Chapter 50

Denken's party flees the circular hall after Frieren's duplicate drives them back with an offensive spell. Watching from elsewhere, Genau tells Falsch that the tomb's master is a water-mirror demon, an ancient creature that reads the memories of any intruder and conjures perfect copies. Unlike lesser monsters such as the Einsam, this demon, Spiegel, produces replicas matching their originals in strength, mana, and skill, which is why the ruins have never been charted. He explains that Sense, a pacifist at heart, picked the site precisely because beating one's own equal demands self-knowledge and teamwork rather than slaughter.

Cornered in a dead end, a badly bleeding Land has lost his escape golem to Übel's double. Übel, calling him by the nickname he resents, presses him about how flawless the copy is, noting it stays silent and likely lacks her memories. She leaves her own bottle beside him and goes to retrieve his. Knowing that Sorganeil requires a full view of its target and that two equals make the duel a matter of luck she has never enjoyed, she lets the clone close in, gets bound, but has timed it so the real Land arrives to destroy the copy.

Land asks why she risked so much while his dying duplicate lay nearby, and Übel admits she trusted him to save her. The clone's refusal of her bottle told her he would not want another's blood on his hands, so she engineered a moment where only he could spare her. She thanks him, saying she has learned something new about him. Returning to the hall's entrance, Übel finds Frieren's group already there. Denken points out that this chamber leads down to the tomb's lowest level, and that Frieren's clone has held the doorway for close to half a day now. The news lights Frieren up, since this is exactly the sort of thing a dungeon raid is meant to be.

Genau identifies the dungeon's ruler as the water-mirror demon Spiegel and explains Sense's reasoning for the venue. Übel and Land destroy Übel's clone through a gamble built on trust. Frieren's party reaches the circular hall, where her own duplicate guards the path to the deepest chamber.

Spiegel: A Water-Mirror Demon, rendered in Japanese as Shupīgeru, appeared on May 19, 2021 in that year's twenty-fifth issue and runs eighteen pages of volume six. Set during the second stage of the First-Class Mage Exam Arc, it adapts into the anime's twenty-fourth episode and reveals the source of the tomb's flawless duplicates.