‘This… What the fresh hell is this?’

Kino was left speechless as a mute spectator. Just when she had decided to intervene, Eren had made a comeback. And how?

She watched him master so many facets of the elements that she felt it was unreal. The more she watched him perform and alter spell after spell, the more her hypothesis proved correct.

‘That soul mark… it interfered with Eren’s state of epiphany and allowed him to reap maximum benefits. Maybe it added some of its own understanding to the mix to give him this boost. Otherwise, a mere Meta ranker shouldn’t progress so much in the way of the elements.’

Kino concluded. She refused to believe that the state of epiphany alone was able to give Eren this much advantage in his battle all of a sudden.

Kino decided she would not interfere in Eren’s battle just to ask him about this. She concluded that the guy would be as clueless as her if not more. Moreover, she refused to conduct any further inspection of that vile soul mark.

Kirin had also figured out that Eren’s inexhaustible mana wasn’t due to any artifact like she thought it was. No artifact would allow him to pull off something like what she was seeing in front of her eyes.

There was a deeper secret hiding behind Eren’s existence. And she was not qualified to know about it.

***

Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.

A series of blasts occurred on the battlefield as Eren let his summoned creatures run wild. The altered firebirds targeted the plant monsters like vengeful demons. Some of the firebirds used Igni Shards on their opponents before detonating them. Others used Igni Breaths and Igni Bolt Blasts before committing seppuku.

The aerial attack was one thing. The plant monsters weren’t safe from the lightning hounds either. They attacked with Blitz Steps and Blitz Storm. Others used their front or hind legs as Solid Sparks before detonating them inside the monsters’ bodies.

A cloud of lightning and flames spread across the battlefield and consumed everything within its grasp. Eren watched the ground beneath his feet get destroyed by his chain spells as he looked down. He remained airborne by detonating more firebirds beneath his feet, giving him an unsteady foothold in the air.

Eren didn’t stop there. He spread his hands before combining the effects of his spells with his elemental fusion. As the fire and lightning element mana fused, a distinct mana pulse spread in the surrounding area.

Elemental fusion between lightning and fire took place.

The blue lightning streaks and orange flames that wreaked havoc in the surrounding area mostly disappeared. In their place, a different kind of flame appeared. A flame that was a fusion of two elements.

It had the properties of lightning and fire. It changed its color between blue, yellow, orange, and red. There were times when it would turn white and cinder everything in its wake instantly.

Electro Flame.

That’s what Eren named his elemental fusion between the two elements. He was very satisfied with his results for now. But he knew that he had a lot of room for improvement.

The successful casting of elemental fusion had opened up new possibilities for the battlemage. He thought that the topic was so deep that it could be a separate field to pursue in one’s career.

Of course, he also understood his limitations in using elemental fusion. He had tried to use it when summoning creatures. And he had tried to cast it with his normal spells. But due to lack of experience or some other factor, he was unable to pull it off in those cases.

It was only after the spells were detonated that Eren was able to manifest elemental fusion from the residual mana. A small success was still a success.

Thanks to his extensive readings and books borrowed from Malcolm, Eren had many theories and experiments regarding various facets of wielding the elements. But he could have never thought that he would be able to wield his elements this way in the Meta rank.

Eren let go of his stray thoughts and focused on his tasks at hand. He directed his Electro Flames towards the escaping monsters and burned them in its flames as well.

The plant monsters couldn’t survive the onslaught of various spells Eren had unleashed on them. They were already battered by his summoning creatures and their huge power-ups. But the elemental fusion between

Screeeeee!

An indescribable sound was heard as Eren destroyed everything below him. He saw that the roots that were deep within the ground had also come in contact with the Electro Flame, which started destroying them.

The flame first created small explosions on the roots as if lightning had struck them. The flames would then burn like the most intense fire that had been caused by a flame catalyst, burning the roots to cinders.

“Found you.”

Eren commented as he followed the roots that caught the fire. The fire from the elemental fusion was difficult to put out. Although the roots produced a water element defense layer, it wasn’t enough to douse the fusion flame. As a result, the roots came out of the ground and over the surface.

In an attempt to extinguish the fire manually, the roots began to stomp on the ground like a snake that had been injured by something horrible. Something or someone seemed to be in pain because of them.

The roots started developing seeds at the end of every branch they had. A fetus of plant monsters could be seen inside each oval and encapsulated semi-transparent seed. The monsters inside the seeds would have become a nuisance to Eren once again. But they were killed in their vulnerable states as his Electro Flames managed to get inside the seeds and burn the monsters inside.

Eren followed the 40-meter-long roots and found them to be coming from the same direction. As Alfem’s detonation was applied optimally beneath his feet, he remained airborne. And he soon found the culprit behind the spawning of plant monsters.

It was a flower.

A giant flower at that. This unique plant monster was the main boss behind the minions it had birthed. And Eren would have had a hard time locating him if he didn’t manage to burn its roots.

The Five-Petal Monster Flower.

This was what Gilaahan’s bestiary had named this monster. Like the name had suggested, this monster flower had five petals. Each petal was 20 meters long and about 7 meters wide. These petals were dark pink, making the flower look innocent and cute.

However, the flower had a piranha-like face and teeth at its center. It was obvious that it was a carnivorous plant. It had a frog-like tongue that extended up to 10 meters, allowing it to lift its prey before eating them using its pointy and sharp teeth.

The monster flower also had two thick and long vines serving as its limbs. They extended up to 30 meters, enabling them to grab prey that was in their vicinity and unaware of its existence.

It is also because of this monster flower that Eren was unable to use mana sense in the surrounding area. This monster had the reputation of interfering with mana sense using the underground network of its roots. This way, it stayed hidden and safe.

This plant monster was more predatory and territorial than most normal monsters. It would deploy its minions to get rid of anyone that tried to disturb its surroundings.

The monster was also too lazy to do all its work by itself. Vargas would be used to hunt down intruders. The minions would then bring the intruders to the monster flowers, allowing them to devour their prey from its position.

As long as the flower monster was alive, the minions would continue to be created. For the battlemage to eliminate the minions, he had to get rid of the main cause.

Eren couldn’t maintain his flight for longer. He got down on the ground at a safe distance away from the flower monster. It had tried to grab him using its two thick vines. But Eren managed to evade it using his exceptional aerial maneuverability.

Raise. Aim. Shoot.

Eren took his crossbows out again before unleashing Blitz Bolt and Igni Bolt Blasts on them. He loaded the bay with his spell-manifested arrows before letting them fly toward the monster’s face. A bit of elemental fusion was added to the spells as an overlapping layer, giving them an extra edge.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The boss monster used its vine and even its tongue to squat away the arrows. But Eren’s persistent attacks finally paid off and some managed to breach its defenses. The flower monster’s face was caught on Electro Flame as soon as a few of the arrows hit their intended mark. They were detonated by Eren as soon as they made contact.

Screee!

The monster never managed to get its hands on Eren after the latter had discovered the extent of its capabilities. The pain-in-the-ass flower monster that was usually handled by a group of Veteran rankers under the lead of an Awakened was single-handedly taken care of by Eren.

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