30 The Witch

Dan was running on his way north-east of the castle. He didn't care about dangerous animals. Nearby ran a level 28 cat that could handle any beast in the area. There were five narrow paths in different directions from the castle. The paths were no roads, the real road started from the city gates and lasted several miles, and it had a stone base. Hunters' possessions were large, with a map of the clan leader showing an area of nearly 4,000 square miles. Dangerous locations were highlighted in red, and Dan fled to one of the dangerous locations, to the hunters' border. He thought it was only a miracle that allowed Jim and Gandalf to survive. The trail was clearly visible, a few steps wide, but the guys could walk about 50 miles to the village. They were very lucky not to meet any local wolves.

Sometimes there were strange low stone pillars in its path. Dan would stop and inspect them thoroughly. He didn't find anything interesting.

He could only run for a few minutes. Dan didn't want to take any chances and move with a full scale of fatigue. Two hours later on the road, the idea of going out in the afternoon didn't seem good or smart to him. Dan was just talking about it. There's a dangerous place ahead, but there's a rebirth point in dangerous places. A rebirth point is a safe place, so he can spend the night in some kind of hiding place. But as he walked, he remembered the werewolf fight. There was no safe hiding place near the werewolf lair!

Ask a witch to visit? Maybe that creep lives in a house with a rebirth point. The scouts couldn't thoroughly investigate that direction. They found level 15 animals, saw level 20 predators, they had enough of this information and they went elsewhere.

Dan had been walking the trail fast for seven hours. During that time, he was able to get close to the place on the scout map that they marked as the Dread Altar. That's where Jim and Gandalf appeared.

It's been an hour since Dan was accompanied by an unpleasant company. There were a lot of dead people meeting in these places. Skeletons were level 15, they ignored the sinner. But these parasites were constantly attacking his cat! The progression slowed down a little. Pussy made it clear that the host didn't have to worry. She was able to destroy a couple of enemies. But Dan was annoyed by the fact that she was losing health. He was worried and didn't want to go to a dangerous place with a partner who wasn't in full health. His inventory contained excellent regeneration enhancement potions. Anna worked hard and her potions were already superior to any product in the village.

Anna gave Dan a short lecture on the peculiarities of developing the specialty Alchemist. The player had excellent prospects for development. Alchemy had to deal with three types of ingredients. These were ingredients of plant origin, extracted from animals and ingredients with magical properties that were extracted from all kinds of monsters. Local alchemists could start developing by working with one type of ingredient. An herbalist lived in the village and many hunters could boil a weak regeneration potion. But to mix different kinds of ingredients, the local alchemist had to study at the city university. And that cost a lot of money.

Anna was immediately able to investigate mixtures of ingredients of three kinds. In town, she didn't spend money buying recipes.

For every open recipe for a potion, she received one point of Glory. But the game didn't spoil the novice alchemist. If she learned a way to create a vegetable-based regeneration potion, she could only get 1 point of Glory. Then she could find a new recipe based on other vegetable ingredients, but she didn't get anything from the Game.

Her friend Nick was a major disappointment in the development of a red-headed alchemist. That rascal turned out to be the Friend of All Animals! He could kill animals, but as punishment for the game, he hardly received any valuable trophies. Anna was so counting on the archer's help in extracting animal materials. She had to do everything herself, with her own hands. She wouldn't waste time hunting. It's stupid to run through the woods and kill cute animals. Anna asked Nick, and he bought some fishing nets in the village. The girl went fishing! There was a small river running next to the castle, and Anna was able to get her prey. She even had an offer to take the skill of fishing, but she did not pay attention to these little things. Fish proved to be a useful source of organic materials. Sometimes even magical ingredients could be found in Anna. Anna was allowed to have all three raw materials at her disposal and took the researcher's wide path. As a result, she could already boil the weak healing potion! The portion restored only 100 HP, but it was for free, it was its clan production.

Dan had a stock of different potions but didn't want to waste it. He remembered the situation he was once driven into by the game. This time, he even carried a spare set of armor with him. The sinner had long realized that his life in this world would be full of surprises.

And the surprise didn't keep him waiting. But it was a pleasant surprise, even though it looked nasty and disgusting.

