Side Story: Help

Thinking about it this way, my life is actually quite fulfilling...::

Okay, okay, now's not the time to think about such pointless things.

He shook his head, then quickly ran back to his original spot...:

The magnificent flames resembled a dancing Fire Phoenix, relentlessly unleashing their energy within this space.

The terrifyingly high temperature was almost melting the ancient rocks around them. Under normal circumstances, this was a magical effect that an ordinary Mage never unleash. However, Lucina discovered with some despair that her two opponents were both mages skilled in using [Fire Element] Mage, and they were extremely adept at casting spells together, clearly old partners.

Fierce flames erupted from the Staff of the two expressionless Copy, then intertwined and coalesced into a powerful fire Elf.

She made ample preparations, adjusting the structure of the [Defensive Magic] to make the Barrier more resistant to the high temperatures brought by the flames, which is why she has been able to hold off the enemy single-handedly until now.

If this were a novice Mage, they'd probably be burned to ashes by now.

However, under such circumstances, he was the only one struggling to hold on, and it was clear that he couldn't hold on for long. Moreover, he had already used up a lot of Mana, and the Mana required to cast [Defensive Magic] was an enormous expenditure. He didn't have much time left to persist.

"Lucina, I can help you too!"

Just then, Lia, who had been protecting Lucia, stepped forward and stretched out her small, delicate hand to create another Mana Barrier around the [Defensive Magic] Lucina had cast.

Although the barrier was not very complete, and the crystal structure and connecting parts were extremely rough, it undoubtedly helped Lucina greatly reduce the pressure she was under, weakening the attacks that were once again attacking the barrier of the [Defensive Magic] Lucina had summoned.

Haha, thanks a lot.

Lucina tilted her head slightly and gave Lia a grateful look.

Before this, I hadn't really taken her role seriously, even though she had helped me kill the Copy initially. But now, her help was undoubtedly a huge boost. With the weakening of the barrier she had created, the impact of the combined attack was also much weaker than before. "Before... I didn't really take your role seriously... but judging from the current situation, without you, I probably wouldn't have lasted much longer. Thank you."

"No need to thank me... Lucina, you've been protecting me and saving me several times... although I really couldn't be of much help, hehe."

Lia didn't seem to care much about what the other person said, and just smiled foolishly, but Lucina could tell at a glance that the barrier Lia had created was extremely draining on her own Mana.

[Defensive Magic] is inherently a type of magic that consumes a great deal of Mana. When fully activated, most experienced Mages can only maintain it for a dozen seconds before exhausting all their Mana. Even I, after adjusting the crystal structure of [Defensive Magic] to achieve the most cost-effective solution, have been able to hold on until now. Lia, on the other hand, has no knowledge of this aspect and has been able to maintain the barrier entirely by luxuriously expending her terrifying amount of Mana. The air around the two of them is somewhat distorted under the scorching heat and prolonged exposure to the scorching temperature. It seems that even with two layers of defense, the terrifying temperature has inevitably affected them.

Beset by internal and external troubles, Lia's forehead was covered in sweat, and her complexion grew increasingly worse.

From the moment she left until now, she had released nearly three-fifths of her Mana and poured it onto the barrier. Because she didn't know how to create Mana crystals, her barrier was entirely formed from her own Mana.

Even for her, this approach was an unbearable drain.

"Can't hold on any longer? If you really can't, you should stop! I feel like I can hold on a little longer... Speaking of which, don't those two guys ever stop casting spells? They've been casting them nonstop until now, they really don't want to leave us any way out!"

Seeing Lia's increasingly worse performance, Lucina was also somewhat worried about her condition. With Leah's help, she had managed to catch her breath a little. Even if Leah removed the barrier, she should still be able to hold out for a while. She just hoped that Galan and Clinton could come back to help them as soon as possible during this time.

After all, for a warrior, taking down Mage within a certain range is a very easy task.

"No... it's okay... I feel like I can... hang in there a little longer..."

Although she was still stubbornly insisting on her position, Lucina could clearly sense from her trembling voice that Lia's physical condition was far from optimistic. If she continued to push herself like this, she would definitely faint from releasing too much Mana.

If one were to faint in the current situation, it would easily put them in danger.

"Galan... will definitely come back to save us..."

"You really trust him that much? To you, he's just a human being, isn't he?"

Although Lucina knew it was inappropriate to say such things at this time, she couldn't help but add her own comment.

"No... Galan is someone I can trust and rely on... If it's him, he definitely won't let anything happen to us. "Lia's voice grew weaker and weaker, and her eyelids became increasingly uncontrollable, gradually drooping down. Her petite figure swayed slightly, looking like a drowsy patient about to collapse.

"You can't keep pushing yourself like this! Something bad will happen to you!"

Seeing this, Lucina knew that Leah had reached her limit. If she wasn't allowed to stop, it could damage Lia's very foundation. Such reckless overdraft of her magic Mana could leave unforeseen consequences for her future magical path!

After a brief moment of thought, she decided to extend a hand and interrupt Lia's spellcasting.

Lucina, facing the back of Lia's head, was about to control herself and use [a spell to put her to sleep] to temporarily stop Lia's movements. But just then, a familiar figure was rapidly moving towards them from around the corner not far away.