Cornflower Witch

Chapter 100 The Two Cooperate
On the second night, Hirutiya sat on a rock by the campfire, turning a roasted fish on a stick with her hand, sprinkling it with a little salt and spices, the golden-brown fish meat emitting a fragrant aroma.

Beside the fire, there were several strings of dried-out mushrooms, which smelled equally tempting.

The grilled fish was taken down and placed on a makeshift wooden board. Hiltiya blew on it and took small bites, then ate some grilled mushrooms, finding it even tastier than the dinners Lining usually prepared.

Perhaps it's because it's novel, but actually Lining's cooking skills are quite good; it's just that her specialty is a different cuisine from Sylvia's.

In the afternoon, besides catching fish whenever she had a spare moment, Siltia spent her time searching for poisonous creatures that could bring her victory.

She made some gains, such as finding several kinds of poisonous herbs and tree sap, but their toxicity was not very strong, and she currently lacked the tools to process and refine them.

Finally, Hilti had to change her approach and search for another type of mushroom that was not fatal but would cause hallucinations. The few white-spotted, red-capped mushrooms in the basket at her feet were her haul for the day.

【Fly Agaric Mushroom】(Nightmare): A highly poisonous mushroom that has not yet fully solidified. Ingestion can cause severe nausea, abdominal pain, chills, hallucinations, dizziness, and blurred vision.

If the toxic spores within were activated using the blooming method, it might trigger a reaction in the two-headed ogre. However, since this mushroom is wild and lacks a fully formed complete phase, activating it would exhaust its inherent sexual energy within minutes.

If these mushrooms are made into poison, it can probably temporarily reduce the ogre's strength by 1-2%.

At this point, she can pluck the 'Fire Orchid' from the lantern, causing it to explode into a violent fireball, which will injure or weaken the opponent.

Unfortunately, the opponent has an outer skin resistant to high temperatures and heat; otherwise, fully catalyzing 'Fire Orchid' would have severely damaged it.

After being weakened in this way, even if she couldn't kill the two-headed ogre, she could still take advantage of its weakness to retrieve the 'Blood Flower' from the cliff and complete the mission.

……

On the morning of the third day, after a good night's rest, Siltia set off again, full of energy.

Mick, Komia, and the others prepared to send Jero down the mountain and leave.

"Lei, what are you doing here?" On the way, the four encountered the tall Lei, who was carrying a giant ogre's bone club and had an ogre's head wrapped in cloth around his waist.

"I defeated an ogre and am ready to go back." He touched his head; although he had some bruises and scars on his body, they weren't serious.

"You actually took down the cannibal all by yourself?" Komia and the other two were astonished.

“Ogres are stupid, I’m smart.” Lei gripped his bone club and proudly patted his chest.

"It suddenly occurred to me that Ray's fighting style is similar to that of the ogres, but in terms of skill and awareness, after so much practice, he is definitely stronger than the ogres. Without the huge difference in strength, the ogres' crude martial arts shortcomings are exposed," Karen analyzed.

The four of them gathered together and helped Jero down the mountainside, where the sparse woods were relatively safe.

“This is fine, Mick.” Jero was in pretty much the same mood as usual, and he patted Mick on the shoulder.

"You haven't killed a Tier 1 opponent yet, have you? If you have the chance, you can try it with your friends."

"However, don't confront danger head-on; leave as soon as possible." In Jero's opinion, although cannibals are dangerous, Mick has so many powerful companions by his side, so it shouldn't be a big problem.

“No problem, big brother.” Seeing Jero like this, Mick was quite happy, because the Jero he knew was back.

"I'll come find you, big brother, after I finish the assessment, and we'll celebrate together."

“Congratulations…” Jero shook his head.

"No need, I'm planning to leave Jiaoshi City and go somewhere else."

“Big brother…” Mick was about to say a few words of advice, but seeing the other’s dejected look, he stopped himself from saying anything.

"That's it, Mick. You have your own things to do. You don't need to follow my example." With that, Jero walked down the mountain and never looked back.

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

"Should we head straight back, or continue searching for the Bloodflower?" Karen asked the others.

"The assessment will last for three days. At the latest, you must return to the foot of the mountain by noon tomorrow to complete the assessment."

"Let's vote." Mick thought for a moment, not wanting his decision to interfere with others.

