‘*cough* Shadow Clone? You mean my Shadow Demon? That was just ripped to shreds by that giant fish, can it even still be summoned?’
“Shadow Clones are just clones made from mana. As long as you survive the backlash and you still have enough mana, summoning it again shouldn’t be a problem. Dear little brother of mine, you know you could’ve just summoned another one right away, although that would have probably been painful.”
‘Oh, is that so?’
I tried summoning another one and it actually worked…
As I looked at the Shadow Clone before me, I could no longer contain the swelling excitement within me.
‘I DID IT…if that’s the case, I can just keep summoning it as a pin cushion for any incoming attacks. Also, since it’s about as strong as I am, I can just send it off without any worry…safe, stressless and, more importantly, danger-free…mhm, important things should be repeated.’
‘It’s almost like a game where I can have multiple lives!’
“Don’t get all worked up so easily now, how about having that clone of yours go fight the sprite first.”
As she suggested, I had my new Shadow Clone fly off to the other sprite who was still battling with Sinmosa and the others.
Sinmosa and Sasani both gave their new reinforcement a quick look before turning back to the sprite without saying a word.
“Use your Nether Flames.”
‘Huh?’
“Use your Nether Flames.” She repeated once more.
‘My Nether Flames? Did I hear you right there? What do you mean by use my Nether Flames? My Shadow Demon isn’t able to use magic just like that. And even if I could, will my clone just catch on fire?’ In spite of my apprehension however, I did as she said.
While this freeloader had a rather devious personality, she was a Devil King after; her words held a certain degree of weight. For the most part, I should probably listen to her commands…as long as they weren’t too outlandish…
No longer hesitating, I channelled my mana into a coat of Nether Flames. It was then that something miraculous happened. Just as my spell finished, the Shadow Demon, which was over 10 meters away by now, suddenly caught on fire as well… ‘Is that Nether Flame?!’
My eyes went wide with disbelief. Yet I didn’t have much time to stand there in a daze for long. Soon after that thought crossed my mind, I felt my mana reserves plummet with unprecedented speed. If I had to describe the sensation, it was like my Nether Flames suddenly started using up twice as much mana as before…
Ignoring my confusion, Ferti’nier continued with her promised lessons: “Try tossing out a Fireball while controlling your Shadow Demon.”
I nodded my head in response. Raising my right hand, I faced my palm towards that sprite and began channelling as she said. At the same time, my Shadow Demon raised its right hand as well, facing it in the same direction as I did. Within its palm was the same Nether Flame that was coalescing in my own.
This time, I didn’t need to wait for Ferti’nier’s command before tossing out that Fireball once it was formed. Meanwhile, the Shadow Demon did the same as well.
In response to that, the sprite only had one option left open: take to the skies. Yet there laid Mo Na’s strange mist which the sprite promptly collided into before falling back down with a bang. This time however, there were two Nether Fireballs waiting for him.
‘So my Shadow Demon can actually mimic my movements once I let it out. If I were to cast any spell, it would do so as well. Just like a shadow would!’
As a tradeoff however, I had to spend twice as much mana. At the very least, I gained a twofold increase in my battle power!
Being a clone of myself, I could control the Shadow Demon with my own will or let it roam free. The latter only afforded melee attacks and not magical ones. With that in mind, having it act autonomously was a big hit to its actual power.
Still, there was still the matter of the twofold mana consumption if I were to control it manually. Regardless, Ferti’nier had really done me a huge favor this time; thanks was in order for sure.
“If you really want to thank this one, just send more souls instead.” She made that request unabashedly upon hearing my thanks.
‘Fine, it’s not like I can stop her anyway. Seeing as she finally fulfilled her role as my own personal cheat handbook, I won’t quarrel with her over such a thing…not like it would work anyway…’
With those two sprites dead, all that was left was that giant fish swimming about in the lake. From its size and battle power, it was safe to say that it was at least at the level of Six-stars, the elite kind no less.
Up till now, Nola had been at a disadvantage against it. If one were to add on the attacks those sprites threw at her, she might just…
*WHOOSH*
Just as I was fretting over Nola’s safety, a giant silhouette suddenly burst out of the lava lake. A silhouette that was as massive as a tiny hill and covered in red…it was the Demon Fire Salamander, Nola!
Having appeared once more, that first thing that caught my eye was her body covered from head to toe in bite marks that sank so deep, they had penetrated a third of her flash. Thankfully, these wounds shouldn’t take long to heal, given how formidable their regenerative powers were.
That was also why there wasn’t any blood flower from her wounds as she exited the lake.
That said, the giant fish was nowhere to be seen. ‘Does this mean we’ve won?’
“We won?”
Seeing Nola return to us, I hurriedly retracted my Shadow Demon and sprinted up to her. Even though her return was basically a guaranteed sign of our success, I had to make sure. After all, the last we saw her, she was in a pretty bad situation.
‘How did she end up winning all of a sudden?’
“That Shadow Clone of yours can actually burn up on death…”
Fully aware of what I was going to ask, she began recounting what happened thereafter in detail.
It turned out that after eating my Shadow Clone, that fish wasn’t in a good shape itself. The mana that was leftover in that clone entered the stomach and because it couldn’t get digested in time, it actually turned into Nether Flames…
‘No wonder it dove into the lava lake right after killing my shadow. It wanted to leave the battle right away…so even the Flame Devouring Fishes can’t devour Nether Flames…’
