Wizard: This witcher is neglecting his duties.

Chapter 282 Karkstan

On the afternoon of the second day after entering the mist, Wayne and his companions ventured deep into the heart of the mist and chose a small, destroyed village on the old Cordwin map as their resting point.

Along the way, they had cleared more than a thousand monsters. Although the monsters came in intermittent waves, the demon hunters were still able to keep up. However, the continuous casting of spells still left the two sorceresses exhausted.

Fortunately, the village's buildings could serve as defensive structures, so after clearing out the monsters in the village, they decided to stay there for the night to relieve their fatigue from the battle.

Among the group, Wayne naturally became the most popular cook, the two sorceresses were responsible for assisting, and Letho and the other two were responsible for guarding the outskirts of the village against possible monster attacks.

After a delicious dinner was prepared, the group finally had a rare opportunity to sit together and discuss their next move.

"There are just too many monsters here. I bet I've encountered more in the last two days than I have in the past year."

"Moreover, compared to resurrected human zombies, resurrected ghouls and water ghosts are even more troublesome."

"Most of their physical weaknesses have disappeared. Although their agility has decreased, their lethality has actually increased. I almost got injured when we were surrounded last time."

The speaker was Ochs of the Viper School. Compared to Letho's taciturn nature, Ochs and another Serrit were younger and more outgoing.

Upon hearing this, Serret looked worried and said:

"It seems those warlocks were right to worry if these monsters capable of resurrecting corpses were to roam the entire world."

"No human kingdom can withstand these undead creatures. After those kingdoms are destroyed, they may even form an army of hundreds of thousands or millions of undead monsters."

"There are far too many humans, far more than the number of monsters."

Upon hearing this, Letso fell silent, seemingly also considering the possibility of such a thing.

Wayne sat to the side, listening to their discussion, and said, somewhat speechless:

"You're overthinking it. When that time comes, cremation will be the only way to alleviate the problem."

"And don't underestimate spellcasters. Monsters like these are slow-moving and only become lethal when they are in groups. As long as you go all out and find their weaknesses, sorcerers can easily take them down."

Margarita, sitting next to Wayne, smiled slightly upon hearing this and said with considerable confidence:

"Yes, Mr. Letso, you don't need to worry about it."

"Our Brotherhood of Warlocks is actively researching the weaknesses of these monsters, and we believe that it won't be long before we can develop magic to deal with them."

"Just like these past few days, we've found that low temperatures are particularly effective against these zombies."

"If needed, we can unleash a large blizzard covering several kilometers by combining the efforts of three sorcerers."

"Even if there are tens of thousands of these zombies, they will all be frozen in place and rendered unable to fight."

"Like large-scale dispel spells and spells that forcibly change the terrain, as long as we have time to prepare, our Brotherhood of Warlocks can use them effectively."

"Actually, every warlock participating in this bounty competition has a hidden mission: to collect information about the monsters they have encountered."

"I believe that after this commission is completed, with the combat data personally experienced by so many sorcerers, we will definitely be able to gain a better understanding of these monsters from another world and formulate more effective strategies."

"As long as we can find a way to seal the rift torn open by the power of another world, dealing with the monsters in the mist won't be a problem."

Kayla agreed, noting that most warlocks' power was restricted by the Warlock Brotherhood, preventing them from unleashing their full potential.

If needed, an outstanding sorcerer like her, who can become a royal advisor, can use magic capable of destroying an entire city, provided she has the necessary materials and time.

As the group was discussing tomorrow's itinerary, Wayne's keen hearing suddenly picked up a cacophony of cries for help, curses, and desperate shouts.

He was slightly taken aback at first, but immediately realized that other sorcerers had been attacked. The thought of standing by and watching them die flashed through his mind. After all, this was a competitive mission, and although killing each other was not allowed, there was no rule that required saving those in distress.

However, he quickly changed his mind, because Wayne realized that all those who could participate in this bounty competition were young warlocks from the North, and some of them were familiar faces from the original work.

Regardless of whether you try to save them or not, the best thing to do is to go over and find out who was attacked.

