Where Was the Leshen? Tracking Bont! Dante's Confusion

"I'm waiting to be questioned..."

Ailin paused, realizing it wasn't something she should say, and stopped abruptly.

I was waiting for the results of the campaign... He almost let it slip.

It is indeed very strange.

Ailin glanced past Vesemir, Dante, and the group of young witchers, then surveyed the oak forest, which he and the Leshen had ravaged.

The Leshen was dead, leaving only its broken moose antlers. The oppressive aura that had enveloped the entire oak forest vanished completely, leaving not a trace.

The wolf pack's howls were driven away by the Greater Griffin's imposing presence, and the crows were wiped out by Ernie and his men.

Why haven't the results of the raids in Witcher's Handbook appeared yet?

"Ailin?"

Vesemir called out again.

After waiting a few more seconds, Ailin took a deep breath. "I suspect the Leshen is not dead."

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

Upon hearing this, the seven young witchers immediately drew their swords from their sheaths with their right hands, while simultaneously conjuring a triangle in front of them with their left hands to update the Quen Sign.

Lazy footsteps spread out sharply, surrounding Ailin, Vesemir, Dante, and Fred in the middle, yet leaving plenty of space so that they wouldn't hinder each other if a fight suddenly broke out.

Startled by Ailin's words, Dante cast the Quen Sign on himself, but couldn't help but glance at it a few more times.

For the umpteenth time, he wondered if these young witch hunters were the same group of unskilled apprentices he had seen six months ago.

for a long time.

Nothing happened.

Only the night wind, blowing through the remains of oak bushes in the forest, carries a rich, resinous scent.

"You may not know this, Ailin," Dante said gently, lowering his arm, which was a little sore from holding the sword, and speaking in the most tactful way possible, "After Leshen dies, there is no corpse. This is why the Leshen is called the god of the forest and the embodiment of the woodland."

He thought Ailin was making a fuss because he hadn't seen the Leshen's body.

"It's not because of that..." Ailin shook his head. "I know that the Leshen doesn't have a body after it dies."

"Then why?"

"I have a feeling..." Ailin paused for a few seconds, naturally not saying that the results of the subjugation hadn't come yet, "I have a feeling that the Leshen is not dead yet."

A premonition... Dante opened his mouth.

What he really wanted to say was, so what if the Leshen didn't die?

This place is deserted and far from the nearest human settlement, which is actually a prison and could not possibly pose a significant threat to humans.

Besides, they hadn't accepted any commission, and there was no reward to claim for killing the Leshen.

After thinking for a moment, Dante didn't speak, but he gave Vesemir a look, signaling him to persuade his traveling apprentice.

Ailin was not, after all, his traveling apprentice, and it was not appropriate for him to give orders, correct, and teach beyond Vesemir.

Unexpectedly, after seeing his gaze, Vesemir frowned and asked in return:

"Dante, do you know of any special places around here?"

"A suitable cave for hiding, or the presence of some symbols or items related to the Leshen?"

Dante raised an eyebrow in surprise.

I asked you to stop Ailin, but instead you started fooling around with him.

However, all the cautious gazes around him were focused on Dante's face, and there was no sign of him relaxing, making him feel like he was the odd one out in this place.

Dante suddenly had a strange feeling.

At this moment, he seemed to have not only stumbled into a church of some religion, but was also shamelessly questioning the priests and church fathers who were spreading the gospel.

but...

"There is a place where there are several Leshen totems."

Dante glanced at Fred, who was still unconscious, and frowned slightly.

"Right under the oak tree where Fred was just tied up."

The oak tree where Fred was bound was not far away. Even though they had to be vigilant, it only took a few minutes for a particularly thick oak tree to come into view.

In the darkness, the thick, lush oak tree stretched its branches toward the sky in a menacing manner.

Several totems, pieced together from the antlerd skull and twigs, were stuck in the soil around the oak tree. From a distance, they looked like several smaller Leshen, leaning against the oak tree and quietly watching them.

It was eerie and unsettling.

The School Emblem did not tremble.

After exchanging glances, the witchers gripped their longswords to protect themselves and cautiously approached.

At this point, it would actually be safest to let the Greater Griffin descend from the sky and cause destruction.

However, no one made this suggestion.

Dante remained silent due to the unfamiliarity stemming from the difference in strength and uncertainty about the relationship between the Greater Griffin and the others.

