The Alchemist's Guide to Flesh and Blood Ascension

"This...this really isn't an illusion," Iseria whispered, glancing around before adding, "The little ethers are always very accurate in this regard."

Yoniv lowered his head and lightly rubbed the grass beneath his feet with his boots, and the damp sensation came the next moment.

In Morse, the long-lost green...

The green shoots spread out, and the air was even filled with the fragrance of soil moistened by rain.

But this smell was quickly masked by an even more pungent odor. The blowing wind carried the acrid smell of metal colliding and sparking, along with the fishy smell of fighting, from upwind, making it so strong that it couldn't be dispelled.

If those few light cavalrymen who had previously passed by were merely probing and could not be considered vanguards...

From the distant hillside, the sharp sound of horns pierced the air once more!

Ten more light cavalrymen clad in gleaming silver armor charged out from the other end, sending chunks of earth flying everywhere as their galloping hooves trampled the ground!

And so Ignavoo saw the armor of those cavalrymen, and the distinctive gilded patterns on their bodies... that were unique to the Church.

This is not the whole picture of the war.

The wind picked up and blew up Yonivore's black robe.

Just as the cavalry leader passed by the two men, he saw the man's face clearly.

It must be said that this face already has the appearance of someone from the church: "fanatic" and ignorant.

The cavalrymen's charge ended at that caravan... They knew they were outmatched, and were exhausted after a long journey.

But the "hope" in their eyes remained undiminished.

They are waiting, waiting for a "reinforcement" that will definitely arrive and turn the tide.

But the reinforcements are unlikely to be Yonivore and Iseria.

The black-robed alchemist frowned slightly, first carefully sensing every magical fluctuation here through the [Root of the Sand Sea] that spread underground.

Indeed, there is an extremely powerful magic here.

"Iseria, come up here," Yunevo turned around, half-squatted down, and continued, "Since the reinforcements that those merchants are hoping for have not arrived yet, we need to go to the center of the battlefield and see if something is holding it back."

Iseria obediently nestled against Yunevo's back, while his legs began to prepare for [Swift Charge]...

A feeling of blockage came from my calves, as if some kind of law was repelling "foreign objects" that did not belong to this space and time.

Iseria didn't say much, but simply hugged Yunevo tighter, and the surrounding ethereal elements quietly gathered around Yunevo's calves, gradually reducing the feeling of obstruction...

The next moment, a beam of light, a mix of blue and green, shot out between the grass and the gravel!

The closer one gets to the center of the battlefield, the more horrific the carnage becomes...

The people besieging that large caravan were not just from the church.

Then there's the so-called "royal" guards of Zehrhalan, with the shield guards in the front row each carrying a tower shield taller than themselves, decorated with special anti-magic patterns that blend royal and holy symbols.

With each step they took, they left an incredibly deep footprint in the soil.

Behind these shield guards was a group of priests dressed in snow-white robes with golden suns embroidered on their collars—like the prototype of the "Radiant Priests".

However, these church members chanted very little holy light magic; they mostly waved their holy staffs and used earth magic to conjure waves of flying sand and stones.

The leading priest shouted, "For the sake of the oasis's purity, banish these blasphemers tainted by the outside world!"

A giant hand made of sand and soil materialized out of thin air; it was the fifth-tier magic—[Sky-Covering Rock Palm]!

Beneath the rocky palm, the caravan members, still stubbornly resisting, appeared utterly insignificant...

The merchants dressed in linen clothes turned the giant crossbows on the ground around and slammed them against the runes on them. In an instant, a huge crossbow bolt condensed from the source of magic pierced through the palm!

The Church and the Royal Family seem to be aiming for attrition, while the actual attack is still far off...

Yunevo and Iseria crouched together behind a boulder, occasionally peeking out to observe the battle.

Now, there's something he needs to verify.

It's the skill effect of that [Unextinguished Firewood Fragment].

Yunefu instinctively placed his palm on the right side of his chest. He didn't rush to replace the thing with his heart—the effect was unknown, and the losses outweighed the gains; even [Super Regeneration] might not be able to save his life.

And an adult's body is not large enough to accommodate extra organs...

So he made a decision.

Just like the omentum that protects the abdominal cavity, Yunevo molded the entire fragment of the Unquenchable Firewood into a similar structure... to protect, or even strengthen, and replace the heart.

The effect is good; it truly deserves to be called…

The second heart.

With the aid of the [Root of the Sand Sea], every grain of sand seems to be a "clone" of Yunevo.

"Then let me see how much this so-called 'deposit' is actually worth..."

【Dust storm】

This visual occlusion skill, which was originally unremarkable and even somewhat useless in the system description, unleashed a power that did not match the description the moment it was activated!

Om-!

The humid air across the entire battlefield suddenly froze.

The fine yellow sand that had been lying quietly in the gaps in the grass, blown in from the edge of the desert, began to roar wildly at this moment.

That's not about grabbing a handful of sand and throwing it in someone's face at all!

The thick, tangible sandstorm relentlessly covered the entire battlefield!

The coughing was even more frequent because the fine sand had entered the respiratory tract!

"Cough! Cough cough!"

Those silver-armored light cavalry who were charging forward were the first to suffer.

Their warhorses were startled when a sudden grit of sand entered their nostrils and eyes, causing them to rear up and shake their heads, throwing their riders to pieces.

"My eyes! My king, I can't see!"

The Guards' shield formation collapsed in an instant, and those heavily armored soldiers were now regretting it... They should have added crystal goggles to the only gap in their helmets for observation!

The unnatural sandstorm poured into the mouths of the priests who were chanting loudly with their mouths wide open, turning the high-level earth spells they hadn't yet uttered into waves of dry heaving.

The caravan side... was not spared either.

Without clear coordinates, the ballistae could only be placed in place and make a sound, and the tightly encircling defensive perimeter... had also developed flaws.

The battlefield was abruptly brought to a standstill by the move brought about by this paltry "deposit"—except for the culprit and his henchmen, everyone here was frantically wiping away tears, wishing they could cough up their lungs!

The black-robed alchemist looked at his left hand, which still retained a slight warmth, and his eyes twitched slightly.

"Sandstorm? Sandstorm?"

This effect... in some ways is even more stunning than [Slam]!

"Yonev, look over there at the center!" Iseria tightened her mask and reminded her.

Within the hazy sandstorm, a magical fluctuation caused the [Fragment of Unquenchable Firewood] to pulsate slowly...