Chapter 2743 Ghost Shadow <TOC> Chapter 2745 Shadow Concealment
Translator: SumTLMan
As Vai worked to unravel the Mist Spells, the wizards at the edge of the arena platform were also watching the fog billowing over the arena’s sky.
「A very interesting Mist Spell.」Angel said after observing for a moment.
「Another one neglecting his proper path… How does their Traveling Merchants Organization raise apprentices so that every last one turns out like this?」Daus shook his head with a sigh.
Listening to Angel and Daus’ remarks, Kael stood to the side completely at a loss.
Kael also knew that Mist Spells is merely a blanket term, the result still depends on the apprentice’s own execution. Yet at such a distance, and with mental power unable to probe within, Kael had no idea how the Mist Spell was being cast inside; he could only judge from Angel and Daus’ words.
But the more he listened, the more confused he became.
「Is there anything unusual about this Mist Spell?」Kael couldn’t help asking.
「Not unusual, just very… distinctive.」Daus said:「Just like that Shepherd across the way: very distinctive, and very off track from his proper discipline.」
Daus’ explanation still left Kael puzzled. How did this get tied back to a shepherd again?
At this moment Angel said:「This Mist Spell actually has little to do with mist. What composes the ‘mist’ is a special kind of mycelium.」
「Mycelium?」Kael froze, then cried out in surprise:「Floating Mycobarrier?」
Daus said irritably:「Do you think an apprentice could whip up a Floating Mycobarrier in such a short time? Besides, a Floating Mycobarrier requires extremely harsh conditions; none of the indicators here even come close, all right?」
The Floating Mycobarrier was once the most widely spread mycobarrier calamity in the Southern Region’s Wizarding World, claiming the greatest number of extraordinary lives. A so-called mycobarrier is a dense interweaving of mycelial threads forming an environment like a fog wall; step into it unawares and the hyphae invade your body, turning you into a nursery for fungal propagation.
Even a formal wizard can die if careless; for apprentices, the Floating Mycobarrier is truly terrifying.
Why say it was「once」the most widespread and most lethal mycobarrier calamity? Because, after the Dome appeared in the Eternal Night Kingdom, the Dome Disaster replaced the Floating Mycobarrier as the greatest mycobarrier calamity.
There is currently a view in the Southern Region’s Wizarding World that the particles of light leaking from within the Dome, particles even formal wizards can control, are a special fungus cultivated artificially. Hence, it too is classified among mycobarrier disasters.
Of course, this is not the mainstream view, but tabloids have widely propagated such opinions; in the end, public discourse hijacked the narrative so that the Eternal Night Kingdom’s Dome Disaster supplanted the Floating Mycobarrier and became the most fearsome mycobarrier calamity at present.
Angel said:「Though it isn’t a Floating Mycobarrier, it barely qualifies as a mycobarrier, I’d say?」
Once a Floating Mycobarrier spreads, it can swallow small nations. By contrast, the mycobarrier on the arena looks cloudlike and foglike yet can only shroud roughly a hundred meters; it simply cannot be compared with a Floating Mycobarrier.
Still, it is a mycobarrier after all, and bears its traits: invasion, spread, and split-and-proliferation.
Invasion and spread are literal and need no explanation. Split-and-proliferation, though, is distinctive: like an earthworm, most earthworms, cut in the middle, become two individuals rather than dying outright. Likewise, once the mycelia within a mycobarrier are severed, they do not lose vitality; on the contrary, the splits multiply ever more.
There is surely an upper limit to such proliferation, but once the numbers reach a certain level, even with a cap you still cannot eradicate a mycobarrier merely by cutting its hyphae.
The mycobarrier on the arena is not abundant, and Vai does have a way to cut it down to the limit. However, if Vai alone had to do it, it could take a very long time.
Nor could Vai possibly spend so much time cutting hyphae, besides, there was a wraith nearby eyeing him like a tiger watching its prey.
「Aside from severing the hyphae, is there any other way to crack this Mist Spell?」Kael asked. If Vai didn’t quickly dismantle the Mist Spell, it would be hard to flush out Ghost Shadow; and without finding Ghost Shadow, Vai would have virtually no way to win.
