The Witcher: Wolf School's Hunting Notes

The flames gradually grew larger, flickering red and orange in the boundless darkness.

Voices of conversation and argument floated through the air, their intonations suggesting the Elder Speech.

This language originated from the elves. Since it was more effective in harnessing the elements of the void, many spells were cast in the Elder Speech. While sorcerers would specifically study it, Allen had only learned a few specialized terms during his training in alchemy and ritual studies under Vera.

He couldn't understand it.

Things had moved too quickly. The original plan had shifted from merely observing from the skies, to landing for an inquiry, to taking a chance at Ban Ard. And now, fate had issued its guidance, forcing him into a perilous venture.

Still, these were positive changes—fortunate troubles, one might say.

If he had known about this situation from the start, he might have gone back. Kaer Morhen wasn't far from Ban Ard, and flying there wouldn't have taken more than ten minutes.

Mary, an exceptional graduate of Aretuza, would undoubtedly understand the Elder Speech.

But upon reflection, even if he had known in advance, he wouldn't have brought Mary along.

She was too fragile.

Perhaps Francesca would be better suited.

He touched the smooth, almost feminine texture of the Night·Shade mask on his face.

The obedient and nonintrusive Valley Daisy had proven its worth in battle.

The hideout of the Aen Seidhe was also in the Blue Mountains, seemingly near Ban Ard...

But this thought was quickly dismissed.

To have the Aen Seidhe watch him capture their kin, the Aen Elle?

What kind of absurd notion was that?

Better to bring Vesemir. Who knows? The master witcher's centuries-old skillset might include proficiency in the Elder Speech.

What am I even thinking?

These scattered thoughts serve no purpose now.

As the firelight drew nearer and the unintelligible, mystical language grew louder, Allen suddenly noticed his palms were sweating, and the parts of his neck uncovered by the Night·Shade felt cold under the forest breeze.

"I'm... nervous?"

Yes, he was nervous.

It was only in moments of tension that his mind would wander like this.

He understood his anxiety well enough. After all, this was the Wild Hunt—the same Wild Hunt that had annihilated hundreds of sorcerers stationed in a fortified city, that had wiped out a third of Ellander's population with a few spells.

In the Flotsam Port, when he first encountered them, he had been gravely injured by the mere aftershock of their magic.

Seven meters!

Just seven short meters—barely the length of a charge—and he would have died.

Now, even though there were only two members of the Wild Hunt, and they were both gravely wounded...

Could he really defeat them?

Allen took a deep breath.

The air entering his lungs felt as cold as the icy chill that had lingered in the ruins of the tavern on the day of the Floating Port incident.

It was the taste of fear.

"How ridiculous," he thought. "Just moments ago, I was considering how to seize the fate-marked treasures while leaving one of them alive for interrogation."

"But now, just approaching their fire-lit camp and hearing their unintelligible murmurs, I'm already succumbing to fear?"

He shook his head in self-mockery and continued advancing toward the firelight and his destined confrontation.

It's better to feel fear now than regret later.

If he missed this opportunity to confront two isolated and injured members of the Wild Hunt, when would such a chance come again?

Never. Ban Ard represented the strongest force on the Northern Continent. Where else could he find such a prime opportunity?

The orange-red flames flickered in the darkness.

The void was filled with increasingly loud, agitated whispers of anger.

Using techniques from the Cat School, Allen crept closer with the precision of a forest assassin.

He lifted his feet ever so slightly, sliding them sideways in slow, deliberate movements, probing the ground for twigs or traps that could give him away before setting them down lightly.

Though Night·Shade rendered him invisible and silent, it couldn't shield him from magical traps. More importantly, this cautious approach gave him peace of mind.

He circled downwind, where the faint scent of blood mingled with a peculiar, cloying sweetness carried by the forest breeze.

Reaching the edge of the camp, the voices grew clearer.

Though Allen couldn't understand what they were saying, he tried his best to memorize the intonations. He could consult someone about it back at the temple.

The wolf medallion on his chest trembled incessantly, and he calmed it in his mind.

He retrieved a Alghoul Decoction and Blizzard from his pouch, consuming them before stealthily stepping past a thick oak and knee-high shrubs. Finally, he laid eyes on his targets.

Had he not known that the Wild Hunt were Aen Elle, kin to the Aen Seidhe, he would never have associated these two monstrosities with the fair elves.

