Gale Bomb

The Soul-Devouring Flower's petals swayed wildly in the depression. Each time they opened and closed, they sent out a cold purple wave of air. Wherever the waves passed, grayish-white smoke rose from the ground, roiling and twisting like a living thing as it gave off an unsettling hiss.

As the smoke churned, a dull rumble slowly emerged from the depths of the chaos. At first it sounded like distant thunder, but in an instant it became a deafening roar that made Chen Chuan's eardrums buzz.

Chen Chuan pressed himself against the back of a huge rock, its rough surface digging into his back and sending waves of pain through him.

He could smell the faint stench of decay from the moss on the rock, mixed with the earthy smell of soil. It made him sick.

Above his head, Little Yellow, his defensive Magic Mushroom, was operating at full power. Golden light flowed across its cap, clashing fiercely with the purple shockwaves and producing a sizzling sound. It was as though countless steel needles were stabbing at his nerves at once, and every collision made his teeth ache.

He held his breath and peered through a gap in the smoke and dust, focusing on the direction of the sound—the Madison sisters' location.

There, he could clearly sense a pure and immense force of spiritual power frantically drawing in the free-floating elemental particles around it. Magic Power gathered like a tide, forming a vortex of energy visible to the naked eye.

"Gale Bomb!"

Alia's cry pierced the smoke, carrying a note of determination.

Almost at the same instant, a gigantic ball formed from raging winds burst out of the smoke, moving so fast it left only an afterimage as it swept up stones and dust from the ground.

The wind ball itself made no sound of rushing through the air. Instead, it gave off a dull, violent roar, like thousands of soldiers and horses bellowing at once, shaking the surrounding bushes fiercely.

Chen Chuan's pupils contracted slightly. He swallowed instinctively, his throat dry and tight.

The power of this spell had already exceeded his understanding of advanced magic. Could this be a ranked spell? He felt his heart tremble.

At a thought, a red glint flashed in his eyes, and he instantly activated All-Things Analysis. A barely perceptible stream of information flashed through his mind.

[All-Spell Analysis: Can analyze any target's spells and specialties, then "compile" them for the user's own use. [Available analysis slots: 1/3]]

[Analysis target: Gale Bomb (time remaining: 77 days, 12 hours, 55 minutes)]

Nearly three months of analysis was a long time, but considering that this was clearly a powerful first-rank spell, Chen Chuan chose to record it for the time being.

As though it had eyes of its own, the giant wind ball crossed more than three hundred meters in the blink of an eye, heading straight for the Soul-Devouring Flower at the center.

Wherever the wind ball passed, it compressed the air to its limit, creating a ripple visible to the naked eye.

"Bang!"

With a muffled impact, the Gale Bomb struck the invisible magic shield around the Soul-Devouring Flower dead-on.

The shield fluctuated violently, ripples spreading across its surface. After holding out for only three breaths, it was forcibly pierced like a fragile soap bubble, shattering into countless tiny purple specks of light.

The noticeably smaller wind ball continued on and struck the Soul-Devouring Flower's twisted, three-meter-tall stalk with a sickening squelch, like a knife cutting into rotten flesh.

A basketball-sized hole rapidly expanded across the black plant's surface. The woody fibers at its edges curled and blackened as though melted by intense heat, giving off a burnt smell.

Chen Chuan frowned, his mind full of questions.

The spell had clearly been astonishingly powerful, so why had it done so little damage?

He could not help feeling a trace of unease. This Soul-Devouring Flower seemed stranger than they had imagined.

"There's no need to look. It's already dead." Alia's weak voice came from the smoke, carrying a hint of relief and fatigue. "An unranked Magic Creature could never withstand an attack from a first-rank spell."

A sudden gust swept past, blowing away most of the smoke.

Only then did Chen Chuan see the scene nearby. Alia was kneeling beside the unconscious Vera, her face as pale as paper and her lips dry and cracked. Fine beads of cold sweat had appeared on her forehead and were sliding down her cheeks.

She gripped her staff tightly in one hand and pressed the other against her chest, as though suppressing something.

The staff in her hand had lost its luster. The wind-element magic beast core at its tip, which had once emitted strong fluctuations of Magic Power, had shattered completely into tiny crystal fragments scattered across the ground, glimmering faintly in the sunlight.

"The core of my staff was a first-rank wind-element magic beast core," Alia said, shaking her head with a bitter smile. Her voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible. "I forcibly activated the seal on the staff's core just now and released the first-rank spell 'Gale Bomb.' Now it's completely ruined."

She looked down at the broken staff in her hand and sighed deeply, her voice full of regret:

"Depleting my Magic Power feels awful, and my staff's broken too. If we don't get anything else out of this, I'll have suffered a huge loss."

Chen Chuan looked away and stepped out from behind the rock. The stones beneath his feet made a faint noise, startling a few small insects hiding in the cracks.

He walked over to Alia and crouched down to check on Vera, catching a faint scent of herbs mixed with blood.

Vera's face had an unnatural purplish tinge, and there was a conspicuous wound on her abdomen, from which drops of purple blood were still flowing. The skin around the wound had already begun to darken.

"She was poisoned by Soul-Devouring Flower pollen, and it hasn't been completely purged. She was also injured by the purple shockwave," Chen Chuan said calmly, frowning.

He thought about how the situation in the ruins was clearly uncertain, and how Alia was indeed a great help.

After considering it for a while, he took a bottle of pale green potion from his pocket and handed it to Alia. "This is an Advanced Life Potion. It should help you both."

Alia took the potion, surprise flashing in her eyes. "How do you have this?"

"Lord Alex gave it to me," Chen Chuan said mildly, offering no further explanation.

Alia said no more. It seemed that Chen Chuan was very important in Lord Alex's eyes.

After all, Advanced Life Potions were practically impossible to buy even at a high price. She had once owned a bottle as a means of saving her life, but she had already used it up and had not yet managed to buy a new one.

"The Madison Family owes you a favor," Alia said solemnly. She pulled out the stopper and poured the potion into Vera's mouth.

After Vera had drunk about a third of the bottle, her body twitched slightly, then gradually grew still.

Alia put the stopper back in the bottle and returned it to Chen Chuan.

A flush immediately appeared on Vera's face, and the wound gradually stopped bleeding. Her breathing also became much steadier.

After treating Vera, Alia began drinking some spiritual power recovery potion herself.

She tipped her head back and drained the potion, then let out a long breath. Only then did she feel a little better.

Her gaze fell on the three Magic Mushrooms on Chen Chuan's shoulder, particularly the defensive Magic Mushroom giving off a steady golden light. A trace of envy flashed in her eyes. "Your summoned Magic Mushrooms are quite good. They can take hits and fight, and one even has a rare recovery ability. That's uncommon even among First-Class Apprentices."

Chen Chuan noticed Alia's probing and said mildly,

"I was just lucky. Lord Alex helped me find the anchor. It's nothing special."

Alia said nothing after hearing that. She gave Chen Chuan a meaningful look, then naturally shifted the subject to the Soul-Devouring Flower nearby.