Chapter 488: The Shift Brought by a Great Fire
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 488: The Shift Brought by a Great Fire
As Lucianne pushed forward, her tension only mounted. Not long ago, they had restocked their supplies at a resource point, acquiring several alchemical items with terrifying destructive power, a significant amount of potions, and various other necessities.
However, the most critical resource among them was actually the most inconspicuous: seasonings.
Indeed, while water could be continuously gathered from resource points, food was a different matter. Once they confirmed that the flesh of the monsters was safe to eat, it became a stable food source.
Everyone loves an outdoor barbecue. If there were individuals who couldn't stomach eating such monsters, they were on their own; the food at resource points wasn't there to cater to the pampered.
Lucianne wasn't about to coddle anyone. She was, after all, a former student of a wizard academy and had a high tolerance for many things—much like the Voodoo Gu Life Bugs from before. Many methods used by wizards were inherently disgusting and pushed the limits of physiology and cognition. There was a reason powerful wizards were generally regarded as lunatics.
Consequently, Lucianne felt no revulsion toward the meat. She even found the texture and flavor quite good; with a bit of salt, it was an absolute delicacy.
Because their current diet relied on this meat, another problem hindered them: cooking. Not everyone possessed the skill for basic grilling, and without seasonings, the roasted meat remained difficult to swallow.
This batch of supplies included a large quantity of seasonings, and even other condiments like honey.
If Lucianne were to ask the Knowledge Shadow beside her, she would learn that during the recent resource grab, I had indeed swept up a massive hoard of seasonings, leaving only a token amount for the other academies.
Lucianne checked the messages on her phone. It was unrealistic to lead a massive crowd through the jungle in one grand procession. Instead, they had dispersed into small groups of four or five.
Until they made formal contact with the Holy Angel Academy, each group focused on hunting monsters for points. Occupying resource points had become a matter of chance.
By the time they reached this point in their advance, they had already occupied four resource points. This number astonished her, but with precise coordinates to guide them, Lucianne realized that finding these points by following the natural path wasn't difficult.
As for the point distribution at the occupied sites, she chose to take only the lion's share. The followers willing to stick by her side even wanted to give her all the points, but Lucianne refused.
Her followers might not mind, but Lucianne knew she couldn't just take everything without giving back. It was a simple matter of leadership.
At noon, after a rather unpalatable lunch, Lucianne chose to continue her advance. Her target was the fifth resource point.
Yet, the further she went, the more nervous she became. In the communication group she had established, reports were coming in that some squads had already made contact with teams from the Holy Angel Academy.
This meant it wouldn't be long before they faced the Holy Angel Academy head-on.
"Start the fire. In this supply drop, I specifically provided you with excellent accelerants and wide-range incendiary alchemical items."
"Now?" Lucianne blurted out instinctively. Realizing her slip, she quickly corrected herself. "Now, we’re going to be busy."
In truth, Lucianne was simply surprised that the other party had made such a decisive choice so quickly, especially since they had only just encountered those birdmen.
"Sister, what is it? Another special operation? Or are we being sent to provide backup?" Lucianne’s most loyal follower stepped forward to ask.
"Initiate the Forest Fire Plan immediately," Lucianne commanded.
"Eh? So soon? If a massive fire starts, it will affect the resource points we currently occupy!"
"That’s why we’re lighting the fires strategically. You all saw the messages in the group; we’ve encountered the birdmen. This indicates their main force likely landed here as well." Lucianne pulled out a prepared map, circled an area, and began her explanation. "Those birdmen are like cockroaches. If even our scattered scouting teams are running into them, then... there’s a high probability this entire block has been occupied by them. If we keep pushing forward, we’ll just run straight into them. It’s better to just burn the whole place down."
"But I remember the island next to us on this side was for the Elves, right? How could we run head-on into the Angels?"
"The Angels have a massive innate advantage. They likely entered the main island ahead of everyone else while we were resting last night. Normally, this should have been the Elves' landing point, but if the birdmen could penetrate this far, then using this as a radius—in the worst-case scenario—we could encounter those guys anywhere in this region."
