break!
The sparks flew like a waterfall, the blade jumped in the moonlight, and the "Qiangqiang" struck dozens of times.
How did the figures separate.
The two faced each other again.
Guvihir rose from the waist to the face, like the horns of a bull, turning left and right with the sword holder's footsteps, always aiming at the target, ready to charge.
But the hand holding the sword was obviously shaking, because Roy's chest was heaving violently, his body was sweating, and his clothes and hair were wet.
A drop of sweat dripped down the tip of his chin.
"pat..."
On the opposite side, the hooded witcher took a deep breath, and suddenly let go of his two swords, holding the hilt like a cane, his face lost the hearty smile that he used to have - a fight, the Kunen seal of the body was shattered, A strand of hair was missing from the temples.
"A new generation replaces the old, that day has finally come... Roy the witcher, from now on, the title of the viper school swordsmanship champion will fall on your head!" Oaks tilted his head and narrowed his amber pupils , There was a hint of cunning in his face, and his steel sword in his hand clicked three times in the air, and he acted like an emperor who awarded honors to knights.
"What are you doing?" The Snake Sect apprentice rolled his eyes, danced a beautiful sword flower, returned the sword to its sheath, both angry and funny, "I've lost tens of thousands of times, so what's the joy of winning once? of?"
"You don't understand! I, an eighty-year-old witcher, was distracted in battle for the first time in thirty years. It's a shame!" Oakes pulled down his hood to hide his embarrassed and ashamed expression, "If Let Serrit know, and don't laugh too hard."
"Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret for you." Roy's mouth curved, suppressing the smile in his heart, and tentatively said,
"But you weren't in a good state just now, and you lost your mind?"
"I don't know what's going on tonight, my eyes are dizzy, and I have floaters? I always see red ghosts, and my perfect swordsmanship has been greatly reduced... I didn't swing the sword a few times, and my muscles started to sore." Oakes rubbed it. With a sore arm, he said to himself with a dignified expression, "Could it be that I spent too much drinking with Owl this afternoon?"
"Red ghost shadow, talk about it carefully." Roy's heart moved slightly.
"A long strip of tentacles," the hooded witcher stretched his hands rhythmically at his sides, roughly simulating the stance of a mollusk swimming in the water, "similar to the tentacles of an octopus, the color of blood, in the Jumping behind you and on the longsword... hell! As soon as I saw that thing, some bad experiences flooded my mind uncontrollably."
With that said, the witcher's amber pupils turned suspiciously to the pair of dark gold pupils.
"Why are you staring at me?"
"That kind of vision, is the existence in the castle still haunting you?"
"Impossible, it must be that you haven't sobered up yet!"
Roy was temporarily fooled by a word.
Red tentacles? It turns out that in the eyes of others, the so-called will to kill is such a terrifying image.
But why is it tentacles, and I am not the evil god
Roy groaned strangely in his heart.
For a while, he couldn't understand, he simply put it behind him, and recalled the scene of the discussion just now.
Compared with the four-minute group immobilization of "shock and awe", "suppression" lasts all the time, but the effect is much "gentle".
Within ten minutes, it can hardly cause any impact, but if the battle lasts more than ten minutes, the opponent starts to feel wrong.
Taking Oaks as a reference, the specific manifestations are increased physical energy consumption, sweating, rapid heartbeat, and difficulty in concentrating.
When the battle lasted for 20 minutes, the quantitative change resulted in a qualitative change, Oaks' strength and reaction were reduced by at least one third, and he frequently lost his mind very strangely!
Roy seized the opportunity and, for the first time, won the swordsmanship teacher who had abused him thousands of times in the competition for the first time!
But he couldn't smile.
In a 20-minute test, he lost more than 30 times in a row before he regained one game.
In the duel arena, he has died countless times, and there is no chance to wait for the suppression to take effect.
"The witcher's will exceeds 10, and if you replace it with an opponent with low willpower, the suppression will work faster!" He could only comfort himself like this.
