The counterfeit Frieren, standing on the Golem's shoulder, naturally could not understand Fíliya's mockery.
It only silently unleashed the next round of attacks.
High-intensity mana began to gather at the tip of Frieren's staff. After an interval of a single breath, the charge was complete, followed immediately by an incomparably dazzling, deep purple lightning strike.
If it were just a single bolt, it would have been fine, but Fíliya clearly saw that at the same time Frieren cast her spell, the giant Golem also opened its mouth wide, emitting a beam of lightning identical to Frieren's.
"Oh? Is it 'Double Casting', then...?"
Fíliya instantly understood everything. Just as the lightning strikes were about to hit her, she quickly generated two pure white barriers, blocking the lightning coming from two different angles.
In just a single exchange, her Defensive Magic was shattered by the lightning, which carried a frighteningly dense aura of mana. However, for Fíliya, this result was already a pleasant surprise.
Because the Defensive Magic had neutralized the lightning strikes upon impact. This meant that while this thunderous attack looked terrifying, its actual power was even inferior to a compressed version of Ordinary Attack Magic.
"What's going on here? I thought you were holding back some ultimate move... Wait..."
Just as Miss Fíliya was about to voice her mockery, she suddenly realized something.
Whether in nature or among mages skilled in lightning magic, there was a prominent characteristic.
That's right. 'Lightning' never comes as just a single bolt.
In the next instant, Fíliya's conjecture was verified.
A massive magic circle, fully twenty to thirty meters in diameter, appeared behind Frieren and the Golem. It was clearly the sign that she was about to launch a fierce offensive.
Immediately after, electric light began to surge continuously from Frieren's hands. Those deep purple arcs of lightning resembled countless poisonous snakes, all pouncing toward Fíliya at once.
And under the enhancement of 'Double Casting', the quantity of those purple lightning bolts was so great that Fíliya's eyes couldn't even keep up.
"Tsk, you really aren't holding back, are you?"
Fíliya narrowed her eyes and instantly generated several layers of Defensive Magic barriers in front of herself.
Besides the method Frieren had used before—making the spell formula incomparably complex—there was another relatively easier way to strengthen the performance of Defensive Magic.
That was to stack Defensive Magic like nesting dolls. In this critical moment, Fíliya hurriedly created at least five layers of Defensive Magic.
The purple lightning bombarded the barriers of Defensive Magic like rain, erupting with countless sonic booms. The first layer was shattered instantly, while the second, third, and fourth layers could only hold on for a brief moment.
But by the time the lightning broke through to the fifth layer, Fíliya had gained enough time to replenish the previous four layers, thus forming a cycle that could be sustained temporarily.
"This can't go on..."
Although she barely managed to withstand the endless stream of lightning, Fíliya knew very well that she was in no position to engage in a war of attrition over mana with Frieren. Her gaze immediately locked onto the Golem that was helping Frieren perform 'Double Casting'.
"Hmm... it's a good thing this replica has no 'Wisdom'. If the real Frieren were here, she would absolutely never summon such a thing to get in the way while fighting me."
A smile appeared at the corners of Fíliya's mouth. It seemed she felt that the Golem was actually the opportunity for her to regain the initiative.
So she immediately took action. First, utilizing High-Speed Movement Magic (Jilgravala) and Flight Magic, she soared into the air. Dodging and weaving through the sky in a very strange flight path, she rushed toward the Golem beneath Frieren's feet.
The moment she left her original position, the floor there was bombarded by dozens, perhaps hundreds, of powerful lightning strikes.
But what made Fíliya sigh with emotion was that under such a terrifying attack, the ground there didn't collapse. It was merely smashed into a small pit, five or six meters in diameter and three or four meters deep.
"Tsk tsk, as expected of the Ruins of the Royal Tomb. What, because it's a dungeon sealing a monster from the Age of Gods, even the floor tiles are 'Age of Gods' grade?"
By this time, Fíliya had already arrived at the Golem's heel. Having confirmed her safety, her attitude immediately relaxed a bit, leaving her with enough energy to voice a complaint.
The scene fell silent for a moment. Frieren, atop the Golem, also stopped her attacks, as if realizing something.
"Only reacting now? This thing you summoned has now become my safest 'Blind Spot'."
Fíliya mocked with a light chuckle.
The response she got was an attack from the Golem. The Golem slowly lifted its right foot and stomped toward her.
"Too slow. Are you trying to make me laugh with this kind of attack?"
Fíliya easily disappeared from the sole of the Golem's foot, then stood once again on the bridge of the Golem's foot.
The counterfeit Frieren seemed to understand that such slow physical attacks could not possibly hit Fíliya. So, she too floated up, leaving the Golem's shoulder and flying to an angle where she could look down and cast magic at Fíliya.
What she unleashed this time was no longer that lightning, but a kind of... incomparably scorching, two-colored flame, interlaced with blood-red and pitch-black.
"I dodge!"
Fíliya let out a playful voice and jumped directly onto the Golem's back. The Golem's incredibly clumsy movements meant it had no way to shake her off; it could only obediently be used by Fíliya as a shield to block the attack.
Fíliya was naturally very satisfied with her decision, but events obviously wouldn't continue to go as she wished.
She noticed that the Golem's back was getting hotter and hotter—so hot she couldn't hold on firmly... And what surprised her even more was that the red-and-black fire had actually ignited the Golem directly. The fire adhering to the rock seemed to possess self-awareness, spreading continuously toward her.
Not good!
Fíliya instantly became alert and let go, hurriedly fleeing from the Golem's back.
Unfortunately, even though her reaction speed was fast, she couldn't avoid getting a bit of the flame on her body.
"..."
Watching her sleeve being swallowed by the flames, Fíliya frowned. She immediately used Water Creation Magic (Dralguhr) to generate a small amount of water, trying to extinguish that spot.
But the moment the water touched the black-and-red flame, it was directly evaporated.
"This fire... cannot be extinguished..."
Upon realizing this, Fíliya made a prompt decision, directly tearing off her mage robe and tossing it aside.
____
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