Chapter 343 The Seven Disappearing Demon Hunters
"Alin, then..."

Vesemir was still talking.

"Rumble~"

A low strange sound came from my heart, and the feeling of palpitations suddenly intensified, as if a sleeping dragon opened its eyes and looked up to search for uninvited guests.

"Om~"

The wolf emblem hummed violently.

After a while, the aurora, strange noises and palpitations stopped at the same time.

Vesemir tilted his head to look at Arryn, his expression grim.

He had seen the aurora in the polar snowfields further north than the Flying Dragon Mountains in Hengfors. In the past hundred years, he had only been there once by boat for a commission.

The flickering lights in the sky were like the lightest and softest gauze, but such a magnificent sight would never appear in Aedirn or Kaedwen.

What's more, there are the unspeakable strong palpitations and strange noises.

This must be a spell!

But what kind of magic and battle can have such power to change the celestial phenomena?
Vesemir frowned and took out the atlas to gesture.

The charcoal dot went straight from their current direction to the direction of the aurora, passing many cities and villages along the way.

But unconsciously, the black pen tip reached the edge of the page in the atlas before stopping.

There is the city of wizards - Ban Ader.

"It should be Ben Ade." Ailin looked into the sky.

The low-hanging sky seemed to still retain a dark red, distorted light.

The expected thing seems to have finally happened, and the Wild Hunt has found another enemy of the Wolf School.

But at this moment, Ailin did not feel any joy in his heart.

“Ban Ade…” Vesemir murmured in a low voice, “Are you sure? This place is at least a thousand kilometers away from that…”

"What kind of spell can have such an amazing effect even though it is a thousand kilometers away?"

Ailin remained silent and did not answer.

He knew Vesemir didn't really want an answer.

The Demon Hunter Master felt his throat go dry.

Ailin's judgment had always been correct, but at this moment he sincerely did not want to believe this possibility.

Because if the noise really came from Ben Ade, then it would prove that what Ailin had said all along was correct.

The Wild Hunt is really coming for his apprentice!

Thinking about what happened to Fugang and Elland, and the vision just now...

No matter which side caused the aurora, strange noises and heart palpitations, it all showed that the strength of the skeleton knights flying in the sky was so strong that it was despairing.

"We still have time, Master Vesemir, we still have time." Ailin took a deep breath. "Ernesto has gone to invite Ivar the Evil Eye from the Viper School. He should have arrived in Nasser by now. If nothing goes wrong, we will be able to see them before May next year."

"He has spent his entire life thinking about how to deal with the Wild Hunt. There must be some way."

"Duke Mason of Elland hates the Wild Hunt, and Temeria is on our side."

"After this incident, not only will the northern countries see the threat from the Wild Hunt, but the Ban Ade Academy was attacked, and the Warlock Brotherhood will certainly not pretend that nothing happened..."

Arryn looked at Vesemir with a firm gaze:
"Ban Ader will face the Wild Hunt today, so there will be heavy casualties. Add to that the war with Aedirn, and there will be even fewer hostile eyes directed at the school."

"Erni, Kral and the others are improving rapidly in strength. By the time we return to Kaer Morhen, there will be at least 20 more apprentices who can pass the mountain trials."

"Time is on our side."

Vesemir was convinced, and his frown relaxed.

"Never mind, Ban Ade is too far away from us." He nodded and turned to walk towards the inn. "Let's see how those little guys Quinn are practicing. If they dare to be perfunctory, I will make sure they pay!"

Vesemir spoke in a cheerful tone, as if the great changes that might have taken place in Ban Ader really had nothing to do with them.

But he didn't notice it.

The moment he turned around, the relieved look on Ailin's face, who had said "time is on our side", instantly disappeared.

He opened and closed his mouth several times, but no sound came out.

"It's time..."

Some people sighed in their hearts.

"Squeak~"

The shabby door of the hotel creaked.

The huge change that just happened did not affect the atmosphere in the pub.

The beer in the glass remained still. The drinkers were chatting about trivial matters in front of and behind the village house. The elderly woman was still wiping the dishes. When she saw the two witchers coming in, her numb expression turned into flattering again.

