203. A Wolf is a Wolf.
All witcher schools in the world originated from the Witcher Order. The Cat School was no exception. Though not many people remember anymore, the infamous and villainous Cat School—its pioneers left the Witcher Order for reasons now largely forgotten. Even the leader of the Cat School has forgotten the history of his school. But Sol remembers.
He had seen, with his own eyes, those young figures like him, disheartened by the decline of the Order, enraged by Arnaghad's internal strife. With burning passion, they sought to restore the witchers' honor, wanting to protect humanity from the rampaging monsters. Thus, they chose the house cat—an animal close to humans and used to hunt mice—as their emblem. Thus, they left the Order, searching for a way to revive the witchers.
Shaquille, Hewitt, Zachariah, Siegfried...
Closing his eyes, Sol can still clearly recall their cynical yet fiery gazes.
Unfortunately, they all died.
Vanished without a trace.
When Sol next saw the Cat emblem on the land of the Northern Continent, they were already known as "witchers who kill people," having found a path in the world completely contrary to their pioneers' intentions.
Violence, extremism, cruelty, radicalism...
The school that once sought to be close to humanity had become the one closest to and farthest from humans. The cat's claws no longer reached for mice but slashed at humanity's arteries in the dark.
Watching Treyse and Guxart leave, Sol sighed softly as his peripheral vision caught sight of a royal outfit stained with muddy blood.
"Time truly is the most unpredictable of changes!"
---------------
After the foreign fusion ceased, chaos erupted in the arena stands. The roars of monsters and the screams of humans were accompanied by the magic tricks of various apprentices flying all over the place. Not many drowners were killed, but many companions were accidentally injured instead.
Even the seasoned sorcerers scattered to save themselves. The king was dead, and the deputy dean hadn't escaped fate either.
Delivering this grave news to their families was far more important than saving some unfamiliar apprentices. Thus, even the weakest monsters, the drowners, became a significant problem in the arena stands, despite their relatively low numbers. However, this sight was understandable.
Ever since witchers came into being, sorcerers were no longer needed to protect human settlements from invading monsters. Most male sorcerers in the future would work as low-level sorcerers creating alchemical potions or tools, or, if fortunate, breaking curses for nobles. Seeing monsters with bloodthirsty jaws would naturally cause panic for these armchair sorcerers. Thus, this chaos continued for quite some time.
Until the four witchers from the Wolf School appeared in the stands. Vesemir, Hughes, Bond and Fred ignored the panic-stricken sorcerer apprentices, dodged the various colored spells, and charged straight at the fierce drowners.
Before long, the drowners fell easily under the witchers' swords, and their blood calmed the panicked sorcerer apprentices.
"These... these monsters don't seem so terrifying after all?"
"If even these... witchers can kill them... we are creators... ahem... noble sorcerers..."
"Just a few fireball spells will do the job. Don't embarrass our Ban Ard in front of the witchers..."
The messy morale of the sorcerer apprentices began to rise as they reassured themselves.
"The king died here; does Ban Ard still have any dignity?" a timid voice came from somewhere.
The rising morale instantly deflated.
Most of them were the offspring of nobles, but aside from the most noble among them, most were mere servants or experimental subjects for sorcerers. They didn't have the guts, like Jens, to make sarcastic remarks in front of the king.
With the king dead at Ban Ard, an event so rare in a hundred years, many even began to doubt whether Ban Ard's towers could still stand tall in the vast Kaedwen.
Where would they go from here?
Would they have to flee to Aretuza and become sorceresses?
"We still have Dean Hen Gedymdeith; we'll be fine!" said one sorcerer apprentice.
"But the dean is three or four hundred years old and hasn't shown up yet..." another apprentice retorted.
Silence fell.
After a long time...
"Let's just deal with these disgusting drowners first!"
One apprentice, who had narrowly escaped death at the hands of the drowners, sighed as he watched the witchers slaying monsters in the distance, ending the pointless argument.
---------------
"Master Vesemir, why are we helping these sorcerers?" Fred asked, beheading a drowner with one swing. "They clearly look down on us."
Bond, standing beside him, curled his middle finger on his right hand and pushed Fred to the side.
"Yeah, Master Vesemir, those Cat School bastards attacking us—it could very well be related to these sorcerers."
