Chapter 276 I Have My Battlefield
Whether the rulers of the northern continent admit it or not, it has been thousands of years since humans first intersected the celestial sphere and set foot on this world.

The culture of elves has permeated into every aspect of human life.

The most important of these are festivals and calendars.

The ancient elves divided the year into eight elven months by measuring the length of time the sun appears in a day, and each month began with a festival.

When humans replaced the elves to rule the world, perhaps they wanted to dilute the traces of the elves' rule.

Although the elven calendar is not used openly, these festivals have been passed down to this day.

May Day, the first day of the Blooming Month in the Elven Calendar, is one of the most famous festivals.

The blooming month is the month with the most pleasant day and night temperatures in the year.

It is neither too hot during the day nor too cold at night.

But tonight.

This rule is broken in Elland, located on the central axis of the northern continent.

"Whoo~"

The wind is howling.

The closer the two witchers got to the hundreds of green lights, the colder the wind blew in their faces, the colder it became, enough to freeze their souls.

Ailin actually had no intention of taking action, at least not so early.

After studying rituals for so many days and recognizing the types of rituals, he originally planned to assist Vera in setting up the magic ritual.

It's not like you're looking at something.

after all.

The magic ritual is a large ceremony that takes at least half a day to prepare and at least three hours.

Having one more person, especially Ailin who has learned and arranged this ritual and has reached level 5 in ritual studies, can save a lot of time no matter what.

but.

After observing carefully for a while, the witcher found that although the materials used by the sorceress were the same, the ritual array that was gradually being completed on the ground was also very similar.

But there are many differences in the subtle details.

While many details have been omitted, there have also been some subtle changes in many places.

With the Demon Hunter's ritual studies reaching level 5, it can be seen that the ultimate function is still a magic ritual, and it can also save a lot of time in arranging the ritual.

But I want to participate, but I don't have the ability.

It can help a little, but it may not save much time.

At least at this moment, a demon hunter who can delay a group of monsters is more important than a ritual apprentice who can only assist.

And it’s much more important.

"Are you ready?"

Vesemir took a deep breath, tilted his head and shouted.

Ailin did not answer, but just like the other knights, he galloped his horse and pulled the reins with his left hand to turn the horse when it was about to touch the evil spirits.

follow closely.

He bent the middle finger of his right hand and pushed hard towards the area where the demons were most concentrated.

Alder Seal.

"boom!"

A strong wave of telekinesis emanated from the palm of his hand, distorting the air along the way.

The demons that were hit were like pieces of paper floating in the air, with their postures deformed and they were instantly blown away into the green tide.

At this time.

Vesemir's Alder Sign blew away the other half of the demon.

For a moment.

A large fan-shaped gap suddenly appeared at the front of the demon spirit tide. It took nearly twenty seconds for the gap to be filled by the subsequent demon spirits.

“We can do it!” Vesemir shouted.

While pulling the reins to turn, he looked at Ailin excitedly.

However, when Vesemir's eyes met with Arryn's, he suddenly realized that his apprentice seemed... distracted?

what happened?
Was this an attack by a demon?

"Alin!!!" The Demon Hunter Master shouted in the howling wind, "Are you okay?"

"It's okay." Ailin shouted after coming back to his senses, then looked at the translucent interface in front of him.

"Ding, a main quest is found: [Ghost's Revenge Carnival] Eliminate the demon spirit (32/1614)"

Main quest...

It has been a long time since I saw this familiar yet unfamiliar name.

Ailin vaguely remembered that the last main quest was triggered in Kaer Morhen.

But it should be said or not.

Identification, tracking, celestial intersection and the Demon Hunting Corps...

Every reward given by the main mission is very practical.

But we need to destroy 1,614 demon spirits...

The witcher glanced at the dense green will-o'-the-wisp.

"Qiang~"

There was a flash of blue light.

He pulled out Elsa, who was soaked in ghost oil, from the scabbard and looked at the hideous faces of the ghosts.

After exhaling a breath of white air, his eyes widened with anger.

Isn't this what he was planning to do?!

next moment.

"Chi~"

The sound of boiling water vaporizing violently was heard.

The silver sword Elsa slashed fiercely into the body of the nearest demon spirit.

In from one side, out from the other.

Then he chopped into the next demon without any hesitation.

"what--"

There were endless screams.

Green fireworks bloomed behind the witcher.

