"Sense"

The passage seemed endless, constantly branching out and then converging again. Duncan used his experience to choose the direction, while Laufen, Lichta, and Länge occasionally used magic to probe ahead. Methode and Edel were responsible for guarding the flanks, and Bly and Dunster were responsible for the rear.

The atmosphere wasn't exactly relaxed, but it wasn't tense either. After all, there were many people involved, and they had just worked together to deal with a wave of clones.

Until--

Laufen, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped and raised a hand.

Everyone stopped instantly, holding their breath.

The passageway widens slightly here, forming a transitional space resembling a small hall. Ahead lies the entrance to another, narrower passageway that extends downwards.

Everything was normal. There were no magical fluctuations, no unusual sounds, and no changes in light.

Laufen frowned, carefully sensing her surroundings. Her High-Speed Movement magic granted her superhuman dynamic vision and keen perception, but at this moment, she detected nothing, and the others' magical senses showed no reaction.

"What's wrong?" Duncan asked in a low voice.

"... Unsure." Laufen shook his head, his eyes still scanning his surroundings warily. "It seems like there's something... but then again, it seems like there isn't."

The instant her words fell—

A sudden change has occurred!

Without warning, dozens of strands of light brown hair, like living venomous snakes, silently shot down from what appeared to be a naturally formed crevice in the rock above everyone's heads!

The speed was astonishing! It exceeded the reaction limits of all the mages present!

The target was clear—it was Bly, who was closest to the attacker and at the very back of the group!

"Laugh--!"

A faint yet teeth-grinding sound, like a sharp object piercing flesh.

Bly didn't even have time to react. He only felt a chill in his chest, followed by a belated, explosive pain.

He lowered his head.

A tuft of incredibly strong and sharp long hair, like the most deadly spear, had pierced his chest, with a few strands protruding from his back. Blood gushed out instantly, soaking his dark mage robe.

"Ugh...!" Bly let out a short, muffled groan, his body swayed, and his eyes quickly became unfocused.

"Defense!"

Duncan's roar echoed in the confined space! He unleashed his magic without reservation.

"Buzz--!"

Several layers of honeycomb-shaped Defensive Magic arrays instantly overlapped and unfolded, forming a perfect spherical shield that firmly protected the group within! Light flashed intensely, and magic surged!

Almost at the same time, Lichta slammed his hands down on the ground!

"Boom!"

A thick rock wall rose up in front of them, attempting to block any subsequent attacks that might come from the front.

However--

"Pfft!"

The tuft that pierced through Bly's long hair paused only slightly before effortlessly and repeatedly piercing through the hastily raised rock wall of Lichta, just like a red-hot iron rod piercing through butter!

The rock face was like paper in its presence!

Immediately afterwards, the hair stung hard against the defensive shield that Duncan and the others were doing their best to maintain!

"Sizzle--!"

A chilling cutting and scraping sound rang out. A blinding light and intense magical Sparks erupted where the hair touched the Defensive Magic! The shield trembled violently, its surface rippling wildly, but it managed to block the attack!

Only then did the attacker's full appearance slowly "flow" out from the crevice in the rock above.

Her long, light brown hair, like a living waterfall, was several times longer than usual, silently cascading and spreading behind her, almost filling half the space. She floated in mid-air, her eyes drooping, her deep blue pupils staring blankly at the people below protected by the shield, her face expressionless.

But her long hair, every single strand of it, radiated a captivating, magical sheen.

"That thing is... 'Sense'? The examiner? Tsk, I do know she did come in..." Laufen's voice was hoarse.

Methode had already rushed toward the fallen Bly.

She crouched down, took out the Holy Scripture, and placed her palm, radiating a soft, healing white light, on Bly's bleeding wound. However, even as the white light penetrated, the wound showed almost no signs of healing.

"No." She looked up, speaking rapidly, "The wound is too deep, it's pierced the lung, and the bleeding is too much. My treatment can't keep up with the rate of blood loss. This is already very dangerous; please break the bottle immediately and escape."

Bly lay on the ground, his chest heaving violently, each breath frothing with blood. He heard Methode's words, his eyes flickered with struggle, but he was ultimately overwhelmed by the excruciating pain and rapidly fading strength.

