The Witcher: Serpent School Witcher's Otherworldly Journey

As the Witcher leaped from the six-meter-high tree branch, his silver sword traced a crescent-shaped arc.

The old oak tree's branches shook violently the moment he pushed off, and a few withered leaves were shaken off, swirling and slowly drifting down in the twilight's backlight, falling along with the Witcher's blade.

The first water monster to sense danger had just raised its smooth, shiny forelimbs when the sword blade had already wedged itself into the gap between its gills and neck armor.

There is no feeling of stiffness or obstruction.

With a flick of his wrist, Kiliam severed the monster's carotid artery and trachea. Before the dark red blood could even spurt out, Kiliam used the corpse as a stepping stone, kicking it viciously at the three other monsters that pounced on his right.

The water ghost's corpse weighed nearly a hundred pounds, and along with the fragments that flew from its shattered bones, it crashed into the three monsters like an irregularly shaped catapult projectile. They were knocked back, their claws flailing wildly in the air, briefly losing their balance.

For the average person, this gap is only about half a breath long, so short that there isn't even time to blink.

But for a Witcher who has undergone the Trial of the Grasses and whose senses and reaction speed have been pushed beyond the limits of human capabilities, half a breath is enough to do a lot.

The second sword strike, delivered diagonally upwards, precisely severed the nerve bundles connecting the brains and spines of the two water demons.

The silver blade sliced ​​through the air in an almost straight line, entering below the first water ghost's collarbone, diagonally passing through its cervical spine, and exiting from the back of the second water ghost's head.

A single sword pierced through two bodies, precisely severing the nerve bundles connecting the brain and spine. This requires an extremely deep understanding of anatomy, knowing that there is a gap smaller than a fingernail between the third and fourth cervical vertebrae of a water ghost. Only by stabbing from a specific angle and with a specific force can the blade sever all nerve connections without touching the bone.

Their claws, still propelled by inertia, swung wildly forward, trying to tear apart the enemy before them. But the headless bodies had lost control, crashing to the ground and sliding several meters through the mud, leaving two deep furrows.

Kiliam slowly pulled his silver sword from the gap in the water monster's neck. Precisely hitting the softest part of the monster's body helps reduce wear and tear on the weapon, a necessary course for the Viper School witchers who are not in a good position.

"Hmm... there are about eight in this wave. Adding those that surfaced in the water... about twenty?" Kilyam quickly glanced around. "That makes sixty orens. Looks like we can still get some fresh datura root from the camp's herbalist, or maybe trade it for some dried meat."

He scanned the increasingly murky river surface; the enhanced vision from the mutation drug allowed him to see the menacing monster beneath the water.

The churning mud particles and the faint light reflected from the scales of the water monsters were clearly distinct in his eyes, as easy to distinguish as day and night. He counted at least twelve more underwater, some of them significantly larger than their kind, their scales covered with a thick layer of green algae, indicating they had been entrenched in this area for quite some time.

The enemy's stronghold is nearby; no wonder the military camp had a water problem.

The two water monsters on the left seemed to think that Kiliam was distracted in the battle. These cunning monsters suddenly accelerated, their webbed feet slamming violently on the ground, splashing up a cloud of foul-smelling mud in an attempt to obscure the Witcher's vision.

First, they blind their prey with mud, then pounce from multiple directions simultaneously, using their numerical advantage to drag the prey to the ground. This tactic of the water ghosts is almost always effective against ordinary travelers and lone soldiers.

Unfortunately, they chose the wrong target.

There was no time to feel sorry for the foolish water ghosts. Kiliam's pupils dilated rapidly, and the trajectory of the splashing mud splattered in dynamic vision was clearly visible.

Instead of retreating, he advanced, his silver sword slicing upwards in a cunning arc, precisely slicing open most of the neck of the lunging water demon. Putrid blood instantly filled its throat, emitting a strange "gurgling" sound.

Immediately afterwards, he turned slightly to the side, his upper body leaning back less than three inches. The second water ghost's claws swept past his nose less than a finger's width in front of him, the stench of the attack causing a few strands of his black hair to flutter backward.

