To enhance his persuasiveness, Kratz pointed to the statue of Svalblod and the three druid apprentices lying on the ground.

"We rescued the two greedy and reckless chieftains from the ambush of the Welkans, and killed all of them. We then found the real gathering place of the Welkans, destroyed the statue of the evil god, and rescued the three druid apprentices who were being used as blood sacrifices."

Kratz grasped the key points of East's journey: "I think such achievements are enough for you to be crowned."

"Of course, I'm not saying that we should just leave the fallen druid alone. We will definitely have to organize people to search for him later."

"But he is just a fallen druid and cannot represent the entire Svalblod sect."

"And the real Svalblod sect is here." Kratz pointed to the ground, "We have destroyed it."

Before Kratz could finish his words, he heard a loud noise behind him.

Lane, East, Kratz and others turned back and found that it was the soldiers of the Dimen family who made the noise.

Led by Jutta an Diemen, they used swords, axes, and hammers to completely destroy the statue of Svalblod, turning the symbol of the evil god into fragments on the ground.

"This is to avenge my uncle, to avenge the patriarch of our Dimen family, damn evil god!" Juta roared, "May the Virgin Freya suppress you forever!"

…

Kratz retracted his gaze and spread his hands towards East: "You see, even they think they have destroyed Svalblom, and now it can be considered revenge."

"The enemy must be killed, I understand. The fallen druid is on the Great Skellige Island and cannot escape. I will mobilize all the soldiers to pursue him, and I believe the masters of the Druid's Circle will be happy to help me." Kratz said sincerely, "But there is no need for you to get involved. Your mission has been completed, and you can be crowned king."

Easter hesitated.

Indeed, despite slogans like "complete the unfinished work of our ancestors" and "eliminate the enemies for Skellige", destroying the Svalblod sect is not Easter's goal.

Becoming king, rushing to Cintra's aid, destroying Nilfgaard, and avenging Calanthe are all Ester's goals.

Destroying the Svalblod sect was just a means, an excuse to shut up the other family leaders and get them to support him. If he was so focused on fighting the cult that he forgot the original intention of the coronation, he would be putting the cart before the horse.

But things have developed to the current stage. If we just let the escaped fallen druid go, it always feels like something is missing.

After thinking for a while, Easter turned to Lann and said, "Lann, what do you think?"

…

Lann glanced at the system.

[Mission - Silent Rage]

It doesn't say "Completed".

If you are in the game at this moment, the judgment mode of whether the task is completed or not is the subjective judgment of the task publisher. In other words: even if the player has not completed the task and brought back the wrong clues, as long as the NPC who gave the player the task believes that the player has completed the task, then he can enter the reward settlement stage.

Extremely high degree of freedom in completing tasks - this is also what makes the original game attractive.

However, the system that Lann had at this moment had a much more objective standard for judging tasks. This eliminated the possibility of Lann taking advantage of loopholes to complete tasks, but it also gave Lann key information: there were indeed remnants of the Svalblod sect.

Will Lann fight to the death with the Svalblok sect?

No. He is not Bill, and he has no irreconcilable hatred with the Vilka people.

Lann himself was not a person who was led by the system tasks, nor was he so rigid. Compared with the experience gained from a task, the matter of East's coronation was obviously more urgent.

So he said: "I support Kratz's opinion - the fallen druid must be eliminated. There is no reason not to eliminate the enemy when you know he is the enemy." Especially since this enemy can provide Lan with experience for completing the task.

"But things have their priorities. The most important thing now is to get you back on the throne," Lann said. "However, we should split up into two groups. Geralt and I will try to track down the druids. This is a demon hunter's job in a sense."

Easter chuckled, "You're not a demon hunter, Lann...at least you can't think of yourself as one."

Lann nodded with a lectern-like expression.

"But what you said does make a lot of sense." Easter thought for a moment, looked around, and made the decision.

"How about this, take these unconscious druid apprentices with me and go to the Druid Ring."

"Bran is over there. I will discuss the current progress with him. After this incident, the Dimen family and Lugo's Drummond are no longer my competitors. They may even become my own people. The only ones left are two neutral families. I can go and lobby them again."

"Lan En, you can also consult the druid master there and ask them about the situation of the fallen druid. I believe they will be very happy to help you."

"As for whether to be crowned immediately or continue to track the fallen druid, we will discuss it later."

Everyone had no objection to this arrangement.

The soldiers of the Tursek and Klet families spread out to search for any other tricks in this Vilka gathering place, and at the same time captured the bear cubs as trophies to take back.

The demon hunters used their senses to search for traces of where the Vilkans had once lived, hoping to make future operations more convenient.

As for Lann, he looked at the three unconscious druid apprentices thoughtfully.

Where is the fallen druid who escaped...

…

Artis was heading for the coast of the Great Skellig Island.

An oak cane was placed across his knees. Every grain of the wood was stained with blood. The black and red scabs covered the original color of the wood and emitted a fishy smell at all times.

His beast was a Skellige giant bear of astonishing size. The ferocious beast was now like the most obedient horse. It even went against its body's instinct and deliberately smoothed its back to provide the most comfortable journey for the fallen druid on it.

