Chapter 157 Well, Well, Well
From the impatient look on her face, it seems like Alina was already fed up from waiting.
She quickly approached the lethargic Nomad as she activated Mind Scour.
With the enhancement that they received from Duplicator, Alina"s Dark Energy has also skyrocketed, giving her access to more spells, and much higher power on her current abilities.
Because of that, Alex was confident that Alina can extract the information that they wanted right now.
"Argh!" The teleporter let out a scream of pain as tendrils of darkness came out of Alina"s palm, entering straight through his temple.
"It will take me some minutes to look for the info that we want." Alina said to Alex as she took a deep breath. "During this time, I will not be able to stop what I am doing, because if I did so, I will suffer a mental backlash…"
"That just means that I have to protect you during this time duration." Alex said as he stood behind Alina, ignoring the loathing glare from Nomad.
"…."
"…."
"Heh." After seeing Nomad"s glare, Alex let out a smirk as he activated the ability that he stole from Nomad.
"Hong~"
At the instant that Alex activated Fixed-Coordinate Spatial Teleportation, his feeling of the surrounding changed.
He felt as if his current spot was the center of the world, and everything around him revolves around him.
Not only that, but Alex also felt that the area 1 thousand kilometers all around him were all within his reach.
Alex had the inkling that if he took a step now, he can choose to appear anywhere, as long as that spot was at most 1 thousand kilometers away from him!
"So, this is his teleportation huh. Pretty neat." Alex muttered to himself as he tilted his head. "But only 1 thousand kilometers? Hmm... it seems like I have to increase my Abyss Energy more if I want to have a greater teleportation range…"
After having this thought in his mind, Alex decided to take small step.
"Blik."
Alex felt his surroundings blurring for a second turning back to normal as he found himself 5 meters away from his original spot.
"…." Alina, who saw what Alex did, seemed to be not impressed, as if she was thinking that she can do that too.
As for the Professor Frances, she looked like she was not happy with what she was seeing anymore, and her Companions followed her suit.
As for Asteria and Mephisto, they were clapping both of their hands while laughing, as if they found what Alex did as amusing.
"…." Alex was not sure if he should be happy that Asteria tried praising him, although knowing that the dumb fairy was praising him was enough to make Alex miserable.
"…" Alex ignored the hooting sounds from the two Guides as he teleported himself 5 more times, with each teleportation becoming much and much easier for Alex.
By the fifth teleportation, Alex was somehow used already to the disorienting sensation accompanying the teleportation.
"Hehehe, getting more powers really makes me happy…" Alex muttered to himself cheerfully as he looked back to Professor Frances.
"Hey Professor Frances, do you wan-"
Whatever words Alex wanted to say were cut off, as he became flabbergasted with what he saw.
What Alex was seeing right now was something that he did not expect.
"Professor Frances, what the h.e.l.l are you doing?" Alex shouted as he saw the Professor doing something extremely unreasonable
Right now, Professor Frances had both of her hands latched on to the necks of Lauren and Andrew Collins.
Her grip on their necks was so tight, that Alex feared that she could accidentally choke them.
"…."
Professor Frances" whole face was solemn as she kept her hold on the necks of Lauren and Andrew Collins, with the two looking extremely shaken with what was happening to them.
Both Lauren and Andrew Collins had their eyes wide in fear, as they seemed to be unable to move.
No, they did not seem to be unable to move. They were actually unable to move!
"Really?" This was the second sentence that Alex said as he saw what Professor Frances was doing. "Are you insane? We have an effing Traveler Truce!"
"…" The Professor seemed to have not heard what he said, as she only stood still on her place, as if she was waiting for something to happen.
"F**k, what the h.e.l.l is happening here?" Alex thought as looked at everyone else.
Just standing beside him was Alina, who was still busy on her Mind Scour, which rendered her unable to help out now.
As for Queen Mother, she looked like she wanted to attack Professor Frances already, but she seemed afraid that her doing a move might hurt Lauren.
As for Professor Frances" Companions, they also seemed to be surprised with that their Traveler did, but they were all standing behind the Professor now, probably in an attempt to protect her.
Asteria could be of great help to Alex now, but to his dismay, Alex saw that Asteria was currently locked in combat with Mephisto, with him exchanging punches and kicks with the fairy.
The dumb fairy has no choice but to continue fighting Mephisto, which prevented her from approaching Alex.
"F**k!" With everything that he saw, Alex realized that it was only him and Queen Mother that can stop Professor Frances from what she was doing.
It will still take Alina some more minutes before she could help out, but Alex doubted if a few minutes was enough to delay Professor Frances from whatever she was doing.
