Chapter 223 The Demon Hunter Order is almost here.
The culture of any place is diverse.
The people of the Islands worship Freya, the goddess of fertility, love, beauty, and harvest, as well as the patron saint of seers, diviners, and psychics.
But Freya is not the only god in Skellige. Various beliefs will arise everywhere for various reasons, such as the subject that the seven major family lords are discussing at the moment - Svablo.
The people of the Islands have no way of verifying whether this evil god named "Svablo" really exists. But around this evil god, a sect was indeed established in the Skellig Islands, and it became popular in some areas.
The Svablo cult has only one commandment: kill. This coincides with the character of some Skellige pirates, and they are therefore extremely loyal.
Among the countless "miracles" of the Svablo sect, the one that drives the warriors crazy the most is the "Berserker". It is said that believers who have loyal faith in the evil god can enjoy the gift and gain the ability to transform into a giant bear.
This is why the lords can now accurately target the Svablo sect - the sudden appearance of bears at the banquet can illustrate the problem.
But the sect with such "miracles" and powerful defensive warriors was eventually wiped out.
Because the Svablo cultists liked to sacrifice living people to the gods, they once used this as an excuse to bloodbath almost the entire village in the Skellig Islands. This made the lords realize the seriousness of the matter, so they united to destroy the temple of the Svablo cult, tied their followers to long ships, took off the sails, and sent them into the deep sea.
But now it seems that the original belief extermination movement was not clean enough, otherwise today's accident would not have happened.
It is also because of this that King Bran's proposition can be accepted by other lords - the achievement of completely annihilating the Svablo sect is enough to support a lord to become the king.
And the reason why he made this idea was partly for East - the people of the Islands should not prevent their relatives and friends from pursuing glory, so even though King Bran thought deep down in his heart that East's behavior of challenging the ice giant was tantamount to Suicide is still difficult to directly dissuade.
But King Bran was still looking for a way to get East to give up the crusade against the giants.
Putting forward the idea that "he who destroys Svablo will be king" is an opportunity that King Bran seeks: the defeated generals who were once crippled by the Skelligs and could only survive were more beautiful than those in the legend of the Islanders. The peerless ferocious beast that has existed for hundreds of thousands of years is much easier to deal with.
...
After King Bran issued the initiative, no one was willing to be the first to speak out in this situation.
Those who were qualified to speak out were also shocked and speechless by King Bran's decision at this moment - such as East.
However, although the hall was quiet, the various flickering eyes in it could clearly express the emotions of each lord: some were surprised to hear the good news and were excited and unable to contain themselves, some looked worried and didn't know how to deal with it, and some looked in a daze and stayed away from the matter.
After a few breaths, the respected old lord Dona Ann Cinda finally coughed twice and stood up.
He exchanged glances with King Bran, looked meaningfully at East, who looked anxious, and Lan, who was also shocked by King Bran's decision, and said to the lords of the other major families.
"Your Majesty's decision is very reasonable. The Svablo sect is the enemy of our elders and is also our enemy today. The elimination of the Svablo sect is equivalent to completing the achievements that our ancestors failed to do, and it also washes away the past for us. Today's shame, avenge us. Such a person deserves our support and our support."
After hearing this, the lords exchanged glances and nodded.
"Agree."
"However, I still hope that your majesty will think more about it. What is happening now is not your fault, and it cannot cover up your previous achievements. I hope you can..." "I have made up my mind, Dona
. King Bran interrupted, "Those warriors who died at my banquet should have had more legendary adventures, fighting powerful enemies for the islands. Now their honor has come to an abrupt end, and this is a shame that I cannot wash away."
...
All the lords left after a brief exchange of opinions. Some immediately began to move around in a panic, obviously trying to seize this rare opportunity to convince everyone and ascend to the throne of the archipelago. There
are The others looked indifferent and seemed to have no interest in this position at all. However, the relationship between these lords and the king was not very close, so they did not stay long and returned to their respective fiefdoms early. They still had many things to deal with. Before leaving, the
lords They all expressed a certain degree of gratitude to Lann, and no longer had the previous scrutiny, fear, etc. The people of the Islands were all the same. Even though Lann was a confirmed supporter of East, he had shown it in front of everyone before. The force of force shocked everyone. The islanders admired brave men, so their attitude towards Lann would naturally change.
