It was almost dusk when Roy was done scavenging for herbs. The pair arrived at a murky river that was ten feet wide, but which had both ends extend indefinitely. Letho stopped in his tracks, and his pupils turned into slits. As Roy observed him, he was reminded of a bristled feline, though in human form. 

PR/N: Ten feet is around 3.05 meters.

“What’s wrong? Is this a dangerous place?”

Letho signaled for Roy’s silence, and he crept closer to the river. He pulled out a blue scale from the cracks between the pebbles at the riverside. Once he took a whiff of it, Letho moved backward. “We’ll have to camp further away. Something nasty is in the river.”

“You’re saying…” Roy gazed at the murky waters, and excitement welled up in him.

“There’s at least one drowner in the waters.” Letho tossed the scale to Roy. “Take a look. Drowners are different from fish. Their scales are thicker, and there’s a bulge in the center. And if you smell it carefully, there’s the stench of rotten corpses on it.”

Roy tried to do so, but since his Perception wasn’t high enough, he couldn’t smell anything. They stayed around for a moment, and when Roy left with Letho, his head hung low along the way. 

Suddenly, he patted Letho’s sturdy back. “Letho, can you show me what the legendary drowners look like?” he asked hesitantly. “Since I’m going to fight them eventually, this is a good time to learn all about them. Someone will get killed if we leave these monsters alone.”

“Drowners have a nickname among us witchers,” Letho snapped back. “Newbie killers. Many new witchers have met their doom at the hands of drowners because of their damned curiosity.”

Roy took a nervous step back. Even though Letho had said he was going to leave, he’d saddled his horse before going back to search across the riverbank, and he found more scales. The witcher pondered for a moment, then he checked his gear, weapon, bombs, and potions.

Roy was surprised to see Letho so serious, as if the drowner was a big threat. “Is that necessary? I thought drowners weren’t great at fighting.”

He’d killed many drowners in the game. At least hundreds of them died by Roy’s hands. He could still remember their gurgles and strange nasal noises. His many battles gave him a thorough understanding of the monster. Their strength was on par with that of a normal human’s, though their speed was better. Aside from being better swimmers, Roy didn’t think they were memorable.

“Looks like those dreams of yours don’t work every time.” Letho poured some light green necrophage oil on his sword. “Didn’t your dream tell you something? ‘Monsters don’t come alone. Sometimes they come in groups.’ These bastards always come in groups, so keep that attitude in check, boy. Never underestimate any monster, no matter how weak they are. We only have one life, and no one will spare you any pity if you get killed because of your foolishness. That’s the second lesson.”

Letho took out a bloodied wolf thigh from the saddlebag and tore it into pieces with his short sword.

“I understand. There will be no next time.” Roy looked down in shame. Letho made him remember that he was still human, and drowners could kill humans easily. If he kept taking on his enemies in such a frivolous manner, he would eventually get killed because of it.

I’ve been this way since the last adventure. That’s not a good habit. Gotta change it right now.

“What should I do, Letho? How should I help?” Roy took out his crossbow and loaded it with bolts.

“Just stay back and watch how a professional hunts.” Letho paused for a moment. “But if you want to help, then answer me this: What’s a drowner’s weakness?” He stared at Roy, inscrutable.

Roy wanted to say something, but he kept his mouth shut and listened intently. Letho nodded in satisfaction. So he finally knows the importance of humility. “Remember, drowners aren’t afraid of poison. Don’t try to make them bleed either. It won’t work.”

Roy shivered after hearing Letho’s advice. He was going to use the butcher’s anesthetic against the drowner. If he’d done that, he might’ve been the first otherworlder in the history of novels to have been eaten by a drowner.

“Drowners aren’t known for their intelligence. They’re stupider than a boot, so Axii won’t work on them either. And their sight is terrible. If their target is more than forty feet away, they’d effectively be blind, even in daylight. Course, you’ll have to outrun them. They’re scared of fire and anything related to it.” 

Letho took out a transparent, glass canister the size of half a fist from his alchemy bag. Roy could see multicolored gas swirling within it.

“That’s Dragon’s Dream, a kind of alchemy bomb. It’s infused with flammable gas,” Letho said. “You’re good with the crossbow, so I assume your accuracy is decent? Once I lure the drowners out, listen to my signal and toss the bomb to where they group up. Then I’ll light the fuse. Understand?” 

“Yes, sir.”

