Monster Hunting

"Cough, cough."

Two light coughs.

The Witcher Apprentice, who should have had a gaping hole blasted through his chest, staggered up from the ground.

"I survived!"

Through the gradually dispersing dust of Ice Crystals, Ailin saw the slate floor blasted into a huge crater, and cold sweat instantly poured down his back.

The Witcher Apprentice was seized by lingering fear.

"Good thing the chief gave me the mirage pearl as a reward ten days ago..."

"Good thing Lady Vesemir activated the mirage pearl for me a week ago..."

"Better still, I never slacked off this past week and found time every day to familiarize myself with the mirage pearl!"

Yes, Ailin had survived the Drowners King's terrifying attack entirely thanks to the mirage pearl the chief had given him.

Half a minute earlier,

the Witcher Apprentice had realized something was wrong when he saw that the Drowners King had not only locked onto him with its eyes,

but was also gathering the nearly solidified magic within its massive body.

He swiftly channeled his magic into the mirage pearl, constructing an illusion within seconds of himself fleeing in disarray.

With so little time, Ailin's skill had not been up to par.

The illusion constructed by the Witcher Apprentice had actually only shown his back facing the Drowners King.

Yet even with such simplification, the illusion looked extremely unreal, and its movements were highly unnatural.

Fortunately, the cave was poorly lit, and the Drowners King's eyesight seemed to be bad as well.

Otherwise, such a flimsy, awkward illusion would likely have been unable to fool the Drowners King's eyes.

While praising his own quick wits, Ailin rushed into the cave entrance.

Fortunately, the flames that had been burning were all extinguished by the icy mist.

The drowners outside the cave had long since been frightened away by the flames.

"Master Vesemir, I'm all right!"

As soon as he entered the passageway, Ailin quickly called out to reassure Vesemir.

Hearing this, the Witcher Master finally relaxed.

Good. He was fine. That was all that mattered.

The moment he saw the apprentice pierced through by the Ice Spike, Vesemir had felt as if his heart had suddenly stopped.

"It must have been an illusion."

The Witcher Master recalled that the chief had given Ailin a Phantasm Pendant during a practical combat lesson.

But didn't ordinary Phantasm Pendants only create fixed illusions?

Why had the illusion used by the Witcher Apprentice just now been constructed on the spot?

"Graaah—!!!"

The Drowners King's furious roar interrupted Vesemir's thoughts.

Now that Ailin was safe, they had to figure out how to kill this monster.

Looking at the protective layer on the Drowners King's sturdy body, seemingly as thick as its arms, the Witcher Master's head began to ache.

Large Monsters often had slow movement and attack speeds over short distances.

What made them so difficult to deal with was that humans were simply too small. Even with silver swords capable of breaking through Chaos Magic's blessing,

if they failed to strike a vital organ, it was no more than scratching the surface of the monster's muscles.

It was difficult to inflict fatal damage.

And the closer one got to the monster, the harder it became to evade its attacks.

One careless mistake, and death would come on the spot.

This monster was even more troublesome than any Vesemir had encountered before.

None of the dangerous Large Monsters Vesemir had hunted in the past had ever actively cast magical shields.

He darted experimentally to the monster's feet and spun into a slash.

This time, the blue membrane did not even flicker.

"As expected, a silver sword isn't Aetherium. It does little against fully formed magical defenses."

Vesemir's headache worsened.

Quickly sidestepping the massive foot stomping down at him, the Witcher Master hacked away with all his strength more than a dozen times before finally breaking through the Drowners King's defense.

Then, curling his right index finger, Vesemir seized the chance and prepared to let the Drowners King taste an Igni Sign.

"Graaah!"

Blue light flashed around the Drowners King, and its magical shield appeared once more.

The fierce flames blasted out by the Igni Sign were blocked by the blue membrane before they could touch the monster's skin.

Vesemir quickly retreated several steps, helplessly watching the magical shield rapidly form with a single roar.

He suddenly felt like a rat trying to bite a turtle, with nowhere to start.

Perhaps only the chief, who had hunted dragons before, could deal with a monster like this, Vesemir thought.

Just as the Witcher Master found himself caught in a dilemma, he suddenly heard Ailin shout.

"Master Vesemir, keep attacking! Buy me some time!"

Vesemir abruptly turned his head.

He saw the Witcher Apprentice with half his body hidden within the passageway, exposing only his eyes and sword tip.

Ailin nodded firmly at him, seemingly brimming with confidence.

The Witcher Master hesitated.

Even he could only hold this monster at a stalemate. Did Ailin truly have a way to deal with it?

"Trust me. I wouldn't gamble with my life!"

The Witcher Apprentice urged him again.

Perhaps he really could bring me a surprise? Vesemir heard the confidence and certainty in the apprentice's voice.

Then he suddenly recalled that astonishing sword strike from their first practical combat lesson.

Vesemir tightened his grip on his silver sword again and nodded with his back to Ailin.

Then he charged at the Drowners King, repeating the cycle of dodging, breaking its defense, dodging, and breaking its defense.

In dangerous battles, witchers had to trust their comrades.

The Witcher Apprentice trusted his comrade as well.

He stared fixedly at every movement of the Drowners King, gripping Elsa tightly in his hand.

Ding! Your skill: Monster Hunting LV1 has increased to Monster Hunting LV3.

Monster Hunting was powerful, but it had flaws.

It ignored defenses and weaknesses alike. So long as one entered the Monster Hunting state and met the conditions, one could kill a monster in a single strike.

It was an almost rule-like erasure effect.

Of course, such outrageously powerful effects came with immense restrictions.

Once a target was locked on, one could not lose focus, making it ineffective against multiple enemies.

In the Monster Hunting state, if one only observed without attacking, Monster Hunting progress would increase very slowly.

Finally, the Monster Hunting state had a time limit. At LV1, it could only be maintained for fifty seconds.

If the progress could not be fully charged within those fifty seconds, even using the skill a second time in time would not carry over the previous progress.

Thus, over the past ten days, Ailin had used Monster Hunting only a handful of times, mostly to test the skill's performance and rules.

Yet from those experiments with Monster Hunting, Ailin had still gained some useful insights.

For example, attacks made by others against the target could also increase Monster Hunting's accumulated progress.

To be safe, Ailin spent two Special Skill points and directly raised the skill to Level 3.

Monster Hunting (Active): Consumes 150 stamina to focus the mind and enter the Monster Hunting state. Once the conditions are met, unleash a fatal strike (guaranteed to kill a monster).

The upgrade's effects were simple and brutal: it increased the stamina consumed by the skill and extended the duration of the Monster Hunting state.

Everything was ready.

Ailin focused his mind and held his breath.

Monster Hunting Progress: 1%

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