45: Chapter 45 Potter's Search for the Treasure

In the forest bathed in morning light, Zhang Mu and Avril were sprinting for their lives.

The Thunder Wolf Leader, having finished gnawing on its mate in the clearing, quickly caught up to them, closing the distance several times.

The two could only make sharp turns from time to time, barely managing to keep those ferocious fangs from kissing their backsides.

As for why they were fleeing instead of stopping for a head-on battle...

They had originally considered it, but gave up the moment Zhang Mu's pure white fireball struck the Thunder Wolf Leader's silver-white fur, which crackled with lightning, and only managed to scorch it slightly.

"Damn!"

The Thunder Wolf Leader kicked off the ground to accelerate, opening its gaping maw toward Zhang Mu's backside; even before it could bite, the foul stench of its breath arrived first.

"Crack—" Avril timely raised an ice shield, blocking it for a few seconds; taking advantage of this, the two made a ninety-degree turn to the right, widening the distance once more.

Trampling through the bushes, with leaves and branches swiftly brushing past their shoulders and heads, Zhang Mu frowned.

Fleeing like this wasn't going to work; it had been chasing them until dawn, and the Thunder Wolf showed no signs of slowing down. He had to think of a way, otherwise, he and his senior would die of exhaustion first.

"Senior," Zhang Mu suggested while running, "let's split up."

"Why?" Raising her staff to knock aside the thick branches in front of her face, Avril didn't look over, keeping her eyes on the path ahead as she asked with confusion.

Of course, it was to find a place where he could use his resurrection ability to wear it down to death.

He certainly couldn't tell her that.

Zhang Mu scratched his head anxiously: "Trust me, I'll be fine."

"I've never doubted you, but..."

"Awoo—"

The Thunder Wolf Leader trailing behind them underwent some unknown change; it suddenly looked up and let out a long howl, and then the lightning all over its body flared up, its speed surging significantly.

Zhang Mu instinctively glanced back. The Thunder Wolf Leader was lightly stepping on branches to gain momentum; as it leaped forward, it looked like a bolt of lightning, darting left and right in mid-air.

"You have an ultimate move and you only use it now? Have you been playing with me this whole time!"

They couldn't shake it off before, and now there was even less chance of escape.

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Mu prepared to let Avril escape first while he lured the Thunder Wolf elsewhere to attempt a war of attrition.

"Junior, it looks like it's about to evolve!"

Evolve?

This cursed thing was already Tier 3. If it advanced to Tier 4, how many times would he have to resurrect to wear it down?

He couldn't wait any longer!

"Senior, run first, I'll—"

"Watch out!"

Zhang Mu, trailing half a step behind, heard the warning and shifted his gaze from the Thunder Wolf Leader behind him.

Not far ahead was a cliff; there was no path left.

Zhang Mu was dumbfounded. This was a forest, not a high mountain; how could there be a cliff?

"Awoo—"

Seeing there was no road, the two subconsciously slowed down for a moment. The Thunder Wolf accelerated again, soared into the air, and smashed straight toward Avril.

She reacted quickly, raising three layers of ice shields, but the shields that had been somewhat effective before were now shattered to pieces by the Thunder Wolf Leader with overwhelming force.

The wolf claw, comparable in size to a human, slashed diagonally. With no fear of death, Zhang Mu decisively stepped in front of her, taking the blow on his back.

Intense pain surged to his head, and Zhang Mu gasped. He felt that the blow was vicious enough that he feared his own intestines might have been ripped out.

Enduring the pain and his fading consciousness, he used the force of the wolf claw's impact to leap forward, plunging off the cliff.

"Splash—"

Below the cliff wasn't the ground, but a clear spring. They slammed heavily into the water, sending splashes scattering as ripples spread outward.

The Thunder Wolf Leader jumped straight down from the cliff and circled the spring a few times, but saw no corpses floating to the surface.

It jumped into the spring, which only reached its hocks, and swiped its claws around, but found nothing.

It tilted its head, very puzzled, and opened its mouth to try releasing a few lightning chains into the water. However, apart from a wisp of smoke, there was still no sign of the people.

With no intention of leaving, it jumped to the water's edge and lay down on the grass, its football-sized, ferocious eyes staring fixedly at the water's surface as the ripples gradually settled.

...

Everything around them was pitch black.

After Zhang Mu fell into the spring, he discovered that the surrounding space seemed to be twisting, and his consciousness was affected, leaving him feeling dizzy.

