Mountain Stone's Blood

Yadai Town.

The Count Burns ' estate.

"Bang!"

An orange portal suddenly appeared in the center of the room.

The sudden change in space whipped up a gale, violently extinguishing the candles.

Silk curtains, expensive oil paintings, and bookshelves displaying rare parchment books were all swaying incessantly.

"Da da da~"

With crisp footsteps, a young man wearing a long, pointed hat emerged from the portal.

He is the vice-principal of Ben Ade College, and the former legitimate son of Jens Felan family, whose titles span three kingdoms.

After Jens stepped out of the portal, he looked regretfully at the empty table in front of the king.

When he used the portal, he deliberately amplified the fluctuations that tore through space, but unexpectedly, the king did not eat.

"Ah! My dear ' The Glutton,' what on earth has made you lose your appetite?"

"The great Lord Kedwen, in such haste that he has sent servants on horseback to urge me to come?"

Jens looked at Haxor with a cynical air, his tone sounding like a court jester.

Haxor didn't seem to care, his expression serious.

"Three days ago, the guards I sent to search for the target encountered a group of Rock Troll at the camp and suffered heavy losses."

Jens leaned against the windowsill, smiling at the King: "Hmm, so what?"

"I only found out about it today..."

"Oh, that's really bad news!" Jens interrupted, his gloating smile widening. "It seems the king's guards aren't quite kingly, are they?"

Jens didn't understand why Haxor had exposed his problem with controlling his personal guards to him.

But that didn't stop Jens from mocking the King.

Haxor remained expressionless and unaffected, continuing:

"Upon learning the news today, I invited Dragon Slayer Soyer to lead my army to deal with those damned monsters tomorrow morning..."

Jens casually fiddled with the guard's longsword. "Hmm? And then? You called me here just to complain to me that your soldiers were attacked by a bunch of monsters..."

"Then Lady Vesemir just arrived, and she wants to join in too."

"Clang!"

Jens, who had drawn his longsword halfway out, suddenly trembled in his right hand, and the longsword slid back into its sheath.

Jens frowned. "What does Lady Vesemir mean?"

"Vera the sorceress, Vera of Toussaint, the blood-red fox—Vera..."

"Hiss~"

Jens gasped.

"You mean the Bloody Red Fox is going to join the fight against the Rock Troll?"

Haxor nodded.

"That's impossible!"

"Lady Vesemir isn't a newly graduated witch apprentice from Aretuza, so why would she be interested in exterminating monsters..."

"Even if there's a shortage of alchemical materials... with her coveted wealth, she wouldn't need to obtain even the rarest monster materials herself..."

"Even unlike those Sorceress in the Sorcerer's Council who appear serene and elegant on the surface but are actually ambitious behind the scenes, she has never shown any desire for power..."

"Since the Aelirenn Uprising, she has devoted herself entirely to alchemy, achieving many things that have shocked the entire wizarding world..."

"Do you know how many breakthroughs she made in alchemy...?"

As he listened, Haxor's expression turned strange.

Perhaps sensing the king's gaze, Jens paused for a moment before concluding:

"In short, Lady Vesemir has no interest in defeating the Rock Troll!"

Haxor remained silent.

He was certainly not rendered speechless by Jens.

He was just unsure whether to have Ban Ade find a different male wizard to work with.

"Couldn't Lady Vesemir have come to see Grandmaster Soyer and happened to run into my request, so she could have dealt with those Rock Troll while she was at it?"

"Impossible, Lady Vesemir should be busy right now..."

Before he could finish speaking, Jens' eyes darted around:

"Anyway, all you need to know is that Lady Vesemir isn't going to waste her time hunting Rock Troll right now."

Haxor's expression became even stranger.

"But Lady Vesemir is currently at this estate and will be leaving with us tomorrow morning."

Jens paused for a moment.

Yes, now that the Sorceress is here, there must be something here that has attracted her.

But it's absolutely impossible for it to be because of the Witcher or just a coincidence...

Etc!

Jens suddenly looked up at Haxor:

"You mean the soldiers searching for the target encountered Rock Troll at their base?"

Haxor looked rather grim, thinking that Jens was reopening old wounds.

However, he did not respond.

"Rock Troll are different from water ghosts; they are intelligent and rarely attack humans unless provoked to avoid retaliation..."