Vesemir and the young Witcher were due to the Greater Griffin's allegiance to Ailin.

Ailin and the others felt the same way: so what if the Leshen was really still alive?

If you can kill Him once, you can kill Him a second time.

Moreover, the Greater Griffin is indeed the weaker party in front of the Leshen. If the Leshen were to suddenly ambush and bind the Greater Griffin with vines, it would be a real problem.

The previous attack was only because Dante and Fred were in a critical situation, which forced them to send the Greater Griffin to swoop down and attack the Leshen.

"Phew~"

Ailin approached with an Igni Sign.

The raging fire ignited and destroyed these totems in the blink of an eye, even burning the deer bones to ashes.

Nothing happened.

The oak trees, rustling in the wind, seemed to be mocking their futile efforts.

Ailin frowned silently, lost in thought, as if recalling something.

Dante glanced at Vesemir.

Ernie, Klar, and Kray looked at each other in bewilderment.

The awkward atmosphere lasted for quite a while.

"Ahem..." Under Dante's constant urging gaze, Vesemir coughed twice. "Ailin, Leshen still alive?"

Ailin nodded and looked at Dante: "Master Dante, is there nowhere else besides here?"

"No," Dante shook his head firmly. "I observed this area for a long time during the day, and this oak forest is the only territory of the Leshen. I also only saw the Leshen ' magical totem under the big tree that bound Fred."

Seeing that he opened his mouth as if to speak but hesitated, Vesemir sighed inwardly and offered advice on his behalf:

"Ailin, why don't we leave for now?"

"Fred is still unconscious, and Bont's fate is unknown. Let's find Bont first, then wake them up before we talk about anything else."

Ailin was also struggling with whether to leave first to find Bont.

However, the Leshen is a Residual Monster, and the @#￥%&'s Chest obtained from killing it can contain Remnant Oil after the Goddess Meritellie is restored.

Having missed this Leshen, given the extremely rare number of Remnant-type monsters, who knows when we'll encounter another Remnant-type monster this easy to defeat?

Having experienced the descent of Evil God, Ailin really didn't want to go through the ordeal of being cut by a dull knife again.

And who knows when we'll encounter such a troublesome monster as the Summoning Ritual again?

Will he be able to get through this as he was more than half a month ago?

But Bont...

Although Bont's whereabouts are not in a hurry to be found in a few minutes or ten minutes.

After all, the Leshen had been playing hide-and-seek with Dante all day, and as long as Bont escaped successfully this morning, he should be safe now.

The reason Huus was on the verge of death was that the penetrating wound caused by the Leshen manipulating vines and tree roots was the most serious injury, followed by being attacked by water spirits in the water and hitting a rock, which made him dizzy.

Other injuries, including wolf bites, crow pecking and scratches, and even the suspicious corrosive wounds, only looked serious.

So it shouldn't matter if the search takes a little longer, but...

Who knows?

What if it were just a few minutes more...?

"If only I hadn't acted impulsively and had just used [Demon Hunter] to take care of the monster..."

Ailin sighed inwardly. Even if he used [Demon Hunter], he would most likely kill the Leshen before [Demon Hunter] was fully charged.

Unless he refuses Balmor and doesn't use Berserk.

But how could that be?

He doesn't have the ability to foresee the future, so he couldn't have predicted his current situation.

Being too strong can also become a problem.

This is ridiculous...

"Go find Bont first," Ailin nodded, "But don't let your guard down, the Leshen is definitely still alive and could attack us at any moment... Vesemir ... hand Fred over to Kray ..."

"Once we leave this oak forest, I'll have the Good Girl ..." Seeing the puzzled look in Dante's eyes, he explained, "...come down from the Greater Griffin and carry him on her back..."

Dante nodded, feeling a sense of relief.

To be honest, he still doesn't believe Ailin's so-called "premonition" that the Leshen is still alive.

His earnest pronouncements, such as "Don't relax" and "Once we're out of the oak forest, we'll order the Greater Griffin to land," were merely the young man's way of saving face, causing him to hesitate for a moment.

As long as it doesn't interfere with important business, it's understandable.

Who hasn't been young, impetuous, and concerned about saving face?

But then again...

Dante glanced casually at "obediently listen" and walked to the back of the group to keep watch. Vesemir was on guard.

Why is it that the one giving orders to this team is not the more experienced traveling mentor, but the apprentice?

Why does Vesemir have no authority as a mentor at all?