Their skeletal faces were covered by rusted helmets, hollow eye sockets burning with gray-blue flames. Their tattered cloaks flapped in the forest's fierce winds.

They seemed to be arguing, their arms repeatedly cutting through the air, coming dangerously close to striking each other's ghastly heads.

Black iron staves, matching their armor in hue, were planted into the ground beside them, their transparent crystals glinting with a cold, eerie light.

They looked more like wraiths than living beings.

"So... this is the Wild Hunt."

Allen involuntarily held his breath before a thought struck him.

If the Wild Hunt appeared skeletal, where did the scent of fresh blood in the air come from?

Realizing it might be a deception akin to how he used Mirage Pearls to alter his feline-like pupils, he noticed the argument in the crude camp suddenly came to a halt.

Had he been discovered?

Allen saw the skeletal figures' arms, which had been waving mid-air, unnaturally shift toward the staves near the fire.

He had been discovered!

Though he didn't know how, Allen made the most decisive move.

In an instant, he drew Elsa with his right hand and traced a triangle in the air with his left.

Buzz!

The wolf medallion roared violently.

As his right foot stomped into the ground, a spatial shockwave forced him out of invisibility.

Countless translucent threads stretched out before him.

Allen's mind flicked them deftly with his mental energy.

In an instant—

Swish!

A faint sound.

The witcher vanished from his original position and reappeared at the center of the two Wild Hunt members.

He didn't attack immediately.

Upon flashing to the fire's side, and under the stunned gazes of the two Wild Hunt members, he used the force of his prior stomp to spin his left leg, kicking both staves embedded in the ground into the darkness outside the camp.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

In an instant, the staves flew like arrows, embedding themselves into the thick trunks of trees over thirty meters away.

At that moment, he noticed something unexpected—there wasn't just one fate-marked treasure.

One was at the waist of the Wild Hunt member to his left; the other was hidden in the armor of the one to his right.

"@#￥%!"

"%￥#@!"

Only two skeletons remained, their teeth stark white as their jaws opened and closed, emitting piercing screams.

Allen found it somewhat amusing at that moment.

How could such loud screams come from mouths made only of bone, without tongues? The disguise seemed a bit too careless.

But this thought only flashed through his mind for an instant.

In the next moment—

His right foot landed, then stepped firmly on the ground.

While spinning and swinging his sword...

[Monster Hunt]

Time slowed down, and emotional fluctuations were suppressed to the extreme.

The sword sang with a crisp hum, and the gleam of the longsword danced in the reflection of the campfire. It traced a silver arc as it fell on the metal gauntlet of the Wild Hunt on the left, who instinctively blocked.

"Clang!"

A purple light flashed across the metal gauntlet, and the silver sword was naturally deflected.

The Wild Hunt on the left staggered backward three steps due to the force of the strike, its arms unnaturally flung wide apart.

[Monster Hunt] Progress: 3%

"Who are you?!! You're not one of those human mages!"

The upper and lower jaws of the Wild Hunt on the left remained still, yet the voice rang clearly in the Witcher's mind. It echoed as if underwater.

Allen did not respond to the voice in his mind. Instead, leveraging the force of the deflected sword, he swiftly alternated his feet, spinning and slashing toward the Wild Hunt on the right.

This Wild Hunt seemed far less trained than the one on the left—or perhaps its close-combat reflexes were much weaker.

"Thud~"

The longsword struck its neck before it could react.

Unfortunately—

When the blade fell, the Wild Hunt's entire body lit up with an icy blue magical glow, as if it were clad in a robe etched with mysterious runes.

The amplified force sent it hurtling backward, crashing into some unknown shrubbery and slamming against a tree.

[Monster Hunt] Progress: 8%

This wasn't an addition of 5% to the previous 3%; instead, the two Wild Hunts were calculated separately—3% for one, and 8% for the other.

This was a new effect obtained after [Monster Hunt] had leveled up to LV4, though it was Allen's first time using it today.

[Name: Monster Hunt]

[Type: Special Skill]

[Level: LV4]

[Active Effect: Consumes 250 (+100) stamina to enter Monster Hunt mode for 250 (+100) seconds, culminating in a fatal strike (guaranteed kill against monsters) upon meeting the conditions.

LV4 Additional Effect: Consumes an extra 250 mana; Monster Hunt progress is calculated separately when switching between two (+1) targets.]

