Chapter 500 - The Mysterious Island (2/2)

Link did as he was told and carefully squeezed the remaining venom from the stinger into the vial. Around five ounces of the deadly liquid dripped into it and completely covered the bottom of the vial.

Though the venom emitted a faint black smoke, it was colorless like water and slightly more viscous.

Gretel then took out another vial which contained a viscous, pale blue liquid. She poured a drop of the venom into it. Immediately, the pale blue liquid began bubbling violently in its vial.

Seeing such a reaction, Gretel explained to Link, “The blue liquid tests a substance’s toxicity. The more poisonous something is, the greater its reaction will be.”

“So how poisonous is the venom?”

“Very. It’s deadlier than any other venom I’ve ever encountered. It’s a miracle I’m still alive.” Gretel’s face blanched at the thought of the venom still flowing around inside her body.

“Do you have a way to neutralize it?” asked Link.

Gretel shook her head, “I’m not sure; I’ll need to run a few more tests.”

She then laid out a wide array of bottles and vials from her spatial bracelet and continued running her tests. Her brows relaxed at times and pressed against each other tightly at others.

Half an hour later, a frown came across her face. “I have an idea, but the amount of venom we have right now may not be enough.”

Link too frowned at this. He could not expect her to accompany him back to the Sea of Void and face the Void Centipede again. That would be no different from suicide.

After a while, Link remembered something. In the game, he had helped an alchemy master gather some ingredients for the antidote. He still was able to recall what they were.

Even though he had no idea what the master’s procedure was, the Red Dragon Queen was, fortunately, an alchemy master. If she were to have the list of the antidote’s ingredients, things would probably go even more smoothly.

He pondered for a while on this. Choosing his words carefully, he said to the queen, “Your High… Tellie, I remember reading something about the Void creature in a High Elf book. I think it’s called ‘Thousand Legs.’ There was mention of an antidote, but it only listed its ingredients and said nothing about how to brew the concoction. I don’t know if this information is of any use to you.”

Hearing this, Gretel’s eyes lit up suddenly. “Of course it is! Just tell me.”

Link told her what he knew. “Creeping jennies, sunflowers, ginseng, a pinch of arisaema…”

When Link listed out all 13 types of ingredients, Gretel’s eyes brightened even more. Finally, she clapped her hands and laughed. “I got it! I’m not too far off from it. Though I’ll still need to run those tests, the venom we have in hand should suffice.”

Saying this, Gretel began collecting the alchemical ingredients from her surroundings. Link recognized none of the materials she had collected. When she had gathered more than seven materials from the forest, Link asked, “Gretel, the ingredients aren’t right.”

“You have much to learn. Each of these materials contains a number of medicinal properties. The goal of alchemy is to neutralize the properties that we don’t need and strengthen the ones that we do. To produce the medicinal effect that we need, we don’t have to follow the ingredient list to the letter. Oh, I’m still short of a few things. Oh well, I’ll look for them later. Let’s go. We’ll visit the village up ahead first. Who knows, we may come across some of the medicinal materials that I’m still missing along the way.”

Gretel put away all her ingredients. She dusted off her hands and looked at Link, ready to head out.

With the problem of the antidote more or less settled, Link now felt even more relieved. During their conversation, he had almost fully recovered his Dragon Power. He was now able to deal with any threats in their way.

The two of them then headed off in the direction that they had determined from the air.

A while later, Gretel patted her legs and sighed. “Ow, how tiring. This is taking forever.”

Link was speechless at such an obvious hint from her.

For the rest of the journey, Link gave Gretel a piggyback ride.

They now made their way through the forest even more quickly than before. Ten minutes later, the woods in front of them had become sparser. Through them, Link could see a simple stone wall erected up ahead. Behind the piles of rocks stood a neat row of wooden houses. The sounds of chickens and the occasional barks of a dog could be heard. Columns of smoke drifted from the wooden houses into the evening sky.

“It seems peaceful,” said Gretel.

Link too felt the same way about the place, but there was still something odd about it. “The architecture here seems strange. I’ve never seen it before. I don’t really know why, but I’m getting an ominous feeling about the place.”

He did not feel that their lives were being directly threatened at the moment, but the feeling was enough to make him feel uncomfortable about the place.

With her power being sealed off, Gretel’s senses were not as acute as Link’s. Hearing this from Link, she said thoughtfully, “It looks somewhat similar to the architectural style adopted 1000 years ago by the southern kingdom.”

As they observed the place, a troop of human-shaped figures marched out from another corner of the forest. Link was startled by what he saw.

“Are those… demons?”