Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1152 1134. Squirrel
Because it carried too many things, although the weight was not a big deal, its large size still caused trouble for Qilin's speed.

This resulted in that although Qilin had quickened its pace, it still failed to escape from the range of the large cumulonimbus cloud before the raindrops fell from the sky.

The sky would naturally become gloomy when the spring rain came, and it was noon when Lan En came back, so now it was already afternoon and evening.

Then the whole world suddenly became dark.

There were fish-scale clouds in the sky, and the trees on both sides of the river were rooted in the loess. The wind passed through the leaves and branches, making the dark shadows of the trees sway constantly and bringing with it a whimpering sound.

There were dark shadows and rustling sounds in the woods and bushes, as if monsters like water ghosts and swamp witches would jump out at any time.

Drag any fool who dares to wander outside in this weather into the mud or water and soak him to death, so he can be eaten.

In fact, someone should have been eaten.

"Bang bang~"

Qilin's horse hooves stepped on the damp soil, making a dull sound.

Lan En sat on horseback and looked down at the bank of this loess river.

A torn, ripped, blood-stained sleeve fell to the ground along with a bunch of scattered leather bags.

It had been trampled into the mud by many messy footprints.

Lan En dismounted from his horse, took two steps forward to the mess, and squatted down to take a look.

"One person and four water ghosts. What an unlucky guy and a fool."

Based on the scattered footprints and signs of resistance, Lan En could easily tell what had happened here.

"Did someone die here, meow?"

The fluffy ball also jumped down and came over here curiously and spoke.

"No." Lan En kept squatting, raised his head and looked around. "There's not much blood here. The water ghosts just took people away. They are used to eating food that has been soaked in water or buried in the soil and rotted."

It wasn't even evening yet, but the gloomy sky was enough to make Lan En's eyes shine slightly in the shadows.

"Wow."

The kitten was amazed, not knowing whether he was amazed at Lan's observation skills or at the taste of the water ghosts.

Lan En looked up at the sky. The dark clouds were so thick that they seemed like they would condense into water and pour down in the next moment.

In order to get more of Smaug's dragon skin and scales, Lan had cleared out many things from the alchemical leather bag, including his waterproof cloak.

Although getting wet in the rain is harmless, if it can save lives, people walking around here should have a place to shelter from the rain, right?
The witcher stretched out his fingers to the messy and moist yellow earth on the ground, picked up a little soil with his fingertips, and put it under his nose to smell it gently.

After a moment, he raised his head and looked at the other side of the not-so-wide river.

When standing up from a half-squatting position, he brushed the dirt off his hands.

"Let's go and find someone first."

In the witcher's senses, the smell of rotten fish turned into brightly colored streamers in the air, extending into the distance.

The stuffy air near rain moves slowly, so the smell lingers longer.

"I won't go, meow!" The fluffy ball scratched the triangular ears on his head with his little paws and climbed onto the Qilin's back again. "We'll watch things here."

Lan En didn't say much. He just waved his hand without looking back and walked straight towards the other side of the river.

The width of this stream is about four meters.

It's not wide, but it's not easy for an ordinary person to pass through.

Coupled with the increased water flow caused by rain, it might be dangerous.

But for Lan En, it's just a matter of jumping over it.

He was wearing full body armor, so he could cover this distance, but now he wasn't wearing any armor yet.

After landing much lighter than usual, Lan En continued to walk in the direction where the smell was spreading.

This direction goes deep into the jungle.

As the witcher walked, he wiped the yellow mud that he had stepped on from jumping hard at the riverside onto the trunks of the trees.

As he moved forward in the woods, a fishy smell, different from the earthy and grassy smell in the woods, became more and more obvious.

"Wow wow wow!"

"Go away! Go away! Help!"

The roar of monsters and the weak cries of humans filled with fear came from the woods.

Lan En continued to move forward calmly, and he finally found the water ghost's lair.

As expected, the nest was not far from the river, and the water ghosts could not stand the long-term dehydration.

On the other hand, the leaves and wood in the forest act as sound-absorbing materials, preventing these sounds from penetrating in this gloomy weather.

In the eerie woods, several strange and smelly humanoid creatures were suppressing the resistance of a human being and were about to bury him alive in the ground.

This is consistent with the habit of water ghosts to store and eat food.

In fact, the soil had pressed down on the man's chest, restricting the expansion of his lungs, so his voice was so weak.

But he was still trying to struggle, and the layer of soil that had already covered him would bulge slightly from time to time.

When humans eat, they like to drain the blood of their prey to reduce the fishy smell. But water ghosts like to drown or suffocate their prey, and it is best if the prey has a stronger fishy smell.

The water ghost standing on the periphery, which was still digging dirt from the man, seemed alert. Its large eyeballs without eyelids, like those of fish, looked back.