3% and 8% didn't need to be identified individually for targeting.

Almost at the instant the second Wild Hunt was sent flying, Allen pursued in its direction.

"Whoosh~"

Suddenly, the sound of rushing wind came from behind. Allen judged the situation and decided not to dodge but adjusted his body's center of gravity instead.

In the midst of the battle, the golden light flickered on the blood-red armor he wore, now exposed in its true form.

The fierce force filtered through the Quen Sign hit his waist, which Allen used to propel himself forward even faster toward the fallen Wild Hunt.

"Despicable human! Who the hell are you?!!"

The thunderous roar reverberated in Allen's mind.

But Allen remained unfazed. With three large strides, he reached the Wild Hunt sprawled in the shrubbery.

Not only that, but as he swung his sword down, he activated "Blizzard".

His adrenal medulla secreted information substances instantaneously, and his brain turned icy cold.

The sounds of wind rustling through the forest, the crackling of the burning campfire, and the cursing and pursuit of the Wild Hunt behind him all ceased.

In this moment, everything slowed dramatically.

Only the silver-white longsword descended from above, meeting the terrified gaze of the creature on the ground.

In an instant, five strikes.

[Monster Hunt] Progress: 16%... 25%... 35%... 46%...

[Monster Hunt] Progress: 57%

The icy blue rune-covered magical robe protecting the Wild Hunt began to falter. With each strike, the progress increased by 1%.

By the last strike, the blade even penetrated the blue magical glow, carving a half-inch-deep gash into the Wild Hunt's neck.

Fresh red blood gushed from the decayed and withered throat bone—a strange sight.

"So it really is a disguise..." Allen's heart stirred.

"Ahhh! &%!!!!!!"

The Wild Hunt on the ground let out a miserable scream, but Allen could only make out one word.

In his mind, however, he could clearly hear its urgent and enraged roar: "Stop! Stop! You damned monster!"

Tsk tsk!

Who would've thought there'd be a day when he'd be called a monster by the Wild Hunt...

As for stopping?

That was, of course, impossible!

The moment he used "Blink" the fate of these two Wild Hunts was sealed. They wouldn't be leaving alive—not even as prisoners.

As for their intelligence? He could always extract it later after learning Elder Speech, directly from their memories.

He still remembered the two Witchers' memories extracted during the Cat School attack. There was no reason the Aen Elle—intelligent beings—wouldn't yield the same results.

However, he had to admit that these two Wild Hunts were much weaker than expected, whether due to existing injuries, the loss of their staff, or both.

This realization brought him relief but also piqued his curiosity about the true strength of the Wild Hunt.

Still, compared to securely killing the Wild Hunt and gaining their memories, understanding their full power wasn't a priority.

During the flurry of five strikes earlier, the Wild Hunt before him had seemed so weak for a moment that he almost considered taking them captive to squeeze out more intelligence.

But he quickly suppressed such thoughts, warning himself not to grow arrogant over a temporary advantage.

Allen restrained the palpitations caused by the toxicity of "Blizzard" mixed with "Alghoul Decoction" pausing to catch his breath.

The abnormal state was brief, and the delay in his sword swing was only a fraction of a second.

But it was enough for the two Wild Hunts to seize the opportunity.

The one on the ground let out a startled cry and pressed its hands twice on its black iron armor. The brightness of the icy blue rune robe intensified while a deep blue spherical magic barrier formed, flinging the Witcher away.

Behind him, Allen sensed a surge of heat as a fireball rapidly formed.

But he was unconcerned.

The moment he was flung away, as he landed on the ground, he bent his knees, tightened his leg muscles, and sprang forward with a powerful kick.

The silver-white blade danced in the air, weaving dazzling arcs as it once again aimed for the Wild Hunt crouched within the deep blue magical barrier, seemingly chanting a spell.

Then—

At the moment the longsword met the magical barrier, the usually calm azure feline pupils in Allen's eyes contracted sharply.

An unexpected turn of events had occurred.

.....

📢20 advanced chapters on p@treaon📢

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370. A Grand Welcome Ceremony for the Sorcerers from Afar.

371. Fireball to Destroy the World.

372. The Burning Skeleton Knight.

373. The King of the Wild Hunt—Eredin.

374. Do Not Empathize with Your Enemies.