Chapter 279: The Poisonous Acid Stream

Chapter 279

The Poisonous Acid Stream

Previously, the most important person was Nara. However, within just 2 days, she became like air. Whether she turned to her fellow students or the villagers, she was no longer welcomed. Many villagers, now seeing the truth beyond what Nara had previously said, didn’t want to engage with the girl who had caused them so much trouble. Only a small group of villagers remained supportive, so Nara spent most of her time with them.

After 4 days of the mission, the installation of the stratagems was complete. This further clarified the students’ original intentions to the villagers. As a result, no more large boulders fell due to strong winds. Once assured that the large boulders wouldn’t fall, removing them became an easier task. By the 5th day of the mission, they had already dealt with the dangerous pile of stones from the first day.

Many students had strong magic powers, but initially, they were afraid to use them for fear of causing more rockslides. However, once confident, they unleashed their full power, and within just the 1st hour, they managed to demolish a large pile of rocks.

Today’s task was to destroy all the stones while another group prepared food for them to eat upon return. Many villagers came to help, significantly changing the atmosphere.

Ellie wanted to help cook, but Professor Medik recognized the capabilities of her spiritual equipment. Fearing another potential crisis, he wanted Ellie ready to assist immediately. So now, she was sitting beside her professor.

"The next lesson is about using Pegcrutan herbs. Remember, making level 2 potions is not easy. Handling level 2 herbs alone is different, even if their properties are similar to Red Zuck herbs. You must carefully separate..." Professor Medik’s voice droned on continuously.

Yes! The real reason he had Ellie accompany him was not for using Spirit Rake. He just wanted to make the most of this time to teach his sole disciple how to concocting level 2 potions. So, he requested her to follow him here.

Ellie, not being lazy, listened to everything her professor said. Despite already learning about concocting level two potion through her own reading, it would be impolite to interrupt the professor.

These past few days have been physically exhausting for the other students. However, they realized there was someone even more exhausted. From morning till evening, Ellie was relentlessly trained by Professor Medik. In the morning, while guarding against danger, she would hear his lengthy lectures. In the evening, when back to the camp, she would stay up later than others to practice potion concocting under his strict supervision. He made her concoct potions following his earlier instructions until he was satisfied. It was clear that no other student could endure such rigorous training. Just remembering the professor’s words was hard enough, let alone concocting the potions on the same day. This made everyone realize Duchess Ellie’s genius.

The longer Ellie stayed, the more she trained. Even though her first attempt at potion concocting was successful, Professor Medik had small tips and tricks from his own experience. As a result, his sole student could concoct potions faster. While others took 70-90 minutes to concoct level 2 potions, Ellie could complete hers in just 1 hour thanks to these secret techniques. With more expertise, she might become even quicker.

Professor Medik was very pleased. It seemed he truly imparted a lot of knowledge to Ellie. However, their good times abruptly ended when the students of Group 2, who had gone with Professor Regan, suddenly appeared in their village with many people in tow.

As the frontline responder, Professor Medik went to question the students about what had happened. He learned that a sudden disaster had struck. While trying to dig a waterway, they encountered a hidden mechanism, and once activated, it turned all the flowing water into acid!

Professor Regan was busy evacuating other villagers. However, upon hearing this, Professor Medik realized this was no ordinary situation. The danger was extremely high, and Professor Regan’s absence was increasingly worrying.

"Professor...are you going to help Professor Regan?" Before Professor Medik could say anything, Ellie, whose heart was racing, interrupted. Hearing the term "poisonous acid," which was akin to food for her little Apple, Ellie felt that missing this golden opportunity might mean that the little Apple’s food machine would disappear forever!

"Mmm, yes, but you don’t need to..."

"Professor! Please let me help. I have a sure way to handle this."

"Hmm? Even though you don’t know what caused it?"

"Professor...I think it must be a high-level magical device. It’s a coincidence that Professor Regan activated it, so whatever flowed through it turned poisonous, right?" Ellie shared her thoughts.

Upon hearing this, he considered briefly. While others might not know, Professor Medik was aware that Ellie’s abilities went beyond just tracking targets. Perhaps she could use her mushroom power to decompose these magical devices. Moreover...if they got close to the danger zone and it proved too risky, he could always tie Ellie up and keep her from getting too near the hazardous area.

Ellie couldn’t hear her professor’s thoughts, but even if she could, she would have had to pretend to be obedient to join this mission. In the end, the professor nodded in agreement.

“Students Vida, Student Aria, and the others, I leave this place in your hands. Help the injured, take care of the refugees, and find them shelter. They might need to stay here for a while. I’ll go check the situation on the other side and be back,” Professor Medik ordered, and the students nodded in understanding. It was a crisis, and they needed to help each other.

However, the newly arrived villagers were filled with despair and sorrow. Even when food was offered, they didn’t want to eat. They had seen their homes destroyed by the poisonous acid; their hard-earned possessions lost in an instant. How could they have any appetite?

Some families had not yet managed to escape, fleeing in different directions. Even though they were told that the professor of these students was helping, they had little hope left.

