Korona opened a small hole on the Ice Wall that she erected earlier. The rest saw this and immediately responded. Aeon took Samuel then all of them rushed towards the hole and jumped inside. After crossing the makeshift barrier, none of them stopped running.
Shatter!
The Ice Wall broke scattering pieces of ice all over the place. Korona grit her teeth. The wall she erected was reinforced, and she was sure that her spells became much stronger after about three months of training in the academy. Despite this, the gigantic fox was still able to easily break through the Ice Wall.
Suri noticed her furrowed brows as she started to lag behind the others. He slowed down to match her pace.
Seeing this, Korona woke up from her thoughts. She picked up the pace and eventually kept up with the others.
The fox was still a bit far behind because it responded a bit late.
The team had yet to survey the cave, so, at the moment, they had no idea where they were running off to. They would not know when they would suddenly hit a dead end.
Aeon felt his body start to ache. He started looking back on Instructor Bell's classes. His exercises took a toll on his body, but it never ached. Carrying Samuel, however, made aching possible. Are his briefs made of metal, too?
The group was highly capable of taking out the beast that was currently chasing them, but they needed to drag it somewhere. They couldn't risk fighting it near the mouth of the cave because other beasts might join the fight.
When the group entered an area with a large empty space, Aeon moved towards the left side of the entrance and tossed Samuel lightly to the side. The others immediately responded by going right. It was their usual tactic when fighting an opponent inside a cave. The difference for this one, however, was that the fox's steps were very light, and hard to hear.
Aeon leaned closed on the wall, gripping both his swords in his hands. He was straining his ears to hear as much as possible, but he couldn't make out anything.
The others were also extremely silent. They had yet to cast their spells in order to avoid being detected.
The wind blew.
Suddenly, Levi nodded at Aeon.
Aeon ran towards the entrance of the large space. When he was close, a figure suddenly rushed in. Naturally, It was the fox. Aeon mercilessly slashed at its left flank, all the way to its belly. Blood spattered and the beast yelped in pain.
The beast skid on the ground with its four feet, and immediately turned around. It was already injured, but that was far from killing it. Unfortunately for it, that wasn't the end of their attack. It was merely a distraction.
Pfffft!
The beast yelped again. Two sharp ice shards firmly embedded themselves on its hind legs.
The set up was finished…
Suri advanced with his glowing broadsword. Just above his head, two wind blades shot towards the fox's neck.
The fox tried to dodge, but it was a beat too slow due to its leg injury. It did move quite a bit, avoiding a fatal wound. The part near its neck was bleeding, but it didn't fall. When it looked down, there were now two humans rushing towards it. It bared its fangs, but the two showed no fear. It jumped forward with all its strength and opened its mouth, showcasing its sharp teeth.
Suri jumped towards it and swung his broadsword vertically.
Aeon aimed for its side and also jumped.
The two attacks connected at the same time.
Suri's sword hit the snout of the beast, causing an explosion knocking it down towards the ground while Aeon's twin swords tore at its side.
The two landed on the ground after their attacks.
The beast remained on the ground. It was still alive, but it was almost at its limit.
Aeon and Suri jumped away at the same time.
Selena's attack landed afterward.
BOOOM!
The group slowly gathered towards the dead beast.
In the end, it was just an oversized fox with thick skin, completely outside their expectations. It didn't even last that long.
The area would've been a good space to camp at. Unfortunately, a huge beast was taking up substantial space. Moreover, they couldn't burn it to ashes. The scent may attract beasts from outside the cave. Well, it could serve as food. Korona had the means to preserve it.
The group then decided to survey the cave, and at the same time, look for the Spirit Fox Gem.
"So this really is a place where fox beasts live?" Aeon asked the obvious. He just wanted to break the ice because they were all very quiet.
"Yeah," Suri responded.
Specifically for large caves, Levi brought some blank pieces of papers that he kept in a waterproof pouch. Every once in a while, they would stop as they waited for him to finish adding some features on his 'map' of the cave.
After an hour, they finished the makeshift map, but they did not find anything inside, not even some bonus gemstones and rocks that they could potentially sell in the city. Their search, once again, ended up with nothing. They were already used to it, though. The group chose a random empty space within the cave and set up camp. It would probably be extremely dark there at night, but it was never a problem. They had two fire mages with them.
"What do we do now? We still have the entire day," Suri asked Aeon who was looking at the cave walls. There was nothing interesting about it, but he looked rather serious.
Without turning around, Aeon replied, "maybe you should use this time to train your magic. I think I'd find another space to train as well."
Suri found the suggestion nice, so he turned and looked at the others to see how they felt about the suggestion. Korona and Selena seemed to agree since both had enthusiastic faces. Levi, however, was staring at the Witch Grass again.
