"My ears hurt... I can't hear anything..."

"Ugh~ I feel like throwing up..."

"Heal"

While Hannah healed Liz, who was crouching on the floor and holding her head to endure the headache caused by the thunderous roar, Ellric was down on all fours, trying his best to keep what used to be his lunch from coming out of his mouth for the same reason.

Meanwhile, Sylvie approached Brandon, who was examining the remnants of the Soldiers' Commander's Visage.

"What do you think, Ms. Sylvie?" Brandon asked as he knelt down and scooped up the crystal shards with his hand—the same material from the defeated Visage that the crafters of Mirare Town use to make mirrors and glasses.

"Although the materials are a bit different, I think the Visage in town and the one in the dungeon are closely related."

As Sylvie said, the Visages of the locals in town shattered into mirror shards upon defeat, while the ones inside the dungeon broke into crystal shards. But despite the difference in materials, both Visages share a unique similarity beyond the way they shatter. After all—

"—They're both missing their monster core."

A unique trait of the Visages that spawn in the Crystal Mirror Dungeon is that they don't have a monster core inside their bodies, unlike all other monsters.

"Two theories could explain this unique trait of the Visages. First, their bodies might actually be their monster core. Second, they might share the same core as the Dungeon Core itself."

Sylvie ended her explanation of what she knew about the Crystal Mirror Dungeon, which only convinced Brandon that the strange occurrences in town and among its locals would end and be resolved once their group defeated the Dungeon Master and conquered the dungeon—or, at worst, destroyed the Dungeon Core and sealed the dungeon itself.

After Liz recovered from her headache and Ellric from his nausea, their group continued exploring the underground labyrinth, following the safe direction marked on their map toward the center of the dungeon where the Dungeon Master and Core awaited.

Brandon cut down the rogue Visages of other adventurers, just as Sylvie obliterated them with her mystic spell, Lightning. Their group moved forward, prioritizing speed over conserving the strength of their strongest members for the incoming fight against the Dungeon Master.

When they encountered the next Visage from one of their group, however, Brandon and Sylvie let Liz, Hannah, and Ellric handle the fight.

'Reinforce'

—Bamm!—

A loud bashing sound echoed within the wide tunnel as Liz's shield, imbued with her combat skill, collided with her opponent's.

The Visage she was currently fighting had the same reddish-brown hair as hers, styled in a short cut that gave it an imposing and dignified look, matching the silver battle dress it wore along with its black longsword and shield.

An appearance that closely resembled Liz herself, for this Visage was that of her older sister—the heir of the ducal house of Von Envier.

'Cleave'

The instant their shields repelled each other, a sharp sound cut through the air as their longswords, imbued with the same combat skill, clashed.

It was the same combat skill, and they shared the same height and frame. But Liz's belief that her older sister was a more skillful valkyrie lowered her resolve, causing her to lose the clash and be pushed back.

"Tsk... Hannah!"

Although she felt insecure that she can't beat the Visage of her older sister alone, Liz decided to rely on her friend.

"Boost"

The confidence that she could win with her friend's help restored her resolve. With her physical and magical capabilities enhanced by Hannah's divine blessing, Liz activated her combat skill.

'Shockwave'

A burst of explosive aura was unleashed with the bash of her shield, breaking and shattering her opponent's less durable shield and knocking back the Visage.

Before the Visage could steady itself and regain its stance, Liz rushed in, imbued mana into her weapon, and activated another combat skill with the thrust of her longsword.

'Pierce'

Liz aimed her attack at the heart of her opponent, piercing its body until the Visage shattered and broke, ending the fight against her own Envy.

"I thought beating the carp out of her would make me feel happy, but this only makes me feel worse," Liz said, annoyed as she looked down at the crystal shards scattered across the floor.

"Please don't talk like that about your sister, Liz."

"It's not my older sister, Hannah. It's just a replica of my insecurities."

Moving deeper into the underground labyrinth, the next Visage their group encountered was another familiar person—or rather, a previous companion.

"I think that Visage looks better than the real one," Liz grumbled, remembering how mad and crazy Alex had been the last time they saw him.

"He's been through a lot, Liz. So please forgive him for hurting Hannah," Ellric said, knowing how important Hannah was to Liz and that she still held a grudge over Alex stabbing Hannah during the goblin-slaying quest.

Putting aside their unsettled argument, Ellric stepped forward, drawing his longsword to fight the Visage of Alex.

The instant the Visage brandished its twin swords, Ellric felt a familiar sense of mana engulf his entire body as if it was possessing him. The strange sensation made him realize that the Visage was using Alex's divine gift, Takeover, and had taken control of his own.

Fighting without his divine gift wasn't a problem for Ellric. However, an opponent wielding his divine gift was rather troublesome.

Let's end this fight as fast as possible, he thought, before rushing in with blinding speed, imbuing mana into his longsword, and activating his combat skill, aiming to cut off the Visage's head.

'Cleave'

The Visage managed to block his attack with its twin swords. Drawing back his longsword with both hands, Ellric swung again, this time at a speed the Visage couldn't react fast enough to block.

His longsword cut through the Visage's torso from the right flank to the left, cleaving a deep and wide crack in its body.

That kind of injury would be fatal to a human or an undead Visage, even to a humanoid monster. Ellric thought so. But as he expected—

—Bamm!—

Ellric landed, stumbling on the floor after taking a hit from the Visage.

Though he had managed to block the twin swords with his longsword and avoid injury, the Visage—now moving faster than its original speed—had grown stronger thanks to Ellric's divine gift, which it had taken control of by imitating Alex's Takeover.

"So this is how annoying I am to my opponents whenever I use my divine gift."

Bloodshed, a divine gift that increases Ellric's physical and magical capabilities the more injuries his body sustains, the more blood he sheds, and the closer he comes to death—granting him the pinnacle of his strength as he takes his last breath.

For obvious reasons, Ellric would only see the limit of Bloodshed once in his life. But now he had a chance to see how strong someone could be with his divine gift before they lost their life.

He excitedly got back on his feet, taking a stance with both hands gripping his longsword tightly.

The Visage of Alex was already much faster and stronger than him despite its injuries, but Ellric was confident that he was still a more skillful swordsman and a better knight—even better than Alex himself.

Ellric charged toward the Visage, unleashing his full speed. But before he could reach his opponent—

"Lightning"

Worried that Ellric might get hurt, Sylvie cast her mystic spell, unleashing a barrage of lightning bolts that shattered the Visage before the effect of Bloodshed could activate and boost its strength.

Thus ended the fight against Ellric's Envy.

The shockwave from the lightning knocked Ellric away from the remnants of the Visage, and he stumbled to the floor in front of Sylvie.

"Why... why did you do that, Sylvie?" Ellric cried, disappointed that he had lost the chance to see the limit of Bloodshed.

"You already know how strong your divine gift is... And we don't have time to waste."

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