The Divine Hunter Chapter 10: The truth of history

All the noisy villagers dispersed.

The dilapidated Caer Siren has restored its former tranquility.

The soft sunlight illuminates a lone figure in the snow-colored courtyard.

Kelda put her hands behind her waist and turned her gaze to the snake sect demon hunter. Her face was expressionless, and her eyes were full of oppression and implicit blame.

"You shouldn't kill them, Roy, you are too impulsive." Kelda spoke first before the three asked questions.

"I gave them a chance!" Roy shook his head with a firm attitude, "I spared the lives of these two scum last time, but they still dare to come to the door without repentance and spit shit! Let them immediately and without pain. Dying is already my greatest mercy."

Roy's eyes shone and he said with admiration, "But I didn't expect that your Yaksi Seal was so powerful that it could hypnotize a group of people at the same time! And without the need to stare. This is the blessing of 'Roar', the Seal The power of 'Flapping Wings'?"

"Boy, no matter how powerful the power is, it should not be abused and used to harm human beings..."

"I don't think so..." Roy looked directly into his eyes, **** for tat, "Although they are human beings, they have broken the bottom line of personality. What is the difference between them and monsters?"

"It's normal for a witcher to kill monsters."

"But their action has failed. They are just unable to struggle. There is no need to be so desperate." Kelda shook his head, his eyes full of disappointment, "Obviously, you and the Griffin Faction pursue different ideas."

Roy's cheeks twitched.

Is this being brainwashed by the "forgiveness" in chivalry?

As a serious knight of the Lady of the Lake, he is not so rigid!

Witchers don't kill innocent people indiscriminately, he understands.

But if you ignore the situation, just let it go.

Then what is the use of this body of force?

As decoration and furnishings?

Roy was still standing on the land of Kelseren, his steps not moving at all.

But the body shape is slightly stiff.

"Teacher!" At the moment of the stalemate, Cohen took a deep breath, with a trace of hesitation on his face. There was awe in his tone, but more of a worry, "What happened just now?"

"Why..."

"Why...you have no shadow?"

……

A cold wind blew from the distant sea at the foot of the Dragon Mountain, blowing over the cliffs... Kelda's long gray-brown hair on the back of her head fluttered in the wind.

His thin figure seemed to fly away from the earth.

"Why, your hands, your face..." Cohen thought of the scene just now, chasing the villagers running around, after leaving Kel Siren.

The teacher's cheeks and the backs of his hands became pale and rotten, revealing horrific corpse spots.

To this day, you can still see some traces of being different from ordinary people.

"Are you injured? Or have you been cursed by an ogre?"

Igsena suddenly hugged the arm of the person next to her tightly.

She also saw that scene... She was still glad at first. Evil has its own consequences. Master Kelda solved this almost unsolvable problem without any effort.

But surprise turned to fear in an instant.

"I will tell you the answer later," Kelda said slowly, "but not now."

"Excuse me!"

"Master Kelda, do you have the heart to continue to deceive your poor disciple?" Roy suddenly shook his head, "You will never tell him the truth!"

What he saw in the past two days passed through Roy's mind like a tide.

Kelda and Vesemir were born in the same era. The latter was three hundred years old, but he was only one hundred and ninety-three years old according to Roy's observation.

A hundred years ago, there was a terrible avalanche in Kelseren... There were very few survivors.

Kelda had no shadow in the sun, and showed the body spots and decay like the dead.

After all the information converged, he had a vague guess in his mind, but he still lacked some key information.

"Master Kelda, you should look in the mirror. I have seen this expression on the face of my teacher Leisuo." Roy said movedly, "Then he quietly endured the fatal danger. ."

The heterochromatic iris turned to Cohen. The young Griffin sect apprentice quietly tensed his face and clenched his fists tightly.

Kelda stood silently in the yard.

"That's what you're going to do, deal with the crisis alone without saying a word to your disciples."

Roy stared at his much older pale cheeks,

"But are you sure you can handle this challenge?"

"I think the older you get, the more open-minded you are. Why don't you tell your troubles frankly?"

"Cohen can take care of your worries."

"I am also willing to help you."

Roy said sincerely, "Although I am just a rookie who has just stepped into the path of a demon hunter, an insignificant bystander with extremely limited abilities...but I am not alone."

"I'm not alone!"

He emphasized his tone.

"Behind me stands eleven brothers of the Witcher Brotherhood, a warlock."

"Although you are extremely pedantic!"

"But as a fellow human being, I agree with some of your views." Roy emphasized, "If you need it, just ask and I will be happy to help."

"If you feel bad about it, you can even treat this as a commission."

"As for the reward...it's up to you."

Old Kelda's expression changed momentarily.

Standing for a long time, he sighed, and the sun illuminated the desolation and helplessness on his face.

"Come in, everyone..."

……

It’s still the same house as yesterday.

The four people sat around the dark dining table.

The entrance to the basement is engraved with a sealing circle.

The fire in the fireplace illuminated old Kelda's dark and light face.

He told a story in a dull and hoarse voice.

There is a little difference between the big avalanche in Caer Siren and the story Roy heard from Cohen.

