Chapter 135: Locked on, battle begins

"You've found out who the killer is?"

Upon hearing this, Triss's tone was somewhat puzzled. Wasn't the culprit behind this matter just the monster in the forest? Could there be someone else? Wayne didn't keep her in suspense; he recounted the entire sequence of events from start to finish—the clues he discovered after entering the mine, his search for the coroner, and his subsequent confirmation of the killer.

Finally, he took out the letter he had searched from Link's home, along with the hair and other personal items, handed them to the sorceress, and said:

"The matter is confirmed, Triss."

"Now, as long as we use divination magic to confirm Link's location, there's a high probability we'll find the location of that Leshen."

After listening to Wayne's full explanation, Triss's eyes flickered, her cheeks flushed slightly, and she applauded with a look of admiration: "Brilliant deduction and action."

"Choosing you as my helper was indeed the right choice, Wayne."

"If this matter had been left to those city guards or handled by myself, it would certainly have been impossible to lock onto useful information so quickly."

"Leave the rest to me."

"I need to prepare the materials required for the divination ritual. Once I confirm Link's location, we will go together to take down that Leshen."

Triss's tone was somewhat excited. She had originally thought she would be stuck here for several days; she hadn't expected that Wayne would have almost uncovered the truth on the very day they arrived. For her and her family, this was no small surprise.

After all, the sooner this matter was resolved, the smaller the economic loss would be, and her relationship with the Duke of Maribor—the most powerful figure in Maribor City—would also see progress. The benefits were quite significant.

Being able to maintain a good relationship with a great noble was a boost, even for a royal advisor like her.

After Triss left, Wayne didn't idle. He had been busy all day and hadn't even eaten lunch. He took Allen to a quite famous restaurant in the city and had a sumptuous lunch, letting Allen, a common hunter who hadn't seen much of the world, experience the feeling of being a wealthy person.

This young man had run around with him all day and had earned some credit; Master Wayne had always been a generous man.

By the time the two returned to Triss's family mansion, the sorceress had already completed the preparations needed for the divination ritual.

Triss was using a rather ancient method of divination this time. Although it had a rather convoluted official term, most spellcasters simply referred to it as extispicy.

In what looked like a very ancient magic array, a white-furred goat was fixed in the center.

Link's hair had been wrapped in a special piece of paper inscribed with magic incantations, which the goat then ate.

Around the goat were placed some oddly shaped stones, frogs, mice, beast skulls, and several symbolic magic materials.

Outside the magic array, Triss performed a strange dance while chanting obscure and convoluted magic incantations. This continued for about ten minutes, and only after fine beads of sweat appeared on the red-haired beauty's forehead did she stop the prayer ritual.

Then, picking up a strangely shaped dagger—presumably carved from animal bone—from the magic array, Triss walked over to the goat, which stood motionless in the center of the array as if its soul had been harvested.

With one stab, she plunged the blade into the goat's belly. With a *splat*, she ripped its stomach wide open, and various internal organs flowed out onto the ground along the wound.

Once these organs had all flowed onto the magic array, the goat still stood upright without collapsing. The sorceress nimbly stepped out of the magic array, stood at its edge, and began to carefully observe the position, color, shape, and other feedback that only a sorceress could discern.

Although this type of extispicy was bloody and ancient—Wayne had read about it in many books, and it was a method from thousands of years ago—in the world of magic, many things were more effective the older they were.

Extispicy was no exception.

A few minutes later, Triss exhaled softly, came to Wayne's side, wiped the fine sweat from her forehead, and said with a relaxed expression: "Found it, Wayne."

"The owner of that hair is indeed not dead. He is currently in the forest south of the mine, about five or six *li* away. I have locked onto his position."

"After I rest for a moment and recover some mana, we will set off."

"You should also prepare in advance. If the enemy is a Leshen, we might be besieged by a group of monsters once we arrive."

Wayne nodded. He had already simulated this opponent in his mind many times and was fully prepared.

However, the necessary combat preparations still had to be made. As a guardian of the forest, the Leshen, like most plant-based monsters, feared fire most of all, followed by silver weapons.

Therefore, Honeycomb Bombs and Dragon's Dream were indispensable. Fortunately, while alchemy bombs were luxury items for other witchers—one less for every one used—for Master Wayne, these things were just like arrows, mere consumables. His home warehouse was already stocked full.

In fact, if he didn't use them quickly, there was a risk of them expiring.

As for the choice of witcher potions, Wayne thought for a moment; it had to be the unshakable Swallow potion, paired with the strength-boosting Thunderbolt potion, and the reaction-enhancing Tawny Owl. However, he could now drink four potions at once, so after considering it, he also "krypton-ed" himself with a Wolf potion to increase agility.