"Listen, wait for me to rest for ten minutes, sober up, let's continue?" Oaks sat down cross-legged, ready to sink into meditation.
Roy smiled apologetically, and he couldn't let the other party easily see through his own suppressing swordsmanship.
"Why don't you change your practice later and try a hand crossbow? You said that you can swing a sword and fly a crossbow arrow."
"Then let you see how seasoned witchers and school seniors deal with bowmen!" Oakes grinned confidently, grinning like a ravine on his forehead.
…
ten minutes later.
When he was a hooded witcher with a living target, he leaned his back against the stable and looked at the night sky, his face became extremely wonderful, and he even began to suspect that the old epilepsy left in the trial of green grass had recurred decades ago.
"Am I entering the stage of old age early? Alas, I have to drink less alcohol in the future."
Roy wiped his crossbow, thoughtfully.
After several upgrades, Gabriel, with the crossbow specialization activated, can break Oaks' Quinn shield with two consecutive arrows. Because of the tracking effect of the guided arrows, even if the opponent is extremely agile, it is difficult to dodge the shot.
Coupled with the stun effect of the stun arrow, whether it is to fly the arrow with the snake-style silver sword, or to bounce the arrow with the Quinn seal, Oaks will immediately fall into a stun state for 0.1 seconds.
Just 0.1 seconds, but completely disrupted his fighting rhythm, which caused an extremely strange stalemate.
In the yard where they met 20 meters away, Roy completely suppressed the older Snake Sect witcher with Gabriel in his hand, leaving him too tired to parry the arrows and unable to fight back.
However, after the eight stun arrows were fired, it was another scene, so—
Roy glanced at Oaks, who was lamenting, and fled back to the hut before he could react.
…
the next morning.
The warm morning light casts a golden radiance on the statue of Cliff, the father of the sky. Clean power.
The densely packed people of La Valledi surrounded a high platform.
There were four stakes on the high platform, and one of the sea scorpions was bound to it, and it was roasted alive into charcoal. Today, a new body was added to the pillars.
The death was extremely tragic.
The stake, thicker than a human thigh, ran through his body, and the dark and hard tip came out of his mouth, splitting most of his swollen face.
His eyes widened, his facial features were twisted, and he was terrified beyond measure. His neck, arms, and exposed skin were covered with wounds cut with sharp tools and bruises from blunt blows. It was obvious that he had been tortured before he died.
From a distance, it looks like a roast chicken skewered by wooden sticks.
"Oh, my God! What happened to La Valledi recently? There are so many terrible accidents!" An obese woman onlookers gasped and prayed to herself, "My god Cliff Please keep your eyes open, stop evil atrocities, and protect your most devout believers!"
Her voice was quickly drowned out by the din of the crowd,
"The strange death is not a coincidence, it is intentional, I smell the breath of the devil, it is the devil who is holding an evil sacrifice ceremony! The devil will commit more killings and summon terrifying evil, everyone Run for your life!" A foul-smelling middle-aged homeless man yelled in panic.
"Shut up! Fool, this is clearly the punishment of the gods! Don't you know the man on stage? Dylan the executioner, who has tortured many innocent people and has countless grievances under his hands, he deserves it!"
…
"Come on, Cantila..."
Roy looked away from the corpse and quickly withdrew from the chaotic crowd.
"Roy, you don't know how this guy has tormented us for a month, he deserves to die!" Cantila stared at the corpse happily, with a hint of regret in her tone. "I just hate that he died too quickly without feeling our pain and despair any further."
"I can understand, you did the right thing... With what Dylan did, it would be too cheap to die happily." Having said that, Roy was still a little emotional.
The elf lady has changed, and only by changing her soft and weak character, becoming rock-solid and ruthless, can she survive in Dole Breitner, the struggle between man and elves.
"She should go back to her hometown through the portal..."
…
Roy took Cantila back to the witcher's hut.
He had already introduced this lady from Zerican to his companions as early as yesterday. Cantila is not only agile, but also skilled in bowing and horses. She does not have the weakness and criticality of most women in her words and deeds. She is informal and outspoken, and can chat for a while with anyone.
