"But it doesn't make sense. It's only been half a day. Where could he have hidden the jade statue?"
"Or does Vilgefortz have another trick up his sleeve?"
Thinking of this, the witcher fixed his gaze on Vilgefortz's face.
He suddenly noticed that although Vilgefortz's formal attire only had one remaining reactive gemstone, the fear and panic on the mage's face had noticeably diminished.
His pale gray eyes, amidst his struggle, radiated a sinister and ferocious glint.
"Does he really have another trick?" Allen's heart sank.
Without hesitation, the blade in his hand twisted with his rotating body, slicing through the air toward Vilgefortz.
"Swish!"
As the silver blade closed in, the emotions in Vilgefortz's gray eyes intensified. Amidst his crazed demeanor, an overwhelming sadness and fury became even more pronounced.
Allen didn't discern these emotions solely through observation.
They were like a deluge breaking through a dam. Despite being mostly blocked by the Yrden sign's protective barrier, a portion of them still managed to infect the witcher directly.
"Buzz~"
The wolf medallion hummed intensely.
Allen experienced a fleeting moment of disorientation. Images flashed involuntarily in his mind—scenes of filthy slums, heavily guarded prisons, verdant forests…
Strangely, for a few moments, he even felt as if night had turned into day, scorching summers had become freezing winters, and foul-smelling sewage flowed through barren fields around him.
Besides these unfamiliar landscapes, he saw figures he had never met before—thugs, orphans, druids, and mages—all engaging in acts of violence, scorn, reprimand, and conflict.
And every negative act was directed at the focal point of these memories' perspective.
"These... these are Vilgefortz's memories…"
The realization struck Allen like lightning. But the torrent of emotions and visions overwhelmed him, causing his movements to falter.
In that brief pause, Vilgefortz crouched and narrowly dodged the strike.
And it wasn't over yet.
Vilgefortz showed no joy at evading the attack.
His gaze locked onto Allen, his expression contorted further into a monstrous snarl, shedding his semblance of a battered gentleman to resemble a wounded beast of the wild.
Allen knew the reason: Vilgefortz was enraged because someone had seen his memories.
Even though Allen had been force-fed these memories against his will. The emotions surged directly into his mind, their raw and unfiltered essence conveying the mage's murderous intent.
Vilgefortz wanted him dead—urgently, fervently, desperately.
"Buzz!"
The wolf medallion vibrated violently, leaping out from Allen's collar. The magic in the surroundings, depleted earlier by Alzur's Thunder spell, abruptly surged back.
No.
It wasn't the same magic.
Allen gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, his pulse quickening.
At that moment.
The strange, unfamiliar magic thickened even further, resembling a dense gray mist that filled the desolate plains.
The pulsating magic clamped down on Allen's temples like an iron vise, a deafening buzz ringing in his ears, causing the hair on his neck to stand on end.
Suppressing the primal fear rising within him, Allen turned and swung his sword again.
In that instant, he caught sight of Vilgefortz's eyes once more.
What kind of eyes were those?
They burned with green flames, and the conflicting emotions of restraint and frenzy clashed and evaporated within them.
"Swish!"
The sharp silver blade pierced through the unfamiliar magic, hurtling toward Vilgefortz's neck in his bizarre state.
"Ahhhh—!"
Vilgefortz let out a furious roar.
In an instant.
A dazzling green light illuminated the wasteland.
Before Allen's sword could touch Vilgefortz, an immense force struck him head-on, flinging him into the air like an arrow. He shot past the ringing white horse and crashed into a patch of wild grass like a lifeless puppet.
"Boom!"
A deafening explosion followed immediately after.
Rocks, dirt, grass, fragments of walls, and even the corpse of the white horse were lifted into the air and hurled toward where Allen had fallen. However, the accuracy of these flying objects was poor, with only a few landing near his position.
Rising from the grass, Allen dodged the incoming horse carcass and looked toward the battlefield's center.
Vilgefortz hovered in mid-air, encased in a green sphere, green flames dancing in his pupils.
Around him, the raging magic lifted everything into the air, making objects orbit him as if the very laws of gravity had been overturned.
He resembled a green black hole.
"Primal Chaos!"
Allen gritted his teeth.
The green sphere wasn't an ordinary magical shield—or perhaps it was, but it was a manifestation of Primal Chaos, naturally protecting the source of magic without any conscious control.
Allen recalled a similar phenomenon described in the original accounts when Pavetta, Ciri's mother, had awakened.
