My Level Zero System
Chapter 255 - 255: Chase and Catch

Just as the Magus were distracted, Mera unleashed the magic she had been accumulating. [Fire Magic] was amplified by [Air Magic], creating a massive burst of flames that engulfed both sky and ground, illuminating the entire area.

In the dead of night, a glowing inferno was more eye-catching than ever, even causing the surrounding Magus to squint from the sudden light.

"What's she doing? That attack won't affect us!"

"No, that's wrong! She's not trying to attack us! She's trying to escape!" one of them yelled. They simultaneously moved to dispel the flames.

But Mera was long gone, leaving only a pile of earth mounded up beneath the ground.

"I heard she also has decent [Earth Magic]. It seems that last attack was to distract and blind us. Then she dug underground to escape." A Magus offered an analysis.

They descended to search, and a Magus who also possessed [Earth Magic] touched the ground to sense how deep Mera's tunnel went. But immediately after, this Magus's expression changed.

"It's a dead end! We've been tricked!"

The mounded earth was not a escape tunnel at all, but just a hole leading straight down into the ground and stopping.

"Damn it! She actually escaped earlier using those flames, but created this hole to draw our attention, wasting our time." One of them quickly analyzed.

"Split up and search! We've already revealed information, we absolutely cannot let her escape."

With that, all five Magus spread out in five different directions, beginning their pursuit of Mera.

Ron had initially sent all five Magus together as a precaution, but these individuals fundamentally didn't think they could lose to a newly advanced mid-class Magus like Mera, even in a one-on-one fight.

However, they couldn't have imagined that Mera hadn't left at all.

The flames, the hole, and the mounded earth were all just a feint.

From the very beginning, Mera had used the blinding flames to make the five Magus believe she intended to escape that way, further reinforcing this premise with the illusion of her digging an escape tunnel.

After discovering the form of the hidden tunnel beneath the earth, the Magus would certainly realize it was just a fake created by Mera. They would then form the hypothesis mentioned above and split up to find her, no longer paying attention to the hole.

Meanwhile, the real Mera was sitting silently at the bottom of the hole, covered by a layer of earth and wrapped tightly. She didn't dare to move or even breathe, to avoid detection.

This method of evasion, looking at the result, seemed truly foolish, but looking at the entire process, this somewhat foolish method of evasion perfectly fell into the blind spot of her pursuers' thinking.

All these things were what she had learned from Kain.

"Motherf*cker! Those damn bastards... just you wait!"

Being patient was truly torture for Mera.

Fortunately, she had managed to control herself.

After a long wait, sensing no more movement above, Mera dared to stick her head out to survey the area.

Indeed, those simple-minded Magus had all been lured away.

Feeling a bit proud of herself, Mera quickly composed herself and slipped away.

"What should I do now?" Mera wondered, this truly vexed her.

Clearly, those people were after her mother's whereabouts.

She had temporarily escaped, and Myra was safe at the academy, but what about her father?

Against five mid-class Magus, Mera could only run, and her father couldn't even do that.

Of course, as the mayor of a city, he had a certain level of protection around him, and his whereabouts were known to many people. Once Wilfred was kidnapped, everything would descend into chaos.

Therefore, Mera was the target.

Now that they couldn't capture her, it was very likely they would shift their target to her father.

"Damn it!" Mera cursed under her breath, because she didn't know how to handle this situation.

Escaping was very difficult, and if she fought back... Mera wasn't sure how many people they had.

What if those five mid-class Magus were only a fraction of their strength?

Unless Mera could ask a Kanzax Academy teacher for help, but that was too difficult...

Finally, she patted her tangled head. Thinking too much, too chaotically, was truly exhausting.

"I don't have much time."

"I want to find Kain, but he's in the Dungeon right now. Finding him would take quite a while, and I don't have that luxury."

"Warning my father might not even work; they could just go into hiding and become an unpredictable threat."

