At that very moment, a blast of dark liquid came rushing towards me. It looked like sludge, but that purple hue gave it a distinctly toxic appearance. I knew what it could do—and I had no intention of taking that hit.

I dodged and managed to avoid it. At least, for the most part. Zalrorg’s Miasma still struck my heel and foot, and I felt it the instant the vile substance coated my right foot.

“Huh!” A pained sound escaped my throat.

If it had been ordinary mud, it wouldn’t have hurt. It would’ve just been unpleasant to be covered in filth. But Miasma was nothing like that. Hell, I’d rather a car splashed through a puddle right in front of me.

My entire foot radiated pain. I tried to stand, but the moment I pressed it against the ground, the pain made me lose my balance. Just looking at it made me sick. It wasn’t covered in sludge—rather, it was as if the Miasma had seeped into my skin, turning it pitch black.

That power worked like a curse, contaminating everything it touched, destroying it like poison. I forced myself to look at my foot, to face the fact that the blackened stain was slowly spreading up my leg.

‘Holy Water!’ I thought. ‘I can use one of my flasks to purify the infected area.’

My hand rushed to one of my flasks. If I poured the purifying liquid over my foot, I could get rid of that curse. But I still had a problem. The Lich hadn’t given up on me—even after immobilizing me. His hand was pointed at me once again, ready to strike.

“Miasma!”

Another torrent of that cursed substance came rushing towards me.

This time, the attack would hit me directly. My mind was clouded by pain, and my hand was busy trying to bring the flask to my leg. In a few seconds… I might die.

“Crystal Wall!” a sharp voice called out, activating the skill.

Right in front of me, a wall that looked like glass rose up, shielding me from the Miasma. I could finally hear hurried footsteps rushing to my aid.

“Rick!” All three girls came to help me.

“Let me see your leg,” Alicia said, moving first as she took the flask from my hand and poured it over my foot in an attempt to heal me.

“Ouch!” It burned intensely where the Holy Water touched, but the color of my skin seemed to be returning to normal. It wasn’t instant, though—and the Miasma kept building up, pressing against the Crystal Wall.

“It won’t be able to hold for long,” Alicia told me, as if she could read my thoughts.

‘What can we do?’ I thought, trying to come up with a counterattack, when Sarah’s voice caught me off guard.

“Hey, Rick. This room is completely isolated from the rest of the mine, right?” she asked.

“Exactly… but why?”

A smug smile spread across her face. “Sooo… if this room is isolated, then I don’t have to worry about flammable gas here, right?”

Justine’s eyes widened, realizing what she meant. “Don’t tell me…”

The red-haired girl turned to the one with glasses. “Looks like we can use our combo here, Justine.”

“Seriously, Sarah…” Justine seemed uncertain. “You’ll be putting yourself at risk. He’ll stop focusing on Rick, and you’ll become his main target.”

“That’s part of the plan,” Sarah replied with an annoyed look. “We need to buy time for Rick’s foot to recover, so there’s no other option. We need him to win—you know that.”

Justine let out a deep breath, as if she had just met someone who could rival Erina in sheer stubbornness. Unfortunately, she didn’t have many alternatives in mind.

“Fine… we’ll go with your plan.”

…

“Hey, Zalrorg!” I shouted at the undead, my sword pointed straight at him.

“Huh? You—” The Lich turned towards us, even as he continued casting his Miasma.

He was recovering from the Miasma while Alicia focused on keeping the Crystal Wall standing long enough for them to get out of there. I had already stepped out of its protection alongside Justine. Our job was simply to buy time until Rick could return to the fight—that’s what I had told her.

But the truth was, I didn’t want to miss the chance to kill two birds with one stone. Our combo was incredibly strong—and it would put me right in the spotlight. If Rick saw what I could do, he would surely praise me for it.

“I’m counting on you, Justine. If your aim fails, I’m done for,” I said to the girl with glasses at my side.

She looked at me like I was being completely unreasonable.

“Hey, don’t look at me like I’m Erina!”

Justine sighed, as if I had mentally exhausted her, then adjusted her glasses. It wasn’t like I had anything against her. Even though she was very serious, she was a good person, in my opinion. However… I couldn’t take my eyes off her chest. Given how much Rick liked big breasts, hers—or even Diane’s—would definitely catch his attention. So I’d have to stand out some other way.

“Don’t blame me if you die because of your own stupidity,” Justine said.

“If that happens, don’t ask for credit when my attack works,” I shot back, before dashing straight towards the undead.

I closed the distance to Zalrorg in a fraction of a second. He must have thought I would try to use Holy Water on him again, because he stopped his Miasma assault against Alicia’s Crystal Wall and raised his magic barrier once more.

“Too bad… wrong call. Flash Thrasher!”

With three precise strikes, I shattered the barrier blocking my blade.

My sword was already raised, ready to come down in a vertical strike. But that alone wouldn’t be enough. No—against the undead, a purely physical attack would be useless. That’s why I called upon my second skill.

“Flame Sword!”

As I invoked its power, my blade was instantly engulfed in red flames. They were beautiful—but ferocious. Their hunger wasn’t directed only at the enemy before me.

Behind me, I could hear my teammate activating her skill, now directed at my blazing sword.

“Fireball!”

Justine’s fireball shot straight towards my blade. Her timing was incredible, perfectly aligning with my attack in that brief instant to form our combo.

Her flames fed into my blade, burning brighter and swelling into a column of fire twice the size of my blade. And now, all that remained was to bring that power down on the Lich.

“Take this, you old skull!”

I brought my sword down towards him—and the flames I had gathered with such effort collapsed right in front of me.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep