A fantastical journey across the heavens, beginning with the Witcher.

The trolls' songs echoed in his ears. Li De sat beside Ymir, holding a bowl of hot soup, and chatted idly about the situation outside.

"The Nilfgaardians will not be satisfied with just conquering Sintra. Soden and Brug will become their targets sooner or later, and then they will probably disturb your peace."

He did not persuade the trolls to move.

After all, given Nilfgaard's current strength, the so-called "disturbance" is nothing more than breaking the peaceful tranquility of the troll family and affecting their hunting and foraging.

To truly pose a threat to them... unless Emhyr abandons his northern expedition and gathers all his forces here, along with ten or eight warlocks, there's no possibility of annihilating the Troll House.

Yumir had other things on his mind than Nilfgaard.

"The Nivergards are a minor problem. Our territories don't overlap, so there won't be any direct conflict. What's more, an uninvited guest has recently arrived in the woods. Otherwise, I wouldn't have sent Gege and the others out on guard duty. Right now is the golden age for the little guys to learn their craft."

Li De's gaze narrowed slightly. He was about to ask what kind of uninvited guest could make the usually composed Yumir so concerned.

Just as the words were about to leave his mouth, everything around him suddenly froze in an eerie stillness.

The burning campfire stopped the moment sparks flew, the trolls' song abruptly ceased, and even the aroma of meat wafting in the air froze, no longer dissipating.

The whole world seemed to have been put on pause, with only Li De still able to move freely. He slowly raised his eyes, his tone full of helplessness.

"It really is like a persistent ghost."

No one noticed when Günter Odim appeared; he simply stood quietly by the campfire, as if he had been there all along, just waiting for a moment when he would be remembered.

The guy took out a bowl and spoon, walked over to the iron pot without any hesitation, filled himself a full bowl with meat soup, and even picked out a piece of venison with tendons.

"That's too cold-blooded, Li De."

Odim scooped up a spoonful of hot soup, brought it to his lips, and deliberately adopted an affected, pretentious voice.

"So many people died in Sintra. If you had just summoned me, they could have all survived. Yet you watched them die. You are heartless."

Li De remained unmoved: "Summoning you will save them? How? Is letting their souls live inside your belly considered saving people?"

"Oh, those are just little games played with regular customers."

Odim chewed on the venison and mumbled indistinctly.

"You're my VIP client, so of course you get special treatment. Directly interfering in the battle of destiny is indeed troublesome, but slightly shifting the thread of fate to change the time and place of a meteorite that was supposed to fall somewhere else in six months, so that it happens to hit the Nilfgaardian camp, is still a piece of cake."

"It seems I overestimated your kindness and wasted the stage I specially arranged for you."

He shook his head, feigning regret.

"I'm really sorry."

Li De smiled, but his eyes were icy cold as he said, word by word, "If I have the chance, I will definitely put on a good show for you."

"It's obvious you've misunderstood me again."

After finishing the last sip of soup, Odim casually tossed the bowl into the air, where it remained frozen motionless.

"I didn't start the war. I just tampered with your teleportation point. Getting involved with the Daughter of Destiny will make your future even more exciting."

As he spoke, he first glanced at Ciri, who was drinking soup next to Geda, and then at Geda, who was grinning foolishly.

A wicked glint flashed in those eerie eyes, and then, gripping the wooden handle of the spoon, he slowly stabbed it towards the bumpy eyeball.

The silly troll was still in the position of drinking soup, the oil droplets on the corners of his mouth glistening in the firelight, completely unaware that the shadow of death was approaching.

"If you dare touch him, I'll strangle you with my intestines."

Li De's voice suddenly turned cold, and his hand was already on the silver sword "Goldwell" at his waist, his golden cat eyes filled with chilling killing intent.

If anyone else had threatened him like that, Odim would have just pretended to be trembling and said with a smile, "I'm really scared," before subtly luring the other person into making a move.

But since these words came from Li De, he immediately stopped, the wooden spoon hovering less than a foot away from the bump's eyeball.

Of course, Odim knew that doing this would anger Li De. He just wanted to test whether the person in front of him still had his own bottom line and obsessions as before.

It seems that things are still the same now.

He smoothly retrieved the soup ladle and then tucked the soup bowl, which was floating in mid-air, back into his bag.

"It was just a little joke, how could I bear to hurt such a cute little thing?"

"Honestly, I still prefer negotiating with those greedy guys. Just throw them a handful of 'gold,' and they'll agree without hesitation, even if it means giving up their own sons. Unlike you, you're completely impervious to reason."

Seeing that Li De remained expressionless and silent, Odim wisely took his leave.

"Let's talk again next time, Li De. The more complicated your fate becomes, the more entangled you will be with, and sooner or later you'll come begging to me for help."

The moment Odim disappeared, the frozen world suddenly resumed its operation.

The campfire continued to burn, the trolls' songs rose again, and Dun Dun chewed on his meat, making satisfied humming noises.

Ymir raised his hand and rubbed his temples, a look of confusion on his face.

"It's strange. Nothing happened, but I have a feeling that something dangerous was here just now. That sense of oppression is so uncomfortable."

"What danger could there be?"

Li De smiled and changed the subject, deliberately avoiding the topic of the Master Mirror.

Without rules to restrict it, this demon is practically invincible.

As long as he leaves this place, Odim won't bother the trolls, so there's no need to say it out loud and make Ymir worry unnecessarily.

"Perhaps it's because seeing so many competitive eaters makes them worry they can't afford to feed them, that's why they have this illusion?"

"Perhaps."

Watching the trolls enjoying themselves as a family, Ymir quickly dismissed the inexplicable sense of danger as a figment of his imagination.

"Let's get back to that uninvited guest."

Li De changed the subject, "If it's a minor problem, I'll help you solve it."

"It was a horned demon that suddenly broke into our territory and attacked Hanhan. If Londo hadn't been there and intervened in time, Hanhan would have been captured!"

Speaking of the uninvited guest, Yumir's tone became more hateful: "That thing was too fast, it appeared and disappeared like a ghost, I couldn't catch it, otherwise I would have twisted its head off and hung it at the cave entrance as an ornament!"

"The Ram-Horned Demon..."

Li De repeated in a low voice, "A very rare monster. Leave it to me."

Aren't you in a hurry to get going?

"It doesn't matter if it takes a little time. I happen to know a few tricks for dealing with horned demons."

After quickly finishing a bowl of meat soup, Li De stood up and said, "If things go smoothly, you'll be able to see its head in an hour."

Yumir did not refuse.

That's the troll's philosophy: there's no need for polite formalities or refusals between friends.

Since Li De was willing to help, she accepted it without hesitation.

Similarly, if Li De needed her, she wouldn't refuse, even if it meant leading her people to attack the Nilfgaardian army.

"Let Lund accompany you; it'll be safer with his help."

"No, let Hanhan accompany me. Londo's aura is too obvious; that monster shouldn't dare to show itself."

……

Ten minutes later, Hanhan, holding the soup bowl, kept glancing at the campfire and the big pot outside the cave, reluctantly taking his steps.

"Li De, where are you going? Hanhan wants to go eat."

"Remember that monster that attacked you before? Let's go get revenge."

"monster?"

After a moment of dazedness, Hanhan realized who Li De was talking about, instantly forgetting about eating and throwing the ceramic bowl on the ground.

"Smash those bad things! Get revenge!"

The slogan is concise and powerful, and the attitude is very clear.

In a fit of anger, Hanhan threw down the bowl, then scratched his head, a look of confusion on his face.

"Where to seek revenge? Silly doesn't know... where it lives."

"It will come to us on its own."

After walking a sufficient distance, Li De took out a bottle of medicine and sprinkled it around.

He made this using materials from the troll's house warehouse, specifically to attract horned demons.

The principle is simple: the potion emits a smell that the horned demon hates the most.

Other creatures would instinctively avoid an unpleasant smell, just like a person smelling feces would cover their nose and walk around it, rather than stepping on it to see if it's runny or thick.

But the ram-horned demon is different.

Of all the monsters belonging to the category of debris, this thing is the most unintelligent and has the worst temper. Once it smells something it dislikes, it will destroy it before it will stop.