Chapter 24: Lynn Joins the Hunt
As the monster had now been identified, the two Witchers did not waste any time and set to work immediately.
Witchers were not just swordsmen.
They were called monster slayers because, apart from swordsmanship and signs, they also had other ways of dealing with monsters.
Grave hags, first of all, were carrion-eating monsters.
Therefore, applying a coat of necrophage oil to the sword would be extremely useful.
Second, most carrion-feeding creatures feared fire.
Grave hags were no exception.
Thereafter, strengthening sign potions would be of huge use.
Such as Petri's Philter and Tawny Owl.
The former might augment the effectiveness of signs.
The latter could really increase the restoration rate of vitality and magic, which would hugely enhance Witchers' sign-casting stamina in prolonged spells.
Of course, some Swallow potions had to be prepared as well, no matter what happened.
In battle, a seemingly inconspicuous Swallow potion might be the difference between life and death.
Reflecting on this, Lynn couldn't help but imagine a Griffin School Witcher in the future. If someone had given a Swallow potion to him when he was close to death, he might have survived.
As a seasoned Witcher, Geralt had already prepared ingredients for these commonly used potions and kept them stored in his pouch of alchemy.
Lynn, on the other hand, volunteered to prepare sword oil and potions.
It was morning when everything was ready.
The two met the village elder together.
"We are ready, where is the cemetery?"
The elder asked Roy to take Lynn and Geralt along.
Half an hour later, the three finally arrived at the cemetery, which was near the village.
The chaotic and desolate scene of the cemetery lay before them:
The cemetery grave stones were overturned or crushed.
There were broken stones scattered on the flattened grass.
There was dried blood all over the cemetery.
There were numerous footprints in different sizes and shapes on the ground, but not a hint of the monster.
At that moment, Lynn heard Roy, their captain, make a bewildered noise.
"Smith, Sangji, Troy, their bodies disappeared! What is going on?"
Lynn took a look around and soon found a clue.
He indicated some newly dug graves with no gravestones in the cemetery.
"Does that beast bury the dead?" Roy did not believe it.
"No, you are wrong," Geralt shook his head. "It buries humans because it prefers to eat foul-smelling corpses."
In an instant, Roy's face turned white, he grasped the cemetery wall and vomited.
Lynn and Geralt were normal.
There was no uncomfortable reaction.
The two ignored Roy, who almost vomited out his midnight snack, and observed the scene in the cemetery with vigilance.
Lynn looked at the illegal building in the bottom of the cemetery, which was constructed of wood.
"I sense it, the monster should be hiding in the gravedigger's hut."
He looked up at the black sky: "There is no sun to make it weak, but it is better to fight it in the daytime than at night."
On the other side, Roy finally had nothing to vomit.
But his face was still very bad.
The whole man was crumbling, as if a gust of wind would knock him over.
He stuttered: "Two Witcher masters, I... I do not believe I can help much. Staying here will just be a hold-up for the two of you masters."
"You go back to the village first and make your village elder prepare the gold. We shall come back to call on you with the head of the monster afterwards."
Observing Roy running towards the village as if he was amnestied, hoping his parents had granted him two legs.
Lynn and Geralt produced the sword oil and potions prepared in advance.
They applied the necrophage oil evenly on the silver sword, and then consumed Petri's Philter and Tawny Owl in turn.
The moment the strong effects of the potions set in, both pulled out their silver swords and noiselessly circled the gravedigger's hut on both sides.
Upon arriving at the gravedigger's hut, it was a simple confirmation by their Witcher senses that the beast was actually within the hut.
Lynn and Geralt exchanged glances.
Geralt moved around the back of the gravedigger's hut and vomited bellowing flames from his hand.
The Igni sign of normal Witchers had quite limited power, but Geralt was not normal Witchers. The time he spent at the Trial of the Grasses was considerably longer compared to common Witchers, and consequently, the mutation enhancement he received was also greater than that of common Wolf School Witchers.
His sign ability was comparable to the Griffin School.
The raging fire climbed up onto the wooden hut walls, and soon enough, set fire to the wood-made hut.
Lynn came to the front door of the hut and slapped the ground.
He set an Yrden trap.
Before long, the fire on the hut became bigger and bigger.
Fire was a horror rooted deep within the bones of most carrion-eaters.
Grave hags were not an exception.
The hut door was kicked open.
A deformed and terrifying monster in a ghastly shape fled in a state of panic.
But as soon as it just walked over onto the territory of the Yrden sign, three mountains smashed it down.
The body fell behind right away.
Lynn exploited the moment, raised the silver sword in both hands, and slashed at the back of the grave hag.
There was silver light.
A deep, bone-deep wound was left on the deformed body of the grave hag.
Dealing with such creatures that came into this world through the Conjunction of the Spheres, silver not only became their enemy, but an equivalent amount of necrophage oil evenly spread on the silver sword poisoned them even more.
The graveyard crone let out a blood-curdling scream.
By habit, it had reverted to whatever it had reached for.
The Yrden symbol, however, greatly limited its speed.
With the "Full Enhancement" skill, Lynn evaded the grave hag's counterattack with an easy backflip.
He then moved forward again and swung his silver sword, leaving another bloody wound on the grave hag.
The grave hag shrieked time and time again.
It fought fiercely one after another.
Clang clang clang clang—
Lynn realized that the grave hag's powerful combo was actually to escape the range of the Yrden sign.
He also realized that if the Yrden sign failed to impede the speed of the grave hag, the difficulty of this encounter would increase by over a level.
So, he did not dodge this time, but used his faster speed relative to the slowed grave hag to parry each claw strike of the creature.
And then he seized the moment and pushed out the waiting Igni sign in his left hand, and the flames burning engulfed the grave hag's body whose face was also still fierce.
The fierce face instantly transformed into surprise, then terror.
The grave hag's body was like the best firewood, and the flames engulfed it in an instant.
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