The fire instantly engulfed the two of them.
But a white light protected them.
Eric looked at the white light surrounding him, feeling a bit confused, but he still reacted as quickly as possible.
Carrying Judy, he ran to a corner and took cover behind an obstruction. Only then did Eric look at Judy:
"Are you alright? What just happened?"
Judy took off the necklace from her neck; the gem on it had already shattered into dust.
"A Magic Shield Necklace."
"To be able to shatter the necklace to this extent, the opponent must be at least a fifth-tier mage."
Eric poked his head out, searching for the opponent's tracks.
Actually, there was no need to search.
The opponent had no intention of concealing itself, or perhaps, it didn't even have the awareness to conceal itself.
It was a Skeleton Mage.
He stood on a collapsed rooftop, holding a hook-shaped staff, conjuring a fireball, and sending it their way.
"Judy, over there."
Eric identified the direction and immediately reported to Judy.
"Y-yes, I know."
Judy's voice was trembling slightly.
Eric looked back to see Judy concentrating a spell in her hand, but her eyes were filled with terror, even appearing somewhat vacant.
The light of the spell also flickered on and off.
Eric's heart sank.
Is his psychological trauma that deep?
Although Judy had acted quite normal since entering the city, even playful at times, Eric still remembered how she had been scared out of her wits, hiding in the tree hollow.
He glanced back at the Skeleton Mage in the distance.
Eric picked up Judy and directly left the area.
Judy's spellcasting was interrupted. In her panic, she could only clutch Eric's collar, curling up in his arms.
"Eric, he's holding my staff! That's a memento my father left me!"
Judy's voice was tearful.
Eric sighed, glancing back at the Skeleton Mage. The fireball in his hand arced in a searing trajectory, landing behind Eric.
The surrounding Skeleton Soldiers also seemed to have received a command and began to encircle the two.
"I'm sorry, Judy, I can't do it."
"I know, I know, I'm sorry, Eric."
Judy buried her head in Eric's arms, clutching the fabric tightly in her hands.
Thanks to Teacher Atai'er's Earthquake Spell, this Druid's eighth-ring spell reshaped the terrain and broke the skeletons' patrol routes.
This greatly facilitated Eric's infiltration.
Looking back and no longer finding the Skeleton Mage, Eric finally put Judy down and said:
"Judy, find the location of the magic crystal. When Teacher Atai'er returns, he'll definitely have a way."
Judy finally came back to her senses.
With tears in her eyes, she nodded, "Thank you, Eric." As she spoke, she pulled out a compact mirror from her pocket—
"Huh, where's the mirror?"
Eric looked embarrassed, reached for his neck, pulled the mirror from his collar, and even shook his clothes.
"By the way, this isn't something your father gave you, is it?"
"No, it's a street vendor item, two for one copper coin."
Only then did Eric hand the mirror to Judy.
Judy looked closely; the mirror surface was completely shattered.
"The scrying must have been interrupted, and the magical power went wild, causing the mirror to shatter. This mirror can't be used anymore."
Judy didn't mind and reached into her satchel, fumbling for a long time but finding nothing.
At this moment, Judy remembered Atai'er's words.
"There's a barrier, at least with anti-flight effects, plus a common prohibition on spatial items. I don't know about the others."
Judy looked at Eric, visibly starting to panic:
"Eric, my mirror is gone, and I can't use spatial items here, so I can't get a new mirror."
"Can't you use the fragments?"
"No, it has to be a round mirror."
Eric's heart sank as he looked around.
Atai'er's Earthquake Spell had been very effective; now, on the ground, besides the collapsed house ruins, there were only overturned underground mud and rocks.
Where could she find a round mirror?
"Can we get out first?"
"No, you can only enter here, not leave."
Eric's heart sank to rock bottom.
He walked in front of Judy, placed his hands on her shoulders, and said in a deep voice:
"Judy, there must be some way to fix this. Calm down, you're so strong, you can definitely do it."
Judy looked at Eric.
She was only 14 this year. In Eric's eyes, Judy couldn't discern any emotions; she didn't have that much experience.
But in Eric's eyes, she saw the reflection of the moonlight.
"Eyes—"
Judy grabbed Eric's shoulders with a reverse grip. At this moment, her expression was incredibly serious, her fingers gripping Eric's shoulders so tightly that she almost pushed him to the ground.
"Eric, I need to use your eyes for scrying."
"What? Eyes!!!"
Eric immediately felt a sharp pain in his eyes.
"No, no, no, let's go look again. One Earthquake Spell can't possibly affect the entire city—"
"There's no time, Eric."
Judy directly sat on Eric's waist, grabbed his head with both hands, and forcefully made Eric look her in the eyes.
Oh my god, you little idiot, what are you trying to do?!
"No, what do you want to do to my eyes?"
Eric felt the weight on him, pushed Judy's face away with one hand, his soul almost scared out of him.
"Eric, you don't want your teacher to die here, do you?"
"No, you..."
Judy seemed to have completely lost her patience. She directly placed her fingers on Eric's eye sockets, prying open his eyes.
"Don't move around. If the magic goes out of control, your eyes will be completely ruined."
Eric's face twitched uncontrollably as he reluctantly lowered his hands.
He didn't dare to move an inch now because a cool sensation had already entered his eyes.
Magic power had been injected into his eyes.
Judy's face was right in front of him, their noses almost touching.
After muttering something, Judy closed her eyes.
Her exhaled breath brushed against Eric's lips.
The breath felt like a knife, making Eric's lips sting.
He was terrified; if there was even a slight mistake, his eyes would be ruined, and he would be blind from then on.
Please end quickly, Eric was truly scared.
But this time, Judy's scrying was exceptionally careful.
So it took even longer.
It wasn't until Eric felt his face had gone numb that Judy opened her eyes and her fingers left Eric's eye sockets.
"Alright, found it."
Eric scrambled out from under Judy.
He never wanted to experience that feeling again in his life; it was too terrifying, too horrifying.
Judy stood up, straightened her clothes, and pointed in a direction:
"It's over there."
With that, Judy pulled Eric and ran in the direction she pointed.
Eric was still rubbing his eyes. He still felt his vision was a bit blurry, and he thought the scrying just now must have caused him some side effects.
"Does this scrying have any side effects?"
"What are you thinking? The scrying was very successful, and the astral magic also nourished your eyes. You should at least have dark vision now."
Judy looked back at Eric, a slight hint of grievance on her face.
Eric was still uneasy.
After all, those were his eyes, his eyes!
Under the psychological effect, Eric not only felt pain in his eyes but even a slight headache.
Judy also had no way to deal with Eric.
It was normal to be afraid of the unknown, and it was also normal for his eyes to feel dry and painful after being open for so long.
She would explain these things later, because the final magic crystal was already within her spellcasting range.
But precisely at this moment, Judy stiffly turned her head.
Behind Eric—
A skeleton with blue demon fire in its eye sockets, carrying a longbow and quiver, was watching Judy and Eric.
There was no sound, no warning whatsoever.
It was so quiet.
Even magic couldn't sense it.
It was the skeleton Eric had found familiar just now; it had found them.
They couldn't win; they would die.
This was the only thought left in Judy's mind at that moment.