He moved his fingers with difficulty, reaching for the small glass bottle at his waist.

"... hateful..."

With a muffled, resentful utterance, he used his last strength to crush the bottle.

"Click."

A crisp cracking sound.

The small wooden figure, dressed only in shorts, fell out of the bottle. The moment it hit the ground, the wooden Golem instantly expanded and deformed, transforming into a golem over two meters tall with bulging muscles. Its movements were astonishingly fast, and it swung one of its thick stone arms fiercely!

"Clang!"

He easily and forcefully brushed aside another tuft of long hair that was about to strike Bly!

With his other arm, he swiftly scooped up Bly's limp body and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

Then, without looking back, the Golem took heavy steps and sprinted back the way it came! Its speed was completely disproportionate to its size. The bald man carried the bald man away with big strides, which looked somewhat comical. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared around the corner of the passage.

But the attacks by "Sense" did not stop.

After her attack failed to penetrate Duncan's defense, her long, flowing hair suddenly scattered!

Instead of being concentrated at a single point, it has split into dozens of strands! Each strand is like an independent, living tentacle, its tip gleaming with a cold light, attacking the spherical shield from different angles like a storm!

What's even more alarming is that these hair clusters weren't attacking blindly.

Some of them bombarded the same area of the shield repeatedly, attempting to overwhelm it with sheer numbers and force a breakthrough.

Some are like the most precise probes, specifically searching for the almost imperceptible weak points in the magical connections when multiple layers of Defensive Magic arrays are stacked, and then piercing in at high speed like a drill!

"Buzz--!" "Buzz--!"

The space was filled with piercing noise and the sounds of violent magical collisions. The protective shield flickered, and ripples Swirl wildly across its surface, as if it were about to shatter at any moment.

"Truly astonishing..." Lichta stared at the hair clusters relentlessly attacking, a hint of seriousness in her eyes, "It actually..."

Edel was shielded in the middle, not maintaining Defensive Magic, as she wasn't good at it, but her voice remained calm as she answered Lichta's words.

"In modern magic warfare, there are generally two tactics for mages to break through a mage's Defensive Magic... One is to overwhelm with sheer numbers, launching a saturation attack to exhaust the opponent's magic power. The other is to precisely find the structural weakness of the Defensive Magic and concentrate on breaking through at that point."

She took a breath. "It's actually... using both tactics. And this offensive... tsk! Old man, is there any other way? If not, I'm going to smash the bottle and run away too. My 'voice' has absolutely no effect on this clone. It doesn't look like it'll show any mercy... I don't want to die in a place like this."

Duncan maintained his Defensive Magic, feeling his mana being rapidly depleted like a flood, his cloudy eyes flashing with a sharp light. He quickly assessed the situation.

If Defensive Magic is used at full power, one's own magic power won't last even a minute. Even with a large number of people around... maintaining Defensive Magic is definitely not a good choice.

If it were a normal attack spell, a small piece of Defensive Magic would suffice to block it. However... the attack came from hair that could be freely controlled. If only that small piece of Defensive Magic was used, it would be instantly dodged and completely ineffective.

The "Sense" clone hovered above, its long hair like that of a monster with its own consciousness, launching a continuous barrage of attacks without any openings.

"Growth spree, hardening, tracking, defense..." Duncan listed in a low voice, "That thing's hair has at least these kinds of magical enhancements! It can even automatically find weaknesses in its defenses!"

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Duncan's forehead. Maintaining such an intense, all-around defense was taking a much greater toll than it appeared. His eyes gleamed as he rapidly analyzed the situation.

"We can't keep dragging this on like this," he said in a deep voice, not loud, but clearly heard by everyone.

"Follow my instructions."

"The moment you dispel your Defensive Magic — Methode, Länge, Dunster! The three of you, use your full power of Ordinary Attack Magic to counter those hairs attacking head-on! Don't try to repel them, just disrupt and slow down their attack rhythm!"

"And I will use 'Tornado Formation Magic' to try and directly confront that entity, forcing her back and at least temporarily disrupting her control!"

"Lichta!" He looked at his teammate beside him, "While I unleash the tornado spell, use your maximum magic power to create a rock wall that is thick and wide enough to block her current line of sight and attack path! It doesn't need to last long, just a moment!"

