A hideous creature crawled out from the cave, gurgling. It looked humanoid, but its limbs had sharp claws, and its skin was wrinkly and dark. Its muscles were engorged, and it was naked aside from the piece of tattered cloth covering its crotch. Its eyes were as big as saucepans, and they had no pupils. Its teeth were long and disgustingly yellow, forcing its mouth to stay open. The flesh beneath its chin and neck extended down to its chest, not unlike the jowls of the elderly.

‘Nekker

Age: 5

HP: 60

Stats:

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 5 (Strength in Numbers +1)

Constitution: 6

Perception: 4

Will: 4 (Strength in Numbers +1)

Charisma: 2

Spirit: 3

Skills:

Corroding Venom Level 1: Nekkers live in places teeming with corpses and decaying flesh. Thanks to that, their claws are imbibed with a special venom that can weaken its target, causing the target to heat up.

Strength in Numbers (Passive): Whenever nekkers move in packs, they gain +1 in Dexterity and Will.

Evolve (Passive): Once a nekker has consumed enough flesh over time, it will evolve into a nekker warrior.

***

The nekker screamed at Letho and Roy, and then it crouched and pounced at them from the ledge. Letho charged ahead with his sword in hand. He cleaved through the air with Gwyhyr, and the gleaming blade sliced through the nekker like butter. The monster was sliced in two at the waist, and blood spurted from its wound, flying ahead as its body fell with a thud. Despite having killed a nekker, only a single drop of blood trickled down the blade, and it still remained gleamingly clean.

That’s a gnome-made sword for you. Roy praised it silently, and he aimed his crossbow at the remaining nekkers that were coming from above, and then he pulled the trigger. The bolts soared through the air, but he could feel the lines that connected him to it. For some reason, he could feel the speed, trajectory, and how long the arrow had flown in the air. He knew if he could hit the target the moment he pulled the trigger, and as expected, all the nekker could do was screech as the arrow pierced its head.

‘You killed a nekker. EXP +20.’

Roy reloaded his crossbow and glanced at Letho. Gwyhyr was humming with each swing, as if a battle-hardened spirit were singing in joy. Letho took a step forward and kicked the third nekker before chopping its head off in one clean sweep.

The three nekkers were killed in moments, but the battle was far from over. One nekker is easy to deal with, but five is going to be dangerous, while ten is fatal. Looks like we came across a nekker nest, huh? Roy looked up and saw a group of four nekkers crawling out from the tunnels before them. They were gurgling and baring their fangs at Letho and Roy, and if it weren’t for the fact it was a dangerous situation, Roy would have laughed at the way the nekkers were running. They were hunched, and they waddled like ducks to a pond.

Despite their weird way of charging at their prey, they were moving faster than an average human, and there seemed to be no end to them, much to Letho’s chagrin. “You’ll have to look out for yourself. This is going to be a tough battle.”

“You too.” Roy went up the slope behind them and took the high ground. He activated Crossbow Mastery, and coupling that with Massacre would increase his damage by twenty-five percent. One shot to a nekker’s vitals would be enough to send them to hell. On the other hand, Letho stayed in the same spot, facing the nekkers head on. He quickly cast Quen before hunkering down and pressing to the ground. The purple circle of Yrden glowed, slowing the nekkers’ onslaught drastically.

Letho lunged ahead and slashed upward, slicing the nekker before him into two halves, its blood spraying into the air. Then he stepped back, staging in Yrden’s range, and he slashed down diagonally, disemboweling two nekkers at the same time. The nekkers kept crashing down on him like waves, but Letho was like a reef, unmoving and stable. He was the first and last line of defense.

Then three nekkers came at him at the same time. He took a deep breath and turned more solemn than ever. He loosened his left hand’s grip on the handle and tightened his right’s, and then he lunged ahead with his right foot and spun around, slicing the chest of a nekker open. Once the revolution stopped, he backed off into Yrden’s range and spun counter-clockwise, finishing off the remaining couple of nekkers. Letho repeated the same attack, and it was as if the blade had become a hunter’s net before him, killing the nekkers no matter how many of them tried to attack. Moments later, the nekkers’ attacks slowed, and there was an empty space before Letho.

He heaved a sigh, loosened his grip, and then tightened it again. Letho spun his numb elbow and cracked his neck. His leather armor was already covered in blood, and he was starting to get tired. His arm would throb when he moved because of the wound that hadn’t fully healed up yet, and a nekker found the opening. It clawed at Quen, making the shield dim considerably, but Letho quickly replenished it, though more nekkers were coming at him.

One of them got lucky and was only injured by the blade. It pounced on Letho’s shoulder, but an arrow then pierced through its head.

Roy was still on the slope, firing down any nekkers that escaped Letho’s attacks, and none of his arrows missed. His EXP bar grew fiercely, gaining one hundred EXP in two minutes (Level 3 Witcher (430/1500)).

His heart was pounding within his chest, his blood roaring in his head, taking his excitement to a peak, and Roy was in the zone. His limbs almost caused afterimages to appear because of how fast he was in reloading, and then he pulled the trigger again. The arrow flew ahead, filled with the strength from the crossbow, and also his soul. The bolt tore through the air like lightning, and the nekkers were too slow to react. A moment later, one of the monsters’ head had a hole in it, blood and grey matter flowing from it.

But the bolt didn’t stop at one nekker. It pierced through the chest of another, destroying its heart, netting Roy nearly forty EXP. And then dizziness washed over Roy. When he snapped out of it, one nekker was already a few feet away from him, the stench of its breath almost palpable, and its claws aimed for Roy’s chest. If the attack were to connect, Roy would be killed or gravely injured, at the least.

Even so, Roy didn’t show any fear. His eyes gleamed crimson as he cast his new skill, Fear. The nekker stiffened up and lost control of its body, as if hit by a sledgehammer. Roy easily dodged the attack and shot a bolt through the side of its head. 

‘You killed a nekker. EXP +20.’

Roy held up his crossbow and laughed to himself. “Looks like I’m not totally useless in close quarter combat now.”

***

Letho managed the mêlée combat, while Roy took the stragglers out with his crossbow. The witcher cleaved through the nekkers easily, while Roy kept firing his bolts, taking out the nekkers with terrifying speed. Five minutes later, not a single nekker was left standing, and their bodies were strewn throughout the cavern. Some lost limbs, some were cleaved in half, some had holes in their vitals, but none died a good death.

The bloody witcher and Roy were sitting back to back among the bodies, the boy panting heavily.

“That’s Gwyhyr for you. It slices through the nekkers’ bodies and bones like nothing. I can feel a weird sensation coursing through me every time I kill one of them. If it weren’t for that healing effect, I wouldn’t have lasted as long as I did, but you did spectacularly too, boy.” Letho took out his wineskin and gulped some liquor. Some of it trickled down his chin. “Looks like the fight with the leshen helped you quite a bit.” He tossed the wineskin to Roy.

Roy accepted it and drank the dwarven liquor. Some color returned to his face, and he felt liquid courage bubbling within him. “We should work like this more.”

Letho gave him a look of approval. “Rest up. The real battle is still up ahead. I bet there are nekker warriors in those tunnels, so don’t let your guard down just yet.”

Roy gave it some thought. I killed ten nekkers just now, netting two hundred EXP, and now my EXP bar is (530/1500). Nekker warriors are more dangerous than their normal counterparts, but that means the EXP gain is better too. For some reason, he thought Brovar Hoger was a great guy for sending him on the recon mission. It was exactly what Roy needed to level up and grow as a witcher. “Seems like we’re staying here for a bit.”