Just as the flames from the Dragon's Dream Bomb Lynn had thrown were about to die out, Geralt threw a Dancing Star Bomb.
Compared to the two kinds of alchemical bombs used earlier, the Dancing Star Bomb was a plain, straightforward incendiary.
The flames released by the exploding Dancing Star Bomb touched the lingering gas from the Dragon's Dream Bomb, and a raging fire immediately sprang up again.
Flames spread across everything in sight.
The effect was surprisingly good.
The aberrations swarming toward them caught fire and howled in the sea of flames.
They tried to put out the flames on their bodies.
But it was no use.
Because those few alchemical bombs were far from all the two had brought.
Only after Lynn and Geralt had thrown some twenty or thirty alchemical bombs inside in one go did they finally stop.
By then, not only the entrance but even the cavern within was completely engulfed in a sea of flames.
Even the two witchers had to retreat several more meters to avoid getting caught in it.
Only after a long while did the flames burning in the cavern gradually subside.
The two walked into the cavern.
Every aberration had become a charred corpse without a trace of life left.
Was it over?
Just as that thought surfaced in Lynn's mind, the School of the Wolf witcher medallion hanging around his neck suddenly began vibrating violently.
"Lynn, watch out!"
Geralt shouted a warning beside him.
Huge quantities of red mist suddenly began rising from the countless charred corpses on the ground.
The red mist gathered in the air, gradually taking the shape of a gaunt, elongated specter, then lunged at Lynn.
Quen Sign!
Bright orange light flared around Lynn.
The red mist struck the Quen Shield with a heavy crash, as though it were solid.
Lynn felt a chunk of the magic within him suddenly drain away.
Had he not raised his Sign skill to master level, even a Quen Shield continuously supplied with magic probably would not have stopped the red mist from invading.
Just then, a silver gleam flashed behind the red mist.
The silver sword passed through the red mist as though slicing through air.
But a terrifying shriek rang out from within the mist.
The red mist dispersed before Lynn's eyes.
Yet the next instant, it re-formed in front of Geralt.
Huge, sharp claws became a dark blur, sweeping toward Geralt's back.
Clang!
Dismissing his Quen Sign, Lynn rushed to Geralt's side and blocked the descending claws with his silver sword. The collision produced a thunderous crash.
But the force transmitted through the silver sword was even greater than he had expected.
Lynn was forced down onto one knee.
But even then.
Lynn could still feel the force pressing against his silver sword steadily increasing.
Still, Lynn had no intention of matching strength with the Red Miasmal.
As the Red Miasmal kept applying pressure, trying to crush him, Lynn suddenly slipped to the left, withdrawing from their contest of strength.
The Red Miasmal had never expected Lynn to react like that, and by the time it tried to pull back its strength, it was already too late.
Momentum sent its body pitching forward.
Lynn used the rotation of his body to drive his blade into a heavy slash across the Red Miasmal's back.
He felt the same thing Geralt had when his sword passed through air.
But blood-red mist splashed like blood.
Having landed his strike, Lynn did not press his advantage. Instead, he quickly leaped backward, dodging the Red Miasmal's enraged backhand swipe.
Purple light shone from the ground. The Yrden Sign Geralt had cast bound the Red Miasmal in place and forced it to reveal its true form.
"A perfect opening!"
Lynn's pupils sharply contracted.
He took a Blizzard Potion from his alchemy pouch and drained it in one gulp.
Then he launched an assault on the Red Miasmal bound by the Yrden Sign at his greatest speed.
The Blizzard Potion quickly took effect, stimulating his nervous system and temporarily putting Lynn into a state of heightened time perception akin to bullet time. Combined with the effect of his "Comprehensive Enhancement" feat, this meant that while others could attack only once in a round, Lynn could attack two or three times.
And thanks to the Yrden Trap, this time, when his silver sword cut into the Red Miasmal's body, it no longer felt as light and insubstantial as slicing through air.
Crimson bones were severed beneath Lynn's slashes, then chopped into even finer fragments.
The Specter Oil coating his silver sword blackened the Red Miasmal's wounds and slowly corroded its spirit body.
The Red Miasmal wailed incessantly.
It tried to dodge or block Lynn's attacks.
But under the Yrden Sign's continued effects, it was as slow as a turtle.
This allowed every one of Lynn's attacks to strike the Red Miasmal precisely and powerfully.
Finally, with a long, despairing howl, the Red Miasmal seemed to catch fire, burning into a pile of ashes before the two witchers' eyes.
A searing current hotter than anything before flowed along Lynn's arms and into his body.
Attribute points: 2 (15%) → 4 (15%)
The Red Miasmal had contributed an enormous amount of experience, more than any monster he had slain so far.
This also indirectly demonstrated the Red Miasmal's strength.
The battle had seemed simple, but in truth, Lynn and Geralt had won entirely because they held an absolute advantage.
There was a clear difference between one witcher fighting a monster and two.
Besides, Lynn was no ordinary witcher.
He was at master level in both School of the Wolf Swordsmanship and Signs.
Although his alchemy was only at proficient level, that was still the standard of a full-fledged witcher.
Fighting side by side with Geralt naturally produced the remarkable effect of one plus one being greater than two.
On top of that, Grand Elder Brovar was paying for the blade oils, potions, and alchemical bombs used on this job, so they could use as many as they liked.
A witcher fully equipped for battle also had different combat capabilities from one who could not afford blade oils, potions, and alchemical bombs.
Even Geralt had never fought with such lavish resources in his life.
Of course, the final and most crucial point was this:
Geralt's timing had been nothing short of superb.
Unless a creature could teleport, it could not dodge while launching an attack, and even monsters were no exception.
Geralt's Yrden Trap had been neither too early nor too late. It had bound the Red Miasmal at precisely the moment it attacked, when it was already too late to pull back or dodge.
Even if a rookie witcher had gotten absurdly lucky and caught the Red Miasmal in an Yrden Trap, his Sign would have been too weak to restrain it for long.
But when it came to the power of Geralt's Signs, probably only Vesemir surpassed him.
That Yrden Trap had not only restricted the Red Miasmal's short-range blinking ability but also greatly slowed it, leaving it unable to dodge Lynn's successive attacks.
More importantly, the Yrden Trap had forced the Red Miasmal to reveal its true form. There was no damage reduction at all; every hit dealt true damage.
That was precisely why the mighty Red Miasmal, which had once thrown all of Mahakam into turmoil, had died such a humiliating death.
It had croaked before it could even use its innate abilities.
Only after cleaning up the battlefield did Lynn and Geralt emerge from the abandoned mine with the tightly bound Thor.
The dwarven guards stationed outside froze at the sight of Thor securely tied in a tortoise-shell bondage pattern, unable to understand what was going on.
Lynn told them what had happened in the abandoned mine. The dwarven guards were skeptical, but they still escorted Lynn and Thor to see Brovar.
As for Geralt, he did not go with them.
Lynn would collect his reward on his behalf anyway.
Lynn could simply give it to him later.
He was headed to the quarantine facility.
That was where the sick miners had been isolated.
He wanted to see whether the miners had recovered now that the Red Miasmal had been destroyed.