Chapter 169 A Pit from Fifteen Years Ago

"Rumble~"

The ground shook and a mountain stood up.

This cave chamber is tall and large, and it is estimated that the top is at least fifteen meters from the ground. However, such a large space appears very narrow against the backdrop of this "mountain".

On the "mountain" facing away from them, the lava that was baptized by flames had not yet extinguished and was slowly flowing down from the top. From a distance, it looked like an active volcano that had just erupted.

At the same time, a violent aura instantly filled the entire cave chamber as the ground vibrated.

In an instant.

Aelin and Francesca's breathing suddenly stopped and their bodies began to tremble uncontrollably.

He swallowed instinctively, took a deep breath to dispel the uncontrollable fear brought by the aura of magic, and then looked carefully at the behemoth in front of him.

He has seen quite a few large monsters.

The Water Ghost King, the Cyclops, the Giant Swamp Woman, but none of them could match the size of the monster in front of him.

Its huge size and hard rock shell made Francesca's baptism of fire seem like a splash of warm bath water.

Not a single ounce of harm.

Looking at the way it shakes its head, it looks more like a bear that has just been woken up from hibernation and is in a bad mood.

The deterrent effect is maximized.

"Boom~"

"Guru Guru~"

Under Francesca's strange gaze, Ailin skillfully took out the cat's eye potion and drank it in one gulp.

Then bend your thumb and index finger slightly, draw a triangle and cast a Quen on yourself.

then……

"Qiang!"

The silver sword is unsheathed!

"Hunter... Demon Hunter... You don't want to fight with this kind of monster, do you?" Francesca's surprised voice came from behind.

Aelin frowned.

Is this a question he wants to ask or not?

The trail of black magic passes through the passage next to this monster.

There was no way they could avoid the massive monsters that blocked their path!

Returning along the original route, they found a large group of well-prepared elite human soldiers and even the king's personal guards waiting for them...

In comparison, large monsters are easier to deal with.

Aelin glared at Francesca.

Reckless elf!
You have caused me so much trouble!
If you weren't the "Princess" of the Elf Tribe, you would still need your portal to rescue the target...

"The road is right next to the monster, there's no way to avoid it."

Francesca bowed her head in shame after hearing this. She knew she had caused another disaster: "I'm sorry, I..."

Ailin's eyebrows were almost twisted together, and he interrupted impatiently:

"Do you have any spells like teleportation or invisibility that can help us avoid this monster?"

There is only one large monster in the cave, so you can definitely defeat it using the [Monster Hunting] skill.

Even if the LV3 demon hunting state is not enough, he still has two special skill points to upgrade, and the 310-point physical strength limit is enough.

However, it was too dangerous to face a large unfamiliar monster when the incident happened suddenly, without sufficient preparation and no way to retreat.

His mission is to save people, so it would be best if he could get through without fighting.

"Of course!" Francesca didn't raise her head, her azure eyes trembling slightly, "It's just..."

"Roar!"

Another roar.

Amid the wailing sound of the shaking ground, the rock mountain slowly turned around.

The monster is about to discover them!

"Just what?" Ailin growled as he clenched the silver sword in his hand.

However, before Francesca could answer.

The accident happened again!
"Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!"...

Suddenly, roars one after another sounded in the cave.

In the cave that was almost as big as two football fields in his previous life, the piles of rocks that Ailin once thought were ordinary stones suddenly stood up trembling after a loud roar.

Dust and rubble were shaken off, and smoke filled the air. At the same time, the aura of favor from large monsters rose and fell, complementing each other.

This this……

These piles of stones are actually alive!

The demon hunter involuntarily put down his sword slowly. The heavy weight of concern was pressing on his heart, as if at this moment, his beating flesh and blood sank into the bottomless abyss.

Also oppressing him was the uncontrollable fear in his heart.

So many monsters.

【Demon Hunting】Useless!
He turned his head stiffly and looked at Francesca, who was equally stiff.

Although he had sensed the ominous tone in Daisy of the Valley's voice, he still asked again with a glimmer of hope:

"Just what?"

"You have seen the current situation. If you continue to hide it, you will end up dead."

Francesca's body softened when she heard this. She shook her head tremblingly, as if she was about to cry:

"I...I didn't intend to hide it...it's just..."

