NOVEL NEXT 202. The Curse Of the Black Sun!
It didn't come as a surprise to Allen. The sudden transportation of the Drowner King to this world left it full of rage and uncontrollable violence.
"Graaaah—"
Amidst its roar. The Drowner King swung its massive webbed claw fiercely at the fat human. At the same time. A layer of blue light membrane appeared on its strong and well-developed muscles.
"This is what a real Drowner King looks like. What mage wouldn't first raise a shield before fighting?"
Allen quipped. His blue eyes were locked onto the rapidly approaching claw aimed at Henselt's corpulent body.
"Grandmaster! Grandmaster!"
Under the shadow of death. The King of Kaedwen desperately called out to the head Witcher of the Wolf School. Hearing the call, Sol's left foot instinctively shifted, as if he were about to turn around to help. But then...
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Allen, his body covered in blood, staggering in the arena, and hesitated.
In the next second.
The enormous shadow of the Drowner King's claw loomed over Henselt, swiftly slamming downward. At that moment, Allen's heart leapt into his throat.
"Boom!"
With a loud crash. A golden protective shield suddenly appeared above Henselt's head, blocking the attack.
"Henselt, my dear King… aren't sorcerers more useful than Witchers?"
Beneath the shield.
Not far from the King of Kaedwen, Ben Ade's Deputy Dean Jenks stood with a pale face, blood still fresh on the corners of his mouth. His left hand supported himself on the ground, while his right hand clutched a magical artifact. After mocking Henselt, Jenks didn't expect a response.
Though he had always despised this fat pig wearing a royal crown. But this pig could die in a pigpen, on a battlefield, or in a slaughterhouse—anywhere but within Ban Ard's walls. That would bring them too much trouble.
Enduring the sharp pain in his brain, Jenks' lips moved silently. As the golden shield vanished, and the massive claw was about to descend again. Jenks suddenly swung his right hand, clutching the magical artifact.
"Graaaah!"
A powerful force manifested as a pair of semi-transparent hands, grabbing the Drowner King's webbed claw and pulling it sharply to the right. Standing on the edge of the grandstand, the Drowner King lost its balance. With a roar, it toppled down.
"Boom!"
Dust flew everywhere. Henselt, now free from danger, staggered to his feet, his gaze fixed on Sol. Though the crisis had only lasted a short time. Henselt had seen it. He saw the Grandmaster hesitate.
Even as Treyse took a step back, Sol didn't rush forward to save him…
Undoubtedly...
He had known for a while. Having just escaped death, Henselt suddenly realized that, for the past few days, he had been acting like a court jester, hiding his clumsy schemes from Sol. At that moment, Overwhelming shame gave rise to even stronger fury, crushing his fear. He no longer cared that ordering the death of the Grandmaster of the Wolf School would damage the kingdom's reputation and royal dignity.
"Guards!!!"
He shouted, his finger instantly pointing at the Witcher who had made the ruler of Kaedwen look like a clown for half a month.
"Kill him for me…"
"Boom!"
Suddenly.
Another loud explosion echoed through the world, interrupting Henselt.
"Wha… what happened?"
"What happened again?!"
The ruler of Kaedwen was so frightened that he collapsed back onto the ground. Jenks, who had been taking the opportunity to recover his damaged mental strength with his eyes closed, was startled by the sudden noise. Opening his eyes, he saw a massive dark shadow descending rapidly.
"Ugh—"
A scream followed. Jenks, seated beneath the king's falling weight, rolled his eyes and immediately passed out. Allen's expression grew strange as he watched this unfold.
When he noticed that the king was still alive thanks to the protection of the sorcerer in the pointed hat, he had been anxiously extracting rock troll blood from his reagent pouch, intending to summon the Conjunction of Spheres once more.
To finish the job.
But the Drowner King, pushed down from the grandstand, made him pause. Hearing the cold, mechanical sound in his ear, Allen's dazed gaze lowered.
Beneath the grandstand.
The Drowner King, struggling to get up, was so terrified by the explosion that it collapsed back onto the ground.
Splat~
A large splatter of red, blue, and white flesh exploded from beneath its body.
[Ding! Hunt Task Complete: Drowner II (Drowners killed 500/500)]
[Reward: 100 Experience Orbs, Monster Codex—Tracking][New Hunt Task: Drowner III (Drowners killed 2/1000)]
Yes.
The Drowner King thrown down by the sorcerer had crushed the last few Drowners needed for the hunt. But...
"Why do the Drowners killed by the Drowner King count toward my total?"
Allen thought, slightly puzzled.