Secondly, it is an indisputable fact that Lann saved everyone in the banquet hall before, and the lords must accept his honor. To be honest
, if Lan now proposes that these lords give up running for the king, under the coercion of favor, he might be able to get some of them to agree.
Lan really has the intention to do this, but in the end He was still stopped by East.
Because this went back to East's original intention of trying to conquer the ice giant: while becoming a king, he would also have enough prestige to mobilize the armies of major families.
Through Lan's favor , It is indeed possible to make competitors give up, but no one can tell how much they will fulfill East's orders afterwards.
It is better to leave Lan En's kindness behind and wait for a more appropriate time to let it take effect. .At
this moment, the brothers East and King Bran are still in the conference room. In addition to Lann, there are also Kratz and Dona Ann Sinda of the Haimei family. One of the
seven major families . Three, this is the current strength of East's side.
The most powerful Klett family and Tursek family have long been determined to be closely united, and the addition of the Haimei family surprised Lann even more. "
I As he got older, he had no choice but to take on the responsibilities of the lord because there was no young man in the family who could take charge of his own affairs. "Dona smiled and explained, "I don't dare to think about becoming a king. That would be too difficult for me, an old man. "
King Bran introduced to everyone: "I have been lobbying Dona before, and his position has always been very close to ours. He is one of the families that has promised to send troops to support Cintra - even the one with relatively strong support. family. "
"If Bran resigns as king, no other lord will be eligible for my support. After thinking about it, East is the most suitable. The old man nodded with a smile and looked at Lan, "It turns out that my choice was not wrong. I have already received the favor before I even started to fulfill my obligations - thank you for your life-saving grace, Lion." "
Lan smiled and became modest.
"Dona's joining is also the confidence for me to propose this initiative. "King Bran added, "He has good relations with the priests of Freya Temple, and they will definitely spare no effort to fight against heretics like Svablo, so that we can get twice the result with half the effort. "
Don't underestimate them. Although the priests may not be proficient in combat, they still have various magical skills - the Virgin Freya also has the priesthood of 'prophecy'!" "
Dona smiled and nodded.
Thinking about it, King Bran must have paved the way for his brother if he dared to propose such a proposal as "Whoever destroys Svablot will be king".
"It's just that this time, East wants Lan to help you more. I'm going to investigate the loopholes in the castle." King Bran said with a gloomy face.
"Let the enemy enter the castle and kill my allies. If this matter is not investigated clearly, the glory of the Tursek family will be destroyed." ——
[
Discovery Mission-Silent Fury:
The Skellige People They are known throughout the world for their brutality and bellicosity, but even they cannot tolerate the brutal Svablo cult. They once thought they had eliminated this bloody and cruel sect from the islands, but now it has returned to the islanders' sight in a tragic way. In order to complete the unfinished business of his ancestors and to wash away his own shame, the king decided to let the person who destroyed Svablo inherit the throne - this may also be your chance, lion. 】
This is the first time Lann has received conflicting tasks.
Previously, I received the task of hunting down the ice giant and winning the king's crown through East. This time, I received the task of destroying Svablo and making him king. It is obvious that the two cannot be completed at the same time.
If given a choice, Lan would still prefer to accept this mission generated by King Bran's request.
Even though it was East, he accepted King Bran's proposal with complicated thoughts after thinking for a while. He is not a stubborn person. He can also become a king, gain the support of the lords, and thereby avenge Calanthe against Nilfgaard. Svablo, who has been maimed once by the islanders, is easier to deal with than the ice giant.
The next step of the journey was thus determined - follow Dona An Sinda to Indarsfell Island, seek help from the Freya Sect, and annihilate the Svablo Sect.
——Lan
has one last thing to complete before officially setting off.
While East and the others were making preparations, the lion-eyed young man walked into his living room.
A pair of amber cat eyes looked towards him, obviously waiting for a long time.
