The terrifying wyvern charged wildly at Chen Xu, scaring him out of his wits!
With a wingspan of 6.5 meters, it made the ground tremble as it ran.
Why attack me?
Attack that flashy witcher!
With his dead man's luck working as usual, Chen Xu did not try to act tough. He rushed toward Geralt.
Against an absolute gap in stats, no amount of technique could do much.
Whoosh!
A fierce torrent of flame erupted from the witcher's fingertips. That potion had clearly enhanced his Signs.
The wyvern suddenly opened its mouth, which was nearly large enough to fit a dwarf, and a terrifying roar blew the flames back!
The witcher immediately switched Signs. A ring of golden light enveloped the White Wolf, keeping the flames out.
It did an excellent job of protecting Geralt's fine head of hair.
He charged head-on, using [Whirl] to batter the dragon's head from side to side. The wyvern countered with its hard horns, knocking the White Wolf back instead!
Its muscular body twisted, and its venom-spiked tail smashed down from above!
Chen Xu blocked with Moonblade. The silver sword flew out of his hands instantly, yet only a few venomous spikes on the tail broke.
The White Wolf rolled out of range. Stung by the pain, the wyvern beat its wings and took to the air.
It tried to build up momentum for another dive, moving incredibly fast.
But the witcher suddenly pulled a hand crossbow off his back, aimed quickly, and shot it out of the sky.
The impact of the fall left the draconid dazed. The two seized the opportunity and charged in with their swords, dealing as much damage as they could!
"Aaargh-"
The dragon's roar was agonized. Its tail swept toward them with a terrifying rush of wind, easily shattering the White Wolf's Quen shield and even sending him flying!
It hauled its battered body upright, its eyes shining with extreme hatred and fury!
Before it could unleash its savage assault, the White Wolf raised his head and barely managed to trace an Axii Sign with his hand.
The enormous draconic pupils instantly lost focus. Chen Xu took the opportunity to settle into a forward lunge, raising Gram overhead as his stamina poured out wildly.
[Assassination: Weakness Insight]
[Burst]!
The hideous dragon's head caved in under the blow, and Gram's durability plummeted!
Fortunately, the wyvern was already half unconscious. The steel sword took the opportunity to plunge into its eye socket.
[You killed a qi sense lower stage wyvern. Experience +200! (Kill above your tier, experience +100%)]
A wave of weakness washed through his body, but his experience bar had accumulated enough.
[You spent experience ×450. Current [Detective] Lv.4, constitution +1, reaction +1, free attribute points +1]
His total level reached Lv.9. A faint barrier stood in the way of his life's evolution.
He helped Geralt up, confirmed that the Quen Sign had absorbed most of the force and that the witcher was not seriously hurt, then turned to process the dragon's corpse.
Gram had ruined most of the hide. What remained was barely enough for two suits of leather armor.
Its defense was 23 points. Tanning might shift that up or down by two points, but it was much stronger than cowhide.
Combined with the hardened chitin sold at the Crow's Perch smithy, it might provide powerful defense comparable to dragon leather.
They also pulled a fine-quality steel sword out from beneath the dragon's ribs, probably left by a previous would-be dragonslayer who had failed.
The White Wolf's original steel sword had happened to be broken by Gram, so this one naturally went to him.
The draconid's flesh and blood were worth little, but the [Wyvern Mutagen] extracted from its heart could be called a treasure.
-------- Usable by qi sense tier mutants, strength +4 Can be brewed into a mortal tier potion: [Diluted Dragon's Strength], strength +2 Price: 200 points --------
With the main ingredient in hand, he only needed to pay another 100 points to redeem this rare potion, which had almost no side effects, from the points shop.
But he happened to have [Alchemy] Lv.3 (max), instilled by the panel.
By brewing it himself, he would not have to spend even one more point.
Chen Xu offered 100 crowns to buy Geralt's share, only for the witcher to voluntarily give it up.
Afterward, the two companions went to raid the harpies' nest together.
There was a small pile of coins, assorted junk, feathers, and a pretty golden oil flask containing the voice that Johnny the godling had lost.
Opening the portal had taken a considerable toll on the sorceress, and only now did she slowly jog up to them.
Geralt destroyed the harpy nest with a bomb. Some gold coins and shiny bits of junk went to Fringilla, giving her a little sense of participation.
Once the godling recovered his voice, he immediately performed a tongue twister in a little boy's voice:
"Eat grapes without spitting out the skins... Thank you, good sir. May you live to a hundred!"