"And..."

"Rock Troll usually live in remote mountains or caves, so how did your people encounter them?"

Jens looked at the king seriously.

Haxor wanted to gloss over the cause, since it was disgraceful to lose hundreds of elite knights and soldiers because of two petty thieves, and this unruly sorcerer would surely laugh at him.

However, under Jens's insistence, he could only recount what had happened with a grim expression.

Surprisingly, Jens didn't use this as an excuse to make a fuss; instead, his expression changed drastically as he pressed for an answer:

"How's the search going?"

"Hmph!" Haxor was furious when he talked about this. "Three days ago, you told me that it would only take three days at most to catch them."

"My men have almost exhausted the search area you set, but we still haven't found them."

Ignoring Haxor's complaints, Jens instead asked rapidly:

"Have you caught those two petty thieves? Or do you know what they were up to when they infiltrated the military camp?"

Haxor also sensed something was wrong, and his expression turned serious:

"You mean?"

"Perhaps what we're looking for has never been on the surface," Jens gritted his teeth. "Lady Vesemir may not have come for the Witcher either; her goal might be the gem!"

"Reject her, Haxor."

"Jens commanded in a stern tone."

"By what right do you command your king?" Haxor reprimanded, then deliberately feigned nonchalance. "And I have already agreed."

"What!"

Jens took a few steps closer:

"Have you forgotten our agreement?"

"We'll help you find the person, kill the person, but the gem must belong to our Ban Ad."

"Haxor, do you know the consequences of breaking a contract? Even if you are the King of Kedwen, Ban Ade can..."

Haxor, feeling threatened, interrupted with a grim expression:

"Of course I remember."

"But regardless of why Vesemir came here, or whether her purpose is the same as yours, she already knows about that place."

"Would you rather have a powerful Sorceress roaming freely out of our sight?"

Jens remained silent.

He stared intently at Haxor for a long time.

"Don't betray, don't take chances..."

"If we don't get the gem, even if someone joins Lady Vesemir's side, he will not escape disaster."

Haxor sneered:

Are you threatening me?

"No, this is just advice," Jens suddenly smiled, "A sincere piece of advice!"

"Snort!"

Haxor snorted coldly.

"Furthermore... regardless of whether those two thieves who broke into the camp were elves or humans, whether they were after money, rescuing people, or our gem..."

"They've been inside for three days already!"

"The night is long and many things may happen, my dear king."

"How about we move the hunt to tonight?"

Jens gently brushed his right hand across the oak table in front of the king and made the suggestion.

After pondering for a moment with his head down, Haxor hesitated:

"But my army cannot..."

"It's alright, my dear king, it's alright..." Jens interrupted gently, "Powerful monsters cannot be dealt with by sheer numbers. I will personally lead Ban Ade's wizards on the hunt."

Abandoned mine shaft.

The faint mist, almost invisible, drifted against the cave wind into the crevice between the Rock Troll's corpse and the rock wall.

"Phew~"

In an instant, the mist condensed.

The demon hunter, carrying two swords and holding a strangely disproportionate arm bone in his hand, lightly squatted down on the ground, and also squatted in the pool of blood.

"I guess I'll never get used to the feeling of being vaporized!"

Despite the churning in his stomach, the Witcher nodded to Francesca, who was not far away and had just seen Ailin vanish and reappear in the mist, covering her face in surprise.

Although it may cause physical discomfort, the atomized concealment effect is really good.

At a distance of nearly twenty meters, not a single Rock Troll spotted him.

As for why not use mirage pearls?

Ailin reached his hand into the pool of blood on the ground.

He left a row of bloody footprints in the Mountain Stone, as if afraid the Mountain Stone wouldn't know he had stolen his home.

"Ding! Absorb the blood of the Rock Troll?"

Upon hearing the familiar System Notification, Ailin's eyes lit up immediately.

It worked!

He had just been worried about whether obtaining blood required living blood, or whether it required the Rock Troll to voluntarily donate blood, like with Big Stone, Little Stone, and Broken Stone.

After all, summoning quests are not hunting quests; they do not require hunting monsters.

"Roar!"

A roar came from not far away.

Interspersed among them were human curses, battle cries, intense collisions, and the clang of metal on metal.

The demon hunter, hiding behind the Rock Troll's corpse, was not distracted by the noise.

