Merlin forced herself to pull it together, her gaze sweeping past the swirling dust to land on Machina by her side.
Machina was trying to squeeze out every single drop of remaining mana within her body.
Ice mana gathered painfully in her palm, condensing into a translucent ice sword. However, the blade no longer emitted the same chilling aura as before, much like her currently strained body.
Machina jogged over to Merlin’s side.
“Anyway, backup is coming. The two of us need to buy as much time as possible.”
Merlin gritted her teeth, her hands never stopping. She aimed at the demonic beast’s blood-soaked back and hurled a magic crystal.
Following a few muffled explosions, smoke billowed upward.
Merlin’s fingers fumbled around her magic pocket, and her heart suddenly sank.
Just like Machina’s nearly depleted mana, her crystals were almost gone.
Because Merlin’s original plan hadn’t required detonating a second mountain, she had brought far fewer magic crystals than her classmates.
Merlin let out a silent sigh, but that momentary stiffness didn’t escape Machina’s eyes.
Should she call it the lingering chemistry between them? Machina quickly sensed Merlin’s predicament.
“Out of crystals?”
Merlin lowered her gaze.
“Yeah…”
Merlin asked back.
“You’ve… sprained your ankle too, haven’t you?”
Machina chose to answer with silence.
“…”
When they fell into the depths of the labyrinth earlier, Machina had chosen to shield Merlin during the landing. No matter how light Merlin was, the extra weight caused Machina to lose her balance.
From the moment she stood up, Machina’s left foot had been twitching slightly.
The reason Merlin didn’t point it out was that Machina had been injured while protecting her, and Machina hated showing a fragile side in front of Merlin.
If she exposed the sprain, Machina would surely get grumpy, and they would argue again.
But that was all based on a premise — Machina was a mage. Even with a minor sprain, it would be fine as long as Merlin covered her while she cast spells.
Mana depleted, stamina exhausted, and then there was the injury worsened by protecting her; her limping gait could no longer be hidden.
With such a tottering body, holding that fragile ice sword, what could she possibly achieve?
‘It’s truly frustrating.’
Judging from the earlier landing and Machina’s close-quarters combat, Machina hadn’t neglected her physical training even after becoming a mage.
Meanwhile, Merlin had always been protected by Machina like this.
During the long battle of attrition, the demonic beast, whose back and hind limbs had been heavily damaged by Lucia, also showed signs of fatigue.
Merlin and Machina kept their distance from the beast. The creature didn’t pursue them further, instead glaring at them viciously.
Its compound eyes flashed with cunning and cruelty, staring intently at its two prey, seemingly evaluating how many cards they had left to play.
While they were passively dodging earlier, the sprain in Machina’s foot began to worsen.
Machina finally couldn’t hold on any longer.
Her figure swayed slightly, and she had to reach out, lightly resting her hand on Merlin’s shoulder.
That bone-chillingly cold hand was trembling.
Merlin took a deep breath. She didn’t want to be protected by Machina like this forever; if she did, nothing would have changed from back then.
Merlin called out softly.
“Machina.”
Machina turned her head. Seeing Merlin’s inscrutable expression, she mistakenly thought Merlin wanted to give up out of fear.
“Hold on a bit longer. Not just Lucia and Lady Ophelia, but other professors will come too.”
“Yeah, I’m not as strong as you, and I’m unreliable. But I don’t want to just be protected by you all the time. Even if I don’t have mana, even if I’m weak, I won’t just let you protect me. I’m not weaker than you!”
Before Machina could react, Merlin ran off.
“I’ll draw its attention. You wait for an opportunity.”
In reality, there was nothing to wait for. Even if Machina had an ice sword, with a sprained foot and no mana, she wouldn’t be able to strike even if an opportunity arose.
Merlin was simply stalling for time.
Merlin threw all the crystals in her hand at the demonic beast, then took out a large bottle of potion. She had brought it just in case, and never expected it to actually be useful.
Inside swirled a bizarre purplish-red liquid — a high-concentration demonic beast lure potion.
She poured the entire bottle over herself.
The cold liquid instantly soaked her hair and clothes, sliding down her cheeks. A pungent scent exploded in the air, completely masking the smell of dirt around them.
Machina was startled by her sudden action and shouted.
“Are you crazy?! Merlin!”
The previously observant demonic beast immediately became restless. All its compound eyes greedily locked onto Merlin.
Even when used to attract beasts, this kind of potion was never used up all at once, yet Merlin had dumped it all on herself in one go.
“I’m not crazy! Even if I’m not as strong as you! And not as reliable! I have the right to protect others too. I don’t want to be protected by you forever! I hate you!”
The opponent was very calm.
Even with the scent on Merlin attracting it, it didn’t lose its mind and chase her blindly.
“What can you possibly do without magic?” Machina asked.
“And what can you do with magic but no mana?” Merlin shot back.
Merlin continued throwing her few remaining crystals at the creature’s wounds.
The demonic beast finally moved. Merlin threw another crystal before it could act, but this time, it seemed she couldn’t dodge.
Merlin pulled a shield from her magic pocket, using a subtle redirection of force to neutralize the attack, but even a single hit made her arm go numb.
‘Is there really no other way?’ Merlin felt every second was agonizingly long. Her faint confidence in the arrival of reinforcements weakened even further.
Right.
Merlin began to call out to the fairies in her heart.
Like fireflies, the fairies began to swarm around Merlin, emitting a blue light. Even Machina was shocked by the scene.
“Boss!”
“This is the first time Boss has called us on her own!”
Then, the fairies noticed something was wrong — the labyrinth’s aura, the ferocious demonic beast, and the battered Merlin.
“Boss, don’t die!”
“I’m not dead. Help me think of something quickly, or I’m going to be finished by this beast.”
“Hmm… this big guy is pretty strong. Even if there were ten of the current Boss, you still couldn’t win.”
They really didn’t hold back.
“So, is there a way? Like providing mana or something?”
‘Aren’t fairies supposed to be clusters of mana?’
The fairies circled Merlin in silence.
“Oh, Boss, why were you only able to see us yesterday? It’s because you’re too weak right now. We only appear because of you, so how could we possibly exert power beyond yours? It would be fine if we were in our hometown or the northern part of the Empire, but the south is way too hot — it’s killing us!”
Ah.
‘Is there really no way left?’