Chapter 51: The Controlled Beast

The place where Brady died was around two miles from Svanthor. Letho, Roy, and Casillas walked down the village's path for half an hour, and saw a dense pine forest from far away. Most of the trees were over a hundred years old and over forty feet tall. When they looked up, big branches and leaves resembling umbrellas congregated, blocking out the sun. The ground was also covered by a layer of said branches and leaves, and the smell of soil and remnants of fermenting plants wafted through the air. A small creature would pop out to look at them at times and scurry back into the forest after that.

"The crime scene is up ahead, you two, and there's dried blood left. I trust you'll see it right away. This is as far as I'll go, but I'll wait for you here." According to Casillas, going to places where people had died was unlucky. Bad luck would befall those who went there. He'd come here once, and he didn't want to come close a second time. Roy and Letho didn't force him.

Far away, at the edge of the pine forest, a few especially long branches from the trees bent inward in a circle, forming a 'tower' that measured one man tall, and beneath them, the ground filled with leaves was colored red. Flies danced above the pieces of meat and bones. Fortunately, there was no rain for the past three days, so the scene was preserved.

When they went closer, they saw that the ground was filled with footprints presumably belonging to the villagers. There was also a lingering stench in the air. When they took another step, a soft murmur was heard in the quiet forest. Shocked, Roy curled up and backed off to where Letho was. He wasn't being a coward. It was merely a tactical retreat. Since Letho was around, there was no need for him to be in the vanguard.

"Relax, boy." Letho touched his necklace and stopped it from vibrating. "The disturbance is too weak. It's not an attack. Just resonance from remnants of mana." He closed his eyes and felt it. "It's been three days, but I can still feel a weak disturbance in the air."

"So the murderer isn't human?" Roy hunkered down and touched the place where the tower-shaped branches connected to the ground, then he blew the sand away from his hand.

"This tower isn't natural or built by humans. It's caused by supernatural spells. I can see how the kill happened. Brady must have been caught off guard and pierced by the spear that suddenly showed up and been thrusted into the air, slicing his belly open."

"So this is where he died?" Roy asked

"I don't think anyone would destroy a corpse deliberately."

Roy didn't question Letho's answer. When he walked around the scene, he found another clue. "There's some weird scratches on this tree."

Letho took a look and fell into silence before giving Roy a look of approval. "This is the trace of getting pulled by vines. The murderer coiled Brady with vines, lifted him into the air, and killed him with a spell." They then found a part of the vine in a nearby bush.

"Controls vines and uses ground spikes…" Roy was reminded of a monster, and he had a guess of what the murderer was.

Letho hunkered down and picked up a piece of a fetid item without fear, and Roy scrunched his nose.

"Rotten flesh and animal feces. To be precise, bird and wolf feces as well as dried urine, but the amount is unusual." Aside from the crimson hue on the ground, there were clumps of dried feces lying around, and Letho kept on explaining. "One corpse can't attract that many beasts. The body was found at the edge of the forest, while wolves should be living in the center of the forest. It's still a distance away. These aren't their hunting grounds."

Roy gave it some thought. "So the beasts left their excrements here on purpose?"

Letho nodded. "Most probably. They're using excrements to hide and destroy any evidence that could point to the murderer, and they did it. The murderer's scent and tracks are mixed in." Letho rubbed his nose. "At least I can't disce… I mean, trace it."

Roy's question was answered. "So the murderer can control animals too." He sorted out his information and arrived at a conclusion. A monster that can control vines and use ground spikes. Has the ability to control animals and lives in the mountains. A gigantic monster popped up in his mind. If that's the murderer, then this request is going to be a hard one. But he was also excited. Hunting the monster on its turf would be an insurmountable challenge. He'd run away if he was alone, for he was weak. But since Letho was there, he had a heavy hitter which made everything possible.

Letho didn't realize what Roy was thinking, and he went on with his reasoning. "Don't you think this is weird, boy? The murderer didn't need to do so much if they were just dealing with normal guys. Humans and dwarves can't see their traces, unlike witchers."

Roy gasped. "So they did this as a countermeasure against witchers!"

Letho nodded solemnly. "It probably just moved here recently and started murdering all it liked. Obviously, it also knew it would eventually attract professionals. This is one experienced, cunning opponent we're facing." Letho emphasized the last line, and he didn't hide his aversion either.

Roy's breathing got quicker at that point. Up until that day, the grave hag had been the strongest monster he'd faced. If he managed to get a hundred EXP by killing a monster the witchers had weakened, killing a monster even a witcher was reluctant to face would provide even more EXP. I'm currently at level 3 (5/1500). Not going to let this go if I can.

"Why are you so excited, boy? Shouldn't you be scared? The target's obviously a monster far beyond what you can handle." Letho brushed the fetid sludge from his hand and stood up. "Sorry for getting your hopes up for nothing. I'm not going to take this request."

Roy sighed silently. He had a feeling Letho would do that, since he was a cautious witcher. "How should we explain this to everyone in Svanthor?" He felt a bit heartbroken when he imagined the looks of disappointment on the kids and women's faces.

"What explanation? We didn't take the request or make any promises, so we owe them nothing. Are you saying you're going to fight that thing because you sympathize with them?" Letho lectured him coldly. "You're too weak to show pity to anyone."

Roy wanted to say something, but he couldn't. He didn't expect Letho to be that caustic, but he didn't retort. The thing he should've been doing at the moment was growing and getting stronger. Squabbles wouldn't do him any good.

Letho looked ahead sharply, and a raven had appeared out of nowhere on the ancient branches. It opened its wings, and its beak looked like a scythe, its black eyes having an uncannily cruel gleam to it. Seemingly surprised by the attention Letho and Roy gave it, its eyes flashed crimson and flew toward the forest.

Letho mumbled, "The loyal servant is now going to inform its master, huh?"

And then a crossbow bolt soared through the sky. The raven trembled for a moment before falling to the ground, dead.

Huh? "Who told you to shoot it, boy?"

"Sorry. Did I misread you?" Roy shrugged. "I'll check with you next time."