Capítulo 272: 273. One Wave After Another.
A strong sense of danger hit Allen like a bucket of ice-cold water, making him shudder and snap out of the heated, festive atmosphere."What's wrong?"
The warm, soft girl in his arms was like a kitten. She wore a carefully crafted floral crown, her eyes full of dreamy affection. She snuggled against Allen's neck, her soft whispers tickling the Witcher's ear.
"May Festival King!"
"May Festival Queen!"
The crowd around them continued to dance and celebrate wildly. Every now and then, a boy would pick up a girl and run toward the darkness beyond the bonfire, the girl's laughter and shouts echoing as she struggled playfully in his arms.
By the nearby bonfire, armored soldiers were tossing bundles of dry pine branches into the flames, making the fire burn even brighter and hotter, illuminating the surroundings.
Not far ahead stood the gates of Ellander.
Everything seemed normal. Though the May Festival parade was nearing its end, the festive atmosphere was as infectious as ever…
No...
Perhaps it was because the festival was winding down that the atmosphere felt even more intense and captivating.
In all directions, there were no sudden appearances of ghouls or wraiths. The exorcism ritual was proceeding as usual.
Allen clenched the sharp-edged wolf medallion in confusion.
Even it wasn't vibrating.
"Was it just an illusion?"the Witcher wondered.
"What's wrong?"The lazy, teasing voice came from the girl in his arms again. She placed one hand on his chest, the firelight dancing like stars in her eyes.
Then, she closed her eyes and tilted her head up, pouting her soft red lips.
She was asking for a kiss.
Allen, who had just shaken off the revelry, paused for a moment. He was about to lower his head to respond to her affection.
"Meteor shower!"
Someone suddenly shouted, and the crowd erupted in chaos, like a sudden wave of excitement.
Instinctively, the Witcher looked up.
Colorful stars were falling from the sky, leaving long, fiery trails behind them. They made the pitch-black, cloudless sky look like the finest velvet.
Why were the meteors so colorful?
A strange question popped into his head.
But before Allen could think further, as he squinted, trying to take in the beauty, he was suddenly struck by a chilling realization.
Under the flickering light of the "meteors," riders galloped through the sky.
Skeletal horses, ghostly armies, greenish-blue flames...
The Wild Hunt!
So, those meteors were...
"Watch out!"
"Get down!"
Allen shouted loudly, but his voice was quickly drowned out by the noisy crowd.
His frantic waving arms were mistaken for a signal to ramp up the celebration, causing the crowd to become even more frenzied.
"May Festival King!"
The crowd cheered again.
More boys grabbed girls and dashed into the bushes. In some twisted way, it was helping. Only the girl in Allen's arms heard his urgent warning. She looked up in confusion, spotting the rapidly approaching "stars."
In an instant, she sobered up.
Allen's prophecy had come true!
Something really was going wrong at the May Festival! Realizing the severity of the situation, Mary fumbled, trying to cast a protective Aard sign for her beloved. But before she could, Allen pulled her close and threw himself into the soft grass on the side of the road.
The next second—
"Boom!"
A deafening explosion shook the earth as if the sky was collapsing. The girl, tightly shielded under the Witcher, lost all hearing in the aftermath of the blast.
All she could feel was the violent tremor coming from the ground, making her feel like her insides were about to shatter. Her mouth opened and closed as she screamed, but she couldn't hear her own voice.
For a long time, everything went blank for Mary, until she finally felt the Witcher on top of her begin to move.
He slowly rose to his feet.
Dirt and rubble fell off his back.
"..."
Mary saw his lips moving in a daze.
After what seemed like an eternity, her hearing returned with a painful ringing sound.
"Mary… Mary… Are you okay… can you hear me?"
"Mary! Mary!"
Seeing the anxious look on his face, a random, unrelated thought popped into her mind as she stared at him blankly:
Why didn't we finish that kiss just now?
-----------------------
Is she in shock?
Allen looked into Mary's intelligent eyes, feeling worried. He waved his hand in front of her eyes a few times before her gaze finally focused.
"I... I'm fine…"Mary replied.
