Chapter 136: Kidnapped children

Fire is the natural enemy of all flesh-and-blood creatures, not to mention that Triss's fire was not ordinary fire, but magic fire condensed with higher energy.

When her fire spell was ready, in less than three minutes, whether it was the wolf pack or the crows in the sky, they soon became corpses on the ground under the cooperation of the two.

After killing the attacking monsters, Triss exhaled softly and looked at Wayne with an unusual gaze. During the battle in the underground tomb last time, the two sorceresses hadn't seen the witcher's heroic posture with their own eyes. Today, they finally saw Wayne's combat ability, which exceeded that of ordinary people.

Although it was said that spellcasters naturally had a sense of superiority over warriors, Triss still couldn't help but praise:

"Your strength and speed have already exceeded those of ordinary people by several times."

"Are all witchers as physically powerful as you, Wayne?"

Master Wayne heard this, his face calm, but his tone carried a bit of "Versailles" (humble-bragging):

"It's alright. My talent is slightly stronger. I'm probably in the top tier among all witchers."

The red-haired beauty covered her mouth and chuckled, looked at the corpses on the ground, and then asked:

"What now, Wayne?"

"As a monster expert, do you think we should head directly to the target's location, or do we need to make some more preparations?"

Hearing Triss ask for his opinion, Wayne couldn't help but feel a bit moved. This was why Triss respected others' opinions.

If it were other sorceresses, such as Yennefer or other members of the Lodge of Sorceresses, with their strong personalities, they would definitely make their own decisions and wouldn't listen to others' arrangements.

Wayne considered for a few seconds and said:

"According to our witcher experience in dealing with Leshens, they generally build three or four such totem poles on the outskirts of their territory. If these totem poles are not destroyed, the Leshen's strength will likely receive a relatively large boost."

"Although it's not impossible to eliminate it, it will certainly be more troublesome to deal with."

Triss nodded. She had learned some of this knowledge and had even specifically looked up information about Leshens a few days ago. However, the information obtained by sorcerers was not as detailed as that recorded by the witcher community.

Much of the information in the witcher records consisted of actual combat data from predecessor witchers hunting monsters, which was far more realistic and credible than the books written by sorcerers based on analysis and speculation.

"In that case, let's take this as the edge and circle around this area to see if we can find other totems. They are so conspicuous that finding them shouldn't be difficult."

"Good, let's do that."

After Wayne nodded in agreement, the two rode their horses and circled in the forest.

This was a primitive forest. Although the mine was only about five or six *li* away, geographically speaking, they were already deep in the primitive forest.

All kinds of huge trees blocked out the sky and sun, and all kinds of vines and stones were entrenched on the ground. Walking through it, one could still see some poisonous insects and snakes attached to various inconspicuous places, which was quite dangerous.

After searching for about ten minutes, they suddenly heard some fighting and screaming sounds ahead, as if a group of people were fighting with something.

After Wayne and Triss looked at each other, they immediately accelerated their horses, ran ahead of the sorceress, and ran toward the location where the sound came from.

Soon, the two passed through a dense forest and saw a group of villagers in simple clothes, holding various hoes, pitchforks, and other farm tools, fighting with a group of wild wolves and crows.

A huge troll, wrapped in stones, was waving a huge wooden club, protecting a terrifying totem piled up with various bones, surrounded by some men, fighting fiercely.

Although there were forty or fifty villagers, and the number of beasts attacking them was only half of theirs, this group of humans who had not undergone combat training was timid and fearful when fighting those ferocious beasts, and they couldn't exert their combat advantage at all.

Wayne's eyes were very sharp, and he saw the black-haired young man, Allen, among the villagers at a glance. He was holding a wood-chopping axe, hiding behind the troll, and slashed hard at the troll's back.

Unfortunately, the back was the troll's strongest defensive area. This axe strike only sent stone chips flying and didn't cause any damage to the troll.

And the troll was no pushover. After feeling the attack from behind, it immediately swung its club, directly throwing Allen high into the air. If it weren't for other villagers trying their best to catch him, he would certainly have suffered no small injury.

