From Witcher to Lord of the Empire

Fighting in the mountains of Skellige, if it is a frontal encounter, the effect that thousands of people can play is not much different from that of hundreds of people. If it is a special terrain, the effect that even a thousand people can exert is not as good as dozens of people.

After listening to Feitov's retelling of the crisis of the Todaloch family, East thought that the ice giant had arrived on the plain. He planned to surround and kill this monster with a large army, so he summoned other families to send troops to support him, hoping to solve the ice giant once and for all.

Unexpectedly, the monster that was born in the snow and mountains has returned to the mountains now. If ordinary soldiers want to enter the mountains to encircle and suppress them, they will really die as many as they want. It is really not as good as a few demon hunters Can play a big role.

Theoretically speaking, the best strategy now is to use some bait or other tactics to lure the ice giant out at some cost. As for how to lure and what kind of bait to use, it needs the brainstorming of the demon hunters of Lane and the druids of the Ring of Oak, and they can always come up with a solution.

It's a pity that Harold has been captured by the ice giant, and there is still a possibility of his survival. East can't just let his life die in this situation.

After thinking about it for a while, East left Halma and Caris behind and asked them to continue cleaning the battlefield with a small rescue force, and also to prevent sporadic monsters from attacking while he was waiting for the others to leave. The wounded and victims here caused secondary losses.

And he himself took the rest of the people deep into the mountains, looking for the disappearing patriarch of the Todaloch family-Harold Holznott.

...

While waiting for Lann to meditate to recover her magic power, Yuna seemed to suddenly remember something, led her guards into the ruins of the family, searched for a long time, and dug out a cold and stern long sword.

The blade of this sword is like a piece of brass, with a deep color, but it gives people a sense of brilliance, like the last glare of the setting sun at dusk; the spine and hilt are very simple, as if it is a half-finished product , have not had time to inlay gems and carve patterns on it.

But if you take a closer look, you can make out tiny runes on it, shimmering with light. It's just that the original color of the sword body is too deep, covering up these supposedly dazzling runes.

There is only one decoration on this dazzling and plain sword, and that is the weighted ball shaped like the round shield of the Tursek family on the hilt-this also shows the identity of the sword's owner.

Yuna solemnly held out the sword with both hands, and presented it to East.

According to legend, Tyr, the son of Hamdor, came to Little Skellige Island under the signal of his father. In order to settle on the island, he had to kill a giant bear like a mountain. So he walked into the deepest part of Skellige In the cave, a magical weapon was cast in the furnace using the flames in the center of the earth. Its blade was so sharp that it could cut a hair vertically in the middle, and it was so powerful that it could chop down a century-old tree with one blow. "

Yuna lowered her head and raised the sword just now: "When my father knew that you planned to attack the ice giant and received your commission to forge weapons, he summoned the craftsmen of the whole clan to forge this sword. Er's Blade], I hope to help you behead the ice giant and gain glory beyond your ancestors."

"It's a pity that when the ice giant attacked us, this sword didn't have a chance to get out of its sheath..." Yuna paused and took a deep breath, "[Tyre's Blade] is the highest sword ever created by our Tordaloch family. Masterpiece, please use it to save my father!"

Not only Easter, but all the people around who touched the [Tyr Blade] at this moment have their eyes glued to them and cannot move away.

The Todaloch family is a top swordsmith not inferior to the dwarves and dwarves. The steel swords they forge can definitely cut through ordinary standard long swords without any effort; plus there are archipelago druids to help with rune enchanting , this sword has reached an unprecedented height, and it is a treasure that can be passed down for thousands of years.

Although it hasn't had time to carry out engravings that conform to its identity, but for the king of the archipelago and for East, this is the best state.

"The Blade of Tyr." East repeated the long sword that bears the name of the ancestor of the Tursek family, stroked its spine with his fingers, and said solemnly, "I will definitely not let it be dusted!"

...

I don't know when the ice giant acquired the ability to wrap around the snowstorm, and it has a certain degree of concealment about its whereabouts.

Fortunately, it was not long before it left, and there were five more demon hunters in the team who opened their senses together, and soon found the traces left by the giant, and followed them all the way up the mountain.

Even though he had gone deep into the mountains once before because of the siege of the Vilkas, Lan still marveled at the precipitousness of Skellige at this moment.

