Lan thought for a moment and replied, "I 'saw' a man who looked like a warlock apprentice coming out of the secret laboratory and falling into this pool of water, and the people in the water were all water ghosts. Since he was able to come out of the laboratory, he must have had the key with him."
Triss nodded to accept Lann's explanation, glanced at the water ghosts that were creating ripples in the water, and began to mutter to herself.
With a "crack", lightning as thick as an arm struck again, and this time its target was the pool of water.
A series of electric sounds that made one's scalp tingle and hair stand on end rang out.
In just two breaths, the five water ghosts slowly floated up from the bottom of the water with their white bellies, their bodies in a strange stiff state.
Lann withdrew his consciousness that had already sunk into the [Inventory] to take out the crossbow. This weapon, which had never appeared since it was created, seemed to have to remain dormant for a while.
All underwater obstacles have been cleared, and the next step is naturally to go into the water and find the key.
Triss would definitely not want to do this job, and Lann had no intention of handing this kind of work over to a lady. He patted his chest, and the [Top-grade Griffin Armor] on his body was immediately put into the [Inventory].
Then he took a deep breath and plunged into the water.
After a while, bubbles appeared on the water again, and the naked Lan climbed up again, holding a rusty key in his hand.
"Okay, now we can open the door."
Triss glanced at Lan's angular upper body for a few times, as if she couldn't get enough of it. While he was wiping the water off his body, she walked around the pavilion a few more times.
"I found an experiment notebook." Triss held up the worn yellow paper in her hand, "'According to the order of our teacher Irenius va. Steingard, we conducted a series of studies on the genes of water ghosts.
After being fed pufferfish toxin, all the research subjects fell into a coma, and after 24 hours, all of them lost signs of life, and the experiment could not continue.'"
Triss read the contents to Lan and speculated, "The signature is 'Matiou Sikura', so this laboratory belongs to this 'Irenius', and this 'Matio' is his apprentice.
So the demon we just killed is probably this 'Matio', who used pufferfish toxin to study water ghost genes and kidnapped a demon hunter - this Irenius seems to be a warlock obsessed with biological research. "
The sorceress suddenly became excited: "Maybe this sorceress has a lot of research results on the mutation of demon hunters, which can be brought back to Mossak and Geron for research. Lan, this time our harvest may be greater than we imagined!"
…
Outside the laboratory door, two braziers used for lighting were burning.
Lann took a deep breath and said, "Don't pay attention to me for a while, just stay at the back with the shield open. If I remember correctly, the cat-faction demon hunter may still be able to move, and he is not very rational and is very aggressive."
Triss showed a surprised expression: "But this laboratory looks like it has been abandoned for at least twenty years. How could the cat-faction witcher imprisoned inside still be alive? I thought you were simply here to hunt for treasures and some witcher heritage."
Lann nodded, his face serious: "His condition... is very strange. You may need to cast [Transformation and Sealing Spell] once to take him away from here. You just need to stay far behind me for a while. The opponent is the Cat School, which is a school that focuses on fighting against people. If the warlock lets him get close to him, the consequences will be disastrous."
Seeing Lann's serious expression, Triss nodded involuntarily.
Lan took a deep breath.
This cat-faction witcher in the game is one of the regrets in the original game. His experience is very similar to that of Geron. He is also a witcher who was kidnapped and used for experiments.
But his luck was much worse than that of Jerron. At least Jerron was facing his biological father, and the purpose was to make him become a normal person again.
The warlock who kidnapped the demon hunter simply wanted to capture him for experiments, and his treatment was not much better than that of a guinea pig. When he was seen in the game, he was no longer in human form, and he even had to be killed.
And if I remember correctly, this demon hunter is also quite powerful, and he has "killed" many players on first sight in the game. Although I don't know how this strength is demonstrated in the real world, Lann estimates that he must be stronger than the first cat demon hunter "Jad Kaladin" he met.
By rescuing him, Lann wanted to verify a hypothesis of his own and try to subdue the other party and fill the vacancy of the cat faction in his own witcher cult.
But if things can't be done, maybe there is only one result...
Help him get rid of it as soon as possible.
“Crack—”
After inserting the key, the sturdy door did not rise or fall as Triss had imagined, but opened inward like an ordinary wooden door, making an old sound.
They had entered the real laboratory, and everywhere they looked was brightly lit.
The decoration style here is obviously much more refined and gorgeous than that outside. The gorgeous reliefs on the floor have not been weathered and blurred, and the stairs in front of you are still intact. It doesn't even feel cold or damp, as if someone has always lived here and maintained it.
The laboratory is clearly divided into two areas.
The right side belongs to the living and experimental area.