But the distance between this point is the distance between life and death.

"A hundred years ago, a mage who coveted the academy's magical knowledge used the church's accusations on the demon hunters to trigger a massive avalanche that destroyed the world on a winter night."

"The entire Caer Siren was completely submerged by a terrible avalanche."

"All the witchers in the castle were killed."

"You survived!" Cohen interjected nervously.

Kelda glanced at his disciple, with a smile of relief on his face, but he coldly put an end to his life. "No, I'm dead too!"

"How is it possible? I don't believe it! I have lived with you for forty years, and your schedule is consistent with that of a normal person." Cohen stood up with a look of disbelief on his face and grabbed Kelda's hand. You can also feel your body temperature.

"You are obviously still alive!"

And Igesena held his hand, with some unbearable expression on her face, and shook her head at him.

Kelda cracked the corner of her mouth and showed a wry smile, "I had this illusion at first, that I was still alive - I was lucky enough to survive in the lowest room of the castle, along a path of thick snow. The natural narrow passages in between passed through one body after another, embedded in the ceiling, walls, or half arms protruding from the snow, the corpses of compatriots who died of suffocation."

"Climbed to the ground."

"But in fact." He suddenly choked up, his eyes empty, "I crawled out of the tomb in the back mountain, and I saw sixty-six grave bags and tombstones. Kelda was written in front of me."

Cohen sat down slumped, with a dull look on his face.

Roy remained silent, his pupils as wide as almonds.

He guessed this ending.

So a hundred years have passed, and Kelda's age is still at one hundred and ninety-three, which is far inferior to Vesemir at the same time.

He imagined it.

Climbing out of the snow, I saw my own tombstone and a bunch of brothers' graves. Homes completely flooded.

How cruel and desperate.

What mysterious power helped Kelda stay in the world as a living person for a hundred years?

"Cohen, I'm sorry, the teacher lied to you..." Kelda changed her tone and said guiltily, "The Grand Master of Elam has implemented the way of knights deep into his soul."

"The knight will never abandon his comrades and leave me alone to guard the dilapidated fortress."

"In fact, on the night of the avalanche, he was the only one who survived by observing the stars outside the castle. He dug out the bodies of all his comrades from the snow and buried them in the back mountain. Then he left Kelseren."

"I completely understand his decision - his efforts still cannot save the world's ill will towards the witcher, and its faith has collapsed."

"And from that day on, he lost all his comrades in the Griffin faction and became alone."

"Under a double blow, he left Caer Siren heartbroken."

Roy sighed.

His impression of Elan changed slightly.

Witnessing the destruction of a home that had been maintained for hundreds of years, and the transformation of brothers and sisters into cold corpses, the concept they had always adhered to was completely shattered.

What else can be done?

Kelda stared at the dancing flames in the fireplace, memory and gratitude flashed in her amber pupils,

"Before the Grand Master of Elam left, he left behind a letter describing his mental journey and the "Demon Hunting Notes" recording all his knowledge. Buried in the grave of me, this useless student."

"And it was this "Demon Hunting Notebook" that changed everything."

……

Kelda said softly in an erratic tone,

"A series of very accidental circumstances collided... I can't explain the specific reasons - this magical place from ancient times."

"That huge natural disaster."

"Sixty-five dead."

"Fifteen Dharma Sources."

"Everyone's strong unwillingness..."

"Driving by various factors, the "Demon Hunting Notes" buried in the soil quietly mutated."

The old man's eyes passed over the locked basement door, with a complex expression on his face, mixed with love and hate. "It has life and weird magic power."

"It chose me...and I escaped the purgatory of death."

"Wait a minute..." Roy rubbed his temples, "Are you sure it was a book that saved you?"

Kelda nodded.

Igsena's eyelids twitched, as if she had heard a horror story.

Cohen shook his head in disbelief, "You are referring to the "Demon Hunting Notes" that I once read, which records all the knowledge of the school: seals, swordsmanship, alchemical potions, spells, and the secrets of the Griffin Sect? ”

"To be precise, the book cover says "dhusaovmorc", which translated from the ancient language is "The Book of Shadows"..." Kelda sighed, "I have reached some kind of contract with the "Book of Shadows" , an indescribable bond was created between us... It used this natural magical place under my feet to awaken me."

"At the beginning of my resurrection, everything was normal for me." There was a trace of irrepressible joy in Kelda's tone,

"I also got a magical notebook - "The Book of Shadows" has an incredible ability. I don't need to write it myself. All the knowledge in my mind, the knowledge I am learning, and even my life experience are all included. It will be automatically recorded in the book."

"There are endless blank pages in the book. When one page is filled, a new page will appear. It is more convenient and worry-free than the warlock's transcribing technique."

"The only reason for its existence is to pursue knowledge."

Roy's eyes were filled with amazement. He patted the restless Golfin in his hood on the back of his head and almost couldn't help but whistle, "This is simply the treasure that all scholars dream of."

Kelda nodded, "And I love dreaming, and I love reading more than dancing with a sword."

"The Book of Shadows and I are a perfect match!"

Roy suddenly realized that it was for this reason that old Kelda became one of the sixty-six.

