“Poison?”
After hearing Vaan’s answer, everyone was immediately taken aback.
“Poison can indeed be used to counteract poison, but you can’t just use any poison to counteract poison; it has to be suitable,” Astoria mentioned with furrowed brows before asking, “Why do you have such a poison on you, Teacher Raphna?”
“Why, you ask?” Vaan smiled before openly admitting, “That’s because I looted Fallen Witch Elvira’s lair.”
“Fallen Witch Elvira’s lair?” Aeliana’s gaze sharpened before she asked, “Does that mean there’s a high chance that Fallen Witch Elvira is the other witch accompanying the spatial-attribute witch, Lord Vahn?”
“I won’t deny that probability exists,” Vaan said before speaking more seriously, “But if Fallen With Elvira is here, she will likely target both Eniwse and the dragons. She wouldn’t be satisfied with one and not the other.”
“If she succeeds in her body transmutation, it’s hard to imagine how much stronger she’ll become from assimilating the power of dragons,” Vaan added.
“We can’t let that happen,” Astoria stated assertively. “Fallen Witch Elvira is already a Mid-stage High Witch after assimilating the power of a Wood Spirit, and she also has the physical prowess of a Rank 4 being through body transmutation.”
“If she also assimilates the power of dragons, no one will be able to stop her beside Her Majesty, Henrietta, and the other Transcendent Witches,” Astoria added.
“Yes, that’s quite a problem,” Vaan nodded and said, “We’ll have to pick up the pace from here. That said, the spatial-attribute High Witch is more likely to have nothing to do with the Great House of Caelestis.”
“The person must have purposely left behind survivors in Misty Leaf Town and revealed such a large spatial spell to mislead people into thinking the Great House of Caelestis was involved,” Vaan stated.
“Then why didn’t they at least kill all the witnesses that overheard the person exclaiming Fallen Witches, Lord Vahn?” Aeliana asked.
“That was also part of the Fallen Witches’ scheme to mislead people,” Vaan answered.
“The Great House of Caelestis wouldn’t be so stupid as to expose their distinct ability on such a grand scale. But it’s a different story if there were witnesses calling it the work of Fallen Witches.”
“In other words, the Fallen Witches tried to make it seem like the Great House of Caelestis left clues to pin the blame on the Fallen Witches for their work when in truth, it was the Fallen Witches’ work all along?” Hester summarized.
“Something like that,” Vaan nodded.
After Astoria used a purification spell on the water stream, the group continued to follow the water stream to the middle regions.
“Awr, awr, awrooo!” the Volcan Wolf barked.
It quickly caught up to the group and circled around them before growling at a random tree and half-heartedly attacking it to convey its message.
“You want to continue following us, and you can contribute to the battle if there’s one?” Vaan uttered.
The Volcan Wolf wagged its tail in response.
“You can go back. The beasts in the middle regions are too strong for you. You’ll only throw away your life trying to help.”
“Awrooo!” the Volcan Wolf howled.
It was determined to follow them.
“I’ve never seen a wild beast become so loyal after a single meeting,” Astoria commented.
“More precisely, it was after being saved once,” Aeliana corrected before adding, “But I do have to agree with you, Headmaster Astoria. It’s also my first time seeing it. Wolves know how to return favors, but I didn’t expect it to go so far to repay it.”
“I suppose it’s also partly following its pack leader’s orders,” Astoria guessed.
“Since it’s so adamant in following, why don’t we just let it?” Hester suggested before adding, “In any case, we have Lord Aeliana and Headmaster Astoria with us. We shouldn’t have any problem reaching the upper regions, even with it tagging along.”
“If you insist, it’ll be your responsibility, Lady Hester,” Vaan calmly stated.
“Alright,” Hester agreed.
…
…
…
Thousand Fog Mountains, Upper Regions
Somewhere on the upper half of the ninth inner mountain, two witches in black-hooded cloaks fled down the slope and through the thick fog as if they were being chased by something.
A few dozen yards away from their location, a colossal shadow moved through the fog, gradually closing the distance on them.
“Dammit!” One of the two Fallen Witches cussed as she fled with haste. “Didn’t you say you had a way to deal with the Thousand Fog Illusion Dragon, Claudette?!”
“I thought I did! How the hell am I supposed to know the Thousand Fog Illusion Dragon wasn’t a Fog Beast when the information stated that it was?!” Claudette cussed back.
“If it’s not a Fog Beast, then what the hell is it!” the other Fallen Witch cussed.
Both of them were High Witches, and yet they were rendered completely helpless against the Thousand Fog Illusion Dragon.
It was as if their opponent was a transcendental being!
“It’s a fricken illusion, Levana!” Claudette cried.
“An illusion?! Bullshit! Did it look like an illusion when it gobbled up my familiar, a Rank 4 Mutant Serpent?! It looked pretty damn real to me!” Levana shouted.
“There are all kinds of illusion spells! This isn’t just an ordinary illusion spell; it’s a hybrid attack-illusion spell! Furthermore, it’s a very high-rank one!” Claudette quickly explained while gasping for air.
As a spatial-attribute High Witch who could travel anywhere with a single spatial portal, it was clear that her physical fitness was inadequate.
Nevertheless, Claudette continued to speak, “That’s why we can’t harm the Thousand Fog Illusion Dragon, but it can harm us! If we want to defeat it, we have to break the spell!”
“Fuck breaking the spell and get us out of here, Claudette! None of us specialized or even studied illusion spells, not to mention a hybrid attack-illusion spell! We need Opalina for that!” Levana stated.
“Trust me; I very much want to get us out of here, Levana!” Claudette desperately revealed.
“However, something is interfering with my Spatial Magic. I can’t open a portal! A stronger magic spell locked down the entire space around the upper regions! We need to get back to the middle regions to get out!”
“But didn’t we get in with a spatial portal just fine?!”
“Getting in is easy, but getting out is hard!”