It doesn't care about everyone's sensitive identities and sloppy dress.
No objection, the team will take her on a journey to Novigrad.
Before they set off, Cecilie, a witch doctor who had a relationship with each other, came over and made a request to go to Willenfick Island to perform the ancestral eve sacrifice.
But the few people and Wei Lun's wife in the forest are like fire and water. In a short period of time, they will never step into Wei Lun for half a step until they have a firm grasp of eradicating them. The witch doctor's request.
However, Roy still gave a suggestion to try his luck in Vizima. If Belengar stayed there, he might have taken this commission.
Or contact the alchemist Kalkstein, the Frankenstein with agile wrists, imaginative ideas, and powerful mana, who may be interested in the witch doctor's request.
Finish the witch doctor thing.
That afternoon, five witchers, a boy, a woman, and five horses crossed the re-opened white bridge north of the castle of La Valledi, and crossed the steam-drenched Pontar River smoothly.
Leaving the Barony of La Valledi, leaving Temeria, and officially entering the territory of Redania.
Across the bank, they are two completely different worlds.
Redania is a country with extremely developed commerce and agriculture. It is also known as the northern granary. The most abundant crop is wheat, and most areas are dominated by wheat fields.
The witcher set foot on the river bank, and didn't go far. As far as he could see, except for the caravan carriage full of goods in front of him, it was the lush wheat fields on both sides of the road.
October is the season when wheat is ripe. When the wind blows, the tidy fields rhythm like a golden ocean one after another, bringing the refreshing wheat fragrance, which is a wonderful start to this unknown journey.
…
"Ma'am, can't you be a little more reserved? You're making me breathless!" Roy sat on the back of the brown horse Welt, holding the reins in one hand, and gently stroking Golphin the cat in the saddlebag with the other. Eagle's sleek little head. "The road ahead is blocked, Wirth is still walking, and you won't fall down if you relax..."
"Giggle... Don't be rude, Roy!" Cantila, who was riding with the witcher, let out a hearty laugh, her sturdy arms couldn't help but clasped tighter, and the sturdy peaks on her chest were getting closer to the hunter. The devil's back made him feel the youthful elasticity and heat more vividly.
"It's you who should relax, your waist is collapsed like a big tree! And I am hugging your waist, not your neck, how can you be out of breath,"
Cantila laughed crisply, "As a mercenary, I have to keep my employer safe."
After getting acquainted with a few people, the Zerekan woman also likes to make some jokes that are not taboo, and she seems to like to see others embarrassing.
Roy shook his head helplessly.
Well, the girls of Zerican are unrestrained!
"Cantila, I didn't say, stop calling yourself a mercenary, or you will insult our friendship... Right? Werther, Golfing."
"Cuckold Xie-"
"Cuckoo-"
"Little devil, stop struggling, young people should enjoy themselves!" The bald man rode a maroon-colored stallion to the side, glanced at Cantila's unique mohawk hairstyle, and gave the apprentice a rare wink. Eye,
In his opinion, as long as the object is not a thoughtful sorceress, whoever the apprentice likes to look for!
"Don't worry, Roy, we will keep it a secret for you." Oaks suddenly reined in the reins, stretched out his index finger and thumb and pinched in midair, "As long as Oaks has enough money to drink comfortably, he will never chew. Tongue. Otherwise, my mouth and stomach are dissatisfied, I lose my temper, and I accidentally say something in front of Rita Ned... As someone who has been here, let me remind you that the consequences of being angry with a sorceress are serious."
"What kind of messed up relationship?" Roy glared at him without any guilt
"Who is Rita Ned?" Cantila interjected curiously.
"Okay, don't make trouble!" Serrit stared at not far ahead, and the long carriage team lined up in a long line, stopped in front of a sentry, and was interrogated.
The crowd fell silent.
