Volume 3 Chapter 231.1
by Need_More_SleepVolume 3 + Chapter 231.1: Danger Approaches
“Knight Princess, how do you know I love forcing Xia Yi to do… this and that with me the most~?”
The Doctor grabbed Xia Yi’s wrist, watching the Knight Princess with great interest.
Such an ambiguous and unclear remark, it was practically like a hint at something, very hard not to cause misunderstandings.
“What did you say?”
Judging from the Knight Princess’s voice, she was clearly angry.
“You actually did such bad things to the innocent Xia Yi!”
“Hehe, what business is that of yours? Knight Princess, Xia Yi, is my assistant. Whatever fun things I want to do, I’ll do them. You may be her friend, but you can’t control this much!”
The Doctor sneered.
“Or is it that your Templar Knights are now starting to meddle in the internal affairs of Rhine Alchemy?”
The atmosphere between the two was practically explosive.
It was as if a spark fell into a barrel of gunpowder—boom—it went off.
“Eh? Eh!”
Xia Yi was utterly dumbfounded.
What was going on?
What were they arguing about?
Why were they fighting over me???
She truly couldn’t understand—just a moment ago everything was fine, but suddenly the tone shifted, and the two of them were nearly about to fight.
“Doctor, your behavior is simply too much!”
The Knight Princess had already raised her weapon.
“Xia Yi is a student of Laurel Academy, and right now still a minor! You have allegedly done unlawful things to a minor, violating the laws of the Rhine Kingdom. You must stop harming Xia Yi immediately and submit to investigation!”
“W-wait a moment, Lady Knight Princess, the Doctor was invited here to help us…”
The Fearless Knight hurried to mediate, since in the current situation, exploring the ruins was still the top priority.
But his words had no effect at all.
Neither of them were listening anymore, treating his voice like the wind in their ears.
One of the four Grand Knights of the Templar Order was already getting a headache. Trying to stop these two women from quarreling was simply harder than fighting ten people at once on the battlefield!!
“So you’re about to drag me away?” The Doctor was unfazed. “Fine, come on then. I don’t care whether I end up in prison. In fact, if anything, going there might be more peaceful~”
“Then, you admit your crimes?”
Seeing that the two of them really seemed about to fight, Xia Yi quickly grabbed the Knight Princess’s hand.
“Xia Yi?”
“It’s fine, Tia. I’m only doing an internship with the Doctor, I’ve never suffered any harm. I haven’t done anything strange either, only assisting the Doctor in her experiments. Don’t worry. After all, she has outstanding achievements and credentials in alchemy. Studying under her is also beneficial for my academic career.”
“Really?” The Knight Princess asked with suspicion.
“Really!”
Xia Yi nodded.
“The Doctor just hasn’t been very good at speaking since childhood, that’s all!”
Because Xia Yi herself explained, the Knight Princess seemed to calm down. “Alright, Xia Yi, you are my friend, I will choose to believe you unconditionally.”
Mmm…
Hearing such a sincere declaration from the Knight Princess, Xia Yi actually felt a bit guilty.
Because in truth, she was siding with the Doctor, this wicked woman, and speaking in her defense.
“Alright, alright, misunderstanding cleared, everyone happy!”
Xia Yi smiled, quickly trying to tie the situation back together, stabilizing the mood.
One hand holding the Doctor, the other hand holding the Knight Princess.
This little black-haired loli stood between the two of them.
“Don’t fight anymore, let’s attack the ruins in harmony. That’s the most important thing!”
The Knight Princess did not continue the quarrel, tacitly acknowledging.
The Doctor kept her smile, even more delighted when she saw Xia Yi speak up for her. But she also wanted to get back soon, so she didn’t continue provoking the Knight Princess.
“Truly… impressive.”
The Fearless Knight looked at the scene, baffled as to why Xia Yi’s words worked so well.
…
…
After finalizing the plan, the Fearless Knight led the knightly warband to advance toward the depths of the ruins.
The Knight Princess followed as part of the group.
Xia Yi and the Doctor also came along behind.
The Templar Knights, well-trained like an army, advanced into the ruins under the command of the Fearless Knight.
On the way, the Templar Knights encountered some magical beasts. But without needing the Fearless Knight or the Knight Princess to act, the knightly warband assisted in combat and easily repelled the common beasts.
