I, Ailin, Declare You the Strongest!

"Hiss~"

Wait until the knight regains his senses.

Behind them came the sounds of flesh being pierced and the monster's heart-wrenching screams.

Just as the knight was about to turn around, the coachman in the Duke's carriage suddenly leaned out, waved his right hand vigorously a few times, and shouted:

"Keep moving forward!"

Before he could finish speaking...

Another Spear of Death flew from the carriage.

But this time, those cold Cat Eyes -Cat Eyes no longer inspired fear; instead, they gave people a sense of security, like leaning against a mountain.

"Call out!"

"Call out!"

"Call out!"

One after another, ice-blue spears appeared.

After a mysterious fifty years, the ice spears cast by the Ice Lance Spell not only changed in size.

The elemental structure of the ice spear seems to have undergone a qualitative change, becoming more solid and resilient.

In less than three minutes, thirteen ice spears had been stuck in the grass on both sides of the path, and none of them had broken.

A Ghoul was nailed to the bottom of each one.

in,

Most of them have been wiped out.

A few were still struggling and howling.

That was incredibly lucky; he drew the Witcher card and, instead of using [Witcher's Blessing], tried aiming at it himself – a very auspicious draw, but the effect was becoming increasingly minimal.

"Roar~"

"Roar~"

The remaining dozen or so Ghoul seemed to notice that their companions were dying rapidly, and after roaring a few times, they began to change their running route.

And from time to time, small patches of woods would appear as cover before they got close.

"A clever beast..." the witcher muttered in the carriage, "But it's useless..."

"Call out!"

"Call out!"

Two more Ghoul were pinned to the ground.

As long as it's within the range of his Demon Hunter state, combined with the mind-controlling Ice Lance Spell, Ailin can hit his target every time.

The only trouble these Ghoul brought him was a few more doses of Drowner Heart Essence Fluid to restore the stamina he had used up while hunting demons.

And that's all—they can no longer practice live target shooting.

in this way.

Three more Ghoul were shot through.

"Roar~"

Faced with the stark threat of death, the Ghoul that had been leaping and surging behind them finally slowed down in fear.

The distance between them and the speeding convoy quickly increased.

In Demon Hunter mode, there is no distance limit to locking onto a target, but it requires Divine Power to penetrate the aura of favor surrounding the demon.

However, achieving a 100% hit rate from intrusion requires both Divine Power strength and time.

Therefore, beyond a certain range, especially at a gradually increasing distance, the strength of Divine Power will rapidly weaken, and it will soon be impossible to achieve the requirement of 100% accuracy.

So the Witcher stopped chanting.

Now.

There are less than ten Ghoul left.

But behind the Ghoul horde, there was a large creature they had never faced before, hiding in the distant woods on either side.

He cautiously directed the Ghoul from a safe place, only occasionally revealing a dark shadow hidden in the shade of the trees.

If it weren't for the fact that the Witcher could hear that distinctive, dull "thump-thump" sound as the monster landed, he might not have been able to spot it visually.

So from the moment he climbed onto the roof of the carriage, Ailin had been assessing the strength of the monster and thinking about how to deal with this cunning creature.

Just then.

"Knock knock knock~"

Suddenly, the ground began to tremble and groan.

The Witcher had just looked in the direction from which the tremor was coming...

"Roar--"

A chilling roar rang out.

The remaining few Ghoul, which were already retreating, seemed to be enraged and leaped into the air.

They quickly closed the gap with the knight at the back of the line at an even faster pace than before.

Not only that.

The monster lurking in the shadows seemed to notice the heavy casualties among its minions, and after letting out a violent roar, it revealed itself.

Ailin was stunned when he saw the monster's true form.

With a body that moved on all fours like Ghoul, its front and hind legs quickly crossed, leaving afterimages as it charged toward the convoy.

Its face, which is extremely similar to a human's, is covered with long, sharp black thorns that extend down its spine to its back.

Sharp and menacing, it sends a chill down one's spine upon seeing it.

"This is... Giant Ghoul?"

The Witcher's mouth dropped open in surprise.

It wasn't that he didn't recognize the monster, nor was it because he was excited from seeing it for the first time... but rather... but rather...

This is freaking huge!!!

"Knock knock knock~"

The ground trembled more and more violently.

As Ailin crouched on the carriage, he felt as if he had returned to the Killer Lake where Trial of the Mountains.

then.

The ground trembled with fear as the Cyclops charged toward him.

And this "Giant Ghoul" is no less large than Old Spearhead.

"This is outrageous..." Ailin thought to himself.