This gaze did not come from any one of Geralt, Kolgrim, and Korn, but from the boxer who fought a giant bear alone at the banquet and won.
The boxer is tall and strong. He is more than half a head taller than the burliest Skellige guard around him; his shoulders are extremely broad and his arms are thick. Lann immediately summoned Letho to follow him through the portal. The urge to compare figures.
He has mohawk braids on his head, and his attire has been changed into a suit of armor with a cotton-padded jacket as the base, chain lining as the lining, and steel plates as the exterior. His arms were bare, and he wore leather gauntlets and elbow pads, exposing half of his upper arms and his entire shoulders. The muscles on them were bulging like rocks.
The steel plates on this man's armor look very thick, but on his body it only gives people the visual effect of "light armor". Lan had always felt that when this man fought against the giant bear, it was like one bear knocking down another bear.
The fact is also close to Lann's idea - this man also carries the iconic double swords on his back, and a badge with a bear's head engraved on his chest is roaring wildly.
...
Judging from the outline of his skin and facial features, this man was obviously not from Skellige, but his hairstyle, clothing, and even personality all showed a tendency to be assimilated by the islanders at this moment.
The moment he saw Lan En, the strong man's eyes lit up. He laughed boldly and walked towards Lan En, loudly expressing his joy and admiration at seeing Lan En.
"Rann of Cintra, right? A lion! I've heard your name, but I never thought it would be so surprising to actually meet you!" "I didn't even expect you to be
a lion. Eagle! And you also team up with wolves and snakes. Is this a new trend? Or has the situation on the mainland changed that I don't know about?" "I always thought
you were an earl, but I just heard you bring it here. People say that you have become a Duke, congratulations!"
"I have to say that your seal is so beautiful! That [Arden Seal] can actually distinguish between ourselves and the enemy, and it can also cover the entire hall. How did you do it? Yes, is it convenient for us to communicate? If you don't mind, I can use my exclusive [Quen's Seal] skill to exchange with you!" The strong man walked towards Lann, his muffled laughter seemed to be roaring on the rocks
.
That heroic look made Lann feel like he would fall into a bear hug the next moment. Even for a person like Lann who had experienced social situations, he was stunned for a moment when he saw such a scene.
But fortunately, the other party also knew that it was their first meeting, and after taking a few steps closer, he stopped three places away from Lan.
He stretched out his hand, which was also a hand with a very wide palm distance.
"First meeting, I am Gede, a demon hunter of the Bear School."
...
After gathering griffins, wolves, snakes, and cats, Lan finally met the Bear, a demon hunter of the new school.
Theoretically speaking, the Bear School is also one of the sources of the current bad reputation of witchers. They perfectly fit the stereotype of ordinary people about witchers-the mutation of witchers will eliminate their emotions.
The founder of the Bear School is Anahad, one of the first generation demon hunters transformed by the genius warlock Arzu.
The technology of the first generation was extremely immature, and the instability of the mutation was shocking even in Arzu's era. But Anahad managed to survive such a random experiment, and was very different from all other witchers except him.
Anahad has extremely developed physical strength, can wield heavier weapons than others, and is covered with thicker armor than others; at the same time, he also has extremely indifferent emotions, and almost never has any emotional ups and downs, neither anger nor anger. No sadness, no happiness, no warmth with partners.
At the same time, Anahad was also the direct driving force behind the disintegration of the Demon Hunter Order. Anahad has always scorned the cult's noble pursuit of "protecting people and conquering monsters". After the leader of the cult left, he regarded monster hunting as a simple "getting paid to do things" job.
During one of the missions, Anahad met other fellow witchers. When a demon hunter of that period encountered such a situation, he should have been pleasantly surprised to have a companion who could help him, but Anahad believed that the other party had robbed him of his "business", and a dispute arose, and eventually the swords turned against each other.
It is said that Anahad slashed the compatriot from shoulder to waist with just one sword blow, almost killing him on the spot.
However, the demon hunters of that period were also exaggeratedly powerful. The demon hunter who was injured by Anahad actually managed to hold on for a breath, and used the horned devil he was going to attack to hold back Anahad, and then fled into the wilderness dragging his seriously injured body. Anahad's atrocities were reported to his fellow witchers.
