Using an explosion at this time, does this person really want a situation where both parties are harmed as they claimed?
With such thoughts in her mind, Drunken Fish Grass did not change her action plan, because in her view, an "explosion" spell, which must be very close to be effective, was not something to guard against. Unless the other party has a way to turn explosion into a long-range attack...
At this point, Drunken Fish Grass suddenly understood.
Earlier, in the smoke, she had seen Xia Liang's Magic Armor in action. The opponent's mirrors could swallow her smoke and transfer it elsewhere. Then it must be possible to use this ability with the explosion spell, too?
As expected, when she looked around again, she noticed the mirror nested outside Xia Liang's palm, as well as another mirror aimed at her from not far away.
Too obvious.
She evaluated this attack method in her mind and then casually mobilized her remaining Magic Power Consumption to deploy several small Magical Barriers in the direction of the mirror facing her.
Although the explosion spell is very powerful, penetrating several layers of Magical Barriers in a peer-level contest is quite common, but as long as barriers are pre-deployed near the explosion's source, by the time they pass through multiple layers and weaken, what really reaches her would be a mere small magical aftershock.
Drunken Fish Grass thought so, but out of habitual caution, she didn't use all of her Magic Power Consumption, using only about 80%, leaving 20% just in case.
Under her casual gaze, Xia Liang's explosion spell was triggered.
Just as Drunken Fish Grass anticipated, the explosion spell wasn't detonated in front of Xia Liang, but was teleported through the mirror to a location closer to Drunken Fish Grass.
Yet, at that exact moment, Drunken Fish Grass realized her barriers didn't seem to react to the incoming explosion spell at all.
What's going on?
She took a closer look, analyzing Xia Liang's mirror arrangement as quickly as possible, and then she suddenly noticed—the mirror was actually double-layered!
In other words, the mirror in that direction was just a feint because the spell was teleported out from one mirror and would quickly transfer into another!
Then, where is the real attacking direction?
Drunken Fish Grass turned instinctively and discovered that a mirror, which had been placed behind her at some point, had begun to shimmer with light.
——It's already too late to set up another barrier.
She quickly made such a judgment, so after confirming that the mirror wasn't double-layered, she dropped the rune she had gathered with her other hand and focused on the fragrance in her palm, causing the magic liquid at her feet to suddenly rise and form a Water Wall between herself and the mirror.
This was originally an attack she planned to use to ambush her opponent, but because of her previous miscalculation, she had to use it to make up for her current passive situation.
Not a bad idea.
If there was still time to talk, she would probably have evaluated it like that.
But everything happened in a flash, leaving no time for conversation, and she could only channel more magic to make the Water Wall between herself and the mirror thicker.
If it wasn't thick enough, the Water Wall would be pierced by the explosion spell in a matter of seconds.
After she made a series of reactions in that brief moment, the explosion spell within the mirror once again triggered.
From the moment Xia Liang raised her hand until now, only a few seconds had passed, but their confrontation had already entered the third stage. This time, Drunken Fish Grass believed she had made the most reasonable response.
But when the spell was transmitted from the mirror, she realized that she had thought wrong.
This time, the mirror was indeed not double-layered but single-faced, which meant that the explosion spell would shoot out from this mirror, but she never expected the spell to be fired in reverse.
Yes, the explosion spell teleported by Diversion wasn't triggered in Drunken Fish Grass's direction, but flew out in the complete opposite direction.
And in that opposite direction, not too far away, another mirror was quietly waiting.
When was it set up?
Drunken Fish Grass could only question in her heart, but didn't even have time to think about it as she quickly raised her head to start searching for the next mirror's location.
No one dares to underestimate the power of an explosion spell that can be triggered anywhere, even she must take it seriously, so even if it slowed down her attack rhythm, she couldn't afford not to defend.
Luckily, the Magic Power Consumption of such a spell is extremely high, and for the opponent to use it in conjunction with Magic Armor, it probably consumes most of their magic. As long as she can quickly find the real source of the attack and defend against this wave, she can regain the initiative...
Drunken Fish Grass's train of thought was interrupted when she found the next mirror.
The position of that mirror was actually quite obvious because it was right behind Xia Liang herself. At that moment, Xia Liang merely took a few steps aside and revealed the existence of this mirror.
But the positioning of the mirror wasn't why Drunken Fish Grass's thoughts came to a halt.
The real reason was Xia Liang's actions. After throwing the costly explosion spell, she used her last shred of Magic Power Consumption to unleash the last spell she could simultaneously use.
[Traction].
This is a very simple spell that turns magic into a retractable rope and designates a location for the magic rope to pull the user towards.
Its Magic Power Consumption is slightly less than that of flying, the distance it can move is limited, and even its actual speed is not particularly fast. There are too many superior alternatives as a means of movement, making it not very popular.
Yet, at this moment, Xia Liang used this extremely unpopular spell, splitting the magic rope in her hand into three, and tying the other two around her sisters Shan Dan and Juan Dan.
"Sorry."
She stuck out her tongue at Drunken Fish Grass, showing a somewhat playful smile, and said with a tone full of laughter, "It seems you still have quite a few abilities unused, but our team has to compete for exam rankings, so we don't have time to waste on a lunatic."
When those words fell, the rope in her hand began to tighten, and at the same time, the mirror at her side began to flicker with the light of the explosion spell.
Drunken Fish Grass had already withdrawn the previously deployed Magic Barriers and Water Wall, but because she acted too hastily, her Magic Power Consumption had not yet recovered. To deal with this possible real attack, she couldn't help but squeeze her last threads of Magic Power Consumption, trying to build some semblance of defense.
Undoubtedly, her current situation was not as seamless anymore.
But the more the situation reached such a critical point, the more curious she became: How exactly does the opponent plan to escape?
So her line of sight went through the two shallow barriers being constructed in front of her, straining to look at the end of the rope connected in Xia Liang's hand. The rope didn't point to a very distant place; it was undoubtedly just an ordinary "Traction" spell.
But Drunken Fish Grass saw that the actual landing point of the spell was not the ceiling of the passage, but a mirror set on the ceiling, reflecting cold light.
"See you later."
Xia Liang waved goodbye to her with a smile, and then, with her two teammates, leaped backward.
Immediately after, they dashed into the passage behind them, under the pull of the magic rope.