***

Letho cut the bloodied meat up into dozens of pieces before scattering them on an even spot of ground twenty feet from the river. Then he quickly came back to hide with Roy a safe distance away and stared at the river closely. Five minutes later, the river that had been flowing silently started bubbling as if it were boiling. Ripples spread as something crawled out of the murky depths.

First there was one, then two, then three. Finally, five hideous humanoid creatures reared their heads from the river and gurgled as they darted to the riverbank.

The monsters bore a resemblance to corpses fished out from the bottom of lakes. Their skin was blue or green in color, but all of them had sticky fluids and filthy mud dripping out of their pores. Their limbs were adorned with slippery scales, and webs like those of aquatic animals were seen between their fingers. Gills that looked like fans hung from their cheeks, and a catfish mustache wiggled above their lips.

Their bodies were deathly pale, as well as their sunken faces. Two rows of sharp teeth glistened in their mouths as they grinned. The drowners were looking everywhere in paranoia, their eyes ghastly white. 

After they were certain that no one was around, the drowners sniffed the air, and they pounced at the minced meat with excitement. They had a strange way of running, with their hands behind their backs, just like ostriches would. Roy looked at Letho, but he didn’t give any signal yet. Then Roy looked at the monster that had mutated the most, and his eyes turned into a galaxy of information.

‘Drowner

Sex: None

Age: 12

Status: None

HP: 70

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 6

Constitution: 7

Perception: 3

Will: 2

Charisma: 0

Spirit: 0

Skill:

Underwater Breathing Level 10: Allows for indefinite periods of breathing underwater.

Mutated Body Level 10: Many think of drowners as monsters that are formed from corpses of those who died a watery death, but their bodies are structured differently than humans. Drowners are possibly artificial life forms created by magic, or an invasive species from the Conjunction of the Spheres. 

Immune to poisoning and bleeding.’

***

They have zero Charisma and Spirit? Are you sure they aren’t dead bodies? Roy commented silently. No wonder Axii has no effect on them. 

When he looked at Letho again, the witcher had already given his signal. Roy took a deep breath and pulled his right hand back before tossing the bomb into the air. It flew in an arc and dropped in the middle of the five drowners. 

The bomb was smashed into pieces as it slammed into the ground, and the colorful smoke spread ten feet in every direction, enveloping the monsters that were feasting on the meat. At the same time, Letho darted forward like the wind and casted Igni at the drowners before pulling back. The fire that touched the colorful smoke spread across the monsters quickly as if it had met something that could help it soar.

Roy, crossbow in hand, watched the drowners in shock as fireworks rained upon them. The yellow flames gleamed within the colorful gas, and as the sound of explosions started ringing out, the sky was dyed in the colors of the smoke.

Five gurgling, charred drowners leaped out of the explosion, and three of them ran toward the river. Letho chased after them with his short sword in hand, intending to finish them off. The other two targeted Roy, but one was shot through the eye before it could get near him. When Roy was about to reload, the remaining drowner had already closed in on him.

There wasn’t even a millimeter of hair on its pale, grotesque face, and the flames were still igniting it. When the stench of its charred meat and bad breath assailed Roy, he felt suffocated.

Roy could see death staring him in the eye, but it left as soon as it had appeared. The drowner who was attacking him froze in its tracks as if stopped by some magical force. Even so, the inertia made it skid forward, close enough so Roy could grab it. It was a weird situation, but there was no time for Roy to think about it. He took out his short sword and sliced down on its head, making it stumble backward. As the drowner fell, Roy shot a bolt through its eyes. The monster trembled, but stopped moving a moment later.

‘Drowner killed. EXP gained: 20.

‘Drowner killed. EXP gained: 20.

‘Level 2: EXP (143/1000).’ 

Roy heaved a sigh of relief. Dizziness started overwhelming him, and his body was drenched in sweat. That was a close one. I was almost killed. If Fear hadn’t activated back then, I might have been killed by that drowner. Best case scenario, I would’ve gotten crippled.

“Know why we call them newbie killers now, boy?” Letho had come back from his hunt. The three drowners hadn’t managed to escape, and their heads were cut off. “Still think you can underestimate them?” 

Roy kept quiet. He didn’t expect the cool witcher to be a nagging person. “What should we do with these bodies? Should we throw them into the river, or burn them again?”

“Take their brains out. I’ll teach you what to do. Drowner brains are important to make Swallow. Some sorcerers would buy it too.” The witcher and his disciple went around the riverbank and laid the drowners’ bodies out in a row. “It’d be best if we could find a red mutagen. Dragon’s Dream costs a lot to make. If there’s no red mutagen, we’d be losing money.”