With a flick of the sword tip, using the momentum of his sideways movement, he pierced the murky eye socket of the second water ghost.

"Pfft."

The sound of the blade piercing flesh was dull and nauseating. The water monster, its brain pierced, thrashed its head wildly, the blade churning inside its skull with a sickening, bone-grinding sound. Soon, as cerebrospinal fluid flowed out, it twitched a few times and then lay still.

Giliam frowned, somewhat annoyed that he had destroyed a water ghost's head, which would render the material ineffective for alchemy. It seemed he had spent too much time in the lab this time, and his skills had become less precise than before.

He figured he should finish this quickly... He didn't want the silver sword to suffer too much damage, otherwise the maintenance afterwards would cost a lot of money.

His figure suddenly shot up, the blade carrying his massive body like a wedge, forcefully plunging into the center of the water ghosts' arc formation. Coming from the Serpent School, he possessed agility no less than that of the Cat School, and in terms of strength and explosive power, the Serpent School's training system even emphasized instantaneous output in actual combat more than the Bear School, which was known for its brute force.

His nimble footwork propelled the silver sword into a tight, impenetrable spiral.

The sword light exploded like a ring of lightning among the water ghosts. The first slash severed the outstretched forelimbs of three water ghosts, the cuts so clean they looked as if they had been made with a guillotine. The water ghosts, now limbless, screamed and rolled backward, their gushing blood drawing horrifying arcs on the muddy ground. The second slash lowered the height by half a foot, the blade sweeping across the muddy surface, severing two water ghosts that couldn't jump in time at the knees. Their upper bodies fell to the ground, their lower bodies still in a running posture, sliding forward a few steps before collapsing.

He silently counted the distance in his mind.

Ten yards. The swarm of water ghosts began to contract in an arc formation, attempting to close in from both flanks.

Five yards. He could smell the stench of their secretions, a foul odor somewhere between rotting fish and marsh gas, so strong it was almost tangible.

Three yards. A fierce wind rose from the upper reaches of the Pontal River, carrying with it the smell of fish and the withered leaves of reeds.

At that moment, Kiriam abruptly sheathed his sword.

He spread his left hand's five fingers, then quickly bent his index and middle fingers, tucking his ring and little fingers into his palm, and pressing his thumb against the side of the second joint of his index finger. This gesture may seem meaningless to a layman, but in the Witcher's combat system, it is the most offensive of the five basic hand signs.

Igni.

The crackling sound of burning suddenly shattered the silence of dusk. The fragmented fire elemental magic was pushed outward in a semi-circle as if by an invisible hand, and when it landed on the water ghosts, it was instantly ignited as if it had encountered flammable kerosene.

The burning water ghosts at the front frantically rushed through the horde, igniting even more water ghosts that Igni hadn't touched. The flames made these hideous creatures look even more grotesque; their bodies were indistinguishable from real corpses, and their minds lacked intelligence, making the poison and the Axii sign, which targeted the mind, less effective.

However, in order to keep their bodies moist on land, these aquatic creatures secrete a highly flammable liquid on their skin, which can be easily ignited with just a simple igniter.

This is why witchers are better at hunting water ghosts than ordinary soldiers; they can use simple spells through signs, which are not very powerful but are effective.

The five water ghosts in the front row were ignited almost simultaneously, blue-white flames rising from their bodies and quickly spreading throughout them. They let out piercing screams, sounds unlike the howls of wild beasts, but more like the wails of people being subjected to extreme torture—sharp, desperate, and heart-wrenching.

The burning water ghosts rampaged through the horde, igniting even more of their kind that Igni hadn't directly touched. The flames spread like a plague through the horde, one after another, one after another. The water ghosts' bodies were indistinguishable from real corpses, and lacking intelligence, they instinctively huddled together in panic, resulting in even more individuals being set ablaze.

Although the Axii sign is not very effective against such low-intelligence creatures, fire is always impartial. It doesn't care about your intelligence or whether you have thick scales. It only cares about one thing: whether you have flammable material on you.

Therefore, Kiriam really liked using Igni to deal with the water ghosts.

It's definitely not that he's not good at using Yakshi...