The outpost consisted of two rows of huge, spiked logs, and a dozen or so heavily armed soldiers stood behind barricades stacked with logs. Their chest armor was painted with the coat of arms of Redania—the background color was Red like blood, a silver giant eagle that captured the evil spirit soared above it. There is also a small black shield with a golden cross inlaid on the chest of the giant eagle.
The soldiers looked serious and had a clear division of labor, including archers, shield soldiers, halberdiers, and even a cavalry. The excellent quality of the wheat in Redania produces excellent horses, and thanks to this, the knights in the country are particularly outstanding.
The caravans had to be inspected honestly, and the witchers were no exception.
The only annoying thing is that because the White Bridge has been blocked for a period of time, many caravans have accumulated goods, and the inspection has been delayed for a lot of time.
But all the way was smooth and there was no accident.
In fact, it was only half a day after leaving the White Bridge. This was already the third wave of sentries that everyone encountered.
The location of the witcher is very sensitive. If you go to the northeast in less than two days, you will be Tritog, the capital of Redania. If you go to the northwest, you will pass through the delta at the mouth of the Pontar River in about three days. With the world-renowned Niubao College (Osenfurt), going out from Niubao College and not far northwest is the destination of this trip, the free city of Novigrad.
As the border between the two countries, there are several important cities nearby, so many outposts and patrols have been set up along the way.
One is to eliminate spies and spies and arrest wanted criminals, and the other is for profit.
The business road from Baiqiao to Novigrad has been established for many years, mature and perfect, and it is the first choice for most caravans.
The sentries along the way can ensure the safety of the caravan on the one hand, and on the other hand, they will also collect taxes according to the total value of the goods.
But the tax rate is not high, even if you have to go through several rounds of exploitation to reach the city of freedom, it will not be much.
The stingy caravan had no choice but to pass through the perilous wilderness of Redania, where not only ferocious beasts, monsters such as ghosts, but also gangs of bandits roamed.
If you choose to take risks, if you are unlucky, you will not only lose everything, but also your life.
The witcher is very lucky, there are no expensive items on him, and the slightly valuable weapons are also collected by Roy and Leto, and only need to pay a low toll.
…
After being interrogated and on his way, the first day of Redania passed away quietly.
When the sun slanted westward, orange light appeared on the horizon, and some wagon teams began to set up camp in the fields beside the wheat fields, with a safe distance not far from each other.
There are also some carriages who travel day and night, ignoring the approaching twilight, but those are only a few, and the night in the wild is more dangerous than the daytime.
The witcher found a weathered boulder by the roadside to camp. They tied their horses to dead trees, and as for the beds, they simply laid a layer of dry grass clippings and ferns under the boulders.
Then make a fire on the stove.
"Whoa—" Oakes whistled at the black-haired witcher, and glanced pointedly at the iron pot above the bonfire.
"Ox, want to be lazy again? You have to go hunting tonight... or you'll be ready to go hungry later!"
"Alas, see you next time Rita Ned..."
"Stop!" Roy sighed helplessly, and glanced at the remaining companions, Phrius was guiding Carl's swordsmanship one-on-one.
Like a tumbler, the little boy was drawn to and fro by a wooden sword in the teacher's hand, and from time to time he was drawn like a spinning top, turning 360 degrees, and then his face was confused and hopeless.
who I am? where am i? What am I going to do
Serrit and Leto were sitting next to each other, and you pointed at the boy every word and every word, seemingly unaware of Roy's murderous eyes, because he just didn't want to move.
Roy sighed heavily, then took the crossbow and the Golphin Owl in the hood and drilled into the field.
Owl form, but good at catching rabbits!
"Roy, take me!" At this moment, Cantila volunteered to stand up, eager to try.
"Your injury isn't healed yet."
"It doesn't matter, Zerekan's children are the best hunters even if they are paralyzed! Don't believe us, let's compare and see who catches more prey?"
…
The moon rose, the bonfire swayed in the night wind, and smoke curled up from the caravan camps everywhere.
Roy returned to the weathered boulder with a pair of fat rabbits with snow-white fur, a cauliflower snake with a forearm thickness, and a few inconspicuous plants.
