“I see, so that’s how it is.” Qual stroked his beard with one hand while extending the other.
“A structure that synchronizes with offensive magic to disperse its power?
Truly comp—” The prototype of a defensive spell began to manifest in his palm.
*Now!* Luo Han screamed inwardly, keeping his expression neutral.
He suddenly launched a sneak attack from behind Qual using Ordinary Offensive Magic.
A pillar of blue-white light erupted, piercing through dozens of paces in an instant.
He knew he couldn’t escape the perception of a powerhouse like Qual, but demons judged strength purely by the magnitude of mana.
Being weak and easily overlooked was exactly his current advantage.
The moment Qual’s brain finished analyzing the defensive spell while he was still locked in a confrontation with his nemesis, Frieren—splitting his focus—was the exact instant his guard dropped!
*Thwack.* Though Qual sensed it at the very last second before impact.
A defensive barrier materialized out of thin air behind him, but it was too slow.
It only managed to slightly deflect the Ordinary Offensive Magic aimed at his chest, failing to cancel it out.
The blue-white pillar, lacking sustained power, merely tore through Qual’s thigh, forcing him to drop to one knee.
“You damned ant…
using my own magic to ambush me.” Qual was beyond livid.
He snapped.
He spun around, swinging both arms in every direction.
Great pillars of dark-purple light, thicker and more concentrated than before, erupted from him.
They poured down upon Luo Han and Frieren like a torrential storm!
It was no longer a single shot; it was a saturated, wide-area bombardment covering both sides!
Seeing the sky filled with dark-purple mana, Luo Han immediately deployed his defensive magic.
However, after that one full-focus offensive spell, he could only hold out for a few breaths.
After all, he was just a Desolate-rank template with a measly 1 point in Intelligence.
*Frieren, I trust you won’t just stand there and watch me die.*
Luo Han thought silently.
He believed that a battle-hardened mage like her would never miss such an opening, nor would she intentionally let him die.
This was his confidence in his understanding of the original character’s personality.
On the other side, unlike Luo Han’s crude, full-body defense, Fern raised her hand.
Small but indestructible defensive barriers coalesced in front of her staff, easily neutralizing the pillars of light.
Her transition between offense and defense was a dizzying display of skill.
“Killing Magic.” Frieren was suddenly floating in front of the side-turned Qual.
She raised her staff, pointing it at his body.
There was no roaring incantation, no long charging period.
At the tip of her staff, a spark of pure, condensed mana lit up.
A complex magic circle expanded instantly—the standard, basic starting form of “Ordinary Offensive Magic.”
Time seemed to freeze for a heartbeat.
The light flashed, punching a massive hole directly through Qual’s chest.
All of Qual’s movements, his roars, and his churning mana froze.
He looked down in disbelief at the enormous cavity rapidly spreading through his torso.
“To think…
you’d use…
my magic…” Qual muttered, his face contorting.
In the distance, the trailing blue-white offensive magic dissipated like a fading meteor.
The next moment, Qual’s body, like a shadow struck by direct sunlight, was torn apart from the inside by that massive void.
His gargantuan form disintegrated silently, turning into countless drifting ashes that quickly dissolved into the air, leaving no trace behind.
Silence returned to the valley, save for the scorched earth and the faint smell of ozone lingering in the air, bearing witness to what had just occurred.
Frieren landed and looked toward Luo Han’s previous position.
“In a certain sense, you really are a qualified De—” Frieren paused, staring at the Mimic that had abruptly appeared on the flat ground.
Fern walked up, looking at Luo Han—who had reverted to a treasure chest—with a confused expression.
“Lady Frieren, why did Luo Han change back?”
“He used up all his mana maintaining that defensive spell.
He doesn’t even have enough left to maintain a human form.
That sneak attack earlier, too…
pushing himself that hard, was he trying to prove something?” Frieren fell into momentary thought.
The hunchbacked old man peeked out from behind a giant boulder in the distance.
Seeing the empty hills and the figures of Frieren’s group, he hurried over, moved to tears as he poured out his gratitude.
“Thank you so much, Lady Frieren!
Wait, where is that young man from before?