Until the salty and humid sea breeze blew in front, bringing the sound of waves.

They reached the coast of the Great Skellig Island.

Attis nimbly rolled off the bear's back, turned his head to look at the berserker who had carried him all the way, with a look of compassion on his face.

"Hasya...you are the last of the Velka Berserkers."

"Now is the time for you to give your faith to my God, just like your companions."

The giant bear's eyes were clear, showing intelligence no less than that of a human. It stared at Attis for two seconds, then lowered its head.

The beast's low roar echoed in the thick throat. If it was still a human throat, he would definitely be able to hear the syllables in it.

That is: For my God, Svalblod.

A blood-red light appeared on the oak cane, and the vines at the end of the cane began to wrap around and extend, growing a dagger-like tip.

With a "puff", Attis's staff pierced into the giant bear's neck, and blood flowed back toward the oak staff in a trajectory that defied gravity, like rain water dripping into dry soil, and was absorbed by the palm in an instant.

Attis's shadow blurred for a moment and deformed slightly towards the bear, but quickly returned to its original shape.

Then he knelt on one knee, inserted his right hand into the giant bear's wound, dipped a little blood, and drew new battle patterns on his face.

"My god Svalblod..."

Finally, the fallen druid raised his hands, stirring up a strong wind along the coastline.

The sails that had been waiting here for a long time suddenly inflated high, carrying the ship and Attis towards the destination.

"Everything is ready, everything is just to please you."

"My God, Svalblo..."

…

Lann didn't know where Atis had gone, let alone that he had even left Great Skellige Island.

But he did want to know more about Artis, so he followed Easter to the Druid's Ring in Skellige.

Druids are students of the forest and nature. They understand nature by talking to flowers, plants and trees, and can harness the powerful forces of nature to maintain the balance of the ecosystem. At the same time, Druids are world-famous for their healing skills. They are happy to take care of and treat injured wild animals, and also adopt and help orphans abandoned by their families. Therefore, they are often seen as wise men in the eyes of the world and are highly respected.

The druids of the archipelago are different from those on the mainland. They are not the gray-bearded old men who spend their days bowing before the sacred oak, taming pterodactyls, and asking the lord to add another item to the list of protected creatures. Many druids of the archipelago use their own abilities to serve as magical advisors to family patriarchs, constantly wandering between the various families on the island, and playing a buffering role in the endless disputes.

When the Skellige people are in trouble, they will ask the druids for help; when they are sick, they will seek help from the druids; even when they encounter disputes that need to be resolved urgently, they will tend to turn to the druids rather than the local lords - it turns out that the druids are indeed more reliable than some lords.

The Druid's Circle is the gathering place and practice place for druids.

Every place where druids gather will eventually form a "Druid Ring". However, because druids are particularly prosperous in Skellige, the Druid Ring here is much larger than that on the mainland.

Just as Bullburg is to other academic academies on the continent and Altuza of the Warlock Brotherhood is to other magic schools, the Druid's Circle in Skellige also has a transcendent status.

So the druids gave it an extra sacred name: Oak Ring.

Even druids from the mainland would sometimes travel thousands of miles to Skellige, braving the wind and waves, to exchange and learn with the wise men here and pay homage to their ancestors.

…

As both places are full of natural atmosphere, Lann would unconsciously compare the Oak Ring with the Oak Land of the Brokilon Dryads.

Compared with the gathering place of the tree spirits, there are no giant trees big enough to be used as transportation roads and houses. The trees here are of moderate size, and there is an open and sweet grassland.

This is more like a gathering place for nomads than an academic base for a group of nature-worshipping spellcasters.

This place is very popular. Considering that druids, in addition to their traditional identities as spellcasters, also work part-time as alchemists, pharmacists, therapists, animal tamers, etc., and the surrounding villagers also come to ask for help from time to time, all the furnishings here are very reasonable.

Easter greeted the druid apprentice who came to greet him and went straight to find his younger brother, King Bran, who seemed to be in some trouble.

And Lann took over the druid apprentice and led him to treat the three druid apprentices who were rescued from the Bear Ring.

Soon, a mentor-level druid came over and arranged treatment for the three apprentices with a grim look on his face.

"The Svalblod sect actually captured our apprentices as sacrifices for a blood sacrifice!"

Although they study the ways of nature, druids are not good-tempered. Some of them are even quite the opposite, like the one in front of Lann and the others.

The druid mentor used almost all the Skellige swear words that Lann knew to severely curse the Svalblod sect, then turned around and noticed Lann who had been waiting on the side.

But to Lan's surprise, the druid did not greet him at the first moment, but instead cast his eyes towards Gede behind him:

"Ha, demon hunter! Did you find the purple mulberry I wanted?"

Everyone's attention immediately turned to Gede, causing the bear-faction witcher to show an embarrassed expression.

Feeling the puzzled gazes of the crowd, Gede took the initiative to explain: "This druid is a master of alchemy and potions. I admired his reputation and wanted to come here to learn. So he gave me a few tests and promised to teach me alchemy after I completed them. As a result..."