Seeing this, Xia Yi also understood why the Rhine Kingdom could dominate the human world, practically unrivaled.
With a military like the Templar Knights, no other human nation’s army could compare.
No wonder the Rhine Kingdom always sat firmly as the strongest human power, wielding absolute hegemony.
“We’ve arrived, Doctor.”
The advance of the Templar Knights came to a halt. They opened a path, and under their escort, the Doctor and Xia Yi came to the front.
What entered their sight was a massive monster.
The entrance to the deeper layers of the ancient human ruins was blocked. There was no way to bypass it from elsewhere.
That monster…
Xia Yi couldn’t tell what it was. It was like a huge lump of green fat, wriggling in place. Clairerly breathing, but impossible to distinguish where its head or tail was—it was all squashed together.
By its side lay many corpses of Templar Knights, likely those who had died here in battle against it.
The monster was devouring—it was actually devouring the corpses.
“This kind of strange… monster, I really am seeing for the first time…” The Doctor examined it closely.
“We’ve named it the Reviver. By conventional means, it cannot be killed. Doctor, please watch closely.”
The Fearless Knight turned toward the knightly warband, raising his hand.
“Archers, step forward, form ranks!!”
The Templar Knights carrying longbows stepped out together at his command, arranging into an archer formation.
“Loose the arrows! Loose the arrows!!”
At the Fearless Knight’s order, the Templar Knights drew their longbows. Wave after wave of arrows flew into the air, imbued with holy power, their lethality vastly increased—and then came down like rain.
The downpour of arrows pierced through the Reviver’s body.
“ROAR!!!”
The Reviver let out an ear-piercing shriek from some unknown organ. Within the storm of arrows, it had no escape.
Normally, after being riddled through like a sieve, it should be dead for sure.
But under the arrow rain, not only did it not die, its body began swelling like green jelly. From its wounds poured foul-smelling green flesh and blood, surging like a tide toward the Templar Knights.
“Everyone, fall back immediately! Do not touch it, or you’ll lose your life!”
The Fearless Knight quickly ordered a retreat.
Thankfully, since it was a ranged bow attack, the knights could withdraw in time. Had they been too close, they would surely have been engulfed.
The Reviver’s wounds rapidly regenerated. Soon it looked as if it had never been harmed, as though the knights’ attacks were useless.
The furious Reviver writhed, advancing toward the Templar Knights. Though slow, its momentum was menacing.
“Knightly warband, withdraw in order.”
But the Fearless Knight had already prepared for this, leading the knights swiftly out of its sight.
Xia Yi retreated with them, reaching a safe area.
Once its target was gone, the Reviver ceased its pursuit and returned to its original place.
Clairerly, this creature’s intelligence was low, even less than a normal beast. It had no thinking ability at all.
“This is the situation, Doctor,” the Fearless Knight explained. “When we tried to proceed deeper, we encountered the Reviver. By conventional means it cannot be destroyed. Whether by physical force or magical attack, all is useless. It seems immortal, always restoring itself.”
“Truly undead…”
“Yes. Even when its body is torn apart, it bleeds flesh, and that flesh is also fatal to humans. Anyone who touches it has their life instantly stolen away, as if absorbed and assimilated into its body.”
The Fearless Knight’s mood was heavy.
“We’ve already sacrificed many Templar Knights here.”
Xia Yi now understood what the Reviver was.
Put simply—it had absurdly thick health and super-fast regeneration.
Not truly undead, just unkillable.
Its weakness was obvious too: slow movement, no dodging, basically a living target.
But to defeat it by human means alone was far too difficult.
If it were the dragon race, say Serra…
Just fly up and breathe dragonfire for a full minute, and it’d definitely burn the Reviver to nothing.
But to demand that kind of sustained, high-powered assault from humans was unrealistic.
They couldn’t possibly ask the Knight Princess to fire the Holy Spear continuously for a whole minute, right?
Even she couldn’t endure that.
Thus, dissolving it from the flesh with alchemy poison was indeed a better method—directly corroding to the core.
“We can only ask you, Doctor.”
“Mm, then let’s begin now. I’ll use a little Ancient Alchemy.”