It wasn't for anything else, just to speed up his evasion ability in battle, so as not to be hit by the monster's attacks. Even if it wouldn't cause serious injury, it would still be very painful.

It was a pity that the Leshen belonged to the category of Remnants, a very rare type of monster. One should use Remnant Oil against such monsters, but Wayne had only seen records of this sword oil in books at Kaer Morhen; he hadn't found the specific production method yet, so he had to abandon this option.

Soon, once Wayne had finished all his pre-battle preparations, Triss had also finished hers. The red-haired beauty was still as thoughtful as ever; she had specifically sent someone to find two docile mares to serve as their transportation.

The location of the Leshen was quite far from here. If they went on foot, they might have exhausted half their stamina before the fight even began.

Once everything was ready, Wayne and Triss didn't delay. They mounted the two mares, one in front of the other, and hurried toward Link's location.

Riding along the way, Wayne discovered that Triss was not at all as delicate as those noble ladies; her horsemanship was no less than that of an ordinary man, and her every movement was quite heroic and cute.

She wore a spirited lady's riding outfit, black riding boots, a red-patterned leather jacket, revealing two fair hemispheres at her chest, and a pearl necklace around her neck.

Besides being a bit playful and cute, she possessed a much more confident temperament than ordinary women, which could unconsciously attract people's attention.

About half an hour later, the two were galloping through the forest and soon arrived not far from the location Triss had locked onto.

And Wayne's sharp eyes had already noticed the skeletal totem standing in the forest.

It was a terrifying totem built from a mixture of various animal and human bones. Not only was it splashed with bright red blood, but it also emitted an aura that kept living people away and made one feel disgusted.

When the two mounts reached a spot a dozen meters away from the totem, they dared not move forward any further.

There was no other way; they had to dismount and walk.

Triss frowned, circled the totem, and said: "It's black magic. The black magic used by the Leshen."

"Destroy it. If we leave it, it will only increase the Leshen's power and make it harder to deal with."

Upon hearing this, Wayne formed a Sign with his hand, and then Igni's flames engulfed the totem, igniting it into a blazing torch.

As the torch burned, only a few seconds passed before Wayne's ears suddenly twitched. He quickly drew the Statikk Shiv from his waist, looked at Triss, and warned:

"Be careful, Triss. There are enemies coming, and there are quite a few of them."

Triss didn't doubt him upon hearing this. Her heart tightened immediately; she took out the red orb she had used in the tomb last time from her waist pouch and came to Wayne's side, carefully staying on guard.

Sure enough, within two minutes, accompanied by successive wolf howls, more than a dozen wild wolves surrounded them from all directions. Arriving with them were a dozen huge crows in the sky.

Their size was taller than their ordinary counterparts. Facing the two, they showed no fear; their bloodshot red eyes were full of killing intent, their mouths open, drooling, as if they were about to pounce at any moment.

Wayne observed the situation and turned to Triss, saying: "Feel free to cast your spells, Triss. I will protect you."

Triss looked at Wayne upon hearing this and didn't hesitate any longer. She raised the red orb in her hand and began to chant. A large amount of Chaos Magic began to condense around her, and it seemed the temperature in the surroundings even rose slightly.

The wild wolves and crows surrounding the two also seemed to sense danger. They immediately opened their mouths, let out threatening roars, and then, as if receiving a command, began to coordinate with each other to launch an attack on the two.

However, they were facing a witcher who had already taken potions, possessed powerful weapons, and was fully prepared.

Wayne held his breath, gripped his electric blade, and tensed his muscles. When the first wild wolf entered his attack range, his figure suddenly surged, instantly transforming into a bolt of lightning. He appeared beside the wolf in an instant, his electric blade turning into an afterimage, and with a *swish*, he chopped off a wolf head.

The other wolves showed no fear at the sight and leaped up one after another, trying to besiege the witcher from different directions.

However, Wayne's short sword swept horizontally, and a chain lightning as thick as an arm flew out from his blade, quickly hitting the three wolves that had pounced over. The intense electric current, accompanied by the wolves' shrill wails, turned them into charred corpses emitting the smell of roasted meat.

And the dozen or so crows that pounced from the sky were also ignited into burning fireballs by one of Wayne's Igni Signs.

Under the protection of Wayne's powerful strength, no beast could break through his defense and interfere with Triss, who was casting her spell.

As the saying goes, "lots of fur means weakness to fire." Whether it was wild wolves or crows, these beasts covered in fur all had a fatal weakness when facing fire.

And just as Wayne and the beasts were locked in battle, Triss's spell quickly finished its incantation. A large number of fireballs erupted from her fiery red orb, as if she were holding a large firework. Whether it was wild wolves or crows, they were soon submerged in countless fireballs.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 136 =====