Dan saw the altar and saw the runes on it! The player hadn't noticed the ugly smell from the altar, and the dried blood on the altar surface didn't worry him or frighten him. Dan even took a ragout of his inventory and cleaned some of the places on the surface to make sure he wouldn't miss a single symbol or a single rune. Dan pulled out the notebook and worked. Pussy was guarding this crazy researcher. Soon, she signaled an enemy approach. Dan jumped off his knees and armed himself. Out of the darkness, a skeleton came out on him. A swordsman, with a shield, level 18, normal type. Dan thought the cat should be taken out of the game. No way to do anything serious! The undead wouldn't pay attention to him, the dead would try to attack the animal, his cat.

Dan put his swords in his inventory. He pulled out his notebook and turned his face down the aisle. On the surface of the ominous stone torture table were the melted remains of the candles. Dan didn't light the candles, the light couldn't light the sides of the low altar, and he didn't want to draw any extra attention to himself.

The player was not afraid of a sudden attack, the cat had clear orders to respond to any threat. But she did not consider skeletons as a threat. They were a hindrance, and Dan was in complete agreement with her. Pussy took up the skeleton, Dan had more interesting things to do.

After a while, he was convinced that the altar was no longer of any interest in research. Pussy killed four skeletons and one zombie at that time. The little one already understood that there is a certain level of her development, the achievement of which will please her new ability to kill enemies. She felt the closeness of level 30! And she was bold and brave.

Dan stood at the altar and didn't know how to find the witch. Waiting for her at the altar? Wrong decision. There's no telling when the witch will come with the new victim to have another session of torture. Why would she do that? Dan thought she might have a skill similar to that of a sinner. The more you hurt the victims, the better for the executioner.

He didn't want to wander around this dangerous place at night. He didn't want to sleep at the altar. The player with doubtful eyes looked at the path that left the altar in an unknown direction. He felt good, he did not want to sleep. Dan went on a quest for adventure.

He walked the trail and with every step he realized that the pet had to be removed from the game. The number of undead grew with each step. The sinner stopped and stroked the cat on the head:

\"Rest, Honey, restore your health, if I get in trouble, I'll call you.\"

Then he went on alone. Pretty soon he saw familiar skeletons of scouts, archers, skeletons with spears, zombies and ghouls. It was strange that there was no banshee. Dan didn't notice any harmful creatures. He did not like these flying nasty women ghosts, with dislike, remembering his fears and death in the cemetery. He didn't see any vampires. But he did notice some ghosts. These ghosts were an undead creature who used the mental magic of intimidation. The player remembered all sorts of horrors and saw nightmare fantasies, the player froze and the ghost sucked the life out of man. These creatures were attacked from a few steps away. Nasty opponents for honest warriors.

Dan was walking, reading the descriptions carefully, and he wasn't worried. A new day had come. After midnight, he went into the live dead player mode and his mind became calmer. Dan did not become slow and stupid, he thought and analyzed everything perfectly. But some coolness wasn't quite normal. He hadn't figured out his features yet. They didn't prevent him from successfully killing monsters and that was the main thing.

Soon he realized that the levels of the counter undead had increased. Level 20 had become common to his dead company. Dan didn't see any organization in dead people's actions. They roamed around with no visible purpose.

Suddenly, a stunning picture opened up before the sinner's eyes. He froze with excitement.

Dan was standing a few steps from the cliff. He almost fell down from a great height. He couldn't see clearly what was down there and in front of his eyes, but he could see some large light massifs far ahead.

The player approached the edge of the cliff carefully. And he saw that the trail was going down. Dan slowly took a few steps forward, the slope was strong but safe, he could hold on his feet. Dan noticed that on the sides of the trail there were low stone pillars, not his usual. The pillars now stood on both sides of the trail and a neat recess was made on top of each pillar. Dan immediately realized that the hollow was for oil or other liquids that could be set on fire and light the road.

It was a road to a strange place. Dan already knew he was facing a new mystery. And what caught his attention most was the whitewashed darkness of the massif far ahead and far below.

The behavior of the undead had not changed. Although the player knew for sure that he had invaded the new location, he definitely crossed a certain boundary. But the game itself did not warn him with a new message.

The slope was losing its tilt, Dan had already gone far enough down that hollow. And finally his eyes saw familiar objects. Dan smiled at a nice picture of his eye.

The crypts! Monuments and crypts! He's in the cemetery!

