Sandy did not hesitate when Jin gave the command to assist the Nine Oceans Phoenix. Within an instant, the sand around the broken hatchery suddenly shifted and turned into spikes, moving towards Saberteeth with absolute speed. There were no signs of magic until the very last minute as if the entire backdrop was Sandy's playground.
However, because of the distance between the centre of the hatchery and surrounding sand, Saberteeth was still able to move away fast enough. For a lead mage, he seemed to be quite proficient in evading as well, indicating that the Southerners' prioritised in outdoor survival more than any drowning themselves with old mushy books in libraries.
While it had become obvious that the black hole created by the metal cube had the potential to absorb magic, she wondered what would happen if she merely threw her sand weapons as projectiles. The white sand did require magic to be manipulated and maintain its form, yet said projectiles should still be able to act as a distraction even when dispersed.
The surroundings such as the hatchery had not been taken in at all even though they had been damaged by the initial Tidal Sky Wave. If her theory of the metal cubes absorbing only magic was right, her manipulated white sands could provide sufficient distraction against Saberteeth for the Phoenix to escape the iron jaws of death by the enemies' chain magical power.
In the meantime, Shu had been growing his roots at the hatchery's surrounding. While he did use magic to grow his roots, they were still a part of him, and Shu was able to control the direction of where the roots were moving towards. However, because of the vast distance, it was a tad troublesome to maintain the same amount of strength he usually used to kill his enemies.
Saberteeth was surprised by the sudden attack of weapons in sand form and magically imbued spikes coming towards him. Alas, because of the black holes from his metal cubes, the magic keeping the sand in weapon form weakened significantly before it ever hit him. Still, a few went through before he was able to erect a proper barrier up.
At that moment, he realised that the Nine Oceans Phoenix had friends backing her up and immediately increased his magic output to scan the area. Unfortunately, the magical energies from the Tidal Sky Wave which he had stolen with the ancient metal cubes were disrupting his magic detection preventing him from properly locating the magical sources.
More and more sand projectiles were proving to be an annoyance to Saberteeth as he broke his concentration in capturing the Nine Oceans Phoenix, giving the bird the chance to break out of his continuous pressure to capture her. She also saw a glimpse of the white sand being manipulated and understood that Jin had already sent her some support to go against Saberteeth.
At that moment she became aware of how pathetic she must be, requiring the aid of a human to help in this endeavour. Not only had she failed to exact her revenge properly, but that proclaimed dungeon master who had many extremely powerful monsters on his side had also repeatedly shown her sufficient courtesy. He had saved both her kids and now he provided support to her when there was no need for him to do that.
Jin had even thought about the backlash his actions would have to the monster population while he could have easily sided with his fellow human. Even this chance to eliminate the perpetrator who stole her eggs and exact justice were bestowed by him so that she could have some peace of mind. She suspected he had some personal agenda behind his actions, yet there was undoubtedly still kindness in his actions.
"What are you staring into space?!" Jin shouted as he flew towards the Nine Ocean Phoenix with the aid of his Green Panda Wind Energy and told her to follow him.
However, that shout alone was enough for Saberteeth to track Jin as the support that the Nine Oceans Phoenix was given. "WHAT? A HUMAN?! HOW CAN THIS BE? HOW DARE YOU HELP THEM AFTER ALL THE CRIMES HER KIND HAS COMMITTED?! THEIR BEASTLY INSTINCT TO DESTROY EVERYTHING IN SIGHT THAT WE HAVE PAINSTAKINGLY BUILT?!T" Saberteeth shouted fanatically as he now redirected his chains towards Jin.
However, the dungeon supplier did not react, so the Southern Leader came to the conclusion that since Jin assisted a monster, he had to be a monster himself. A 'human' who Saberteeth will happily rid the world off!
Jin saw metal chains flying along with the Tidal Sky Wave towards him and he instantly engaged the inner Maqi within him. White Panda Ice Energy was released in succession to create gigantic glacier barriers that blocked the Tidal Sky Waves while the Nine Oceans Phoenix twirl and swirl in the skies towards Jin.
Unfortunately, the chains were manipulated to move around the glacier barriers even as the Tidal Sky Waves crashed into them. Saberteeth laughed as he thought he had the upper hand in this current battle … until he saw his chains gradually frozen as they tried to move around the barriers.
He did not realise that Jin had reached a higher level of control of his Maqi with his grade up and those glacier barriers were able to protrude a small icicle spike out poking the chains, stopping them from moving. And at the point of contact, the chain's temperature went straight to below zero and further until it froze.
The enemy's Tidal Sky Waves initially burnt the barriers but eventually, it too froze up in the sky, creating a magnificent ice structure in view over the white sandy desert.
Saberteeth realised the human aiding the monster might have noticed the weak point of his black holes. It might be an excellent defensive item but in terms of offense, it was undoubtedly his Achilles Heel. As long as the magic could be overpowered, and not within the range of the black hole, Saberteeth was not able to do anything about it.
Yet, he could not believe this particular human was able to topple the intense magical energies of a Nine Ocean Phoenix since it was considered to be one of the mythical creatures in the Farming World. (Not to mention, it was already a variant!)
Even the Phoenix was bewildered by the show of power even though it was just a defensive act from Jin. But the Dungeon Supplier was already snapping her out of her shock once again and telling her to move to him as soon as possible.
"You are not going anywhere Phoenix!!!" Saberteeth yelled as he tried to levitate himself. But at that moment, roots suddenly appeared right beneath his feet and grabbed him, stopping him from running away. Saberteeth immediately reacted by bringing the black hole towards its roots to break it but he found out that it was not a magical attack. It was an actual living root that was holding him.
While there is some form of magical energy being absorbed, it was too little to constitute a magical attack.
"Hahaha! Suck it! I am using regrowth to keep the root from snapping, a talent of mine rather than a magical spell." Shu boasted loudly from afar even though Saberteeth was unable to hear it.
Simultaneously, Sandy was not letting off her magic attacks and had also resorted in using as little mana as possible. They slowly discovered that maintaining the black hole required magic too and that mana the black hole absorbed was barely sufficient for the black hole to maintain its form and there was nothing for Saberteeth to manipulate.
Still, with most of his minions filled with magic and chi, Jin felt that it was the correct decision to limit their numbers and let Peppers' explosion deal with Saberteeth. If that wouldn't work, he planned to make the Orc and Goblins mechanised platoons fight against the Souther Leader, but for now, it was time to test whether the most drastic solution would also be the best solution. (Though it was mainly because he did not wish to waste anymore resources on this fight and Peppers had yet to meet her quota for explosions.)
And so with everyone acting as her diversions, Peppers finally had the time to finish casting her spell once the Nine Ocean Phoenix was out of the range.
