Chapter 185: The Spirit of Moreau
"Stop for a moment."
Lynn halted Geralt, who was about to move forward. He pulled his Kovir longbow from his magic-patterned leather bag, stepped forward, aimed at a protruding brick in the corridor on the right side of the fork, and shot an arrow. Then, he quickly pulled Geralt back.
Boom boom –
A massive boulder fell in the corridor on the left side of the fork, then, with astonishing momentum, rolled down along the corridor to the right side, finally crashing into the end. The boulder's impact was so great that dust showered down from above their heads.
Geralt quietly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. The trap's designer had deliberately chosen a boulder almost the same width as the corridor, ensuring that once triggered, those inside would have nowhere to hide.
Lynn didn't ponder as much as Geralt. He followed the direction the boulder rolled, walked to the end, stepped on the fallen rocks, and climbed to an empty space. This should have been a hall, but now half of it had collapsed deeper into the ground. Where he stood was the remaining, intact half.
"No way out?"
Except for the entrance they came through, the hall was surrounded by walls. Geralt stood at the edge of the hall and glanced at the fallen half, but he couldn't see if there was an exit there. Of course, a more important question lingered: even if the exit truly was below, how would they get down?
"The way out is here." Lynn walked to the wall on the other side of the hall. He reached out and knocked on the stone. "It's behind here."
Geralt then reached out and touched it, showing a confused expression. "This isn't an illusion, the back is solid."
Lynn certainly knew it wasn't an illusion. "This is a trap door; it can be opened once the trap is disarmed."
He raised the Kovir longbow. An arrow shot towards a spot in the hall. There were no torches or sunlight, making the hall pitch black. But both Lynn and Geralt had taken the Superior Cat Potion earlier, making everything in the hall clearly visible to them.
Lynn's arrow was aimed at a raised brick on the wall. Then, something incredible happened. The raised brick slowly retracted into the wall.
A sound like a door lock opening echoed from the wall. There were several more bricks like this.
When the last raised brick also retracted, the sound of a mechanism opening was heard. A door appeared on the wall. The stone door rose with the sound of stones rubbing against each other.
The two walked through the steps behind the stone door and went up to a closed room. In the center of the room stood a tall, indistinct statue. Given that this was an elven relic, it was likely a statue of an elven sage or king.
"Although it's said that it's better to be safe than sorry, this man named Moreau is excessively cautious."
"Don't worry, we'll be there soon."
This room was circular with a high dome. Along the walls, at regular intervals, were narrow alcoves, each holding a gargoyle. When Lynn and Geralt stepped into the room, one of the gargoyles sprang to life, like the mechanical statues before.
"Intruders, you are seeking your own death."
Gargoyles are magical creatures created by warlocks. They are extremely powerful and tough, making it difficult for ordinary weapons to harm them. However, gargoyles are not entirely without weaknesses.
Because they are magically driven, a magic-blocking gold bomb can disrupt the flow of magic within their bodies, causing them to fall into a state of stagnation and chaos.
Although gargoyles are recognized as effective guardians, it doesn't mean places they guard are foolproof. For example, if a group of soldiers unaware of gargoyles' characteristics appeared in this room, they would likely be slaughtered. But if there were two witchers, the target of the slaughter would be the gargoyles.
Lynn and Geralt each laid down a number of Yrden traps on the ground. Then, Lynn threw a pickaxe he had prepared to Geralt and took one himself. The next step was grinding them down.
Gargoyles are generally bulky. While they possess the ability to teleport short distances, understanding and guarding against this in advance largely mitigates its impact. What's more, this time the gargoyles faced two witchers. Anything will change in quality if the quantity is sufficient.
Just as a warlock can easily slaughter hundreds of soldiers but must bow to a king who commands thousands, it is indeed difficult for one witcher to deal with gargoyles, but with two witchers, the effect of one plus one will be greater than two.
When the gargoyle attacked Lynn, Geralt would swing his pickaxe, striking the gargoyle's back. The same was true in reverse. Not only that, although the gargoyle was immune to most Signs, it was susceptible to the effects of the Yrden trap.
Two Yrden traps meant a double slowdown effect. Therefore, this battle was even simpler than the previous one with the black panther. The gargoyle's fists were hard, but useless if they couldn't hit anyone.
The two of them didn't even sweat as they dispatched the resurrected gargoyle once more
"Does this room need another mechanism to open?"