"Don"t approach us!" The Professor hissed as Alex contemplated on using his abilities. "I know that you are thinking of using your abilities to save them, but if you did that, you will end up damaging these two!"
"!!!" Just hearing these words from the mad scientist was already enough to make Alex pause in his tracks.
The Professor seemed to be impressed with what Alex did as she continued talking.
"While you had you back turned to me and Khora was about to start her magic thingy, I immediately injected this girl and her father with one of my best concoctions here. Fortunately for them, it is still dormant for now. But if a power was used extremely close to these two, those chemicals will flare up to become poison!"
Professor Frances then gave Alex a leering grin as she said,
"Eldritch, if you try approaching us here via teleportation or some more of your shenanigans, the poison inside these two will flare up, and I a.s.sure you, that would not be happy experience for the both of them… Oh, and if you are wondering why these two doesn"t try breaking free from me right now, it"s because they can"t. My grip is just too strong for them~"
Professor Frances then giggled a little as she flexed her arms. "Pretty cool, right? This is one of the things I love about myself, my abnormal arms!"
"...."
Alex felt irritated as he did not like where his situation was going.
If the Professor was telling the truth right now, then that means that if Alex approached them using his power, Lauren and Andrew Collins will be harmed greatly….
That means that rescuing the two via powers is off for now.
"…" While he was still reeling from what Professor Frances did, Alex decided to look at Professor Frances" eyes intently, in an attempt to see what she was thinking now.
"Tsk!" Alex gritted his teeth as Professor Frances" eyes showed him the thing that he dreaded to see.
There was resolve in Professor Frances" eyes, as if she knew that what she was doing was right. There was also some traces of panic and desperation, as if she was just forcing herself to do what she was doing right now.
These expressions in her eyes showed Alex that the Professor will not stop on what she was doing, which obviously is bad news for him.
"…"
With the dilemma in front of him, Alex decided to use the tried and tested method already.
Talking to the hostage taker itself.
Alex decided to talk deeply with the Professor, and maybe distract her long enough so that Alex can do something that can neutralize her, although any means of neutralizing her seems to be unclear for now.
"Why the h.e.l.l are you doing this? Do you want to die?" Alex said as he let out a frown to Professor Frances. "We are in a Traveler Truce right now, and what you are doing now is a violation of that! You should have been dead already from violating the Traveler Truce!"
This is the one thing that Alex was confused in this situation.
Technically speaking, there should have been no way that Professor Frances was able to hostage both Lauren and Andrew Collins, since hostaging the two will mean that Professor Frances did some hostile attacks against Alex.
Performing hostile attacks during a Traveler Truce was already enough to warrant death, and yet, Professor Frances who very obviously violated the Traveler Truce was still alive now!
Is she faking it?
"Hahaha! It seems like even someone like you can be tricked, Eldritch." The Professor replied as she started laughing. "Do you remember the rules about our Traveler Truce? Specifically speaking, the rule about the Termination of the Truce…"
"Of course I know." Alex replied tersely. "Only when we obtain the Truth about the Legacy of Tartaros that we can end the Traveler Truce." After saying these words, Alex"s eyes widened as he realized what was happening now.
"Don"t tell me…"
"That rule just means that if one of us obtains the Truth about the Legacy of Tartaros, then the whole Traveler Truce will be done already." Professor Frances said as she licked her lips. "Luckily for me, I was able to do something that allowed me to discover the Truth about the Legacy of Tartaros. Oh, and if you were wondering, I figured the Truth out while you were busy tormenting Nomad~"
"Argh!" Alex shouted, as he realized that the situation that he was in was worse already.
They were tricked by the Professor, and from the looks of it, she seems to be executing a plan that she had been planning before already!
"…" Alex looked at Professor Frances and her Companions warily, as he realized that with the Traveler Truce gone, the Professor and her Companions could start attacking them any second now!
It seems like the only thing stopping the fight from happening was the hostage taking situation that Professor Frances was enacting now.
"…" Alex tried taking some deep breaths in order to prepare himself for what will happen next.
But even if Alex was trying to make himself calm, there were still two things in the current situation that was still making Alex feel unsettled.
The first thing that unsettled him was Professor Frances hostaging Lauren and Andrew Collins.
Why would the Professor take the two hostage, when she can just kill them both, especially now that the Traveler Truce has ended?
Will the Professor use them for something that will require their a.s.sistance?
The second thing that unsettled Alex was on how Professor Frances learned the Truth about the Legacy of Tartaros even before Alex and Alina could.
How was Professor Frances able to do that? Is there a missing clue that she found? Or did she use some kind of power to deduce the truth by herself?
"Ugh, this is bad, I must do something now!"
Alex realized that he must discover the truth about these two things at all cost, or else, Professor Frances could be the one who wins the Main Mission!