Poison Mist! Mimosa's Worry...

"Of course. Once you find your teammates, or after this ruin exploration ends, you can return to your squad. How does that sound?"

Mimosa's eyes were filled with curiosity.

She looked at Carl and asked:

"Mr. Carl, is that really okay? But we aren't from the same squad."

Carl immediately laughed.

"But we both belong to the Clover Kingdom, and we're both members of the Nine Magic Knight Squads."

"I belong not only to the Black Bulls, but also to the Blue Rose. Is there any conflict in that?"

"Even the Golden Dawn is subordinate to the kingdom, isn't it? From that perspective, we're still teammates."

Mimosa seemed startled by Carl's words.

Because in Mimosa's world, Senior Klaus and many other seniors always put missions first. No one had ever cared so deeply about a teammate's feelings.

At that moment, Mimosa even began to feel a slight fondness for him.

Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have gained +50 Mimosa Favorability.

Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have gained +66 Mimosa Favorability.

Hearing the notifications in his mind, Carl smiled.

Sure enough, this "big healer" in front of him could also provide him with favorability.

Given the current situation, he was only one step away from opening the fourth gate of the Eight Gates, the Gate of Pain.

With Mimosa here, perhaps he could quickly step into the Gate of Pain realm and undergo an even more powerful transformation.

And the Dungeon Ruins before him filled him with extreme unease.

If he could raise his strength here, it would undoubtedly give Carl another powerful trump card.

Mimosa felt favorability toward Carl after hearing his words.

But then she shook her head.

"Mr. Carl, although I'm grateful that you chose to save me at a time like this."

"The cage before us isn't so easy to break."

She pointed at the nine thick diamond pillars before them and the mist swirling around them.

"These pillars were created by two strange people."

"One of them is skilled in Ore Magic, while the other can use this strange smoke."

"When the diamonds and strange smoke combine, they produce an extremely powerful weakening effect."

"In other words, to break these diamond pillars, you have to endure an incredibly intense weakening force."

"Once your own magic power is weakened, you won't be able to break the pillars."

"And these diamond pillars are hollow, with vast amounts of weakening poisonous smoke stored inside them."

Mimosa did her utmost to activate her Healing Creation Magic—Healing Flower Robe. In an instant, green light barely forced back the swirling gray weakening poison mist.

Only then did Carl clearly see the situation inside the pillars.

Mimosa's eyes were full of dejection.

"Mr. Carl, if you can leave on your own, then leave."

"At least you can still be of some use."

"But if you stay trapped here with me, you'll gradually become weakened too."

Seeing everything before him, Carl smiled faintly.

This cage formed from condensed magic was somewhat interesting.

Once the crystal pillars made of diamond ore were broken, huge amounts of weakening smoke would burst out. And that weakening smoke would in turn hinder the rescuer's magic.

It was an endless cycle.

The more pillars that shattered, the more smoke would appear.

And the crystal pillars were connected to one another through magical auras.

Unless all of them were destroyed, the person inside could not get out at all.

Moreover, once the crystal pillars were broken, the weakening poison mist would attack indiscriminately.

In other words, it was very possible that before the person outside could rescue the person inside, the one inside would already be "poisoned to death" by the weakening poison mist.

A playful expression immediately appeared on Carl's face.

If it were someone else, this might truly have been troublesome.

But against the unreasonable Carl, this was practically a piece of cake.

Was the weakening of magical power really that terrifying?

For anyone else, it absolutely was.

But for beings like him and Asta, who possessed powerful physical strength, everything before them was no problem at all.

Mimosa sighed again, then said to Carl:

"Mr. Carl, you should still leave."

But Carl directly reached out and gripped one of the crystal pillars.

The swirling cursed smoke surged continuously, trying to erode Carl's aura and magic.

However, the faint green light emerging from Carl's body, like steam, completely blocked the weakening smoke.

Mimosa's throat trembled.

"Mr. Carl, what are you doing?"

"Don't act recklessly, or both of us will die here!"

Carl smiled faintly.

"Mimosa, right?"

"As a healer, your most important job is to heal other people's injuries."

"As for a man's business, you'd better stay out of it."

Carl responded with such dominance.

Mimosa froze and stared blankly at Carl.

She wanted to retort, but when she saw Carl's handsome face, she suddenly did not know what to say. After all, when someone still wanted to save you after learning of all the dangers...

That person was undoubtedly your benefactor.

And the charisma Carl was radiating at that moment was something she had rarely encountered in William Vangeance's Golden Dawn.

At that moment, Mimosa felt her heart tremble.

But Carl's hand tightly gripped the crystal pillar before him.

That was not all.

Carl's other hand instantly gripped another crystal pillar as well.

Crack—crack—

As Carl twisted and squeezed the two crystal pillars at once, they began to tremble violently.

The originally incomparably hard diamond ore began to crack continuously under the force of Carl's arms.

Dense cracks spread madly in every direction.

Then, two crisp cracking sounds rang out.

The two crystal pillars were crushed alive by Carl! They had not been smashed apart, nor had they been blasted apart by magic. Carl had truly used his physical strength to crush the two thick diamond crystal pillars before him.

The visual impact of it made Mimosa tremble.

Her heart shook violently as she stared blankly at Carl.

Countless dense clouds of smoke pounced toward Carl like evil spirits.

Mimosa immediately cried out:

"No—Mr. Carl, run!"

However, Carl wore a smile as he faced the smoke rushing toward him head-on.

Carl's smile was so radiant that Mimosa stared at him in a daze. The weakening smoke completely swallowed his figure.

However, in the next moment.

Carl was not affected in the slightest. Under the erosion of the weakening cursed smoke, the green light around his body actually grew increasingly intense.

The green light clinging to his skin bloomed continuously like the most terrifying force of vitality.

It completely blocked the encroaching erosion.

Originally, most of the gray weakening poison mist had rushed toward Carl, while a small portion continued eroding Mimosa as she released healing magic.

But after sensing Carl's threat, the poisonous smoke seemed to become completely enraged and surged madly toward him.

Yet Carl still showed no fear whatsoever.

He directly grabbed another two crystal pillars.

Crack!

This time, it was even more decisive than before.

The crystal pillars broke once more.

The poison mist contained within the four crystal pillars surged forth, blotting out the sky.