Less than half of Skellige's land is plains, and more than 70% of Udvik Island is mountain ranges, which contain rich minerals and hide a large number of monsters.

The stairs with artificial traces have long since disappeared, and everyone is currently climbing between the primitive rocks and trails; the temperature has dropped below zero, and the air has become more piercing and thinner.

"stop"!

After advancing for a while, the demon hunter at the front of the team suddenly made a gesture of prohibiting advancement, and the whole team immediately stopped in order.

East brought all the elites of the Tursek family, and before entering the mountain, he also delegated part of the command to the demon hunters, so the soldiers were quite obedient to Geralt's prompts.

Of course, it is also the demon hunters who have won the trust and respect of the soldiers in these several times of fighting side by side with the Tursek family. Rao East did not order, maybe these things may happen in the absence of the commander. Soldiers also spontaneously follow the advice of witchers.

On the contrary, Geralt, who had just given the order to stop at the front of the line, suddenly felt a little strange in his heart. It can be said that this was the first time he encountered such a forbidden soldier as a team leader.

"Geralt, what's the matter?"

East stepped forward and watched the witcher squatting on the ground, picking up a handful of dust from the ground.

Snow covered it, but after the surface had been cleared by the witchers, a huge footprint was revealed underneath. The soil was also mixed with a dark red color, as if something on the ground was trampled away by a huge figure.

"Human blood, and it's quite fresh." Colgrim also leaned closer, his snake eyes glowing slightly because the witcher's senses were stimulated, "We're getting close."

Ged took a few glances and found that the pheromones emitted by the blood were quite mixed. He commented: "There is more than one person's blood here. It seems that the ice giant has kidnapped many other 'hostages' along the way."

East nodded solemnly: "I only hope that they are really 'hostages', which means we still have a chance to rescue them."

"Besides, we have new troubles." A voice attracted everyone's attention. It was Cohen. A few steps away, he also made a new discovery.

There was also a huge footprint in front of the Griffin school demon hunter, but apart from the human blood mixed in it, several other much smaller footprints could be seen covering it.

These footprints did not wear boots, which is very unreasonable in such a freezing environment. What's even more unreasonable is that these few footprints seem to be missing a few toes, and the edges don't have the smooth arcs of normal feet, but instead protrude abnormally, as if... there are stones growing on the soles of the feet.

"Troll." Geralt said firmly, "If you live in this environment, you are an ice troll."

"Also." Ke En squatted down and looked at some tiny footprints around him, which looked like the soles of a half-grown boy, but the length of the toes was bent and twisted, "the carrion demon."

East squatted down and looked left and right. He was better at naval battles and was not familiar with such wild situations in the mountains.

"Can you tell how many they are? How far are they from us?"

Geralt said without hesitation, "It's very close, maybe we can meet it if we walk forward for a quarter of an hour."

As soon as the demon hunter finished speaking, there were hundreds of weapons on the mountain path making steel clanging sounds. Fortunately, there was wind in the mountains, which swept away the sounds and disappeared.

The soldiers who had been on alert at the same time entered the state of fighting.

"In terms of quantity...it's hard to say."

East hesitated: "Will there be such an overwhelming number like the Kraken before?"

Geralt shook his head: "The sea monsters have different habits. They are lairs formed by a large group of people, and it is convenient to gather in the sky. When this ice giant wandered around the surrounding islands, it might have killed the nearby islands. The sea monsters are all concentrated."

"The carrion demons don't have this mobility, and the terrain in the mountains also limits their large swarms. There may be a dozen of them, but no more than fifty at most."

Seeing Easter's slightly relieved expression, Geralt emphasized: "But the carrion monster is a monster that will explode and destroy the enemy, and the damage it will cause is several times that of other monsters. It is especially powerful in group battles. It is easy to cause unnecessary casualties."

Lann is not as good at tracking as other demon hunters, and has no ability to identify the monster's body through footprints for the time being. Just now, he has been with East and listened to the analysis of these old seniors.

At this moment, he asked aloud, "Then if we freeze them, can the explosion be mitigated?"

Geralt choked for a moment, remembering Lan's exaggerated [Alderfayin·Bone Biting] before.

"None of us have tried it before, you can try..."

...

