A fantastical journey across the heavens, beginning with the Witcher.

Before the monster's wailing and fleeing cries had faded, three ugly, deformed figures slowly emerged from the shadows of the swamp.

The monster in the middle was the tallest and fattest, its skin bulging like boiled, blackened tree bark. It was wrapped in greasy rags, its hands were as thick as bear paws, and its fingernails gleamed with a bluish-black poisonous light. It held a spatula in one hand and a frying pan in the other, and a vegetable basket was placed over its face. This was the cook.

The one on the left, with a hunched back and a blood-stained iron mesh mask covering its face, its ugly features vaguely visible through the dense mesh, and a pendant made of strings of ears hanging around its neck, is the Whispering Woman.

The last one, wearing a pointed cloth hat, with a single eye covered by a honeycomb-like fleshy mesh, immediately reminds one of the baby-carrying toad. Its tattered hemp clothing is wrapped with hemp thread, and it has a spindle at its waist; this is the Weaver.

"Tsk... Sigh! They're all ugly in their own unique ways."

Li De had never hated his own keen eyesight so much; with just one glance, he had firmly imprinted the ugly figures of the three monsters into his mind.

"Gagaga..."

As if to accentuate the eerie atmosphere, the three monsters were emitting strange laughs.

With the intention of finishing quickly to avoid further tormenting his eyes, the Witcher acted decisively before the monsters could even finish laughing.

Holding a sword in his right hand, he formed a hand seal with his left, Igni - the Flame Seal.

That's right, in addition to their powerful physique, witchers also possess spellcasting abilities.

In this magical world, magic truly exists; its essence is a physical quantity.

Aside from some monsters being born with the ability to cast spells, it is much more difficult for humans to use these magical methods.

Most spellcasters are trained; they do not possess magical blood, but they have magical affinity and can draw energy from their own life force to drive spells.

Warlocks are a typical example; it takes decades of diligent meditation, study, and practice to become proficient in using magic.

Witchers are an exception; after taking mutation potions, even ordinary people who originally lacked talent can gain limited spellcasting abilities.

Of course, there are always exceptions. There is another type of person called "born magic source", who is born with the ability to store a huge amount of primal magic power without having to draw energy from life force. This means that they will not fall into a weakened state after excessive spellcasting.

Li De was one of them. He awakened his magic source physique after becoming a demon hunter, which greatly enhances the power of spells.

Take the Igni sign as an example. When the old bear-man who picked it up cast it, it was just a flame that stretched three to five meters. It could ignite monster pelts during battle, but it was more often used to light torches and candles.

And Li De's Igni is just like a flamethrower!

Just like now, at the tip of his palm, blazing flames gathered into a fan-shaped wave of fire, which in the blink of an eye covered an area of ​​more than ten meters in front of him. At the end of the wave of fire, sparks surged up to more than three meters high.

Under the terrifying heat, the water, stained green by the monster's blood, began to evaporate, and even the monster's remains submerged in the water turned charred and shriveled.

"Aaaaaah!"

The grotesque laughter turned into a scream halfway through.

The old witches never expected that this witch hunter would be so unethical, skipping even the part about making threats and instead launching a sneak attack on the three of them right away.

Da da da……

The intense heat had not yet completely dissipated, and the three old witches were patting the flames off their bodies when Li De's figure burst through the sea of ​​fire, his longsword arriving in an instant.

The old witches, who were able to leave their own legends in a region, were naturally not comparable to those ordinary monsters. The old woman, enduring the burning pain, raised her right hand.

"clang!"

The seemingly simple frying pan held the silver sword firmly in place.

The attack was blocked, but Li De remained calm. It was just a feint. His real attack was in his left hand. He formed another hand seal and used Yaden!

Purple magic flowed out, forming a circle of runes that enveloped a ten-meter radius around him.

Once the magic seal was formed, the three old witches were tightly bound by eerie purple light patterns.

This is the effect of the Yarden sign: it weakens and slows down monsters within its range. It is not fatal, but it greatly reduces their ability to fight back.

Li De quickly spun around, changed the direction of his longsword, and swept it horizontally again, this time targeting the Nenwa Po.

The monster had already reacted and tried to retreat and dodge, but its movements were slowed by the magic seal, and the longsword was as swift as the wind, making it impossible to dodge.

bass!

The sword tip swept across the iron mesh mask, severing the mesh and drawing out a handful of rusty red blood.

"ah!!"

After half its face was cut off, it finally remembered to use magic. With a sharp, short howl, it turned into a thick mass of blood and hid beneath the surface of the swamp.

With the eldest sister injured, and the remaining two monsters not standing idly by, the cook reacted incredibly quickly, raising her spatula to strike the demon hunter.

Just by looking at its waist, which is as thick as a water vat, you can tell that this monster has an extraordinary physique. Li De doesn't want to test how hard his head is.

In this critical moment, he once again cast the magic seal, Kun!

A translucent orange-yellow shield instantly formed, its surface shimmering with a thick magical glow.

boom!