The Doctor began performing mysterious Ancient Alchemy before everyone. She took out the necessary materials, then chanted the incantations, stabilizing them with a magic circle. After infusing mana, she triggered the transmutation.
The metallic ingredients vanished. In their place appeared an alchemy platform.
“Amazing!”
The Templar Knights exclaimed in awe.
“So this is the Ancient Alchemy we gained through the Morrison family’s dealings. As expected, the strength of humans in the past was not to be underestimated…” The Fearless Knight also voiced admiration.
Xia Yi too found it marvelous. Even her dragon alchemy teacher had never used such methods.
Clairerly, the current era’s alchemy system lacked this kind of technique.
Ancient Alchemy.
She had just heard the term from the Fearless Knight’s mouth. Could it be that today’s humans, through ruins archaeology, had acquired ultra-ancient technologies?
After all, humans of the Mythic Age, as higher beings, truly possessed immense strength. Compared with today’s fallen mortals, it was worlds apart.
Soon, under the Doctor’s Ancient Alchemy, a bottle of alchemical poison was completed.
“Alright, this is it. Catch.”
The Doctor casually tossed it out.
One Templar Knight reached to catch it, but his hand slipped and it fell.
But Xia Yi reacted quickly, snatching it before it hit the ground, then handed it properly to the knight.
“Thank you, Miss Assistant,” the knight smiled.
However, the Doctor’s next words left the knights dumbstruck.
“Good thing Xia Yi caught it. If that had spilled, forming toxic mist, in less than ten seconds everyone here would’ve been dead.” The Doctor grinned.
“Doctor, is… is that true!? Doctor, don’t scare us!” The knight stammered in fear.
“Don’t joke like that!” the Knight Princess shouted.
“It’s not a joke, it’s true. Don’t believe me? You can open it and try. Then we’ll see how many of you survive.” The Doctor yawned.
“……”
Everyone fell silent.
A chill ran down their spines.
If Xia Yi hadn’t caught it just now…
They all silently thanked her in their hearts.
This Doctor’s mind was really abnormal. Was she here to help, or to kill?
“Alright, let’s finish off that monster quickly. The sooner the better. I really don’t want to keep hanging around a bunch of tin cans.” The Doctor complained.
Now Xia Yi understood what the Morrison family elders felt toward Claire.
So this was that feeling—blood pressure exploding, yet having to endure it.
Even the Fearless Knight no longer wanted to be polite. Leading the knights, he returned to the battlefield.
This time, the strategy was to poison the Reviver from the inside out.
At the Fearless Knight’s command, the knights dragged away the corpses, injected them with alchemical poison, then tossed them back.
Meanwhile, the Doctor flung another vial into the air, detonating it with magic power, shattering the container, releasing a purple toxic mist.
Though powerful, the Reviver had only instinct, no thought. It swallowed the poisoned corpses, then was slowly eroded by the toxic fog.
Only afterward did it begin reacting.
“ROAR!!! ROAR!!!”
The Reviver screamed shrilly, its body twisting, no longer swelling but breaking down, dissolving.
The alchemy poison was working.
Everyone watching sighed in relief at the poison’s terrifying effect—solving the problem bloodlessly.
Alchemy really was frightening. To kill unseen—no wonder Rhine Alchemy was so strictly regulated.
“Alright, that’s enough. That should do~”
The Doctor stretched lazily.
“The Reviver will die soon. After that, I’ll provide you with antidotes. Follow my instructions to neutralize the lingering poison, and then you’ll be able to clear the mist and enter the deeper ruins.”
“On behalf of the Templar Knights, I thank you greatly for your help, Doctor.”
The Knight Princess bowed to her.
Although she did not get along with the Doctor, she was no willful princess. What had to be done, she did.
“I’m exhausted, time to clock out.”
The Doctor unwrapped a lollipop, put it in her mouth, and walked to Xia Yi’s side, patting her shoulder.
“Let’s go, Xia Yi, it’s over. Time to go back…”
“Wait a moment, Doctor.”
The Fearless Knight called to her.
“Mm? What is it, Fearless Knight? Now that you’ve seen me display Ancient Alchemy, do you think I’m too great a threat, and want to eliminate me on behalf of the Templar Knights?”