Drowners King

"What the hell is that?!"

Ailin cried out in surprise, freeing his left hand to rub his eyes.

When he opened them again, the blood-red vision had vanished.

It had merely been a warning.

"Ailin, what's wrong?"

Vesemir shouted from afar.

The Witcher Master had already fought his way to the cave entrance. Behind him lay corpses sprawled everywhere.

Eerie blue, dark red, murky yellow.

The air was thick with the distinctive fishy stench of drowners.

It was enough to make anyone gag and vomit.

Had Ailin seen this scene ten days ago, he would have been scared out of his wits.

But after ten days as a witcher apprentice, after killing so many drowners, Ailin had grown used to scenery straight out of hell.

"Vesemi—"

Before Ailin could reply,

the scene before him changed drastically again.

Two banners, red-black in color, flickered into view at the very top of Ailin's vision.

Warning! Warning! Warning!

Conjunction of the Spheres fluctuations detected! Conjunction of the Spheres fluctuations detected!

As the banners flickered, the scenery before Ailin's eyes seemed to flicker as well.

Heads, severed limbs, rocks, and stone walls all tilted and twisted.

No!

The cave walls really were shaking.

Several drowner heads bounced into the air, flung in every direction by the tremors.

"Boom—boom—"

It seemed as though heaven and earth themselves were roaring.

Fine stones mixed with dust rained down from the ceiling of the cave.

For a moment,

the witcher apprentice inside the cavern felt as if his entire body were falling.

The black sky seemed to be drawing closer, while the brown earth receded farther away.

For the first time, Ailin learned that during an earthquake, heaven and earth truly could change color.

"Ailin! Ailin!"

Vesemir shouted anxiously.

Before a catastrophe of heaven and earth, even a Witcher Master could barely protect himself.

The drowners outside the cave had all been knocked to the ground by the sudden earthquake.

Vesemir stood at the entrance. A few steps forward lay bright daylight.

Yet instead of moving forward, he anxiously braced himself against the rock wall and fought to get closer to his apprentice.

"Ailin! Ailin!"

The Witcher Master shouted again.

But the witcher apprentice had no strength to answer. Like a tiny fishing boat in raging waves, he was battered by the power of the entire world.

"Boom—"

During another violent tremor, Ailin was hurled into the air by the earth without the slightest chance to resist.

The pitch-black rock wall suddenly filled his vision.

"Bang!"

Leather armor against stone, flesh against stone, bones against stone—all met in intimate contact.

"Argh!"

The Witcher Apprentice could not hold back a howl.

He felt as if his left arm had broken. Every inch of his body hurt.

Was the impact of the Conjunction of the Spheres really this intense?

"I was still too careless!"

Using the cotton lining on his shoulder armor, Ailin wiped the blood from his eyes.

Enduring the pain, he clung tightly to a stone pillar beside him.

Then, with a thought, he opened his inventory and used five portions of Drowner's Heart Essence Fluid in succession.

The icy liquid entered his stomach, and a faint warmth rose within him.

Drowner's Heart Essence Fluid could not heal injuries, but it could ease pain. Moreover, once it fully restored stamina, it also greatly accelerated the body's recovery.

Not long after,

the earth's fury gradually subsided.

"Ailin! Ailin!"

Vesemir's anxious voice rang out again.

The Witcher Apprentice was about to answer when a familiar mechanical voice suddenly sounded in his ear.

Ding! Main Quest activated: Visitor from Another World (Kill Drowners King 0/1)

"Graaah—!!!"

A majestic roar deafened his ears.

Ailin looked toward the sound, and his face instantly turned pale.

Fuck!

"This isn't a drowner!"

At the cave entrance.

"Ailin! Ailin!"

The moment the tremors settled, Vesemir rushed toward the witcher apprentice.

"Buzz!"

The School Emblem on the Witcher Master's chest suddenly vibrated violently.

Vesemir stopped, lowered his stance slightly, and looked around.

"Graaah—!!!"

Following the sound, the Witcher Master's amber Cat Eyes instantly contracted.

A monster had suddenly appeared in the depths of the dim cave.

It stood roughly four meters tall. Its bulging muscles and massive frame made the cave, which had originally seemed quite spacious, appear cramped.

Its muscles were layered like those of a skinned frog.

Blood-red fins, red enough to seem as though they were bleeding, extended from its tailbone all the way to its forehead. From a distance, they resembled a mohawk from Ailin's previous life.

An intense pressure radiated from its body. Its Chaos Magic was so dense that the School Emblem would not stop vibrating violently, as if it were about to burst out of the Cotton Armor.

"Damn it, where did this monster come from?"

Vesemir pressed his right hand over the emblem and took several quick strides toward the witcher apprentice.

"Ailin! Are you all right?"

Ailin released the stone pillar, quickly stood up, and moved his left arm.

Aside from the pain of bruised muscles, it was fully functional.

The Witcher Apprentice breathed a sigh of relief.

"Master Vesemir, I'm fine."

The Witcher Master nodded, then focused his attention on the Drowners King that had suddenly appeared.

It was a monster he had never seen before.

It looked like a drowner, but since when could drowners grow this large?

Ailin also observed the monster.

The Drowners King held its head in both claws, its enormous body swaying unsteadily.

The Conjunction of the Spheres' teleportation seemed to have caused it tremendous pain.

A quick appraisal.

Name: Drowners King

Level: ?

Attributes: Strength ?, Agility 13, Constitution ?, Perception 11, Mystery ?

What the hell?

Why was the information from Appraisal missing pieces?

The Witcher Apprentice's expression darkened.

Judging from the data alone, this Drowners King was no simple creature.

The drowner pack outside had also recovered from the earthquake and rushed into the cave in groups of three or five.

Vesemir's expression tightened. After thinking for a moment, he swiftly charged toward the drowner pack and raised his left hand.

Alde Sign.

A fierce telekinetic shockwave burst from his palm, and the drowners before Vesemir were blown away like tiny specks of dust.

Most of the monsters struck died instantly.

Silver swords were certainly a drowner's good friend, but sufficiently powerful Signs were even better.

After casting Ald, the Witcher Master formed the Igni Sign.

A continuous torrent of scorching flames ignited the drowner corpses piled at the cave entrance, creating a wall of fire that blocked off the inside from the outside.

Vesemir had only used his silver sword before because Ailin's life had not been in danger. He had wanted to resolve things in the simplest way possible while leaving a few drowners for Ailin.

After all, the witcher apprentice seemed to possess an inexplicable thirst for hunting drowners.

But now, with an unknown monster before them, he naturally had to swiftly deal with the drowners he could handle first.

"Graaah—!!!"

The intense magical fluctuations woke the Drowners King.

After letting out a roar, its fist-sized, blood-red eyes swiftly locked onto the two witchers in the cave.

Sacrificial rite, protect me while I test the waters!!!