Badge in Azure

“Master, what is a taklama fish beast?” As Nailisi observed the bodies of the fish beast in her hands, she did not feel that they were very dangerous. These creatures could grow horrifyingly fast though.

“It is the common name for several types of fish species. Lex, you tell them, I have very little knowledge on this aspect.”

“Give me one.” Lex took one of the dead taklama fish beasts from Nailisi, and inspected it carefully. After a while, she then said, “Taklama fish beast refers to more than forty species. Their survivability is extremely high. Usually, once a fish leaves the water, it will die very quickly. A taklama fish beast can live for several more days and it can also fly…”

“This one is a coldteeth fish beast, and its inborn spell is chewing. If one got bitten by it, even magic armor will not last long. These creatures come in hordes, they are much scarier than the piranhas.”

Nailisi did not rebut. These coldteeth fish beasts were killed by the demons and Nailisi with a single pinch, but they were just newly hatched creatures. They already had the ability to fly though. It had to be noted that they had broken free from hard ice. If a low grade magic beast was frozen by the two spells cast by Saleen and Lex, it might have possibly died on the spot already.

“The crux lies in the fish eggs. Any fish will produce thousands of eggs every single time, some will hatch tens of thousands of eggs. The eggs from the taklama fish beast can also be preserved on land, turning into microscopic dust particles. The moment water is present, they will hatch immediately. This is a species specific to the desert only. There isn’t much edible prey in the desert, so such creatures rarely develop into huge monsters. Once food is exhausted and water is absent, a mature fish beast will choose to die off immediately after producing eggs.”

“If there is a torrential rain…” Saleen did not finish his sentence. Everyone in the chariot, humans and demons alike, felt chills go down their spines. There was only a handful of black sand particles in the beaker, yet there were already dozens of fish beast eggs inside. If there was a heavy downpour, then billions of fish beasts could be hatched.

“Whether or not they hatch depends on the amount of food available. If there is no food, the eggs might continue their deep slumber even in rain.”

Lex’s words did not really relieve everyone’s worries. To the fish beasts, they were food. If the people from Holy See pursued them, then there would be more food.

“Master, let’s return to Metatrin City, this desert is too abominable.” Nailisi tossed aside the taklama fish beast in her hands, as she spoke in disgust. She was not really fearful of this creature, but to a mage, the taklama fish beast was horrifying. They existed in large numbers, while a mage had limited magic chords. A puppet might not possess adequate lethality against this thing, but what about the normal soldiers? The normal soldiers would be a pile of moving food for the fish beasts.

“What weakness does this thing have?” Sika was actually the calmest person. The Caucasus people believed that every creature had a weakness, and all creatures could be tamed.

“Their weakness is having a weak mental strength, the Mental Assault spell will be able to destroy them. Only a young person can use this method though.” Lex’s answer still could not allay everyone’s fears. A mage’s mental assault would have a more pronounced effect by directly using it, but the number of uses was pathetic. By using this spell repeatedly, the mages themselves would crumble.

“The taklama fish beast contain more than forty species, and every species has different attributes. Other than a weak mental strength, another common weakness is that they cannot fly that fast.”

Lex adding this piece of information was akin to not saying anything at all. No matter how slow they flew, they would still be faster than a human running on two legs. Of course, the demons were an exception. If a mage were to fly in an environment like the Purgatory Desert, their speed would be greatly reduced. A lot of magic chords would be consumed to handle the unstable elemental environment. Unlike creatures who used their wings, a mage would only fly as fast as a normal warrior once their magic chords got fully depleted.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t rain, we will try our best to avoid places which may become sources of water.” After Lex said her piece, even she herself felt weird. In a desert, water was most precious. If there was a downpour, it could even save many lives. She now wished that there would be no rain, she did not even want to run into a waterbody.

Saleen’s true worry was not these fish beasts. The taklama fish beast was not a powerful creature. Before adulthood, they only had strong resistance towards water magic. If fire magic was applied, they would also be wiped out. The worst thing was that the fish beasts would appear in colossal numbers after hatching, which meant that they would be a source of food for other magic beasts out there.

Before maturity, most taklama fish beasts would be prey for other magic beasts, many magic beasts had already undergone evolution to possess skills meant for handling a fish beast. This was nature’s cycle. Before the powerful fish beasts could develop, they would provide an opportunity for survival for other magic beasts.

“Aye, let’s deal with these fish beasts first. Saleen, we will rest for half a day, and concentrate on producing the Fire Ring of Resistance magic scrolls.” Desperate, Lex summoned her own mages, taking out a pile of blank scrolls and handing it to them.

The Fire Ring of Resistance was a level-3 defense spell, its attributes could curb the taklama fish beasts. Lex had no choice but to waste her scrolls for this spell because her swordmasters required protection. Once the taklama fish beasts appeared in hordes, those high grade swordmasters would need magic for protection. The few spells on their armor would not be able to defend against the devastation caused by the coldteeth fish beasts. On the other hand, the two Black Metal Grand Swordmasters would do fine. The moment they donned the Spirit Snake Armor, they would be able use their Sword Aura at will.

