Chapter 224: De-escalating the Situation (Bonus)
After finishing their battle, Silvania was able to fully focus on the barrier. After a moment, she finally saw through the barrier and said, "I have deciphered the barrier. There are a total of twelve cores that become the foundation of the barriers. Destroy those twelve cores, and they will stop providing both the Ena and the links."
The dryad nodded. "Give me their locations."
Silvania stood up and pointed both palms forward. "Ieles Ulura."
A magic circle appeared in front of her as they shot out a white light. This light split into twelve and landed on their respective targets. They were all above the barrier, but they were pointing straight down, telling the dryad the locations of those cores.
In that instant, the dryad clapped her hands. Vines broke through the soil and scooped up a box with complex patterns.
Then, the vines fastened and broke them into pieces.
After those devices broke down, the barrier started to disappear from the very top, allowing Vivian, Silvania, the druid, and the ancient spirit to fall to the island.
The students raised their heads, looking at those figures and feeling relieved from the bottom of their heart. This only meant one thing. They had won.
With a wave of her hand, the ancient spirit created a gale that softened their landing.
The dryad appeared in front of them and gave the report. "I found four students who have turned into an alien."
Vivian nodded. She turned to the druid. "I want you to restore the island as much as possible."
"Understood."
"Silvania. You look around the island and ensure there is nothing else hidden."
"Leave it to me." Silvania had a lot of questions for Nathan, but she knew which one was her priority.
Then, Vivian ordered the dryad, "You go around and beat those aliens, making sure there are no more threats from them."
"Alright."
"And lastly, you will go with me to calm the students down."
As they expected, there was unrest among the students, especially with what happened.
"Teacher Dikkleus caused all of this?"
"But he is the teacher of the Frexia Academy. Isn't it the academy's responsibility to discover his plan before this?"
"Then what would happen to us? In fact, what in the world is actually happening right now? The aliens have been behaving weirdly."
When their tension reached its peak, Vivian's voice echoed. "Don't worry, students. We'll be the ones taking care of the situation after this."
"Vice Principal!" The students were stupefied, but soon felt relieved, thinking that they would be fine now that the vice principal was here.
However, they remembered what Rudeus said earlier. He hadn't come back, but he mentioned Nathan being Vivian's student.
They all couldn't help but look at each other. They had bullied her student, so they were worried what Vivian would do to them. Even if she wasn't as influential or as strong as the principal, she still wielded a considerable amount of power within the kingdom.
It was especially true for Ravian, who was belittling Nathan in the past. No wonder why his father was so scared, it was because of her.
Vivian was confused why they looked scared, but she still had to announce. "The event this time will have to be canceled. The event will be changed after a brief discussion with the rest of the teachers.
"Teacher Dikkleus has been apprehended. Unfortunately, I can't tell you everything, as the principal will be the one making that judgment."
The students were curious, but they couldn't really ask Vivian about the incident and why Dikkleus betrayed them. They might be as clueless as they were.
Whether it was courage or recklessness, one of them suddenly asked, his voice shaking. "Vice Principal Vivian… Are you really Nat… I mean, Classmate Nathan's teacher?"
Vivian was taken aback by the question. For some reason, it seemed the class had already known about it. And it sounded like either Nathan or someone else confirmed it.
Then again, she might have told Nathan to not mention it, but she had given her permission to use her name if it was necessary. If Nathan was the one confirming the rumor, she wouldn't be angry.
Besides, Nathan had played a huge role in this problem. If not for him creating an opening for the dryad, the situation would have been much worse.
Vivian expected some sort of information blockage, especially regarding the alien and Dikkleus. In fact, they should get more information from Dikkleus first.
Vivian thought for a moment before pointing to the shore. "All students are heading to the beach. We'll have to wait for the principal and other teachers to come back."
The students nodded their heads. It seemed that Rudeus and the others had returned, considering the ogre had disappeared as soon as they took down Dikkleus.
She thought Rudeus would make an argument or two, but Rudeus only asked, "Are we heading to the shore, Vice Principal?"
"Yes. Follow the rest of the students. We'll evacuate the island."
"Understood." Rudeus nodded.
It seemed that the principal had said something to him, which stopped him from complaining.
At the same time, the students didn't realize that they had entered the ancient spirit's illusion. By creating a warmer and calmer atmosphere, they would talk to her more rationally, which ultimately stopped the panic.
"Have you found them?" Vivian then turned to the vine on her arm, asking.
"Yes." The dryad was staring at them from afar, noticing the atmosphere between them. "Yeah. I've found them. They look fine. The young master's condition concerns me, but I don't think he is in any critical condition.
"Are you going to reward him? Or are you going to use the burning island to take back his reward?"
Vivian smiled wryly. "Yeah. I'm going to reward him. You can lecture him later, but his action has prevented more students from dying."
"Alright. I'll tell them after they're done with their business…"
"Business?"
"It's nothing." The dryad smiled. "Let the lovebirds enjoy their moment a bit and send them after that."