Chapter 280: The Demon Frog Comes to Help

Chapter 280

The Demon Frog Comes to Help

Boom!!

The impact caused the Purple Mushroom to scatter, and Ellie shamelessly leaped behind Professor Regan, making him twitch at the corner of his mouth.

"Professor...please take care of me."

"You!" He wanted to scold her but couldn’t, as he had to fend off continuous attacks from left and right sides. It wasn’t as difficult as before since Professor Medik was now assisting. However, seeing Ellie, who had volunteered to help, hiding behind him made him feel like he couldn’t laugh or cry.

"Professor...I’ll have the little mushroom try to locate the origin of the stratagem. So, please protect me while I concentrate," Ellie said. What else could Professor Regan say? He turned his focus to the battle, while Professor Medik could only feel exasperated at his little, troublesome student.

In truth, he would rather have his only student hiding behind him, even if Ellie signaled with a wink that she wouldn’t cause him further trouble...

With both professors protecting her, Ellie sat among the crying children, closing her eyes to focus on tracking the movement of the surrounding spores. It didn’t take long for the spores drifting upward to locate the stratagem.

Its design was very unfamiliar to her. To investigate properly, Ellie had the spores gradually increase their weight and fall due to gravity.

Whoosh!!

Before the spores could really get close, Ellie sensed that the ancient stratagem and the level 6 magical equipment were one and the same, as if they shared a unified spirit. Sensing even the slightest bit of life force approaching, the magical equipment activated the ancient stratagem immediately.

"Ha ha ha! Don’t think you can get close to me," boomed the voice of an old man. Ellie and the two professors were equally surprised. Who would have thought the magical equipment could communicate like this?!!

"Did your power reach it already?" Professor Medik was slightly confused by that sentence. He couldn’t believe it came from the magical equipment, but with such a powerful voice, what else could it be?

"Yes," Ellie confirmed. Both professors swallowed hard.

"It’s said that level 6 magical equipment possesses strong spirits. It seems to be true."

"This might be more challenging than we thought. If Professor Nico were here...perhaps..."

"That wouldn’t be possible. Even he shouldn’t be able to handle this magical equipment and ancient stratagem," Professor Regan shook his head. Though not as pessimistic as Professor Medik, this situation seemed truly hopeless.

"Scholarship Student Ellie! Take the children and get out. I’ll cover you. Are you willing to risk your life to do this?" Professor Regan had no other options. Overcoming such a high-level magical equipment and stratagem was impossible. Instead of fighting until they were exhausted, it was better to try saving as many children as possible one by one.

Medik frowned deeply. He didn’t want Ellie to take such a dangerous risk, but seeing Professor Regan’s look, he understood. Professor Regan merely wanted Ellie to take the children out and not return. This was a one-time chance to get her out safely, and it meant that both he and Professor Regan would sacrifice their lives here!!

"Do you think I don’t understand? You’re trying to send me away, aren’t you?" Both professors froze at her response. Normally, Ellie was not rebellious and would follow orders.

"Don’t be too stubborn. This is not a situation you can handle! Since you already know we want you to leave, then go."

"Yes, you should leave. At least if you’re the only one left in the institute, it’s better than no one at all. The kingdom still needs our power for many tasks, especially in potion concocting. I’ve taught you some essential techniques, and you’ve learned well. You must continue to strive, do you understand? And...tell Lucien for me. I..."

Professor Medik paused. He hadn’t expected to face such danger. He was aware of the continuous losses at the institute, both professors and students. However, he never imagined he would face such peril. Firstly, because he didn’t like taking on these dangerous missions, and secondly, he had other tasks that kept him from being assigned to such missions. Thus, he had lived his life without ever preparing for such an end.

He had thought about many things before, as Professor Lucien had often scolded him. He always said not to worry too much about the future but to focus on being happy and thinking only about the present. Medik had never managed to do that. Today, he realized how foolish his overthinking was. No matter how much he thought, how well he planned, when trouble came, there might be no tomorrow.

Unfortunately, it was only today that he understood Lucien’s words...

Ellie looked at the two professors, who seemed to be giving their last words, with disbelief. In truth, Ellie was never afraid of dying. She always knew that if she ever fell into danger, she just needed to ask for help, and that man would appear for sure. This time would be no different. Coming to her here was easier than reaching her in the Tower of Eternity. If he could do it then, how could such short distance became his obstacle?

Perhaps he was already nearby...

If others could hear Ellie’s thoughts, they might laugh and say she was overestimating herself. However, they didn’t know that on a large tree not far away, a man with intense, sharp eyes was already watching the situation with his arms crossed. Just as Ellie had thought, every time he knew Ellie was in danger or facing a difficult situation, even though he had already given her a protective shield, he didn’t want his woman to face danger herself. That’s why he had been present since he learned Ellie was coming to this village.

