Splendid and exquisite fire

"Bzzzz—bzzzz—"

Countless black magic boxes gathered together, their countless pairs of gray wings vibrating against the air. From a distance, they looked like a swarm of fruit flies darting wildly about.

This was no simple flutter of insect wings, but a grotesque sound born of metal and elements twisted together.

Every buzz sounded like countless tiny saw teeth scraping against the eardrums, carrying some nauseating form of mental contamination.

Dago watched the young wizard Fink plunge straight into the "swarm of fruit flies." His long staff danced in his hand, swiftly raising a thick wall of pure white light around him to block the magic boxes flying in every direction.

It was an arrangement of densely packed light-element particles, something only a wizard with an exceptionally profound understanding of elemental structures could deploy instantaneously.

Intricate runic circuits flowed across the light wall's surface. Every impact from a magic box sent a pale golden ripple spreading across it.

He moved fast, shooting into the swarm like an arrow loosed from its string. His target was fixed precisely on the sole glimmer of gold among the black magic boxes, and he rapidly closed in.

Against the gloomy backdrop of the ruins, that glimmer of gold resembled a sliver of radiance leaking through the Gate of Truth, tempting every soul that craved power.

But the exquisitely fashioned Golden Magic Box was far more agile than anyone had expected.

It seemed to possess an independent intelligence, or perhaps some cunning instinct for survival.

The instant Fink entered the swarm, it beat its wings and flew toward the Giant Magic Box Monster overhead.

It was seeking shelter while also diverting danger toward another. That almost human cunning only deepened the greed in Fink's eyes.

The more intelligent an experimental specimen was, the greater its value