"But isn't Pavetta tied to Elder Blood?"
"Can ordinary magic sources utilize Primal Chaos this recklessly? Just what is this cursed Primal Chaos?"
These thoughts raced through Allen's mind as he skillfully dodged flying debris on the battlefield's periphery.
"Ahhhh—!"
Vilgefortz's roar reverberated like a whip cracking across the plains, striking everything and everyone in its path.
"Vilgefortz!"
"Allen!"
The sorceress and Vesemir shouted in panic, their voices laden with identical concern.
But they—and even the sorceress—couldn't breach the indiscriminate Primal Chaos attack emanating from Vilgefortz. Forced to defend against it themselves, they were left helpless and anxious on the sidelines.
Allen, however, could neither advance nor retreat. He dared not imagine the catastrophic consequences if the magic source in this state managed to recite an incantation.
"I'm fine, Vesemir…"
Hiding amidst the grass, Allen barely managed to reassure the master witcher. Before he could finish his sentence, his piercing blue eyes locked onto a pair of emerald green ones.
A chill shot from the base of his spine to his scalp.
Reacting instinctively, Allen channeled magic through his hands, forming an Aard sign with crossed fingers.
Before the pale violet sphere could fully materialize, Allen felt his body lighten and was suddenly hoisted three meters into the air. The world spun as he was dragged into the blinding green vortex of Primal Chaos at its center.
"Allen!" Vesemir's terrified shout rang out, only to be drowned by another explosion.
The sorceress, though concerned for Vilgefortz, couldn't fathom why he was exhibiting the innate yet uncontrollable destructive talents all magic sources inherently possess and despise. Still, she seized the opportunity to hurl a fireball at Vesemir, blasting him away.
"Could it be that Vilgefortz lost the battle against that young witcher?"
An inexplicable sense of hollow panic swelled in the sorceress's heart.
She quickly suppressed the feeling, reasoning that Vilgefortz still appeared to have the upper hand.
Clenching her teeth, she pressed on.
The sorceress, watching Vesemir being blasted into the air by a fireball, began to chant a mysterious and hurried incantation.
It sounded identical to the magic that had just echoed across the wilderness.
It was Alzur's Thunder!
"We can't hold back anymore."
Allen, maintaining the faintly purple Quen shield, stared at Vilgefortz, whose indifferent gaze resembled that of a deity in complete control.
If he continued holding back because of Erni and the others, his own outcome was uncertain, but Vesemir might be killed by Alzur's Thunder due to his momentary lapse.
Allen took a deep breath.
The witcher's lips parted slightly.
The golden energy coursing through his blood began to rise, mingling with the converging four-colored magic that surrounded him, surging upward.
"Yir..."
Heaven and earth began to resonate, and the wild, majestic roar shattered the Quen shield first.
The shield fragmented into purple shards.
The Way of the Roar does not allow its practitioners to actively defend themselves while in a "Berserk" state.
A sudden, massive pressure followed, shattering the containment of Primal Chaos.
Swirling green magic, along with the debris it carried—rocks, soil, fragments of walls, horse corpses, broom bushes, and juniper wood—was all forced back, leaving a two-meter radius of empty space.
Although the Way of the Roar didn't seem as overwhelming as usual, in another sense, being able to repel magic from a distance and create a "bubble" might reveal something about the essence of the roar's power.
"Step."
The witcher's boot landed firmly on solid ground, his grip tightening around his sword.
"...ulr..."
Another guttural roar sounded.
Savage and furious.
The immense pressure suddenly dissipated.
But the green Primal Chaos rapidly closed in again, attempting to engulf the witcher entirely.
"Whoosh~"
Hot air surged from Allen's nostrils, almost igniting the surrounding air.
The overwhelming, nearly overflowing power filled every corner of his body, igniting each cell.
Although Vilgefortz was obscured by the debris of scattered magic, preventing Allen from seeing his expression, the witcher could sense a shift in the indifferent, cold emotions within his mind. Those emotions expanded into intense confusion and panic.
The Primal Chaos's advance became even more urgent.
Vilgefortz was panicking!
"Boom, boom~"
The debris manipulated by the Primal Chaos collided and scraped against each other mid-air, briefly revealing Vilgefortz's emerald green eyes.
At that moment...
[Monster Hunt].
"Boom!"