So the four wrote their ideas down on slips of paper and put them together. Three votes were in favor of continuing the exploration, while one vote was in favor of returning to their starting point.

"Wow, everyone's so ambitious." Komia looked at the group curiously; she was the only one who voiced her opinion.

“But if you’re all going, then I’ll go too, otherwise it would be too disloyal.” After saying that, she patted the 'dough' beside her.

After deciding on their next move, the four set off again. Thanks to their teamwork, they quickly devised a new route and ventured into the depths of the forest, which they had never explored before.

……

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

She quickly assessed their respective strengths and realized that she could not defeat her opponent, so she stopped and pondered a strategy.

At this moment, Hilti also walked over from the side of the hillside again, carrying several small wooden tubes in her basket containing prepared hallucinogenic poison.

The two quickly spotted each other, exchanged glances, and walked towards each other.

“You seem to have some ideas.” Iona noticed what Sylvia was holding.

“That’s right, but the chances of winning aren’t high.” Hilti shook her head. It would indeed be difficult for her to kill the two-headed ogre, but escaping would be relatively easy.

“I have something else here that should be of help.” Iona took out a slender gold needle from the pocket at her waist.

【Golden Needle】(Tier 1 - Blazing Sun): A long needle forged from radiant gold. After being infused with the Blazing Sun phase, the tip of the needle will burst out with an extremely high burning temperature, capable of piercing the outer skin defense of most creatures.

After discussing it, the two decided to join forces to deal with the two-headed cannibal.

An hour later, Iona launched the first attack. She leaped down from the treetop and, before the two-headed ogre could react, plunged the 'golden needle' in her hand into its back with all her might.

Under the stimulation of the blazing sun phase, the golden needle pierced through the thick, tough skin like a red-hot branding iron, creating a bloody hole in the cannibal's back.

Attacked, the enraged two-headed ogre grabbed its weapon and retaliated with all its might. Iona dodged the attack with her agile, bee-like movements and then moved away from its side again.

As Iona fled, the two-headed ogre gave chase, even picking up a stone from its side and hurling it at the leaping Iona, causing the blonde girl to freeze and turn pale.

Although the stone didn't make Iona vomit blood, it did cause her considerable internal injuries.

At this moment, Hiltiah silently leaped down from the treetop again, her emerald green longsword aimed at the wound she had pierced before, and stabbed it in precisely once more, drawing out black and red blood.

The cannibal, stabbed again, felt his wound go numb, his body tremble, and a chill rose from the soles of his feet.

It realized it was poisonous immediately. Ignoring Iona who was fleeing in the distance, it quickly twisted its waist and turned back to strike.

Unexpectedly, the seemingly burly ogre was so agile and swift. Hilti's dodge was not completely avoided, and the ogre caught the parrying blade.

The emerald green blade bent in that rough, stone-like palm, leaving only a white mark on the palm with its sharp edge.

To avoid being caught by the blade, Hilti had to abandon the Tree Jade Spirit Sword, leaping away to evade the ogre's second sweeping attack.

Frustrated by his failure to catch the agile black-haired girl twice, the ogre roared in fury. One of the two heads on his shoulder howled, and the sonic waves caused Hilti's heart to pound wildly, as if being pulled by an invisible hand, bringing her excruciating pain.

The breathing technique's cycle was temporarily interrupted by the ogre's intimidating aura, and the ogre, reacting extremely quickly, waved its hand again, determined to seize the frail girl.

In a moment of extreme danger, the lantern at Hilti's waist opened, and a few tiny sparks from the flower stamens flew out, exploding into a huge fireball in the air.

The scorching waves of fire engulfed the ogre's vision, the flames burning its eyeballs, causing it to painfully retreat a few steps to avoid the oncoming fire.

With this opening, Hilti was finally able to escape and get out of the two-headed ogre's attack range.

The battle continued, and when the ogre was briefly blinded, Iona seized the opportunity and plunged her sword into the wound left by the golden needle once more.

A dazzling burst of blazing sunlight erupted, and the scalding power of magma coursed through Iona's veins, finally flowing into the longsword in her hand, making its golden blade gleam and enlarging the originally small wound several times over.

The ogre's blood gushed from Iona's head, staining her original blonde hair red.

(End of this chapter)