This may seem strange, but he's already a little out of control. The cemetery wasn't just a source of creepy and unpleasant memories for Dan from the battle a few weeks ago. But in that cemetery, he first started developing his skills as a librarian. Now he knew how important his specialty was, it wasn't just a part of the game, it was the most attractive part of his new life. Killing monsters is a good and useful thing, but it's destructive and somehow primitive.

It was important for Dan to be aware of his importance as a researcher of this world, as a person of sense. Being a normal human hunter wasn't enough for Dan.

He smiled and walked carefully to the first crypt. A crypt is a wall and a roof. It's a sanctuary, it's what you needed to rest.

To his disappointment, the crypt was an inconvenient place to sleep. The stone doors of the structure were destroyed, a player lit a torch inside the room and discovered an empty stone coffin. Dan wanted to leave and start looking for the whole crypt, but then he thought he was doing the wrong thing. This is where you can set up a temporary shelter. He put the torch on the floor and started carrying large pieces of stone to the entrance. He managed to lay the entrance almost completely with stones, he was a little tired and realized that in the morning he would have to dismantle his barricade. But he was already very sleepy. And even his tiredness was pleasant to him, it quenched his enthusiasm and desire to roam this strange place and further.

In the end, Dan took out some kind of thin mattress from the inventory, put it on the floor, covered it with his cloak and went to bed. He wouldn't call the cat. He didn't find a temporary rebirth point. Surrounded by the undead, the cat could have provoked enemies to attack. The player wasn't looking for attention, he wanted to go to sleep.

***

Dan had a good night's sleep. When he woke up, he wouldn't act like greed. He took two pieces of meat jerky out of his inventory and called Pussy. The cat looked around and made it clear she didn't like the place. But she took a piece of meat as an apology for her master's bad taste. Dan pulled a small bowl out of his inventory and filled it with water from a flask. He drank it himself and approached the pile of rocks that had blocked the entrance to the crypt.

\"You know, Pussy, I think I can get out if I climb up. Eat fast and we'll move on.\"

Pussy looked at him with a very expressive look that mixed frustration with reproach.

Dan took his eyes to the side and mumbled that it was a dangerous place, and she'd better be in a safe place for now, but nothing would happen to him, he'd be very careful...

The cat drank water and sat down, showing off its insulted pride.

The sinner sighed and withdrew the pet from the game. The cat didn't like it here, but Dan noticed some interesting things on the walls of the crypt at night. Now he's at work in the morning. He was rewriting the inscriptions. He copied the images of runes and symbols. The player carefully examined the place and did not find the hiding places, but the gems and jewelry he saw and took away.

Then Dan packed his bags and got out.

Morning, fog and chill met the adventurer. It was useless to light a torch, a few steps away Dan couldn't make out anything. The cursed fog stirred and inspired an unpleasant feeling of helplessness in the face of an enemy attack.

Dan thought that if he walked on the road, he could come to an important and interesting place.

And he came to a place like this! He did not often stop at monuments and crypts, but this time the sinner could not pass by. He saw the crypt whose walls were decorated with beautiful images and many runes and symbols. Scenes of fights with monsters carved on a stone surface had inscriptions that told about feats of the hero who found eternal rest in this place.

Dan took out a notebook, threw the torch at his feet and began to sketch valuable information. He paid no attention to the world around him.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar sound behind his back. There were many new sounds in this world that came into the lives of players. The sound of the sword, when it leaves the sheath, was familiar to every hunter.

Dan froze and instantly removed the notebook and took out the sword. He turned abruptly and saw a familiar figure coming out of the mist on him.

It was a draugr. And this monster had intelligence enough to see the sinner as an enemy. It was proved by meeting him on the ruins of Galatea. Dan realized that his skill had many nuances in it.

He was ready for battle. But he took no risks and activated 'Horrible transformation'.

The world finally lost its colors, the sinner felt anger at the enemy, which prevented him from doing important work. Needles of cold pierced his whole body, but then the pain went away, and there was an unpleasant feeling in his whole body. But Dan knew that his agility and strength hadn't suffered. He had prepared the sword to strike. Prepared it to activate the 'Chains of Sins' and 'Autodafe'. But he froze surprised by the strange behavior of the enemy.