Seeing that the room remained unchanged after defeating the gargoyle, Geralt put away his pickaxe, looking up and around, searching for protruding stones on the wall. But Lynn walked to the fallen gargoyle.
This gargoyle was obviously specially designed. He gently bent it, and with a click, the gargoyle's foot was removed. He picked up the gargoyle's foot and placed it on the stone platform in front of the statue.
Boom boom –
The stone platform sank down. A portal appeared on the wall.
Geralt's face was extremely grim. "I really hate portals."
Unfortunately, Geralt said this too soon. Because it wasn't just the wall in front of them that had portals. Portals appeared on the first, second, and third floors of the entire room.
The famous White Wolf suddenly lost his composure. Even if he wasn't a prophet, he knew that among so many portals, only one must be correct. The rest would either make them spin in place or teleport them elsewhere. If they tried them one by one, how long would it take?
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Geralt. He looked at Lynn expectantly, as if grasping a life-saving straw. "Lynn, you must know which portal we should take, right?"
Lynn seemed to know this ruin very well. He knew about the ambush in advance and how to unlock the secret door. Although Geralt didn't know why Lynn knew so much, sometimes it was better for this person to remain a little confused.
Lynn smiled slightly. If it were Lambert acting with him, he would have teased him. But since it was Geralt, he decided not to.
"Come with me."
Lynn first identified the direction, then confidently walked ahead. After passing through the portal twice... the portal's light vanished, replaced by dim, weak illumination.
"We are here. This is Moreau's laboratory."
...It was about two hundred years ago, in 1087. A sorcerer scholar named Thomas Moreau was rescued from a monster by a witcher.
He was very grateful for this. But the witcher did not want gold, instead proposing the "Law of Surprise" as a reward. So Moreau had to hand over his son, Geron, to the witcher. Later, Geron was sent to the Griffin School headquarters for training and became one of them.
Since sending his son away, Moreau vowed to study how to reverse the witcher mutation process. He felt resentful that he could not be an important person in his son's life and hoped that one day his son would understand his good intentions as a father.
In 1102, Moreau established a secret laboratory in the Valley of the Nine in Toussaint, where he dedicated all his efforts to studying mutations.
He conducted many experiments and experienced numerous failures. The subjects of these experiments included various creatures (such as giant centipedes) and living humans.
This continued until 1121, when Moreau had enough confidence in his experiment and decided to reverse the mutation on his son. He lured Geron to his laboratory with a lucrative bounty commission.
Unlike Moreau's fatherly love, Geron, a Griffin School witcher, had always had a very poor impression of his father. When he learned it was a scam, he was furious and refused to undergo the experiment. In desperation, Moreau had to use a spell to temporarily paralyze Geron and lock him in another secret location under Mount Gorgon, which could only be entered and exited by a portal, and sent a golem he made to guard it.
Moreau hoped that time would allow Geron to reconsider and understand his fatherly intentions. Unfortunately, all the efforts Moreau made for the experiment were in vain.
The potions and treatments he developed not only failed to reverse the mutation but also enhanced its effects, making the witcher stronger and more agile. In the end, Moreau gave up everything and was forced to accept the fact that his son had become a witcher.
He returned to his wife Lydia and died soon after. He was buried in the Oremos Cemetery in the south of Beauclair, along with his research journal. It is said that on his tombstone there is a line of words in ancient language:
"Redemption is not in Dornavid, but in our hearts, and glory is dedicated to Elerion."
—It should have been like this.
But at the moment when Lynn and Geralt passed through the portal and arrived at Moreau's secret laboratory, a familiar scream sounded.
A figure emitting a faint green luminescence rushed over without giving the witchers any chance to react. Its claws, which reflected cold light even in the dim oil lamp light, were about to rip Geralt's body open.
At this moment, Lynn suddenly pushed out a palm, and the invisible airwave hit the White Wolf, sending him flying directly, though also missing the claws by a hair's breadth. The demon spirit failed to hit, and its hatred automatically shifted to Lynn, who was close at hand. However, Lynn did not pull out the master silver sword behind him.
Instead, he turned his left wrist, and a Superior Moon Dust bomb appeared in his hand. He threw it at the demon spirit that was rushing towards him.
Bang!
The Superior Moon Dust bomb hit the demon spirit and exploded immediately. The moon dust powder instantly drenched the demon spirit. The latter immediately let out a shrill scream, as if in great pain. Its body, which was originally between reality and illusion, also solidified in this world because of the moon dust powder.
....
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