In the era of cold weapons, alchemical bombs were absolute killing machines. Even some sorcerers' magic couldn't necessarily compare to bombs in certain aspects.
Especially against those who had never witnessed the power of a bomb, the lethality was doubled.
Just like this time.
In the confined space of the abandoned house, because the thugs were close enough and didn't immediately flee upon seeing the bomb, they missed the best chance to escape.
Two of the eight Salamandra gang members were killed on the spot, and two others were scorched black by the bomb's flames, lying on the ground, incapacitated.
As for the remaining four, before they could even recover from the shock of the explosion, they were swiftly cut down by the two witchers who had rushed into the room, their throats slit in a flash.
The sword's edge was merciless, blood splattered, and in the blink of an eye, the entire room was a scene of slaughter.
Guilliman's expression was calm as he silently glanced at Berengar, who seemed a bit dazed after finishing off the remaining enemies.
He knew this one was just an ordinary witcher.
He had neither enjoyed the favor of destiny, being naturally lucky and turning misfortune into good fortune, nor did he have a sorceress like Yennefer secretly slipping him money.
His daily life was a struggle, and he probably hadn't experienced such an easy victory before.
Judging by Berengar's movements and combat skills, his witcher mutation was likely not very successful either.
This also resulted in his physical attributes being very low, not even twice that of an average adult, and his equipment was a pile of scrap metal that looked like it had been used for countless years.
No wonder in the original story, he was no match for the Salamandra's encirclement, hunted down by a group of ordinary people, and eventually died in Vizima City.
Guilliman directly reached out and cast the Axii Sign, taking the souls of these eight individuals.
Unfortunately, he was definitely going to continue his killing spree today, but his soul space could only store ten souls at a time. Any extra souls could not be absorbed and would simply be wasted.
Seeing this never-before-seen Sign and its effect of taking human souls,
Berengar snapped back to reality and looked at Guilliman with a somewhat strange gaze.
Most magic involving souls was classified as dark magic or necromancy.
These were spells explicitly forbidden by the Northern Sorcerers' Brotherhood, and those who defied them would even be hunted down by sorcerers.
However, this Witcher of the Wolf School did not ask any questions, merely treating this Sign as a secret spell unique to the Viper School, which outsiders shouldn't inquire about too much.
Guilliman didn't care what he thought. He squatted down, expertly rummaging through the corpses of the Salamandra gang members, taking all valuable items, while calmly saying:
"I think we should extinguish all the oil lamps first and then look for the secret passage entrance."
"Cat potion's night vision is our trump card."
"When we encounter enemies, extinguish their torches immediately to create a favorable combat environment for us."
Berengar and he were only temporarily cooperating, and he was merely offering a suggestion.
But he didn't expect this witcher, who looked like an old farmer, to naturally assume the role of the one taking orders.
Following the command, after extinguishing the lights in the house, he quickly found the hidden secret door through the light shining from the floorboards.
It was a secret door that only went down, not up. Two or three meters below was a damp cave, pitch black, with only the torches on the wall emitting light, making it impossible to see very far.
The Salamandra gang members were truly cunning; they had pressed this secret door under a large wooden box, perfectly sealed, with no abnormalities visible from the outside. There were also many daily necessities placed on the wooden box.
If it weren't for the light seeping out after the lamps were extinguished, it would probably take a lot of time to find this secret door.
Berengar took the lead, pulled open the secret door, and after observing for only a few seconds, he intended to jump down, but was quickly stopped by Guilliman.
Looking at this reckless fellow witcher, he sighed.
He handed him a Swallow potion, a hand crossbow found on the Salamandra members, and a money pouch containing twenty orens and some silver coins.
"Be careful, there might be an ambush in the secret passage below."
"These are the spoils we just found; you have a share."
Perhaps not expecting to receive a share of the spoils, Berengar showed a very simple smile on his face, reaching out to take the Swallow potion, hand crossbow, and money pouch.
After carefully drinking the Swallow potion, he tucked the money pouch into another large one he had and tied it tightly.
Then, he nodded at Guilliman, holding his witcher's steel sword in his right hand and a cocked hand crossbow in his left, and leaped down from the secret door.
Guilliman waited quietly for more than ten seconds, and when the secret passage remained silent, he felt relieved.
Since someone was leading the way, he didn't delay any further. Just as he was about to flip over and jump down from the secret door,
He suddenly heard a scream and some muffled sounds.
It was Berengar's scream.
An ambush?
His heart tightened, and he immediately stopped his movement, cautiously peering down.
He saw that the Witcher of the Wolf School had thrown aside his steel sword and hand crossbow, and was now lying on the ground, sweating profusely, clutching his left hand and groaning continuously.
On his clutched left hand, a black, writhing energy was constantly corroding it. The exposed muscles and skin on his arm withered and decayed at a visible rate, quickly becoming like a skeletal arm, quite horrifying.
However, as an experienced witcher, Berengar, before falling, endured the pain and fired the hand crossbow he was holding, using his left hand to block the fatal attack.
Otherwise, if his chest had been hit, he would probably have already been sent to meet the goddess of death.
And his crossbow attack was quite effective.
About seven or eight meters away, a man with an arrow in his heart was lying on the ground, struggling in pain.
This was a sorcerer, but his strength was not great, and he had already lost the ability to resist.
He didn't know how he managed to ambush a witcher. Fortunately, Berengar was leading the way, otherwise, he himself might have been the one injured.
Guilliman quickly made this judgment and was about to act.
Suddenly, he saw the other side of the secret passage.
Four fully armed Salamandra gang members were rushing over quickly, adjusting their hand crossbows as they ran, attempting to shoot the struggling Berengar lying on the ground.
Seeing this, he no longer hesitated. He held onto the edge of the secret door with one hand, while his other hand continuously gathered chaotic magic, and at the same time, he leaped down.
As the Salamandra's crossbow bolts were fired, he had already positioned himself in front of Berengar.
Aard Sign!
As Guilliman pushed out his palm, an extremely powerful gust of air swept out from his position.
With its strong force, it directly sent the crossbow bolts flying in mid-air, the sorcerer lying on the ground, and the torches on the wall flying several meters away, plunging the entire passage into darkness.
Not only that, after striking with one palm, Guilliman's body did not stop.
In just a few seconds, he swiftly closed in on the Salamandra gang members who were in a panic due to the darkness.
The sharp Viper steel sword showed no mercy, striking down, cutting at their heads, splattering countless blood blossoms.
Taking advantage of the confusion in the darkness, he quite easily eliminated these four Salamandra gang members.
When the dust settled, in the entire secret passage, besides him and the injured Berengar,
There was only the sorcerer who had just been knocked flying by the Aard Sign, lying on the ground with only one breath left.