The area where the Rune Serpent and Alan were located was originally a wide corridor, but after the previous clash, the walls on both sides and the ceiling above had been thoroughly shattered, creating large open spaces.
At this moment, after the Rune Serpent cast her spell, she suddenly seemed to undergo mitosis, with Rune Serpent clones instantly emerging from her body, quickly filling both sides of the corridor until there were at least forty or fifty of them. Furthermore, these Rune Serpent clones not only had bodies identical to her own, but even their wands were replicated one-to-one.
"This is… a clone?" Alan was startled when he saw the Rune Serpent's spellcasting. "I didn't expect her to have this kind of self-replication cloning technique, in addition to physical clones like Golden Knight and Peter. But are these clones merely illusions to deceive, or do they possess combat capabilities like her true body?"
Before Alan could ponder further, these clones provided him with the answer through their actions!
"Arcane Serpent!" x 50
The Rune Serpents, arrayed in a line, simultaneously extended their wands and chanted the spell in unison, instantly unleashing several times more green magic serpents than Alan's Meteor of Destruction, which surged forth in an overwhelming torrent! These energy serpents, resembling intertwined twin serpents, then moved about the battlefield like living creatures, some directly colliding with the meteor magic projectiles released by Alan, while others bypassed the projectiles to attack Alan directly.
Upon seeing this, Alan was instantly shocked; the most outrageous part was that these clones showed no signs of stopping after casting their spells, continuously casting one after another. Although the spells they released did not seem to possess the same power as the Rune Serpent's main body, generally one to two Arcane Serpents could neutralize one of Alan's Meteor of Destruction, proving that neither their bodies nor their spells were mere illusions!
"No, no matter how fast I cast spells, I can't keep up with the casting speed of these clones. Continuing a head-on confrontation will only waste magic power, and I have no chance of winning." After deflecting two Arcane Serpents with his hand-shield, Alan frowned, assessing the current situation. "It seems I must first uncover the secret of these clones before I can figure out how to regain the initiative in battle. Fortunately, I am at a disadvantage this time, so the Rune Serpent will certainly not choose to flee like Peter."
Having made up his mind, Alan swung his sword widely, unleashing several Wild Lightning sword waves that dispersed a dozen attacking Arcane Serpents. He then fell straight backward, and Alan seemed to be submerged and dissolved by the floor as if falling into water, instantly disappearing from the Rune Serpent's sight.
"She can use the Tunneling Spell too? It seems that Thunderbird, that traitor, taught you quite a few things. And that blue Fiendfyre from before—are you perhaps Gerald's illegitimate child?" Seeing Alan escape by burrowing into the ground, the Rune Serpent showed no urgency, but rather sneered coldly.
And with her cold, stern gaze, a dozen or so clones around the Rune Serpent immediately burrowed into the ground without a ripple, just like Alan. The Tunneling Spell was a spell she had brought into the club, so when it came to burrowing through ground and walls, the Rune Serpent would not be inferior to her opponent.
After Transfiguring into the ground, Alan did not descend much before landing in a room in the basement. Judging by the surrounding decorations and furnishings, this should be a kitchen or similar area, with even automatically casting cooking utensils continuously working on the stove nearby. Upon landing, Alan did not hesitate. He knew that this magic was stolen from the club, and the Rune Serpent surely had countermeasures, so he wanted to use the Tunneling Spell to escape further down.
However, upon trying, he found that the ground of the first basement level was blocked by extremely strong Protective Spells, making it impossible to go deeper.
"Golden Knight once said there was something fishy about the Rune Serpent's basement—was he referring to this place? It seems he wasn't entirely lying when he tried to gain Thunderbird's trust earlier. But I can't stay here; they will definitely catch up. I must first shake off these clones and then plan my next move!"
After quick deliberation, Alan immediately abandoned the idea of going down and instead rushed at high speed toward the adjacent wall. Upon contact with the wall, there was no obstruction at all, and he instantly melted into it.
And just as Alan disappeared, a dozen or so figures successively descended from the ceiling of the first basement level. After observing and finding no sign of Alan, one of the clones couldn't help but sneer, "This mouse runs quite fast, but both the floor and the outer walls of my basement have been enchanted with protective barriers. Entering this level is no different from willingly entering an iron cage. Let's see where you can hide… However, just in case, we still need to send a few people to guard the treasury entrance. That kid's attack power is ridiculously strong; it would be troublesome if he accidentally broke something."
After a quiet murmur, four people immediately separated from the group and went straight through a wall in a certain direction, while the rest scattered and searched in different directions.
Alan had already moved at high speed for a long distance, passing through several rooms, finally stopping in a storeroom filled with food. He was now lightly adjusting the monocle over his eye, seemingly observing something.
It turned out that at the very beginning of the battle, Alan had not forgotten his intelligence gathering. He had deployed a large number of monitoring spiders both on the front lines and in the rooms he had previously entered. At this moment, the movements of these clones were completely exposed within Alan's sight.
"The clones on the first floor are in a dispersed defensive posture. Is this to prevent me from returning upstairs? No, I'm afraid this also serves as a ready support. As long as I'm caught in the basement, they will surely descend immediately and attack me en masse. As for this batch of clones in the basement, four of them are moving directly in a certain direction; they should be guarding the entrance to the second basement level. And are the others trying to surround and ambush me?"
Alan observed the movements of the clones, quickly summarizing the intelligence. There was no other way. Although the Rune Serpent's mansion was quite large, almost exceeding the size of a football field, if he continued to drag this out, his range of activity would inevitably be infinitely compressed, and he would be discovered before long. At that time, what awaited him would likely be a surging crowd, so Alan could not delay; he had to react quickly.
"I still need to figure out the secret of these clones, otherwise this battle cannot be fought," Alan mused to himself, then took out a peculiarly shaped metal dagger from his person. Its blade was no different from an ordinary short sword, but at the end of the handle, it was connected to a dial with markings.
"Those four clustered clones cannot be disturbed; I can only start with the isolated ones. Fortunately, the Rune Serpent didn't install any strange protective measures in her own residence; otherwise, even moving would be very troublesome."
After muttering to himself, Alan focused his attention on a room he had previously stayed in, where a lone clone was currently searching. Once Alan confirmed his target, he immediately activated the Disillusionment Charm on his tactical vest and the silent module on his Phase Boots, then turned and melted into the wall, slowly approaching the clone.
When he had passed through two walls and was in the same room as the clone, the clone was still carefully clearing every corner of the room with her wand. Alan, seeing this, also cautiously moved along the wall to get behind the clone, acting carefully and efficiently, because he was unsure if this type of clone possessed the ability to see through the Disillusionment Charm.
Taking advantage of silent movement, Alan quickly moved behind the clone. He then cleanly plunged the specially shaped dagger into the clone's back.
"Uh…"
The clone grunted, struggled for a moment, and then instantly transformed into strands of green catkins made of magic power, slowly dissipating into the air.
After completing this backstab, Alan wasted no time and immediately rushed toward a side wall. The other side was a room he had previously scouted and confirmed to be empty. Indeed, as soon as Alan had escaped, four or five more clones immediately phased through from all directions, except for the wall he had entered through.
"Heh heh, young people are just young people. Are you losing your composure so quickly? Attacking my clones will only allow me to pinpoint your location faster. Let's see how long you can hide." One of the clones snorted coldly, then immediately looked toward the wall Alan had left through. Several others then quickly stepped forward and passed through it as well.
Alan, having succeeded, did not linger. Relying on the reconnaissance advantage of his monitoring spiders, he dodged the others by taking many twists and turns, finally hiding in a quiet storeroom.
"That was close; their reaction was indeed quick enough." Alan let out a soft sigh, then focused his gaze on the dagger in his hand, or rather, on the dial at the end of the dagger.
"The magic value is around the one hundred mark? That means, if the strength of each clone is relatively consistent, taking the Rune Serpent's release of at least fifty clones as an example, she consumed five thousand magic points just to create these clones? Is this really human? And were there any other losses when creating the clones?"
Alan, having reached a startling conclusion through the dagger's dial, immediately fell into deep thought and quickly analyzed the intelligence he had previously gathered.
"First, judging from the clones' reactions, they at least possess a sense of pain. And when a target is destroyed, the support from the others is almost without delay, which means these clones most likely have sensory sharing. I wonder if it's just sight and hearing, or if other senses can also be shared?"