「That depends on the attributes of Ghost Shadow’s mycelia, what they fear, what substances restrain them.」Daus said:「You’d only need a simple lab test to find out. But do you think Vai has time to run experiments now?」
Kael said:「Th-then what should we do now?」
「Since Vai can’t run experiments at this moment, he can only try his luck——start with the most conventional methods for breaking mycobarriers and test them one by one. If none work in the end, he’ll just have to grit his teeth and duel Ghost Shadow under the mist.」
Hearing Daus’ explanation, Kael let out a sigh and thought to himself: sure enough, he should have gone on first.
Ghost Shadow’s abilities are simply tailor-made to counter Vai.
But it was too late to say that now, Vai was already onstage. All they could do was pray that Vai would quickly find a way to break the mycobarrier.
……
Vai, upon whom everyone had placed high hopes, was at this moment pale and shaken.
Though it had been a long time since Vai last fought, his combat theory remained highly advanced. After all, he seldom left Mesomiya; apart from holing up in his own divination shop, his greatest hobby was watching matches at Mesomiya’s Sky Tower. Having observed duels for decades, even if he didn’t step into the arena, his combat theory had become extremely rich, worthy of the title king of talkers.
Precisely because his theory was strong, the moment he saw Ghost Shadow across from him unleash the Mist Spell, he immediately began following the theoretical flow for fighting the shadow school, working to identify the opponent’s Mist Spell.
As long as he broke the Mist Spell, wouldn’t defeating Ghost Shadow be as easy as reaching into a sack?
However, the instant Vai’s mental power extended into the mist, he was terrified.
This was no mist at all, the inside was packed full of mycelial threads; this was a mycobarrier through and through!
Moreover, this mycobarrier seemed reactive to mental power. As soon as Vai’s mental power entered the mist, he felt a wave of numbness transmitted back from his mental tendril to his mental center.
In just a split second, Vai suffered an involuntary lapse.
First, the appearance of a mycobarrier had scared him. Second, Vai knew all too well what could happen if you suddenly lapse out in a fight, it can hand the enemy a one-hit kill opportunity. Together, these left Vai’s face turning pale.
Reality played out just as Vai expected: Ghost Shadow attacked at that very moment.
Even though Vai had already raised a defense, and had even placed energy-triggered earth spikes in the areas where his shadow might extend, he still fell into the trap.
Because Ghost Shadow did not follow the conventional shadow ambush pattern; instead, he took on a corporeal form and dove from mid-air to strike Vai.
The instant Vai felt wind over his head, he realized he’d been had and tried to expand his defenses overhead, but it was too late.
For the vast majority of apprentices, if the head, unprotected, takes an energy impact, you’re basically crippled if not dead. And in his lapse, Vai panicked, thinking only that the opponent would attack his shadow from below, forgetting that the opponent could revert from an energy state to a fleshly body and attack his head directly.
Had Vai eaten that blow, never mind winning or losing, he might not have been able to walk off the arena on his own two feet.
At this hair-trigger moment, Vai knew he could not hold back; without hesitation he activated the Noah family’s bloodline.
Almost instantly, Vai’s entire head turned to stone.
The inheritance of earth power, this is the extraordinary secret latent within the Noah bloodline.
However, the reaction window was ultimately too short. Aside from petrifying his head, Vai overlooked many details, for example, petrifying too fast without establishing a fixed support point.
Thus, beyond protecting his head, he took the rest of the impact head-on.
The tremendous force blasted Vai away; he bounced across the ground several times, then slammed down hard from mid-air.
Ignoring his injuries, the instant he landed Vai immediately wielded earth power to form a fully sealed stone prison that wrapped him up.
Stone Prison Spell is a control-type spell that can bind an opponent’s movements. Used on himself in this moment, it became a powerful defensive spell.
With this layer of stone prison for protection, Vai could finally catch his breath and adjust his state.
Vai quickly sensed his injuries: aside from some inevitable external wounds, he was basically fine. However, a large dent marred his head, evidence that the opponent’s strength was formidable, unlike those frail shadow apprentices in Sky Tower who cultivate only shadow and neglect the body.
Though his head was dented, it was fully petrified now, so it hardly mattered.
Vai gave his ear a light pat, and the caved-in spot restored itself.
