On the snowy mountain peak.
“Captain, these clones are endless!”
Lin Qingfeng, with a single sword stroke, decapitated his own head, only to watch himself regenerate anew a short distance away.
Ever since the Mi Xiaoxiao clone had been vanquished, a replica of every individual, save for Aya Tone, had made an appearance.
Eventually, it became a full-blown assembly of all their clones.
They were impossible to kill, a true headache.
The only silver lining was that only one clone of each person would appear at a time; otherwise, Lin Qingfeng truly wouldn’t know how they could fight.
“Indeed, they’re unkillable, aren’t they? What’s to be done?” Aya Tone, utterly bored, blasted yet another ‘Mi Xiaoxiao’ clone to oblivion.
He had initially believed the dungeon core would be found at the summit.
Yet upon reaching it, they found nothing but snow, stretching endlessly in all directions.
Prying open the snowdrifts revealed a thick layer of ice beneath, its depths utterly impenetrable to the eye.
Moreover, the clones’ resurrection speed had drastically accelerated upon their arrival at the peak.
From a minute-long revival time, it had now dwindled to a mere thirty seconds per clone.
He wondered if his own immense magical power was the reason his clone had yet to appear, despite how long he had been fighting.
“Ugh, where exactly is this dungeon core?” Aya Tone furrowed his brow.
Shouldn’t the accelerated revival of the clones indicate the core was indeed on the mountain top?
Why couldn’t they find it then?
Besides,
continuing this slaughter was no solution. While he himself didn’t feel much, Lin Qingfeng and the others were in dire straits.
They had already expended a significant amount of stamina simply ascending the mountain.
Engaging in prolonged combat in such freezing, snowy conditions could easily lead to a dangerous imbalance in their body temperatures.
At that point, even a true immortal would be powerless to save them.
“Captain!”
The shouts of his companions drew Aya Tone back from his thoughts.
“What is it?”
He saw them all crowding around him.
“Thirty seconds have passed, Captain. Those clones… they haven’t revived.”
“They haven’t revived!?”
Aya Tone gasped, a jolt of alarm running through him. This was hardly good news.
Typically, in such situations, either they had cleared the dungeon, or…
something far greater was about to unfold.
The former seemed highly improbable, leaving only one conclusion!
“Defense!”
Aya Tone raised his wand, and a dark, obsidian barrier instantly enveloped the group.
“Captain…”
Lin Qingfeng was bewildered by Aya Tone’s sudden, grave demeanor, as if facing a formidable enemy.
But in the very next second,
“Boom!”
A scorching magical beam provided him with the answer.
Aya Tone held his wand aloft, his petite frame appearing remarkably stalwart in that moment, creating a haven for those behind him.
“Tsk, I was just complaining, but you really had to go for a grand attack, didn’t you?”
While Aya Tone often self-deprecatingly claimed to be unskilled in defensive magic, this was only in comparison to S-rank mages specializing in defense, making him merely slightly inferior.
As for that utterly soulless ‘Starlight Breaker’ descending from above,
it was simple enough to block.
The magic’s caster, seemingly realizing that further attacks would yield no results, swiftly withdrew the spell.
Only then could the others manage to open their eyes, turning towards the source of the assault.
“Who are you?” Aya Tone’s eyes narrowed as he gazed at the figure slowly descending.
Then, a grin spread across his face. This was even possible?
What a familiar yet utterly alien face, my past self.
Indeed, the figure that appeared before them was not in Aya Tone’s magical girl form.
Unlike the clones of the others,
Aya Tone’s clone was a memory from his past, perhaps one he had long forgotten.
By his reckoning, almost six years had passed since then.
So that’s it…
“Hahaha, so this is how the game is played?” Aya Tone covered his face, bending over in a fit of wild laughter.
This left Lin Qingfeng, who was closest to him, utterly at a loss.
‘The Captain went mad after seeing that man opposite him. Could he be some scoundrel who hurt the Captain?’
