Chapter 87: Insect Corpse

While everyone was having lunch, Letho called Roy and excused them from the troupe. "Did you smell it?" They went into the bushes beside the path.

Roy nodded. It was a group of carriages that carried a lot of merchandise. They just left Shire not long before the troupe, and everything should've been normal, but Roy smelled blood. "It's not human blood. I smell insects in it."

Letho activated his witcher senses to 'see' the scent particles. He went past five gnarly trees before stopping in front of a burr medic bush. Then he pulled it back, and what was inside made Roy gasp.

There was a small hill of corpses in there, the stench of blood wafting through the air. The corpses looked like grey spiders, enlarged a few hundred times. Since it was winter, they were still fresh.

The duo didn't rush to investigate the scene. Instead, they brandished their weapons and moved ahead cautiously. Letho then cast Aard on the corpses to make sure the critters were all dead. "Weird. Why's there a hill of monster corpses here? It's not something monsters or beasts would do."

Letho beckoned Roy, and the boy went to check on the corpses. "Their bodies are covered in fur and chitin. No distinct line between the thorax and abdomen. They have four legs and a small head. Can't make out the facial features."

Letho tried to mislead Roy. "Endrega workers, huh?"

"Nice try. I don't see any stinger or pincers on them. These are kikimores." Endregas and kikimores were insectoids born after the Conjunction of the Spheres. They usually lived in the wilds and hunted beasts or even wandering humans. They were also a threat to witchers.

Roy turned the corpse over, revealing a soft, yellow belly that was vulnerable compared to its grey, armored back. "This is why it's dead. Someone or something gutted it." Its putrid, green entrails splattered on the ground, its legs covered in dirt. "Must have struggled before it was killed." Roy brushed his hand on the edge of the wound, looking concerned. Then he checked another body. "Claw marks on its back. And most of its body is twisted. The killer must be strong. Look, it almost got torn in half. This one's got holes in its belly. Looks like something bit it off. It's a clean bite in the center, but the edges are jagged. Its killer's teeth are sharp. Canine-like, probably." Roy continued, "Oh, this one's still alive, but barely. Insects are resilient, huh?" Roy put it out of its misery.

'You killed a kikimore. EXP +30.' Two types left.

Roy pulled the bolt from the insect's head. It was drenched in green blood, and Roy got some on his hand. He pulled out a handful of grass covered in dewdrops to wipe his hand off.

"Got anything?" Letho gave him a quizzical look.

"There are thirteen bodies here. A whole kikimore colony. The killer took out a whole colony on its own." Roy was frowning, concerned. "With claws sharp as daggers and teeth lethal as poison."

"Probably panthers or wild dogs. Or foglets, maybe." Letho had voiced his opinion, but he knew he was wrong.

"No beast is strong enough to take them out that cleanly. Foglets have different teeth. And besides…" Roy scanned the scene of the massacre. "I have a feeling there's only one killer. These aren't the killing grounds. Everything's covered in grass, and there's a lack of footprints here."

Letho stopped asking him about the killer. "If that's the case, the killer must be as powerful as a witcher at their peak. Do you still want to continue?"

Roy was in a dilemma. "We have to do this whether we like it or not. The troupe could get attacked at any time, and we'll be right in the middle of it. We have to at least find out what that thing is so we can prepare for it."

Roy knelt one on knee and plucked a handful of grass that was caked in red blood. The killer's blood.

"I have to tell Alan what we're up to in case they get worried. I'll leave the tracking to you."

***

After Roy had gone off to the troupe, Letho hobbled along the path for a few minutes and arrived at the source of the scent. There was nothing there except for some craters on the ground around it and barren tung trees and messy footprints. Most of them were the kikimores' footprints, but there were a few gigantic footprints among them. The most distinct part was how they only had three toes.

There was also something bizarre in the clearing's center. Green spheres the size of human fists huddled together tightly, but there was a smidgen of reddish-black among them, obviously caused by a claw. Those were kikimore larvae, but they were destroyed, leaving nothing but sticky fluids and dead young kikimores.

"It doesn't leave anything behind, huh?" Letho investigated a tung tree and saw some claw marks on the bark. He wondered if they were left by the killer on purpose, and then his eyes gleamed.

***

The troupe members were starting to get restless when Letho came back. Alan even came to talk to him. "Please don't stay away for too long next time, Letho. Everyone's been waiting for you. You might not need this advice, since you two are experienced survivalists, but don't leave the camp at night."

Alan waited for their answer and only left when he got their guarantee.

"What did you find?"

"I went back to the scene after you left and found something interesting." Letho looked in Shire's direction. "The nest isn't that far from Shire, and there's frequent activity between both spots."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I found bones of livestock in those bodies, and also a human shirt."

Roy was surprised to hear that. "So that means the chief got it all wrong. The villagers weren't harmed by rusalki or fairies; these kikimores did it." Then he looked confused. "The killer's doing them a favor? That's weird."