Side Story: Terrifying Magical Power

But if that were the case, even if I could withstand the attack, I would completely lose my ability to fight due to the depletion of my Mana.

If this is the final outcome, the two of them will most likely die here.

Lucina didn't want to die meaninglessly like this, nor did she want Lia to die with her.

Right now, he could only trust this seemingly dull-witted Elven Girl. With her terrifying total Mana, even without systematic magical training, her sheer numerical strength was enough to shield him from this attack.

"Lia, I'm going!" Lucina's eyes narrowed, and she rushed towards her Copy without hesitation. "Oh!" Lia replied in a slightly flustered manner, her small hands nervously raised, and she kept a close eye on the Copy's hand movements as instructed.

Casting magic remotely will definitely be detected and defended against by the opponent, even if she is currently casting a spell.

However, given her personality, even if she were casting a spell, she would never reveal such a large flaw. Therefore, there must be counter-magic around the Copy to defend against her attacks at any time.

The reason she chose to rush forward was not to attack her immediately; she was Mage, not a warrior. The reason she wanted to shorten the distance between them was simply to wait for the right opportunity.

That perfect moment for a fatal blow!

With a boom, all the Mana in the Staff Copy, and several cracks visibly appeared on its body. It seemed that once the Mana was exhausted, the Copy created by the Water Mirror Demon would collapse. However, Lucina had no time to think about this information. Her eyes were fixed on the other party's every move. The moment the other party's fingers trembled, she sprang up again, her Staff pointing upwards at the Copy's head, releasing a [Lightning-Piercing Magic].

At the same moment, the Purple Tyrannosaurus, formed from all the Mana gathered on the Staff Copy, roared and charged forward. Its target was clear: to eliminate Lucina in front of it. However, Lucina no reaction to this powerful and terrifying attack, her eyes resolute as she held her Staff, making no defensive move. "[Holy Wind Wall]!"

Then a clear, crisp sound rang out from not far away.

An immense amount of Mana gathered above Lucina's head in an almost chaotic manner.

Although the method of using that Mana was completely haphazard and illogical—if an ordinary Mage released it in that way, the Mana would inevitably fail due to the loss of control and dissipation— Lia used almost all her strength to release her own Mana without hesitation. She relied entirely on her astonishingly high total amount to supply the Mana required to complete the spell.

And there is still a sufficient surplus.

The intangible wind gathered into a thick barrier, blocking the [Lightning of Destruction Release Magic that was about to descend upon Lucina's head.

"The powerful impact created huge cracks in the wind wall the moment it made contact, making it look like it was about to collapse. Lia just groaned in discomfort, then increased the intensity of her Mana release, continuously pouring Mana into the wind wall, patching up the cracks again and again."

Within a mere second, the entire wind barrier was constantly collapsing and reforming, with abundant Mana acting like firefighters, rushing to replenish it wherever signs of collapse appeared.

Although her crude manipulation of Mana made the process extremely difficult for Lia, she ultimately managed to completely withstand the devastating magic.

Meanwhile, on Lucina's side, her [Lightning-Piercing Magic] entered the restricted area without warning during the extremely brief gap after the Copy used [Lightning of Destruction Release Magic], and completely destroyed the head of the clone under the blank gaze of its empty eyes.

The next moment, the other person's body fell uncontrollably to the ground, gradually dissipating as Mana Particles.

The [Lightning of Destruction Release Magic, which still exerted its residual power above Lucina's head, lost control due to the caster's disappearance. The violent Mana dissipated in the air, no longer displaying its previous destructive force.

"Phew, well done!" After confirming that she had destroyed the Copy, Lucina turned around and smiled at Lia, saying that she hadn't misjudged her.

You must understand that in a life-or-death situation during battle, completely entrusting your defense to your teammates is tantamount to handing your life over to someone else. If Lia had relaxed her guard even slightly or overestimated her opponent, she would have died at the hands of her own Copy.

"Thank you... but I used up a lot of Mana... I'm so tired..."

3

In response to Lucina's praise, Lia only managed a faint smile before looking exhausted. Clearly, expending so much Mana in such a short time was far too much for her.

Lia bent down slightly, supporting herself on her knees with her delicate arms, panting heavily as if she had just finished a long run.

Seeing her like this, Lucina smiled helplessly and walked over to her side, gently patting her back to indicate that she could rest for a while.

With its Copy just dealt with, the Water Mirror Demon can't create a new one to fight them anytime soon.

As long as they don't encounter Lia or someone else's Copy, they have enough breathing room.

Hopefully, in the meantime, Clinton and his team will be able to find a way back to find them.

As she gently stroked Lia, she scanned her surroundings, warily observing her environment.

By now, she had come to realize that the most troublesome problems in this Dungeon were the Water Mirror Demon and this Dense Fog. They seemed to complement each other, ruthlessly killing every adventurer who tried to explore the Dungeon.

Both escaping and finding the true form of the Water Mirror Demon become extremely difficult due to their combined nature.

We don't know what's going on with the other adventurer teams right now, so it seems like completely conquering this Dungeon has become virtually impossible.

At least among the teams and adventurers she knew, no one could do that.

Perhaps only if Lady Serie herself were to arrive here could this Dungeon be conquered...