"You didn't even complete a single test!" the druid yelled. "I knew right away that you had a stone head. You wanted to learn alchemy from me, but you couldn't even find a purple osmanthus flower!"

Purple Myrtles is a precious alchemical plant that grows deep in the forest. It is said that where it grows there will be dangerous monsters guarding it - a very familiar setting.

But for Gede who can hunt down green dragons alone, no matter how ferocious the monster is, it should not be able to stop him. So the fact that he has nothing in his hands at the moment must be due to some hidden reason.

Gede snorted lightly and ignored the foul-mouthed druid.

The druid did not bother Gede for too long, as he knew what was going on.

Turning to face Lann, the druid's expression visibly relaxed.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting, the Lion of Cintra, Lann Lannister Rhaenron, right?" Without waiting for Lann to introduce himself, the druid actually said Lann's name himself.

"My name is Greysmith. As you can see, I am a druid. I am more skilled in herbs and healing, as well as alchemy."

The druid named Greysmith recognized him at first sight, which surprised Lann greatly. But the other party's subsequent words answered Lann's doubts -

"Mossak often mentions you - and this 'often' means very 'often'." Graysmith chuckled, "Every time he comes back, he will talk to a few old friends about topics such as apprenticeship and offspring training - obviously in the past they mostly talked about academic research, such as how to better control the weather."

"We are not interested in this topic at all, but Mossak has to bother us with it! So your reputation is well-known in the Oak Ring, Lann of Cintra. Many old guys know you better than their own apprentices!"

Lan gave an awkward but polite smile.

For him, Skellige was truly full of surprises.

"But now it seems that Mossack's praise of you may be somewhat true." Greysmith looked at the hut behind him, where the three rescued druid apprentices were sleeping. "You just came to Skellige and helped us destroy the Svalblod sect. You even helped us rescue three apprentices."

"The barbarians whose mother was killed by a giant bear actually used our apprentices for blood sacrifice!" At this point, Graysmith showed an indignant expression again, and kept spewing Skellige swear words from his mouth.

After more than a dozen breaths, the druid calmed down. He turned to Lan and said in a friendly manner:

"All the druids of the Oak Ring are indebted to you. Do you want to learn alchemy, little Mossack?" Grayslet began to take something out of his arms. "I can give you my alchemy notes. You can also show them to Mossack when you go back. We can just treat it as an academic exchange!"

Gede showed a look of astonishment when he heard this. His visit to Gracelet was not as simple as described in a few words before. He was scolded - and after being scolded, he was given several so-called tests.

He didn't expect that the alchemy that he had tried so hard to learn would be easily handed over to Lann by this druid.

Although Lann's rescue of the apprentices in the gathering place was a factor, for the druids who were free-spirited, whether to express gratitude was purely based on personal favorability...

Gede could only remain silent.

Lann took the alchemy notebook and pretended to put it in his arms, but he actually put it into the [Inventory].

He then thanked the druid again, giving a master alchemist the proper respect he deserved, allowing the other party to happily and reservedly straighten his back and stroke his beard.

"But in fact, the Svalblod sect has not been completely destroyed. As far as we know, a fallen druid was also involved, but we haven't found his trace yet." Lann said, and pointed out the main purpose of his group's visit here.

Graysmith glared at this and immediately denied it: "Impossible!"

But then he calmed down and denied himself: "... No, what you said is possible... The Berserker Trial and Blood Sacrifice of the Welka people need to be presided over by a spellcaster, usually a druid. Since the Welka people have made a comeback, it means that there is a shameful traitor among us, and this traitor has betrayed us for a long time..."

Graysmith took a deep breath and said, "Thank you for telling us this news, little lion. We should have thought of this a long time ago. It's really inappropriate for a child to point it out now... Let us take care of the rest. This is an internal matter of the Oak Ring."

Lann shook his head. "I was taught by Uncle Mossak, so I am considered one of the Oak Ring's own, right? If we need to deal with that corrupted druid, I would like to help."

The quest [Silent Fury] has not been completed yet, probably because the fallen druid has not been killed.

Although he could complete the task himself by letting the druids of Oak Ring clean up the mess, Lann still wanted to do it himself if possible.

This coincided with part of his purpose in contracting Bill as a Follower: for the secrets of the Svalblod sect, for the complete secret method of transforming humans into berserkers.

If it was the druids of the Oak Ring, or someone from Skellige, they might not ask any questions and would simply kill the last druid who knew the secret, causing the secret to be lost.

Even if Mossak and other warlocks on Lan's side can reverse the secret method through Bill, having the original formula would save a lot of time, and maybe even get other surprises.

…

After Lann took the initiative to ask to share the worries, Graysmith's eyes became inexplicable.

Grayslate looked into Lan's lion eyes again, and after a few breaths, he gave Lan an answer.

This time his eyes softened a lot: "You seem to be better than Mossak in speaking."

"If you really want to contribute to the Oak Ring and hunt down the traitors together, then I will not stop you. Instead, I will provide you with help."

As if he felt that his attitude was too friendly, Grayslet snorted and added: "But you have to be careful not to cause us any trouble."