Is this guy crazy?

Alice frowned as she struggled to keep Fugallo’s axes from reaching her. Even though Fugallo had just suffered a wound so severe it looked like his whole body would snap in half the next moment, the strength he exerted into his axes did not weaken in the slightest. On the contrary, his strength had increased after getting injured. Moreover, it was to a point where Alice was struggling to hold him back, even with the assistance of the Hero’s Sword’s bonuses.

It should be known that Alice, with the Hero’s Sword wielded, could wrestle dragons and emerge victorious. In terms of physical strength, Alice should already be stronger than even full-fledged Heroes and Demon Kings. Yet, Fugallo still had her beaten in physical strength.

By the looks of things, it would seem that Fugallo’s strength had indeed increased after he had possessed the Demon King’s Shadow and absorbed its power. Otherwise, there was no way Fugallo could have overwhelmed Alice with his original strength.

However, what confused Alice, even more, was the fact that Fugallo had pletely ignored Andusia’s attack and let Andusia erase half of his waist. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought that Fugallo wanted to kill her so badly that he was willing to let himself get killed in the process. After all, with his current injuries, there was no way he could survive Andusia’s subsequent attacks unless…

Unless… This bastard can regenerate his body again…

Alice was startled when she thought of this point.

Indeed, although Fugallo had only managed to heal his previous injuries and increase his strength by possessing the Demon King’s Shadow to heal his previous injuries, no one said he could use the Demon King’s Shadow taboo only once! Not to mention, seeing how frantically Fugallo and Haydn were in searching for and collecting demon mana, did they only prepare for one possession attempt?

Her danger senses ringing, Alice hurriedly gathered the mana in her body. Although she had yet to fully recover the mana since no more than ten seconds had passed since she cast Fountain of Uys, she had no choice but to cast another spell, even if it meant depleting her mana pool.

At this moment, Alice could feel her body howling in agony. It wasn’t good to use up all of the mana in one’s body as this would damage the body to a certain degree. Although recovery was possible, there was also a certain chance for the body to suffer irreparable damage.

However, Alice couldn’t care less about such a consequence right now. After all, unless she used up every bit of mana she had, she wouldn’t have enough mana to cast a spell that was strong enough to work on Fugallo.

After Alice concentrated her mana, she immediately spread this mana out of her body in the form of a light-green crystal.

Forest Crystal!

Fugallo’s expression instantly changed when he saw the crystalline barrier spreading out from Alice. Forest Crystal was an old taboo belonging to the elves, so Fugallo immediately recognized it. He also knew what the taboo was designed to do.

Aside from defensive purposes, Forest Crystal could also be used to trap opponents. Once someone was enveloped by the Forest Crystal, if they wanted to break out of it, they would have to expend several times more mana than what was used to create the Forest Crystal. On top of that, the Forest Crystal’s mana could also be used to penetrate the trapped target’s body and seal the target’s mana source. So, if a person trapped by the Forest Crystal did not break out of it quickly, they might be put in a situation where they couldn’t access their mana.

Currently, Fugallo was already having difficulty moving his body due to his severe waist injury. He had also spent most of his mana. This was also why he had abandoned any thoughts of attacking from range and chose to engage Alice in a melee instead. So, if he were to get trapped by Alice’s Forest Crystal now, he would most likely have no chance of breaking out of it.

As soon as Fugallo realized his predicament, he decisively retreated, successfully avoiding capture by Alice’s Forest Crystal.

Meanwhile, Alice couldn’t help but sigh when she saw the empty Forest Crystal before her. Had she managed to capture Fugallo with the Forest Crystal, she was certain Fugallo’s fate would be sealed.

To make matters worse, Alice could feel her body aching all over, a consequence of squeezing all of her mana out of her body. If not for her extraordinary mana regeneration instantly refilling her body with some mana, she would have already lost consciousness, similar to Luna.

“This guy really is something. He doesn’t show mercy even to his own body,” Andusia mented as she flew back to Alice’s side after seeing Fugallo retreat from the battlefield. “But the fact that he dodged your Forest Crystal shows that he still doesn’t wish to die. In that case, why did he not protect himself from my Dark Sunburst?”

“It might be because he still has a way to recover again,” Alice said, frowning as she expressed her conjecture. Then, she looked toward Haydn’s mansion and continued, “Most likely, that Demon King’s Shadow isn’t limited to just one use…”

As soon as Alice finished speaking, a dark figure flew out of the nearby mansion. Alice and Andusia both had good eyesight, so they naturally saw what this figure looked like. It was none other than a “Fugallo-shaped” Demon King’s Shadow.

“A second Demon King’s Shadow? Don’t tell me…”

Andusia’s expression instantly turned severe as she realized what was going on. Unfortunately, before she could do anything, the Demon King’s Shadow had already arrived next to Fugallo. Then, similar to before, Fugallo merged with the Demon King’s Shadow and achieved a full recovery… Moreover, even stronger mana started to radiate from Fugallo’s body.

“I see. So this guy’s plan is to continuously create Demon King’s Shadows and possess them to increase his strength…” Alice finally understood why Fugallo needed to absorb so much demon mana to carry out his plan. It turned out that Fugallo’s plan was never to stop at possessing only one Demon King’s Shadow. “But why does he need so much strength? Does he want to destroy the world?”

“Demon Kings aren’t interested in world destruction. Generally, Demon Kings are only looking to take revenge on humans. After all, who’d be interested in conquering a ruined world?” Although Andusia felt a little unnerved by the mana Fugallo radiated, she still dutifully answered Alice’s question as Alice’s encyclopedia. “Unless, of course, this guy has totally lost his mind…”