Although the name of the Giant Ghoul in the game includes the word "Giant," its actual size is no different from that of a regular Ghoul.

They were all slightly heavier and stronger than the average adult.

I never imagined that in reality, there really would be a "giant" Ghoul!

This size definitely qualifies it as a large monster.

No wonder I didn't encounter Ghoul in the previous places.

Where there are Giant Ghoul, ordinary Ghoul will instinctively gather, just like the king of Ghoul.

"Roar--"

"Roar!"

"Roar~"

As the Giant Ghoul drew ever closer with its roars, the ordinary Ghoul began to echo its howls in response.

In addition, the approaching magical aura startled the knights' warhorses, causing them to begin to stir uncontrollably.

He then used the Ice Lance Spell to kill two more Ghoul.

Seeing that even the well-trained knights were beginning to panic under the influence of the Giant Ghoul's aura, they realized that the ghoul was causing them to panic.

When the remaining seven Ghoul pounced on the convoy almost simultaneously, the Witcher knew he could no longer play the wizard here.

"Clang~"

The silver sword was drawn.

The next second.

The Witcher's eyes swept over the ordinary Ghoul and the enormous creature that was less than fifty meters away from the convoy.

A light jump.

Like a seasoned wildcat, it lightly stepped onto the shoulders of the knight in the center of the formation, much to the knights' astonishment and disbelief.

Immediately following.

Before the knight beneath him could react, he leaped again and landed firmly on the rump of the last horse in the procession.

At this moment, the seven Ghoul were less than three meters away from the ponytail that was swaying in the wind.

The Witcher's keen eyesight could even detect the murky slime around the Ghoul's mouth, which was blown by the wind into a line and scattered on the grassy ground.

"Roar--"

The seven Ghoul roared simultaneously, leaping two meters into the air from the ground and pouncing on the demon hunters who had ambushed them like giant, man-eating tigers.

The Witcher's gaze remained unchanged, fixed intently on the Giant Ghoul.

In a certain instant.

He kicked off the warhorse's rump and then spun around in mid-air.

In the blink of an eye.

A pale red, cold light traced a beautiful arc, and the necks of the seven Ghoul were all on the trajectory of this beautiful arc.

"Pfft—"

All the Ghoul were beheaded at the same time.

The mud-covered paws, unaware of death, continued to thrash about.

The ugly head had been propelled into the air by the blood pressure inside the body.

His body and head were separated.

"Thump~"

The Witcher landed, his legs bending slightly to dissipate the momentum.

The next second.

The Ghoul's corpse fell to the ground with a thud.

Blood fell like rain, turning the pale yellow soil dark red, but deliberately avoiding the witcher's position.

It was as if they were afraid.

"By the Goddess Meritellie, how did he jump from the carriage onto Anhe's shoulder?"

"Is this the real concern? Can't anyone tell me if all witchers are this twisted? This kid doesn't even look as old as my son. My son at that age only knows how to crawl under women's skirts..."

"Dwarf Beard, do you want to die? Keep your voice down!"

"It's alright. The Witchers of the School of the Wolf are heroes who are even more upright and magnanimous than knights. They won't care about such trivial matters..."

The Witcher killed several Ghoul.

The knights, riding their horses, disregarded strict military discipline and aristocratic decorum, and kept looking back in awkward postures.

The discussion and debate were deafening.

Until a middle-aged knight wearing a golden iris on his chest appeared.

Clutching a dark red potion, he rode his horse back to the ranks from the groom and roared:

"A child who is not even old enough to be baptized is protecting us—those of us old enough to be his fathers—with the shield of irises..."

"You guys still have the mind to joke around at a time like this?"

"Knights, where is your sense of shame?"

"Do you know that our lord is currently being protected by a child?!"

The knights in the queue, who had been laughing and joking about getting off safely, suddenly fell silent, with only the sound of horses' hooves pounding the ground echoing in their ears.

This only made the fleeing crowd even more embarrassed.

No one made excuses based on the fact that the child was a witcher with bloodthirsty and ferocious monsters behind him, rather than a rebel army in full armor.

Even witchers shouldn't be weaker than a child.

Although that child certainly didn't look like an ordinary person.

"Remember this humiliation well."

"Then..."

The middle-aged knight, adorned with a golden iris, solemnly swept his gaze across all the knights, then looked worriedly at the slender figure heading towards the colossal creature, and said:

"Pray to Cliff, our little hero, may he be invincible!"

Ailin was naturally invincible, otherwise he would have died long ago.

He never imagined he would lose to a real Giant Ghoul.