“It’s just…it’s just that when I used the baptism of fire just now…I consumed a lot of my mental energy…so…so…”

Before Francesca finished her words, the witcher felt that he could no longer feel the beating of his heart.

It was as if my heart was so frightened that it forgot how to beat.

Is this reckless elf really the future elf queen?

Is she really the "Daisy of the Valley" who is able to plan and support the "Kingdom of Infertile Elders" under the pressure of the Nilfgaard Empire?
How could she be so stupid when she was young?
and.

How did she manage to walk into that heavily guarded camp outside alive?

Are those guards stupid or blind?
Even though he needed help, Ailin couldn't pretend to be happy at this moment. He asked with a cold face and suppressed his anger:

"What method? How long does it take to recover mental strength?"

"Short-distance teleportation... five minutes..." The noisy roar forced Francesca to raise her voice.

Ailin took a deep breath after hearing this.

There was no point in complaining about the elves' faults at this time, and it was he who had suggested the idea of ​​understanding each other's methods.

In the final analysis, it can only be said that Francesca and his luck were just too bad. After all, who would have thought that a piece of rock in the cave would actually be a large monster?
Otherwise, the five minutes of response time can be spent by continuing on the journey or just walking.

Therefore, what he had to do now was to find a way to survive these five minutes.

Ailin calmed down and his brain started working quickly.

"Perhaps we can retreat first and wait for Francesca to recover her mental strength?"

Thinking of this, Ailin's eyes suddenly lit up. Without saying a word, he pulled Francesca and ran back the way he came.

However, he only ran five steps before slowly stopping due to inertia.

"It's over!"

The sweet voice, like a spring dripping in an empty valley, reveals a deep despair.

In the vision of Ailin's cat's eye potion, the stone slope at the front of the survival path, and the furry feeling unique to observing still life by the potion suddenly became sharp.

As the ground shook, the "stone slope" shook off the gravel and dust on its body, and stood up like all the other stone piles that had once been there.

The demon hunters and elves had no way to retreat or escape.

They were surrounded by monsters.

Desperate situation has arrived!

……

"What should we do, Aelin? What should we do?"

Francesca slumped against Aelin and screamed in terror.

In this desperate situation, Ailin was much calmer at this moment.

after all.

This was not the first time he had faced a life-and-death crisis.

The Water Ghost King, the Mountain Trial, the Swamp Witch, the Demon Spirit... These experiences told him that the only way to survive from death was to suppress his instinctive fear, and then...

Think! Think! Think again!
He lifted Francesca's arm to help her stand steady.

"Shut up! Focus on recovering your mental strength and don't worry about anything else." He shouted.

Francesca stopped talking and stared at Aylin blankly.

She saw determination on the witcher's young and handsome face, as if nothing in the world could defeat him.

Seeing Daisy's dull expression, Ailin's heart skipped a beat. He was worried that his harsh tone would have the opposite effect. He raised the corners of his mouth and said gently,
"I've been through this situation many times, so don't worry, just focus on recovering your mental strength!"

Francesca nodded instinctively, came back to her senses, glanced tremblingly at the monsters around her, and closed her eyes.

She could only trust the man in front of her... no... the boy...

She had to trust him.

Francesca kept convincing herself to ignore the witcher's age.

wrong!

She could trust him.

Yes!

The Demon Hunter was chosen by Ian Savini, so there must be no problem!
Besides, his skills are so good!

Seeing that Francesca was calm, Ailin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Being surrounded by so many monsters, if you encounter a teammate with a mental breakdown, you will be really doomed.

Fortunately, although Francesca was a little bit tricky, as a "princess" who was obviously spoiled, at least she controlled her emotions well.

After his teammates were cleared, Ailin turned his head and looked vigilantly at the monsters around him.

what!
The witcher actually saw a way to survive at this glance.

Small head, stocky build, rock-like substance on back…

He was so flustered that he couldn't see clearly just now. After calming down, he found that these stone monsters were all rock trolls.

"Have the opportunity!"

“Although most trolls are not smart, they are reasonable.” Ailin felt relieved.

Fortunately, Francesca's baptism of fire was aimed at the largest one.

And it just woke him up, no harm was done.

Otherwise, if a rock troll was really killed or injured, there would be no room for easing the situation.

