The Divine Hunter

The hideous vodyanoy priestess didn’t realize that the two witchers had already freed themselves of her control. She lost herself completely as she chanted her vile incantations without pause.

The ancient vodyanoy with the crooked back danced with her bone staff in her hand as her lips opened and closed. She would jump on the ground, alternating between each foot, and the bone necklace on her neck and wrists rattled wildly. It was a bizarre, primal dance.

The altar was like a Venus flytrap letting out a sweet, tempting scent, while the knights were like the insects it was luring in. They were moving towards it slowly, with the speed of a snail, and there was still some distance between them and the altar.

Roy gave Letho a look and he took out a black, dark bomb from his inventory and gave it a good weigh.

“You bastard, dance in the burning flames!”

He threw it across the air. The Dancing Star arced through the air and fell right at the feet of the vodyanoy priestess. There was a clang and white smoke began to surround her.

Her chant stopped abruptly.

“Waarrrggh…” The priestess let out an angry shriek, and she was then consumed in a flash of brilliant light and fire.

The spot near the altar was instantly consumed by flames, and the booming sound of an explosion rang across the forest.

When the chant halted and he had caused such a huge commotion, the knights who were like puppets stopped in their tracks as they woke from their dreams. They opened their eyes in confusion, a dreamy expression remaining on their face.

It was as if they were still trying to remember their strange dreams.

At this time, a figure lit on fire let out a painful scream as it rushed out of the blaze, launching itself towards the witcher.

Roy calmly pulled the trigger. As the string from his crossbow hummed, several bolts instantly pierced through its skull.

Three seconds later, the burnt figure dropped at the feet of the witcher as it let out a charred smell.

“Vodyanoy Priestess killed. Experience points +100.”

Roy used another Igni to extinguish the flames, and then used his sword to flip the body over. He could clearly see the vodyanoy priestess’s head that was charred. It looked like the head of a catfish.

“What’s happening? Was I dreaming?” Princess Adda’s long eyes turned to look at the witcher with a blank expression.

“I clearly saw Julie just now,” a knight mumbled to himself. “But my Julie passed away after she gave birth to little Col. Our family was whole again…”

“My mother was resurrected, but she had already died from whooping cough. She even made my favorite chickpea soup…”

“My little Tom escaped from the slavers and was just crying to me…”

The knights mumbled to themselves, as if they didn’t want to leave their delusions.

“They’re all fake! Wake up, fools!” Letho roared as he booted the corpse of the vodyanoy, and it landed in front of them. “Look. This ugly thing is the one that charmed you with its magic.”

“It’s all over now, so stop living in your dreams!”

“They’re all fake? We’ve all fallen under its spell?”

Adda looked at the corpse of the vodyanoy in front of her with disbelief in her tone. “Even the most powerful mage in our court can’t charm so many people at once!”

“It should have something to do with the altar…” the witcher said with certainty. “The altar has some kind of unknown power that can empower the magic of its worshippers.”

“Even if it’s a lie, a dream…” A knight cut off his words with sorrow on his face. “If it can make me stay, I’m willing.”

“I remember very clearly! It’s not a dream,” a middle-aged knight with a bushy beard suddenly yelled. “It must have happened! It’s a god!” His eyes suddenly filled with fervor. “A god used its power to grant us our wish!”

At this moment, many of the troops nodded in agreement.

The witcher shook his head, knowing that there was no use in trying to convince them otherwise.

“Now that it has lost its only guardian, we can destroy the altar!”

The smoke from the explosion was clearing as the flames receded. The fleshy vines that were surrounding the shell of the altar were also cleared.

However, the altar itself remained completely unharmed. Without the cover of blood and flesh, they could clearly see a piece of greyish granite filled with strange symbols that looked like tadpoles climbing all over it.

The two of them walked towards the altar, and noticed that the middle of the altar was a black whole. It was about the size of a person and looked like a well.

Roy looked into the well curiously. Even with a witcher’s eyesight, he could only see pure darkness. He then hit the edge of the altar with Gwyhyr, and there was a clang as the blade clashed with the gravel of the altar.

When Letho saw it, his expression became grim.

“This thing is extremely tough. Alchemical bombs are useless against it. We need to use a large amount of explosives.”

***

“Destroy the altar?” Adda, who was behind Roy, was hesitant as she bit her lips. Her attitude had already changed, and she was not as convinced as before.

The moment she remembered that dream, her eyes began to get wet. It was a wish she hid deep within her, a dream that could never be realized. But because of that “dream” the witcher had mentioned, she managed to reach the top of the world. She possessed ultimate power, and she was more than happy with it.

Not to mention, the so-called dream was so real she couldn’t separate it from reality. It was not something that could be caused by taking herbs or some other psychedelic drugs.

“It was so perfect…”

Half of the forty or so knights also had the same thought, and they were more entranced than Adda.

Their most well-hidden dreams had been realized through the delusion.

But the witchers had stopped everything. They’d taken away their perfect world… Suddenly, a group of knights looked at the backs of the witchers with dark intent.

“What are you still bumbling about?!” Roy turned around and couldn’t help but yell out in fury when he saw that they were all unmoving.

The tall and large witcher stood by his side, fully alert.

“Some… Something’s wrong with Sir Kleist…” A knight suddenly pointed at the back of his companion and screamed in fear. “There’s something growing on his neck!”

“What?” Roy looked at the knight being accused and he was shocked at what he saw. The knight’s eyes were filled with blood as black fish scales grew from his neck and arms that were exposed.

Even his face was also slightly changing. His forehead was slumping as his eyes, mouth and chin began to extrude.

He wouldn’t be able to tell the difference without looking at him carefully.

But the most terrifying thing about this was the knight’s condition. He saw that the Weakness condition from him had completely disappeared. And what replaced it was another red-ed condition. “Transformed.”

Transformed: The mysterious magnetic field’s effect had reached its peak. After listening to the beguiling words of an Outer God’s devotee, your body and mind have warped.

Your Will is less than 6. You are officially transforming into a degenerate.

“Those who can still hear me, retreat now! Leave this damn place and this forest! Now! If you don’t want to die, do it now!”

“What’s happening, witcher?”

“He’s transforming into a monster!” Roy’s voice was shaking. “If we don’t leave now, none of us are going to survive this!”

The remaining knights who could still think straight were shocked by what he said and immediately retreated outwards. Meanwhile, Roy immediately carried Princess Adda on his shoulder and ran.

“She hasn’t transformed yet. We can still make it!”

On the other side, the bald man guarded their rear tightly as they withdrew back into the forest and began to make a mad dash out of there.

The remaining knights’ transformation continued as their eyes began to become numb. They stood quietly in front of the altar, and didn’t give chase at all.

They dropped their weapons and removed their armor. Then, as they lowered their heads, their naked bodies began to twitch as every joint and bone began to warp strangely.

The hair on their skin began to fall as scales appeared, and a brownish fishtail began to grow and burst through the skin and flesh at the end of their tailbone.

A dark reddish fish head began to grow from their neck. Their white eyes had completely lost all semblance of intelligence.

And from the well, black water began to surge out into the air. It began to extend and coil in the air before finally forming a large, shadowy figure.

It had no definite form as its black figure seemingly changed repeatedly like mist, but its round, red eyes were as terrifying as the abyss’s gaze.

Countless black threads shot out from the shadow and into the bodies of the transformed, connecting them all as one. Was it draining from them, or was it bestowing upon them?