Chapter 692: Students Coming for Their Final Project
“She’s still alive, but whether she can hold on until you rescue her is uncertain. So, the more you cooperate now, the faster I can treat you, and the more opportunities you’ll have to save her,” I said.
“Is Sister Liya really still alive? But these poisonous bees keep stinging and biting us, and the stung wounds are festering with poison. Can she survive like this?” Paris, who had just been treated by me, regained some energy and asked in disbelief. From her own recent experience, she had almost thought she was going to die.
“It’s true, Liya is likely still alive,” it wasn’t me who answered her, but that Elf Girl. I had seen Liya through the God’s Eye, so how did she know? Did she also have special means to confirm the other person’s life?
The Elf Girl continued, “The ones attacking us are Iron Winged Bees. They are insectoid Magical Beasts with extremely strong offensive capabilities. Humans who are attacked by them are directly killed if male, and captured to become breeding grounds for their larvae if female.”
“Eek!” Paris’s face twisted as she heard this. The thought of almost being captured to become breeding grounds for larvae sent a cold sweat down her entire body. No girl could accept such a fate.
Beast-type Magical Beasts known for capturing females to satisfy their reproductive needs were notorious among Adventurers, especially female Adventurers. Quite a few girls had fallen victim to them.
However, they often possessed extremely valuable materials and were suitable for female Adventurers to hunt, as males were directly killed, while females could wait for companions to rescue them even if defeated.
Experienced Adventurer teams had extensive experience dealing with these beasts. Some unscrupulous mercenary groups even had a fixed process where they would use some girls as bait. Once the beasts captured them, they would generally stop moving, allowing for an attack and subjugation.
Some did not even need to kill them, only needing to collect the required materials and then rescue the bait girls. They would repeat this process, following a sustainable development path.
Iron Winged Bees were insectoid beasts, and they were precisely the type of Magical Beasts that girls hated encountering the most, and were equally notorious. Thus, the Elf Girl understood them. Elves living in forests had to be constantly wary of Magical Beast attacks, and their understanding and records of them were greater than those of Humans. After all, Elven scholars had very long lifespans.
“Iron Winged Bees inject venom along with their stingers into their prey’s bodies. Initially, it causes intense pain, which later turns into extreme itching. After a while, the pain disappears entirely and is replaced by involuntary pleasure. The prey also becomes paralyzed by the venom, unable to move, and at the mercy of the bees.”
Let alone Paris, even I felt a shiver run down my spine after hearing the Elf Girl’s narrative. It induced a visceral sense of revulsion; such creatures should be exterminated.
Upon hearing that his last companion was likely still alive, Lair stopped resisting. It was evident that he had some apprehension towards the Doctor earlier, but to quickly recover and save his companion, he could endure the pain of having the stingers removed.
If he cooperated, my surgical speed would be very fast. Although, as I had expected, he had left some barbs inside his body by forcefully pulling out the stingers earlier, as long as I injected maggots to consume them, it could be dealt with simply and quickly.
“Alright, the last one,” I said. It only took me three minutes for Lair. The water basin beside me was filled with a large number of stingers. I would throw each one I pulled out into the basin. The clear water was already stained red by the blood on the needles.
The Elf Girl had already removed her leather armor. She did so very naturally, without any shyness or reluctance. Beneath it, she wore a very ordinary green cloth underwear, which looked like it was simply cut from rough fabric, and was even somewhat loose-fitting.
She directly sat on a stone, finding a position convenient for me to operate. As I started the surgery, I asked, “Speaking of which, I still don’t know your name and profession, Elf Miss.”
“My name is Milti Lin’s Heart. I am a Wood Elf Ranger. You can just call me Milti,” the Elf Girl replied. She seemed easy to talk to, unlike how elves were often portrayed as arrogant in books.
“And your companions? We might be fighting together later, so I’d like to know what each of you is good at, and then I can think about a rescue plan,” I asked again, hoping she wouldn’t think I was prying for their information.
“No problem. Our captain is Tandri, he’s a Hunter. Lair is a Magic Archer, and Paris is a Battle Mage. Although they are young, they are both reliable companions,” Milti said readily.
A Hunter? I looked at the brawny captain in surprise. Seeing him holding a greatsword, I had assumed he was a Warrior or a Knight of some sort. I didn’t expect him to be a Hunter.
Furthermore, a Magic Archer, meaning that young man was also a caster. Coupled with the Elves’ natural affinity for magic, I suspected this Elf Girl was also a caster. Although none of them were conventional mages, the proportion of casters in this team was already abnormal; there were three casters.
“You’re not going to tell me that Liya, the one who was captured, is also a caster, are you?” I asked jokingly.
“Yes, she is a magical scholar. The four of us are classmates. We heard that the magic corruption here is severe, so we came here to do our final project. The captain is an experienced guide we hired together,” Milti explained.
Holy crap, she really is! They’re even classmates? What kind of school is this, to have four casters coming to a severely corrupted place for their final project research?
“Enough said, Milti. I apologize for the money you paid me. I failed to even detect the Iron Winged Bee attack this time, and my reputation is ruined. I will refund your commission when we get back,” Tandri said.
He had been in low spirits since a while ago. I wondered why, but it turned out he felt he had damaged his reputation as a mercenary for allowing an employer to be captured. But that wasn’t a big deal; they just needed to be rescued.
“Please don’t say that. Mr. Tandri led us in smoothly on the previous few occasions and taught us a lot. We even took insect repellent precautions this time, but I still didn’t expect us to be attacked. I didn’t expect it either, it’s not normal,” Milti said.
“Uh, it seems the forest has indeed been very strange lately. I’m finding it increasingly unfamiliar. The behavior patterns of many Magical Beasts have changed drastically. Perhaps, as the Eldest Misses said, the increased corruption has altered the Magical Beasts’ habits,” Tandri said with a wry smile.
“Um, can I ask which school you’re from?” I asked, feigning mere curiosity.
“Burgos Magic Academy. The four of us are all students there.”
