Chapter 389: Blushing Butcheress
Leo contacted Howl through his soul link and told him to use his skill [Thermal Pulse], strictly instructing him not to affect the water pool, magic plants and treasures.
Tavian and Kaelion were confused seeing Leo distracted all of a sudden, then suddenly, the ground below them began to heat up.
"Why is it so hot all of a sudden?!" Aina came running out of the bunker, her body faintly steaming. But she wasnât aloneâone by one, the other territory members and beasts followed, equally sweaty.
Lily understood what was happening and used her wind power to elevate everybody nearly 20 meters above the ground.
"W-what is happening?" people struggled to maintain their balance mid-air, but since Lily wasnât paying much attention, they slowly began to rotate in place.
The ground temperature continued to rise as the muddy terrain dried rapidly. Steam billowed upward, brushing against the faces of the territory membersâthey were essentially experiencing a sauna in the open.
But since Howl was controlling his skill with high precisionâleaving certain areas untouched and heating others less to avoid damaging vegetationâhis skill proficiency began rising rapidly.
[Thermal Pulse] - Low 89% -> 91% -> 92%... -> 99% -> 100%
Ding!
[Thermal Pulse] - Mid 5%
- The body can generate more heat
- The body can generate heat at localized regions
Soon, the process was complete. Amidst the muddy forest, a completely dry and comfortable living area had been formed.
"Woah..." Brok exclaimed, staring at the transformed ground.
"Generally, after such heavy rain, the students face a lot of trouble with living conditions and even moving around their territory," he added, shaking his head in disbelief. "But it looks like the boss already had a solution."
Even Tavian was amazed. He briefly considered asking Leo to do the same for his territory, but refrained, thinking it would be inappropriate to trouble him on the very first day of their alliance.
Thankfully, he didnât ask. Leo wouldnât have been able to do it anywayâ[Thermal Pulse] was limited to his own body, and revealing Howlâs existence would have been risky.
When the ground finally cooled down, Lily gently brought everyone back to the surface.
"Alright! Everybody, get back to work. You all had plenty of rest yesterdayâtoday, no slacking!" she said as the morning sunrays spread across the territory. The storm had lasted for nearly a full day.
The elves quickly resumed their patrols as Lily called out to Sylrael.
"Sylrael, this is a spatial ring containing an adequate amount of sturdy metallic feathers. You can use them to craft your arrowheads. As for the crafting equipment, letâs go shopping and buy what you need."
"Lady Lilyâ"
"Sister," Lily corrected, her tone firm.
"S-sister Lily, we only require a small amount of feathers for our primary arrowheads used in stronger attacks. This spatial ring is too precious, please take it back."
Sylrael herself possessed a few spatial rings obtained from a previous raider of her realm, but they were insignificant compared to Lilyâs. The one Lily offered had a capacity of 30 cubic meters, while Sylraelâs ranged from 1 to 5 cubic metersâbarely enough to hold some small handful of feathers.
Lily shook her head.
"No. Why reserve stronger arrowheads only for stronger attacks? Use these feathers even for your normal arrows. Later, Iâll provide even better materials for stronger ones. And keep the spatial ringâit will make things easier."
As Lily and Sylrael spoke, Leo approached from behind.
"On the topic of arrows, I still have the ones you used to trap us at the entrance of the secret realm. Thousands of themâmostly wood and stone. I want you to rebuild that trap system around our territory. Something we can activate against intruders."
Leo had previously stored all those arrows.
Sylrael flinched at the mention of the trap but relaxed when she noticed Leo didnât seem angry.
Leo scratched his cheek, glancing around.
"I guess Iâll dump them in a new location after clearing some space..." Then he turned to Lily.
"Youâre going shopping with Sylrael in the academy?"
"Yes," Lily replied.
"Alright. Be carefulâyour looks can attract unwanted attention. And donât hesitate to bash some skulls if someone steps out of line."
"Of course. You donât need to worry about that," Lily said confidently.
Soon after, Tavianâs men arrived. They were visibly shocked upon seeing so many elves moving around the territory. Just yesterday, there hadnât been a single one in sightânow, they appeared everywhere.
Before their thoughts could wander too far, Tavian stepped forward.
"You threeâif I even get a hint that youâre planning something, I might just trap you in an illusion array for the rest of your lives. And do you know what youâll experience there?"
The men gulped at his cold expression.
"Yes, exactly what youâre thinking. The same things you might have been planning to do to the elves. Now go back to the territory and return only when I call. I donât want to hear a single word about the territory of the 1st-ranked fresher. Otherwise... it wonât be me dealing with you."
He paused, his voice lowering.
"Itâll be the Blushing Butcheress."
At that title, their faces went pale. Their bodies tensed as if struck by fear itself, and they immediately turned to leave.
But of course, Tavianâs expertise in illusion wasnât high enough that he could make âsuchâ vivid illusions, but there was no rule he couldnât fake it to scare people.
They departed swiftly after handing the spatial ring to Tavian. He summoned his crescent staff and began walking toward his first location to trace the arrays.
Meanwhile, Leo and Kaelion headed toward the area where lightning had been striking repeatedly.
Thatâs rightâthey were heading toward the Thunder-Crest Elk Antler.
But as they drew closer, both Leo and Kaelion felt the hairs on their bodies rise, their skin tingling from the dense static energy saturating the surroundings.
The closer they got, the more tingling sensation they felt all over their bodies.
"Looks like the treasure that you planted has really advanced," Kaelion muttered.