After all, no matter how strong the monster is, if you face it alone, you can't kill it instantly while it's protected by the Quen Sign.

Then the Demon Hunter will teach the monster how to be a quiet and harmless creature.

So they faced Giant Ghoul charging towards them with the force of a mountain sweeping across the land.

Ailin was not afraid at all; on the contrary, he was very excited.

Especially when he saw...

[Name: Giant Ghoul]

[Level: 57]

[Attributes: Strength?, Agility 39, Constitution?, Perception 33, Mysticism 21]

His level is almost ten levels higher than his, so the evaluation for challenging someone of a higher level will be maxed out when the rewards are settled.

However, its overall attributes are consistent with the strength of the Witcher world and the strength of Ailin.

Before entering the indifferent state of [Demon Hunter], he even looked forward to opening chests in front of the statue of the Goddess Meritellie, wondering what kind of gold-quality recipe he might get from the Giant Ghoul's Chest.

But unexpectedly...

The Giant Ghoul charged within twenty meters of the witcher and saw him swiftly and decisively kill its seven minions...

It stopped immediately.

The spring sun shines warmly, and the grass grows tall and the birds fly.

A man-eating monster and a monster hunter stared at each other for a full two seconds on this narrow path.

Then, under Ailin's astonished gaze, the Giant Ghoul, which looked like a small mountain compared to the Witcher, turned around without hesitation and ran into the deep, dark forest beside the path.

This scene left Ailin completely stunned.

I stood there stunned for three seconds before realizing that the monster was trying to escape.

His @#￥%&'s Chest and recipe are about to fly away!!!

"Knock knock knock~"

The tremors on the ground grew weaker and weaker, indicating that the Giant Ghoul was rapidly fleeing the scene.

"Grass!"

"That Giant Ghoul is really cunning!"

Ailin spat and hurriedly ran towards the Giant Ghoul.

This was the first time that a monster, upon seeing him, didn't drool with excitement but instead fled in panic.

What a novel experience!

Although Ailin didn't want it.

Agility does not mean running speed.

Although the Giant Ghoul is three points less agile Ailin, it makes up for it with its stride length.

Giant Ghoul's one step is equivalent to four steps of a witcher.

In addition, the Witcher was stunned by the monster's bizarre behavior and let the Giant Ghoul go free for three seconds.

Therefore, Ailin's pursuit was quite difficult.

Once inside the dense forest, the witcher, unfamiliar with the environment, almost got left behind.

If it weren't for the fact that after completing the [Demon Hunter] quest, it would provide the optimal path to kill the monster.

There is also the Ice Lance Spell that can attack monsters.

Furthermore, although the Giant Ghoul has a hard shell, it is not like the Drowners King and the Giant Drowner who can use magic to shield themselves.

Therefore, the progress in demon hunting is quite considerable.

Without any of the above factors, the Giant Ghoul might actually have escaped.

But unfortunately...

After nearly half an hour of chasing, the Witcher was breathing heavily, but he stood firmly on the longest black spike on the Giant Ghoul's back.

"Roar--"

The Giant Ghoul roared in terror.

The stench was overwhelming, like raw meat that had been rotting for days mixed with swill.

However, the Witcher remained expressionless.

The silver light rapidly magnified in the monster's enormous pupils.

"Pfft!"

The body and head were separated.

The pair of giant black claws tried to grab Ailin, but after swinging them a few times in mid-air, they slammed them heavily to the ground.

Smoke and dust rose everywhere.

"Bite!"

[Slay the Level 57 "Giant Ghoul" Monster Horde!]

[Rewards Settlement: Victory over the enemy, base rating D, kill above level +3 to C, decapitation strike deterrence +3 to B, victory against overwhelming odds +3 to A]

Final rating: A

[Loot obtained: Giant Ghoul Heart Essence Fluid, Ghoul Heart Essence Fluid *33, Experience Orbs *12, Giant Ghoul's Chest *5, Ghoul's Chest *5]

[Ding! The "Giant Ghoul" Monster Bestiary has been activated]

[Ding! Hunting Quest: Giant Ghoul I (Giant Ghoul Kills 0/20) has been activated. Accept?]

"Whoosh—hiss—whoosh—hiss—"

Having accepted the mission, Ailin leaned against the Giant Ghoul's corpse, catching his breath after a long while.

I glanced at the reviews and rewards with delight.

He looked at the monster, which had finally fallen silent on the ground, with a complex expression, and sighed:

"Although there was no danger at all from beginning to end..."

"But you are truly the most troublesome monster I have ever encountered!"