Level 39 Draugr has stopped. The monster bowed his head to his shoulder and began to look at the stranger. The dead warrior's hand put the sword in its sheath and an unpleasant sound was heard in silence. It was a loud rustle and crackle, but the sounds were adding up to words. Words were heard in an unfamiliar language. Draugr asked:

\"Who salue tvoy trecke?\"

Different thoughts flashed quickly into Dan's head. He was ready to attack the enemy, was interested in a strange language and almost understood the meaning of the question, and even knew the answer. But the sinner had no absolute certainty. He was prepared to activate his attack skills and answered quietly:

\"Sardar.\"

Draugr was silent and stood still. Then he turned around and went into the fog.

Dan suddenly realized that no witches in this place would survive. And he didn't belong here! He has a quest, a debt to the clan. First the case, and then he'll be satisfied with his personal research and interests.

The sinner removed his sword, raised his torch from the ground and went up the path. He went up the hillside and thought that this place he would explore for a long time.

Several important inscriptions on the walls of the crypts he had been able to decipher were enough for Dan to make an important discovery. He didn't just discover a cemetery. It was a cemetery of ancient monster hunters! Dan didn't understand one thing, how could they die if they were immortal? On the other hand, even gods can die in this cursed world! Too many mysteries. He's got a lot to work on.

Now he was doing a simpler job, he was looking for a witch. The sinner went back down the altar and called Pussy. The cat started his hunt, Dan continued his hunt. He carefully researched the space around the altar. But he couldn't find any path.

Maybe this witch can fly, he thought.

He couldn't find any sign of the witch. He got angry, and it's a good thing he wasn't in a dead warrior's condition. He thought he was ready to take out his sword and start chopping trees with anger. In the end, Pussy was angry about his master's condition and she pointed Dan to the traces left by his enemy. The cat jumped up to the sinner and hit him with her paw, then walked away and he realized that she had found the witch's trail. Dan took a few steps after the cat and saw that he was standing on a narrow path.

But he was definitely looking at this place! Is this some kind of witchcraft and diversion?

\"Pussy, you're good, you've been a big help. Let's go and find this scum.\"

He took the path and soon met his target.

The witch was no longer hiding, she stood on the path and laughed:

\"You're so stupid. Why did you come to me? Another hunter in search of prey. You found your death. But first I will play with you,\" said the witch.

Dan looked at her and saw that she was strong. The witch was 32 levels. But she wasn't triggered by the 'Cognition of evil'. So she was a local woman who took the villain's path. Dan wouldn't move, he would activate 'Autodafe' without a word. The skill worked but strangely. The witch didn't feel any threat, she just saw a strange gesture from a stranger. The gesture seemed insolent and defiant to her.

\"You're too bold, boy, my servants will teach you a good tone!\"

And at that moment two male figures came out of the forest behind her back. Dan kept a close eye on the new enemies. Strong bodies, but slow motion. The enemies were moving like zombies. But they certainly weren't dead. Skills. 'Cognition of evil' didn't work again. But Dan had enough to look at men more closely to know they weren't zombies. The men's bodies were bloody and cut up. Dan noticed strange scars on their faces that looked like symbols carved into the body. Dan took a closer look and realized he was right. It's the 'Dolls'. That's what the inscriptions on his opponents' faces said. One man was 24 levels, another was 28 levels. At that moment, a witch reached out and whispered something in his direction.

Dan wasn't waiting anymore. He did not want to turn into a draugr again, he felt too disgusted when he returned to his usual state. But he had another ultimatum weapon, too.

They cursed each other at the same time!

The chains of his sins flew from the sinner's body to the witch, he froze.

Dan felt the blood boiling in his body. But at the same time, he wanted to fall to the ground and rest. Only a dream of salvation would help him live through that curse. There was a noise in his head, fragments of a strange battle in the woods. Some kind of animal was killing people. The terrible beast was just tearing poor hunters apart.

Suddenly it became clear in Dan's head, he heard a loud woman scream and clearly saw that his Pussy was fighting the enemy while he stood there like a fool and looked at his strange fantasies.

Dan jumped up to the man who tried to stab his cat with a big knife and deftly knocked off the enemy's arm with a weapon. Then he gave the command to the pet, Pussy bounced off his opponent in a flash and rushed to the cripple. Dan started killing the man who was coming off the ground. The sinner wasn't paying attention to the blood. The man's almost complete absence of a face on his head didn't bother Dan. The cat practically ripped all the skin off his opponent's face. The sinner made two strikes. One he cut off the enemy's head, and the other hit right into the body. You can't play with these guys, strange enemies, strange! He is already accustomed to the conditions of battle with monsters when you can see a strip of the health of your opponent. It was convenient, it was unrealistic, reminded that the whole world is a game. Dan was addicted to monsters. But now it's the first time he's killed a living person. Local people. He wasn't thinking about responsibility. They attacked him.

