Hugo narrowed his eyes in suspicion. What did she mean by that? Did his traitorous son told them about the secret special function of one of the runes and how it interacted with the mana crystal up at the ceiling of the ritual room, granting him access to a large amount of mana? Even so, there was not much they could do about it.

  As of right now, their battlefield was taking place right at this ritual room where this large mana crystal was located, hanging right above their heads. As long as he possessed the Mana Conversion rune and was within close vicinity to the crystal, he would continue to have access to a near unlimited amount of mana, which could subsequently be used to fuel his substantially powerful healing and offensive spells.

  The crystal itself was too large to be moved. Breaking it into smaller pieces wouldn’t necessarily prevent it from being absorbed. Besides, the moment they try to do anything to tamper with the crystal, Hugo would immediately take notice and make an attempt to stop them.

  In a sense, this battle was already won before it even started—one that shall end in his victory. And yet, this redheaded mage claimed that she was about to win this battle. Clearly, she must be bluffing. How could she have possibly figured out a way to defeat him?

  Right as Hugo braced himself to face off against the two enemies in front of him, Miri raised her staff over her head before stomping it down onto the ground, casting her next spell. “Meteor Impact!”

  Out of reflex, Hugo quickly raised his Fortified Shield up to protect himself from the incoming meteor. However, he’d noticed that the meteor hadn’t actually landed on him. Instead it landed on a section of the ground that’s off to the side near where he’s currently standing.

  “Meteor Impact!” Miri called out once more, casting another meteor to hit the ground near Hugo’s feet instead of directly above him. “Meteor Impact! Meteor Impact! Meteor Impact!”

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  One after another, all of the meteors had landed on the ground near him instead of actually hitting him. For a moment, Hugo was completely bewildered as to what the mage was trying to do. But then, as he was trying to figure that out in his head, he felt the ground shaking. He looked down to his feet and saw cracks forming throughout the floor, spreading and expanding as the very structure of the floor itself became more and more unstable.

  That was when he finally figured it out. Some of these cracks were already there before—back when Hugo was repeatedly casting Sundering Stalagmite and slamming his Hammer of Titan onto the ground. Throughout the course of the battle, these little cracks started accumulating little by little until they began weakening the structural integrity of the floor itself. All Miri did with her series of Meteor Impacts was to simply help it out along the way.

  “Have a nice fall!” Miri said with a wave and a smile before casting her most powerful spell one last time. “METEORRR…IMPACTTT!!!”

  That last meteor became the final nail in the coffin—impacting the ground and causing the entire floor of the ritual room to crumble into pieces before collapsing down onto the floor below, taking everyone present along with it. Out of panic, Hugo tried to rush away from the collapsing floor, but he was not quick enough and was thus helplessly dragged down as he felt the floor quite literally disappear beneath his feet.

  As Hugo was falling and screaming, Miri and Anne were also falling alongside him. However, the two women seemed prepared for it. While in mid-air, Anne moved to grab Miri by the waist before forming a Protective Ward that faced towards the ground. Once the two of them crashed into the ground, the ward was able to cushion the fall, negating most of the impact. Though they hadn’t exactly escaped the fall unscathed—receiving some minor fall damage as a result—it was nothing that Anne’s skillful healing couldn't fix.

  Hugo, on the other hand, was in a much rougher shape. Because he was taken by surprise by the crumbling floor, he wasn't able to react quickly enough to use his Fortified Shield to cushion his fall just like Anne did. Though he was still somehow alive, he’d nonetheless received much more of the fall damage.

  Not only that, the mana crystal—the source of his enhanced power—was now much further away from him. In fact, as he looked up, he could tell that it’s almost two to three floors above him—far enough to be out-of-range for his Mana Conversion rune to reach. The power source that he’d so heavily relied upon had now been cut off from him entirely.