Wizard: This witcher is neglecting his duties.

Chapter 310 Vigfortz

Princess Pavita was kidnapped in a primeval forest on the border of the Kingdom of Viden.

There once stood an abandoned castle in the forest, said to have been built by a grandiose member of the royal family of the Kingdom of Viden, requiring a great deal of manpower and being quite enormous.

However, hundreds of years have passed, and both the person involved and his descendants have long since disappeared into history, leaving only this dilapidated castle behind, standing alone in the forest, becoming a figment of imagination in some stories.

Wayne and his companions first traveled through a portal to a relatively remote town in the Kingdom of Viden. This was a secret passage left by Lady Isa, a young court mage from Sintra. It was unknown to spellcasters in the Kingdom of Viden, allowing them to conceal their movements without alerting the enemy.

After entering the Kingdom of Viden, the group of five did not linger at all and immediately headed towards their destination, following the directions given on the map.

Time was indeed of the essence. After a brief report to Queen Calanthe, even though the queen was furious and wanted to send an army to wipe out the evil sorcerers and monsters, the situation was still very urgent.

But these ideas were all in vain; it was impossible for a large army to travel such a long distance in such a short time to reach Viden, a vassal state of Sintra.

Moreover, the news of the fallen sorcerer Quettor's disappearance can only be kept secret for a day at most.

The enemy isn't stupid either. If this time passes, they will definitely notice something, and they might not even be able to keep it a secret for that long. If the other side tries to contact Quietto without success, they might become suspicious.

Whether they flee or relocate their base, it will only complicate the operation.

"This is the Magic-Blocking Bracelet. Wearing it will greatly reduce the influence of warlocks on you. You only need to focus on avoiding the attacks of those monsters."

"Oh, and remember not to get too close to Lady Yennefer, so as not to interfere with her casting spells."

Before they began their mission, Wayne gave two blue magic-blocking gold bracelets to Aragorn and Alex.

He originally did not intend to let these two teenagers join the battle. After all, although they were physically at a high level and their swordsmanship was barely considered superb, they had not actually conducted mutation experiments and were not even considered witcher apprentices.

Although the two children were not the main force in this battle, it was indeed quite difficult for them to fight against a group of monsters and a corrupted sorcerer right from the start.

He would have liked to leave the two children in a safe place if they hadn't insisted.

However, Wayne wasn't without a plan for this operation; at the very least, he wouldn't act like a greenhorn and rush in headlong with his men.

Upon reaching the edge of the forest where their destination was located, Wayne hired a local guide from a nearby village at a high price.

Although the middle-aged man trembled with fear and turned pale upon hearing their destination, muttering things like it was haunted and a monster's lair.

But tempted by the gold, the man quickly overcame his fear and led them through the dense forest to the abandoned, enormous castle.

The castle was located near a valley in the forest, and its overall size was larger than they had imagined.

Centuries have taken their toll on the castle, causing damage in many places and covering the stone surfaces with green plants, but from a distance, it still looks quite impressive.

Looking at the deep, dark castle before them, and the dim yellow light emanating from its windows, Wayne and the others immediately realized that they hadn't come to the wrong place; there were definitely enemies inside.

"The current situation inside the castle is unknown."

"I'll go check first and make sure Princess Pavita is safe."

"If a battle breaks out, come and support me."

Wayne briefly explained his plan, although as the leader of a faction, it was somewhat inappropriate for him to always carry out the most dangerous missions in every battle.

However, he really didn't want his friends to risk their lives. After all, in terms of strength, many battles that were just ordinary for him were quite dangerous for Geralt and the others.

The white wolf was calmer than expected. After hearing his command, it did not raise any objections, but simply nodded after a few seconds of silence and said:

"Be careful, Wayne."

"If anything unexpected happens, use the alchemical bomb, and we'll come to your aid as soon as possible."

Wayne nodded upon hearing this, patted Geralt on the shoulder, and then touched Aragorn and Alex's hair. He then took out an invisibility cloak from his spatial bracelet, put it on, and sneaked into the castle.

The castle is very large, with not only huge gardens and walls over two meters high, but also other stone buildings inside. It is clear that its original owner spent a lot of money to build it to this scale.

Under the cover of night, Wayne successfully infiltrated the vicinity of the castle without encountering any enemies.

Today, the Witcher Order boasts numerous sorcerers and inexhaustible resources. Each surviving Witcher is equipped with several highly practical magical items, a far cry from the past.

Wayne once showed the Invisibility Cloak to several warlocks for research, but unfortunately, they were unable to replicate this extremely useful item, nor did they understand how it worked.

Otherwise, if every Witcher could be equipped with an invisibility cloak, becoming a master assassin would be a fairly easy thing.