"Tonight we have fresh mushroom soup, cheese, dark bread, croutons and dried meat..."

“Didn’t you feel something… uh… strange just now?” Vesemir interrupted in surprise.

The elderly woman subconsciously wiped her hands on her gray cloth, looking confused: "Change? What change?"

"Nothing much." Vesemir and Arlin looked at each other and shook their heads. "Fried white bread cubes, cheese, and mushroom soup. Prepare nine portions and send them up in a minute."

"Okay!" The woman instantly forgot the strange question and smiled happily.

These three kinds of food are the most expensive in the store.

He looked at the woman's back as she lifted the curtain behind the counter, and then glanced at the other people in the hotel.

Vesemir picked up a candle from the stairwell and walked towards the stairs, while tilting his head and whispering:

"It seems that only people with magic power can feel the strange noise just now."

"Perhaps it is some kind of mental magic, or it may be related to some changes in the nature of the elements..."

“The impact may not be as big as we think.”

Aelin nodded.

If ordinary people could not sense the obvious abnormality just now, the reaction of the nobles and the king might indeed be much slower, and there would be many variables.

"That red light in the sky lasted for quite a while."

"Ordinary people may not be able to see it because they rest too early in the dark, but those nobles who have guards should be able to observe..."

Ailin's tone suddenly froze.

The footsteps came to an abrupt end, accompanied by the creaking of dilapidated wood.

The second floor of the inn was silent, with only the echo of their footsteps as they arrived.

But it was this silence that made them feel uneasy.

With their keen perception, the eight demon hunters could always make some noises, so how could it be like no one lived there.

The golden and red candle flames flickered continuously, and the weak light only illuminated the darkness less than three meters around the two demon hunters.

The darkness beyond the candlelight seemed as if a ferocious beast was lurking.

Arryn and Vesemir frowned and placed their hands on the silver swords at their waists.

"Dong Dong Dong~"

There was a knock on the wooden door of the room near the stairs.

No one answered.

The second room, the third room, the fourth room... it was the same.

Vesemir frowned and glanced at Arryn.

Ailin fiddled with it for a while and opened Klar's door. There was no one in the room, and although the things were in a mess, there were no signs of fighting.

The same was true for the other rooms, as if the seven witchers had agreed to go out at the same time.

“Clay, Ajax, and Hugh may go out without following the rules, but there’s no way Erni and Klar would leave without saying goodbye.” Erin pursed his lips and walked to the window of Klar’s ​​room.

There were no footprints, no signs of climbing.

But it's not surprising.

If there were any traces, there would be no way there wouldn't be any signs of a fight in the room.

"Dong Dong Dong~"

There were footsteps coming from the stairwell, and an elderly woman came up carrying a large basket of food.

"Hey, why are two guests standing in the stairwell? Well, where are the others?" The woman saw that all seven doors were opened, but there was no one inside.

"Didn't they come downstairs today?" Ailin did not answer the question, but asked back expressionlessly.

“No…no…” The woman seemed to realize something was wrong and put down the food basket. “It should be that there is none, but it is also possible that I didn’t see it…”

Didn’t see it…

If the seven people didn't hide it on purpose, how could they have hidden it from the people on the first floor if they walked down the dilapidated wooden stairs together?

But he didn’t go downstairs, and he didn’t go out of the window either…

Is it possible that seven living people could just disappear out of thin air?
"Do you need help finding guards?"

"no need."

"Then these foods..." The woman clenched her calloused fingers nervously.

Vesemir glanced.

The wooden basket was covered with a clean white cloth, steam rose up, and the rich aroma of fat and mushroom soup filled the corridor.

"Leave it here, and the fee will be deducted directly from the deposit."

"Okay." The woman smiled, and the lines on her face wrinkled, making her look even older.

She turned around and was about to go downstairs when she suddenly remembered something: "By the way, a couple came here in the afternoon."

"Lovers?" The two demon hunters looked at each other.

"Don't you know them?" The old woman pursed her dry lips. "Those two people are really beautiful, wearing expensive clothes. When they came in, the whole restaurant seemed to be brighter, and everyone was stunned."