“Aya Tone… Aya Tone…! So that’s it!”
Aya Tone gazed at the ‘Aya Tone’ before him, who held an identical wand, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Everything they had thought was wrong!
This dungeon wasn’t devoid of living beings! Instead, the entire dungeon itself was the sole monster!
It was alive!
It possessed the means to peer into people’s soul memories, replicating them like reflections in a mirror.
No! ‘Nurturing’ them into existence would be a more fitting description.
His clone’s delayed appearance wasn’t due to magical power; it was because Aya Tone’s soul didn’t belong to this world!
No wonder they found no clues to the core on the mountaintop, and why the blizzard had been intentionally used to sever communication between the three teams.
So this was the truth…
This dungeon had never intended for anyone to clear it.
It sought to devour Blue Star directly!
And then take its place!
“I told you all to bring good defensive items, didn’t I? See, they’re coming in handy now!” Aya Tone joked to Lin Qingfeng and the others.
He hoped to alleviate the heavy atmosphere.
However, they didn’t seem particularly receptive.
“Captain, are you going alone?”
“Of course, you fools! Do you expect me to bring you along?”
Aya Tone himself wasn’t even confident he could defeat himself; bringing along these hangers-on would be tantamount to raising a white flag, wouldn’t it?
“Alright, look after yourselves.”
With that pronouncement, Aya Tone unfurled a pair of magical light wings identical to ‘Aya Tone’s’ behind his back, slowly ascending into the air.
‘Aya Tone’ paid no mind to the ‘ants’ below, raising his wand with a single hand and pointing it at Aya Tone.
The very wand that required both of Aya Tone’s hands to wield was effortlessly managed with a single hand by ‘Aya Tone’.
Aya Tone: “…”
‘If only I could use magic like that, I wouldn’t have foolishly fallen into that scoundrel Fire Finch’s trap.’
Such envy, jealousy, and hatred!
“Starlight Breaker!”
Fueled by Aya Tone’s intense emotional surge of jealousy, starlight blossomed, transforming into countless flashes that struck ‘Aya Tone’.
At that instant, a thunderous roar echoed through the heavens and earth.
Yet Aya Tone felt no joy whatsoever.
‘Smoke without injury…’
He understood.
Moreover, if such a meager attack could fell ‘him’, Aya Tone, as the original, would be utterly mortified.
Just as expected!
With a tumultuous gust, a powerful hurricane instantly swept across the battlefield, simultaneously clearing away the shrouding smoke and dust.
A translucent magical barrier protected ‘Aya Tone’.
Aya Tone’s magic was utterly incapable of harming him in the slightest.
This, of course, was entirely within expectations.
However…
“Just seeing your face, and knowing you can wield such powerful magic, infuriates me to no end!”
Jealousy twisted Aya Tone’s expression, and his once clear eyes became clouded with gloom.
“Die, you bastard! Starlight, rapid fire!”
Innumerable starlight bolts tore through the snowflakes still dancing in the sky, striking ‘Aya Tone’ like scattered fairy blossoms.
Without a moment’s pause, Aya Tone’s magical power flowed like an endless torrent, heedlessly squandered.
“Why do you get to wield magic as a man?! While I’m forced to become a magical girl!”
“You absolute piece of trash, you’re my brother-in-law, and…”
“Why?!”
“…”
With each of Aya Tone’s resentful words, the rhombic crystal at the tip of his wand deepened in color.
Eventually, it transformed into a hue as dark as the night itself.
“Why aren’t you speaking? Can’t you speak? What a pathetic child, losing your voice right after birth.”
“How truly pitiful to be unable to speak. Allow your old man here to send you off!”
His contorted face now bloomed into an oddly adorable smile.
But the sheer malice emanating from him was impossible to conceal; even those below could feel its oppressive weight.
No!
Aya Tone perhaps had never intended to hide the malevolence within him.
He simply found him an eyesore and wished to kill him with his own hands!
Enough…