"Stop!"
Lynn suddenly gripped the master-crafted silver sword on his back, drawing it out a few inches.
His body leaned forward slightly, like an ice wolf ready to pounce at any moment.
His empty left hand formed the sign for the Aard spell, ready to unleash it.
Triss, following behind the witcher, recited a few incantations, and a ball of roaring flames appeared in her hands.
She followed Lynn's gaze.
A few seconds later, a forest wolf suddenly emerged from behind the trees in front of them.
She intended to throw the fireball in her hand, but Lynn stopped her.
At Lynn's reminder, she noticed that this forest wolf was different from the dead wolves they had encountered before.
Although its fur was covered in leaves and mud, its eyes were not blood-red, and its body had no wounds and did not emit a rotten smell.
It was still alive, not a dead wolf.
The forest wolf also saw the two of them after jumping out from behind the tree.
But it didn't attack them.
Instead, it turned around and quickly fled in the other direction in a panic.
The way it looked was as if some terrifying thing was chasing after it.
Just as the wolf was about to escape, suddenly several pitch-black tree roots, like octopus tentacles, shot out from the depths of the forest, grabbed the forest wolf's body, and tightly缠绕 it.
The wolf struggled desperately, its front paws frantically clawing at the muddy ground, but even though it left countless claw marks in the mud, it was still dragged by the roots, dragged into the depths of the forest, and disappeared.
The witcher and the sorceress exchanged a look, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes.
It seemed that the people who had disappeared from their memories had disappeared in the same way.
Lynn cast a Quen shield on himself, and Triss also added a layer of magic shield to herself.
Only then did they continue forward.
...
When the two arrived at the deepest part of the forest, they were immediately shocked by the scene before them.
In the deepest part of the forest stood a tree.
A giant tree.
Its bark was pitch black, and a dark green sap flowed over its surface.
Beneath its canopy, which was like a huge, sun-遮蔽 umbrella, hung numerous sacs.
But upon closer inspection, they would find that trapped inside those sacs were people.
People who were still alive.
Sir Royce, Tyrion, Marillian...
Each of them was wrapped in branch-entwined sacs, with only their heads exposed.
And around the base of the giant tree were a large number of animal corpses lying on the ground in a kneeling posture.
Lynn noticed that the forest wolf he had seen being dragged away earlier was being held aloft by branches, bound head to toe.
Another section of pitch-black root, disregarding the forest wolf's terrified and desperate struggles, suddenly burrowed into its mouth, which was painfully wide open from the pressure.
The wolf struggled even more violently.
But it was useless.
In the end, the forest wolf's struggles grew weaker and weaker until it stopped moving completely. Only then did the branches lower it, placing it around the giant tree, making it kneel in a posture of worship.
"So that's it, so that's how it is," Triss said, her pupils shaking. "I know what this monster is."
"You recognize it?" The library of Kaer Morhen was incomplete.
Because Kaer Morhen had once been besieged, and many important documents and literature had been burned to ashes.
Although Vesemir, the survivor of that massacre, tried hard to recall and rewrite the missing information,
some information was still lost forever.
Triss nodded, her expression grave.
"In the library of Aretuza Academy, there is information recorded about this monster. It is either a monster brought by the Conjunction of the Spheres or a native species of this world."
"The Mother of Flesh, it feeds on intelligent beings, devouring them to transform them into the energy it needs to continue existing in the world. The intelligent beings it devours have even the traces of their existence erased, and even their closest relatives will forget they ever existed."
"So the reason why we don't remember the others who came with us is this."
Lynn frowned slightly.
"But the Eye of Nehaleni could see the footprints left by those who were forgotten. How is that?"
Triss's gaze remained fixed on the terrifying giant tree. She said, "That's because the Mother of Flesh hasn't completely digested them yet, so the illusion-dispelling Eye of Nehaleni can still see them."
"Once completely digested, even the Eye of Nehaleni won't be able to detect them."
"In addition, the Mother of Flesh doesn't like animals and beasts, so it won't devour them. It will only transform them into its servants."
"If I remember correctly, the method of transformation is to first kill them, and then implant the roots of the Mother of Flesh into their bodies. Those roots are similar to parasites and also like extensions of the Mother of Flesh, capable of controlling the corpses to move."
At the same time as the two discovered the Mother of Flesh, the Mother of Flesh seemed to have discovered the intruders.
Although it had no mouth, it emitted sound waves powerful enough to shake the air.
It was like a signal.
The animal corpses that had been kneeling around the giant tree suddenly turned around at the same time, their pairs of scarlet eyes staring fixedly at the witcher and the sorceress.
The scene was truly horrifying.
"Here they come."
Lynn took out a Superior Thunderbolt potion, a Superior Petri's Philter, and a Superior Tawny Owl potion from his pouch, and drank them one after another.
As the Mother of Flesh let out a loud howl, a large number of dead wolves surged over frantically like a tide.
Lynn stretched out both hands, and two scorching streams of fire shot out from his palms.
The flames swept across like fire dragons, crisscrossing.
The Superior Petri's Philter and the "Mutation Enhancement" specialization greatly increased the power of the Igni sign.
The leading dead wolves touched the flames and, as if their bodies were covered in grease, instantly burst into flames, howling in agony.
The wolves behind them, seeing this, actually knew to detour to the sides, trying to avoid the fire dragons spraying from the front.
"They've all been parasitized, yet they can still retain the cunning they had in life? I hate smart monsters."
Complaints aside, the witcher's movements didn't stop.
He reached into another pouch and took out four glass vials.
The ice-blue liquid inside flowed cheerfully.
The wolves that had detoured from the sides had already pounced fiercely.
Without even looking, the witcher forcefully threw the four glass vials in his hands to both sides.
Then, he formed the sign for the Quen shield with both hands.
Bright orange light enveloped him and Triss.
Along with the sound of glass shattering, it felt as if even the air had frozen.
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