"Boom!"
The dim, narrow hall trembled, rubble raining down from the walls and ceiling.
At its center stood a statue of an elf, robed and crowned with laurels, gazing down with arrogant pity.
Upon the crown sat a red-haired elf woman, legs crossed, also looking down—though her eyes held not arrogance nor pity, but suspicion and uncertainty.
Following her gaze…
"Uninvited guests! Intruders! You are not welcome here!"
A roar tore through the air, shaking the ancient stone walls.
The voice had barely faded when—
"Crash!"
The floor split apart, priceless white marble with ornate designs shattering, the very center ground into dust.
An invisible shockwave swept the hall, whipping up a howling wind.
Drawing closer, the cause was revealed: a hulking monster, two men tall, with massive wings sprouting from its back and a grotesque human face.
A gargoyle.
The next instant—
It swung a colossal fist down.
"Clang!"
With a ringing clash of steel, a rough old sword appeared, catching the crushing blow on its weathered blade.
[Monster Hunt Progress: 1%]
Allen's blue beast-like eyes glared coldly, his expression feral.
"Thud—"
He twisted his hips, spinning aside as the stone fist smashed past, brushing his nose.
In that heartbeat, Allen darted forward, sword coiled back, and slashed fiercely at the gargoyle's thick neck.
"Boom!"
The impact thundered, shattering only a small piece of its lower jaw.
[Monster Hunt Progress: 2%]
Allen had expected this. Using the rebound's force, he stepped across, spun, and swung again.
"Whsssh!"
The air shrieked. A cold arc of steel traced a perfect circle, like a rising moon.
The gargoyle raised its arm to block, only for Allen's strike to smash through its elbow.
Half an arm broke away, crashing onto the ground.
No—more smashed apart than cut.
Yet even after crippling the creature, Allen showed no joy.
[Monster Hunt Progress: 2%]
Constructs without the blessing of chaotic magic were his natural bane.
Signs, aside from Quen, were useless.
Swordsmanship against a walking fortress did little.
All that effort, such damage—yet the Slayer's progress bar barely moved. Against a normal monster, that blow would have given him fifty percent at least.
Only Balmur's sheer brute force seemed viable here. And this was just one gargoyle. Two, maybe three at once, and even he couldn't handle it.
"Whoosh—"
A sudden foul wind at his back.
Allen ducked low, dodging another massive swing.
At the same time, his hand dove to his reagent pouch. He hurled a dimeritium bomb into the onrushing mass.
"Snap!"
The explosion burst, flooding half the gargoyle's body with shimmering green metal-dust.
The particles clung to the gray stone, freezing the creature mid-motion.
[Monster Hunt Progress: 10%]
Thirteen dimeritium bombs…
Allen's brow twitched.
The metal was among the rarest, most expensive in existence. Crafting the bombs cost a fortune.
One bomb for one gargoyle—acceptable. But thirteen? Even Allen, soon to be worth over a million orens from ghoul oil and specter oil alone, felt his heart ache.
"Step… step…"
He circled the immobilized gargoyle, not striking, hoping to find weaknesses—like the activation runes he'd spotted on the panther constructs.
But two full rounds revealed nothing. Instead, the gargoyle's stone joints began to grind, cracks of sound hinting at recovery.
"Buzz…"
The wolf medallion at his chest vibrated.
"Wait… the medallion…" Allen muttered, sensing a clue.
"Need help?" Ida Emean's voice came from the statue above. "This gargoyle of Tomas Moreau's is a custom order from Rissberg Group's Civil Cooperative Organization. It wasn't built to fight witchers, but sorcerers of equal—or greater—power."
"Without a powerful spell to obliterate it, even for me, finding its weakness would take time."
"Even with knowledge of construct?" Allen asked in surprise.
"It's because of knowledge of construct that I can," Ida rolled her eyes. "The gargoyle is one of the Consortium's most refined products. You'll never spot the activation runes just by looking."
"I'll try again…" Allen muttered.
Ida said no more.
For Allen, the gargoyle was tougher than the panthers, but still manageable. Smashing its limbs with brute strength would work. But unlike other witchers who would care little for theory, Allen searched for patterns, for principles—
"More like a sorcerer than a witcher," Ida thought.