[Ding! Otherworld Fusion—"Drowner" Phase 1. Please choose a fusion location! (If the host does not choose within 30 seconds, one will be randomly selected.)]
As the mechanical sound played, the Conjunction of Spheres appeared once more in Allen's vision, along with that familiar, fresh green door.
The explosion just now didn't even mark the start?
Upon completing the Drowner Hunt Task, Allen could actually choose where the Conjunction of Spheres would occur!
Allen was overjoyed.
The strategic value of this ability was immense...
Wait!
Allen suddenly sensed something was wrong. The system prompt seemed to mention something other than the Conjunction of Spheres. Hurriedly, he focused his thoughts to open the Witcher's Journal.
Otherworld Fusion?
And Phase 1?
What does this mean?
Allen frowned.
A sense of unease crept over him, but with the countdown rapidly ticking down, he couldn't afford to hesitate.
Thus.
With a flick of his mind.
He moved the door to the top of Henselt's head.
…4, 3, 2, 1.
As the countdown ended, Allen's vision suddenly dimmed and turned crimson. Even though it was nearly noon, the sky darkened as if it were already dusk. Allen wasn't surprised by this. Compared to the bloody scene that appeared when completing the first Drowner Hunt Task, this was far easier to accept.
Therefore.
He forcibly ignored the growing unease within and kept his eyes locked on Henselt's location. Until...
"Why did it suddenly get dark?"
Someone in the stands asked in confusion. Allen, with his sharp hearing, caught the question and was briefly stunned.
The next second.
The arena grew even more chaotic and panicked than after the earthquake caused by the Conjunction of Spheres.
"The... the sun has gone dark…"
"Look! The sun's gone! It's been swallowed up!"
"No! This is the Black Sun! The Black Sun! The... the Curse of Black Sun… the curse is real!"
The Witcher raised his head in alarm.
It wasn't a special effect!
In the Witcher's world, the sun had truly been blocked by a massive black celestial body. Only a dark red halo remained at the edges, glowing faintly.
"This... this can't be…"
Allen's jaw dropped in astonishment.
The Curse of the Black Sun, also known as the Mania of Mad. It was an apocalyptic prophecy from the mage Eltibald.
It foretold that in the near future, a solar eclipse would herald the resurrection of the evil goddess Lilit, and the path to her revival would be paved by sixty girls wearing golden crowns, whose blood would flood the valleys.
The evil god Lilit will bring curses and destroy human civilization.
In the original story, the Curse of the Black Sun appears quite early.
However, this prophecy, unlike the widely recognized prophecy of the elven seer Isleen, is merely a superstitious claim not accepted by the protagonist Geralt and other knowledgeable individuals. It is even derogatorily referred to as the "madman Eltibald's fanaticism."
So Allen had always thought that the Curse of the Black Sun was nonsense. But now, he was uncertain.
Did the eclipse really have some kind of mystical significance?
And...
"What exactly is this Extradimensional Fusion? Why is the scale so massive?"
Allen felt that the situation before him was getting out of control, and it was rapidly changing once more. The wind suddenly stopped. Under the blood-red eclipse, countless black spots appeared in the sky.
Then...
Allen felt the air around him suddenly becoming humid. Soon, layers upon layers of dark clouds began to form in the sky. The daylight grew even darker. Within half a minute of the eclipse appearing, rain began to fall. The magical perspective of the Wolf's Emblem automatically switched.
A large number of blue water-elemental light spots began to emerge from these black holes. The density of water elements in the air surged abruptly.
Then...
"Quack—quack—quack—"
Strange, chaotic cries suddenly erupted as water wraiths emerged from the black holes, falling with the rain. The entire city began to experience a downpour of water wraiths.
Lightning flashed, illuminating the world.
"Clang!"
Thunder roared, and Ban-Ard's terrified screams echoed into the clouds. But that was not the end.
A five-meter-wide black hole appeared just one meter above Henselt's head. The stunned King of Kaedwen had no time to carefully consider the situation. Groups of water wraiths erupted from the large black hole, directly crashing onto Henselt's fleshy body, burying him. Heart-rending screams came from the mound of water wraiths.
Then...
"Gulak!"
"Quack!"
--------------------
After a giant swamp creature was squeezed out, another water wraith king fell out. When the last giant swamp creature slid out, all the black holes in the sky and on the ground suddenly closed. As for Henselt, buried under a mass of water wraiths, two giant swamp creatures, and a water wraith king?
The screams had long since vanished into silence.
Then...
