Chapter 177: Rience's Last Stand
With a rumble, the chaotic energy supporting the teleportation portal turned into actual chaos, dissipating into a series of distortions.
Exactly, the Yrden Sign was the only method in The Witcher Series that Lann knew of, aside from Dimeritium bombs, that could be used to counter teleportation portals. That's why Lann, faced with Rience who was practically defenseless, still decided to activate the Yrden Sign, taking precautions against the possibility of someone trying to take him away.
Lann had promised himself that no one could take Rience today.
To make sure, Lann struck the ground with his left hand once more, releasing the Yrden Sign, overlapping both magic circles as a double insurance.
At the same time, a new teleportation portal appeared in the air accompanied by a gale, disappearing in an instant with a sound of an electric shock.
Rience's face was filled with despair, he knew that not even the person behind him could save him today. The purple light covered his body, and the sorcerer slowly moved backwards, pleading: "Don't kill me... believe me, you have no idea who is behind me, it's a terrifying person. If you don't kill me, I will tell you."
How could Lann let Rience say the name of that person? He already knew it, and Ace was still lurking in the other party's hands.
[Shh.]
Lann put his index finger on his lips and said softly: "I don't want to know, and you don't need to say it. The identity of that person doesn't matter to me, but if you live, I care a lot."
Teleportation portals continued to appear in the air only to be destroyed by Yrden's magic circle, causing winds and explosions to resonate in the heart of Rience.
"You know, the time you and Philippa conspired against me in Oxenfurt... it was the biggest setback I've ever suffered." Lann said coldly: "Philippa is still useful for the time being, so I'll let her go. As for you..."
Lann took a deep breath and raised his sword Aerondight.
The rune sword glowed with a golden glow, and blood stained the ground at his feet.
The person behind the portal seemed to sense this and finally stopped trying to open more portals.
Black Wind ran towards him, pushing his head against Lann's.
Lann stored Rience's body into his inventory, stroked Black Wind's mane, then rode on him.
His comrades were still fighting the enemy, and as a leader, he couldn't waste too much time.
Black Wind returned to the battlefield like a whirlwind, and the anger in Lann's heart was not much calmed by Rience's death. Now, that fury was turned upon the Wild Ones' army.
However, these enemies had been almost wiped out by the Cintra cavalry.
Lann charged through the crowd, and together with Black Wind they rammed the last warhorse on the field, sending the enemy rider flying into the air. Quickly, a Cintra knight moved in to finish him off.
On the battlefield, only Olgierd was left.
This man had eight swords stuck in his body, but their weight did not interfere with his movement. He continued to charge through the ranks of soldiers, their shields clashing with a loud crash.
If it were not for the help of the three attendants and the support of Letho, the Cintra cavalry would have suffered heavy losses.
Lann noticed that a black mist was constantly emanating from Olgierd's body. He didn't know if it was a dark magic power he had learned on his own or a byproduct of the power granted by the Master Mirror.
Milva shot an arrow at Olgierd, piercing his throat with precision. However, this fatal wound only caused Olgierd to stagger slightly before pulling out the arrow.
Milva frowned at this scene.
"Lannister, come out and face me!"
Lann pushed past the soldiers surrounding Olgierd and walked to the center of the battlefield.
Letho faced Olgierd directly. His leather armor was torn multiple times, and his bare arms showed several bleeding wounds.
Seeing the grave expression on Letho's cold face, Lann laughed and asked: "How is it?"
"Incredible." Letho admitted generously. "I have tried swords, signs, poisons, and various sword oils, but almost none of them worked. Moreover, he is tireless and has no sense of pain. I can suppress him, but I can't kill him. This is the kind of enemy I least want to encounter. Fortunately, he is only a human. If a monster has this ability, it might be able to massacre a small country in one day."
"You told me that this guy got this ability from a deal with the devil. Is it [Summoning Magic]?"
Lann shook his head. "I can't tell you in detail now. Maybe I will have a chance after I completely solve this problem."
Letho, with his vast experience, understood the rules of forbidden magic well. Hearing this, he frowned, but did not ask further. "How do you plan to deal with him?"
Lann already had a plan in mind. "We can't kill him, we can only attack him together with overwhelming force to instantly subdue him, in a rather bloody manner."
Letho glanced at him. "But I see he looks like he wants to fight you one-on-one."
Lann shrugged. "That's his problem. I'm an earl, and this is a battlefield. If it weren't for the fact that I don't want to sacrifice human lives to finish off this monster, I would have already sent soldiers to attack it in masse."
Not far away, Olgierd saw Lann and Letho standing together and finally stopped shouting.
He struggled to reach the hilt of the sword that pierced his back, but he couldn't. Finally, he gave up and raised his sword towards Lann. "Lannister, don't hide behind your men, fight me!"
Lann looked around, seeing the bodies of the Wild Ones army soldiers everywhere, and asked: "You knew I would come and that this would end like this, but you still waited for me, why? Just to fight me?"
Olgierd smiled, showing his blood-stained teeth. "I told you, Lannister. Life needs excitement, and I am particularly impervious to it. Only when I go mad from time to time can I feel the vitality of life. The clash of swords with you and the game of strategy make me feel a little interested for the first time in a long time."
"As for the Redanian Free Company? It doesn't matter. More will eventually gather around me, just as my body will recover over time."
Lann raised the sword Aerondight. "Though these words seem irrational, I can suddenly understand them in your case. But have you ever thought that you might not have any more time?"
Olgierd raised his scimitar. "That would be harder than letting me die right now, Lannister. Today is my first time fighting a witcher, but I believe you are no ordinary witcher. I have been eagerly awaiting this moment."
"Do you need me to wait for you to pull out all the swords on your body?"
"Don't worry, I don't feel pain, and the pain can't disturb me. But fighting like this is very new to me..."
Before he finished speaking, a black cloud rose from his body. In the blink of an eye, as if the weight of the steel on his body meant nothing, Olgierd crossed the distance towards Lann in an instant.
Lann's reaction was also extraordinary, he quickly put on a Quen Sign and raised his sword to block the attack.
[Clang!]
A metallic clang was heard, and Lann held his defense firmly against Olgierd's scimitar.
Olgierd, taking advantage of the recoil of the clash, twisted his wrist, making rapid circles with his scimitar and attacking with increasingly stronger blows. His movements seemed like a sword dance. At the same time, the red light on the scimitar in his hand became more and more intense.
Finally, as if he had gathered enough energy, Olgierd switched to a heavy strike, attacking Lann's sword with overwhelming force. The energy from his scimitar spread out like an arc of red light, pushing Lann back and causing his Quen shield to vibrate.
If it weren't for Lann's Quen Sign shield, he would have already been injured.
"Lannister, is this all you can do?!" Olgierd shouted and was about to move forward again.
Suddenly, a fast black shadow passed by him, splitting him in two with a sword.
It was Letho, but he frowned as he felt no expected resistance. "This move again..."
Olgierd vanished into the air, turning into a black cloud to evade the attack.
Fortunately, it seemed to be a temporary spell, and not an innate ability, as Olgierd returned to his human form immediately after evading the slash.
Suddenly, a silver light illuminated Olgierd's eyes.
It was Letho again.
The burly figure rushed towards Olgierd at an unreasonable speed.
"Good!" Facing the aggressive enemy, Olgierd cheered loudly. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he brandished his scimitar to confront him.
With a loud bang, Letho's scimitar and silver sword collided, sparks flying. Letho felt a tingling sensation in the palm of his hand.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---