Two drowners about to ambush Fred suddenly lost their balance.
A flash of silver.
Hughes spun and slashed. The two drowners were decapitated. The stinking dark red blood sprayed out, terrifying a fallen sorcerer apprentice, who scrambled away in tears and snot. Hughes sneered at the colorful, transparent liquid mixed with red and dark red blood on the ground, agreeing: "Bond and Fred are right. These people don't deserve our help."
About ten meters away, Vesemir, expressionless, swung his longsword with both hands. The sharp blade formed one ring after another around him. Drowners approaching him were split apart—hands, arms, heads, all severed.
"Because we are witchers of the Wolf School, the true successors of the Witcher Order, whose highest creed is to save humanity..."
Vesemir paused mid-sentence, noticing the impatience on the faces of the young witchers. With a sigh, he added: "And besides, isn't Allen doing the same?"
"He could have left with us by now..."
Sure enough, hearing Allen's name, Hughes, Bond, and Fred glanced at the witcher in the arena and immediately fell silent. They continued silently clearing the drowners in the stands. Though Vesemir had anticipated it, he hadn't expected Allen's standing among the young witchers to be so high.
Instinctively, he glanced toward the center of the arena, where Allen was effortlessly fending off the "Drowner King" and a horde of drowners. Vesemir couldn't help but marvel: "Allen has grown stronger again!"
---------------
"Kwa-la!"
A piercing roar echoed.
Allen rolled to dodge the giant foot of the Drowner King.
In the same instant, as he got up, he bent his right index finger and swiftly pointed forward. Fiery flames shot out from Allen's palm, igniting six drowners beside the Drowner King. Then, with another sidestep, he dodged the Drowner King's enraged, clawing webbed hand.
Again, he bent his right index finger and pointed forward.
Four more drowners on the other side were set ablaze.
The intense flames turned the drowners into charred corpses in mere seconds. Their shrill cries quickly faded into silence. With the "Hunt Task: Drowners II" completed, Allen no longer had to control the temperature of the Igni Sign's flames—whatever killed the drowners fastest was his method.
As for the Drowner King...
The real Drowner King, surrounded by drowners, was not easy to deal with. Although it seemed like it only had two more spells than the fake one, the difference in difficulty was like night and day. The ice spear spell was manageable.
It was just an attack spell.
With Allen's current attributes, whether dodging or using the Aard sign, he could handle it easily. But the blue magic shield was a real pain.
Once it was broken, the Drowner King would let out a croak, and the shield would instantly be restored. With the constant harassment from the surrounding drowners, it was difficult to even inflict a few wounds on the Drowner King.
After his Quen shield was broken twice due to a momentary lapse, Allen immediately changed tactics. While dodging the Drowner King's attacks, he swiftly cleaned up the surrounding drowners.
Thankfully.
The other three large monsters were on the main platform, being taunted by the Chief. Otherwise, with two Drowner Kings and two giant swamp creatures...
Even if the rewards for the main quest from the 'Witcher's Journal' were abundant, he would have had to flee. But now...
"Glugh~"
Hearing the anguished cries of the monsters on the main platform, and catching a glimpse of the Chief casually chopping up one of the giant swamp creatures, piece by piece, from the tail upwards, Allen could only hope the Chief would kill a bit slower, leaving a few monsters for him.
Otherwise, if the Witcher's Journal's main quest was stalled because someone else killed the monsters, it would be quite frustrating.
"Slash~"
Allen spun with his sword.
A beautiful silver arc sliced through the air.
In the arena.
The last drowner spewed out its foul-smelling blood and joined its companions in eternal rest.
The next moment.
It was as if Allen had eyes on his back.
He bent down and rolled.
"Boom!"
A drowner's corpse on the ground was immediately smashed into a pile of meat paste. There were many such piles in the arena.
Dark red, almost black.
The ground was nearly completely covered. You could barely see the original yellow-brown sand. After letting out a breath, Allen suddenly pulled his right foot back, his upper body leaning sharply backward.
"Whoosh!"
A claw slashed through the air, right across Allen's chest. The young witcher could even see the red bloodstains on the webbed right claw of the Drowner King. He stepped back a couple of paces, creating some distance.
"After all this time, it's my turn!"
