Chapter 306
Chapter 306
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 306
Chapter Title: Master of the Incarnation (4)
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“But Your Majesty, this place is dangerous.”
“That is for me to decide. A royal guard's duty is to protect the king. Is it not?”
“I understand. Then please, let us move to a safer location.”
As Orcamp passed Bosun and took a position on the south side of the Grand Hall, the nobles fumed. Since the king wasn't evacuating, they were stuck here as well.
The nobles gathered around Orcamp, and their personal bodyguards followed suit.
Magic was a phenomenon that could snuff out a person's life in an instant, regardless of their skill level. With Bosun stepping up to fight, the nobles had no intention of lending their own shields to anyone else.
Still, it was a four-on-one battle. The key figures of the magic department, including a certified Grade 4 mage, were bound to be on a different level than Zion.
“Seeing you commit such a reckless act, it seems the candidate for first prince is doomed to fail. After living in the royal castle for a few days, do you think everything belongs to you?”
“I wouldn't take this place even if you gave it to me. Bosun, was it? A guy who'd be polishing an archmage's boots in any other country got lucky with a bit of farming.”
Bosun let out a hollow laugh, truly dumbfounded. He never imagined he'd hear such nonsense from someone so far his junior.
Above all, he felt a surge of fury at his specialized field, plant magic, being dismissed as mere farming.
Of course, plant magic was not specialized for combat.
While combat mages trained a single element like ice or fire to its extreme, plant mages primarily studied various elements to change fertilizer compositions or alter cultivation methods, all to improve agricultural productivity.
In a way, it could be called the discipline furthest from combat.
However, once a mage reached the level of a certified Grade 4, they were bound to have at least one specialty capable of subduing an opponent, regardless of their chosen field.
“Such arrogance from a young whelp. Very well, then. This time, I shall be the one to evaluate your skills.”
Bosun rummaged through his pocket, pulled out dozens of seeds, and spread them on his palm. Each one was a different color, shape, and size.
“This is my specialty, 'A Handful of Seeds.' It's a gift set of asexually reproducing plants I've modified myself. They're all mixed up, so even I don't know what will sprout.”
Bosun swung his arm, scattering the seeds.
As he deployed his Spirit Zone, the seeds began to sprout in mid-air, growing at a rapid pace into plants that revealed their unique characteristics.
Three Kawangkra seeds were the first to mature. Their flowers were pale green spheres, which opened to reveal sharp teeth. Roots shot out to grab Shirone's arms and legs as the maws lunged at him.
Kieeeek!
Shirone unleashed a short-range light burst, and the Kawangkra flowers exploded with a pop. Though ferocious enough to tear through a viper's hide, the plants' durability was nothing special.
But the other seeds had all landed safely, now threatening Shirone with their own unique traits.
The massive flora matured, turning the northern side of the Grand Hall into a jungle.
Bosun had modified a total of 87 species of plants, so 'A Handful of Seeds' had to contain at least 30 different types.
The scene unfolding around Shirone could easily be described as a small-scale ecosystem.
The roots of the Cocora Tree, also known as the Murder Vine, scaled the walls and covered the ceiling. Orto Fungi, which dispersed psychosis-inducing gas, released their spores, while in the corners of the ceiling, Killer Flowers spat acidic slime, their petals blooming on spring-like, coiling stems.
Shirone glanced around, observing with interest.
To think human magic had advanced this far while he was sealed away. He could see why the angels were so obsessed with the final war.
“Did you modify these yourself?”
“A question not worth answering.”
As the killer plants attacked, Shirone dodged with teleportation. But the plants were everywhere.
Bosun skillfully herded Shirone into a corner. As the trees extended their branches, the space to evade began to shrink.
“How do you like this farmer's magic?”
The sight of trees moving their branches like living creatures was utterly grotesque. Yet, upon closer inspection, one could see the profound insight drawn from the natural world.
Plants have no muscles. Therefore, the only way a plant can move is through 'growth.'
Bosun's passive magic, 'Growth Promotion,' accelerated a plant's growth rate by up to 100,000 times. This was why the plants under its influence exhibited animal-like movements.
However, this meant the plants' lifespans were inevitably short.
A Kawangkra, with a lifespan of about 10 years, would stop growing and cease activity in 40 minutes under Growth Promotion.
Of course, a Cocora Tree, with an average lifespan of 1,200 years, could remain active for over 20 hours, but the average activity time for the plants in 'A Handful of Seeds' was a mere two hours, making a prolonged battle impossible.
While Growth Promotion created mobility, detailed movements were made possible by the active magic, 'Elemental Combination.' This involved injecting various elements into the plants to induce specific instincts, photosynthesis being one of them.
The principle was similar to how humans exhibit meaningful behaviors in response to different hormones.
This was why Growth Promotion and Elemental Combination were called the heart and brain of plant magic.
Bosun exquisitely combined these two spells, fiercely cornering Shirone.
Flowers shot acidic slime, and thorny vines whipped through the air.
Since the plants' movements were a form of growth, the space became increasingly saturated over time.
Only after the wooden vines had interwoven three-dimensionally, leaving no room to evade, did Shirone stop teleporting.
Vines descended from the ceiling, coiling around his limbs.
“Now, for my evaluation. You fail.”
Despite his words, Bosun was seething inside.
