The Hero Kicked Me Out of His Party, So I Turned Him into My Maid - Chapter 23

Vera panicked a little. She kept chanting incantations and casting various auxiliary spells over and over again.

“Vera! Didn’t you used to be able to cast spells on us from across the room before?!”

Seeing Vera’s incompetence, Karina immediately began to criticize her.

Left with no other choice, she took her weapon from her waist—a pair of swords with hilts but no blades.

It seems Vera can no longer provide assistance as before, so she will have no choice but to confront the mirror image head-on.

Yes, why is that? It was possible before.

Vera was in a state of turmoil, with several thoughts clashing in her mind at the same time.

Then, one idea defeated all the others, and it suddenly dawned on her.

And this is something she cannot accept, nor can she bring herself to say.

This has to do with Ariel.

The team recruited Ariel to supplement their ranged attack capabilities.

Later, after discovering that Lord Brian might like her, and that she had just become useless, only able to create one fireball in her attacks, she offered to provide support.

Lord Brian remained noncommittal, and she brazenly unleashed support magic during the battle.

How can this be? I’m clearly the support! How dare you, a useless piece of trash, steal my job?

So thereafter, every time Alyssa released a support spell, Vera would release her own support spell at the same time.

Vera also discovered that her support abilities had greatly improved since then, both in terms of range and effectiveness.

So this is the real me today?

The previous support players were all of Ariel’s skill level…

His powerful support abilities, which he was so proud of, were actually built upon Ariel’s foundation…

Sweat soaked her back, and Vera felt a moment of dizziness.

“ah!”

Karina’s scream brought Vera back to her senses. She then realized that the mirror image in front of her had already cast the same support magic to enhance herself.

Vera also noticed that although the auxiliary magic of the mirror image was not applied to other mirror images, its range covered almost the entire surface.

Vera’s heart skipped a beat, her eyes widened, and she shouted in a panic:

“This mirror image is much stronger than us!”

“nonsense!”

For some reason, despite being far apart, the four of them could hear each other’s voices very loudly.

Karina channeled magic into the hilt of the sword, and magical spirals appeared. The remaining magic continued to fill the spirals, forming a translucent magical blade.

Then, the mirror image used the same weapon, knocking the weapon out of Karina’s hand with a single strike. Karina then screamed.

Meanwhile, the mirror image is chasing Karina.

Brian roared and swung his holy sword, the endless radiance blasting the mirror image in front of him away to the other side of this side.

He discovered that the mirror image could not replicate the Holy Sword.

How could something without the Holy Sword possibly defeat him who possessed it?

Brian was out of immediate danger. He observed the current predicament of the three women: Karina was being chased, Vera was being beaten, and Sharina’s puppets were constantly breaking apart.

It’s obvious they can’t beat either of them.

They’re all useless… Their pathetic state is no less than Ariel’s.

But there was no other way; he still had to save them, otherwise his own power would be depleted.

Suddenly, he remembered his location: by the wall.

If all four people gather by the wall, Vera’s auxiliary magic should be able to cover everyone.

“The three of you gather at the common point in your faces! Vera, once you’re all gathered, immediately unleash your support magic!”

Brian’s words seemed to give the other three women a boost. They all began to gather in their own ways. The mirror image also relentlessly pursued them.

“Lord Brian, what are you going to do?”

Only three faces can intersect at the same vertex, so only three people can gather together.

Brian responded:

“Don’t worry, the mirror image can’t hurt me!”

Karina spoke as well, her tone ambiguous, whether it was one of relief or sarcasm:

“Captain Brian is finally willing to lead us!”

When Vera and her two companions were very close, Vera finally cast her support magic on her teammates.

Karina and Sharina felt a long-lost sense of lightness in their bodies and a surge of magical energy.

I will kill you!

Karina made a bold declaration.

They launched a counterattack against the oncoming mirror image.

“ah!”

“…”

After the confrontation, Karina and Sharina discovered that the mirror image was still stronger than them.

“How could this be!”

Even though Karina’s arm had been pierced by the mirror image, her mouth didn’t stop:

“I had already calculated everything. If we accepted the assistance, defeating those mirror images would be a piece of cake. Why did this happen, Vera? Are you trying to harm us?!”

Vera was also blasted away by the mirror image’s magic, struggling to her feet, and once again fell into deep self-doubt:

“No, Karina, how could I possibly harm you…”

Vera herself felt something was wrong.

Based on observations, these mirror images are not complete copies as before, and their combat capabilities are about 20% higher than their original counterparts.

However, his own support ability could be improved by 30%, which is better than the mirror image’s 20%.

But what’s going on?

As I pondered, a familiar smiling face flashed through my mind once again—

Ariel!

Could it be that her support ability has increased by more than 20%? My combined ability with hers is only 30%.

Was she always the one providing support, while I was just adding a small amount?

Wasn’t the support player the team should have kicked out the least, Alyssa, instead of himself?

No, this is unacceptable.

Isn’t this basically telling others that “Vera is useless and Ariel is useless”?

Vera steadied herself, a determined glint in her eyes:

“This initial room seems to have an effect that weakens support abilities.”

This is a lie.

However, Vera could only say this to cover up the truth and respond to Karina’s questioning.

“Come closer, I’ll heal you!”

Karina clutched her aching arm and ran toward Vera.

Vera, above Karina’s head, guiltily chanted a healing spell.

Karina’s wounds slowly healed under the healing magic’s yellow-green power.

Rumble…

At this moment, strange noises came from inside the room again.

After that, the grass-gray magic circle rapidly opened on each side.

Vera saw that Karina’s wounds had stopped healing, and even increasing the power of her healing magic was to no avail.

After that, a grass-gray magic enveloped the four of them. This magic was all-pervasive, creeping into their magic circuits and constantly drawing their magic into the grass-gray magic circle.

“It’s absorbing the magic within us!”

Brian also sensed that something was very wrong.

Without the support of magic, he cannot use the Holy Sword, so how can he defeat the Mirror Image!

Then, almost instantly, a second mirror image appeared next to the four of them and launched an attack almost simultaneously.

Shalina was struck by the sand puppet;

Karina was pierced through the abdomen by a magical sword blade;

Vera’s body turned bright red from the fire magic blast;

Brian was blasted away by the endless radiance, breaking his bones in the crash.

“How could he… actually copy the Holy Sword…”

Brian lost consciousness and closed his eyes.

The four were unable to dodge immediately and were severely injured by the mirror image almost simultaneously.

The moment they closed their eyes, their bodies simultaneously erupted with silver-white beams of light, echoing the 12 space gems of the teleportation array.

After that, the four severely injured members of the hero’s party were teleported to the entrance of the dungeon, where they were discovered by other parties that came to conquer the dungeon.

A reporter from the Witch’s Daily, hiding in the shadows, recorded the situation on a parchment and had the familiar take the parchment back to the academy.

The next day, the Witch Daily published a headline: “Hero Squad Suffers First Defeat in Dungeon Raid, Why Is No Longer Invincible?”