Witcher: Master Kiliman’s Grand Ambitions-Chapter 33: Ambush Encounter

In the era of cold weapons, alchemical bombs were truly devastating weapons. Even some sorcerers' magic couldn't necessarily compare to bombs in certain aspects.
Especially when dealing with those who had never witnessed the destructive power of bombs—the lethality doubled.
Just like this time.
In the sealed environment of an abandoned house, because the gang members were close enough and didn't immediately flee upon seeing the bomb, they missed their best chance to escape.
Two of the eight Salamander Gang members were instantly killed by the explosion, while two others were burned by the flames accompanying the bomb, their bodies charred black as they lay on the ground, completely incapacitated.
The remaining four, before they could even react to the shock of the explosion, had their throats slit by the two witchers who charged into the room with lightning speed.
The sword edges showed no mercy, blood sprayed everywhere, and in the blink of an eye, the entire room was cleared.
Kiriman expressionlessly glanced at Berengar, who had finished delivering the coup de grâce and seemed somewhat dazed.
He knew this was just an ordinary witcher.
Neither blessed by fate with innate good luck to escape danger, nor secretly receiving money from sorceresses like Yennefer.
His daily life was probably quite miserable, likely never having experienced such an easy victory.
Judging from Berengar's movements and combat skills, his witcher mutations were probably not very successful.
This resulted in his physical attributes being quite low—not even twice that of an ordinary adult—and his equipment was a pile of scrap metal that had probably been used for many years.
No wonder in the original story, he couldn't withstand the Salamander Gang's siege, was chased by a group of ordinary people, and ultimately died in Vizima city.
No wonder in the original story, he couldn't withstand the Salamander Gang's siege, was chased by a group of ordinary people, and ultimately died in Vizima city.
Unfortunately, today was definitely going to involve more killing, but his soul space could only store ten souls simultaneously. Any extra souls that couldn't be absorbed would simply go to waste.
Seeing this never-before-seen magic sign and its effect of capturing human souls,
Berengar came back to his senses and looked at Kiriman with somewhat unusual eyes.
Most magic involving souls was classified as black magic or necromancy.
This was explicitly forbidden by the Northern Sorcerers Brotherhood, and violators could even face pursuit and execution by sorcerers.
However, this Wolf School witcher didn't ask any questions, simply treating this magic sign as a unique secret spell of the Viper School that outsiders shouldn't inquire about too much.
Kiriman didn't care what he thought either. While squatting down and skillfully looting all valuable items from the Salamander Gang members' corpses, he said calmly:
"I think we should extinguish all the oil lamps first, then look for the secret passage entrance."
"The night vision capability from cat potion is our trump card."
"When encountering enemies, immediately extinguish their torches to create a combat environment favorable to us."
Berengar was only temporarily cooperating with him, and he was merely making a suggestion.
But unexpectedly, this farmer-like witcher naturally positioned himself as the one receiving commands.
Following orders, he extinguished the lights in the house and soon found the hidden secret passage door through the light seeping through the floorboards.
This was a one-way trapdoor that could only go down, not up. About two to three meters below was a damp cave, pitch black except for the light from torches on the walls, unable to see very far.
The Salamander Gang members were truly cunning, actually placing this trapdoor beneath a large wooden chest that fit perfectly, showing no abnormalities from the outside, with many daily items placed on top of the chest.
If not for the light seeping through after extinguishing the lamps, finding this trapdoor would probably have taken considerable time.
Berengar took the lead, opening the trapdoor and wanting to jump down after just a few seconds of observation, but was quickly stopped by Kiriman.
Looking at this reckless fellow witcher, he sighed.
He handed him a bottle of Swallow potion, a hand crossbow found on the Salamander Gang members, and a money pouch containing twenty Orens and some silver coins.
"Be careful, there might be an ambush down in the secret passage."
"These are all spoils from the recent search, including your share."
Perhaps not expecting to receive a share of the loot, Berengar showed a rather simple smile on his face, accepting the Swallow potion, hand crossbow, and money pouch.
After carefully drinking the Swallow potion, he stuffed the money pouch into another larger money pouch and tied it tightly.
Then, nodding to Kiriman, he leaped down through the trapdoor with a witcher steel sword in his right hand and a loaded hand crossbow in his left.
Kiriman waited quietly for over ten seconds. Seeing that the secret passage remained quiet, he felt relieved.
Since someone was taking the lead, he didn't delay further. Just as he was about to flip down through the trapdoor,
he suddenly heard a scream and some chaotic noises.
It was Berengar's scream.
An ambush?
His heart tightened, and he immediately stopped his flipping motion, carefully peering down.
He saw that this Wolf School witcher had already thrown aside his steel sword and hand crossbow, sweating profusely as he lay on the ground, holding his left hand while continuously wailing in pain.
On the left hand he was holding, a dark, writhing energy was constantly eroding, causing the exposed muscles and skin on his arm to wither and decay at a visible rate, soon becoming like a skeletal arm—quite horrifying.
On the left hand he was holding, a dark, writhing energy was constantly eroding, causing the exposed muscles and skin on his arm to wither and decay at a visible rate, soon becoming like a skeletal arm—quite horrifying.
However, as an experienced witcher, Berengar had managed to fire his hand crossbow while enduring the pain before collapsing, using his left hand to block this fatal attack.
His crossbow attack was also quite effective.
About seven or eight meters away, a man shot through the heart was lying on the ground in pain, struggling continuously.
This was a sorcerer, though not very powerful, now completely incapacitated.
It was unclear how he managed to ambush a witcher. Fortunately, Berengar had taken the lead, otherwise he might have been the one injured.
Kiriman quickly made this assessment and was about to take action.
Suddenly, he saw from the other side of the secret passage,
four fully armed Salamander Gang members rushing over quickly. While running, they were adjusting their hand crossbows, attempting to shoot the struggling Berengar lying on the ground.
Seeing this situation, he didn't hesitate any longer. Supporting himself with one hand on the trapdoor edge, he gathered chaotic magic power with his other hand while leaping down.
By the time the Salamander Gang's crossbow bolts were fired, he was already standing in front of Berengar.
Alder Magic Sign!
As Kiriman pushed out his palm, an extremely powerful air current swept forth from his position.
With tremendous force, it directly sent the crossbow bolts mid-air, the sorcerer lying on the ground, and the torches on the walls flying several meters away, plunging the entire passage into darkness.
Not only that, after striking with his palm, Kiriman didn't pause either.
In just a few seconds, he quickly closed in on the Salamander Gang members who had fallen into panic due to the darkness.
His sharp viper steel sword showed no mercy—raising and dropping the blade, he struck at their heads, sending blood spraying everywhere.
Taking advantage of the chaos in darkness, he quite simply eliminated these four Salamander Gang members.
When the dust settled, in the entire secret passage, besides him and the injured Berengar,
there was only that sorcerer who had been sent flying by the Alder Magic Sign, now lying on the ground with barely a breath left.