"Then, everyone, don't linger in battle, run forward at full speed! Laufen, your High-Speed Movement magic is the fastest, you go ahead and scout! Objective—find the next spacious hall with room to maneuver! Edel, you're not good at attacking or defending, just follow Laufen."

"If other clones appear, don't engage them. Signal an alarm immediately and keep running! If you encounter a clone you believe poses a greater threat and you have no chance of winning, such as Frieren, immediately break the bottle and escape without hesitation!"

"Okay!" everyone responded.

"One!"

The shield's light dimmed a little further.

"Two!"

Several clumps of hair had already pierced the weak point, and the shield emitted a mournful cry of despair.

"Three!!"

"Disarm!"

As Duncan shouted, he deliberately withdrew his Defensive Magic!

The spherical shield vanished instantly!

Almost at the same moment--

"Whoosh--!"

Methode, Länge, Dunster all lit up their staffs! Three beams of Ordinary Attack Magic, each with a different trajectory, shot out and accurately struck the unobstructed, deadly hair clusters that were about to penetrate!

"Boom!"

The magic clashed with the hair, exploding into bursts of light and flame! Most of the hair clusters were deflected and slowed by this sudden counterattack!

Duncan, the instant he withdrew his defense, had already raised his staff high above his head!

"Tornado Formation Magic!"

A violent surge of magic gathered around him! A piercing shriek filled the narrow passage! A massive gray tornado, laden with rubble and dust, roared and swept towards the suspended "Sense" above! The tornado's immense suction sent sand and stones flying through the passage, attempting to drag the monster, along with its long hair, in and tear it apart!

The empty eyes of the "Sense" clone turned towards the tornado, its long hair coiling like snakes, some of it piercing into the tornado's interior, attempting to tear it apart from the inside. Other parts formed a shield in front of it, resisting the tornado's tearing and the magical attacks from Methode and the other two.

"Lichta!"

"Rise!"

Lichta slammed his palms heavily on the ground! This time, he held nothing back!

"Boom--!"

The ground trembled violently! A colossal rock wall, several times thicker and taller than before, rose up like a shield of the earth between the "Sense" clone and the group! Not only did it block their view, but its enormous size and the earth elemental magic it contained also greatly interfered with the opponent's long hair's perception and locking onto magic!

"Walk!"

Duncan let out a low growl, maintaining his tornado spell, and turned to rush into the depths of the passage! The others followed without hesitation!

Laufen's figure blurred into a streak as she charged forward, using her top speed to scout and guard the way.

Behind them, on the other side of the giant rock wall, came the hissing sound of long hair frantically drilling into the rock, as well as the roar of a tornado entangled with and exploding the long hair.

But the sound is fading away rapidly.

No one dared to linger; they pushed their speed to the limit and fled desperately deeper into the maze.

Only when the chilling drilling sounds and roars completely disappeared behind the winding passage did the group stop at a relatively spacious corner, leaning against the cold rock wall, breathing heavily.

Duncan, panting, wiped the sweat from his forehead, his cloudy eyes still showing lingering fear.

"We're safe for now." He looked at everyone, especially Edel, who was less physically fit. "But we can't let our guard down anymore. That thing... judging by its attack power alone, is much harder to deal with than the previous 'Elder'."

Lichta leaned against the rock wall, trying to catch her breath, and stared at Duncan with dead fish eyes.

"What do we do now? Keep going? Or try to find a way to go back and rejoin Frieren and the others?"

Duncan was silent for a few seconds, looking at the dark road ahead, then glancing in the direction of "Sense".

"A head-on confrontation," he finally said, his voice regaining its composure. "Here, I can defeat her."

He paused, then added.

"Furthermore, being scattered in a place like this is the most dangerous thing. After I defeat 'Sense,' we must find Frieren and the others as soon as possible. It's good that we haven't encountered any other clones yet, but if we encounter a clone of Frieren, we'll probably have no choice but to smash the bottle and run away. We'll discuss strategy after we find Frieren."

No objections.

After catching their breath and straightening their disheveled clothes and composure, the group continued their journey.

This time, however, everyone's eyes held an inescapable heaviness and vigilance.

A clone... "Sense".

Even just one of them is already so troublesome.