"Look, how is it, it's not worse than you!" Candila, carrying a bow and arrow, walked over from behind with strong long legs and proudly lifted the two colorful pheasants in his hands.
The witcher nodded. "Help me, I'll treat you to a feast tonight!"
Skilled in plucking, peeling and deboning, and taking out internal organs, Roy's long life in the wild has allowed Roy to hone his cooking skills. Of course, a large part of the credit is due to the sneaky adultery of the seniors Leto and the Oaks brothers.
In addition, because of the observation, Roy can easily find the medicines that add color to the dishes from the plants in the wild, and spices such as fennel, cloves, and cardamom.
So the food he cooks is much tastier than most Witchers who just want to fill their stomachs.
…
"Hmm..." Lesso nibbled at the rabbit legs that were roasted until golden brown and charred with oil. The spices and salt were very tasty, and the rich taste made him narrow his eyes in comfort.
"Roy, how about eating roasted wild boar tomorrow, I haven't tasted that for a long time!"
Oaks drank a spoonful of snake meat soup, and the snake meat was boiled until soft and melted in the mouth, and the aftertaste had a unique sweetness.
It seems that if you are not careful, your tongue will be swallowed in your stomach.
"Don't, I'm tired of roasting pigs. Next time, let's roast a marmot. The meat of the little guy will taste even stronger." Phillius stuffed a piece of dripping chicken into the apprentice's hand, and the boy touched it. Touching his round belly, his face turned bitter, he gritted his teeth and started eating again.
Cantila devoured half a crispy roast chicken, licking the shiny grease on her fingers like a cat from time to time. barbecue."
"Eat as much as you like."
Roy Cook looked at the warm scene in front of him with his arms crossed, and couldn't help feeling an unusual sense of satisfaction.
When will the witchers from the six schools gather together and hold a grand banquet
"By the way, Cantila, what exactly is Zerican?" Roy asked, taking a sip of the warm snake broth.
"It's completely different from here..." The lady paused, swallowed her mouthful of food, and then said succinctly, "There are deserts everywhere, oases are occasionally seen, and there are huge poisonous insects, countless dangerous and beautiful ones. Mysterious creatures. The people of the tribe worship the legendary dragon the most, and they have been chasing this creature all their lives, and I am no exception."
The people of the northern kingdoms call the Blue Mountains the edge of the world, but few dare to challenge it, and even fewer have crossed the mountains to enter Zerekan.
Roy has always been curious about that mysterious land,
"If you have a chance, you must go and see it."
"You're interested in that place. How about I'll be your guide and take you on a tour of Zerekan?" Cantila licked the foam from her red lips, her eyes sparkling.
"Are you serious?"
"Of course, the people of the dragon do what they say."
…
"Hey!" Oakes threw away the pheasant's bare leg bones, took off a roasted chicken butt, and chewed his mouth full of oil. "You two give me some influence, and there are a few spectators here. Put Zerican and the dragon aside for now, let's talk about business..."
Oakes hiccupped. "In a few days, we will reach the delta that passes through the mouth of the Pontar River. Do you want to go into Ossenfurt and take a look..."
"Why not?" Serret said. "One of the two most splendid cultural pearls in the world, one is Imperial College Nilfgaard, and the other is Oxenfurt University. We have seen Imperial College. , Osenfurt should go and see too!"
"Teacher, I want to go too!" Karl hugged Phrius' thigh, his face full of longing.
I don't know how many children are instilled by their parents with the ambition to enter Oxenfurt University, although 99% of them will never see a formal school in their lifetime.
"Then go for a visit! I heard that Orsenfort has a special school of medicine and herbal medicine, as well as an alchemy school, which should be of some help to me." Roy agreed.
Olsenfurt also has an old acquaintance, Linus Pete, a professor of natural history, the honest man who bought the octopus cubs from him on the Yaruga River. Long octopus" raised to death.
Moreover, Dandelion and Shani are both students of Ossenfurt, and even Geralt has been there to listen.