Please Bully Me, Miss Villainess!

Chapter 103 : The Misplaced One 4

"Knowing there's danger and still rushing over, isn't that seeking death?!"

Yvonne was somewhat irritated. After transforming into a villainous character, she had become extremely sensitive to such obvious flags. How could one do something that was clearly stepping on a landmine!

It was like being told in advance "this is a cursed haunted house" in a horror movie, yet there's still a suicidal exploration team that doesn't believe it and insists on going in. The result was predictable.

Such dangerous flags absolutely must not be raised!

Boom—!!

At that moment, a huge sound came from the previous direction,

Then, the ground began to shake as if in an earthquake,

It seemed that within that enormous sound, several indescribable, shrill howls could be heard.

That cry didn't belong to any familiar animal.

...What was that??

The aftershock made Yvonne's whole body go numb, and it took a long time before she was willing to release her hands that were tightly protecting the person beside her.

To make such a huge commotion, this terrifying power... what kind of monster could do this??

Anomal.

Magical fluctuation.

...Does it really exist?

Yvonne had an unpleasant sense of déjà vu.

For the sake of gameplay, even if it seemed abrupt and unreasonable, this kind of leveling-up game would definitely insert some mini-boss and boss levels in the plot,

Just like in FGO when Kouhai Mash would constantly tell the Master "prepare for battle" and "enemy shadows detected ahead",

The protagonist in the game would also often say things like "Then I must be the one to defeat it!" or "Leave this to me and XX!" on their own, plunging headfirst into danger.

If such a woman really existed, she would definitely become a trouble-making machine.

"...Evie, maybe we should go take a look after all?"

She took back her words, now that trouble-making machine was standing right beside her!

"Are you kidding? Can't you see how dangerous it is?"

"...If we just go over to take a quick look, and immediately turn back riding Sphinx if we encounter any situation... we should still make it in time, right?"

Such extremely naive and irresponsible words only made Yvonne feel angry when she heard them.

"Idiot—! Did you not pay attention in Magical Creature Ecology class at school? In this world, high-level magical creatures that can launch long-range attacks and possess extraordinary perception really exist—With humans' weak perceptual range, by the time we sense danger and try to escape, it would already be too late!!"

Don't court death and you won't die! Why couldn't she understand such a simple thing?!

"Uu..."

Being unexpectedly severely scolded, Elsa felt somewhat wronged.

Of course, Elsa also understood that Evie was so angry because she cared about her life more than anyone else in this world.

"Then doesn't that mean we can only spend the night here?"

"That's not a good choice either... Let me think of another way."

To conserve energy, Yvonne tethered the dragon carriage and sat down, thinking anxiously.

Danger was lurking in this forest, staying here overnight was definitely not a good choice.

If there really was no other way, for safety, they could only turn back and write letters seeking help from the subjugation team or the knight order.

"Evie..."

Elsa crouched down, her gaze level with Yvonne's,

"Although you might get angry if I say this... but I think we need to go investigate."

"You—"

Although she wanted to say something more, after their gazes met, she sensed Elsa's seriousness.

"This place is quite close to North Kalos village. If there really is some dangerous magical creature... the villagers would be in danger too!"

Hearing this, Yvonne also fell silent.

She was worried about the same thing.

Actually, Yvonne had considered this point too. If dangerous magical creatures really existed, simply ignoring them was definitely not the right choice.

Even if they needed to seek help from outside, identifying the true form of the magical creature was very necessary for issuing a bounty.

No one would accept a subjugation mission for an "unidentified" monster.

"...Then let's really just take one look, and immediately retreat if there's any danger."

Throwing her own words to the back of her mind, Yvonne sighed and agreed to this dangerous proposal.

If the two of them were together, they would always find a way.

"Mm! I'll definitely protect Evie well!!"

"...That's my line, you idiot!"

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Temporarily detaching the carriage containing their luggage and leaving it at the original spot, the two sat on the swift dragon, preparing to set off towards the place where the anomaly had just occurred to investigate.

However, halfway there, Sphinx, who had been very quiet, gradually slowed its pace.

"...Sphinx? What's wrong?"

"Hiss... Wuu...!"

The usually well-behaved swift dragon now let out a hiss as if facing a great enemy.

The bone spines attached to its tail also stood up, becoming sharp spikes, fully entering a battle state.

Since becoming this swift dragon's master, this was the first time Yvonne had seen Sphinx like this.

"...Is there something ahead?"

"Hiss—!"

Sphinx anxiously scratched the ground a few times with its hind claws, looking at Yvonne urgently.

Yvonne's heart also grew increasingly heavy.

...It seemed so.

But, having made up their minds to come this far, they couldn't retreat now.

"Sphinx, take us there."

"Whine— Whine—!!"

It seemed to be trying to stop the two.

"...!!"

At this moment, Yvonne finally sensed it too. The air around them had quietly changed.

Pungent and foul-selling gas filled the surroundings, just entering the nostrils made one feel pain.

After inhaling it into the lungs, the head immediately felt dizzy.

"—Cover your mouth and nose!! Don't breathe!!"

Instinctively shouting out, Yvonne held her breath and hurriedly led the swift dragon to turn back and walk a few more steps. The two finally left the range of the miasma.

"This... what is this??"

Only after Yvonne said it was okay did Elsa gasp and remove her hand covering her mouth and nose. It looked like she had held her breath for a long time.

"...It's poison."

How could such an unusual poisonous mist exist in this place??

After briefly escaping danger, Yvonne was still apprehensive, not daring to relax at all. She leapt down from the dragon's back to check the surrounding situation, only then noticing that many nearby plants had withered.

She noticed that only a few types of plants could survive in this mist.

Near the roots of a tree not far away was a cluster of such fern plants, standing proudly in the miasma.

Yvonne remembered seeing this common medicinal herb in a medical plant guide before. It was a plant called Aconitum Fern.

It seemed to possess detoxifying components that could resist this poisonous gas.

Her knowledge... might come in handy!!

She used her small knife to cut her skirt hem, tearing off a large piece of cloth, and incidentally modified the inconvenient long skirt into a more convenient style.

"Evie... what's this??"

Elsa looked at her sudden actions in confusion.

"Quick, help me pick some of this grass!"

"...Got it!"

Elsa immediately understood.

"Is this enough?"

"Enough—"

Fortunately, there was a lot of this grass in the area. In less than a minute, the two had picked a large handful.

Using stones to crush it and then wrapping it in cloth, soon, a simple gas mask with a grassy, earthy smell was made.

"...Let me try it first."

Yvonne took a deep breath, put on the mask, and walked into the miasma area again. Indeed, it wasn't as pungent as before, and there were no adverse reactions.

...It seems to work!

However, the duration of this simple gas mask was still unknown.

To be safe, she also added wind attribute protection surrounding herself and Elsa.

This way, they should be able to go in and check the situation.

Poison gas was invisible and intangible. With her current abilities, completely isolating the miasma to create a barrier was impossible. She could only continuously stir the air, trying to make the surrounding poison gas a bit thinner.

After putting a mask on Sphinx as well, it finally became willing to move, but its speed was still much slower than before, trembling with fear, as if dreading something out of instinct.

If she ordered Sphinx to retreat now, it would definitely exert 100% of its speed.

Thinking this, Yvonne gripped the reins tightly.