"Huff!"
His heavy panting rumbled like thunder.
A fist-sized, milky-white glow lit up the dim cave.
With every step that massive body took, the surrounding stone walls seemed to tremble.
A dark figure darted out from the left, silver swordlight slicing through the darkness.
"Roar!"
A deafening roar rang out. Terrifying strength unleashed a sonic boom, like an avalanche of unimaginable weight erupting.
The pale-blue shield was obliterated in an instant.
Arwen raised his sword to block and was blasted away like a kite with its string cut, slamming heavily into the ground.
"Ugh..."
A metallic taste rose in his throat, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
His arms went numb at first, then searing pain followed, and they began shaking like leaves.
Countless tiny cracks had appeared on the silver sword's surface as well. Horror filled him.
This monster reacts so fast. Its strength is terrifying.
With the [Cat] potion enhancing his vision, Arwen could make out Old Spearhead's appearance.
A ragged black cloth covered its head, leaving only a single eye exposed, glowing milky white.
It stood over four meters tall, its mountainous body forced to stoop and crouch to move through the narrow passage.
Its enormous muscles were like solid rock, especially those broad arms that hung down to its knees. They were thicker than the pine log it had thrown earlier, and its blackened nails could split mountains and gouge stone.
Old Spearhead tilted its head and roared, a cloud of white steam bursting from beneath the black cloth.
Veins throbbed like coiling dragons beneath its rough, grayish-white skin.
Its mountainous body charged forward, carrying a putrid stench, its shoulders scraping noisily against the stone walls on either side.
Arwen braced one hand against the ground and quickly rolled backward, forming a Quen Sign as he went.
Boom!
Old Spearhead threw a punch. An overwhelming gale swept toward Arwen, whipping his black hair wildly.
Crack!
The Quen Sign shattered like porcelain and vanished.
Arwen had witnessed Old Spearhead's strength in The Witcher 3.
But back then, he had controlled Geralt, a witcher master with a complete range of abilities, with Lambert assisting at his side.
Now, he was only a witcher apprentice.
The gap between them was simply too vast. Even a glancing blow meant death.
In his gray, slit-pupiled eyes, that terrifying long-armed punch came hurtling toward him again.
He dodged backward while forming a Sign with his left hand.
[Dual Souls] collapsed, and the fear within him became an abyss, swallowing him bit by bit.
The Quen Sign failed.
The wind from the punch stung his face.
Old Spearhead roared, pressing him relentlessly.
If he retreated any farther, he would reach the rubble.
Then Aiken would die, and so would he.
Boom!
The wind from a punch howled past, grazing his back.
Tap!
His heel struck the stone wall on the left.
Arwen crouched low, the terrifying fist filling his vision.
With his life hanging by a thread, he had no time to hesitate.
He stamped his heel hard, his legs propelling him forward as though fitted with springs.
His left hand formed another Sign. Mental power surged wildly, but fear still prevented the Sign from taking shape.
Just then, the moonlight grass in his belt pouch suddenly lit up. Pure magic flowed toward him, instantly stabilizing his chaotic mental power.
He roared inwardly.
Form, damn it!
Pop!
A blue shield coalesced, rippling like water, only to twist violently and shatter beneath Old Spearhead's fist.
But it gave Arwen a moment's respite, allowing him to dart between Old Spearhead's legs!
Boom!
The crash echoed. Arwen turned to look.
A crater had been smashed into the stone wall that had been behind him.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
He could hear his heart pounding in his ears. Cold sweat had already soaked his back.
If that punch had struck him, he would definitely have been reduced to pulp.
Fortunately, he had won.
Run.
That was the only thought in his mind.
But after only a few steps, he discovered to his astonishment that Old Spearhead had stopped where it stood. Instead of chasing him, it was looking deeper into the passage.
Arwen followed its gaze. A redwood bone hammer was lodged atop the fallen rocks.
It's going to get its weapon.
No. If it does, Aiken is certain to die.
Gritting his teeth, Arwen stepped forward and thrust his left hand toward Old Spearhead.
An Aard Sign blasted out.
The fan-shaped shock wave struck Old Spearhead like a faint breeze, its power pitifully weak.
Old Spearhead froze for a moment, then extreme fury flooded its milky-white eye.
It was as though it were saying that a mere rat daring to provoke it, to challenge Old Spearhead, the cyclops of the Blue Mountains, was courting death.
"Roar!"
It flung its arms up and roared, charging wildly toward Arwen. Cracks spread across the stone walls lining the passage.
Seeing that he had drawn Old Spearhead's aggro, Arwen turned and ran toward the exit with all his strength.
On the other side of the rubble, terrifying noises kept coming through. Paul and the other two looked anxious.
Paul and Horton used their Aard Signs, trying to blast an opening again.
But this rockfall was even thicker than the last. With their proficiency in Signs, they could not break through at all.
"Arwen, Aiken, are you all right?"
Paul shouted, beginning to dig out the rubble with his hands.
Horton did the same beside him, his eyes red as he cursed incessantly.
"Damn Old Spearhead, damn the Trial of the Mountains. May they both get smallpox and the plague."
As for Winston, who was covered in dust, he was already scared out of his wits, praying, "Goddess Melitele above..."
Paul kicked him in the backside. Only then did he snap out of it and join the other two.
After digging for only a short while, they discovered to their horror that the sounds beyond the stone wall seemed to be growing fainter, until they disappeared.
"Arwen, Aiken..."
Paul lowered his head and murmured.
In his heart, the two were already unlikely to survive.
In the deathly silence, a faint voice came through a gap in the rubble.
"Paul... Paul..."
Hearing it, Paul instantly raised his head. Once he had carefully confirmed that the voice came from the other side, wild joy filled him.
"Aiken, it's Aiken!"
"Don't be afraid. We're coming!"
Horton's and Winston's catlike eyes flashed, and they redoubled their efforts to shift the rubble.
"Cough, cough... no... don't waste your strength..."
Aiken firmly refused. "Go to the summit... find Vesemir at the summit. Arwen lured Old Spearhead out of the cave to save me... hurry... otherwise, he'll be in danger..."
"Arwen lured Old Spearhead away?"
The three gasped, horrified.
There was not a moment to lose.
Paul made his decision immediately. "All right, we'll go now. Aiken, wait for us!"
"Mm..." Aiken answered weakly.
The sounds beyond the rubble ceased. His catlike eyes turned toward the cave entrance again, and he pressed his cracked lips together. Having lost too much blood, he was already beginning to lose consciousness.
Whoosh!
Arwen leaped down the smooth stone wall from earlier, rolled to absorb the impact, and sprinted toward the cave entrance.
White light suddenly flared across his gray vision. After a brief moment of disorientation came the cool breeze from the lake.
The [Cat] potion's effects were fading...
Still, thanks to the speed boosts provided by the Drowner and Drowned Dead Mutagens, along with the terrain advantage of the narrow passage, Arwen had successfully escaped the cave.
Behind him, Old Spearhead roared incessantly. The stone wall, over four meters high, was no more than a step to it.
Arwen looked at the lake before him, preparing to plunge in and use [Underwater Breathing] to escape the immediate danger.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a dense bank of fog drifting along the shore of Killer Lake, just to his right.
Dim yellow lights bobbed within it, like a lighthouse at sea guiding lost ships.
It was the fog gathered by a pack of Foglets.
And those lights were surging rapidly toward him.
Old Spearhead alone had left him helpless, and now a pack of Foglets too!?
I might as well just give you my life!
Wait!
The densely packed remains in the cave flashed through Arwen's mind. Quite a few had belonged to Foglets.
The Foglets aren't coming for me. Could they be...