"But before I could say anything, two people came upstairs. They must be looking for your... uh... companions, right?"

"Maybe they went out to play with those two people, and they might come back tomorrow."

“After they went upstairs, there was no noise?” Vesemir asked, frowning.

"Motion? What movement?"

"Nothing," Ailin said, "They should have gone out to play."

"That's good," the old woman seemed relieved. "Those kids are really something. They go out to play with their acquaintances and don't even think of leaving a message behind..."

Muttering something in a long-winded way, the old woman went downstairs.

The atmosphere on the second floor was even more solemn.

During the day, seven demon hunters who were considered to be quite strong were taken away quietly without alerting anyone.

How did those two "couples" do it? Who are they?
"I'll look for more traces." Ailin said.

Vesemir nodded grimly, like the calm before a volcanic eruption. "I'll go search too. You start in Clay's room, and I'll start in Klar's room."

Ailin nodded, and with a thought, he started searching.

Many red shoe prints suddenly appeared on the dim corridor floor. In addition to the witcher's standard leather boots, two pairs of distinctive marks highlighted as soon as Ailin noticed them.

Aelin crouched down, focusing on the tracks closest to them.

In an instant.

The red belts that formed the footprints flew up and turned into spots of light, combining into two pairs of tall and slender red legs that only covered the part below the knees.

They walked up the stairs one step at a time and stopped at the door of Clay's room but did not go in.

Then two or three seconds later, he walked from Clay's room to Erni's room, and then to all the other young witchers' rooms.

They did not enter any of the young witchers' houses, and each time they stayed for only a few seconds, as if they were really just visiting friends, saying a few words and then leaving.

But how can a demon hunter who has never left the mountain find human friends?

"Dong Dong Dong~"

The sound of footsteps echoed in the empty corridor.

Arlin walked into Clay's room in silence.

About one meter away from the door, a red footprint of a witcher's standard leather boots attracted his attention.

When his attention focused on it, Clay's calf, made up of red spots of light, appeared and quickly shrank after a second.

Eventually it became slightly smaller than his little finger.

Ailin walked to Klar's room with a grim look on his face.

Vesemir had just begun his search, crouching down to carefully observe the texture of the dust on the ground.

"Don't look for it, Vesemir."

The Demon Hunter Master was stunned for a moment and looked up in confusion.

"It was a wizard. The wizard from Ban Ade kidnapped Ernie and the others!"

"How did you know?" Vesemir asked subconsciously.

Although the possibilities are not many, haven't they just begun to identify the traces?

How did they come to this conclusion in less than two minutes?

Ailin pointed to the mottled wooden board behind Vesemir and said, "A wizard... a very powerful wizard, used a Sealing Spell on Erni and the others and took them away."

The shape-changing and sealing spell, or the human body compression technique.

This is a powerful spell that can wrap the caster in a jade shell and shrink it to a "statue" that can be held in the palm of the hand.

Only a powerful warlock can cast this spell.

This spell allows the caster to trap a desired person without having to worry about them escaping, and it can be carried around and easily concealed.

The reason why Ailin could recognize this spell at a glance was because he had seen it in the original novel in his previous life and was deeply impressed.

During the coup on Thanedd Island, Francesca Findaby used this spell to compress Yennefer, spiriting her off the island and into Dol Bretaner. After 47 days of compression, Francesca lifted the spell and asked her to join the Coven of Sorceresses.

“The Transfiguration Sealing Spell?” Vesemir blinked in confusion.

"Ms. Vera told me about this spell, so I know it..."

While telling insignificant lies and describing the effects of the spell, Ailin led Vesemir and followed the calf of the "wizard" who appeared again in the corridor to the door of the witcher's room.

Before Vesemir could open the door, Aelin took out the wire tied to his belt and fiddled with the door lock.

The door was opened.

After the red legs entered the room, they stopped in front of the low table beside the bed for a few seconds, then turned back.

Ailin did not chase after him.

For on the low table lay a piece of expensive chiffon paper, on which was written in aristocratic cursive:

Dear Master Vesemir:
Please meet at noon tomorrow at the birch forest 800 meters north of the village.

Vigfortz of Logeeven.

(End of this chapter)