Blood of the Crimson Fox… but also, in talent, like Sol.
Recalling the scene just now, even she, a seasoned sage, had to marvel.
This gargoyle, though made for sorcerers, wasn't weak against witchers. On the contrary, with rare materials to withstand spells, it was heavier, stronger, faster than common gargoyles.
But just now…
Allen had not only easily evaded the flurry of attacks, he had actually met the gargoyle's full-force strike head-on.
This… this kind of power — aside from Sol before the collapse of the Legacy Vessel — was there any other master witcher capable of this?
But Allen had only passed the Grass Trial and Mountain Trial six months ago!
And in his Grass Trial, the potion formula hadn't even included dragon's blood, the very thing that could push a witcher beyond normal limits…
How was this possible?
Ida Emean couldn't understand, so she kept her eyes fixed on him without blinking.
At that moment—
"Ugh… ugh… ugh! Unwelcome guest! Intruder! You are not welcome here!"
The effects of the dimeritium bomb wore off, and the gargoyle roared, regaining its movement.
Allen, however, remained calm. Taking advantage of the moment before the gargoyle could charge, he focused his mind and activated the Wolf Medallion.
In an instant—
The dim cavern shimmered with specks of multicolored elemental light.
"Not these."
Allen sidestepped the gargoyle's pounce and fixed his gaze on its chest.
Nothing!
The chest was completely bare.
He stepped back swiftly, narrowly avoiding the shockwave from the monster's stomping strike. As his bright blue cat-like pupils shifted upward, they suddenly narrowed into slits.
"Found it!"
Allen shouted.
On the gargoyle's relatively small head, just below its right eye by the length of a fist, a faint brown magical glow was visible.
That glow was so dim that even in this dark hall it was barely discernible — without a witcher's sharp senses, it would have been almost impossible to notice. But the moment he saw it, Allen knew he had found the right spot.
He ducked under the gargoyle's massive swinging palm, his nose brushing past its right hip, and circled around behind it.
With a step and a leap—
His left hand grabbed the gargoyle's short stone wing, and in a heartbeat his feet were planted firmly on the monster's shoulders.
Without hesitation—
Before the gargoyle could react, Allen switched his sword grip — left hand holding the blade, right hand braced against Balmur's pommel — and drove it down with a powerful thrust.
Clang!
A ringing crash of metal against stone.
Below the gargoyle's right eye, a baby-fist-sized crater appeared.
[Monster Hunt] Progress: 15%
He had found the spot!
Allen's eyes lit up. Planting his left foot on the gargoyle's head to avoid its claw swipe, he pulled the sword back and, with a moment's gathering of force, stabbed again in rapid succession.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
[Monster Hunt] Progress: 27%
[Monster Hunt] Progress: 56%
[Monster Hunt] Progress: 93%
The progress bar was rising faster and faster, but a fourth strike wasn't needed.
The instant the numbers at the edge of his vision hit 93%, the brown magical glow burst from beneath the blade. The gargoyle shuddered all over and stopped moving entirely.
[Ding! Monster "Gargoyle" Lv.82 defeated!]
[Reward Settlement: Outmatched, Base Rating D, Level Gap Kill +2 → C-]
[Final Rating: C-]
[Loot Obtained: Gargoyle's Magic Core ×1, Experience Orb ×5, Gargoyle's Treasure Chest ×3]
[Ding! Hunting Quest: Gargoyle I (Kill Gargoyle 0/10) has been activated. Accept?]
Hearing the system prompt in his ear, Allen casually accepted the new hunting quest, exhaled deeply, and sheathed his sword.
As his character level rose, his final ratings naturally dropped, which meant fewer rewards — something unavoidable.
He could only wait until the Witcher Corp's skill "Corps Skill: Loot Lock" leveled up, then go hunting with Corps members to offset it a little.
That said, he no longer relied on the Witcher's Notes as heavily as when he had first crossed over.
Compared to the efficient improvement of his overall strength, deliberately suppressing his level was not worth it.
Buzz~
The Wolf Medallion suddenly let out a faint hum.
