This Heroine's Friend Has the Power of Botany

Chapter 38

The Confrontation

"Whee-wit!" The signal of the hunter resounded again, urging Koross to hurry and take Ellie forward as quickly as possible. The young man tasked with the order glanced at the girl and prepared to ask her to follow him, attempting to ignore the Second Young Lord’s attitude.

However, his hand was only a fraction of a second slower than Aman’s. Aman audaciously grabbed Ellie’s waist, causing her to flinch slightly, though she managed to control herself from crying out. The malnourished girl was swiftly swept up in his arms.

Aman truly lived up to his words. This man was incredibly strong, and his speed was extraordinary. In just a few moments, he leapt up into a high tree with one hand while lifting Ellie’s waist with the other, then moved from tree to tree, carrying the rural girl to the hunter who had given the signal.

The other party was slightly baffled to see that the scholarship student, who was supposed to undertake the mission for the Setter family, was being escorted by the Second Young Lord Aman. However, he considered it a better move. Once Ellie was in a suitable position, he leapt onto the tree and hid there.

Within 6 seconds, the first beast that the patrol unit had previously spotted appeared. The creature’s black body looked unfriendly in every way. Its skin glistened under the moonlight, and its red eyes resembled the demons Ellie had seen in anime. Compared to the spine-chilling soundtracks of the anime, this real-life scenario was a thousand times more terrifying.

Its magic aura spread around, perfectly matching the dark color of its skin. The two-headed demon dog sniffed around as the people from the Setter family did their best to mask their own scents to avoid becoming targets.

For them, dealing with such a demon dog wasn’t difficult. However, engaging in combat would mean losing the chance to capture the Masqueraded Steeds entirely. Once there was a fight in the area, the non-carnivorous beasts would immediately hide, forcing them to let the demon dog pass silently.

Ellie’s brows furrowed slightly, just like everyone else watching the two-headed demon dog’s movements. However, at that moment, Ellie sensed something else approaching, something even more terrifying than the two-headed demon dog!

"Don’t worry," Aman tightened his arm around her gently, posing like a hero from the novels.

Ah...no! Actually, Aman himself was one of the heroes from the novel, just not her hero but Nara’s. It’s no wonder he had moments that made girls scream. Unfortunately, Ellie was not swayed by this display.

Her brows knitted even more closely together. Aman didn’t know what she was thinking. He understood only that Ellie was still afraid of the ferocious beast they had just encountered. Initially, he had intended to tease her lightly, but who could have anticipated that just as everyone thought the two-headed demon dog was about to pass them, a growling sound erupted from behind?

The path they had taken suddenly revealed someone hiding as a gust of wind blew, luckily without any beasts nearby to spot them.

The Setter family hunters felt chills at the sound. The aura of the newly arrived beast forced them into a defensive stance, ready to attack. Even Steven felt the danger, preparing to retrieve equipment that could help him reach Ellie as quickly as possible.

In his mind, the members of the Setter family were not much to worry about. They were accustomed to facing dangers and had their own ways of surviving. The only person who truly needed his protection was Ellie, the Esteemed Mage who had yet to repay the favor of saving his eldest son. Moreover, in the future, Steven believed he would need her help significantly. Compared to the ordinary members of the Setter family, Ellie was far more important.

"Roar!!" The beast’s roar lasted nearly 3 seconds. This loud sound left many ears ringing, including those of the two-headed demon dog itself.

Originally, it felt like a strong predator in this region, known for its speed and powerful attacks, always causing other beasts to flee wherever it went. But suddenly, a stronger beast appeared!

"Eek, eek," the two-headed demon dog seemed to be struck hard, staggering as if hit by a hammer just from the aura of a more powerful magic power. Fortunately, it wasn’t the target of this hunt, so after about 5 seconds, the demon dog quickly scampered away.

Just a second after the demon dog’s tail disappeared, a monster resembling a giant King Kong appeared. It uprooted the surrounding trees and threw them along its path, followed closely by another monster with dark red eyes, one side filled with ferocity and the other marked with blood.

If one looked back, they would see that in the hand of the King Kong-like beast was a smaller King Kong, baring fangs as big as a human arm, its strong hand marked with fresh blood as if it had recently attacked another creature.

The mother King Kong roared defiantly, while the enraged monster, looking slightly disadvantaged due to its tortoise-like form, had difficulty navigating around the trees thrown by the mother King Kong, giving her time to increase the distance between them.

Aman tightened his arm to ensure Ellie wasn’t exposed to danger. The mother King Kong was indiscriminately grabbing trees, tossing many Setter family members who were hiding. Fortunately, the blind giant tortoise, too enraged to care about the immediate food, just wanted revenge on the troublesome little King Kong that had injured it.

"Don’t be afraid, hold on to me," the deep soothing voice of the man nearby might have been romantic if not for the fighting and roaring of the two formidable monsters that turned the atmosphere into one of suspense.