At the same time, the same fire was ignited on the other side of the demon spirit tide, and they seemed to be shining in harmony with each other.

that's it.

Vesemir rode ahead, with Arryn close behind.

In the direction opposite to the Royal Guards, he began to trim the green tide of demon spirits like cutting weeds.

Avoid the spirits from floating around and becoming too dispersed.

It is not conducive for the Demon Hunter to use the Alder Sign and repel the enemy more effectively.

and.

Different from the guards.

Although the war horses they were riding were not theirs, their cooperation was a little awkward.

But the two demon hunters who drank the cat's eye potion as soon as they got on their horses not only gained night vision...

Their strong physical fitness and superb swordsmanship also enable them to control horses at a very close distance while avoiding the attacks of evil spirits.

The witcher almost brushed past the eerie green lantern as he passed by.

Amid the whistling of the wind, the texture of the half-real and half-virtual muscles on the demon's body was clearly visible.

Followed by.

The extreme speed brought by the galloping horses made it unnecessary for both of them to exert any effort.

Slightly control the direction.

The silver sword covered with ghost oil had almost its entire blade submerged in the demon's body.

In most cases, the monsters were killed with one sword before they had time to react.

the other side.

The guards knights who had led away many evil spirits also noticed that the witchers were killing indiscriminately, and their morale was greatly boosted as they shouted "Victory! Victory!"

After rushing to a small hill, he turned around and charged towards the demon again.

"... [Ghost's Revenge Carnival] Destroy the demon spirit (39/1614)"

"... [Ghost's Revenge Carnival] Destroy the demon spirit (84/1614)"

"... [Ghost's Revenge Carnival] Destroy the demon spirit (193/1614)"

……

With the cooperation of the demon hunters and knights, the demons were after all just some low-level monsters without intelligence. In the corner of Ailin's sight, the number of kills in the main mission increased rapidly.

Being blocked from both sides at the same time, the distance between the demon spirit tide and Vera's ritual formation slowed down almost visibly.

The situation seems to be very good.

but.

Is it really that simple?
"what--"

Another scream.

The demon spirit transformed into a brilliant green flame.

Suddenly, there was nothing in front of Ailin. They had reached the rear of the demon spirits.

"Cool!"

Vesemir laughed and pulled the reins to stop his horse. “I’ve never killed a spirit so happily.”

follow closely.

"Ding Ding~"

Amid the sound of bottles and jars colliding.

The Demon Hunter Master excitedly pulled out a bottle of ghost oil and began to oil the silver sword.

Ailin also took out the sword oil.

But his expression was not as happy as the Demon Hunter Master's.

Open the taskbar with your mind.

"Main Quest: [Ghost's Revenge Carnival] Eliminate the Demonic Spirit (473/1614)"

Good progress.

However, what made Ailin look hesitant and unhappy was not the progress of the main quest.

But...

[Hunting Mission: Demon Spirit I (Kill Demon Spirit 47/100)]

While the number of kills in the main quest continues to increase, the monster hunting quest is also quietly making progress.

And after the hunting mission is completed, there will be an uncontrollable intersection of the celestial spheres.

After the strong vibration, a large monster will almost certainly be summoned.

The Wild Hunt has just left, will the celestial conjunction attract them again?

Vera is still preparing for the ceremony. Will the earthquake caused by the intersection of the celestial spheres make all her efforts go to waste?

In addition...

Although he didn't have to worry about the intersection of the celestial spheres being seen by humans because it was dark, he had no idea what kind of monster might be summoned.

What if it is a monster that can control ordinary spirits?
More than a thousand spirits without a commander are different from more than a thousand spirits with a commander. That will almost inevitably lead to the fall of Elland.

"Chi~chi~"

The warhorse under his crotch snorted and panted tiredly.

Countless thoughts flashed through Ailin's mind.

At this moment.

"Why did all those Elland Knights go back?"

The demon hunter paused in applying sword oil and looked to the other side.

In the green light, the guards knights rushed towards the demon hunting army at high speed like a galloping dragon.

Ailin opened the task list again, looked at the progress of the main task, and sighed:
"They've run out of ghost oil."

……

In the charge just now.

Ailin changed a bottle of sword oil halfway through and killed thirty-five demons.

Vesemir also has two bottles of sword oil, but he is not dead, so there is no need to consider the hunting mission. He should be able to kill a few more than him.

So that's it.

There were almost a hundred guards, and with two bottles of sword oil, they were able to kill less than four hundred.