"Wow? Swoosh!"

The lifeless eyes of a dead fish, now there is really no trace of life at all.

A dazzling silver light suddenly appeared and flashed in the dark woods at an extremely fast speed.

The flash of silver light was like a flashlight, but its soft and erratic trajectory left a winding trace in the dim light because it moved so fast.

Even the human who was buried in the ground up to his mouth stopped shouting for help briefly because he felt blinded.

After the silver light flashed, half a second passed before the winding track remaining in the air gradually dissipated in the man's retina.

Immediately afterwards, a strong wind suddenly blew!
A sudden and brief "swish" sound!
As the four water ghosts stopped shouting and moving, the air in the area became more humid and smelled more fishy.

The air blades slashed across their necks. Lan En was precise and effortless and did not try to cut them in half, so the heads with scales and fins did not fall off.

There was just a big cut on the neck, and then the blood was drawn out and spilled by the air blade.

Lan En even thoughtfully controlled the angle of the blood spraying, so as not to let the fishy blood of the water ghost splash onto the man's only exposed face.

But even so.
"Ah!" The human being, whose face was left buried, first let out a short scream out of instinct, then stared into dazed silence.

It took a second for his brain to react, and his mouth opened before his brain did.

“Ah~~~! Ah!”

This is the scream after being scared.

A flash of cold white magic light that had been prepared long ago flashed, and immediately, the screams subsided.

[Axis Seal] is often used by demon hunters to calm humans' emotions. After all, if they want to get information from witnesses who are frightened by monsters, they have to do this to ensure the credibility of the information.

While the other party was being calmed by the [Yaxi Seal], Lan En walked out of the woods and stepped over the still twitching corpse of the water ghost.

He squatted down and started to dig the man out.

"Are you all right, sir?"

Lan En asked as he dug the soil.

"I, I'm still alive, so I'm alright."

The man responded a little slowly, a typical symptom of being under mental influence.

As the water ghost's blood sprayed, the fishy smell here became stronger and stronger, and the dark clouds and water vapor in the sky became heavier and heavier.

Lan En quickened the pace of digging people out of the soil.

"Why are you walking towards the river at this time of weather? Do you want to die?"

Lan En first prepared to dig out the man's shoulders, and then pull him out directly after his upper body was dug out, otherwise it would be too slow to dig without the tools at hand.

"I'm here to buy furs from hunters. I heard there's a top-quality bear skin today. If I don't come, someone will grab it first. That's why I'm in a hurry!"

The fur trader didn't even have time to finish the word 'time' before Lan's quickened movements touched his left arm, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Ah! Fuck! It hurts!"

The pain was so severe that he was completely shaken off the influence of the [Yaxi Seal].

However, Lan's [Axi Seal] did not forcibly distort his mind, but only soothed his fear, so this person did not notice anything unusual, and thought that he was really calm just now, and was only broken by the pain at this moment.

"Hold on a bit, I'll pull you out." Lan En was not affected by the curse words that burst out in pain. "You're lucky, these water ghosts didn't bury you too deep, otherwise you would have been suffocated to death by now."

"thanks, thanks."

After all, he was a businessman, and although his body was still in pain, he did not vent his anger or lose his mind. Instead, he thanked Lan En who was pulling him.

The man wore a long-sleeved linen shirt over a sleeveless leather jacket, with his money bag hanging around his neck.

There was only a bloody stain on the left arm of his shirt, as his sleeve had been pulled off by a water ghost at the riverside.

The pain and fear consumed a lot of his energy, and he was breathing heavily.

He looked at his left hand which was covered with blood and dirt, his face full of despair and gnashing of teeth.

"Damn water ghost! Damn Scoiatael! It's over! My arm must be infected! The area around the water ghost's lair is full of germs, rotten meat, and dirt! I'm going to die! Woohoo~"

As he yelled and cursed, he started to cry.

"Don't cry, and don't be anxious." Lan En hooked his armpits with both hands and pulled him out of the ground in one breath. "I know a little about herbal medicine. Find a place to rest. It won't be a problem if you take care of your hand."

"But. Scoiatael? Does it mean 'squirrel'?"

This is an ancient saying.

Lan looked at the fur trader in confusion.

"What does this have to do with squirrels?"

The fur trader had by now completely left the pit in which he had been buried.

His legs trembled with fear at first, then he thanked Lan for rescuing him, and then he looked at the witcher with disbelief and said.

"Scoiatael, yes, that means 'squirrel'. More precisely: Scoia'tael! A gang of forest bandits!"

"If I wasn't afraid of the Scoia'tael, I could have taken another road and not been so close to the dangerous river and caught by the water ghosts as food reserves. What bad luck I have!"

(End of this chapter)