Just... a rock troll?
Have you heard of it somewhere recently?
Aelin frowned.

In the thick darkness, the roars (grumpiness?) gradually died down, and were replaced by loud whispers.

"... hibernation... time... to eat..."

"...hungry...hungry...eat meat..."

"...rocks...wake up...the trolls...give the trolls...meat..."

……

Obviously.

The rock trolls who had just woken up were only thinking about eating and did not notice that there were two strangers in the house.

The witcher did not say anything at this time, happy to delay for a while.

until……

"Roar!"

"...Shut up, little troll...Otherwise there will be no meat...only fists of mountain stone..."

After the largest troll roared, the noisy begging sounds of the rock trolls suddenly stopped.

next moment.

His stern and ferocious eyes swept over Ailin.

"…What are humans doing here…?"

Although the rock troll named Shanshitou's sentences are still a little incoherent, his fluency is far superior to that of other rock trolls.

They were able to communicate, and did not immediately rush over to slaughter them for meat, not even caring about the baptism of fire...

Great start!
Aelin breathed a sigh of relief.

The next step is to persuade them with words and find opportunities to bribe them with rotten meat, asking them to make way.

If that doesn't work, maybe we can try to involve the big rock in Kaer Morhen.

After all, they are all rock trolls from Kaedwen. Who knows if there is some blood relationship between the two?

then.

Ailin took a deep breath and greeted loudly:
"Hello, Shan Shitou, let's go..."

"Roar!"

The witcher was interrupted by a roar from not far to the right.

What happened? Is there another accident... Ailin's heart skipped a beat and he looked in the direction of the sound.

The rock troll that was about two meters tall and closest to him roared, stared at Ailin with his red eyes as big as green beans, pointed at him with his thick buns, and said angrily:

"...mountain stones...human...smell...not...demon hunter...smell...is..."

This rock troll just mentioned demon hunters.

The other trolls all took a deep breath instantly, even the huge rocks did the same.

In the empty cave, the air flow speed has therefore increased a bit.

After three seconds when the demon hunter was at a loss, the entire cave suddenly exploded.

"...Witcher...bad...troll...house destroyed..."

"... Demon Hunter... bad... Qing Shitou... seriously injured..."

"...Demon Hunter...bad..."

……

The same sentence structure, different content, but reveals the same emotion.

Angry! Extremely angry!
Ailin, who was stunned by the sudden incident, suddenly had some images flashing in his mind, and he remembered where he had heard about rock trolls recently.

Right in the hotel in Baiguoyuan!
[Vesemir: I didn't expect that behind this mine was a large camp of rock trolls, with more than a dozen rock trolls in it.]

Ailin instinctively glanced around and counted.

Hmm…nineteen rock trolls.

[Vesemir: During the battle, I used the Alder Sign to connect two places that were originally unconnected.]

Ailin turned back subconsciously, looking past Francesca who had her eyes closed.

The place where they came from was a passage that was now blocked by rock trolls. The rock walls on all four sides had some irregular protrusions, which were signs that they had been broken by external forces.

There are valleys, mine carts, wooden scaffolding, scattered piles of stones...

Scenes flashed through Ailin's mind in an instant.

This is also an abandoned mine, so...

Damn!

Could the demon hunter these rock trolls are talking about be Vesemir?

Aelin didn't want to believe it.

But the facts before my eyes completely coincide with the impression in my mind.

[Bob: You are the demon hunter who was beaten by the rock troll and vomited blood! ]

Another sentence popped up in my mind.

Ailin instinctively glanced at the rocks.

With a physique like Shan Shitou, he is even two or three meters taller than the Cyclops, and has armor as thick as rock.

Plus there are so many rock trolls helping out.

Even for a witcher master like Vesemir, it was very normal to be beaten to the point of vomiting blood.

And since the human couple was on good terms with Viscount Hudson, it was completely reasonable for them to hide in Viscount Hudson's abandoned mine.

Hey!
Got cheated again!

Apart from breaking down the wall, what did Vesemir do to these rock trolls that made them bear a grudge against him for fifteen years?

How vengeful are these rock trolls that they can recall the hatred from fifteen years ago with just a slight smell?
Aelin didn't know the answer to either question.

He only knew one thing, that is...

He has to run away quickly!
(End of this chapter)