Lucianne offered a brief explanation. It only needed to sound plausible. All she had to do was ask if they were in; once the majority agreed, the matter was settled.
To her surprise, the plan went quite smoothly. After she inquired in the group, almost every squad responded enthusiastically. Only a few rational voices asked out of curiosity whether the academy would hold them accountable for burning down the forest.
After all, they were well aware that the Bobapus Archipelago was a famous scenic area. They wondered if such large-scale environmental destruction would have lasting consequences.
Lucianne didn't respond to these objections. Setting aside the fact that she had already received intel, they were currently within a "Domain" created by a spell called the False World Space Great Witchcraft. Even death here was an illusion. Even if it were real, they had been pillaging and killing their way through without anyone saying a word.
Meanwhile, Lucianne also contacted the other independent groups, sending them the coordinates of the Holy Angel Academy's movements and telling them to be careful. As for the rest, they were on their own.
"Come on. I’ll mark the areas for the forest fire. Take the accelerants from the resource points and go. Let’s give those birdmen a surprise."
Lucianne made the announcement, but she didn't go with them. She needed to send the instructions through the group in a way everyone could understand. One shouldn't think that giving orders was easy; if she didn't teach them every little detail, she could bet that someone in the group would eventually ask why a tree wouldn't catch fire after being lit for so long.
The idea of igniting a forest fire seemed to reignite a certain legendary ambition in the hearts of all the prospective witches. Every one of them wanted to recreate that miracle—using a conflagration to force the other academies into a total collapse and achieve absolute suppression.
The sentiment was good, but they ultimately couldn't replicate that specific miracle. These Holy Angels weren't like the Elves who had to guard a World Tree; they had no reason to stay put. A fire alone wouldn't pose a lethal threat to them. Lucianne was the only one who truly understood that the wall of fire was actually meant to protect themselves.
However, these candidates from the witch academies seemed particularly keen on the idea of arson.
That penchant for causing trouble and seeking amusement manifested in every choice they made. As for the consequences... most didn't give them a second thought. After all, with so many people setting fires together, even if they were eventually given a public reprimand, they’d have plenty of sisters to keep them company. What was there to fear?
Besides, the rules of the Joint Exam didn't say they couldn't alter the terrain, nor did they forbid burning down the mountains...
Time passed quickly, and the first day of the Joint Exam was drawing to a close. In the direction where the sun was setting, the sky was dyed red by the dusk. On the other side, the forest fire reflected off the sea, as if inheriting the sun's glow to continue illuminating the night sky.
The fire started slowly, but once it took hold, it was terrifying. The rolling mountain flames were guided by human hands, lighting up the horizon. Thick smoke and fire became the dominant theme of the moment.
This man-made disaster immediately sent the surrounding monsters fleeing in a frenzy to save themselves. Small waves of beast tides began to spread outward. Lucianne and her group, having known this would happen, did their best to avoid the impact of the stampeding monsters.
Lucianne led those who could use fire-type spells along the edge of the blaze, guiding the expansion of the flames.
This was the first time Lucianne and her group ran head-on into the candidates from the Holy Angel Academy.
The small beast tide caused by the fire had a significant impact on the Holy Angels. Upon seeing that the culprits were witches, they weren't even surprised.
After all, in their minds... these witches had a criminal record for this sort of thing!
But that didn't stop them from cursing the witches for their lack of civility, accusing them of starting a forest fire in reality and warning them they’d end up behind bars.
Lucianne, of course, wasn't bothered by their words. One's perspective determines their height. Once she understood that she wasn't in reality but in a false world, and that even death only meant being eliminated and sent back to her academy's position without injury, she had nothing left to fear.
I, too, was watching this great fire.
And I wasn't the only one; many teaching assistants from various academies were watching as well.
The Preaching Angels of the Holy Angel Academy, the Protection Team of the Afuhemi Academy, the Wave Patrolmen of the Sea Clan... even the Little Beast King of the Beast Academy...