"In that case..."

Mera made a decision.

She didn't run anymore; instead, she turned back, resolving to confront the enemy.

Of course, Mera wasn't foolish enough to take on five at once; she only wanted a one-on-one fight.

And Mera's recent plan had given her a perfect opportunity. The five Magus had separated.

Mera calculated that she needed to at least incapacitate one Magus, and then lead the remaining four to pursue her.

By doing so, Mera could buy more time for Kain to return, while also temporarily moving the danger away from her father.

No sooner said than done, Mera tracked a Magus who couldn't fly and quickly approached him.

The terrain in the north was mainly forests and hills, with a rather mild climate, in contrast to the scorching deserts of the west, the refreshing seas of the east, and the rugged, snow-capped mountains of the south.

Finding someone hiding in the north was not easy, as there were too many natural covers.

Seeing the Magus off guard, Mera took a deep breath, then decided to launch her attack.

She chose a Magus who couldn't fly as her target because she knew this person wouldn't have [Air Magic], or at least not [Air Magic] strong enough to detect her.

[Air Slash].

A sudden attack was launched, aimed precisely at his torso.

However, the Magus seemed to sense the imminent danger; a faint, blurry layer suddenly rose around him.

A defensive magic skill, [Water Bubble].

[Air Slash] sliced through the [Water Bubble], causing the liquid layer to split momentarily.

Mera successfully cut through the defense, but she was quite unlucky as the Magus had managed to dodge in time. The [Air Slash] only left a deep cut on the armor hidden beneath his clothes.

The Magus was both angry and scared. Fortunately, he had dodged in time and was already wearing armor; otherwise, even if he didn't die, he might have lost an arm.

Equipment that could resist magic could only be crafted from monster materials, which were not cheap, yet even a mid-class Magus subordinate had it.

This was enough to show the terrifying potential of this organization.

"She's here!"

The Magus yelled, but he quickly realized that the surrounding sounds had been distorted and scattered by Mera's wind.

She had absolutely no intention of letting this person leave alive.

The battles between Magus weren't entirely endurance contests, because even with their certain level of magic resistance, they weren't unyielding rocks that could withstand all impacts.

To make a more vivid comparison, if a Magus's magic resistance was human flesh, then magic was the punches and kicks landing upon it.

When taking those hits, people wouldn't die immediately; they could still continue, but the impact couldn't be disregarded. Sometimes, a few precise punches or kicks were enough to knock someone unconscious from the impact, or even cause death.

Mera cracked the whip in her hand.

The body of the whip was adorned with sharp, saw-like thorns. But don't underestimate their power based on their size, for these were made from the claws of Nightcrawlers from within the Misty Dungeon. Their sharpness was beyond dispute.

With just one precise crack, the Magus's outer armor immediately showed a gash.

"What the hell?"

He was horrified.

Armor samples with magic resistance typically weren't vastly superior to normal armor in terms of physical resistance, but they were still usually sufficient to withstand sword and arrow attacks.

Yet, the thorns on that whip could tear through armor as easily as ripping paper.

"Damn it! Don't think I won't kill you!"

Feeling the warm blood flowing from the cut on his chest, the Magus's horror turned into rage.

They were ordered to capture Mera alive, first to extract information, and second, to use her as a bargaining chip if necessary.

But now, this Magus just wanted to kill Mera and be done with it.

The surrounding temperature suddenly skyrocketed to an alarming degree, making Mera's throat dry from the evaporated moisture.

"I can't let him unleash that magic skill!" Mera thought, making an immediate decision. She took a deep breath into her burning lungs, then exhaled.

[Air Scream].

Sound was shattered, like hammers striking directly against the Magus's eardrums. Despite this, he still managed to unleash his magic.

[Fire Cannon].

The entire surrounding forest was instantly incinerated, and Mera was blasted backward. Although she wasn't severely injured, the attack had left her struggling immensely.