Kelda finally showed a smile on her face. The smile quickly faded and her expression became more depressed.

"I thought this "Book of Shadows" was a gift from fate. In the first two years of my resurrection, I was immersed in the ocean of knowledge."

"Later, I set off again, leaving Kelseren and going to the outside world to experience and search for traces of Lord Elan, so that I could record more knowledge."

Keen's cheek muscles trembled and his lips moved, wanting to ask something.

Kelda interrupted,

"My student, as you can see, for the first eighty years or so, I entered and exited Caer Siren without any hindrance. No matter how far away I was, I never had any negative symptoms."

"But the "Book of Shadows" cannot leave the castle. There is some kind of inseparable connection between it and Kael Siren."

"What if you have to take it away?" Roy asked.

"It will disappear from the arms and return to this land." Kelda paused and continued,

"My daily life is no different from that of a normal demon hunter... I picked you up in a countryside in Kevir during a trip."

Old Kelda looked at the student, warmth appeared on his face, and his tone became softer, "You were only seven years old at that time, a skinny little kid, suffering from smallpox, with multiple suppurations on your skin... You were rejected by your poor parents. Abandon."

"I brought you back to Caer Siren, cured your illness, and spent several years training you to become a Griffin sect demon hunter."

Cohen hissed excitedly, his eyes red.

Roy was filled with emotion when he saw this.

The connection established through life-saving grace is no less than the law of accident, right?

"Everything was fine before that, but it was almost the eighty-fifth year after my resurrection." Kelda shook her head, "All kinds of sequelae broke out - no matter how bright the sky or the blazing red sun, they couldn't shine My shadow...I lost it forever."

"So in order not to expose my flaws, I don't dare to appear in the sun again, and the sequelae will not stop there," Kelda said. "Once I leave the magical place of Kel Siren, I will immediately appear like a corpse. The skin began to fall off, and the body exuded a putrid odor that hit your nose. The longer you left it, the more obvious the abnormality became."

"This has caused great trouble to me." The old man grinned and laughed at himself, "In the past ten years, whenever I go to other places, I have to put on that thick cloak - soaked in for many years The cloak is made of wood oil and the dust of the journey and the grease of food to cover the skin and smell. Otherwise, people will regard it as a ghoul or evil spirit."

"But the symptoms gradually worsened." Kelda showed deep helplessness on her face,

"Not only my body, I started to lose my mind. To this day, if I leave this magical place for more than ten minutes, I will lose my mind, turn into a walking zombie, and return to this fortress in a daze."

"Hiss..." Roy gasped. If from the beginning, "Book of Shadows" gave him the impression of being a partner on an equal footing with Kelda.

So now, he is a master who abuses his slaves!

"No wonder..." Cohen's face was gloomy and his voice was hoarse. "I haven't seen you leave that hillside or bask in the sun in the past ten years."

"You are always in your room, under the eaves, at that desk, studying documents every day until late at night."

“It’s all because of the Book of Shadows!”

Cohen hammered the table with his fist and sounded remorseful.

In recent years, he has spent most of his time away from home, rarely coming back to visit his teacher.

He ignored the teacher's various anomalies and ridiculously regarded them as a habit.

"My silly apprentice! Men must have the courage to take responsibility, but don't be a scapegoat. This has nothing to do with you," Kelda patted him on the shoulder, "This is my choice."

"It longs for endless knowledge, and I also love knowledge...I thought we were the most tacit partners...joining hands to enter the secret passage of knowledge." The old man sighed heavily and took a book from the bookshelf at random. "But after yesterday, I suddenly understood that this was just my wishful thinking."

"That magical book only treats me as a tool to gain knowledge..."

He suddenly fell silent and opened the book.

"And tools have a service life." Roy glanced at Cohen, who was tense,

"The sudden attack last night was exactly when it was choosing its next target." Kelda stared at Roy and continued, "The boy who always talks about the Brotherhood, obviously you have something that makes " Book of Shadows "The quality of desire."

"It even moved it more than my old friend Vesemir, who has lived for three hundred years."

"So, it chose you instead of my disciple Cohen."

"Beat you, occupy you, control you, and then recreate a tool."

"Sunlight weakens the shadow, so it acts at night. The operation failed last night, so it will continue after the sun sets tonight!"

A trace of surprise flashed across Roy's heterochromatic irises. ~IndoMTL.com~ Could it be that "Book of Shadows" senses my unusualness?

How can a mere book want to enslave me? !

"Teacher..." Cohen was puzzled, "But why can it mobilize the long-dead seniors of the Griffin Faction?"

"Why is it?"

"Thanks to Roy, I discovered this secret! In fact, I should have realized the problem a long time ago. The "Book of Shadows" is full of life journeys of the Griffin sect members," Kelda said with fire in her eyes. "Because of the compatriots who died in that big avalanche!"

"It has imprisoned their souls!"

"Their knowledge and memories were also greedily and completely grabbed by it!"

"From today on, it is already my enemy!" Kelda turned his eyes to the sealed basement with a complex expression. His eyes were full of gratitude and hatred, "I want to find a safe way to destroy " "Book of Shadows" and rescued more than sixty old guys!"