Roy was squeezing a plump, green ball in his hand, the texture and warmth radiating from it making him feel like he was squeezing something erotic. Green mutagen, huh? The green mutagen was larger and deeper in color than its lesser counterpart, and contrary to its  host’s disgusting stench, it smelled nice —  like flowers on a breezy spring morning. At least I didn’t fight all this time for nothing. The nest they destroyed wasn’t the only one in Smiack, or else the dwarves wouldn’t have been so averse to it. Over the past couple of days, Letho and Roy had destroyed another nest that was home to thirty nekkers.

The nekkers took up one territory for each tribe, as if by instinct. They didn’t help or hinder any of the other tribes in the quest for survival, or it would’ve posed a great danger to Letho and Roy. If that were to happen, all they could do was run. “Nekkers are disorganized without a leader. Keep your wits about you and you’ll have nothing to fear from them.”

Ever since they entered Smiack, Letho and Roy spent most of their time killing nekkers and only stopped for meals and rest. Roy was drenched in blood again and again, and even his face was caked in dried blood. He became leaner than before, but also more energetic and grown up. Aside from the green mutagen, the best thing Roy had gotten from the battles was his improvement in strength.

His EXP bar was 1590/1500, and a plus sign appeared after the bar, but he wasn’t in a hurry to level up. He decided to keep Full Recovery as a trump card in case things went south —  at least until they escaped the tunnels. The intense battles also trained him in his control over his stats, and he felt a massive improvement on that aspect. Roy could only utilize half of his body’s capabilities before that, but after the battles in the tunnels, he could use sixty percent of them.

***

According to their schedule, they should’ve arrived at the heart of the tunnels on the fourth day. The duo noticed the complexity of the tunnels and the numerous routes they could’ve branched into during their earlier exploration. One misstep could’ve trapped them in for good, but the dwarves had drawn signs on places with many branches when they’d first dug the tunnels in case someone had needed it.

“Everything’s fine.” Letho stood before the tunnel, brushing his hand against the sign of two crossed hammers before a branch.

“That nekker stench again. Isn’t there anything else in here?” Roy was getting tired of killing nekkers, so he wanted to face a different type of monster.

“Pray nothing comes to pass,” Letho said seriously. “We’ve run out of bombs, oils, potions, and decoctions. If we come face to face with a djinn in this condition, your crossbow won’t work on it, and I can’t fight it alone, so all we could do is run. If we’re unlucky enough to face a garkain or cave troll, it’d be the end of us.”

Roy stopped feeling lucky, and they entered the cavern. It was smaller than the other ones, petite, even. It was too usual, for its walls and ground were bare. Nothing, not even a blade of grass or a stone. 

“Something smells strange.” Letho frowned.

Roy took a whiff and noticed a strange smell coming from the nest, but he couldn’t remember where it came from. When he looked ahead, he saw five grown nekkers wandering around, and a dried nest lay behind them. It’s a mini tribe. Most of the recon guys that had come from the cellar had been killed by the nekkers in the vanguard, leaving the ones in the rear without food. Starvation made them skeletal and uglier than the other nekkers.

The nekkers screeched at the sight of Letho and Roy, thinking they were food. They foamed at the mouth and leapt toward the duo. Three went for Letho, who was obviously bigger, while two went for Roy, who looked skinnier. Letho peered at them without mercy and faced them head on with Gwyhyr in hand, ready to kill, but Roy was quicker.

His bolt soared through the air, piercing the head of a nekker, and it fell with a thud. 

‘You killed a nekker. EXP +20.’ 

The second nekker had closed the distance between them before Roy could reload. He could smell the nekker’s bad breath and see its ugly, yellow teeth clearly, but Roy didn’t panic. His eyes gleamed crimson for a moment and he sidestepped the nekker. The nekker jolted before freezing in surprise, thereafter losing all control and slamming into the wall before it.

The cavern rumbled from the impact, and the nekker fell with a howl of pain. Roy took the chance to step on its back and jabbed a bolt into its neck, and then blood drenched Roy’s glove. 

“Nice.”

Letho protected himself with Quen and darted into the group of nekkers. He put his weight on his left leg and spun around, slashing at the nekkers’ torsos. The nekkers were still baring their fangs at him, but they were already sliced in half from the waist down, their innards squelching against the ground as they fell forward. Even so, they didn’t die on the spot. The nekkers dragged themselves ahead, their innards trailing behind them. They were determined to get a bite out of Letho, their desire for fresh meat overpowering their fear and pain.

Resilient, aren’t they? Roy fired three shots and filled his EXP bar even more. 

‘You killed a nekker. EXP +20. Level 3 Witcher (1690/1500).’ 

And then all that was left was the nest, but Roy could only watch as Letho went to finish the job.

He couldn’t do anything without Grapeshot, so Letho had to finish it with Igni. The witcher made a red triangle in the air and sent a jet of flame streaming toward the nest, and then everything shattered. Roy blacked out, his last memory being a bright light from Igni’s flames.

Eventually, Roy woke up, but everything around him was spinning, and the air was still filled with dust. His ears buzzed incessantly. When he touched his face, all he felt was something sticky. He looked at his hand and saw blood, but the worst thing was his whole body felt like it had been through a wringer, and his HP had fallen to thirty points.

Shit. There must’ve been a lot of flammable gas in the nest, and Igni, well, ignited it. “Fuck! How could I have forgotten what gas smelled like?” He got up with difficulty, and then a terrifying thought occurred to him.

“Letho? Letho! Are you there? Talk to me!” Shit. I got it bad even though I was some distance away. Letho must be gravely injured, at least.