The Cornflower Witch Chapter 100

Chapter 100: Two People Cooperate

On the second night, Hylial sat on a rock by the bonfire, turning the roasted fish on a stick with her hand, sprinkling a little salt and spices. The golden-brown fish meat emitted bursts of aroma.

Beside the fire, there were also a few skewers of dried mushrooms, equally appealing.

Taking the roasted fish off and placing it on a temporary wooden board, Hylial blew on it and tasted it in small bites. Then she ate some roasted mushrooms, finding it even more delicious than the dinners Lining usually prepared.

It was probably the novelty. In fact, Lining’s cooking skills were quite good, but her擅長的菜系 (Cuisine) was different from Hylial’s preference.

In the afternoon, besides taking time to catch fish, Hylial searched for potentially lethal poisons.

She found several poisonous grasses and tree saps, but their toxicity was not strong, and she lacked the tools to process and refine them.

Finally, Hylial had to change her approach and looked for special non-lethal mushrooms that could cause hallucinations. The several red-capped mushrooms with white spots in the basket at her feet were the day’s harvest.

[Frilled Poison Mushroom] (Nightmare): A highly toxic mushroom that has not yet completely condensed its complete phase. Ingesting it will cause severe nausea, abdominal pain, chills, hallucinations, and dizziness.

If the toxic spores within were stimulated with the Bloom-Flowering Method, it would probably make the two-headed Ogre react. However, since this mushroom was wild and hadn’t condensed its complete phase, stimulating it would deplete its inherent phase power in just a few minutes.

Making these mushrooms into poison would probably temporarily reduce the Ogre’s strength by 10-20%.

At that time, she would take down the ‘Fire Cloud Orchid Flower’ from the lantern, causing it to explode into a violent fireball, which could wound and weaken the opponent.

Unfortunately, the opponent had an outer skin resistant to high temperatures, otherwise fully catalyzing the ‘Fire Cloud Orchid’ could heavily injure the opponent.

After several such weakening steps, even if she couldn’t kill the two-headed Ogre, she could still take the ‘Blood Odd Flower’ from the cliff while it was weakened, thus completing the mission.

…

On the morning of the third day, Hylial, refreshed after a good night’s rest, set off again in high spirits.

Mick and Comia and a few others were getting Jero ready to leave the mountain.

“Ray, what are you doing here?” Along the way, the four met the tall Ray, who was carrying an Ogre’s bone club and had an Ogre’s head wrapped in cloth around his waist.

“I fought an Ogre and I’m going back,” he said, rubbing his head. Though he had some bruised scars, they weren’t serious.

“You actually dealt with an Ogre by yourself?” Comia and the other two were surprised.

“Ogres are stupid; I’m smart,” Ray said, patting his chest proudly with the bone club.

“It suddenly occurred to me that Ray’s fighting style is similar to an Ogre’s, but after training for so long, his techniques and awareness are definitely superior to an Ogre’s. Without a huge disparity in strength, the Ogre’s crude martial arts shortcomings were exposed,” Kaelen analyzed.

The four gathered and escorted Jero halfway down the mountain, where sparse forests offered relative safety.

“This is far enough, Mick.” Jero was in his usual state today. He patted Mick’s shoulder.

“You haven’t defeated a first-order opponent yet, have you? If you have a chance, you can try with your friends.”

“But if you encounter danger, don’t push it; leave as soon as possible.” In Jero’s opinion, although Ogres were dangerous, it wouldn’t be a big problem for Mick with so many capable companions.

“No problem, big brother,” Mick said happily, seeing Jero like this, because the Jero he knew was back.

“I’ll come find you after the assessment, and we’ll celebrate together then.”

“Celebrate…” Jero shook his head.

“No need, I’m going to leave Burntstone City and go somewhere else.”

“Big brother…” Mick was about to persuade him, but seeing his颓废 (dejected) eyes, he stopped.

“That’s how it is, Mick. You have your own things to do; don’t be like me.” With that, Jero walked down the mountain without looking back.

After saying goodbye to Jero, the four began to discuss their plans after this assessment.

“Are we going straight back, or should we continue searching for the Blood Odd Flower?” Kaelen asked.

“The assessment period is three days, and we have to return to the foot of the mountain by noon tomorrow at the latest to complete it.”

“Let’s vote,” Mick said, not wanting his decision to interfere with others.

So the four wrote their thoughts on slips of paper, and finally gathered them together.