Even so, the warlocks also worked together to develop several items that could enhance stealth abilities.

For example, there are silent shoes to reduce the sound of footsteps, sprays to lock in body odor, poisons that kill instantly, and daggers that have no reflection. Even without an invisibility cloak, many master witchers can rely on their skills to become assassins who come and go without a trace, killing people invisibly.

A few minutes later, Wayne sneaked all the way to the outer wall of the castle without finding any enemies, which surprised him.

However, as soon as he climbed through a dilapidated window and entered the castle, he immediately realized something was wrong.

The area outside the castle was deserted, with no trace of any monsters except for the dim yellow lights. But as soon as he entered the castle, he saw thousands of fully armed zombies, lined up neatly like puppets in the castle hall.

Silent and still, like a stone, without making a sound.

If it weren't for the occasional glimpse of a few short Fallen figures carrying torches wandering among the ranks of armed zombies, he might have mistaken them for statues.

Looking at the number of these armed zombies, Wayne couldn't help but frown. You see, the entire population of the Kingdom of Viden might not even be 100,000. Even if they used all their resources, they couldn't muster an army of 5,000.

The armed zombie monsters before them, combined with other monsters and fallen sorcerers, could, if they were fast enough, seize the capital of the Kingdom of Viden before it could assemble its army.

It seems that the monsters of hell are developing faster in the wizarding world than he imagined, and the dark sorcerers may already have the power to massacre cities and destroy nations.

Just as he was frowning and pondering this question, Wayne's gaze suddenly fell on the armor and weapons of the armed zombies.

They were all standard armor with almost identical designs, although they were made quite crudely and were only half-body iron-plated armor that protected the chest and joints.

However, judging from their craftsmanship, they reveal the characteristics of mass-produced products, rather than being carefully crafted by highly skilled artisans. Their appearance is also quite new, as if they were products that were only recently produced.

Such a large quantity of armor would be difficult for private blacksmith shops in the north to mass-produce, which aroused Wayne's suspicions, and he immediately placed his suspicions on the Kingdom of Nilfgaard in the south.

Only emerging countries where capitalism has begun to sprout and various factories are operating on a large scale have the capacity to mass-produce these mediocre assembly-line products.

It seems that, without his knowledge, the southern forces may have secretly extended into the north, and may have even begun to collude with the Dark Sorcerers.

It's just unknown whether this was the personal act of the southern sorcerers or an order from the usurper.

With this in mind, Wayne did not linger in the lobby on the first floor. After a brief observation, he quickly headed up the stairs towards the upper floors of the castle.

It was another stealthy advance, with Wayne observing as he went.

Compared to the densely packed monsters on the first floor, the upper floors are much quieter, and the monsters appearing in the corridors and corners are much more elite.

Not only were there Fallen sorcerers wielding staffs, but also swamp witches capable of casting native spells. In addition, Wayne even discovered a hideous and terrifying night spirit floating in mid-air in one of the rooms.

Clearly, the magic of hell was more attractive to these monsters than he had imagined, and it could even allow monsters of many different races to live together peacefully.

If this had happened hundreds or thousands of years ago, scholars who studied information about various monsters would have been absolutely astonished.

However, for Wayne, the situation inside the castle didn't have much of an impact, except for making him frown slightly.

However, it was clear that with so many monsters in the castle, it was no longer suitable for Geralt and his companions to participate in the battle; their strength was not yet great enough to ignore numbers.

If you rashly enter this castle, you'll most likely end up being torn to pieces by monsters.

Wayne became more cautious and he dawdled for more than ten minutes before finally getting past all the enemies and reaching the top floor of the castle.

This is a space with an overall style resembling a spacious hall in a laboratory, with torches and lamps covering the walls, illuminating the entire hall quite brightly.

In this hall, besides the many wooden supports that looked like torture instruments, and the many people who were oblivious to their fate tied to them, there were also many experimental beds with supports placed on them.

However, perhaps because it was nighttime, there weren't many people in the entire experimental hall, or rather, the number of people was extremely limited.

After searching for a while, Wayne finally found Princess Pavita, who was tied to an experimental table, wearing only a thin, almost transparent garment, with a swollen belly and a calm expression, seemingly in a coma.

Meanwhile, Wayne also saw a handsome man in his thirties with fancy clothes and brown hair next to the lab table.

He was strong and composed, holding a set of sophisticated experimental equipment in his hand. He was intently examining Princess Pavita's condition, seemingly studying some data.

The moment Wayne saw the man, he recognized him as Vigfortz, a renowned young talent in the Wizarding Guild and the powerful sorcerer who broke Geralt's legs with a single blow in the original story.

(End of this chapter)