At that point, whether you choose to stand by and do someone a favor or simply leave them to die, either option is a good one.

Thinking this, Wayne said to the others:

"I've heard the enemy's voices. Stay alert, I'm going to check it out."

Letso and the others nodded without objection, but Kayla opened her mouth, wanting to go with Wayne.

"I'll go with you, Wayne. It'll be good for you both to look after each other."

Wayne glanced back at Kayla and, seeing that her expression seemed genuine, felt a surge of affection for the petite sorceress.

Just as Margarita said, only in young sorceresses like Triss and Keira can one still see some precious qualities.

However, he still declined Kayla's offer, and comforted her by saying:

"Don't worry, it's better for me to stay hidden by myself, and there's no chance of a fight."

"You should also refrain from making any rash moves, lest you get caught up in a pointless battle."

After leaving the rest area, Wayne immediately put on his invisibility cloak. Although he was not afraid of any battle, he preferred to avoid trouble. If the other party was not worth saving, he would just stand by and watch.

Soon, after traveling about two hundred meters, he saw a massacre taking place on a slope outside the village.

About twenty archers, dressed in leather armor, with dark blue skin and demon tattoos on their faces and bodies, were chasing a group of mercenaries from all directions, using their bows and arrows.

These archers moved very fast and were quite accurate. Even when the mercenaries being chased were cornered and wanted to turn around and attack them, they were unable to catch up with the archers.

Instead, because of his excessive movements, he was unable to protect himself and was shot in the eye socket and neck by several arrows, dying a tragic death.

The original group of about thirty or forty mercenaries only resisted for about seven or eight minutes before the archers killed off most of them.

However, the sacrifices of these mercenaries were not in vain; they successfully held off the archers, giving a middle-aged man dressed comfortably at the front a chance to escape.

The middle-aged sorcerer was thin and even somewhat sleazy-looking, with two mustaches below his nose. His face was filled with fear and covered in sweat, but he gritted his teeth and kept running towards the village.

Wayne stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly realized something and recognized the man's identity.

This guy's name is Kalkstan, a master alchemist, chemist, inventor, scientist, diviner, writer, runesmith, and sorcerer from Vizima, the capital of Temuria.

He collaborated with Geralt in The Witcher 1 and is a very talented researcher.

Wayne knew him not only because the guy was already somewhat famous in Vizima, but also because he had once tried to recruit this very talented researcher into his Witcher Order.

However, during that time, Karkstein was away conducting other research, and the two sides had no opportunity to meet, so the matter was temporarily shelved.

Unexpectedly, he encountered this guy here, and the guy was in danger of losing his life.

Since that's the case, then helping the other party is a good option.

Wayne's mind only considered it for a moment before his body reacted immediately.

When he was hundreds of meters away from the demon archers, he took out his Dragon's Roar Bow from his bracelet, first put on an enhanced version of the Quen sign, and then used his superb archery skills to exchange shots with them.

His powerful arm strength allowed him to shoot arrows at extremely high speeds, covering a distance of a hundred meters in a flash, instantly piercing the head of the demon archer and killing him on the spot.

Moreover, Wayne's archery speed is also very fast; even including aiming time, he can basically shoot an arrow every three or four seconds.

Before the demon archers could even react, three or four had already been shot dead.

Upon seeing this, the mercenaries who were struggling to survive immediately realized that strong reinforcements had arrived on their side. They desperately huddled together, not charging forward, only hoping to save their lives in the gaps between the archers of both sides.

When the fallen archers realized Wayne was a formidable enemy, they swarmed around him, trying to use their numerical advantage to suppress Wayne's ranged attacks.

However, Wayne's Quen shield was now extremely strong. Even without dodging or evading, he could withstand more than a dozen arrows without moving, directly engaging the archers in combat and quickly taking several of their lives.

Once the shield is broken, the cunning witcher will immediately slip into cover and, within seconds, donate another layer of hard shield, giving the archers no chance to retaliate.

With the mercenaries in between keeping them occupied, Wayne killed most of the twenty or thirty fallen archers in just a few minutes.

The rest, sensing something was wrong, quickly disappeared into the mist.

(End of this chapter)