Chapter 216: I would be killing her faster

Julian and the others planned to stay around the outer area of the forest and spend the night.

Tomorrow, they would go deeper into the forest to explore the area.

The afternoon sun faded into an orange hue as evening approached. The air grew colder, and the crabs and snails returned to the ocean, but Eva didn’t dare walk along the shore.

Who knew whether those clams were lying in wait, ready to crush someone’s bones to dust?

They sat around the burning flames with a pot of steaming food in front of them. They served themselves portions and quietly ate.

"Finally, this is the last island. I wonder how the construction of Oasis City is coming along?" Eva asked aloud as she stared in the direction of the island, though she couldn’t see anything beyond the rippling water.

Julian leaned carelessly against a tree, his eyes falling on the full moon shining overhead. The cold breeze ruffled his hair slightly.

"With everyone working together, the construction should go even faster. Once everything is settled, we can explore other places." His light tone rang through the crackling of the burning wood.

Eva hummed as she brought a piece of fried fish to her lips.

Ethan didn’t join the conversation. He lay on the fur-covered ground with his hands propping up his head as he stared at the stars.

The night was peaceful. The sounds of crickets and small waves crashing against the reefs lulled everyone into a comfortable sleep.

...

A month flew by.

Eva, Julian, and Ethan could be seen running through the forest.

Their bodies were covered in red bumps, and their faces were deathly pale. Behind them, a massive swarm of mosquitoes was hot on their heels.

Ethan waved his hand, sending a wave of cold mist toward the swarm. Half of the mosquitoes dropped to the ground, frozen to death, but even more continued coming.

"Sh*t! When will they stop?!" Eva roared in fury.

Her entire body was itching, and the unending buzzing sound was getting on her last nerve.

She turned back slightly and drained the energy from the swarm. Wisps of green energy left the mosquitoes’ bodies and flowed into her.

But no matter how much energy she drained from the swarm, another group immediately replaced them.

Their sheer numbers cast a shadow over their surroundings.

Eva frowned and used her water powers, wanting to drown them, while Julian swung his sword, cutting down the mosquitoes and assisting her from behind.

"There’s no stopping them! They’re worse than those bees! We need to run to the outer area of the forest!" Ethan shouted over the deafening buzzing, sweat coating his face as he created another wave of icy mist to freeze the incoming swarm.

"Okay!" Eva and Julian shouted back.

Eva immediately took Foxy out of her space.

"Foxy, take us out of here!"

Foxy heeded the command and transformed into its enormous form.

Julian teleported to where Ethan was, grabbed him by the hand, and teleported onto Eva’s already-running beast.

"Hold on tight!" Eva warned.

Foxy immediately picked up speed, its enormous figure turning into a blur as it dashed toward the outer area of the forest.

The mosquitoes could no longer keep up and buzzed angrily at their disappearing figures.

Foxy slowed down once they reached their destination before skidding to a stop.

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief, their breaths coming out in loud pants and their faces flushed with exhaustion.

Julian and Ethan jumped down from Foxy’s back as its huge form shrank slightly.

"We’re safe..." Eva’s words slurred.

She was about to climb down when her vision suddenly blurred and darkened.

Her body fell backward.

Julian and Ethan immediately sensed something was wrong with her voice and looked back, only to see her falling.

Julian reacted quickly, teleporting to her side and catching her before she could hit the ground.

"Eva!" Ethan shouted as he rushed toward them, his heart hanging in his throat.

"She’s burning up. Did you have any potions left?" Julian called out anxiously, feeling the heat radiating from her body against his arms.

Ethan searched through his ring but couldn’t find a single healing potion.

His expression changed.

Eva had always been the one healing their injuries, so it had never occurred to them to stock up on medicine.

"There’s no potion in my ring. Let me get her temperature down first," Ethan muttered.

He took a piece of cloth and a bottle of water from his ring.

He chilled the water slightly and soaked the cloth thoroughly before pressing it against Eva’s neck and forehead.

Julian laid her across his thighs to give Ethan enough space to wipe her down.