Just as Allen put away the Witcher's Notes, Ida Emean descended lightly from above, drifting down like an autumn leaf, landing without a sound.
The moment her feet touched the ground, she didn't even look at Allen's expression — her gaze went straight to the gargoyle's head.
"You really found it?!!" Ida Emean murmured in shock.
Then she turned back, eyes complex, glancing at Allen several times as if hesitating. In the end, she couldn't hold back and asked, "How did you do it?"
"That's not convenient to say," Allen replied bluntly.
Ida Emean's position was a little complicated — close enough to know Allen's identity as the Miracle Child, but with the independent stance of a free elf.
Though they were allies, it didn't mean he could tell her everything.
The Wolf Medallion wasn't something tied to sensitive information between the two sides, and there was no need to satisfy her curiosity.
Since even the Divine Wall couldn't block her lie-detection ability, it was better to just refuse outright.
Truth be told, he hadn't expected the Wolf Medallion's elemental vision to be useful in detecting weaknesses in a construct-type creature. After all, sorcerers also possessed the ability to sense elements.
And according to free elves well-versed in constructology, the gargoyle before them was a mature product custom-made by Rissberg Group's Civil Cooperative Organization specifically to counter sorcerers.
Even she herself needed considerable time to pinpoint the location of the active rune.
Who would've thought that a spur-of-the-moment attempt would allow the Wolf Medallion to make such a great contribution?
[Name: Wolf Medallion]
[Type: Magic Spirit]
[Function: Consumes a small amount of stamina to detect abnormal fluctuations]
[Note: You thought it could only see magic?]
In his mind, the mental link belonging to the Wolf Medallion conveyed an excited emotion, and Allen generously sent back a few words of praise.
"It was rude of me."
Hearing Allen's refusal, Ida Emean froze for a moment before somewhat awkwardly offering an apology.
"It's fine," Allen waved it off and asked, "Can we find Tomas Moreau's laboratory now?"
"Of course."
She nodded, circled behind the gargoyle, and tapped a spot on its lower back. A strange black stone shaped like a heart popped out.
This was different from the game — in the game, the mechanism was triggered by the gargoyle's right foot.
After taking out the stone, Ida Emean placed it in the center of a stone tray beside the statue.
Once the tray sank, she walked over to the staff gripped by the statue and lightly tapped a plum blossom–shaped pattern on its shaft with her right hand.
Buzz~
The Wolf Medallion instantly gave a low hum.
In the hall, three levels in total, eight portals appeared on each level — twenty-four in all.
Again, similar but not the same.
In the game there were also portals, but far fewer in number.
In the game, you could mess around and try your luck, but here there was no hint — with bad luck, you might be stuck trying forever. Of course, even in the game, so much time had passed that he had long forgotten how to clear this stage. Fortunately, Ida Emean knew.
"Follow me," she said softly, then led him to the third floor, to the portal the statue's eyes were gazing toward.
Stepping through, they entered another hall filled with portals.
But Ida Emean was unfazed, leading him instead to the first floor, to the portal pointed at between the statue's feet.
Then it was the second floor, first floor, third floor…
After passing through six portals in a row, Allen couldn't help but silently complain that Tomas Moreau must have mental issues — making it so troublesome just to enter a laboratory. He even began to wonder if Ida Emean had taken a wrong turn, when—
"This portal should be it," Ida Emean said, taking a deep breath in front of a portal on the second floor, before stepping straight through.
Allen followed closely behind.
Sure enough.
Darkness and light flashed before his eyes, and when he opened them again, they were no longer in the hall. Finally here… Allen looked at Ida Emean's graceful figure ahead and had just begun to relax when—
Buzz~
The Wolf Medallion suddenly vibrated violently.
Allen froze for a moment, as a strange yet familiar feeling welled up in his mind.
It was as if a misty silver veil wrapped around him, one end coiling and enclosing him, the other stretching far into the infinite darkness.
In a brief daze, the abnormal sensation vanished completely.
His heartbeat quickened — a sudden, inexplicable premonition…
Allen instinctively took a deep breath.
"This is destiny calling…"
.......
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