Levi had been doing it quite a lot for the past few weeks. At that time, Suri's curiosity was piqued. He knew Levi was the serious type of person, and he was quite introverted. But he went out of his way to team up with them in order to earn some money. He approached Levi and sat next to him. He stared at the cave's ceiling, occasionally glancing at the person beside him. When he felt that the mood was right, he asked, "Levi, how do you plan on spending the gold we're getting from this?"
Everyone heard this question, even Aeon, who was on the other side of the room. They all looked at Levi, greedy for his answer. For weeks, they had been very curious about what the person who came up with their plans really wanted. They already knew that he did not come from a prominent family. He didn't even have a weapon that amplified his magic, like most of the other students. This only made everyone more curious.
Levi gave a dry laugh. Now that people asked him, he realized that he really was very passionate about earning money. They were even risking their lives, just to earn more. Subconsciously, he looked at the witch grass.
"I never really planned on being a high-ranked mage," Levi placed the jar on the ground, "I just wanted a nice place to live in, and lots of books. Initially, I thought that the academy could help me build my reputation then contribute a little to society to earn money. Now that it presented a shortcut, why shouldn't I take it? After we split the money, I could probably buy my own place and move out of the apartment I've been staying at."
"How about school?" Suri asked.
Levi thought for a while then answered, "I'd probably finish it. After that, I'd probably never use magic again."
Everyone smiled from hearing this, except Selena. Realizing that she had been frowning, she slightly panicked. She worried that someone might have seen her reaction. Thankfully, someone else spoke and caught everyone's attention.
"Suri! You next," Aeon said with a grin. No one knew when he went back to huddle with the group.
"So we're doing this, now? Alright," Suri sat comfortably, "I'm thinking about getting some gifts for my dad. To thank him for all his care, of course. It's not really much compared to what he has given me up until now, but… giving is always good."
Aeon smiled and nodded at Suri, "that's exactly what I want too! I'm going to buy him some new clothes and some nice looking furniture for his room."
Suri laughed. He knew how deeply Aeon loved his father. "How about you, Selena? How do you plan on spending your money?"
Selena blushed. Everyone was looking at her, and she didn't know what to do. It was just like every time she celebrates her birthday. As the people sang, what was she supposed to do? In the end, her eyes hopped from one person to another. At one point, her eyes met Levi's then she frantically looked away. At that time, she looked really cute and pretty, betraying her devilish looks. "I... I think I'm going to add it to my savings for my future…"
The people didn't get it, even Levi. He cocked his head to the side and asked, "future what?"
Selena's heart was already racing. She was debating herself whether or not she would continue with her sentence or bolt out of the place. But now that Levi was the one to ask her, she couldn't really go with her second choice. She had to answer. She slightly opened her mouth then whispered, "fa…family."
Although it was a whisper, the place was dead silent, so everyone heard it loud and clear. She even felt like it echoed throughout the entire cave.
Hearing this, both Suri and Korona blushed, and looked at the cave walls, as if they didn't hear anything. Aeon laughed out loud while Levi smiled.
Selena buried her face in her hands. Her fiery red hair helped in covering her face. She felt like crying and immediately regretted sharing such embarrassing information.
"That's nice," Levi suddenly said.
Hearing his voice, Selena looked up at him. He had that signature smile of his that always captivated her. The next thing Levi said completely threw her off.
"I might add that in my plans as well."
Selena stared at Levi, her mouth slightly opened. She didn't know why, but her face felt like burning. She could only look at the ground and nod.
"Korona, now's your turn!" Aeon said as he rocked back and forth. He was enjoying the mood because they could rarely enjoy such a peaceful setting. Most of the days were used to look for items, not holding conversations. Opening up to each other felt really nice to him and gave him the chance to get closer to both Levi and Selena.
Korona looked to the side then gently scratched her cheek with a finger. "Actually, I have already started saving, too, so I'm just going to add what I earn there."
"Oh, so your plans are the same with Selena? I see," Aeon nodded, enlightened.
"Yes… I mean no! Not yet. I mean no!"
"So what are you saving up for, then?"
"Erm… I'm saving up for.. a spell book."
Aeon and Suri looked at each other. Now that they thought about it, most of the spells used by Korona were basic ones. Her relatively stronger spells were simply variations of the E-ranked spells. For example, her Frost Lance and Ice Spear were variations of Ice Shard. Another example would be her Ice Tower, which is simply a variant of Ice Wall.
To think that they haven't noticed it for the entire month they fought together.
"You don't have any spellbooks?!" Aeon and Suri asked at the same time.
….