Only then did Allen breathe a sigh of relief. After pulling her to her feet, he immediately looked up. There was nothing in the sky now. The Wild Hunt that had passed through this place had vanished. But the blazing fires, towering ice spikes, deep fissures in the earth, and massive spires taller than the city gates…
And...
The heart-wrenching, sky-piercing cries of agony.
All these things made it clear that Allen hadn't been mistaken. The Wild Hunt had been here. And just like at Flotsam Harbor, these damned beasts had unleashed their powerful magic, not for conquest or plunder, but purely for entertainment.
"Was the goddess's warning dream really about the Wild Hunt?" Allen muttered bitterly.
All the preparations he, the Duke, and the High Priest had made were for nothing.
Who could have predicted that the unexpected event at the May Festival would be neither a monstrous attack from the wilderness nor the spirits the ritual was meant to banish…
But those sky-riding Wild Hunt specters.
But why?
Wasn't their target supposed to be the Ban Ard where the Gate of Ard Gaeth had appeared?
Why had they come to Ellander, west of Flotsam Harbor?
Were they following him?
But...
If they had found him, why didn't they descend to capture him, instead of venting their wrath on ordinary people?
Honestly...
Given his current strength, even if he had Vesemir and Vera by his side, they would be no match for the Wild Hunt, who could ride through the sky and cast such powerful magic…
Allen was baffled.
How had Yennefer, Geralt, and Ciri, before she awakened her powers, managed to escape from these powerful elves time and again in the original story?
"Allen…" Mary's soft voice pulled him from his thoughts.
"What is it? Are you feeling unwell?"the Witcher asked, gently adjusting the floral crown on her head.
Thanks to Allen's quick reflexes, the crown still sat perfectly atop her head, glowing vividly in the flickering firelight.
Mary was momentarily stunned by his gesture but then softly shook her head.
"I'm fine."
"Let's check on the others…"
Allen nodded, his heart heavy, as he began walking toward the parade route. Perhaps because the city's fires were brighter and more noticeable...
There weren't many "meteors" that had fallen in the outskirts, and the few that did hadn't hit the festival crowd. But that didn't mean that the men and women participating in the parade were all unharmed.
"Shh-shh~"
Pushing through the bushes, Allen and Mary's footsteps came to an involuntary halt.
A giant ice spike stood not far ahead.
Even Allen and Vesemir, with their superhuman physiques, had been severely injured by the impact of the ice spike magic back at Flotsam. How could these ordinary people, even if they hadn't been directly hit, come out of this unscathed?
The young men and women who had once enthusiastically cheered "May Festival King" and "May Festival Queen," lifting Allen onto the parade platform…
A large group, a very large group…
At least half of them now lay lifeless on the ground, like bloodied rag dolls, their hollow eyes staring blankly as they lay by the glowing ice spikes, reflecting the light of the fires.
The remaining half were coughing up blood and chunks of disfigured flesh. Though still alive for now, with their internal organs shattered, death was inevitable.
These were injuries that even the priests under Melitele couldn't heal.
The others, except for those who had escaped to the bushes, were sprawled on the ground crying out in pain, all bearing some injuries—some with scrapes, others with broken bones.
But compared to those young lives cut short, these survivors were considered very lucky.
"Ahhh~"
"Mommy!"
"Waa—Shack... wake up, Shack..."
-------------------
Hearing the wails around him, the witcher looked up at the sky, clenching his fists tightly.
"Allen… Allen…"
Mary covered her mouth, tears streaming down from her eyes as she choked on her words.
The girl didn't know if she was feeling relief for surviving or grief and fear for the others. If Allen hadn't protected her, the sorceress—whose body wasn't much stronger than an ordinary person's—would likely be among the dead.
Feeling the girl trembling in his arms, the witcher sighed and gently patted her on the back.
"It's okay... It's all over now…"
"For now... it's all over..."the witcher thought.
There were many injured on the ground, but there was little Allen and Mary could do. They could only help those whose injuries were relatively lighter, like scrapes and broken bones.
Mary used the bandages or cloth strips she carried to dress the wounded, while Allen drew his sword and chopped some neat planks from the wooden parade platform to make splints to fix the broken bones.
