AZI Volume 6 Chapter 23

Shrouding the eight-meter sword in sword Qi, Long Hua controls the Machina Frame to charge towards Hai Zang.

Spinning the sword wildly, flowers manifest in the air around it, and upon reaching Hai Zang's head, Long Hua has the Machina Frame take hold of the weapon with both hands before cleaving with it!

In the same instance, the black and white flowers bloom—allowing petals of sword Qi to scatter!

*Boom!!!!!* despite having landed the strike, the flower petals only managed to leave a series of scratches on Hai Zang's forehead, while the sword itself has a difficult time cutting into the monster's thick skin.

*Aaaaaaaoooooouuu!!!!!* enduring the pain that is caused by the ever-growing spiked spheres, Hai Zang folds its pectoral fins against the side of its body—prior to diving.

Raising its rear towards the Machina Frame, Hai Zang lunges its tentacles outwards!

And as one of the tentacles approaches the Machina Frame, Long Hua controls it to perform a slash; however—

*Boom!!!* instead of cutting right through the tentacle, the impact of it pushes the Machina Frame backwards, causing Long Hua to click his tongue, and resort to evading the other tentacles.

(Honestly, this thing is a lot tougher than I had expected. Also… Counting the number of spiked spheres on its fins right now, it seems like not every round had managed to embed themselves into its flesh.)

Towards the Tai Xuan Emperor's remark, Long Hua asks—

"Got any ideas you want to share?"

(Hmm.)

Despite wanting Long Hua to die—him dying here would serve as a major inconvenience to her; hence—

(You could have the frame enter overdrive mode. The state lasts for five minutes, and will need to cool itself down for an hour before it can be used again.)

"Can I use the divine weapon to maintain that state for longer? Or skip the cooling process entirely?"

Just as Long Hua had asked these questions, five tentacles approached from the front, to which, the former shouts—

"Tian Cheng, combat body support! Aim for the tentacles!"

"Un."

Directing the nearest combat body group to aim upwards, Tian Cheng has them bombard the incoming tentacles—causing them to lose their momentum, to allow Long Hua an easier time to evade.

And amidst this evasive maneuver, the Tai Xuan Emperor replies—

(Doable, but keep in mind that even restorations have its limits.)

"Meaning?"

Heaving a sigh, the Tai Xuan Emperor says—

(The divine weapon can restore the Spirit Armament's outer shell with ease, but it can't restore its core to perfection. …I won't go too into detail on this matter, but to summarize—all Spirit Armaments have an armament core, and this core is inscribed with magic arrays to control their functions. The armament core for this frame is that blue gemstone; prolonged exposure to heat will cause the arrays drawn on it to deform—making restoration much more difficult to complete. If the deformation is extremely serious, it might not even be reparable. …Before you ask if you can just keep it actively maintained through the divine weapon…- Sorry to disappoint, but no, the heat will build up at a rate that is much faster than the divine weapon is able to keep up with.)

"…"

Being given such a detailed explanation, which is still considered a basic summary, Long Hua blinks his eyes—a bit lost as to where to even begin absorbing this information.

"In any case, if I were to push it, how long can I maintain overdrive for?"

(Ten minutes total, if you want to try your luck, you can go for 15, but… I don't recommend it.)

Evading another tentacle, Long Hua asks—

"How do I have it enter overdrive then?"

(Your doll is taking care of that right now.)

*Pah!!!!!* just as the Tai Xuan Emperor had said this, Hai Zang dives deeper into the seas—vanishing from sight.

And having lost their target, the combat body groups ceased their bombardment.

...…

For a moment, silence looms in the air; however, this silence doesn't last for very long, as a massive shadow appears beneath one of the combat body groups.

Just as this shadow continues to increase in size, Long Hua turns the Machina Frame towards its direction, and—

*Pah!!!!!* emerging out of the waters with a mighty leap, Hai Zang encloses the five combat bodies within its maw, but before it could hope to close its jaws—

"Detonate."

*Boom!!!!!!!* following Tian Cheng's cold mutter, the floats, the combat bodies, and the Spirit Armaments, all of them simultaneously gave off a bright glow—prior to self-destructing!

"…!"

Despite the distance between them and the explosion's epicenter, the shockwave that came about as a result of this blast still manages to reach the Machina Frame's location—shaking the machine greatly.

*Aaaaaaaooooooouuu!!!* caught off guard by this abrupt situation, Hai Zang raises a howl of pain, as scorching flames char the inside of its maw black!

Flailing about in the waters in agony, blood spews from Hai Zang's maw and pectoral fins.

"…"

"…"

Stabilizing their footing by having the floats raise its altitude to avoid the rushing waters, the remaining combat body groups resumed their bombardment on Hai Zang from a distance.

"…"

Looking at the howling beast, Long Hua presses a hand to his chest, prior to staring into Tian Cheng's magenta-colored eyes with a hint of grief.

In response to being stared at, Tian Cheng says—

"Since those units were already beyond saving, I figured that sacrificing them would be the ideal option to take, master."

"That's…"

Logically speaking, Long Hua agrees with Tian Cheng on this matter, but he nevertheless feels heartache at this abrupt loss of resources. At the same time, the former had to ask the Tai Xuan Emperor—

"Do all Spirit Armaments—when detonated, demonstrate this much destructive power?"

(It's mainly a result of the combat bodies being added into the equation.)

"I see."

"Overdrive preparations are complete; shall I initiate it, master?"

Heaving a sigh, Long Hua faces forward, and answers—

"Do it."