Of course, the lively meeting at the Setter family mansion came to an abrupt halt once again. But everyone seemed used to it by now. When the eldest young lord of the family suddenly stood up and disappeared, they no longer sent anyone to look for him. They simply paused the meeting, and the family head chose a new topic for discussion, hoping to find one that didn’t require his son’s opinion.

Back to the current situation, Ellie had no interest in listening to anyone’s last words. She looked around and sent her little Apple, who was happily eating, to the position the spores had previously discovered. Now, Ellie knew how that magical equipment attacked. To give it such strength, besides creating a poisonous stream, it had merged with a high-level stratagem to give its attacks more freedom.

Originally, its function was only to create poison. It was level 6 because the creator had endowed it with a high-level spirit. With its own spirit, it could choose how to live.

After merging with the stratagem, it was like gaining more limbs for attacking, but it still relied on the water source for its assaults.

No matter how powerful it was, without the flowing water, both the stratagem and the equipment itself wouldn’t have the medium to attack others. And this method wasn’t difficult to deal with at all.

Her little Apple floated against the current. When it neared the position of the stratagem and the magical equipment, it jumped forward, its body expanding. Naturally, the sudden appearance of such a large creature was quite surprising, but Ellie had no other choice. Revealing the little Apple would definitely arouse suspicion in both professors, but she only had 2 options.

One was to use the little Apple, and the other was to ask the eldest young lord for help. The first option was something Ellie was reluctant to do, but the second option was even worse. If she constantly had to ask for his help, she would get used to having him by her side. And that meant if one day the eldest young lord decided to abandon her, Ellie would no longer be able to survive on her own.

Because of this, revealing the little Apple was Ellie’s choice. However, she didn’t reveal it as "Ellie." Though it was risky, she tried to present it that way.

"Student Ellie, tell Lucien that..."

Boom!!

Professor Medik, who was about to give his last words, was interrupted mid-sentence by the sudden splash of water, startling everyone. Suddenly, a mountain—no! A giant frog the size of a mountain—appeared. Yes! This huge creature was her "Little Apple."

Now, it was taller than a 3-story building. Its enormous body quickly blocked the water flow. Not only were the humans shocked, but even the level 6 magical equipment was taken aback.

"W-What is this giant demon!!" The old man’s voice roared in fear, immediately sensing that the Demon Frog before him had no good intentions.

"D-Demon Frog?" Professor Medik felt a shiver run down his spine. Normally, he lived among plants and herbs, so seeing such a large, slimy creature rooted before him made his skin crawl. Especially when he saw its terrifying tongue, he froze, halting his resistance against the magical equipment’s attack. Fortunately, Professor Regan remained composed, only furrowing his brows in confusion.

"Is that a Demon Frog? Our entire kingdom has only one person with such a beast. He must be the “Demon Frog Warrior” that hunters and soldiers talk about, right?"

Professor Regan, interested in beast hunting, so when the previous battle ended, he had heard of this mysterious new hunter, who suddenly emerged. Everyone knew that he was the owner of the powerful Demon Frog. Regan had once thought of contacting him to learn his combat methods. However, he never had enough time to do so. He never expected to see the Demon Frog in person like this.

"What is it?"

"This Demon Frog belongs to the Demon Frog Warrior, who made a great name in the recent war. The hunters respect him highly, and the discovery of the plan of using the level 4 beast of the Rhea Kingdom was all thanks to him."

"Hmm? Then why is he..."

"He’s very mysterious. No one knows who he is or where he lives. Perhaps he’s here on a mission or he might live in this mountain and saw what was happening."

"Professor, I think that might be true, but there’s something else I know," Ellie voiced her opinion, pretending not to recognize the one mentioned. Right now, the professors didn’t connect her to Hunter Luke, so whatever she said would be taken as the opinion of a student.

"What is it?"

"I heard he feeds his beast poison. Maybe he was looking for this from the start."

"Hmm? That seems accurate. He does feed poison to his beast. How did you know this, or..."

"............." Ellie kept an innocent look. She wasn’t afraid of the professors figuring it out because even if they guessed right, she wouldn’t admit it. What could they do? But unfortunately, the professors didn’t connect the dots between a beast trainer and a botanic magician at all.

"Could the Setter family also be interested in information about the Demon Frog Warrior?" Hearing Professor Regan’s question, Professor Medik sighed as if he was so tired.

"It seems the Setter family is quite perceptive. Not only did they manage to lure my student, but they’re also trying to lure others."

"............." Regan raised his eyebrows as he looked at Medik.

In the entire kingdom, only Medik seemed to think his student had been lured. Everyone else thought Ellie was the one who had lured the eldest young lord! Given the status of that young lord, did he need to lure anyone? With just a flick of his finger, people would come running.

In Regan’s mind, it seemed Medik had immense trust in his student and was incredibly biased...

But he didn’t realize that Medik’s thoughts were actually correct. They didn’t even know how the Setter family had lured Ellie. If they did, they might be shocked senseless!