Side Story: Galan's Dream of Becoming a Melee Mage

Streams of blood, like writhing red pythons, slowly crawled up Galan's body from the Magic Item, glaring at the Copy not far away.

"So this is what it feels like."

Although the little Mana in his body was being drained at an alarming rate, the feeling of being able to manipulate this blood at will made Galan feel extremely happy.

Is this what it feels like to use magic?

If he could do it all over again, and if he were given a choice, Galan would want to become a proper Mage, not the half-baked one he is now.

Honestly, if he had spent more time honing his Mana, Galan was confident he wouldn't have stopped at this level.

Although he has improved considerably since then, it's still not enough to unleash the full power of this magic. "Ultimately, it's still my own lack of strength... The amount of Mana is a fatal flaw."

In terms of control and understanding of this [Blood Manipulation Magic], I have basically reached the pinnacle. However, due to my own insufficient physical conditions, I am indeed unable to perfectly demonstrate the power of this magic.

However... it's enough to handle the current situation.

Under the gaze of the Copy's empty, lifeless eyes, Galan slowly approached it step by step. This was the first time Galan had taken the initiative since the two had met.

There's no need to drag this out any longer. Let's end this battle as soon as possible and find Lia and the others. The red blood beam, like a sharp spear, hurtled towards the Copy with an all-piercing force.

Under Galan's manipulation, these Blood Pillar Copy, as hard as rocks, intended to deflect the attack directly with their longswords. However, at the moment of contact, they realized that they could not shake the Blood Pillar at all. So, in that instant, they dodged away and immediately distanced themselves from the Blood Pillar.

Even though his reaction speed was fast, the Blood Pillar was like a venomous snake with eyes, Copy biting the clone.

No matter where the opponent fled, it lingered closely around it. It didn't seem like it was about to pounce immediately, but rather like it was forcing its prey into its encirclement. The long, black blade sliced through the air, heading straight for the Copy's vitals. It turned out that, without anyone noticing, it had already approached Galan's slashing range.

Before this, the Copy's attention was completely drawn to the pillar of Blood Pillar created by the [Blood Manipulation Magic], which is why it failed to notice that Galan had been looking for an opportunity to strike. Now, it was the perfect moment for Galan to make his move. Without giving it any chance to react, almost the instant it sensed something approaching, a long sword slashed into most of the Copy's shoulder, leaving a deep gash, but it did not cleave it in two as it had expected.

"Spray!"

It wasn't that Galan went easy on him; rather, the Copy, realizing it couldn't dodge the attack, chose to give up struggling and instead swung its sword to stop Galan's offensive from ending.

After all, it's not a living organism; as long as it's not completely destroyed, it can continue to function.

So even with such a large gap cut in it, it was able to calmly parry Galan's longsword, preventing him from continuing to strike.

However, since he had already made the cut, he should at least achieve something this time. Galan's eyes narrowed, and he twisted the hilt of his sword to face the horizontal direction. With a burst of strength, he chopped off the Copy's left hand.

If an ordinary person suffered such a serious injury, they would be in excruciating pain, and someone with a weaker will might even faint on the spot.

However, since the Copy was a magical creation, it made no move after losing an arm, but simply retreated rapidly, putting distance between itself and Galan.

It seems that in its view, escaping the attack at the cost of only one hand was a pretty good deal.

"What a pity, they escaped in the wrong direction."

Instead of immediately chasing after the fleeing Copy, Galan simply watched it go. Then, with a thought, a blood spike burst out of the soil beneath the Copy's feet and pierced its right leg, pinning it to the ground.

"So, shaping blood into spikes really reduces its elasticity that much...?"

Galan originally intended to finish off his opponent with this move, but he didn't expect that the Blood Pillar would be difficult to deform after the stab.

On one hand, manipulating blood to change its form requires a lot of Mana, which is why Galan has always used the form of Blood Pillar to control it in order to conserve Mana as much as possible.

On the other hand, if the blood, after its form has changed, wants to act again, the difficulty of operation and the Mana required will increase significantly. So even if Galan has the technical skills to do it, he doesn't have enough Mana to squander.

If I use up all my Mana for this one enemy, I'll be helpless if I encounter any more trouble later.

After all, this was such a large and eerie Dungeon; who knew what dangers awaited him at the end?

It would be unwise to exhaust one's trump card here.

With that in mind, Galan decided that he should personally handle the remaining mess.

Without further hesitation, he immediately drew his longsword and charged towards the Copy, making no attempt to conceal his murderous intent. The clone clearly sensed something was wrong, and with a swift turn of the hilt, he severed the blood spike from its base. The magnetic spike head remained on his leg, and there was no time to remove it. In this situation, there was clearly no way to escape Galan's pursuit, so the Copy did not choose to retreat but charged towards Galan as well.

Ultimately, we're all ourselves, and it's easy to figure out each other's thoughts.

If it were a fully-powered Copy, Galan certainly wouldn't choose to confront it head-on. But now that he has weakened the opponent wave after wave, he naturally no longer has such concerns.

As he watched the Copy rushing towards him, Galan's lips curled up slightly without his noticing.

Yes, if it were me, I would definitely feel the need to fight to the death, a do-or-die battle. But the biggest difference between the opponent and my true self is that he cannot use [Blood Manipulation Magic].

Therefore, this will be the absolute factor in his final defeat.

Fight to the death with you?

I wouldn't do something so thankless and exhausting.