The Witcher: Make Witcher Great Again

Chapter 81 Forest Encounter

A few days passed and the expected encounter did not happen.

The Aidalat River is not only calmer than other rivers in the northern part of the continent, it doesn't even have water ghosts.

But such calmness cannot erase the worries in the hearts of the demon hunters.

Sir Royce and the men who obeyed him also felt the oppressive calm before the storm.

The only ones who were happy were Tyrion, his caravan guards, and the bard who stared at the river and the forests on either side, trying to compose a poem about a battle on the river that didn't exist.

Although the Aidalat River belongs to both the Kingdom of Kailak and the Kingdom of Sidaris, there are almost no Sidaris merchant ships on the river.

This is not surprising, as Sidaris's caravans either traveled by land directly from the northern forests of Brokilon to the province of Velen in Temeria.

Or they could go across by sea.

Naturally, there was no need to compete with Kelak for the navigation rights of the Aidalat River.

After all, the Idalaat River's source is the barren forests of northern Brokilon.

When the barge finally stopped, nearly a week had passed since they set out from the city of Kelak.

Sir Royce was the first to disembark with his men and take up advantageous ground on land.

After confirming that there was no danger, the Golden Lion Caravan slowly disembarked.

Since the purpose of this trip was not to do business, the caravan did not carry any goods. All they brought were supplies necessary for survival in the wild.

In addition, considering the inconvenience of using horse-drawn carriages in the forest, the Golden Lion Caravan chose to use pack horses to carry the supplies needed by the team.

After everyone else had disembarked, Lynn, Triss, and Marillion, who was nervous but also a little curious, finally stepped onto land.

"Sir Royce, we will return to Kelak City now. I wish you all the best."

After the captain waved goodbye to Sir Royce, the barge returned in the direction it came from.

Sir Royce began to assign tasks.

He divided the 10 soldiers he brought with him into two teams.

He himself rode a tall horse, and walked at the front of the team with two attendants who were specially brought to take care of the horses and four soldiers as pioneers.

The remaining six soldiers walked at the back.

This way, Tyrion and his five caravan guards and one cook can be protected in the middle.

In addition, Lynn, Triss, and the bard Marillion went with Tyrion's caravan and were protected by the soldiers.

After the arrangements were made, Sir Royce looked at Lynn and said, "Demon Hunter, is there anything you would like to add?"

There was nothing wrong with Sir Royce's arrangement.

It was also common practice to place supply convoys and non-combatants at the center of the team.

Lin En nodded: "I have no objection, let's do it this way."

The team walked in the dark forest, where the twisted trees looked like desperate arms reaching towards the sky.

The sunlight was completely blocked by the dense forest.

The musty smell came from the forest, and the mud was constantly churning with rotting bubbles. The silted swamps were like traps waiting for prey to fall into them, and just looking at them made one's scalp tingle.

No one in the team spoke.

Even Marillion, who had been talking incessantly of his poetry all along the ship, fell silent.

One can even see that the poet regrets joining this journey.

The atmosphere was silent and depressing.

Suddenly, Lin En, who was walking in the middle of the team, shouted in a low voice.

"stop!"

The entire queue was not long, so even though the witcher's voice was not loud, Sir Royce and others walking in front heard it.

He asked the soldiers in front to stop and rode his horse to Lin En in the middle of the team.

"Demon Hunter, what's wrong?"

Not only Ser Royce, but Tyrion and his caravan guards also looked at Lynn in confusion. Lynn made a gesture for everyone to be quiet: "Did you hear that?"

When everyone heard this, they immediately listened attentively.

But they heard nothing.

"The forest is very quiet, there is no sound at all."

"Me too."

"Master Demon Hunter, could you have heard wrongly?"

The others spoke in low voices, one after another.

The witcher said to them, "It's good that you didn't hear anything. Don't you think it's a bit strange that there's not even the sound of insects or birds singing in such a large forest?"

Only then did everyone realize that something was unusual.

indeed.

Even in aristocratic gardens carefully tended by gardeners, there are sounds of insects chirping and birds singing.

But they had been in the forest for so long, but had not heard any sound at all.

It was so quiet that it was a little too eerie.

With a soft "pop" sound, the witcher bit off the cork of the high-level potion and poured a bottle of high-level thunder potion into his mouth.

Then there's the Greater Blizzard Potion, the Greater Patri's Elixir, and the Greater Tawny Owl Potion.

The "Mutation Enhancement" feat reduces the toxicity of potions.

Lin En, who could only drink three bottles of potion at most in the past, now still had some left after taking four bottles of advanced potions in a row.

However, the side effects of the potion also clearly appeared on his face, making his expression look ugly.

Everyone around subconsciously took a few steps back, moving a little further away from the witcher.

Lynn didn't care about their little actions and just said in a low voice.

"Get ready, they're coming."

"Array up!"

Sir Royce roared.

Ten soldiers ran over quickly, formed a circle, and thrust their shields into the soft earth.

Tyrion, one of his cooks, and five caravan guards hurriedly took crossbows and crossbow bolts from the packages carried by their horses.

Although they were not as skilled as Sir Royce's men, they had received some training in weapons.

It is still possible to serve as auxiliary troops to support Sir Royce's soldiers.

"Please, for the sake of Goddess Meliteli, give me a crossbow as well."

The bard Marillion wept bitterly.

But no one paid any attention to him.

A helpless burden is better than a burden with a crossbow in his hand.

Look at this guy shaking like a quail.

If he were given a weapon, he would have to worry not only about the front but also the back.

The air in the forest seemed dull and oppressive.

Everyone was so nervous that their palms were sweating and their hearts were beating wildly.

People don’t feel terrified only when horrible things appear before their eyes. When people know that something horrible is about to happen but it doesn’t happen for a long time, the oppression will also make them feel suffocated.

Fortunately, this long and agonizing wait did not last too long.

Finally, after waiting for a while, everyone heard the sound of something moving quickly through the woods, rubbing against leaves and branches.

(End of this chapter)