Three votes were in favor of continuing the exploration, and one vote was in favor of returning to the starting point.

“Wow, everyone’s so ambitious.” Comia looked at them curiously; she was the only one who voted to return.

“But if you all go, then I’ll follow too; otherwise, it wouldn’t be loyal enough.” With that, she touched the ‘Dough’ beside her.

After deciding on their next move, the four set off again. With their concerted efforts, they quickly mapped out a new route, heading deep into the previously unexplored forest.

…

In the afternoon, Iona arrived at the bottom of the cliff and also spotted the two-headed Ogre in the distance.

She quickly estimated their respective strengths and realized that she couldn’t defeat the opponent in front of her, so she stopped and pondered a strategy.

At this moment, Hylial also walked again from the side of the hill, her basket holding several small wooden tubes filled with hallucination-inducing poisons.

The two quickly noticed each other, and with a shared glance, they approached.

“You seem to have an idea,” Iona said, noticing what Hylial was holding.

“That’s right, but the chances of winning aren’t high,” Hylial shook her head. It was indeed difficult for her to kill the two-headed Ogre, but it was relatively easy to escape.

“I have something else here that might help,” Iona said, taking a slender gold needle from her waist pouch.

[Golden Needle] (First-Order Blazing Sun): A slender needle crafted from shining gold. When infused with the Blazing Sun phase, the needle’s tip will erupt with extremely high scorching temperatures, capable of piercing through most biological outer defenses.

After some discussion, the two decided to team up against the two-headed Ogre.

An hour later, Iona launched the first attack. She leaped down from a treetop and, before the two-headed Ogre could react, plunged her ‘Golden Needle’ with all her might into its back.

Stimulated by the Blazing Sun, the gold needle pierced through the thick, tough skin like a red-hot branding iron, creating a bloody hole in the Ogre’s back.

Under attack, the enraged two-headed Ogre picked up its weapon and furiously struck back. Iona, relying on her nimble, bee-like movements, dodged the attacks and then again left the Ogre’s side.

Facing the fleeing Iona, the two-headed Ogre charged after her, even picking up nearby stones and throwing them at the leaping Iona, causing the blonde girl’s body to stiffen and her face to turn pale.

Although the stone didn’t make Iona vomit blood, it did cause a serious internal injury.

At this moment, Hylial silently leaped down from the treetop again, her phosphorescent-green longsword precisely targeting the previously pierced wound, stabbing into it once more, bringing forth black and red bloodstains.

The Ogre, stabbed again, felt numbness in its wound, its body trembling, and a chill rising from its feet.

Poison, it immediately reacted. Ignoring Iona fleeing in the distance, it quickly twisted its waist, turning to strike.

Unexpectedly, the seemingly burly Ogre was so agile and swift. Hylial’s dodge was not completely successful, allowing the Ogre to grab the blocking sword blade.

The phosphorescent-green blade bent in its coarse, stone-like hand, and the sharp edge of the blade only left a white mark on its palm.

To avoid being dragged down and caught by the blade, Hylial had to abandon the Jade Tree Spirit Sword and leaped away, avoiding the Ogre’s second sweeping attack.

Failing to catch the nimble black-haired girl twice made the Ogre furious. One of its two heads on its shoulder roared ferociously, and the spreading sound waves made Hylial’s heart pound violently, as if being pulled by an invisible hand, causing excruciating pain.

The circulation of the breathing technique was temporarily interrupted by the Ogre’s [Intimidation Aura], and the quick-reacting Ogre swung its hand again, determined to seize the delicate girl.

In a moment of extreme danger, Hylial’s waist lantern opened, and several minuscule fiery stamens flew out, exploding into a huge fireball in the air.

The scorching waves of fire engulfed the Ogre’s vision, and the flames burned its eyeballs, forcing it to retreat a few steps in agony, avoiding the incoming fire.

With this reprieve, Hylial finally escaped, moving beyond the two-headed Ogre’s attack range.

The battle continued. When the Ogre was temporarily blinded, Iona seized the opportunity and once again plunged her sword blade into the wound left by the gold needle.

Brilliant Blazing Sun erupted, and power like molten lava surged through Iona’s veins, finally injecting into the longsword, causing its golden light to stand out and widen the original small wound several times over.

The Ogre’s copious blood splattered from above Iona’s head, staining her blonde hair red.

(End of this chapter)