No!" A scream rang out.
The spirit that had just cast the low-rank spell, Bone Wall, stood in front of the other spirit that was about to dissipate.
Two orange-red fireballs spiraled and hit the body of the Specter in front of them.
"Boom!" An explosion that was more powerful than any of the previous spells was heard.
A high-rank fireball and a quasi-mid-rank fireball exploded in the small room.
The walls in the room instantly cracked and countless bricks and stones flew everywhere. Dust and debris obscured their vision. Apart from a red light in the dark, they couldn't see anything.
He'd obviously underestimated the power of his staff's fireball spell. Spells cast by high-rank Lehrlings were usually lethal. Coupled with Joaquin's mid-rank fireball, the two fireballs converged and the explosive power was multiplied several times.
The house, which had been in disrepair for many years, did not last long before it began to collapse amidst the rumbling.
Locke didn't have much time to think as he was severely injured. He grabbed Billie and Daenie, one in each arm, and quickly moved them to the corner of the wall. It was the safest place compared to other places.
Billie and Daenie had long been scared stiff by the series of events. They were carried to the corner mechanically.
Rocks fell one after another, many of them landing on Locke's back. His wounds rotted and blood flowed from his back. After another hit, blood splattered on Billie and Daenie's faces.
Billie and Daenie only snapped out of their daze when the blood splattered on their faces. They were in such a terrible environment that they couldn't care less about anything else. Billie looked at Locke with a complicated expression and sprinkled a handful of spices with her fingers. She chanted a spell and an emerald light condensed in her hand.
Daenie was the same. She'd always given Locke the impression of a quiet and obedient girl. She didn't care about the blood on her face at all. She waved her wand and a light blue mist barrier slowly appeared from the blue crystal at the tip of her wand.
Locke leaned against the corner of the wall and tried to break it with his fist. Although the wall was full of cracks, it didn't show any signs of breaking.
The explosion in the center of the room exploded after a few seconds of preparation.
Joaquin, Mina, and Angelina were the quickest to react. They had probably contacted each other in the academy. Together, they formed a transparent semi-circular shield in front of them.
Chris and Bob also stood up. Ignoring the blood flowing out of their ears, they awkwardly hid behind the barrier formed by the three of them.
The shockwave from the explosion quickly reached everyone in the room.
"Bang!" After an even louder muffled sound, the house completely collapsed.
Under the pile of rubble, Locke struggled to stand up straight. Crash! The gravel on Locke's body fell off.
Without bothering to wipe the dust off his body, he pulled Billie and Daenie up first.
"Thank you!" Billie's long green hair had lost its original luster. Gray stains and dust covered it, making her look like a Cinderella.
Daenie, the girl who was closest to Angelina, was the same. She shyly offered her hand and was pulled up by him. Locke had half of his body on top of her when they were under the ruins. He had no idea how Daenie could bear his weight.
Locke looked around. Unlike the three of them who were crushed under the collapsed house, Joaquin and Mina's magic shield was stronger and managed to block most of the shockwave.
In such a large room, only the corner of the wall they were standing in seemed to be relatively intact.
"Are you alright?" Locke asked the girls.
Joaquin and Angelina shook their heads. They were the ones who wanted to ask the same question the most. Locke's act of risking his life to save Billie and Daenie had shocked Angelina and made Joaquin look at him in a new light.
Anything else could be said in the future. They hadn't forgotten why they were here.
Joaquin was the angriest among them. She thought it was just a simple trial mission, but it turned out to be full of twists and turns. She couldn't believe that a low-rank spirit could cast a mid-rank spell.
She strode towards the centre of the ruins. Even a mid-rank spirit wouldn't be able to survive without the protection of a magic shield, let alone a low-rank spirit.
Joaquin wouldn't be surprised if the two spirits disappeared into thin air.
He endured the pain on his body and the surface of his muscles as he followed closely behind her. Apart from them, the rest of the team also went forward.
The smoke in the ruins dissipated, and an even more astonishing scene appeared. The spirit that had almost been smashed apart was now only left with a speck of spiritual light. It lingered in the air, unwilling to disperse. The place where it circled was a wooden box the size of a long zither.