He didn’t…” The old man’s eyes suddenly widened as he looked around nervously.
“Don’t worry, he’s fine.
You should head back first; we’ll return shortly,” Frieren said with a nod and a smile before walking toward Fern.
Fern’s face was somewhat pale from the tension, but her eyes were bright.
Frieren checked her condition, and once confirmed she was unharmed, she walked over to Luo Han.
She stared at the chest.
Suddenly, Frieren turned to Fern and said, “Fern, don’t you think?
After defeating a powerful demon, a treasure chest suddenly appearing makes one really want to open it and see if there’s any rare magic inside.”
Fern was speechless.
“Lady Frieren, you clearly know he’s a Mimic.
What are you thinking?”
“I’m just waiting for him to recover a bit of mana.
Anthropomorphization Magic.” Sensing a sliver of mana returning to Luo Han, Frieren quickly cast the spell and changed the subject.
Luo Han experienced that strange transformation sensation once again.
However, he didn’t get up; he just lay spread-eagled on the grass.
In that final moment of holding the defensive spell, he really thought he was going to have to eat a Killing Magic and retreat.
But in that split second, he had channeled the very last drop of mana in his body into a single, hexagonal prism of defensive magic, blocking the final lingering trace of the dark-purple light.
Sensing the information in his mind—Defensive Magic Lv.2—the thought that he was a genius naturally arose.
Just for the fact that he successfully ambushed Qual, he was guaranteed an improved evaluation for the next stage.
“Thanks, Frieren.
I almost died.
Good thing you acted in time.”
Only now did Luo Han truly relax.
As expected, being daring and aggressive was the only way to raise one’s evaluation.
“By the way, what dropped?” Thinking of the evaluation, Luo Han naturally thought of looting the “boss.”
In this kind of single-player non-open world, a loot box only appears if the user contributes to the kill.
However, the drop rate for such items seemed to depend on the degree of contribution to the battle.
His gaze was suddenly drawn to a faint golden box on the empty ground under the torii gate where Qual had vanished.
There, suspended in mid-air, was a pillow-sized box flickering with a pale golden light.
The exterior of the box looked as if countless fine lines were flowing and combining, emitting a strange vibration that shared the same source as Qual’s aura but was more restrained and concentrated.
Frieren and Fern seemed completely unaware of it.
They didn’t even glance in that direction, simply chatting among themselves.
Later, having apparently agreed on hiring a carriage for their journey, they told Luo Han to return as soon as he had rested and turned to leave.
Once they were far enough away, Luo Han walked excitedly to the box.
“Give me something good!
This is the first Collision World monster I’ve ever fought.” Luo Han threw the box open.
Two flashes of purple light appeared.
Luo Han was a bit disappointed, though it was within his expectations.
He would probably need a solo kill to get loot matching the box’s quality.
The fact that he got two purple-tier items was likely due to him drawing aggro to create an opening for Frieren, and also because he injured Qual’s leg, restricting his movement.
Luo Han looked at the two items with anticipation.
[Elder Sage of Corruption Qual’s Mana Cultivation Accumulation (30 Years)] [Quality: Purple] [Usage: Grants thirty years of Qual’s mana cultivation, increasing Intelligence.] [Origin: Collision World H07]
[Elder Sage of Corruption Qual’s Killing Magic Essentials] [Quality: Purple] [Usage: Increases understanding of Killing Magic and grants EXP for related skills.] [Origin: Collision World H07]
Not bad, not bad at all.
Though they weren’t top-tier “jackpot” items, one of them was exactly what he desperately needed.
Mana capacity was the shortest plank in his bucket.
Even though he had learned offensive and defensive magic right off the bat, he had no time to accumulate mana.
He would run dry after just a few spells.
He was a mana-starved mage, as crippled in his role as a “health tank” with no HP.
Luo Han had no intention of taking these items out of the world.
Strengthening himself now to snowball his advantage as a pioneer was far more valuable than hoarding items.
With that thought, he immediately used the mana accumulation.
He felt the mana in his body multiply several times over, and his Intelligence stat jumped from 1 to 10.
Though he didn’t know the exact ratio of Intelligence to mana increase, he couldn’t help but let out a whistle.