Such a commotion was truly too aggressive. It instinctively reminded people of the multi-school joint dream exchange competition held at the Witch Academy during the opening week, where a great fire had suppressed almost all the beasts and Elves.
I watched the flow of Luck and noticed that this fire had pushed Lucianne's luck to the forefront. A certain variable had also moved away from Lucianne's direction.
This fire forced the Elves of the Afuhemi Academy to recall some very unpleasant memories, causing them to change course and seek another path earlier on.
When the smoke from the forest fire rose in the afternoon, the Elves floating on the sea realized something was wrong. Coupled with hints from their Protection Team, they understood that if they landed according to their original plan, they would likely be walking into a trap.
Furthermore, I had a slight hand in this change of plans.
At this moment, I watched the shifts in Luck. Although I had already severed the Ley Line Shackles, as long as we were still within the Main World, my own influence would still trigger a portion of the Luck.
The battlefield truly changes in the blink of an eye...
It was just like how the people from the Afuhemi Academy didn't know I was no longer a student. This fire led them to mistakenly conclude that there was someone here they couldn't afford to provoke.
It wasn't that they lacked the confidence to win a fight, but rather that the opponent's opening move could eliminate too many of their ordinary students. As long as they wanted to preserve their overall strength, they couldn't allow such an unpredictable factor to persist.
The Protection Team didn't object to the choice made by the Afuhemi Academy candidates.
Although they really wanted to tell the candidates that the person they feared was no longer a student, the thought of that person becoming a teaching assistant... her potential for interference seemed even more terrifying than when she was a candidate. Thus, the Elven Protection Team tacitly approved the plan.
So... they prepared to take a detour.
The sea vehicles they had spent so much effort building couldn't support long-distance voyages, so they had to make a choice.
Under the guidance of the Protection Team, they chose to cut in from the southeast side of the main island.
The Protection Team had already scouted the situation there. Only one group of Witch Academy candidates was guarding three resource points, suppressing the landing of the Beast Academy. Currently, the guys from the Beast Academy were floating on the sea in a very awkward position, but they seemed to have encountered the Sea Clan and were intending to join forces. Now, with the addition of the Afuhemi Academy forces, how could a single group of witches possibly block them?
Moreover, they were preparing to strike at night. Darkness was the best camouflage.
Once they broke onto the main island, the three parties could instantly take over the area occupied by the witches and push forward.
Meanwhile, on Ninglan Qiuyue’s side.
"Let go. Don't linger in the fight. Replenish your water supplies and abandon the resource points."
As a voice only Ninglan Qiuyue could hear reached her, she froze for a moment. She quickly suppressed the urge to ask questions, but the confusion on her face was unmistakable.
"Sister Qiuyue, what happened all of a sudden?" Seeing the change in Ninglan Qiuyue's expression, her followers naturally noticed.
"Something’s not right," Ninglan Qiuyue said hesitantly. She kept refreshing the messages in the group on her phone, seemingly looking for an excuse for the current anomaly.
At that moment, the Knowledge Shadow I was controlling spoke again, analyzing the current situation for Ninglan Qiuyue.
"Lucianne started a mountain fire over there, which triggered a stress response in those forest Elves from Afuhemi. You know your own situation; those guys from the Beast Academy have been exhausted by you, but the Sea Clan provided them with help. Their first joint effort almost made you lose your position. What if the Elves join them for a three-way alliance?"
"Three... hm..." Ninglan Qiuyue instantly realized the gravity of the situation, but she quickly calmed down.
"Retreat. There’s nothing to regret. But even if you leave, leave them a little surprise. For example... set up some minefields. I remember you haven't used up all the alchemical items you brought, right?"
"Don't think about engaging them. The forest is the home field of Elf Rangers. Don't think about playing guerrilla for intel either; I will provide the information you need. And don't think about copying Lucianne's fire plan. You’re not far from the sea here, and there isn't a large elevation difference. The Sea Clan can easily use seawater to extinguish a fire. Besides, it takes time for a mountain fire to build up—enough time for them to react."