Atomization, current state, atomization, current state...

Ailin gripped the Foglet Arm Bone tightly as he weaved through the corpses of the Rock Troll.

During this process, he noticed that most of these Rock Troll died from severed arteries and excessive blood loss.

Turning his gaze away from the charred, blackened cut, Ailin looked at the wound—a wound that could only have been inflicted by a weapon with extremely high silver purity—and thought:

"Besides inviting witchers, the human army does indeed have other ways to deal with large monsters."

[Ding! Quest: Summon I (Collect 10/20 Rock Troll Blood)]

Collect all the blood from the seven corpses.

Ailin breathed a sigh of relief and stared intently at the heart of the fierce battle.

Three tower shields, each taller than a person, stood side by side at the entrance to a hole that could only accommodate five people, completely blocking it.

A faint magical aura flowed across the massive black shield.

This is definitely not an ordinary tower shield!

The Witcher thought.

The next moment.

"Snap!"

Mountain Stone broke off a three-meter-high stalagmite with his bare hands and slammed it down into the center of the tower shield.

"Thump!"

The clanging of metal was countless times louder than the sound of temple bells in my previous life.

"What?"

The Witcher's blue Cat Eyes contracted sharply.

The central tower shield remained perfectly still, as if it were rooted to the ground along with the other shields.

"What exactly are these three shields?"

Looking at the faint ripples appearing in the center of the shield, Ailin was extremely surprised.

"Boom!"

After the blow, the Mountain Stone seemed to lose some strength and put the stalagmite on the ground.

"Whoosh!"

At this moment.

Several arrows, their arrowheads gleaming with silver light, suddenly shot out from behind the shield wall.

However, most of the bullets were blocked by the hard rock shells on the Mountain Stone, and only a small number penetrated some non-fatal parts.

Arrows aimed at other Rock Troll were also steadily blocked by the trolls' hard shells.

Due to their small size, not a single Rock Troll was injured.

Without a doubt.

The fact that both sides so skillfully exchanged ineffective offense and defense must have happened many times before.

"But why?"

The Witcher was curious.

"The Rock Troll were forced to fight. Why is Kedwen's army doing this kind of harassment, a thankless and arduous task..."

"Etc!"

"Harassment?"

Ailin suddenly noticed that although the Rock Troll on the front lines of the battle looked menacing.

However, judging from their attack posture, they were clearly not as powerful as they were three days ago.

Trolls... don't eat... humans...

Big Stone's words suddenly popped into his mind.

Yes, Rock Troll are ogres in most Monster Economics books.

But according to Big Stone, most Rock Troll do not eat people unless absolutely necessary.

Thinking of this, Ailin paused for a moment and looked around.

Really!

Although the cave was a mess, resembling hell, there were no signs of humans being eaten.

"The purpose of the Kedwen is very clear."

"They're consuming these Rock Troll!"

Let them starve, let them tire, let them weaken, and finally find an opportunity to kill them.

Not only that.

The torches ignited a raging fire, burning the area where the corpses were most concentrated.

This was a net that tightened ever tighter, leaving the Rock Troll with no way to escape.

"Unfortunately, those soldiers are my enemies!" Ailin thought, "Enemies even worse than the Rock Troll."

Every soldier who survives here could one day become an arrow in King Kedwen's hand, piercing the heart of Kaer Morhen.

then.

The Witcher's mind stirred.

"Puff puff puff..."

A soft thud followed by a pungent stench as large chunks of rotting flesh piled up behind the Rock Troll's corpse, in Francesca's blind spot.

Eighty percent of Ailin's inventory was emptied.

Based on the Big Stone's appetite, this amount of rotting flesh would be enough for the twelve Rock Troll to feast on for ten days.

This still includes the consumption of Mountain Stone.

"I wonder if the king will like this gift I gave him?"

Ailin couldn't help but smile slightly.

Then.

The Witcher pulled out the Foglet Arm Bone, intending to turn into mist and leave.

suddenly.

The image of the Mountain Stone being wounded by the silver arrow flashed into my mind.

Instinctively looking at the crater about five meters ahead, the Witcher squinted and stared for a few seconds before his eyes lit up.

A shallow pool of blood lingered in the crater.

"It's the blood of the Mountain Stone!"