Nothing felt better than watching himself get stronger.
As for the Killing Magic Essentials, Luo Han tested it and found it would merge with Ordinary Offensive Magic to strengthen the skill.
He decided to save it for later.
He had only just learned Ordinary Offensive Magic.
There was still plenty of room for natural improvement.
He would use it once his progress slowed or before a major battle to maximize the cost-effectiveness.
He then excitedly practiced his offense and defense with his newfound mana before heading back as quickly as possible.
Walking through the forest, the village lay nestled in lush greenery.
Clear sunlight bathed the land, and waves of wheat swayed like gentle ripples in the wind.
Stone walls surrounded the village entrance, glowing warmly in the sun.
The village was quiet and peaceful, save for the sounds of cheering at the gate.
Frieren’s group seemed ready to leave.
Fern was by the wagon reading a book on magical history, while Frieren talked with the hunchbacked old man and the cheering residents.
Luo Han could vaguely hear a conversation about “the kid who flipped my skirt back then”—the kind of topic that sounded rather awkward.
Luo Han’s arrival drew side-glances from Frieren and Fern.
He was prepared for this, however, and simply waited quietly for their departure.
His mana was too conspicuous.
Unlike Frieren, he couldn’t suppress his mana signature.
His mana control was still crude; like a demon, his mana radiated outward, announcing his presence to the world.
Frieren exchanged a few more pleasantries, pointed toward Luo Han to signal her awareness, waved goodbye to the villagers, and walked over.
“What’s with your mana?
It’s increased several times over.” She was blunt, her gaze full of scrutiny.
Fern also closed her book and stood up.
“Actually, if I participate in killing a demon, I can obtain a portion of their power.” Luo Han was prepared.
While he couldn’t lie due to the contract, he could choose to tell the truth selectively.
“Is that magic?” Frieren’s eyes flickered with doubt.
“No, it’s more like an ability I’ve had since I was born into this world,” Luo Han said, practicing his “art of speaking.”
“To have such an ability…
perhaps I should consider breaking the contract and killing you.” Frieren sensed through the contract magic that he wasn’t lying.
Her calm demeanor faded, replaced by a look of serious intensity.
“Don’t do that, Frieren.
I want to kill those demons more than you do so I can grow my own power.”
“But what if you become the next Demon King?”
“Then I’ll need you even more to guide me, Lady Frieren.
I really don’t plan on eating people or anything.”
“Stop being glib.
Give me a reason, or I’ll break the contract and kill you right now.” Frieren raised her staff.
She knew demons too well; one could never let their guard down.
“Whew…” At this moment, Luo Han was nervous as hell.
He hadn’t expected Frieren to be so persistent.
He had underestimated how sensitive this thousand-year-old fossil was toward demons.
“Actually…
before I became a Mimic, I was a genuine human…
I was turned into a Mimic by a great power I don’t understand…
I still have the memories of my past life as a human.”
Luo Han’s mind raced through a frantic brainstorm.
Finally, he bypassed the no-lying clause of the contract by speaking a few lines of sophistry that, on their own, contained no lies.
“What!?” Fern, who had been on guard, cried out in shock.
“Lady Frieren, is he not lying?”
“He’s not lying…
This is actually true.” In that moment, Frieren’s attitude shifted completely, her eyes filled with curiosity.
*To think such a miracle exists.
Was it the work of an entity like the Goddess?* Frieren stared intently at Luo Han for a long time before finally sighing.
“Very well.
Since you were once human, I can understand why your behavior is so markedly different from other monsters and demons.” Frieren dropped the matter and called for the driver to start the wagon.
Luo Han leaned against the side of the cart and let out a long, heavy sigh.
This was about as exhausting as fighting Qual.
One had drained his mana; the other had drained his mental energy.
But he had finally passed this hurdle.
Thinking this, Luo Han felt as if the world had opened up before him.
He had a great future ahead.
On the other side of the wagon, Frieren pulled a grimoire out of a box, her peripheral vision still tracking Luo Han.
Beside her, Fern’s eyes were practically glued to him, her very aura screaming, “I’m curious!”
Finally, Fern couldn’t help herself.
She opened her mouth and asked…