Ailin, dead?

The moment the Drowners King locked eyes on him, a potent killing intent made the Witcher apprentice feel as if he were drowning in a sea of corpses.

A chill seeped from the base of his spine all the way to his scalp.

However, to Ailin's surprise as he stood tense and on guard, this behemoth, resembling a mountain of flesh, didn't charge directly at Vesemir or himself.

Instead, it tilted its head unnaturally, as if surveying its surroundings.

"Ailin, there's something wrong with this monster!" Vesemir moved closer to Ailin without making a sound. "Keep your guard up. If things go south, find a way to escape..."

"Gwaa!"

Before Vesemir could finish speaking, the Drowners King roared again.

A layer of blue membrane suddenly appeared on the monster's powerful, developed muscles.

"Bzzzt!"

The Witcher master's school medallion emitted a buzzing sound that even Ailin could hear.

"Is that... a magic shield?" Ailin asked, sounding uncertain.

Aside from the color, this blue membrane bore a striking resemblance to the Quen Shield.

But how was that possible?

Vesemir's expression grew serious, and he didn't immediately answer the apprentice's question, focusing intently on the Drowners King's every move.

"Gwaa~ Gwaa-laa~ Gwaa-gwaa-laa..."

The Drowners King's cavernous mouth opened and closed slightly.

A deep, clear roar emanated from within, like an incantation.

Gradually, faint, shimmering pale blue light points materialized from the void, rapidly converging onto the behemoth.

Its blood-red fins breathed in the light points, pulsing rhythmically.

Ailin was mesmerized for a moment.

A rhythmic pattern, a chant that manipulated the surrounding magic...

What was it doing?

Was it casting magic?

The Witcher apprentice dazedly observed the Drowners King's humanoid, massive physique, its powerful, developed muscles...

A body type that was a standard melee template for any creature.

And now they were telling him it was also a mage?

Furthermore.

Didn't Drowners lack intelligence?

Even the Axii mind-altering Sign was ineffective against such monsters.

How could such a purely chaotic creature master highly structured magic?

Was the Drowners King not of the same species as Drowners, but merely a new species called Drowners King?

In an instant, a flood of questions surged into his mind.

"Ailin, protect yourself!"

Seeing the Drowners King's abnormality, Vesemir's expression changed drastically. After leaving a word of caution, he quickly charged towards the monster that was gathering its power.

Regardless of whether it was magic or not, the most crucial aspect of any battle was to interrupt the enemy's intent.

Since the monster appeared to be accumulating power, it absolutely could not be allowed to succeed.

Ailin didn't stay put either. A step behind Vesemir, he also charged towards the Drowners King.

"Wrong!"

After charging a few steps, Ailin abruptly stopped and then began to move irregularly around the monster.

But no matter how irregular his movements were, the Drowners King's gaze remained firmly fixed on him.

Ailin was locked on.

"Ailin, be careful!"

Vesemir also noticed this, but he had already reached the Drowners King and was too far to turn back and rescue him.

He decided to stimulate the mutated organs within his body to their maximum, squeezing out as much magical energy as possible.

Alde Sign!

A fierce telekinetic wave erupted from the Witcher master's palm, distorting the very air in the direction his right hand pointed.

He intended to use the Sign to interrupt the monster's next attack.

A brilliant display of on-the-spot reaction.

Unfortunately, the colossal monster remained unfazed, ignoring the surging shockwave and continuing to gather energy.

As expected, the telekinetic wave that distorted the air only caused the blue membrane to flicker once.

Vesemir's expression changed drastically. He turned his head sharply and shouted at the Witcher apprentice:

"Ailin, run!"

Ailin's hair stood on end as he sprinted towards the cave entrance.

The fire lit by the Witcher master had not yet died down, but the Witcher apprentice couldn't afford to care about it anymore.

A strong sense of danger told him that if he couldn't dodge this attack from the Drowners King, he would surely die.

Without stopping his footsteps, Ailin mentally summoned the Witcher's Handbook. Ignoring that Quen could only absorb physical damage and not magic, he frantically added points to the Quen Sign.

[Ding! Your skill: Quen Sign LV1 has been upgraded to Quen Sign LV3 (0/2500)]

[Ding! Your level has been raised to Level 10, granting you 1 Special Skill Point]

Facing a life-or-death crisis, Ailin could no longer afford to conserve Lesser Experience Orbs.

If not for the Witcher's Handbook prompting him after the Sign upgraded to LV3, stating that upgrading from LV3 to LV4 required a Mysticism value greater than 10.

Ailin wished he could spend all his Lesser Experience Orbs.

Magic instantly flowed through his body. His thumb and index finger bent slightly, drawing a triangle in the air before him.

Quen Sign.

"Hum!"

A clear chime sounded.

A faint golden light flashed across his brown leather armor.

After leveling up to Lv3, Ailin felt that the casting time for the Quen Sign had been reduced by at least half.

What originally took about 10 seconds to successfully cast now took at least 5 seconds less.

The structure of the shield had also been greatly optimized.

Not only had the shield's color changed from a nearly transparent pale yellow to a semi-transparent pale gold.

The shield's defensive effect had at least doubled. The physical shield, which could originally only absorb 2 heavy blows from a Drowner, could now withstand at least 6.

Furthermore, a new structure had been added.

This structure caused the shield to explode outwards after shattering, generating a powerful shockwave in an instant.

However, because the Witcher apprentice's Mysticism value was still too low.

The current shockwave could, at most, push away monsters the weight of a Drowner.

The cave entrance was already very close to Ailin; he could see the bright sunlight shining into the cave.

"Hope is just ahead."

Ailin encouraged himself, but a thick, heavy gloom lingered in his heart.

The Drowners King, capable of chanting magic, must have intelligence. Would it really watch Ailin escape the cave so easily?

"Less than ten meters left!"

Ailin could clearly see the cracks on the cave entrance's edge caused by the earthquake.

"Hum!"

A crisp sound came from behind him.

It was like a frozen lake in the dead of winter suddenly cracking.

"Swish!"

Before Ailin could shift his gaze from the stone wall to the Drowners King.

A biting cold, an unknown strong wind struck him, making him shiver instantly.

The Witcher apprentice abruptly turned his head.

What greeted his eyes was not the massive body of the Drowners King, but a huge, blue-glowing ice spike.

Before he could react.

"Boom!"

The massive ice spike pierced the Witcher apprentice's chest without obstruction, embedding itself heavily into the ground.

The hard slate ground was instantly blasted into a large pit.

Rocks shattered into powder, and the ice spike instantly exploded into countless blue-glowing ice crystals, filling the entire cave in a flash.

For a moment, it was as if a luminous snow was falling within the cave.

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