He looked down at her flushed face, which was covered in red bumps, and the sweat coating her forehead.

His eyes were filled with worry.

"If she doesn’t get better, we’re returning to the island to find a doctor," Julian muttered, ignoring the itchiness spreading across his own skin.

He couldn’t help but wonder if the mosquitoes that had bitten them carried some kind of poison.

How else could Eva have suddenly fallen sick?

Ethan hummed in agreement as he continued wiping her down.

Minutes passed, and her temperature went down slightly, but she was still burning up and showed no signs of waking.

"Let’s return to the island," Ethan decided.

Without delay, Julian teleported them back.

...

Meanwhile, Grace was back to her hectic but satisfying work.

The wall separating the city from the shore was already tall enough, its height estimated to be almost half that of a giant tree.

Inside the city, the sewage system was being buried and covered.

A few buildings were already being constructed, while tents were gathered in rolls near the edge of the wall to ensure they didn’t interfere with the construction.

Busy figures moved about everywhere. Some carried wood, while others carried pots of cooked meals to share with the workers.

The children were left to play around the tent area, with guards and adults stopping them from straying onto the busy roads.

Grace was overseeing the construction of the Scientist Guild.

The tall building blocked out the sunlight, with openings for windows stretching from floor to floor.

It was already five stories high, and they still planned to add more floors.

Grace wasn’t bothered about how they would reach each floor. Once the electricity was restored, an elevator would be installed.

After all, Stone and several groups of scientists were already working on bringing back the electricity.

She was discussing something with one of the engineers when a guard suddenly rushed toward her.

"Madam Grace, your daughter is back, but she’s sick and needs a doctor immediately!" the man said in one breath, his chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath.

"Where is she?!" Grace asked as she immediately started running.

"She’s lying in the spaceship!" the man yelled, unable to keep up with her.

Leo had already been informed and had rushed over with the family doctor and potion maker.

When Grace rushed into the room, she saw Eva’s unconscious figure lying on the bed.

Her face was covered in red bumps, and her breathing was ragged.

Sweat coated her face, which Ethan was constantly wiping dry.

Julian was sitting beside the bed, his face pale and covered with the same bumps as Eva’s.

He had overdrawn his powers after teleporting such a long distance, and sheer willpower was the only thing keeping him awake.

"You don’t know what the sickness is?! Do something! She’s burning up!"

Leo’s anxious voice could be heard from the other side of the room. He was hounding the doctor and potion maker for answers.

"We’ve drawn her blood already and are running some tests. For now, she can only be given a cooling potion to bring down her temperature," the female doctor patiently explained, her ears almost ringing from Leo’s earlier roar.

The potion maker was sorting through herbs in his ring, including rare herbs obtained from dungeon drops.

He looked through the prescription given by the doctor and activated his appraisal ability to search for suitable herbs among the pile scattered across the table.

A blue-hued mist emerged from his hands and slowly covered the herbs.

In his mind, their properties, age, uses, and everything else concerning the herbs appeared like a list of notes.

His hands reached for several herbs from the pile, taking them out and placing them into a bowl.

He shut out the noise around him.

He needed all his focus, or he might choose the wrong herbs, causing them to clash and worsen Eva’s condition.

Seeing the potion maker’s focused expression from the corner of his eye, Leo quickly lowered his voice, causing the doctor to heave a sigh of relief.

"Have you tried using a healer?" Grace asked in a low voice, already planning to gather the energy in the air for Eva.

"One just left a few minutes ago before you arrived, but it only accelerated Eva’s sickness. Unless we can find a dungeon-hunter-level healer who can purify her blood, she can’t be treated by them," the doctor revealed, breaking the bad news to Grace.

Grace’s expression changed, and the energy she had begun gathering faded.

"Your powers won’t work either. Although they have some characteristics similar to a healer’s, they are still different. Using them would only cause whatever is in her blood to spread faster," the doctor added when she realized what Grace had been planning to do.

"That means if I use my powers now, I would be killing her faster," Grace muttered, her heart sinking.

When she thought about what her earlier actions might have done to Eva, she broke out in a cold sweat.