In the middle of the night, a bright full moon hung in the sky, and the moonlight reflected a frightened face through the gaps in the forest.
The bluish-gray stubble on his face covered his cheeks and grew to the length of his fingernails, his face was loose and swollen, covered with sweat, and surrounded by heavy dark circles, his eyes were bloodshot and stared like copper bells, as he kept twisting. The neck peeked around.
The man's pale-yellow linen shirt was tightly tied into his trousers, covered with mud, black slag, and coal. His faded tights were ripped apart by the steep branches in the woods, and his knees were torn apart. It was a big hole, and there were sticky clumps of reddish marks stuck to it.
"Hu, hu..." At this moment, he was leaning against the rough pine tree, his hands resting on his knees and breathing heavily, his fingers stained black with coal kept shaking unconsciously, and he grabbed it hard. His trousers were pulled white at the knuckles, trying to contain the shudder.
"boom!"
"boom!"
"boom!"
Suddenly, a huge sound of footsteps penetrated the dense coniferous forest, causing the ground under the man to shake gently, and the slender leaves above his head slid down from the branches to him.
For a moment, he covered his mouth and nose with his hands in horror, huddled like a hedgehog, crouched behind a big tree, held his breath, pricked up his ears, and silently listened to the surrounding movement.
Every loud vibration seemed to have stabbed a knife in his heart, causing his body to tremble involuntarily, and the fingers covering his nose and mouth became harder and harder, as if he was going to cover himself to death.
He remembered some extremely terrifying sight, and his eyes flickered more and more.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
Five minutes later, a desolate and long sigh resounded throughout the forest, and the sound of huge footsteps finally moved away from the man.
Until he could no longer hear the slightest change in his ears, the man slumped to the ground with a thud, his chest heaving violently, like a dry and dying fish, almost suffocating.
He desperately breathed fresh air.
Breath, breathe, sour tears slip from the corners of my eyes,
"Survived, I survived. Tina, Jim, Daddy will go home tomorrow and take you all away! Wait for me, wait for Daddy!"
He muttered to himself like a demon, and hope and anger gradually ignited in his originally hopeless eyes.
quietly.
A vine as thick as an arm swam from the top of the oak tree behind the man little by little, and like a poisonous snake ready to prey, it nimbly dived to the top of the man's head.
The vine suddenly raised its abdomen, the tip lifted off the ground like the head of a poisonous snake, circling and bending, making a force-charging action!
"blow-"
"Snapped-"
With a flutter, the unsuspecting man was instantly hoisted ten feet off the ground, his face flushed, his hands desperately grabbing the strangling vines, blood foaming from his mouth, and his feet kicking in the air like a twitch. on.
However, everything was of no avail. He was pulled into the air and moved back a distance. A flower appeared in front of him, and patches of emerald green moss swept across the sky, growing on two legs as thick as tree trunks.
His body suddenly loosened, and he was like a punctured balloon. Several thick twig-like objects pierced into his body. With the strange sound of "snoring", warm liquid spilled out like a fountain. .
took his life.
The man's sweaty cheeks lost all blood in the blink of an eye, and finally moved his lips a few times unwillingly, kicking his legs to stop breathing.
…
A pale corpse was smashed in by densely staggered branches, and it was inserted in mid-air ten feet (3 meters) above the ground.
When the moonlight shone, a few bloody intestines slipped playfully from the abdomen, gently swaying in the dense forest with the icy night wind...
A little bit of blood spilled and was greedily absorbed by the land, and a sigh of satisfaction suddenly sounded in the deep night.
…
"Huh..." Roy took a deep breath, climbed up his body dripping with sweat, smoothed the wrinkled clothes, and patted off the broken leaves and grass stems.
"Have a nightmare?" The witcher sprinkled a few handfuls of dirt into the sparkling bonfire, extinguished it completely, and handed over a warm roasted rabbit leg.
"I just felt like someone was strangling my neck and I couldn't breathe." The teenager grabbed the barbecue and took a vicious bite, wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth, and comforted himself, "It should be because the weather is too cold, my body is sounding the alarm. "
"But since I replaced most of my sleep with meditation, this is the first dream..." Roy frowned, "It's still a nightmare."
"Fate is impermanent, and sometimes it warns people in dreams. It's not a good sign, hurry up and finish it, kid." The witcher glanced at the towering snow-capped mountains not far away, "We have to speed up and cross the Mara. Hakan, I hope it doesn't get messed up."
…
The two walked for another half a day and crossed the western path to the foot of Mahakan Mountain.
Looking up at this time, the top of the mountain has been completely hidden in the clouds and frost and snow, without a trace.
In front of me, the wind of late autumn blew the rows of tall pine trees bent over, the wheel-shaped branches swayed gently, and occasionally a pine nut fell to the ground.
There was a little boy in a blue padded jacket walking through the forest to pick up like a bunny.
Roy and the two were about to go forward to ask for directions, when suddenly a sturdy peasant woman rushed out of the forest, holding the child, turned his head up and down, and slapped his butt. .
"Running around... being disobedient... being caught and eaten by demons... why don't you beat your little bastard to death now!"
"Woo... wow..."
Seeing this farce, Roy and the witcher were a little bit dumbfounded.
"Auntie, is there the road leading to Mahakan?"
"Who are you? I haven't seen you around here!"
Hearing the words, the peasant woman squinted at the two of them. Seeing completely unfamiliar faces, she nervously held the crying boy in her arms, as if there were some kind of beast in front of her.
"Auntie, we are not human traffickers, what are you afraid of?" Roy showed a gentle smile, and the corners of his mouth twitched.
His appearance is unremarkable, and he was quite popular with women and children when he was in the Kadel House, so he wouldn't scare them, would he
The peasant woman did not speak, and glanced fearfully at the tall bald witcher behind him.
Roy also looked back at Lesso, with a look of surprise on his face, and muttered a few words in a low voice, "Poker face, weird pupils, and ice-like temperament, it looks quite bluffing."
He turned around again and explained, "Auntie, have you heard of the witcher? If the witcher is not vicious, how can they quell the monster? Don't worry, we'll ask the way, and leave as soon as we get the answer."
"Are you witchers?" The woman looked suspiciously at the two of them for a while, suddenly picked up the child and ran away, looking back while running, kicking a stone on the way, staggered under her feet and almost didn't fall, and in her arms The children of "Wow Woo Woo" are more cheerful.
"Don't run!"
The two looked at each other and felt a little puzzled in their hearts, so they slowly followed behind her, through the pine forest, and a small village came into view in the white smoke.
Under the wooden sign marked "Sponsor", a rosacea-nosed man in a felt hat led five or six honest village women to guard the entrance of the village. Several half-aged boys and girls hid behind the women, revealing With dark eyes, they looked at the two of them shyly and curiously.
The rosacea-nosed man glanced at the snake-shaped pendant on the witcher's chest, rubbed his hands together with a fake smile on his face, and said enthusiastically, "If you two don't dislike it, why don't you eat in the village? Just something happened. I want to ask you. Please come with us."