The news eventually made its way back to the Witcher Order.
This was the first time in history that there was an internal conflict between witchers. Other witchers in the order were particularly angry. Companions who could not stand Anahad's usual behavior vowed to punish Anahad.
Anahad seemed to have anticipated this situation, so he immediately led the second internal conflict among the witchers in history - and this time it was a large-scale armed conflict.
The final result was that Anahad led a group of demon hunters who were dissatisfied with the purpose of the order and officially broke with the order, and thus kicked off the disintegration of the Witcher order.
This first group of demon hunters who left the sect used the "bear" as their symbol. Under the guidance of the dwarves, they set up the sect's base camp in the Amer Mountains at the junction of the north and the south. They used the severe cold weather and The harsh geographical environment trains one's apprentices.
Anahad is a special individual among the first generation of demon hunters, and his mutation content has been subject to additional research. He brought out the results of this research, causing the apprentices after the Xiong School to have cold emotions and strong bodies like him, as well as an extremely pragmatic outlook on life: work for money, never talk about ideals .
If necessary, they don't mind pointing their swords at humans or even fellow demon hunters who block their way. The only difference between them and the Cat Faction is that they will not take the initiative to accept murder commissions.
Of course, just like other schools of thought, the Bear Sect no longer has a base camp. But their story is much more dramatic:
the cause of the matter seems to be that a failed crusade against vampires aroused the dissatisfaction of surrounding mobs. They have long had resentments - they would rather fight with monsters than with emotionless mutants. Living next to each other.
And when these mutants "lost" the ability to defeat monsters, the mob decided to eliminate them.
This may be the only riot that does not have a warlock behind the scenes, and if a group of emotionless heavy-armored magic swordsmen face off against a mob that only has pitchforks and scythes, the final outcome may be really hard to say.
However, the Bear School did not have the will to fight collectively. After learning about the mob going up the mountain, the members of the Bear School still seemed indifferent. They neither wanted to do unnecessary killings nor had the sincerity to protect the academy, so they parted ways. An empty city was left behind.
The Bear School was disbanded.
...
After seeing Gede, Lan quickly went through the history of the Bear School in his mind.
Just like there can be sane people in a school that is full of crazy cats, the Gerd in front of him is obviously an alternative among the emotionally indifferent bear sect.
This is a person who only appears in the background story, but he is also a person who leaves a deep impression.
Gede originally had a complete set of Bear Faction equipment blueprints on his body, and Lan also learned about his story when he collected blueprints as a player in his previous life.
Simply put, this is a man who will have islanders write poetry and history about him after his death. As a bear, he is more popular than most griffins.
You can see his character by selecting a few paragraphs from the poem:
[Just and brave, unafraid of death,
this is the witcher Geed! ]
[Those who have friends are the luckiest.
They can leave their homes with peace of mind and
everything is fine when they return home.
This is all thanks to the witchers! 】
In the background story of Gede, he almost traveled around the archipelago by singing, drinking and playing cards, hunting vampire birds, female sirens, and even a dragon at the request of others.
But now it seems that Gede has not completed his legendary career, but is in the process of practicing. This time he was attracted by the banquet held by the seven major families because of him.
...
Although Lan is still thinking, his expression, movements and thinking are completely out of touch.
After hearing Gerd's praise and self-introduction, he was still recalling the history of the Bear Faction and the other party, but he returned the greeting almost reflexively.
"Hello, I am Lann of Cintra, Lann Lannister Lealen." "
You are flattering me. I am from the Griffin School. It is very normal to have specialties in seals."
" Your strength is what amazes me. This is the first time I have seen someone use [Quen] to withstand the attack of a giant beast, and stab the opponent to death with a dagger." Gede suddenly choked, he did
n't Happy with Lan's compliment.
"Hey, man. You are still too modest. I saw your way of flashing everywhere and killing five giant bears in one go - is that also a dharma seal?" "And after you left, I also used
hunting The demon senses checked the scene, and I found a giant bear that was beaten to death with fists. Your princess is spreading the news everywhere..." (End of Chapter
)