Aman carried Ellie and leaped to a slightly distant tree. Just 2 seconds after they jumped, the mother King Kong grabbed the tree they were on and hurled it at the giant tortoise.

Ellie watched the two monsters fight with interest. If it weren’t for the mother King Kong’s need to protect her offspring, she might have already used her own magic power to fight. It was said that high-level monsters possessed their own magic powers, like the two-headed demon dog that used its power to instill fear in others. But such creatures immediately fled the scene of the two beasts’ fight upon hearing the roar, showing that these two were of a higher caliber.

While this giant tortoise, overwhelmed by rage, certainly forgot to consider using his own powers. He relied solely on his strength and his massive jaws, intent only on chewing up the little King Kong that had suddenly injured his eye severely.

The reason Ellie was confident that both monsters could wield magic power wasn’t just a guess but because...

- Quaternary Giant Ape, Level 3: Capabilities include slight intelligence, high physical strength, and the ability to use 2 types of magic: Iron Magic for physical reinforcement and Earth Magic for manifesting earth fists.

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- Fernandina, Level 3: Capabilities include slight intelligence, a highly durable shell capable of defending against all attacks from magic power, and the ability to use Earth Magic to attack enemies.

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This capability list had suddenly appeared, already visible when Ellie first furrowed her brow. Unbeknownst to anyone, Ellie had released spores around to inspect the circumstance. After her botanic powers increased, she could also increasingly use her own power to manipulate her plant in bond.

After a month of experimentation revealed to her that the spores had hidden properties—not only could they pinpoint locations through rooting, but if she wanted, Ellie could also focus on them to inspect her surroundings.

She had trained till she could project images around the spores into her mind continuously. This was a method of dividing her mind to control magic. Like when someone wishing to cast unfamiliar spells must first articulate the magical scripts, but to cast a spell that had detailed and overlapping magic circles required divided mind to articulate each magical script and merge the spells in one go.

Ellie hadn’t learned to cast spells since it wasn’t time for her lessons yet. Still, she had tried dividing her mind by focusing it to the spores, and it allowed her to see images as if from a monitor or CCTV camera from the era she had come from, showing the two monsters at a certain location along their path.

Certainly, Ellie couldn’t reveal to everyone that danger was approaching; it would be too easy to expose all her capabilities. The Setter family knew many of her secrets, so she wouldn’t use this CCTV-like ability in front of anyone.

However, what interested her most was the spores she had spread along the way that could be commanded to root themselves in the two beasts. She hadn’t immediately set this command, letting it float around, but she could control them later, even after some time had passed.

Not only they could check for disturbances around them, but they could also be used to root into any living thing that passed by? Even though the action panel didn’t display the option of rooting to decompose the beast right in front of them, with such capabilities, wasn’t it quite extraordinary?

Ellie understood that it might be due to the difference in power levels or distance that prevented this action. But it had already achieved her goal, hadn’t it? This experiment was indeed a success. In the future, if she simply spread her spores globally, couldn’t Ellie track anyone who passed through places she had been?

Not only that, but she could also identify the capabilities of the monsters through this method!

Now she wasn’t surprised why the purple mushroom she saw in the spirit dimension were surrounded by various creatures and looking so prominently. Its diverse abilities appeared to be quite powerful indeed.

As Ellie was contemplating this, a strange cry echoed, drawing everyone’s immediate attention.

"Kri, kri, kri."

The sound mimicked a type of bird from the tower, one Ellie had never heard before, but everyone’s reaction indicated that it must be the Setter family’s signal to retreat. The moment the sound was heard, Aman’s brows furrowed in displeasure.

"Is it a waste of a trip this time?!" He felt slightly irritated seeing that their pursuit of the Masqueraded Steed was thwarted again by an unforeseen event. Yet, his strong arms still cradled Ellie as he leapt down silently.

The Setter family had to withdraw like this; the fight between the two monsters was too intense. There was no chance that the Masqueraded Steed would come to this area for food.

As they made their way back, not wanting the trip to be a total waste, the Setter family spent some time hunting other monsters that were not their original targets. They let Ellie stay quietly with her protector, Koross, while Aman was already engaged in combat.

He used this opportunity to practice his skills, and Koross seemed to want to join the fight as well. Unfortunately, there was no chance for that since Ellie’s safety had to come first.

"Lord Koross."

"Yes?" Koross started slightly at the sudden call, his attention having drifted to the fight ahead. Seeing his reaction, Ellie smiled slightly.

Actually, she had bad news for him, but seeing his eagerness to fight, perhaps it could be good news.

"I have some good news for you."

"Good news?" Koross raised his eyebrows slightly.

"You want to fight, don’t you?"

"Uh, no, it’s alright. You don’t have to worry, my duty now is to ensure your safety," Koross waved his hand, realizing he had been slightly impolite.

However, Ellie just shook her head at him with a smile.

"I’m not concerned about that, but...whether you want to fight or not, behind us right now, there’s a monster that you need to handle."

"Huh?" Before Koross could think further, a loud noise erupted beside their ears.

"Grrr!" !!

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