It felt like spinning in circles dozens of times, completely losing his sense of direction, and he even felt a bit nauseous.

He found it very strange.

He had been to this spring, which was a specialty of Kas Town, once before. Why hadn't this strange phenomenon occurred last time?

His consciousness slowly recovered and stabilized.

Then he finally remembered—where was his senior?

"Senior? Senior? Are you there?"

He called out softly while groping around with his hands to explore the surroundings.

Soon, he grabbed something.

What was it?

He couldn't tell what it was.

"Junior, I'm fine."

"That's great!"

"Could you let go? It hurts a little."

"Ah?"

"Oh, oh, sorry, sorry! It's too dark; I can't see anything."

Zhang Mu recoiled as if electrocuted, pulling back the fingers that had been applying pressure, and took a few steps back.

He could hear Avril panting slightly, followed by the rustling of fabric rubbing together: "How are your injuries, Junior?"

"I'm fine. The Thunder Wolf's claw missed." Zhang Mu had actually resurrected once while falling off the cliff, but since it was hard to explain, he gave a casual, perfunctory reply.

A few seconds later, light suddenly flared up. Zhang Mu instinctively covered his eyes. He paused for a moment, and only after his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness did he lower his hands.

Avril was sitting sideways with her legs curled up, holding a crystal ball in her palm that radiated dazzling light.

By the light, the two looked around and found themselves in a room where all six sides were made of bluestone slabs. It wasn't large, roughly twenty square meters.

After taking out five more crystal balls and rolling them into the corners to illuminate the room as if it were day, Avril finally had a moment to spare. She got up, trotted behind Zhang Mu, and lifted his hem.

Seeing that there wasn't a single scratch on his skin, she used her cool palms to touch and confirm it once more. She breathed a sigh of relief and began to tidy her own disheveled robe.

It took about a few minutes to smooth it out. The rest was fine, but most of her time was spent on the palm-shaped creases covering the fabric over her right, towering chest.

The size matched Zhang Mu's right hand perfectly. This was only natural, as he was the one who had squeezed it.

He felt a bit awkward and scratched the back of his head, looking elsewhere. Soon, he spotted a stone platform built against the wall, upon which sat a wooden treasure chest.

"Senior, look."

Zhang Mu waved to get Avril's attention, and they walked to the treasure chest together to inspect it.

"Is this… the treasure the teacher was looking for?" Avril asked with a puzzled look. "But I remember the teacher saying he had scoured every inch of land near Kas Town. It's impossible he could have overlooked such a prominent spring."

"I think…" Zhang Mu pulled the irregular crystal gem that Leah had given him from his pocket; it was emitting a faint magical fluctuation. "This crystal is the key."

"But."

Zhang Mu furrowed his brows, feeling just as confused deep down.

This type of crystal gem could only be fished out of the spring. Whether Leah had obtained it from someone else or come to fish it out herself, the source was ultimately the spring.

Why hadn't the person who fished out this crystal gem entered the treasure location?

"Leah's lucky gem, perhaps… We'll talk about it after we get out." Zhang Mu put the gem away, gestured for Avril to step back, and stepped forward to open the lid.

There was no golden light, nor were there any magic traps. Inside the chest were stacked several magic books, and in the corner, there were three potions with murky transparency, through which one could vaguely see red liquid.

"It's safe. Come over, Senior."

They took out the stack of magic books, closed the chest, and used the arched lid as a table to examine them.

There were six magic books in total. The first five were: Shadow Technique, Transformation Technique, Magic Shield, Ice Explosion, and Wind Prison Technique.

Seeing this, Zhang Mu felt disappointed, thinking that this was just an F-rank treasure chest.

But when their eyes fell on the last book, the F-rank suddenly upgraded to S-rank.

"True Word Spell?!"

They both cried out in shock, looked up at each other, and then cast their gazes back down.

"The Church's ultimate secret technique—why is it appearing here?" Zhang Mu exclaimed.

In the ten thousand years of known history on the Saul Continent, the True Word Spell had never been discovered in any labyrinth.

The Church guarded it even more strictly; apart from the one-on-one oral transmission by successive Popes, other Believers had no possibility of even catching a glimpse of it, let alone having the fortune to learn it.

And the True Word Spell used by bishops were all one-time consumables imbued into statues of god or magic items.

"This treasure chest is freaking amazing!" Zhang Mu shouted, slapping his thigh.