A plant mage's power was diminished in an environment without soil. Still, this was the work of a certified Grade 4 mage. To have been pushed this far by an amateur was a complete loss of face in front of his subordinates.
“What in the world happened? Did you have some kind of epiphany?”
A person couldn't change this much in just an hour. One could go mad and change their personality, but the level of his magic was entirely different.
Shirone tugged at the wooden vine wrapped around his wrist. It was impossible to break with a mage's physical strength. Instead, thorns scratched him, drawing blood.
Bosun snorted.
The Plant Prison was a spell he took great pride in. Its binding power was immense, and scratches from the vines would paralyze the nerves.
“You'd best give up. This is a prison no one but a Scale Mage can escape. If you offer your neck quietly, I'll grant you the mercy of a painless death.”
Shirone, who had been looking back at Bosun, blinked. Then, with a look of realization, he spoke.
“Aha, Scale Magic.”
Shirone looked up at the ceiling of the prison.
Bulging vines, like sinews, formed walls like petrified lava. Entangled to this degree, their durability would be considerable. But that was a good thing.
“So there was such a good method?”
A grin spread across Shirone's face as he looked at Bosun, and he instantly created a sphere of light before him.
As he opened the Immortal Function, the photon density of the Photon Cannon increased several dozen times over.
“Krrrrgh!”
Every nerve in Shirone's body felt like it was on fire. Capillaries in his eyes burst, and tears of blood streamed down his face.
Yet, he was able to remain conscious thanks to the power of Geumgangtae.
Shirone realized it. What he possessed, and what he could do with it.
He expanded his mind to the brink of Geumgangtae's resilience. In truth, it didn't matter if it tore apart. If he could wield this much power, he was willing to bet his life and play.
“Sir, we have to finish him now.”
Ekkasi said, looking at the Photon Cannon that seemed to compress an immense amount of kinetic energy. Bosun certainly had no objections.
Using Elemental Combination to make the plants ravenous, numerous carnivorous species emerged from between the branches and bared their fangs at Shirone.
“Shirone!”
The doors to the Grand Hall burst open, and Amy and Reina entered.
They saw Shirone trapped in the dense forest. He was in worse shape than when they saw him in the food pantry.
His nervous system looked ready to burst through his skin. It meant an amount of information too great for a human to bear was flooding his brain.
In this state, even if Shirone's original personality returned, it was doubtful he could ever live a normal life again.
“Krrrrgh!”
Shirone focused all the mental energy drawn from the Immortal Function solely on the God Particle.
As the light's mass increased, the Photon Cannon began to blur. Its immense mass was generating gravity, pulling in the photons.
“Shirone! No!”
Feeling a photon compression incomparable to Shining Impact, Amy felt a terrible chill. She could almost hear an auditory hallucination of Shirone's mind being torn to shreds.
The human mind is fluid, but extremely vulnerable to sudden shocks. If he pushed past his limits, regardless of his own will, he might never return to his senses.
Countless carnivorous species slithered down like snakes, opening their jaws toward Shirone's flesh. At that same moment, the light of the Photon Cannon vanished.
What appeared with a pop was a black sphere the size of a human head. Its mass had been compressed to such an extreme that light could not escape and was instead sucked in.
It was the symmetrical counterpart to the Photon Cannon, the Dark Sphere.
Kieeeek!
The small-scale gravitational field created by the Dark Sphere had a diameter of one meter. Trapped in that field, the stems of the carnivorous plants snapped and were instantly sucked into the sphere, like drawing a drop of water through a straw.
Next, the vines holding Shirone's limbs began to bend with a creaking sound.
The vines struggled to hold on before snapping with a crack and being pulled into the Dark Sphere. Then, the entire plant colony connected to the vines was ripped from the walls, swirling like a vortex.
Crunch! Crack!
Fibers broke, burst, and compressed in sequence, before finally being plunged into the darkness of the sphere.
Bosun watched, dumbfounded, as his specialty, 'A Handful of Seeds,' was completely dismantled.
The only force that can trap light is gravity. And it required an immense concentration of it.
‘Scale Magic...’
Shirone was an Unlocker, but not a Scale Mage. Yet, by extremely amplifying gravity, he had caused a spatial change identical to what a Scale Mage could do.
Perhaps all Unockers were Scale Mages, Bosun thought.
When the Dark Sphere vanished, the forest that had taken root in the northern part of the Grand Hall was completely gone. Only some pathetic moss remained in the corners of the ceiling, and a few surviving flowers dripped acidic slime before falling to the floor.
Bosun moved his stiff neck to look at Shirone. Even while crying tears of blood, Shirone was smiling.
“How was it, my Scale Magic? Pretty easy, right?”
As the words left his mouth, a gush of blood poured from Shirone's lips. Amy screamed.
Yet Shirone continued to laugh like a madman.
*It's fine. I can still think, at least. As long as I can fight, that's all that matters. My insides are still burning.*
Bosun's fingertips trembled, unable to contain his crushed pride. Even for an Unlocker, wasn't this too much?
It was a gravity-specialized spell, so he likely couldn't fire it. But in terms of defense, it was a spell without equal.
“I will handle him.”
Ekkasi stepped forward with a cold expression.
There are two main ways to distinguish oneself in combat magic. Either you invent an ingenious spell that shocks the world, or you become truly exceptional at fighting.
Ekkasi belonged to the latter category. Though small in stature, his combat sense made him one of the most renowned technicians in the kingdom.