Seeing these scenes, Medik knew the upcoming tasks would be difficult, but he couldn’t do much more than send out additional calls for help to the kingdom, aware that chaos was rampant in every corner of the kingdom, making aid hard to come by.

He intended to spend as little time as possible helping Professor Regan, thus leaving the students to manage things here. Ellie followed him closely, not allowing him to worry about her lagging behind. With her refined skills in Luke’s guise, she moved more efficiently. At the very least, she was able to keep pace with the larger professor.

“There seem to be people up ahead,” Ellie quickly informed. Medik didn’t question her further, heading straight in the direction she indicated.

Indeed, there were 4 or 5 villagers waiting hopefully, their faces marked by sorrow. They should have gone with the earlier group of students, but their children were on the other side of the poisonous acid stream. Leaving without them was not an option.

Medik exchanged a few words with them before a loud “boom” sounded from ahead. The young professor leaped forward with his large roots, which carried him across the poisonous stream, though it seemed that the roots suffered greatly. Professor Medik gritted his teeth and forced himself to the source of the noise. Narrowing her eyes, Ellie called out her little Apple when no one was watching.

Although it would have preferred to bathe, it was ordered to work first. Instead of happily swimming in the poisonous acid stream, it swam against the current to find the source and stop the magical device from functioning, thereby halting the flow of this stream!

“Sob, sob, my lady...please, save my daughter!”

“My son is in there too. My parents are in there!! It shouldn’t have happened. It truly shouldn’t have happened. This is all because of you causing this chaos. We wouldn’t be facing such misfortune if not for you!”

“Waah, waah. Help. Help us, please. If not, I’ll die with my child!!” The waiting villagers cried out desperately. Their attitudes made their understanding clear. Naturally, they felt this way after the students’ help led to even more problems.

But blaming only the students wasn’t fair. They couldn’t have known that this village had such dangerous magical devices around here. If they had known, they wouldn’t have acted as they did. However, trying to reason with people who have lost everything would be a joke.

"Everyone, please wait here. I’ll go in and take a look, too," Ellie said before summoning her Purple Mushroom. Although it wasn’t particularly strong against poison, its ability to decompose various substances allowed it to break down the poison into a sea of spores.

The giant mushroom appeared, and Ellie instructed them to combine into a 2-meter size to forge ahead through the stream. She continued to hear the sounds of battle, so she needed to see what the fight was really about.

If it was just a matter of the poisonous stream, it should have ended by finding the magical device’s location. How could this battle arise? As the Purple Mushroom worked hard to avoid being digested by the acid that was entering its body, Ellie saw what was happening!!

"That! Did you bring your student along?" Professor Regan, who had been startled since Professor Medik arrived, shouted again upon seeing that Professor Medik had brought the child to risk her life with them.

Professor Medik’s eyebrows furrowed in shock. He had told Ellie to wait outside, but she had stubbornly disobeyed. Seeing the looks from both professors, Ellie quickly explained.

"Professor...I came to help. Besides, my little mushroom brought me in safely, didn’t it?"

"Humph!! You’re so stubborn. After this, won’t both the professor and student from Botanical Branch have to disappear as if they never existed? I’ve been caught in a trap and may not survive. The only professor of the Botanical Branch is dying, and now the sole student, the branch’s hope, has followed me into danger. What will become of the kingdom after this? Will our botanic element have no place? Without someone to pass on knowledge, how pitiful will it be for future students? I and you..."

"Stop talking! Is now the time?" Finally, Professor Regan couldn’t bear to listen anymore. Knowing he had fallen into an ancient trap was saddening enough; hearing more from Professor Medik would make him bite his tongue in despair before facing these fierce beasts.

"S-So, what should I do? I..."

"Don’t speak. Listen and let me explain to your student. No matter what, we must find a way to survive," Professor Regan said while fending off a massive tentacle in front of him.

Professor Medik did the same. Despite his lengthy speech, he handled all the tentacles emerging from the stream, otherwise, the child behind him might have died.

"Scholarship Student Ellie, you should have deduced by now that ahead lies a type of spiritual equipment. However, magical equipment vary in levels. I recall you have a level 5 spiritual equipment from the Setter family, but the equipment ahead is a level 6 magical equipment."

"Most creators of level 6 magic equipment design them with mass killing in mind. It’s not surprising that after generating the poisonous current, this equipment would have additional properties."

"The creator incorporated an “ancient stratagem,” likely aware that people would settle in this area and might need to dig new waterways. So, whether we dug to the left, right, or a bit further, as long as it opened a new waterway, the ancient stratagem would trigger the magical equipment."

"No! In fact, even without creating a new waterway, merely expanding the existing one slightly—whether by human effort or natural erosion—would have triggered this equipment. From my observation, in about 5-10 years, this situation will occur anyway. This suggests the person who set up this stratagem had a deep-seated grudge against this village from the start."

"The ancient stratagem activates when water flows through, enabling the magical equipment to create the poisonous stream. Additionally, it can transform water into attacking tentacles, targeting any source of life force. That’s why its tentacles can strike so accurately."

Clang!!Professor Regan explained, and because of this...as soon as Ellie stepped into the stratagem’s range, she too became a target for the dark purple tentacles!!