Chapter 1028: Pepper’s Latest Achievement
“Incoming!” Peppers warned her comrades via the System Channel once she finished preparing her spell. An instant cast incantation weaved together with her mega (-or perhaps already giga?) explosion spell was ready to be fired off at any second. The Mage Bellator was not stupid enough to give Saberteeth any time to react to it, for he could have some way to run away.
Still, she had to give Jin and the Phoenix some time so they could slip into the System’s portal when she unleashed her sure fire kill attack. She was quite surprised how Jin’s magical powers had exponentially increased and Peppers could only deduce that he had kept it as a secret for quite a long time ever since he woke up from his two week long coma.
Upon hearing Peppers’ warning, Jin decided to speed up towards the Nine Oceans Phoenix and he grabbed hold on the side of her neck. Confused by this action, the monster bird croaked a little from the sudden chokehold, but Jin needed to come into physical contact with her so that he could quickly summon a portal. Within that split second of him giving Peppers the signal, both the explosion and portal appeared simultaneously and if not for the quick coordination from the System, Jin and the Nine Oceans Phoenix would be caught in the blast.
Saberteeth, on the other hand, being bound by Shu’s roots had nowhere to escape and the snap explosion robbed him of any chances to come up with some strategy. Unlike the usual explosions, Peppers did control the radius of this particular explosion, causing it to destruct within the vicinity of the hatchery, disintegrating not just the building above ground but obliterating the basements too.
Although Saberteeth was caught unaware, the metal cubes had an emergency defensive mechanism which would protect their user from being struck by any magic attacks. If the Nine Oceans Phoenix spell strongest could be taken in like sipping water, Peppers was not going to give any concessions on her spell.
However, neither the offensive nor defensive black holes could keep up the absorption of the sustained explosion. Yes, Peppers had not just cast her spell once, but three times! A triple instant cast spell which was already considered an overly complex spell had been cast in a concentrated form. If anything, she would mark it down in her diary as an achievement considering the complexity of the spell and that it was the first time she was doing a controlled explosion.
The black holes tried to absorb as much of the spell as possible but the intensity and quality of the magical power were so dense that the metal cubes were not capable of holding the spell. What’s more, they broke from the destructive powers of the spell that had been cast. Following the Southern Leader’s body, those metal cubes melted and disappeared from the face of the world by the third explosion spell.
“Lol. Those cubes do not even stand a chance for my-” Peppers commented half way before the mana overload and drawback effects from tapping to the universal mana pool hit her. It caused her to vomit rainbows right at the spot and Jin who knew her condition immediately opened a portal right in front of her to pick her up.
“It’s alright, it’s alright. I will bring you to the Panda Nurses right now.” Jin remarked as he assisted Peppers up. “You did brilliant. Absolutely stunning. Bravo.” He did not skimp out on the praises as he saw the explosion from the portal the System created.
The former portal had not brought them back to the dungeon instances, but right beside Shu and Sandy. After all, Jin wanted to see the explosion with his eyes while showing the Nine Ocean Phoenix the capability of his bellators.
Peppers on the other hand was breathing heavily but gave a peace sign with her hands. “I know I am awesome.” In truth, the Mage Bellator had never felt more terrible. This was even worse than the Giant World explosion incident and yet she had also never felt as satisfied that she had accomplished something this complex before. Jin carried her up and quickly sent her to the nurses after the explosion subsided. This misadventure had certainly ended with a bang.
The System sent Sandy and Shu back to their respective home instances, allowing them to rest while giving special concession for the Phoenix to return to see her hatchling and injured chick. Jin did not waste any time to see the Nine Oceans Phoenix and was a bit baffled that unlike last time the Phoenix greeted him with her head held low. Filled with gratitude, she had finally decided to join the team with the only condition that her children would be well taken care of.
“I was planning to do that from the start, so sure. What about your other children? I remember that you had more than two eggs.” Jin asked and the Phoenix shook her head.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. I only lay two eggs. To prevent other monsters from taking my eggs, I took the liberty of caring for their eggs together with mine. They provided protection within the area that I chose to nest in, which allowed me to hide my presence from other predators. In return, their eggs benefit from my magical aura, which would have made them grow up more powerful than their peers. Unfortunately, that monstrous human you just defeated was downright lucky enough to find the nest at a time when I had gone out to hunt.”
Jin looked at the colour of several oceans on the egg’s surface. If one would take time to look at it closely, there was an illusion of the oceans ever moving on the egg’s shell as if it was a magical pearl from the deep sea. “All’s well that ends well, though. In fact, you and him might be working together really well.”
“Sorry, What?!” The Nine Oceans Phoenix nearly cried out feeling like she got betrayed the moment she signed the agreement. “How would that even be possible, NOBODY could survive that explosion?!”
That was when Jin started to explain the workings of the System and how the people he killed had ‘a chance’ of becoming his minion. While still a little suspicious, the Nine Oceans Phoenix replied that she would only believe it when she saw Saberteeth in action.
“Speaking of Saberteeth, say now that you’ve joined us, what should I call you?” Jin asked, telling her that to continue calling her ‘Phoenix’ seemed a little …distant.
“Hmm.. Call me Jean then. That was a name given to me by someone I once knew.” Jean replied as she reminisced the days of that naïve mage similar to Jin.
“Alright, Jean. Welcome to the family.” Jin raised his hand up, wanting to shake her feet but instead, Jean lowered her head below Jin’s hand as if a pat would suffice. And with this, a case of monster and human grudge somewhat came to a close.
It was downright comical, how Jin had only wanted to hire some help from a Southerners’ mercenary group, which he believed he had sufficient money to pay them, yet given the chain of events he ended up recruiting nearly half a capital worth of mouths to feed due to the explosion Peppers made as well as a horde of flying monsters.
“Now this is the true headache…” Jin shook his head as he couldn’t help but question his choice of intervening.
