It was noon, and the winter sun was shining warmly. However, the sunlight casting shadows through the withered trees in the forest looked menacing, making one feel eerie and scared.
After the battle ended, Allen did not rush to sheathe his sword. Holding his sword with both hands, he cautiously walked step by step towards the drowner mound. The mound faced away from him, with all the heads turned backward, revealing only the dark red and eerie blue back of their skulls.
Counting carefully, there were seventy drowner heads. So many heads neatly stacked made one's whole body feel cold.
"The Killer Lake was just cleared once; could these seventy heads mean the drowners in the lake were exterminated again?"
Allen muttered to himself as he walked, making small talk. To be honest, he felt a bit uneasy. Although he had seen many corpses and killed many monsters himself, He had never encountered such a bizarre scene.
"Crunch~ crunch~ crunch~"
The snow in the forest crunched under his boots, and the smell of blood became stronger and stronger as Allen reached the place.
"Hiss!"
Peering over the drowner mound, Allen couldn't help but gasp.
In a regular circle in the forest clearing, there was no snow, only blood and bones scattered everywhere. The mound occupied a quarter of the circle. The bright red and stark white were everywhere, giving a strangely orderly yet maniacal beauty.
Those ghouls must have been attracted by the strong smell of blood here, dining in this place. There were obvious bite marks on many pieces of flesh at the edge of the circle.
"Rustle~"
Carefully stepping on the snow, Allen moved to the front. Immediately, his hair stood on end, his scalp tingled, and his whole body instinctively tensed up.
"What the hell is this!" he exclaimed.
Dozens of pairs of eyes were staring at him simultaneously.
What was even more terrifying was that these heads of drowners, which lacked intelligence and even emotions, making it impossible to confuse them with the Axii sign, were all wearing strange, satisfied smiles. No matter where Allen moved, they seemed to stare straight at him. But upon closer inspection, those eyes did not move at all.
"Wait a minute!"
"Two of them don't seem to be drowners!"
Shifting his gaze, he noticed the two distinctive heads in the center of the mound. Blue eyes, pointed ears, gray skin, and skeletal noses.
One looked hideous and pained, while the other seemed confused, completely different from the other drowners.
"They seem... seem to be Foglets?"
Forcing himself to endure the discomfort of being stared at by more than seventy pairs of eyes, Allen took a few more steps closer. Indeed, they were Foglets, and they seemed to be the same ones he killed the day before yesterday.
No, not seem!
"Location, number, and facial expressions..." Allen checked one by one.
They were exactly the ones he had killed before!
These two Foglets were his trophies.
After the highland trial, Allen had led Vesemir and the others to move materials in front of Old Speartip's cave. But since Foglets were not rare monsters, and the corpses of Old Speartip and the Drowner King were too large, they didn't bother with them.
Today, before leaving Kaer Morhen, he had planned to handle them together after arriving. Unexpectedly, his trophies had been used as sacrifices by someone else.
Yes.
Sacrifices!
Allen weighed the misty arm bone of the Foglet in his backpack. Thinking of the identification information's type "sacrificial item."
Everything became clear. But there was still one thing Allen did not know.
"Where did that strange swamp hag come from?"
Pondering, Allen checked the eerie and bloody place again. But whether using the mirage pearl's perspective, the wolf medallion's magic perspective, or the skill identification, There was no useful clue other than the bloody eeriness.
Realizing this, Allen got up, sighed, and stopped wasting effort. He looked up at the sky; the winter sun was already setting.
"It's getting late, I'll leave this for now and ask Lady Vira about it tonight along with the Foglet's arm bone."
Decision made, he stopped dwelling on it and turned towards the Elemental Ring. After walking for a while, Allen suddenly felt a surge of intuition. He turned back and glanced at the altar again, finding it very familiar.
Thinking further, A flash of inspiration crossed his mind. He suddenly recalled the "Ritual: Flesh Golem" he had just obtained in his backpack. From Allen's current angle, this "mound" was different from the ritual array in the cutscene. But the bloody intense style was almost identical.
Allen glanced at the mound again, bowed his head, and pondered: "Could it be that this swamp hag and this ritual came from the same place?"
-------
After leaving the eerie mound, Allen encountered no more surprises. He walked carefully, only carrying the head of the swamp hag for safety and convenience, leaving its body behind. However, Before reaching Old Speartip's cave, not even a single drowner appeared.
Standing on the shallows in front of the cave, Allen looked back at the clear, mirror-like Killer Lake and the deep, unfathomable lakeside forest, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Finally at a safe place."
With the appearance of such situations as evil god rituals, it was hard not to worry about other troubles arising.
"Bang bang~"
Taking out a bottle of Cat's Eye potion from his belt, Allen lightly tapped the stones on the ground, dislodging the snow stuck to his shoes. The reason for taking this route today, besides hunting monsters to improve his strength, was to test this potion. Unfortunately, the strange and sudden events left him no chance to use the Cat's Eye potion.
"Bang~ bang~ bang~"
Kicking the stones on the ground lightly, dislodging the snow stuck to his shoes. After preparing everything, he walked into Old Speartip's cave. After a few steps based on memory, he was enveloped in darkness. He couldn't see his hand in front of his face.
Allen stopped and stood still.
"Pop! Gulp~ gulp~"
The potion was colorless and tasteless, smooth down the throat.
"Like drinking plain water."
As this thought crossed his mind, the "Cat's Eye" in his stomach seemed to refute, suddenly spreading.
"Thump~ thump~ thump~"
As the potion spread, his heartbeat quickened.
Allen felt a pain in his chest, and the area around his eyes suddenly seemed filled with liquid, the pressure rising. Involuntarily closing his eyes, a flash of white light appeared.
When he reopened them, the pitch-black cave lit up. The stalactites on the ceiling dripped water, the stone walls were crisscrossed with cracks, and the ground was full of small pits. These were probably made over time by Old Speartip going in and out of the cave.
--------
Everything in the cave was covered in a layer of clear light, making everything seem fuzzy yet not affecting normal vision. This contradictory feeling…
"Really... amazing!"
Allen couldn't help but praise, then a thought crossed his mind, and a question suddenly arose: "How does this gentle and harmless visual effect increase the critical hit rate?"
...….
📢20 advanced chapters on p@treaon📢
For advance chapters: p@treon.com/Uchiha_Itachi007 (replace @ with a)
103. Plan Failed.
104. Are You a Transmigrator Too?
105. The Charity Job.
106. What Are You Talking About?
107. Shattered Dream.