The Intermediate magic spell, Hand of Flames, is more powerful than the Fire Wall Spell.
The nearby flames burning brightly intensified the Fire Elemental energy particles released by Sain's Hand of Flames, making it appear larger than usual.
The moment the huge Hand of Flames appeared, the Azure Beak Feather King's charge towards Sain came to an abrupt halt.
Although low-level monsters are easily angered and have low intelligence, it does not mean they seek death.
The desire for life and fear of death caused the running Azure Beak Feather King to want to turn and flee.
But at this point, it was too late for it to run!
In an instant, the giant Hand of Flames caught up with the Azure Beak Feather King, and with a gentle squeeze, burned it to death along with several adult Azure Beak Feathers nearby, turning them into charred remains.
The death of the Azure Beak Feather King and the rising heat from the flames finally caused the remaining Azure Beak Feathers to lose their will to fight.
Under the threat of the surrounding flames, these Azure Beak Feathers scattered and fled, even abandoning their young and precious Azure Beak Feather eggs.
The fire turned Ashen Valley into daylight.
...
As the flames gradually dissipated and the heat was neutralized in the usual cold and dark underground world, Sain was finally able to count his spoils.
Twenty-one charred adult Azure Beak Feathers and an Azure Beak Feather King were his biggest gains from this trip.
He removed the precious bird claws and mandibles from these Azure Beak Feathers, half of which had to be handed over as proof of completing the mission.
The other half of the claws and mandibles, Sain could choose to sell to Bosch or keep them for himself.
After studying Alchemy with his mentor Mosido for some time, Sain, who had been watching his mentor and senior brother at the laboratory bench, was beginning to feel the itch to experiment himself.
The materials are too precious to be entrusted to him.
Obviously, these Azure Beak Feathers, which possess weak elemental power in their claws and beaks, are perfect for him to practice with.
Apart from the 22 Azure Beak Feathers mentioned earlier, Sain also acquired seven eggs slightly larger than fists during this trip.
Just a rough estimate, Sain's gains this time exceeded two hundred Black Gold.
Since he had no significant expenses, it was basically a profit, and Sain's mood improved a lot as a result.
The only downside was that Sain didn't have enough space to pack all the loot, so he had to choose the most valuable parts.
The Azure Beak Feathers, claws, beaks, and eggs made Sain's backpack full, and he even tied the leg of an Azure Beak Feather King around his waist.
He planned to take this leg back to Lena to cook.
As a black magic apprentice, Sain's appearance was not very impressive after dealing with the spoils.
Although he looked more like a hunter than a magician, Sain didn't care about his image change and walked towards the outside of Ashen Valley.
When he reached the valley's exit, several underground humans appeared in front of Sain one after another.
To Sain's surprise and speechlessness, these humans were actually propping up a severely injured adult Azure Beak Feather, obviously waiting for his arrival.
The value of an Enchanted Creature could not attract Sain at all, after all, he was not just a beginner apprentice.
In the excited expression of these underground humans, Sain said, "You can take this Azure Beak Feather and the remaining residue and immature Azure Beak Feather bodies inside Ashen Valley."
"These things should be enough to compensate for the loss of your moss field that was burned on a large scale."
Sain's words made these underground humans excited and kneel down to him.
Not all black magic apprentices were as easy to talk to as Sain.
Although the moss field's burning was a great loss for these underground humans, it was still better than being completely occupied by the Azure Beak Feather group.
As for the dozens of Azure Beak Feather corpses, Sain didn't think much of them, but they were valuable treasures for these underground humans.
Meat was always a luxury item among ordinary humans in Mosobla City, let alone Enchanted Creatures and low-level monsters' flesh and blood.
Sain speculated that these humans probably couldn't bear to eat Azure Beak Feather meat, or only eat a little, so they choose to sell the heads.
In the underground world, there was no creature that lived an easy life; everyone was struggling to survive.
As Sain watched the underground humans kneel and cry with sincere gratitude, his cold heart, nurtured by the oppressive atmosphere of the Dark Magic Academy, was also moved.
...
After leaving Ashen Valley, Sain headed straight back to Mosobla City.
Before leaving, he instructed the underground humans to quickly dispose of the remains of the Azure Beak Feather flock.
Otherwise, if the smell of blood and flesh spread, Sain might have to come back here to complete another academy mission.
Carrying a large amount of loot did not slow Sain down much.
With his Constitution ranking top among Intermediate-level magic apprentices, and the loot not being particularly heavy, it just took up some space.
Therefore, in the darkness, Sain was like a rapidly moving giant black shadow.
The distance from Ashen Valley to Mosobla City was not far, and as Sain had predicted before setting out, this mission would be completed within five days.
No, to be precise, four days were enough for him to complete the mission and return to the academy.
This was a relatively "safe" route.
But perhaps due to the impact of the Ashen Valley fire or Sain's bad luck this time, he encountered an unexpected situation on his way back.
In the darkness, a dazzling light flashed in front of Sain's eyes.
His life suddenly faced a crisis, and the hairs on his body couldn't help but stand up.
The neck under his magic robe even felt a chill.
Fortunately, Sain reacted quickly and rolled to the side in time, otherwise his neck could have been sliced off directly.
Sain felt a slight numbness in his neck, making his body stiff as he fell to the ground.
Almost instinctively, he raised his arm hidden under his black cloak.
With the faint, broadened vision provided by his pale mask in the darkness, Sain suddenly shot his Acidic Wand of Strength.
The attacker had been lying in ambush for quite some time, intending to strike with a single deadly blow.
However, that attack had already drained too much of its strength, and it had not expected Sain to dodge in time and still have the strength to counterattack.
The Advanced magic Corrosive Acid, which was inherent in the Acidic Wand of Strength, made a sound similar to breaking through the air in the darkness.
A muffled groan followed, and Sain successfully hit the attacker.
The power of the Acidic Wand of Strength had been demonstrated before.
The attacker was obviously not able to withstand the Advanced magic with brute force.
After taking a few difficult steps, it finally collapsed with a loud bang.
It was only at this moment that Sain suppressed the increasingly apparent numbness in his body and walked slowly towards the attacker.
In the darkness, he gradually saw a dwarf, only 1.2 meters tall, wearing black moss skin clothes.
The two large, pupil-less eyes, which were entirely black, indicated that the opponent was non-human.
In the attacker's hand was a short knife with a pale blue and eerie liquid mixture of juice and blood, which was undoubtedly the weapon that wounded Sain.