The Divine Hunter

trength: 12 

Dexterity: 10  

Constitution: 13  

Perception: 6  

Will: 5

Charisma: 2 

Spirit: 5 

Skills:

Plagued Claw (Level 3): Ghouls are filled with venom, germs, and viruses.
Wounded targets will get feverish, weakened, and their wounds will start to fester.

Devour (Level 3): Ghouls can heal light wounds and regenerate health through devouring flesh.

Madness (Passive): Ghouls can store a part of the power of the flesh they consume.
When their health falls below twenty percent in battle, they can activate this power and regenerate their health.
+1 to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution.
They will become more violent and resistant to pain.
Lasts one minute.

***

Roy held his trembling pendant and heaved a sigh of relief.
His target’s stats weren’t overwhelmingly high, and it was extremely slow, so Roy could kite it. Not to mention I have the element of surprise. Roy made a sign quietly and pressed it against the ground, then the purple light of Yrden shone in the air.
He summoned his crossbow and took cover.
Roy took a deep breath and aimed his weapon at the ghoul’s head. Guided Arrows!

He fired three blue bolts, and they hit their target squarely in the head.
The ghoul screeched in pain, its voice unpleasant, as if sharp nails were clawing on a blackboard.
The ghoul tensed up and set its sights on the ambusher who was hiding behind the rock, and it came charging at Roy, ignoring the arrows that were buried in its head.

Roy calmly pulled the trigger and fired three more bolts before he sent the crossbow back to his inventory space, then he summoned Aerondight.
After suffering six bolts, the ghoul only had half its HP left when it came to the rock.

The stench of its body assailed Roy, and it tried to stab Roy’s artery with its claws.
Its rotten drool almost fell on Roy’s face, but the ghoul would never reach its prey, for its movements slowed thanks to Yrden.

Roy crouched and evaded the ghoul’s attack.
He came to its back and got up, then he turned around and slashed the monster.
The crimson blade cut a gash on the nape of the ghoul’s neck, revealing the bones within.
The pain snapped the ghoul out of its trance, and it turned around, but a green triangle caught its mind again, and it was caught in another trance.

Roy took a deep breath and pressed his hand against the ground, using its momentum to leap up high into the air.
Just like a cat who was hunting its prey, Roy jumped over the ghoul and made a powerful downward slash.
However, it didn’t cut through the ghoul.
The blade managed to wound its neck, but the ghoul’s bones were too hard for Roy to cut through.

The ghoul let out a guttural roar, and an eerie red light appeared on its skin.
Its health was quickly regenerating, and it leaped up, slashing its claws at Roy.

Roy came back down to the ground and quickly evaded the ghoul’s attack.
At the same time, he cast Fear again.
Countless crimson tentacles appeared in the ghoul’s line of sight, and they wrapped themselves around it, making it almost impossible for the ghoul to even take a step.

A gust of wind blew through the cave as Roy summoned his silver sword again.
He tensed his muscles up and slashed away at the same spot for the third time.
A crimson light shone within the cave, then a gigantic head flew high up into the air before it fell with a thud.

The head rolled over to Roy, and blood spurted from the headless body of the ghoul before it too fell to the ground.

‘Ghoul killed.
EXP +100.
Level 5 Witcher (2850/2500)’

Roy heaved a sigh and flicked his wrist to clean Aerondight of the ghoul’s blood, and he eased up a little.
The battle didn’t last for ten seconds.
Roy’s target was clear, and he aimed for the ghoul’s vitals, preventing it from healing.
His plan worked well, and thanks to the element of surprise, he won the battle.
But still, the battle went too smoothly.
He was used to the brutal fights with Auckes.

Roy smiled self-deprecatingly, and he went to cut the ghoul up.
To his pleasant surprise, he found a red mutagen, and he was one step closer to being an intermediate witcher.
‘Magical creatures killed: 3/10.’

After handling the ghoul’s corpse, Roy scoured the cave, and he found a few herbs, such as stramonium, reachcluster, and button-heart.
There were also a lot of animal bones around the cave.
Deers, stray dogs, roe deers, and even a couple of unlucky humans.

Roy also found two skeletons as large as buffaloes, and they were lying side by side.
Judging from the beak, claws, and tails, he realized the skeletons must have belonged to the baby griffin’s parents.

Roy noticed that one of the skeletons had a lot of broken bones on it, and he deduced that the griffins must have died because they fell from a great height and didn’t manage to get treated in time.
The other griffin’s skull was crushed.
Roy used his witcher senses and found a patch of dried blood with some feathers on the wall.
The cracks fit, so it was obvious that the other griffin killed itself for love.

Roy thought it was a shame.
“Not even death can do them part.
Griffins do love deeply, but is it really a good idea to leave your own kid behind?” Suicide did prove your love, but your kid’s really unlucky.
If it weren’t for Galar and his friend, she might have died. The ghoul was obviously attracted by the griffins’ rotting body.
If Galar hadn’t come in time, the baby griffin would have died soon after as well.

***

“Hadava, my brother.
I should not have left you.
I am a coward! A deserter!” Galar knelt before a human skeleton that was covered in blue armor.
Behind him lay a mangled, headless corpse of a ghoul.
“I know you might not forgive me, but I swear I shall give you a sea burial, just like you said.”

Galar banged his head against the ground, and his forehead swelled up, but it didn’t stop him from crying.
Galar sobbed.
He spent some time processing his guilt, and finally, he got his closure.
“Mr.
Roy, I shall give you your reward once we return to town.”

“I am not in a hurry.
You can still keep up this exhibition in Cintra.” As Roy’s Will was too low to forcibly tame the griffin, and it was inconvenient to take the beast around, Roy wanted someone to take care of it.” 

“Are you serious, Mr.
Roy?” Galar didn’t understand why Roy was doing this.

“You’ll keep all the profit, but you have to feed the little one.
Do not let it go hungry,” Roy said.
“I will check up on it regularly.
Once I am prepared, I shall take the little one with me.
Do you have any problem with this arrangement?”

“Very well, then.
I shall do as you say, sir,” Galar agreed.
“After all, opening an exhibition was the quickest way to make money.
I shall take good care of it, sir.
Worry not.”

“Don’t try to pull anything funny, or you will end up worse than this ghoul here.
And remember to reinforce the cage.
Don’t let it hurt anyone.
I’ll come to the marketplace tomorrow.” For now, I’m looting all the herbs in this cave.

***

When Galar came back with his friend’s remains, he still had a look of disbelief on his face.
It had been a long day.
First, he asked the witcher to kill the ghoul, then he found his friend’s remains, and he could keep the baby griffin for a while too.
It was like a dream.

However, the eventful day was not over yet.
When he came back to his tent, the girl who doubted him earlier in the day came up to him and grinned.
Her eyes were sparkling with curiosity, and she asked, “You are Galar, right? Can you tell me about your adventure you went on with the witcher this morning?”