Thwarting An Attack
After the feast that I made, wherein Geralt warmed up to me even more, I played a few rounds of Gwent with him. I was able to get the gist of it after two rounds, but his skill in Gwent was nothing to laugh at. Also, I was curious about what a witcher's body would look like through my Perspective Minimum so I used it on Geralt. I have to say, whoever came up with the ritual for the witchers must have been a genius because it was insane.
Every single inch of Geralt's body was just better when compared to a regular human. The bones, muscles, organs, everything. It was like comparing a flip phone to a supercomputer. The difference was night and day. Unfortunately, I couldn't see his cells or I'd imagine I would've been even more shocked. I also checked out Yennefer's body, but her's wasn't that much different from a human's just slightly better. But I digress.
Thankfully we still had two days from the completion of the mission until we were forcefully sent back to our worlds, so we could relax. Ciri spent it catching up with Yen and Geralt, with me occasionally joining in. Uzui and Guts spent it sparring with Vesemir, with me also occasionally joining in, while Yoruichi, Amelia, and I spent the time reading the books that Kaer Morhen had to offer, while the two occasionally joined in the girl time with Ciri and Yennefer.
But other than reading, I was also curious about the monsters that the Continent was so afraid of. So, on the second day, I went into the woods and went to find some monsters. I had few expectations about seeing a monster like a griffin or a cockatrice, but maybe I'd find something bigger than a drowner.
As I was hiking through the woods, I heard the sound of leaves rustling from two directions so I sent out a pulse with my tk. There were two wolves on either side of me, stalking their way toward me.
'Actually, I've never used Ren against animals, this is as good a time as any I suppose.' I thought before flaring my bloodlust and hearing the wolves whining before running away.
'Cool.'
Continuing on through the woods and finding nothing but normal animals, I decided to make my way to the lake because I remembered there was a rock troll that should be near the lakeside hut, or at least it's there a few years from now. But even if it's not, there should also be a document about the Salamandra's attack on Kaer Morhen. This means that they might have used that cave as a staging point for their raid on the keep. Hopefully, the Salamandras are there so I can take them out now.
Making my way to the lakeside hut, I had my tk sonar pulsing every two seconds when at the very edge of the range, which is about half a mile, I saw two men hiding up in the trees keeping lookout.
'So, they're here already. Well, not like it would have been a problem anyway, considering the people at the keep right now. But I wonder if they saw the Wild Hunt being killed or if they just arrived. Guess we'll find out soon enough.'
"Smoke." I said as my slightly neglected spirit companion appeared.
"Where are we?" he said having come out of slumber. He had slept throughout the entirety of the Berserk trip in protest because I told him I wouldn't use the axe.
"In another world. Anyway, we're going to kill some people and I know you've been feeling left out."
"Hmm. I haven't been feeling left out. I know I'm too strong for the level of foe you're fighting, but I will have my chance in the limelight." he said, head raised.
"Of course, you will." I said rubbing his head.
"Mmm." he groaned.
"Alright, in this world you can stay outside. They won't really think twice about you."
"Good."
"Now, up ahead there are two lookouts, I need you to take care of them, quietly."
"Tch, who do you think I am?" he said before his figure sunk into the ground and shadow traveled for a few seconds before reappearing, blood on his maw.
"Done."
"Good job." I said patting his head.
"There's more of them. About 100 more."
"Okay, there are two people I need alive. This is what they look like." I told him before sending the image of Azar Javed and the Professor to him through our telepathy.
"Everyone else?"
"Fair game. Go nuts, bud." I said as he smiled, baring his fangs before shadow-traveling again while I casually made my way to the cave. As I neared the cave, I could hear the sounds of screams and men shouting.
"What the hell is that?!" shouted one before he let out a guttural scream.
BOOM
'Oh, is that magic? I should tell Smoke to keep an eye on the two I want alive, in case they try to escape.' I thought, remembering that Azar Javed was a sorcerer.
'Smoke. Those two I told you to keep alive, knock them out, and stay on top of them, they know how to use magic and might teleport away.' I told him through our telepathic link only receiving a grunt in reply before I started flying toward the cave.
As I flew, I could see the trail of bodies that Smoke had left behind. Blood everywhere, limbs chewed off, bodies cut in half, guts spilled all over.
Landing in front of the cave, there was more of the same gruesome scene, but I was used to it after my time in Berserk, so I continued to walk into the cave. After a short scenic walk of bloody rock walls, I came upon a cavern where upon Smoke was sitting on top of the two men with his claws right on their throats.
"Good job, Smoke."
"I enjoyed it." he said.
