Badge in Azure Chapter 319

Chapter 319: Floral Death Creature (Part 1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The armor piercing abilities of the alchemy arrowheads were an important property. Those who were defending would be most afraid of the enemy’s heavy armor swordsmen charging all together. If they did not have any mages, such a situation would be incredibly gruesome and difficult to stop.
A swordsman in magic heavy armor was like a magic beast. They could ignore any attacks from normal bows and any attacks from low-level spells had their effects reduced to a minimum.
Explosions were used to deal with flying puppets. When attacking a city, flying puppets were important to both parties. The attacking party would place a large amount of magic powder on them and light them up. Once the amount of magic powder reached a certain level, they would possess power equivalent to fire-type magic. These flying puppets would carry the magic powder with them to the castle gate, causing mass destruction.
The defending party would also use flying puppets to light up the enemy’s weapons, such as their catapults or even their magic stone artillery.
There were not any great methods for dealing with flying puppets, and they were mainly dealt with using mages and alchemy crossbows. However, piercing damage was useless against these flying puppets which could be taken down in one shot. Once they could fly above their targets, they would start burning or would even explode. Hence, the arrowheads of the alchemy crossbows would carry low-level spells like explosions to destroy the flying puppets.
It did not matter whether the flying puppet’s wings were destroyed or the magic powder upon it was ignited. Either way, they could stop the flying puppet. Hence, regular armies kept exploding alchemy arrows at a ratio of one to every ten arrowheads.
Saleen patiently used his water flame to corrode magic patterns onto the arrowheads. He had to carefully draw on the explosive magic array at the hollow center of each arrowhead. Low-level magic was not to be belittled on the battlefield, because while high-level magic was not something everyone could release, low-level magic was present throughout the entire battle.
Saleen’s water flame had an unusual frequency. His focus was mainly set on doing the same thing, using the fluctuating frequency of the water flame to process hundreds of arrowheads at the same time.
Aini’s method was even more fascinating. Within his death flames, a death creature had appeared. It was over ten meters tall, and if they had not been in the room of the temple, it would have broken through the ceiling. This death creature looked very much like a plant.
The mages within the room were knowledgeable, but not a single one of them had ever heard of a floral death creature within the death dimension. Mages were not holy masters and agreed that plants had life too, but whether they had souls were something which many mages could not agree on.
Many believed that plants did not have souls for a simple reason. Since ancient times, not a single death mage had been able to summon a floral death creature. The ancient humans that had been powerful enough to cross dimensions had not captured anything like it in the past, either.
Now, Aini was controlling the death creature, and it looked like a tree from any angle. It had lush branches, large roots, sturdy bark, and what looked like a nest upon its branches…
After all two hundred arrowheads were sucked into the death flames, the branches of the floral death creature moved around like human arms and started manipulating the death flames to draw magic arrays and magic patterns onto the arrowheads.
The mages of Sregl Island were shocked. Saleen’s friend was an oddity among mages. Calling upon a plant to help him in combat? It seemed like he was mentally challenged.
However, this plant was evidently incredibly useful, as Aini did not stop throwing arrowheads into his death flames. Taking him as the center, any space within a radius of one hundred meters was bathed in a green light. The floral death creature used its leaves to curl up the arrowheads after it had finished drawing the magic arrays onto them, carrying out the next step of the processing.
The over-ten-meter-tall plant probably had hundreds of thousands of leaves. If every one of those leaves could do the same thing, there would be no competition – Saleen was sure to lose. However, all spells were balanced, and after Aini had thrown in over a thousand arrowheads, he stopped adding them to the death flames. Evidently, controlling the floral death creature required a huge amount of focus.
Having to process that many arrowheads simultaneously without the help of any equipment or magic arrays was unheard of. Aini’s performance was enough to win everyone’s respect.
Looking back to Saleen, he was not anxious. The water flame in his hands had expanded to over a meter long, and as he placed another one hundred arrowheads inside, the mages from Sregl Island could not see any changes taking place within them. This was caused by a difference in grade. Unless a person’s grade was higher than Saleen’s by at least two grades, they would not be able to observe what was happening within the water flames. Not even a person’s senses could penetrate them.
The entire aura within the giant room became chilly. Even though the creature that Aini had summoned was a plant, it was still a death creature and the aura that it emanated from within the death flames left the living reeling.
Saleen had not trained his Water Flame Alchemy spell to its maximum potential. With the outside temperature below freezing, he was doing his best to maintain control.
The two of them busied themselves. In less than ten minutes, it suddenly started snowing inside of the room. This was magic released from the Water Flame Alchemy spell – a level-6 snowkill!
The snowflakes spun lightly and cleanly around Saleen.