He wasn't worried about the witch, either. The woman cried out in pain.

108 seconds of suffering and nightmares, baby! I'll remind you of a young man named Gandalf, you evil bitch!

He gave the order, and the cat left her enemy alone. She killed him. Dan saw a funny moment once again. Pussy sometimes expressed her triumph after the fight just, she could jump right up. It was an unexpected and funny sight.

Dan looked at the menu and saw two reports of his experiences.

Now there was the main adversary, and the sinner approached the witch.

She was no longer screaming, she was moaning in pain.

Dan smiled, he saw the skilled picture very well, from this picture you could see how much time was left until the end of the spell.

The witch's throat was bleeding. The woman could not be called beautiful, the face of an ordinary woman, but now she could be called a disgusting freak. The witch's face blushed and was distorted by suffering. She wheezed:

\"I give up, master. Leave me alive. I will pay! I cannot die.\"

\"It's a strange world, witch. There are enough people in it that can't die. But everyone dies. Even gods and hunters and players.\"

Dan put a blade point to the witch's neck. If she twitches, if she tries to resist in any way, he'll just cut off her head with one hand.

But the witch has already given up.

\"Why did you do that? I'm not your enemy? I pray for forgiveness. The Master was talking about people like you. We are on the same side.\"

How interesting! A witch has a Master! Let's hear what else this thing has to say.

Dan knew he was disgusting, he stood there and watched the agony of a living person. It wasn't a good woman who personally was very unpleasant to him. She tortured Gandalf. But at the time, the sinner understood that he was being inhumane. But Tarrok was asleep and stayed out of his head with suggestions to \"honor a worthy opponent.\" The time of the skill was running out. The witch did not say anything anymore, she moaned and it seemed that now her eyes would fall out of the eye sockets.

In the final seconds of the action, Dan pierced her throat with a sword. Then he punched another blow to cut off her head. The locals had an abominable sense of justice. The clan took a quest to kill the witch. Proof of its victory has to be provided.

*

[Congratulations! You have completed the quest 'Kill the Unclean'. 12 points of Glory have been obtained. Got 24000 points of experience]

*

Dan immediately reported Nick's quest:

\"I killed a witch. How's your day?\"

\"Well done. I'll trade her head for 40 gold. Was there a problem? We're good. We're having fun.\"

\"No problem. I have news. It's interesting. I'll search for her house. I'll look for the cursed artifacts.\"

\"Work the Inquisitor. Well done. If you see a fox, tell me for sure!\"

Dan smiled, the ranger couldn't calm down and wanted to impose a pet on Anna's neck. Maybe he was right, his cat was a good helper.

\"You're my pretty girl. Pussy! Stop eating human meat! You can't eat human meat! Get away from that poor man. It's not his fault.\"

Dan knew it was the poor adventurer's fault. Everyone in this world is to blame. This man's desire for wealth has taken him to dangerous places. Nick already told the guys that all these 'advanced dead' are the result of local hunters' greed. The locals are getting into dangerous places! There's not a piece of flesh left in cemeteries to feed the dead for a long time. But there are always those who like to dig in other people's graves and crypts.

Dan collected the trophies and the bodies of his enemies are gone. The witch's head didn't disappear, and the player put it in his inventory. There was no booty from the hunters' bodies. From the witch's body, he got a torture knife, some nice rings with a boost to intellect and a small book. The book had a leather cover, and Dan immediately realized it was human skin. He decided to get a good look at the late trophy.

Now he was walking down an inconspicuous path towards the witch's house. She has to live somewhere. Somewhere she has to store her supplies and her prey.

The trail led him to a small house. The house stood on a meadow, all overgrown with bushes and was completely unnoticeable against the grass.

Dan pulled out his sword and entered the house. Pussy went straight into the corner and froze by the bed. Dan came up and saw the baby.

He stood there and looked at the little girl. Who was sick. She was awake, but her eyes were closed. The girl was moaning quietly. It was visible that she was crying.

Dan wasn't ready for that. So what's he going to do now?

\"What are you going to do now, player?\"

The quiet voice behind his back made the sinner freeze and prepare for battle.