"Alright, you can get off them now. I got it from here." I said as he got off them and I grabbed them with my tk before we made our way back to Kaer Morhen.
As I entered the keep, Uzui and Guts were still sparring with Vesemir and Leo both watching.
"What do you got there, kid? And what the hell is that?" asked Vesemir looking at Smoke.
"That's Smoke, he's my familiar. Anyway, I was walking through the woods when I overheard a large group of people so I snuck my way over. That's when I overheard these two talking about launching a raid on Kaer Morhen to steal the secrets to making witchers. Smoke and I took them all out but kept the two leaders alive to question them." I said.
"Raid the keep?!" said Vesemir.
"Yup. Come on, let's question them inside." I said as I entered the keep before dumping the two on the floor.
"Matt, who are they?" said Ciri pointing at the two men as she came downstairs with Geralt and Yennefer.
"Group of people who wanted to raid the keep and steal the witcher making secrets. I'm about to question the leaders."
"I know that symbol, that's from Salamandra, a criminal organization active in the Northern Kingdoms." said Yennefer pointing out the symbol of a salamander.
"Oh, they did have a big salamander chained up, but Smoke took care of it so easily I thought it was just a pet." I said as Geralt and Yennefer looked at Smoke who was laying down at my feet.
"Oh, Smoke, it's so good to see you." said Ciri as she walked up to him and started petting him, which he was happy about.
"Is that a monster?" asked Geralt seeing the giant wolf.
"No, he's a wolf. Just a little stronger than a normal one." I said as Smoke opened his eye to look at Geralt before snorting and closing them.
"Seems like he doesn't like you Geralt." teased Yennefer.
"I'll try not to lose sleep over it. Let's wake them up." he said as he brought over a bucket of water before pouring it on the two, and they woke up.
"Morning sunshine." I said to Azar as he took a look around and saw where he was.
"How'd you find us?" he asked, realizing his plan had been thwarted.
"Coincidence. I also overheard your plan, so I want to know why you want the witcher's mutation secrets?" I asked before he spat on me which I caught with my tk.
"Fuck off. Just kill me if you're going to."
"Sigh. Guess I'll try something I thought of recently." I said before I brought him close to me and held him still with my tk.
One of the flaws of my Nen ability was that the person had to answer questions for my Mind Palace to create a book containing their memories. In my free time in Berserk, I had been thinking of ways to go around it and came up with one possible way. To conjure the Mind Palace in my mind, emmit my nen, and invade the other person's mind, forcefully. I call it the Burning of the Library of Alexandria. Quite a mouthful, but conveys the purpose of the technique quite well I think.
Clearly, the technique is dangerous for the person who's having their mind read because the more they struggle the more damage that would be caused, so it's only meant for me to use with bad guys. And I wanted to try it on Eredin but I didn't want to stop Ciri from getting her quick revenge, so I'll try it out on Azar.
Using the technique and emitting my nen to Azar's mind, I could feel him start struggling to escape my tk because of him feeling his mind get invaded. Since he was a sorcerer his mind also happened to be stronger than a normal person, but it was still not enough to stop me. After a few more seconds of him struggling, my nen had invaded the deepest recesses of his mind and a book appeared with the name Azar Javed.
Backing out of his mind, and letting him fall to the ground, I could see that he was unconscious. He probably would have been brain-dead if he hadn't been a sorcerer.
"What was that?" asked Yennefer.
"A technique of mine that allows me to read his memories, but the more he struggles to keep me out the more damage it causes. I didn't do much damage to him because of his background as a sorcerer, but he's definitely lost some memories. I'll need a few minutes of silence so I can go through his memories, so, please." I said as I sat down cross-legged and meditated for 5 minutes before entering my mind palace and going through his memories.
"Oh, this guy is an even bigger piece of shit than I thought." I said as I opened my eyes.
"What'd you learn?" asked Geralt.
"Well he's the type of guy to do anything to achieve his goals, and I mean anything. Murder, rape, extortion, you name it. But he allied with Grandmaster Jacques de Aldersberg of the Order of the White Rose and was going to steal the secrets to make super soldiers. So he could help him rebel and destroy all non-humans." I explained to them.
"Bastards." said Ciri as she stood up and kicked the both of them.
"Well, without the secrets of the witchers, it'll never come to pass. We should get rid of them, but keep an eye out for any other attempts." said Yennefer.
"Mm." agreed Vesemir.
"Agreed." said Geralt.
"Okay then." I said as I picked up the two bodies with my tk before snapping their necks and putting them with the pile of Wild Hunt members we had yet to burn.