They waited for the priests and medics from the Temple of Melitele to come and provide further treatment.
The others who weren't injured or were only slightly hurt silently joined Allen and Mary in helping the wounded however they could. But before they could treat many of the injured, the sound of heavy hoofbeats echoed from the direction of Ellander's gates.
"Allen! Allen!"
Vesemir and Vera were galloping towards them, calling out loudly. A group of knights clad in black and gray armor followed closely behind.
"Over here!"Allen stood up and waved.
Mary didn't hear anyone call her name, but seeing her mentor and Vesemir, she stood up, eyes brimming with tears. Before the horse had even fully stopped, she wanted to throw herself into Vera's arms in an emotional outburst after narrowly escaping death.
But unexpectedly, Vera deftly sidestepped after dismounting, quickly walking over to embrace Allen instead.
"Are you okay, Allen?"
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
Allen, catching a whiff of the scent of oranges and cardamom, gently patted Vera on the back and softly said:"I'm fine. Not a scratch…"
Feeling Mary's resentful gaze on him, the witcher hesitated for a second before adding:"Mary's not hurt either."
But it was as if Vera didn't even hear his last sentence. She continued to check him over, scanning him up and down, only relaxing after a while.
Feeling uneasy under Mary's constant stare, Allen changed the subject:"Where's Yennefer? How's the situation in the city?"
Vera shook her head, just about to respond.
At that moment, the knights following behind Vera and Vesemir caught up to them. The leading officer dismounted, carrying a bag as he hurried over to Vera, speaking urgently:"Lady Vera, the materials are here. Please start the ritual as soon as possible."
Start a ritual?
Allen was momentarily confused.
The sorceress didn't delay. After offering Allen a quick apologetic smile, she grabbed the bag of materials and headed towards an empty road by the ice spikes.
Chalk, glass, sulfur, magic-infused dust…
These were materials for a magic ritual to increase mana capacity and amplify spell power.
"Yennefer is safe," Vesemir walked over, picking up the conversation,"Ianna has arranged for Lysa to take care of her…"
"As for the situation in the city…"
The witcher master shook his head and sighed.
This was the busiest time of year in Ellander. Even though most of the May Festival celebrations were aimed at the young, there were plenty of performances in the city too.
There were crowds of people everywhere.
The witcher master spoke in a heavy tone:"A lot of people in Ellander have died. A fire spell hit the central market square directly."
"Several taverns had set up free barrels of wine to celebrate the May Festival, so it was the most crowded place in the entire city."
"When the disaster struck, the panicked crowd trampled each other, and even more people died…"
Vesemir paused for a moment, taking in the horrific scene around them, then cursed "damn Wild Hunt" under his breath before saying gravely:"The priests and medics from Melitele's Temple are all in the city treating the injured. There's no way they can spare anyone to come out here right now…"
"In fact, if there wasn't the possibility of something worse happening outside the city, the old Duke wouldn't have been able to send so many soldiers out…"
"Something worse?" The witcher looked up in confusion.
The Wild Hunt had already left, so what could be worse?
Would they come back?
And then Allen looked over at Vera, who was intently setting up the ritual.
The three-intersecting-circle magic formation she was drawing on the ground with chalk was undoubtedly the magic ritual Allen had just learned recently.
Setting up a ritual to increase mana capacity and amplify spell power at a time like this…
Were they preparing for some kind of monster?
But before he could ask any further—
"Buzz~"
"Buzz~"
The wolf medallions around Allen's and Vesemir's necks both began to tremble violently.
"Whoosh~"
A cold wind swept in from all directions, causing the bonfires that hadn't been stoked in a while to flicker and rapidly dim.
A bone-chilling cold crept up Allen's spine and pierced through to his scalp. Following the intense sense of danger, the witcher looked in the direction the feeling was coming from.
The next moment, Allen's mouth fell open, and he cursed loudly:"F*ck!"
....
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274. The Dust of Heroes.
275. I Have My Battlefield.
276. Conjunction of the Spheres—Wraiths.
277. The First Battle of the Divine Sword Balmur.
278. White Light and Frost.
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