Saleen could not stop himself. He said to the people within the room, “Leave. It is hard for me to control these snowflakes.”
The mages did not dare stay. The person with the highest grade among them was only grade-4, and it would be hard for them to counter a level-6 spell. Only Nailisi remained in the room. She opened a scroll and released an ice plate armor, protecting her body.
The snowflakes around Saleen started revolving in a greater radius. Finally, some of them spun out of control, floating to Nailisi’s side. The fragile snowflakes grazed against the ice plate armor, producing a sharp sound. A deep mark appeared on what was known as the strongest ice plate armor within mid-level magic.
“Nailisi, you leave too.” Saleen did not want to lose his concentration with these snowflakes. Aini’s alchemy skills were too unusual, being able to process thousands of arrowheads at once. Even if Aini could rest longer than him, he was winning too easily.
“Yes.” Nailisi was not afraid of the snowflakes, as she had the means of protecting herself from level-6 spells. However, this was not a battle and it was not necessary to waste scrolls.
Aini cocked his head and took a look at Nailisi. He remembered her from when he had first met Saleen, as she had already been by his side at that time. She had been able to use spatial equipment, which had led to a serious headache for Aini back then. He had thought she was a grade-5 or 6 mage.
Nailisi giggled as she took a look at Aini and said softly, “Aini, you must win.”
“Yes,” Aini promised. A golden light floated from Nailisi’s green eyes and left him a little distracted. The death flames started fluctuating violently, the leaves of the floral death creature going out of control and swaying in the violent winds.
“Nailisi!” Saleen shouted angrily. Nailisi had used her demonic skills to distract Aini’s focus. With his focus in disarray, his floral death creature could not process arrowheads anymore.
Thousands of arrowheads fell from the leaves of the floral death creature, floating within the death flames.
Aini was shocked as well. What skill had Nailisi used? His focus was already quite formidable, even stronger than that of some grade-6 mages. How could he have fallen for her tricks?
He steadily commanded the floral death creature again, wrapping the arrowheads back in the leaves to continue his processing. This was an advantage of spirit alchemy. Unlike elemental alchemy, it would not end completely even if it was interrupted.
Nailisi ran out of the room without looking back. Saleen could not do anything anyways. He had been distracted earlier because of her, alongside Aini. It was fair now.
Once Nailisi left, Saleen immediately released as much strength as he could into the Water Flame Alchemy spell. The meter-tall water flames expanded again, reaching more than two meters in diameter now, and another hundred arrowheads were sucked in. This time, the water flames became transparent. Some of the snowflakes around Saleen’s body went inside of the water flames, turning transparent and carving out lines of magic patterns upon the arrowheads.
The temperature within the room fell even further. Half of the room was Aini’s death flames while the other half was filled with the snowflakes which Saleen had created.
A big reason why Saleen had been anxious to learn the Water Flame spell was because when he was using it, it was able to activate a level-6 spell. The Water Flame Alchemy spell did not use up many magic chords and had a consumption similar to a level-5 spell, yet the magic that it released and was able to control was level-6.
Saleen had no idea why all water-type magic had experienced strange changes in his hands since his magic chords had mutated.
Outside of Saleen’s room, dozens of low-grade mages and magic disciples waited anxiously. The door of the room was as transparent as crystal, and they could see all the changes that was taking place.
Ding…
Ding dang.
Arrowheads fell to the ground continuously. They were alchemy arrowheads that had been processed with the dual properties. The floor of the room was made from white stone gathered from the coast. Despite the arrowheads that were able to pierce through armor falling to the ground, there were no marks.
The pile of arrows in front of Aini and Saleen grew bigger. Saleen did not stop, and Aini did not rest either. It was almost as if their magic chords and death flames were limitless.
With their competition having gotten so far, Aini was already impressed with Saleen. The creature he had summoned was a rare floral death creature, and his death flames had also become incredibly big because of that. With the two effects helping each other out, his combat skills were twice as powerful as those of death mages with the same grade.
Saleen was an elemental mage and naturally lacked the combat rigor which death mages possessed. However, Saleen had already created almost ten thousand arrowheads, and he still did not have any intentions of resting.
Saleen was equally impressed with Aini. He must have had a lucky encounter, as a plant based death creature was something he had not seen in any books. His magic chords were twice that of mages of the same grade, and the Water Flame Alchemy spell was similar to a level-5 spell. He knew how long he could sustain it. Aini did not want to rest. It showed that his combat powers were much higher than other grade-5 death mages.
The last time Saleen had won, it had been due to a loophole in his words. This time, the two of them were equally matched.
Pasatilo and Kanuka were watching from outside as well, and they became even more determined to follow Saleen. A grade-5 mage who could grasp the Water Flame Alchemy spell would become a legend on the mainland sooner or later.