Following these traces, an abandoned mine soon appeared ahead.

The mine is huge and deep, and the solid pine wood is made of wooden frames, which are fixed with rough hemp ropes to support the ceiling and side walls. Rusty iron picks and mineral waste were scattered nearby, and broken and weathered bones could be seen from time to time.

This used to be the mine of Todaloch, but now the resources here have been exhausted, so it has been abandoned. This is a good lair for monsters in the wild, but who is occupying it now.

The complex terrain is like a cobweb labyrinth, and oilcloth torches are hung on the rock walls on the side every few steps, and they can still be lit after so many years.

Cohen and Geralt rubbed out flames with [Igni Sign] and lit the torches one by one. For the demon hunters, a bottle of [Cat] is enough for them to be unimpeded in the dark environment, but if they are joined by Skellige's soldiers, light becomes a necessity.

However, this mine is not very long and narrow, and from time to time, the cold wind from the other side of the exit pours in, and soon it suddenly becomes clear, and the light far brighter than the torch makes everyone's vision clear.

At the same time, there was an expected rough voice coming from the source of the light.

...

"Meat! Meat!" Along with the dull footsteps, a dull voice seemed to be singing, "Soup! Soup!"

It was a huge figure about 2.5 meters tall, with broad shoulders and longer than it was tall, with a bulging belly like a pregnant woman, and a turtle-like armor on its back, making it hunched.

It's a troll, an ice troll.

Compared with the rock trolls Ran encountered in Kaer Morhen, the skin of these ice trolls was paler, and the rocks covered by the skin were covered with broken ice, exuding a billowing cold air, and their aura was stronger than that of simple and honest people. I don't know how many times the "Troll Demon" family is more hideous.

There are also more of them, there are five of them. At this moment, they are surrounded by a huge forging furnace, and they seem to use this container for smelting iron as a soup pot, setting up a big fire to stew something underneath.

There were so many things in the pot that the lid couldn't be closed, so it simply turned on and turned. From time to time, pieces of meat are splashed out by the boiling water, and at this time, there will be dancing trolls excitedly rushing forward to grab them and stuff them into their mouths.

"Little man! Little man!" the voice kept singing, "Broth! Broth!"

Jumping and jumping, the ice troll, whose head was a circle larger than that of its companions, suddenly stopped, showing melancholy eyes that its species shouldn't show.

"Little man, broth, can you not give it to the big man?"

As soon as these words came out, the dancing ice trolls all stopped, and their faces became sad.

A leader-like ice troll punched the head of the ice troll hard.

"Little man, it's given by the big man!" It reprimanded dully, "It's not from the Ice Demon. You can only drink soup, not meat!"

The ice trolls seemed to have selectively ignored the fact that they did not have the right to control food just now, and after being reminded at this time, they couldn't be happier anymore. He just waited around the edge of the forging furnace, waiting for a few pieces of meat to be splashed out by the boiling soup.

The place where they live is an important position in the intertwined mine, and there are four or five corridors connecting them. But at this moment, the nose of an ice troll viciously moved a few times, and it suddenly looked towards the widest corridor.

"Stinks, there are little people! More little people!"

The ice troll's eyes burst into light again, this time it was the hideousness that its race should have.

"Ice Demon, catch the villain yourself! Broth, make broth!"

In their hungry eyes, two demon hunters with amber cat eyes came out of the passage first, followed by Tursek soldiers in armor and full armor.

Then came several other witchers with twin swords, and then more Tursek soldiers.

more and more.

And the eyes of the ice trolls gradually changed from surprise, excitement, ferociousness, and hunger to dullness, doubts, panic, and even thinking.

...

Lan and East looked at the ice trolls and the boiling iron pot behind them expressionlessly, and they had just heard the words of the ice trolls exactly.

There is a strange aroma wafting wantonly from the iron pot, which is strange nuts, herbs, alcohol, and most importantly, meat. A variety of complex ingredients are mixed and boiled to create a subtle aroma and sock-like stench, which makes people want to vomit when mixed together.

With a sound of "grunt", the soup boiled, and a piece of meat was rushed out and smashed on the head of an ice troll. The opponent showed a dexterity that did not match its size, and caught the piece of meat from midair without looking back. , into the mouth.

And Lan En's face was even more ugly, because it was a toe.