One bottle of sword oil kills two monsters.

The number of enemies killed is more than seven times that of the two demon hunters.

But for that.

Ailin could understand that, too.

Reality is not a game.

No matter how magical the ghost oil is, it is just an oily substance applied on a sword.

It can be carried away by strong winds, can accidentally come into contact with the horse's fur, and can quickly lose its effectiveness due to various unexpected circumstances and no contact with the evil spirit.

Given the physical and mental qualities of the Royal Guards Knights, as well as their long-standing habit of using swords.

When attacking, only the first third of the sword from the tip will penetrate into the body of the demon.

The last two thirds are almost useless and will be quickly consumed by various factors.

Moreover, a bottle of sword oil would not be used up until it was used up after several charges, which greatly increased the useless consumption.
Calculate it this way.

For the guards knights who had never used sword oil and had never dealt with demons, being able to kill two demons with just one bottle of sword oil was actually an extraordinary performance.

But Arryn and Vesemir were different.

They have all used ghost oil to hunt large numbers of demons. One sword can kill a demon, and two bottles of ghost oil are used in one charge.

Unexpected losses are minimized.

but……

Ailin sighed and shook his head slightly.

There is nothing we can do about this.

There are 1,600 demon spirits, and the two of them alone cannot stop them and buy time.

Even now.

The number of spirits following the Knight Guards was five or six times that of those following Alyn and Vesemir.

As for not using ghost oil, just charge with the steel sword to attract monsters to chase.

Not to mention the Royal Guards who wasted horsepower and manpower in vain.

After all, it is to gain time, so this is valuable.

But when he was in the abandoned castle of Viscount Hudson in the Orchard, Ailin discovered that—

Although demons have no intelligence.

But within a certain range, if there are multiple spirits present, they will definitely attack the one who causes more damage.

Otherwise, they would attack in the direction where the largest number of people were, giving a vague feeling of a hive consciousness.

In other words.

If the damage caused by the guards knights is not great enough, only a small part of the outermost layer of spirits will be attracted by them.

There is no point in doing so.

and so……

What should they do now?
"The spirits followed the knights and floated towards the direction of the ceremony!" Vesemir exclaimed, interrupting Arryn's thoughts.

He looked in the direction of the Knight Guards.

Perhaps because the continuous charges consumed their horsepower, the Guards Knights' return speed was not fast.

A large group of spirits carrying eerie green lanterns followed closely behind them, not leaving much distance.

Perhaps because the direction of the knights was the same as the direction in which the demons were originally surging, the speed of the demon tide was even increasing slightly.

next second.

"Knights of the Royal Guard! Turn around!"

Ailin heard the leading knight Arthur raise his sword and shout.

Obviously.

He also noticed this and tried to get the guards to turn back and lure back the evil spirits that had already been attracted by his hatred.

However, without the ghost oil to cause harm, it is hard to say how many demons they can attract.

But for a while.

It would definitely be too late for the Demon Hunters to form a battle formation, collect the ghost oil, and deliver it to them on horseback.

Everything seemed to be in a desperate situation.

The mysterious green ocean was getting closer and closer to the city of Elland like a tide.

From where Ailin was now, it seemed that this group of demons would almost engulf the demon hunters who were slightly agitated around the campfire.

It was like the raging waves caused by a violent storm, which was about to swallow up the frail fishing boat.

Vera, who was arranging the ceremony, and Mary, who was helping Vera, were like two inconspicuous grains of sand, busy at the rear of the Demon Hunting Army.

After the fishing boat was swallowed up, it would definitely be their turn.

At last.

The green waves will pass through the reefs, extinguish the lights of all the homes in Elland, and turn it into a dead city.

A ghost's revenge spree...

The name of the main quest suddenly appeared in the demon hunter's mind.

He clenched his fists, shook his head vigorously to get rid of some ominous thoughts, and stared at the surging green tide.

How to do?
What should I do?
The brain works quickly.

In less than two seconds, Arryn shouted to Vesemir, who was also at a loss:

"Master Vesemir, go to the guards and lead them to charge at the group of demons..."

When the witcher master heard what Aelin said, he subconsciously kicked his horse's belly with both feet and rushed towards the guard knight.

When he came to his senses, he realized that something was wrong and turned around and shouted:
"What about you, Aelin?"

The demon hunter took a deep breath, looked in the direction they came from, and said softly:

"I have a battlefield that belongs only to me..."

(End of this chapter)