The moment the attack hit, Li De detonated his shield at the perfect moment, not only blocking the attack but also sending the cook's fat body flying several meters backward.

On the other hand, it's unclear whether they underestimated the Witcher's fighting prowess or had too much faith in the sisters' abilities.

Weaver Po stood there swaggeringly, casting her spell. Foul-smelling blood kept gushing from her thin palms, instantly staining a large area of ​​water. Meanwhile, the blood clot that the Whispering Po had transformed into took the opportunity to merge into the blood, creating an indirect invisibility effect.

"So that's what you were planning."

Li De sneered, first casting the Kunen Shield on himself, then rushing towards the Weaver, swinging his longsword to slash at its neck.

The silver sword had barely reached the halfway point when the monster revealed a strange smile, seemingly mocking the demon hunter's short-sightedness and how easily he had taken the bait.

Suddenly, from the bloody water beside him, the Whispering Woman burst through the surface, her pair of dark claws, carrying a foul stench, reaching down to grab the Witcher's head.

However, monsters all know how to fish, and a monster slayer wouldn't be foolish enough to fall for it.

Li De instantly changed his move, loosening his right hand from the sword hilt, forming the Alder mudra, and slamming it hard against the ugly face of the nagging old woman.

At this moment, the advantage of the sign's rapid casting speed was fully demonstrated. Before the claws could even touch the shield, the Aard sign had already taken shape, and the pale blue transparent wave carried a powerful impact.

The monster at the center of the seal was sent flying more than ten meters away without even letting out a scream. After crashing into a dead tree, it fell into the swamp like a tattered sack.

The only pity was that switching from holding the sword with both hands to holding it with only the left hand slowed down the movement by a beat, giving the Weaver Girl room to dodge.

The monster reacted quickly, grabbing a spindle, crouching down, and thrusting the tip at the witcher's vitals.

Ding!

The spindle was firmly blocked by the Quen shield, and the Weaver's mocking smile froze.

Wait a minute! Doesn't my spindle have a spell-breaking effect? ​​Even a warlock's defensive spells can't stop it, so what makes a demon hunter's sign so powerful?

Then, it stubbornly poked at it again, but the shield remained unmoved.

Before the weaver could figure out why, the silver sword pierced her shoulder and pinned her to the swamp.

"Trying to ruin my sexual happiness for the rest of my life? Did you even ask my Igni?!"

Li De pressed one knee against the monster's back, as if suppressing a struggling live fish, while his free right hand formed the Igni sign and pressed it directly onto the back of its head.

This isn't a long-range raid, it's a face-to-face attack!

A blazing orange-red flame erupted from his palm and slammed into that ugly head. The overflowing flames formed a shockwave that spread wildly in all directions.

Large swaths of blood evaporated into mist, even the damp mud near the palms cracked open. The monster's screams, mixed with the crackling sound of flames burning flesh, played out a cruel symphony in the ears.

Just a few more seconds until the live fish was turned into a dead one, Li De suddenly realized that his knees were empty. The monster had actually managed to cast a spell despite the excruciating pain, turning into a pool of blood and running away.

He didn't feel sorry for himself. After getting up, he patted the smoke off his body. If it weren't for the fact that the leather armor was made of extremely fire-resistant petrified lizard skin, Igni's flames would have almost burned his equipment to ashes.

On the other side, after witnessing the tragic state of the two sisters, the old woman, who had collapsed into the swamp, was terrified and completely lost any desire to kill the witcher.

"A flock of crows."

As soon as the incantation ended, the bloated, obese body scattered into a flock of crows, tangling and flying into the sky.

"The crows have crashed."

Li De reached into his waist pouch, pulled out a "Moon Dust" bomb, snapped his fingers to light the fuse, aimed briefly, and threw it forcefully into the sky.

boom!

With a deafening explosion, the scorching silver dust scattered the flock of crows, successfully interrupting the monster's magic. The obese figure plummeted from the sky, crashing heavily into the blood, splattering large amounts of blood.

Li De pulled the long sword stuck in the mud and walked toward the cook who was lying unconscious.

First, it was blown to its face by a pyrotechnic bomb, then it fell from a great height. Now, the monster is so weak that it can't even hold its weapon and can only watch helplessly as the Witcher approaches it.

"No, no... spare my life... cough cough..."

Before he could finish speaking, the monster coughed up blood.

"Sigh, that's where you're wrong. We're all killing each other, each relying on our own abilities. How can you beg for mercy? At this moment, you should shout—'Kill me or torture me, it's all up to you!'"

He spoke those last few words in Chinese, and the cook, not understanding them, actually repeated them haltingly: "Kill me... torture me, it's all up to you..."

Li De was taken aback for a moment, then grinned and raised his longsword high.

"As you wish."

As the longsword slashed down, the monster's head rolled off, the basket mask shattered, revealing a bloated, rotting face beneath.

Silver sword + special enchantment + charged attack + hit a vital point. If it survives, Li De would dare to twist his own head off and use it as a football.