Sensing the threat, the green Primal Chaos coalesced frantically. It shattered the innate barriers imposed by the Way of the Roar and struck the witcher in an instant.
Allen maintained a defensive stance with his sword. Mid-air, he flipped to disperse the impact, but upon landing, he still carved a long trench in the ground.
Dust and smoke rose around him.
Allen, who had been knocked back, squinted at the distant green glow, now shrouded by a veil of dust at least twenty meters away. He remained unbothered.
If not for needing to question Vilgefortz about the whereabouts of Erni and the others, Allen would have started with [Monster Hunt] as usual. A few attacks, even if they only struck the magical barrier, would have already gathered enough momentum to eliminate Vilgefortz.
But now...
"It's not too late!" Allen coldly glanced in the direction of the sorceress who was chanting.
"There's still time."
Taking a deep breath, the massive, fiery power surging through his body concentrated entirely in his right leg.
"Bang!"
His muscles tightened instantly, and his right foot stomped the ground. The road that countless carts and horses had worn down over time now bore a small crater under his step.
In an instant—
The witcher dashed through the dust, an arrow streaking toward the green light.
The twenty-meter gap closed in the blink of an eye.
Then...
Allen suddenly stopped.
Five jade-like statues hovered mid-air, blocking his path. Once he halted, they gently landed on the ground before him.
"Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud~"
A series of heavy impacts sounded as the frenzied green light dissipated.
"What is this supposed to mean?" Allen asked coldly.
Both [Beast Roar: Berserk] and [Monster Hunt] had time limits. Furthermore, [Beast Roar: Berserk] would leave him severely weakened after its effects ended. However, Allen's tone remained unhurried.
He could guess Vilgefortz's intentions, but moments like these demanded composure.
"A Binding Seal Spell. These jade statues are your esteemed school's witchers..." Vilgefortz gestured toward the statues on the ground. Seeing that Allen remained unmoved, staring at him coldly, Vilgefortz appeared somewhat startled. "You recognize this spell... It seems Lady Vera's favor for you isn't mere rumor..."
As expected... Allen's face betrayed no emotion, continuing to stare at him with indifference.
Internally, however, he quietly deactivated [Beast Roar: Berserk], leveraging the extreme composure provided by [Monster Hunt] to maintain a steady expression, avoiding any visible signs of post-Berserk weakness.
Faced with Allen's unrelenting gaze, Vilgefortz hesitated slightly, appearing faintly uncomfortable.
"I think... there's no need for us to fight to the death, is there?"
Vilgefortz's tone softened.
This was the first time Allen had gotten a good look at the original villain of the series.
He appeared only in his twenties, with a pale complexion and strikingly handsome features, the kind that would instinctively inspire goodwill—under different circumstances.
If not for this battle, if Allen knew nothing of his character, and if those mental waves attempting to read his thoughts weren't crashing against his mental shield, perhaps Vilgefortz would have seemed trustworthy.
But Allen pretended not to notice as he glanced toward another battlefield, obscured by fallen debris, where no one had paid attention to the scene here.
The sorceress was still chanting Alzur's Thunder, her spell nearing completion.
The surrounding magical energy surged but lacked the intensity of Vilgefortz casting the same spell.
Vesemir was desperately swinging his sword against the green magical barrier, clearly struggling.
The barrier flickered, its interior glowing with purple and brown magical light.
The witcher master's Alghoul Decoction seemed to have lost its potency due to some injury.
"Lydia!" Vilgefortz called softly. "That's enough."
"Bang~"
The green magical barrier around the sorceress shattered, pushing Vesemir back several meters.
Her chanting continued. She glanced questioningly at Vilgefortz, then at Allen.
"Rumble~"
The dark clouds covering the sky rumbled with thunder before gradually dissipating.
Both Lydia and Vesemir stopped, watching each other warily as they approached the area where Vilgefortz and Allen stood.
The Light Spell's orb illuminated the central clearing between the two of them, now a scene of utter destruction.
"Dong, dong~"
A sharp, urgent bell rang out.
A star-shaped medallion embedded in the bloodied remains of a horse corpse emitted a blinding red glow.
.....
📢20 advanced chapters on p@treaon📢
For advance chapters: p@treon.com/Uchiha_Itachi007 (replace @ with a)
349. Elder Blood and the Miracle Child's source.
350. The Royal Griffin! The Royal Griffin!
351. Druid Allen?
352. The Royal Griffin!!!
353. The Reason the Royal Griffin Stays High.