The existence of magic armor was for humans to deal with their own kind. Against magic beasts, varying techniques would have to be employed.

Saleen rummaged through his Demonic Ring for the stored scrolls, then said to Lex, “I have two Mental Storm Scrolls, both are level-6, what about you?”

“I have four,” Lex answered. The Mental Storm could handle the taklama fish beasts perfectly, however, very few people produced this scroll. Saleen had hundreds of scrolls as backup, but he only possessed two of such scrolls. Lex owned more scrolls than Saleen, but she only had four of these scrolls.

Even though the Mental Storm was an area attack, it was not an area spell. The area of attack was only a few hundred square yards. A mage would use such a spell when they were surrounded by swordsmen. Since the mental strength of a swordsman was inferior to that of a mage, a mage only needed to cast the Mental Storm once to turn the situation around.

A few hundred square yards might sound large, but in actual fact, the battle radius was only dozens of yards. This distance was most suitable for attacking swordsmen below the grade of a grand swordmaster.

After Lex replied, she ignored Saleen, she began producing the Fire Ring of Resistance scrolls.

Fortunately, all the mages around Lex were grand mages, so the probability of success for producing a low level scroll would not be lower than eighty percent. Lex’s forte was fire magic, so she could deal with the young fish beasts without breaking a sweat. They were afraid of a heavy downpour because it would cause countless of fish beasts to emerge.

Saleen did not participate in the production of scrolls as he never learned the Fire Ring of Resistance. It also was not necessary for him to waste effort on deducing how to convert the water element into this fire spell. He did not skive either though. He instead went to collect more black sand particles and placed them in a crystal bottle. He then injected the Restorative Water before sealing the bottle.

The power of the Restorative Water helped the fish eggs hatch quickly. Two fish beasts crawled out from the black sand and began swimming about in the Restorative Water. As the crystal bottle was hundred times sturdier than a glass beaker and did not have any elemental attributes, it managed to trap these two young fish beasts.

Saleen decided to take out a flame stove. After adding magic powder in and mixing thoroughly, he placed the crystal bottle on top of the stove and heated it. Saleen was already very familiar with this technique back when he was learning how to create magic medicine, the temperature of the flames was controlled nicely. Not long after, the temperature in the crystal bottle began to rise, but the two fish beasts were not anxious at all. Following the increase in temperature, Saleen tracked the temperature. The water in the bottle was already on the verge of boiling, yet the fish beasts remained indifferent.

In a sealed space, water pressure would increase after water was heated, so its temperature could also exceed the usual boiling point. Many magic medicines were created under huge pressure. This time around, Saleen was planning to find out the tolerance level of the fish beasts.

When the temperature slowly rose to two-hundred and twenty degrees, the two fish beasts started crashing against the walls of the bottle, but Saleen simply ignored them. He just kept adding different burning agents into the flame stove to increase the temperature. Eventually, the temperature in the crystal bottle reached a horrifying eight-hundred degrees, which was as hot as some low level magic flames.

The two fish beasts simply flipped over, and floated upwards at that point.

Saleen recorded his findings in his own magic notebook, then told Lex, “The Fire Washing Spell will be able to deal with the newly hatched fish beasts.”

The four demons gazed at Saleen in awe. The research ability of a human was not existent in a demon. More accurately, demons were too lazy to conduct research. Now that Saleen had discovered the tolerance of a young fish beast, the mages could deal with them more easily.

The Fire Washing Spell was a level-0 spell. Its original function was to remove toxins, and at the same time, to dry clothes and clean one’s body. This was a life assistance type spell. The Fire Washing Spell was rarely used in battle because the flames produced were not hot enough, and its effective duration was short. To the fish beasts, who naturally detested fire, the Fire Washing Spell was adequate to kill.

How many level-0 Fire Washing Spells could a grand mage cast? Saleen never calculated before. If only the Fire Washing Spell was used, Saleen would be like a grand swordmaster, he would be able to battle for a long time without needing to worry about his magic chords being depleted.

Lex immediately instructed her subordinates to do an experiment. Under the effect of the Fire Washing Spell, the newly hatched fish beasts died. The Fire Ring of Resistance would thus kill the fish beasts instantly. In comparison, the lethality of water magic against the fish beasts was pathetic. A mage would need to cast level-4 and above Water spells to kill those weak things.

Lex’s swordmasters also joined in the experiment. In a sealed barrack, the fish beasts were hatched, then the swordmasters used their various weapons and skills against them. Eventually, the Qin Eight-sided Sword was chosen.

In order to kill a fish beast, it was insufficient to only rely on the sharpness of a weapon. The best solution would be to use the Sword Aura to create vibrations. The brain of a fish beast was extremely frail, while its exterior shell was very tough. Even though the swordmasters could not detach the Sword Aura from their bodies, they could infuse it within their weapons easily. The Qin Eight-sided Sword was the easiest to be infused with the Sword Aura, so it was much more useful against the fish beasts compared to Wild Bear’s poleaxe.