Allen looked at the Drowner King, panting heavily and trembling all over. He twisted his wrist, twirling his sword to shake off the filthy blood. Then, expertly pulling a bottle of Necrophage Oil from his potion pouch, he quickly applied a thin red layer over the blade of Elsa.
Finally...
The witcher hunt began!
Dodging the drowner corpses, Allen took two quick steps forward. At the same time, his mental energy invaded the Drowner King's magical field of influence.
"Glugh!"
The weak prey suddenly charged at him, and the Drowner King let out a furious roar. The roar was deafening. With all his attributes now raised to 30, facing the Drowner King one-on-one became much easier.
"Slash!"
A silver streak of light struck the Drowner King's arm as it swung down at his head.
"Boom!"
The pale blue magic shield shattered instantly.
[Monster Hunt: Progress 6%.]
This was the power of strength.
Strength allowed him to break the Drowner King's magic shield with just one strike.
"Glugh~"
The furious roar masked the sound of the wind rushing from behind. But Allen's keen hearing caught it in an instant. As he ducked to avoid the claw strike.
Allen's wrists twisted.
The silver blade, gleaming with a faint red glow, shot upward from under his arm.
"Shhhk~"
The Drowner King's newly formed blue shield barely extended to its arm before Aelsa pierced through it. Warm crimson blood splattered onto Allen's neck. This was perception and agility.
Perception allowed him to clearly observe the monster's every move.
Agility let him easily dodge incoming attacks while observing them.
As for constitution...
It supported Allen's witcher body throughout, enabling him to withstand more injuries and recover faster.
[Monster Hunt: Progress 51%.]
The sword, coated in Necrophage Oil, boosted the hunt's progress by 45%.
Actually.
With Allen's current strength, he was confident he could kill the Drowner King without using the witcher hunt.
But it would take too long!
He'd have to repeatedly break the shield and deal damage to the Drowner King before it activated the next shield and healed. If he had to solve the fight this way.
By then.
The Chief would have already killed all the other monsters.
"Glugh~"
The Drowner King, enraged by the injury, roared furiously. It couldn't believe that such a small prey had actually hurt it—had actually dared to hurt it.
And so.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."
Like a madman, the Drowner King stomped its feet furiously, trying to crush the small, bold prey into meat paste.
"Splat~"
"Splat~"
The dead drowners were trampled into more meat paste. The brown dust was sent flying by the violent gusts. In a matter of moments.
Dust enveloped the entire arena. No one could see what was happening inside.
"Did that witcher die?"
On the viewing platform, where most of the drowners had been eliminated, an apprentice wizard asked instinctively. No one answered.
Then, in the next moment.
"Boom!"
The blue shield on the Drowner King's body suddenly shattered into pale blue dust. Immediately after, the Drowner King's panicked expression was visible. The witcher, gripping his longsword, shot out from the dust, stepping lightly on one of the Drowner King's flailing arms. The witcher's body, as light as a leaf, floated to a position just above the monster's head.
Then.
He spun, twisting mid-air.
Everyone watching this moment of battle in the stands saw a pair of blue cat-like eyes. It was as if, in that instant, those eerie blue cat eyes glanced at them.
That glance.
Was as cold as the snow on Blue Mountain. The chill reached their souls, and death's breath caressed their necks.
The next second.
Slash!
A dark red glow slashed across the monster's neck. A thin bloodline appeared on its flesh, instantly separating its head from its body.
"Hiss~"
At that moment, the audience seemed to collectively remember how to breathe, sucking in a breath of early spring's cold air. At the same time, After the witcher hunt ended, Allen lightly landed on the ground. As he considered whether to use Blink to teleport to the main platform.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Three large monsters suddenly fell, one after another, six meters in front of him. Allen instinctively looked in the direction of the sound, his blue cat-like eyes widening in surprise. Those... those three monsters, all of them had lost their arms. The two giant swamp creatures were even missing a good chunk of their tails.
"What's the meaning of this?"
Allen looked up in confusion at the Chief of the School of the Wolf.
....…
📢20 advanced chapters on p@treaon📢
For advance chapters: p@treon.com/Uchiha_Itachi007 (replace @ with a)
204. Hen Gedymdeith Returns.
205. A Difficult Situation.
206. A-Level Evaluation Again.
207. Alder Knights.
208. Unboxing and New Skills.