There were all kinds of alchemical instruments placed inside, including a person-high culture chamber, a gourd-shaped ** filter, all kinds of strange and now shriveled biological tissues, and piles of various books that were either scattered on the ground or neatly stacked on the shelves.
And right in front of their sight is another area.
At the end of the sight, there is a stone sculpture based on a cat, with an elegant body and a ferocious face. There are a lot of fallen bricks on the walls around it, and tangled plant veins grow inside, adding a primitive and rough feeling to the laboratory.
With the body of the statue as the center, hundreds of candles are densely placed on both sides, burning wildly at this moment.
Directly in front of it, a hexagram magic circle was drawn on the ground with pure white ashes, with a candle placed on each of the six corners.
The whole laboratory has a brightly lit feeling because of these candles.
What caught Lan's full attention was the person kneeling inside the hexagram - or rather, the "creature".
He had his back to Lan, his posture as if he was meditating or praying.
"There is no justice... or evil." The voice was hoarse and harsh, "Only... pain is real."
Ignoring this obviously abnormal sound, Lann could still see his back, which was even more shocking:
This "creature" was just like a skinned person, with all the muscle fibers exposed nakedly to the air, and white bone stumps visible in some places.
And the visible muscle tissue was covered with large areas of burns, electric burns, knife marks, needle holes, and other scars and injuries that even Lane's eyes could not tell the origin of.
Such a body was not only not devoured by infection and decay, but every muscle fiber on it was clean, without a drop of blood.
It's as if this creature was born this way.
Lan's lion pupils shrank suddenly. He didn't care about any ridiculous scenes he saw in the game, but when he saw the condition of the person in front of him with his own eyes, he realized the seriousness of the matter.
Sensing someone approaching, the Skinner slowly stood up, holding a sword in his hand, which reflected a dazzling silver light under the candlelight.
"There is no justice, or evil."
The skinned man turned his head, and his face looked even more terrifying.
The gums that were directly exposed without lips and cheeks, the eye sockets that were completely exposed without eyelids, and the red light emanating from the eye sockets.
There is no trace of the characteristics of a demon hunter at all.
"Only... pain is the most real!"
The originally calm and pious prayer suddenly turned into a roar. The skinned man and the black cat statue behind him seemed to have merged into one and pounced towards Lan together.
Lann did not dare to be careless. He felt a gust of fishy wind enveloping him and immediately used the [Quen Seal] on his body.
"brush--"
There was no time to cast a second seal as the two silver swords cut through the air at the same time and collided violently, sending sparks flying.
As if replicating the action, the two of them stretched their legs forward at the same time, turned their hips and twisted their waists——
[Sword Dance] VS [Cat Sword Dance]
“Ding ding ding ding ding!”
The sound of hammering iron continued to ring out, but in just a few seconds, the two had already exchanged dozens of blows.
Lann became more and more frightened as he fought. The skinned man in front of him had severely atrophied muscles and was short of weight everywhere, but even so, his strength was surprisingly great. Although not as good as himself, it was far better than Judd Carradine whom he met at the beginning.
But Lann was unable to suppress the opponent because the Skinner's movements were too fast!
He seemed like a tangible ghost, his body was erratic and his sword was unpredictable.
The most important thing is that he is fearless and brave. Sometimes he would insist on letting Lann's sword cut a wound on his body that would split his entire muscle, or leave even the smallest sword mark on Lann's body.
The Cat Faction was best at sword dancing, and with this style of fighting, they actually suppressed Lann for a while.
But Lann's sword dance is not an ordinary one after all, but a [Whirling Sword Dance] with system blessing!
[Whirling Sword Dance]: Use the weapon in your hand to launch a spinning attack on all nearby enemies. Continuing the whirling sword dance consumes one or more of all energies including physical strength, adrenaline, and magic power. The energy consumption will decrease with the skill level (1/5).
The whirling sword dance is not an ordinary sword skill in itself, but a system skill that can be driven by multiple energies. It’s just that Lann has never encountered an opponent who is strong enough individually before, so now is a good time to test its power!
Lann's mind moved. Originally, he was only using his physical strength to power [Whirling Sword Dance]. Now, under his deliberate control, his adrenaline and magic power began to slowly decrease at a slow and steady rate.
Lann's sword-swinging speed and power suddenly reached a new level!
“Ding ding ding ding ding!”
The two of them seemed tireless, colliding and separating again and again, playing a waltz of iron and blood in this silent basement.
"No justice, no evil!"
In the fierce rhythm of the battle, the skinner suddenly shouted loudly.
Being distracted during the battle, his sword moves slowed down and soon Lann cut several holes in his sword moves.
Lan En did not dare to be careless, thinking that there must be something wrong when things were abnormal.