With his head’s collapse repaired, Vai unhesitatingly drew three vials from the brooch at his chest.
The three vials were of different designs: one conical, one with chains, and one wrapped in vinewood.
The potion in the conical vial was the Glistening Velvet Potion, a low-grade potion that can rapidly heal external injuries.
The chained vial held Pheromone Variance Water, which can swiftly block extraordinary correlations tied to pheromones while altering or concealing pheromones.
And the vine-wrapped vial was the Carissa Antidote.
All three are basic potions, yet apart from the Glistening Velvet Potion, common to the masses, the Pheromone Variance Water and Carissa Antidote are rare and precious on the market, and costly.
Moreover, of the three, only the Glistening Velvet Potion’s effect would be obvious; the other two, for Vai at this moment, were more about precaution.
Pheromone Variance Water was for fear the opponent might exploit pheromones, after all, he’d suffered external wounds and surely bled. If someone used a curse-like method keyed to the pheromones lingering in his blood, it would be a disastrous loss.
The Carissa Antidote functions to prevent and dissolve toxins, and even offers some resistance to energy toxins. Vai took it to prepare for a rainy day, worried the opponent’s strike carried「poison」.
After all, he reasoned, when you obviously could attack with shadow yet instead attacked in the flesh, there must be some dirty tricks, likely poison, so better to down the antidote first.
This, roughly, is what deep pockets look like on display.
Although apprentices couldn’t see through the stone prison to note Vai’s actions, every formal wizard present took it all in.
At this, Daus cursed his wastefulness over the mental connection.
The Pheromone Variance Water and Carissa Antidote were a total waste.
Kael agreed with Daus, but he didn’t dare say it aloud.
Angel, on the other hand, was muttering under his breath; listening closely, they realized he was reciting things like: Maka Fragrance, Light Blue Potion, Bruno Amplification Potion, Black Enchantment Decoction, Sunlight Paean……
These were all pharmacological names, potions one could take in advance to preempt various cantrips or to build up amplification.
At first Daus didn’t understand what Angel meant, not until Angel said:「If he’s going to drink, he should drink these too, that would be even safer.」
Daus:「……」
Angel said:「Most of these won’t do much, but if you’re going to use potions to forestall an opponent’s cantrips, you ought to be thorough.」
In that instant, Daus once again felt the world’s unevenness, the gulf between rich and poor.
Perhaps Daus and Kael’s gazes were too「burning」; Angel glanced back at them and said softly:「It’s just a small personal suggestion. You two have more combat experience; you truly don’t need it.」
Angel’s words gently made them feel sorry for themselves.
More combat experience? Don’t need it? No, they needed it; they just couldn’t afford it.
Feeling he had smoothed over the awkwardness with high emotional intelligence and empathy, Angel shifted the topic back to the changes in the duel.
Angel said:「His head can actually be elementally transformed, at the apprentice stage, for Vai to manage that is truly surprising.」
Daus: Do you feel surprised? How come I don’t see even a hint of surprise on your face?
Though he grumbled inwardly, Daus still followed Angel’s lead:「Vai learned petrification very early, it should be related to the Noah bloodline……」
At this point, Daus glanced at the Black Count; seeing no reaction, he continued:「He relied on this very move to beat me when I was young. It’s one of his trump cards. Revealing such a trump so early, things may get tricky from here on.」
Angel agreed with Daus’ assessment.
Earlier, when Ghost Shadow attacked from above, it had clearly held back. Not because he dared not go for the kill, but because he knew that with his ability, even if he struck Vai’s head with full force, the odds were he still couldn’t kill him.
He held back because Ghost Shadow does not prioritize damage; he was, more than anything, conducting an assessment.
Assessing Vai’s capabilities.
Vai’s trump, petrification, was teased out by Ghost Shadow that easily.
You could say, in a single brief clash, the gulf in practical experience between Ghost Shadow and Vai became obvious, and it was considerable.
Even so, Vai was not without chances.
After all, Vai still had another trump: magic crystal-ability.
If Vai’s money spending ability is abundant enough to make up for the practical gap with Ghost Shadow, then the disadvantage might yet be turned into advantage.
Chapter 2743 Ghost Shadow <TOC> Chapter 2745 Shadow Concealment