With the black holes closed, the Black Sun disappeared, and light returned to the land. Even the layers of dark clouds in the sky dissipated instantly. Everything seemed as if nothing had happened.
"This... did I do this?"
Allen stared blankly at the devastation in the arena. He was unsure of the exact extent of the so-called Extradimensional Fusion. But his sharp hearing told him.
At the very least, Kaedwen's most famous city—Ban Ard—had been completely submerged in a sea of water wraiths. Whether it was commoners, nobles, or sorcerers, there would surely be heavy casualties. But Allen had no intention of taking all the moral responsibility upon himself.
It was the Ban Ard sorcerer with the pointed hat who pushed the water wraith king, crushed the water wraiths, completed the hunting task, and caused the sudden extradimensional fusion. It was Henselt who had schemed to weaken the Wolf School's power by inviting them to the match. They had been forced into it.
Otherwise.
Even if Allen wanted to complete the task, he would have chosen a remote place to keep it secret. So regardless of how many people in Ban Ard died due to the extradimensional fusion, the responsibility did not lie with him.
It definitely could not be attributed to him!
"Definitely not!" Allen muttered.
[Ding! Extradimensional Fusion 'Water Wraith' Phase 1 completed. Current fusion progress: 1%]
[Ding! A main quest has been detected: Eliminate all monsters that have crossed over from the other world. Do you accept?]
The cold, mechanical voice suddenly interrupted Allen's thoughts. He had no reason to refuse the newly appeared main quest. After accepting it with his mind. A detailed list of the main quest appeared before him, different from past ones.
[Quest: The Beginning of Extradimensional Fusion]
[Quest Type: Main Quest]
[Quest Description: Eliminate all monsters that have crossed over from the other world]
[Quest Progress: Water Wraith King 0/2, Giant Swamp Creature 0/2]
Hearing the faint screams coming from the entire city. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tightened his grip on the Elsa.
--------------------
Layers of monsters pressed down on the main stand. They forced the leaders of the Cat School and the Wolf School to the edge of the stand. Treyse, sword in hand, stared blankly at the Wolf School's Grandmaster, who turned and struck at the strange serpent-tailed monster.
Henselt was dead!
With so many monsters crushing him, even he could not survive. Let alone a human without any extraordinary abilities...
So...
His king, his employer, his future...
Without a doubt.
They were dead.
Thus, even when the Wolf School's Grandmaster glanced at him with a blank expression, without speaking a word, and exposed his back while slaying monsters. He did not make a move to ambush. It was a principle known even to a Cat School monster hunter. When the employer was dead. Regardless of how close the commission was to completion, the commission was a failure.
Moreover.
Even if the Wolf School's Grandmaster exposed his back to him. He still could not kill the man known as the "Dragon Slayer."
"Tick-tock~"
"Tick-tock~"
Trickles of blood flowed from the gaps in his tightly gripping sword hilt. It was because of the immense power of the man before him, resembling a giant dragon, that had caused it to crack. Treyse now recalled, and even felt that the recent battle was merely the Wolf School's Grandmaster playing with him. Looking once more at the buried place of Henselt, a sense of aimless confusion welled up within him.
So...
What should I do next?
"Treyse, what should we do next?"
Guxart also appeared from the shadows, looking confused.
Originally, he had planned to take advantage of the Wolf School's monster hunters' unpreparedness to launch a surprise attack. But now, with the employer dead. The surprise attack naturally lost its meaning.
Because of this commission.
Brett, Fredeca, Brehen, Bendo...
And...
Guxart looked vacantly at the wreckage in the arena.
And Baleka, Jeffrey, Agat, Kuro...
They were all dead. A large part of them had been arranged to meet their end by himself, either directly or indirectly.
Now.
Only four monster hunters remained in the caravan, and the entire Cat School, including the two of them, numbered fewer than ten.
"Will the king die too?"
Guxart asked despondently. The king would, of course, die, so it was not a question, and Treyse did not answer.
"Clang~"
He sheathed his sword. He patted Guxart's shoulder, said nothing, and turned to leave. Guxart avoided the revived water wraiths and followed closely behind.
"Why not hunt the monsters and save the humans in the city?"
"Aren't you monster hunters too?"
The voice of the Wolf School's Grandmaster came from behind. Treyse and Guxart did not turn around.
"We are Cat School Witchers!"
"There is no bounty, so why should we do things for humans?"
....…
📢20 advanced chapters on p@treaon📢
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203. A Wolf is a Wolf.
204. Hen Gedymdeith Returns.
205. A Difficult Situation.
206. A-Level Evaluation Again.
207. Alder Knights