And that Greater Griffin, why does it sound like Ailin's pet?

Shouldn't it be Vesemir's?

Dante had a lot of questions, but now wasn't the right time to ask them.

The night wind sensed that the fierce battle had ended and gradually subsided and weakened.

Layers of dark clouds obscured the moon once more, and deep darkness returned to this wilderness.

"Vesemir, how do you plan to find Bont?" Dante couldn't help but ask as everyone quickly cleaned the bloodstains from their longswords and prepared to set off.

In the art of tracking, he was indeed far inferior to Vesemir.

Otherwise, they wouldn't need to search for Bont at this point.

In fact, when it comes to Tracking and tracing, the only Witcher Master in the entire School of the Wolf who can surpass Vesemir are Chief and White.

"Master Dante, can you still find the place where you were forced to separate from Bont?"

The one who spoke was not Vesemir beside him, but Ailin at the front of the group.

Dante paused, glancing at Vesemir.

Vesemir shrugged, his face expressionless. "Tell me, Dante, do you remember?"

"Of course I remember..." Dante pointed in a direction with a strange expression, "The edge of this oak forest, not far from here, about a hundred meters away..."

Then he saw Ailin walk in the direction he was pointing.

The other witchers, including Vesemir who should have been the travel mentor, followed naturally and as if it were a given, as if the same scene had happened countless times before and had become a muscle habit.

Seeing this, Dante felt extremely strange.

He wanted to say something, but seeing the "I'm so proud of my laziness" look on Vesemir's face, he couldn't say anything...

If Dante, like Ailin, came from another world, he might have remarked, "Shamelessness knows no bounds."

The entire team moved forward in a slightly awkward atmosphere, with Dante's peculiar, hesitant expression appearing as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

Ailin walked at the front of the group and didn't feel this atmosphere.

Even if he sensed it, he probably wouldn't care, because he was still thinking about where the Leshen was hiding.

to be honest.

Although he hadn't seen Leshen in the Ancient Sea Fortress in this life, he had killed the Leshen in the game in his previous life.

At that time, he was just starting out with the first kill; he would try again after reaching a higher level to get all the recipes.

With the Dimeritium Bomb and the New Year's Greeting Sword Technique, Kuku unleashed a flurry of attacks—simple and direct.

However, in the game, apart from the Leshen and the wolf pack being troublesome, there has never been a case of being able to revive after dying.

"Strange..." Ailin frowned. "In the game, if you destroy the totem on an altar, the Leshen will appear. The oak tree where Fred was tied up should be the Leshen's altar. But the Leshen doesn't set up altars in just a few places in the game..."

"Did we overlook something back then?"

He was now tempted to go back and try burning the oak tree with an Igni.

Just then...

"We're here!" Dante suddenly exclaimed, interrupting his thoughts.

Ailin looked up.

The Leshen's signature entwined vines stand tall in the forest, their sharp wooden edges still bearing traces of dark red blood.

He sniffed and caught Huus's scent.

There were obvious signs of battle on the ground, and carbonized burn marks grew on the branches of an oak tree nearby. Judging from the intensity of the marks, they were likely the Igni Sign used by Dante.

The gentle sound of flowing water echoed faintly in my ears.

Not far away is the Modian River, which is closest to the Kemba River. Huus must have escaped from that river.

I just don't know why, but the temple says it's the Kemba River.

Of course, that's not important right now.

"Can it be found?"

Dante glanced nervously at Ailin, then at Vesemir, his gaze unsure of where to look, but finally settled on Vesemir's face.

Although Ailin was in charge just now, he only set the direction.

He felt that Viser was the one who would ultimately Tracking the trail...

"Ailin, can you find Bont?" Vesemir ignored Dante and looked at Ailin.

Dante:?

"It should be possible," Ailin took a deep breath, "As long as he doesn't escape by water like Huus did..."

Dante:?

Before he could finish speaking...

Dante didn't even see Ailin squat down to search carefully, or even look closely. He just stood there and glanced at the ground next to the vines, as if he had found his target immediately.

"Follow me!" Ailin strode forward.

But Dante couldn't help but want to rebuke Ailin for his carelessness; no matter how strong one is, one shouldn't joke about the lives of their companions.

Unexpectedly, Vesemir and the other young witchers followed without hesitation, acting as if it were a serious matter.

Dante:???

no...

Is this how you Tracking?