The Mighty Mage
Chapter 311: Blue Sludge

Chapter 311: Chapter 311: Blue Sludge

They hurried to the few students who had been injured during the chaotic escape from the sea.

"Quickly! Heal them before the situation gets worse," the professor urged, his eyes darting nervously between the shore and the dark forest behind them.

But the healers exchanged worried glances.

One of them, a young woman with trembling hands, tried to summon her healing magic.

Her palms glowed faintly for a moment before sputtering out, the light vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.

"I... I can’t use my magic," she stammered, her voice filled with confusion and fear.

The others tried as well but to no avail. Their healing spells flickered weakly or didn’t activate at all.

The professor’s face went pale, a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead.

"What do you mean you can’t use your magic?" he asked, his voice now edged with panic.

Another healer, a boy with a desperate look in his eyes, shook his head.

"None of our healing spells are working, sir! It’s like... like our powers are being blocked."

Murmurs erupted among the students again, anxiety quickly rising.

The professor, realizing the situation was getting out of hand, raised his hand to silence them.

"Quiet! Everyone, stay calm!"

He took a deep breath, trying to think of a solution.

"Everyone, I need all of you to try using your magic. Test your elements and report back. We need to understand what’s happening here."

The students hesitated but eventually nodded, dispersing slightly as they tried to summon their respective elemental powers.

The air was filled with the sounds of spells being cast.

But one by one, the students turned back to the professor, their faces painted with confusion and frustration.

"I can’t summon my fire element!"

"My lightning spells aren’t working at all!"

"Ice magic is completely blocked... what’s going on?"

The professor’s frown deepened as he listened to their reports. But amidst the chorus of failures, there were a few who managed to activate their powers.

"I can still use my plant magic!" a student called out, green vines sprouting from her fingers.

"Earth element is working too!" another added, lifting a chunk of soil effortlessly from the ground.

"Wind element is fine!" a boy announced, a small gust swirling around him.

Gu Jin narrowed her eyes as she took in the information.

So far, it seemed that only a few elements were functioning on this strange island.

One of the undead element awakeners stepped forward, a skeletal bird materializing on his shoulder. "Undead Element works too," he said, his voice steady despite the tension.

The professor turned to him,

"That’s four... plant, earth, wind, and undead. But what about the others?"

Then, from the back of the crowd, a girl with wild eyes and a chaotic aura surrounding her stepped forward.

Her hands crackled with dark, unpredictable energy that seemed to shift and pulse with a life of its own.

"Chaos element works too," she confirmed with a smirk, the chaotic energy sparking around her fingertips like miniature lightning bolts.

"Five elements..." the professor muttered under his breath.

"Plant, Earth, Wind, Undead, and Chaos. The rest are completely suppressed."

The professor seemed to come to the same conclusion. "Listen up!" he shouted, regaining the attention of the crowd.

"Only those with plant, earth, wind, necromancy, and chaos elements can use their magic here. The rest of you, stay close and do not venture off alone. We need to regroup and..."

But before he could continue, the ground beneath them trembled slightly, causing everyone to freeze.

A low, ominous rumble echoed from the depths of the forest, followed by a series of unsettling roars that sent shivers down their spines.

"We’re not alone here," Gu Jin muttered to herself, her eyes narrowing as she stared into the dark forest.

"There’s something else... something dangerous on this island."

The professor’s hands moved swiftly, his earth element surging into action.

With a determined expression, he thrust his palms into the ground.

The earth rumbled in response, stones, and soil swirling around him as if answering his call.

Within moments, a massive dome of compacted earth began to rise from the ground, encasing the group of students in a protective barrier.

"Everyone, get inside!" he commanded, his voice urgent yet steady.

The students, still shaken but moving with newfound urgency, hurried to the safety of the dome.

Some stumbled in their haste, but they were quickly pulled up by their peers.

Gu Jin was one of the last to step inside, her eyes lingering on the dark forest beyond as the eerie roars continued to echo.

The tremors beneath her feet made her heart pound, but she forced herself to stay calm.

She knew that whatever was out there, they weren’t ready to face it—not yet.

Some of the students having enough asked in a desperate voice,

"Professor Meng, what is happening? Weren’t we going for military training? Then why are we here?"

Professor Meng who had created the dome, said with a grim expression,

"It was caused by some disturbance."

The students’ fear quickly turned into anger, their voices rising in a chaotic chorus.

"What kind of training is this?!" a boy shouted, his fists clenched in frustration.

"You brought us here without any warning!" another student, a girl with tears streaming down her face, accused. "We were supposed to be training, not fighting for our lives!"

"How could you be so reckless?" a third voice added, the words dripping with betrayal. "You’ve put all of us in danger!"

The dome, meant to be a place of refuge, was quickly becoming a pressure cooker of emotions.

Students who had been holding it together started to break down, their voices joining the growing wave of discontent.

"You knew something was wrong, didn’t you?!" a student with earth magic accused, stepping forward.

"You’re supposed to protect us, not lead us into a trap!"

Professor Meng, still catching his breath from creating the dome, raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"Listen to me! We didn’t anticipate this. There was an anomaly—something disrupted the transport spell. We’re not where we were supposed to be, but panicking won’t help us!"

But his words did little to quell the rising tide of anger.

The students were beyond listening, their fear fueling their outrage.

Gu Jin, however, paid no attention to the chaos unfolding around her.

Do these students think that lashing out could change things? Stupid.

In reality, if they looked around they would notice that half of the students were calm and closing their eyes to sense what was happening outside the dome.

Gu Jin was just like them.

Rather than finding a person to blame for her misery, it would be better to think about how to survive.

Closing her eyes, she focused on the skeletal warrior she had stationed outside the dome as a scout.

The undead creature’s vision was grainy and filled with shadows, but it was better than nothing.

What she saw through the undead creature’s eyes was far worse than she could have imagined.

Beyond the protective dome, the lush vegetation that had once covered the forest floor was melting away, turning into a sickly blue slime.

The trees themselves were bending unnaturally, their bark and leaves dissolving into this gelatinous substance.

The blue mass moved with a life of its own, slithering across the ground, absorbing everything in its path like a hungry tide.

The very earth beneath it seemed to quiver, being slowly consumed and transformed by the slimy horror.

Gu Jin’s eyes flew open, her face pale with shock.

But before she could shout a warning, the air inside the dome crackled with tension as a voice rang out.

"Professor Meng!" The chaos element wielder, the girl with wild eyes, stepped forward, her aura flaring with dark, crackling energy.

"Something is dissolving everything outside the barrier! The ground, the plants—everything is turning into some kind of blue sludge!"

The students turned to her, faces filled with disbelief.

But then, almost as if on cue, the dome trembled slightly, and they all felt a disturbing sensation underfoot—the solid ground they stood on was shifting, almost as if it were melting away.

"What is she talking about?" one student asked, his voice tinged with panic.

But it took only a few seconds for everyone to realize the truth.

They could feel it—the ground was sinking, slipping beneath their feet.

Gasps of horror filled the dome as everyone turned their eyes toward Professor Meng, looking to him for answers, for a solution.

Professor Meng’s calm facade cracked. His eyes widened in alarm, and for a moment, he seemed utterly lost.

But then, gathering himself, he barked out orders, desperate to regain control of the situation.

"Water mages!" he called out, turning to the few students who could still use their water element.

"Soon we will fall directly into the water. We need water bubbles! If we encase ourselves in them, we might be able to avoid the sea monster once we fall into the water."