Although the Meteor had been meant to be more of a measuring stick, Garellia, truth be told, had expected the fight to end then and there. After all, there was no way for any living thing to survive such a strike, and it was nearly impossible to evade.
The Meteor was actually a summoning spell. It was basically impossible to pinpoint the exact moment when the summoning would be activated, and as soon as it appeared in the stratosphere, it would start hurtling down at a speed faster than the eye could track.
In other words, once the spell activated, that was the end. It would instantly kill the target almost every time.
However, the mimic had survived. It hadn’t even dodged. Instead, it had opted to take the even more impossible route—outlast the rock.
Even then, Garellia had prepared for the impossible. He had prepared to cast the most secret of spells taught at his school: the Meteor Shower.
First, Garellia cast Meteor. Then, he immediately prepared to cast Meteor Shower. If the Meteor ended things, he could just cancel the casting, and the only loss would be some wasted magic.
“Okay, it’s going to be harder to control the impact when it comes to Meteor Shower.”
The monster-trapping barrier had already been released. Now, Garellia was controlling a barrier meant to stop the meteors from having undue impact on the world at large.
Garellia’s students all canceled their Anti-detection spells and poured all their power into maintaining the barrier.
*THOOMTHOOMTHOOMTHOOMTHOOM!*
From the other side of the enclosure, an explosive cacophony—sounds of the forest and ground beneath it being blasted into nothingness—reached their ears. Countless meteors rained down, filling the area with a blinding flash.
The heat and shock waves that were generated as a result were only barely being contained within the barrier. It also absorbed the swirling waves of force and overpressure inside. The fiery skill was the pinnacle of magic, and the enclosure limited the area of the meteor’s deadly influence.
Finally, the interior started to become clear. Everything inside the barrier had disappeared, pulverized by the force of the impacts, then burned away by the great heat. There was literally nothing left, only flatness.
“Master Garellia, maintaining the barrier any longer will be...difficult.” Garellia’s students all gathered at his side.
There were supposed to be fifty of them, but only a little over half of them were still here. Several had been killed by the mimic, while the rest had most likely fallen during the ritual to cast the Meteor Shower.
No one would expect that so much firepower and sacrifice would be necessary to bring down a single mimic, but it had been necessary for Garellia. In order to solve the problem and maintain his pride as the leader of the greatest association of magic, he needed to hit the monster with everything he had.
“Almost all the aftereffects have been absorbed. Release the barrier.”
The barrier dissipated. As soon as it did, a wave of hot wind rushed past. Fortunately, it was no longer strong enough to be life-threatening.
“I’ll leave the cleanup to you all.”
He had caused unrecoverable destruction in the dungeon, even if it was only a small area. Since Garellia had unleashed a wide-ranged annihilation spell so close to town, there would no doubt be voices of complaint coming at him from all sides. However, dealing with such things was not his job—he only had to plumb the depths of magic.
He turned around, his mind already filled with considerations on the applications of Meteor Shower in a real battle. At that moment, he heard a voice from behind him.
“Explosive Legs! Explosive Legs! Explosive Legs!”
Despite rational thought telling him it was impossible, Garellia recognized it as the mimic’s. He turned around just in time to reflexively catch the flying body of one of his students.
*KaBOOM!*
The student exploded in Garellia’s arms, but the teacher himself was unhurt. He was not so soft as to be damaged by the attack’s aftermath. Unfortunately, the shock waves left in their wake conferred the property onto him and caused another chain of blasts. Even then, he withstood the damage. Garellia, who had taken in the bodies of several monsters, boasted almost unparalleled toughness.
The same couldn’t be said of his students, who had all been reduced to a sorry state. They’d all blown up into fleshy chunks and splatters of blood, dyeing their surroundings crimson.
“Aggh, damn! I really thought I’d die there! You totally went ham, you bastard! Well, you know what they say...now it’s my turn!”
The mimic stood inside the pool of blood, essentially unscathed.