Seeing this, Wayne couldn't stand by and watch. He turned to Triss and said:

"You go deal with that troll, and then destroy the totem. I'll go help the villagers deal with the beasts."

After speaking, he didn't wait to hear the sorceress's answer, jumped off his horse, and used the electric blade in his hand to descend from the sky, pinning a wild wolf that wanted to sneak attack under his knee, and the blade pierced through its skull.

After killing this wild wolf, Wayne suddenly remembered that he seemed to have forgotten to collect the loot from the group of beasts he had killed at the previous totem. Although wolf liver wasn't a rare material, it could at least be sold for some money.

Of course, this thought only flashed through his mind. After killing a wild wolf, Wayne's movements didn't hesitate at all, and he soon killed several more wild wolves that wanted to attack the villagers by way of sneak attacks.

The electric blade in his hand was not comparable to ordinary weapons. The skin and bones of the wild wolves were no firmer than melons and fruits under the blade of this weapon. As long as the angle of the slash was appropriate, he could easily cut these wild wolves in half or chop off their heads.

And Triss's actions were also very swift. After finishing a series of obscure and convoluted incantations, the sorceress shouted to the villagers who were besieging the troll.

"Leave that totem, I'm going to cast a spell."

The villagers who were besieging the troll were stunned for a few seconds upon hearing this, but fortunately, Allen knew Triss, and he immediately called for the villagers to retreat to a safe range.

As Triss raised her hands as if lifting something, palms upward, above her head, after a loud boom, bursting flames erupted from the location of the troll and the totem, igniting a pillar of fire more than ten meters high, shrouding the troll and the beast-bone totem in scorching flames.

A few minutes later, when Wayne had killed all the beasts that were besieging the villagers, both the troll and the terrifying totem built of beast bones had turned into charcoal in Triss's flames.

Wayne observed the surrounding environment and confirmed that no other monsters were rushing over before he grabbed Allen and asked:

"What's going on? Why did you and the villagers of your village come here?"

Allen rubbed his injured shoulder, looking at the injured villagers around him with a sad expression.

Some people had their limbs bitten by wild wolves and might become disabled; several people had their eyes pecked out by crows; and some were hit by the troll's attack, breaking their bones, and were lying on the ground wailing. But even so, everyone didn't escape, but wanted to continue to persist in the fight.

"Master Wayne, I'm not very clear either. When I returned to the village from Master Triss's mansion, the villagers were filled with righteous indignation."

"Because after we left, that Link brought monsters back to the village. He took advantage of people's panic and escape, kidnapped five children in the village, and then fled into the forest."

"The villagers in our village have always been quite united. Seeing this, they immediately organized this team, wanting to go into the forest to save the children back."

"We chased all the way here, but just when we arrived near this totem, we were attacked by a group of monsters. There were too many of them. Fortunately, with the help of you and Master Triss, we didn't suffer heavy casualties."

Wayne and Triss looked at each other, their moods a bit heavy. They originally thought it was just dealing with a Leshen and its subordinate monsters. Now it seemed that these monsters also held five children as hostages.

With their kind hearts, they would definitely be timid and fearful during the battle. Wayne considered for a few seconds, looked at the injured villagers around, reached into his waist pouch, took out some bandages, needles, and other first-aid items, handed them to Allen, and said:

"You don't continue to chase anymore. The Leshen inside is very powerful. Ordinary people like you running over there is just sending yourselves to death."

"How about this, leave the following things to us. You guys treat the wounds on your bodies first."

"If you must do something, you can help us look for it. Around this forest, there may still be one or two such totems."

"Find them and destroy them."

"We will go directly to find that monster now. In order to deal with the two of us, it should not send beasts to attack you again."

After speaking, he looked at Triss. Regarding Wayne's decision, Triss nodded and didn't refute.

Although the totem was not completely destroyed, dealing with the Leshen would be a bit dangerous, but in order to save time to rescue the children, taking some risks was also necessary.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 137 =====