Ronny addressed Edward's apparition in his head before retrieving a vial. It wasn't a potion bomb this time.
The vial contained an exclusive E-Rank potion meant to be taken by lightning users. It would help the rankers amplify the output of lightning spells almost twice their intended effects.
Ronny drank the contents of the vial without a moment's delay. Then he drank a couple of stamina potions of the same rank. The stamina potion would indeed make him recover the lost stamina from his over expenditure of it during the delirious state to a certain degree.
Ronny wanted to use the mana recovery potion on himself too. But sadly, his mana core wasn't exactly in that rank. He would have suffered the consequences of drinking the potion that wasn't meant for him had he done that.
Finally, he retrieved another vial of potion and emptied the contents of his two weapons. The potion contained a liquid that would destabilize the ranker's mana circuits for a while if it goes into their system due to direct ingestion or through open wounds.
It was a debuff potion meant for Ronny's opponents. He figured two can play the game of debuffing their opponents.
Edward's potion enabled him to cast an AoE that was supposed to work because of long exposure while enabling him to retract from the battle if he could find shelter in his teammate. Ronny's debuff potion on the other hand made him come in contact with the enemy. A contact he was more than willing to initiate.
Ronny also knew that the longer he stayed in the miasma, the more detrimental it would be for him. But just when he was about to bolt towards his enemies, a voice sounded in his head.
'Duck and move sideways.'
Ronny heard Alphee's voice and opened his eyes wide in surprise. His body responded to her instruction before he could process them and ducked on its own before using all the might of his movement spell to go sideways.
Another huge crater was formed where Ronny was standing a moment before. Part of it was due to Ronny using his lightning element movement spell in its full effect. But the biggest reason behind it was due to an explosion going off at the place.
Soon a barrage of wood spears zeroed in on the same area Ronny was standing at and attacked it with all that it got. Had Ronny been a second too late, he would have faced heavy repercussions.
'The miasma is not only debuffing your body. It is also affecting your mind and making you fall into an illusion.'
Alphee gave Ronny shocking news. He had thought that the miasma was working slowly on him due to the large area it had to cover. But turned out the effect and the whole charade was just to make him let his guard down.
Ronny came to realize that although Edward was a mere potioneer and his personal battle experience might not be much, he had made the best use of his field of expertise. The expertise he had almost been trapped in.
The butcher was glad that he had taken care of Edward through Reen without wasting efforts on himself. Otherwise, things would have gotten south if the potioneer was allowed to make use of the illusion-inducing potion.
'How strong is the illusion? Can the illusion expert Jules see what's going on here?'
Alphee seemed to have been checking something. She replied after a while:
'Your teammates also can't tell what's happening here for real anymore. They are seeing what they had been seeing all this while.
Julia and Lady Zee would be able to tell the difference after a while. But it won't be anytime soon. The dungeon's mechanism has boosted the spell's effects.'
Alphee then told Ronny the real positions of his enemies that he couldn't see because of falling under the illusion. He immediately listened to her and started creating more distance between him and his enemies before asking Alphee again:
'There are so many things I want to ask you, Alphee. I understand now is not the time. But you always initiate contact when the situation is dire and go silent when I have time to talk to you.
So I'll ask the most important questions for now. How can you detect the opponents?
It's just like the last time when you could detect my enemy through the surroundings that interfere with the mana sense for when I was fighting the fog guy. I'm now guessing it's not mana sense you employ to detect these enemies. What is it?'
Alphee sighed before answering:
'It's soul sense. It works differently than mana sense. It's too early for you to use it, so I won't bother explaining it.
Now, stop and run in the opposite direction.'
As always, Alphee kept her explanations short. But at least this time, the butcher got the answer to the previous question he was looking for ever since he had fought with the fog guy in a ranking battle.
'Alright. Here's another one: Why can't we have normal conversations? What's stopping you from opening a dialogue with me when there are no dangers around me?'
Ronny asked as he dodged another barrage of wooden spears following him like homing missiles. He had followed Alphee's advice and retreated to where he had come from. This enabled him to save himself from the sneak attack Dom had launched with his wooden spears.
'*Sigh. It's because we can't have a conversation for long with your weak mana core. In case you don't know, I'm bound with your mana core.
My existence is tied to you now. But the same goes for you as well. The more activity I take part in, the more your F-Rank mana core will be put under pressure.
Plus, I need some time to recover my powers. But your F-Rank ranking status is making it difficult for me to expedite my recovery process.
I still have to employ F-Rank mana from the surroundings to heal my injuries. That's like trying to extinguish a wildfire with a bucketful of water.'
Ronny listened to Alephee's explanation and found sense in them. If Alephees existence was as grand as he thought it was, then his F-Rank mana usage would indeed make it difficult for her to recover from whatever she was recovering from. At her level, normal injuries or debuffs wouldn't stand a chance.
'Alright. Last question. You could have made your appearance earlier, you know. Although I don't mind you saving me in the nick of the time, I hate close calls, Alephee. I know you know that.
I would refer to it if you give me a preemptive warning. Like, you could have told me I was under the illusion right after I had fallen into it.'
Ronny asked while getting away from another potion trap Edward had set for him using Alphee's directions. The potioneer had started treating Ronny like some rodent that he could get to by laying various traps.
He had set up those all around the battle ring while Ronny was trying to run away from Dom's wooden spears. Ronny had to admit that the apparitions' timing was impeccable. They were teaming up like they had done this dance hundreds of times.
The potion trap would make use of array drawing to sense the opponent coming in the range. Then it would uncork the potion or make it explode depending upon the setup and potion's operability.
Ronny didn't know which debuff potions Edward had used in the potion traps. And he wanted to keep that way.
'Don't underestimate someone who has gone through Sage transformation. I don't want to reveal my existence here if I can help it.
The reason I started talking now was that I had made sure beforehand that the miasma was affecting the surroundings substantially.
The mana sense of rankers is getting hindered because of the illusory trap you have found yourself in. so my talk here should not create a problem. For now.
But that would all change when the miasma completely disappears. Just like you, I'm not fond of taking unnecessary risks either. So I'll keep my mouth shut, as I had been, so as not to attract the attention of something we want to avoid.'
Alephee concluded her explanation and went silent. Ronny didn't mind. He had gotten more information out of her than last time. It was enough for him for now.
'Soul sense, huh! This would come in handy when under the effects of illusion spells or potion-induced debuff. I'll have to search for this term in the academy's library. For now, to hell with Dom. I'll target this Edward fellow and stop him from any more potion traps.'
Ronny changed his battle strategy and shifted his focus to Edward due to his circumstances. He used Alephee's guidance to his advantage and made his way through the miasma effortlessly.
"Thanks for showing me that potion masters could fight their battles too. Rest now. Byebye."
Ronny said to Edward's apparition as his katar punched a hole through the latter's heart. He had killed one of his opponents using Alephee's help.
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AN: The update rates have been dropped due to the sudden laptop problem I'm facing for a couple of days now. I'm currently writing, editing, and uploading chapters from a borrowed laptop that I have limited access to.
I'll try to get my existing laptop fixed if it can be fixed. Because all my data is there. It'll also be easier on my wallet. Otherwise, I'll go for a new laptop.. Either way, kindly wait for 3 to 4 days before the update rate comes back to normal.