The other spirit that could speak in a female voice was also close to incorporeal. It had turned from a grey mist to a translucent form. It circled around the wooden box at a low speed like the previous spirit.
Locke raised his longsword and stepped forward, ready to kill them. The two spirits wouldn't be able to withstand his impetus in their current state.
"Let me!" Joaquin was even faster than him and cast another fireball. She'd already used a lot of spells today, including a strengthened version of the fireball. Her mana was definitely depleted, even if it wasn't completely depleted.
The fireball was much weaker than the previous one in terms of size and heat, but it was enough.
The fireball spun on her fingertips for a while and rushed towards the two spirits with a whoosh.
"Boom!" The sound of an explosion rang out, and the two ghosts vanished into thin air.
Locke wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but he heard a woman murmur, "Goodbye, my child."
After the battle, the only thing left for everyone was the spirit crystals on the ground and the wooden box.
The fact that it was protected by two Specters even in the midst of the explosion showed how valuable the wooden box was.
"Chris, Bob! You guys go collect the spirit crystals elsewhere! "
"Mina, check if there are any other strange phenomena nearby!"
"Billie, Daenie, clean Locke's wounds!"
"Angelina, come with me and take a look at what this is!"
Since Joaquin was their captain, everyone obeyed her orders.
Billie and Daenie's spells, one plant and the other water, were very effective in healing wounds. The wounds on Locke's back were no longer bleeding, but a thick layer of scabs had formed.
Locke didn't mind. There were so many scabs on his body that he couldn't even count them. Billie and Daenie had cast spells on him earlier. Daenie was so frightened by the dense scars that she closed her eyes. Billie was also shocked.
He stood up and stretched his body. He found that his injuries had healed by about sixty percent. "Thank you!" Locke thanked them.
"We should be the ones saying that," said Billie with a strange expression. Locke had saved their lives after all.
"Okay!" Daenie nodded vigorously. She was really frightened earlier. If Locke hadn't pounced on them and pinned them down, they would've definitely been cut into pieces.
In front of them, Joaquin and Angelina bent down to pick up the spirit cores that were produced after the two spirits dissipated.
These things were even more precious than spirit crystals. Apart from completing the academy's trial, their mission this time was to obtain these spirit cores.
Spirit crystals could greatly improve a caster's mental power, and the effects of spirit cores were even more obvious. This was especially true for Angelina, who was about to advance to a low-rank Lehrling. With the help of a spirit core, her success rate would increase by at least a third.
Apart from the spirit cores, Joaquin and Angelina also opened the strange wooden box.
In the wooden box that was half the size of a human, there were a few black magic tomes, more than ten bottles of materials, and a black translucent crystal ball in an orderly manner.
Joaquin and Angelina's eyes were completely attracted by the black crystal ball. In the middle of the crystal ball, there was a spirit that looked like a little girl sleeping quietly.
Joaquin and Angelina looked at each other and saw the shock in each other's eyes.
The girl in the crystal ball didn't wake up because of the opening of the wooden box. She was still sleeping motionlessly as if she had lost consciousness.
Angelina picked up a black magic book in the wooden box and flipped through it. The words recorded in it were all in a language that she had never seen before. She was sure that they weren't written in any of the countries around Aomar.
Joaquin also flipped through one of the books. It was filled with words that looked like scribbles. Joaquin was slightly better than Angelina as she could barely recognize one or two of the words that appeared occasionally.
The few words that she didn't recognize were all words that their tutors had repeatedly warned them to be careful of during their classes in the academy.
Black casters were a taboo existence among casters. Since she was a low-rank Lehrling and had studied a few more obscure magic subjects than Angelina and the others, she was able to recognize the common black casters' language.
These black books were the notes of black casters.
Joaquin picked up the wooden box and said, "Let's leave this place first."
-----
I've already posted my thoughts on the book's release page in the morning.
Thank you to the reader of 'A Tiger Falls in Love with a Cat' for your support of 400 Crosstalk coins and two monthly votes.
Your support is my greatest motivation for writing!