Then he turned to leave.
"Wait!" Geralt cried in alarm, thinking he had been tricked.
"What about my question?"
"Oh, of course, sir." Johnny smacked his little head. His memory was as poor as a child's.
"Early that morning, I was taking my usual dump.
"You know, the first one of the morning. Flushes out toxins, keeps you looking good. Absolutely no interruptions allowed.
"Then there was a loud 'bam,' and it scared the urge right out of me.
"And then that little girl appeared. Just like you said, young, with ashen hair. She ran into the orphan village covered in wounds!"
That meant Anna was lying. The White Wolf was rather displeased.
He really did not want to save someone like that.
"I asked the old woman there, and she actually said she hadn't seen her!"
He was about to confront Anna when the godling offered to plead his case as a show of thanks.
Godlings were clever, hardworking woodland spirits who cared for and protected the people and animals living near their burrows.
Anna had very likely benefited from his help too.
"Gran!" Johnny pushed open the thatched cottage's door and greeted the old woman.
"You got your voice back, Johnny?" Anna looked delighted, but her face fell again when she saw the witcher behind the godling.
"You're not welcome here."
This was the witcher's first time inside the thatched cottage. Dark and damp, it contained only a few crude little beds and could truly be called bare.
Only the shrine at the far end of the room was lavishly decorated, adorned with tassels and brightly lit by candles.
A portrait of three beautiful witches hung on the wall in worship.
"Don't be like that, Gran! This master saved my life!" Johnny hurriedly pleaded.
"Er, I mean he saved my voice. But I love my voice, so that's the same as saving me!
"Remember? When George had a fever, I cured it with herbs.
"When Penny hurt her leg in a fall, I carried her back. When you had headaches, I sang to ease them.
"Did I ever ask for anything in return? No.
"I'm only asking this once. Please help this man!"
For his sake, Anna eventually agreed to introduce the White Wolf to the three Ladies.
Otherwise, this chatterbox would surely nag her until her headaches flared up.
She brushed her aged hand over the portrait enshrined there and prayed softly.
An eerie gust swept into the room, and the candlelight suddenly flickered!
When Anna turned back, only the whites of her eyes remained visible. The sinister voice that emerged from her mouth no longer belonged to her.
"Woman, you dare disturb our rest!"
Extreme terror appeared on Anna's face. The White Wolf stepped forward at the right moment to intervene.
"I wanted to speak with you."
"Ohoho! A handsome white-haired man. Come here and let us have a good look at you!" Lustful words emerged from Anna's aged body.
"Come on, don't be shy!"
Another voice chimed in.
More than one will possessed her, but all of them regarded the White Wolf as a delectable treat.
"I want to know where a white-haired swordswoman went.
"Also, I'd like to lift the curse on this woman. Someone is willing to pay a few extra crowns for it."
Thanks to Chen Xu's advance warning, Geralt, though fond of women, did not let the beauties depicted in the portrait cloud his mind.
Ciri had fled from the swamp to Crow's Perch, so the baron's information was clearly more valuable than that of these crones.
He tried his best to appear unconcerned about Anna, but clearly, he was no good at lying.
"Insolence! You dare demand these things of us!"
"Wait, unless..."
The crones made a show of pondering for a while.
"White-haired one, things have not been going well for us lately either.
"Brothers fight one another, blood flows in rivers, and an evil shadow hangs over Velen!
"We can make an exception and grant your request to free this woman.
"But you must eradicate the dark power troubling our faithful in Downwarren!"
They gave Geralt no chance to negotiate. They controlled Anna, making her take out a dagger as a token and hand it to Geralt, then vanished outright.
The crones themselves were the greatest shadow over this land. The thief crying thief was truly laughable.
But in the ancient legends, the first to rule Velen was the Lady of the Wood, the true "She Who Knows."
She listened to the prayers of Velen's people, allowing them to offer grain, animals, and even living people in exchange for blessings to survive difficult times.
The Lady of the Wood created three daughters from mud and water to ease her loneliness: the three crones, Weavess, Brewess, and Whispess.
Later, the erosion of long ages drove the Lady of the Wood mad, and she began to ravage this land.
Her three daughters seized the opportunity to ambush her and formally took over Velen.
Unable to annihilate the Lady of the Wood's soul, they could only imprison her, precisely at the Whispering Hillock near Downwarren.