What the hell was that?! Was the first thought that popped into Lucas’ brain after seeing that creepy man smiling at him from the top of the building. Was he the one responsible for that illusion?

When Lucas realized something was wrong with his surroundings, he first believed he had walked into some sort of forbidden zone, causing buildings to repeat themselves like a trap set by whoever designed that competition. That greatly raised his concerns, and that’s what made him move so suddenly and barely avoid the dart coming his way.

However, after seeing the creepy-eyed man on top of the building smiling and watching his confused expression, he changed his mind. The only other time he had ever experienced illusions was inside Faruk’s fog, and he later found out through reading his journal that the illusions were an ability a few specters had and not something Faruk himself had learned how to do.

From Lucas’ very basic understanding of the matter, illusions fell into the field of mind magic, and he had little to no knowledge about that.

Of course, another possibility was that he had used some sort of device to produce those effects, but if that were the case, Lucas doubted they would disappear like they have once he noticed it.

Instead, he believed that his shock and realization of being caught inside some sort of illusion jolted him back to reality, indicating that it was indeed mind magic.

“I almost had you,” the man said. “But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time. I have to admit, I like to play with my prey.”

Lucas didn’t wait for him to finish speaking before he launched one of his fire shots in his direction. Faced with the attack, the man didn’t even move, and when the fire shot reached him, it merely passed right through him, that obnoxious smile never disappearing from his face.

Was it an illusion this whole time? No, it couldn’t be, or he wouldn’t be able to throw that dart. He must’ve left after he was discovered, leaving the illusion behind, Lucas thought. And for the next few seconds, while Lucas looked to all sides in a rush, trying to predict the direction from which his opponent would attack him, nothing else happened.

Lucas was fully aware of the predicament he had entered. He had never faced anyone who used mind magic to fight, and was basically defenseless against that sort of attack. He couldn’t even tell what was real and what was fake in his surroundings, which caused his anxiety to spike until he remembered the method he had used in the Dark Forest to regain clarity and opened a small wound in his arm with his blade.

At that exact moment, he caught a glimpse of a figure moving by his side and was powerless to prevent the kick that threw him a few feet away. Lucas quickly got up, expecting the follow-up that never came. The man had vanished again.

The man was true to his word because it became pretty clear to him that his opponent was toying with him. Lucas wasn’t too surprised; a deceptive person using illusions as their main source of power sounded just about right. He just didn’t know how he was able to use such a powerful skill at only level 13. Lucas couldn’t spot a single flaw in his illusions. Not even Sultan had a skill as powerful as that.

Realizing there was little he could do in regard to actually knowing where the attack would come from and fully aware that the next could be the last, Lucas dashed to the closest wall and placed his back against it, happy to find it was indeed a wall and not an illusion. His next step was utilizing the shield for the first time in a battle, which proved to be easy enough, while he left one hand free, ready to counter-attack whatever might cross his defense.

After seeing this, the illusion that was still on top of the building opposite him yelled, “Good call! But how long can you keep that up?”

Fortunately, the shield’s life expectancy only lowered when it was attacked; based on Lucas understanding, so long as no one attacked it, it could keep going forever. But clearly, that wasn’t what his opponent was implying by his question. He probably knew the shields’ technology—he was from that planet after all—and Lucas assumed the only reason not everyone had one was because it was a scarce object or at least very expensive. In either case, he believed the man was talking about his resistance.

Not his stamina or body endurance, but his mental fortitude. Apparently, the man was as proficient in mental warfare as in mental magic, because as soon as he said that, Lucas actually began to question how long he could keep that stance.

A few seconds later, the man started to torment him with fake projectiles that Lucas was forced to be on constant guard for. He had confidence that his shield could block every possible attack the man could throw at him, but he stayed vigilant just in case. And a few other worrying questions began to arise.

Was it possible for the man to blow up the wall behind him? Or perhaps leave his illusion behind to taunt him while he was somewhere else, probably taking out all the others?

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Fortunately, after a few minutes of this, Lucas had the presence of mind to stop that line of thought. Instead, he decided to focus on what he could actually do to counter his opponent, and an idea soon came to mind.

As long as he was able to catch hold of the mind mage, he could make sure he didn’t leave alive. He was still confident in his agility, even if he hadn’t yet seen his opponent’s speed. That was still his greatest strength, after all.

The only problem he had at the moment was locating the enemy—the same issue he had when fighting Sultan, but many times worse. He doubted that a little more perception would help him with that, and until he could surpass that barrier, it would be hard for him to do anything else.

Of course, not long after, he discovered that that was far from being his only problem. Just when he was about to injure himself again to get rid of the illusions, his surroundings changed entirely from the devastated city he was in to a completely white space, with a cage entrapping him.

Desperate, Lucas tried to feel for the wall behind him but felt nothing but empty air and the bars of the cage as a creepy figure slowly walked up towards him.

Imagine gaining consciousness in the middle of a dream, or worse yet, a nightmare that you can’t escape, colored with a giggling figure with purple eyes that slowly approaches you and starts to whip you with terrible strength for his own amusement.

To make matters worse, his whip was apparently able to traverse the metal from the cage like it was made of air and struck Lucas—who was unable to dodge due to his confined space—with full force. And yet, every time Lucas tried to break free from it, it presented itself as an insurmountable barrier. That was what Lucas was experiencing for the past ten minutes without any significant changes.

During that time, Lucas tried everything to break free of that cage and that illusion, but nothing seemed to work, and all the while the whip attacks were slowly grinding his strength. He didn’t even know if that whip his opponent was carrying was real or not, if his real body was also sustaining injury, or if that whole thing was only happening inside his head. Real or not, it still hurt like hell every time that thing struck him, throwing his mind into disarray.

It took him a while to realize something that should’ve been very obvious by now: the mind magic involved in the illusion his opponent had created went beyond changing his surroundings: it messed up his reasoning. Perhaps it was through some sort of hypnosis trick, the pain he was inflicting, or just pure mind magic—he couldn’t say. All he knew was that it made it ten times harder to plan anything at all, as Lucas attacked the cage with rage without any real success for the tenth time.

As the minutes slowly passed, the figure in front of him seemed to become more and more terrifying. His body had grown to an orc’s size, his face distorted, and even his fingernails sharpened, making him look like a wild beast. Deep down, Lucas knew this was all part of his plan to taunt him, but he couldn’t prevent the terror that was slowly growing in his chest.

Even in that confused and shaken state, however, Lucas could tell he would soon die if he didn’t find a way to escape his current predicament. The only reason he was still alive at all was because the thing in front of him holding the whip was a sadist. The moment he grew tired of “playing” with him, he would die. Lucas held no illusions regarding that.

Somehow, through the cloudy paths of his mind, he was able to form a rational thought. Why wasn’t his shield working against that whip? That could only be because that was all happening inside his mind. And if that were the case, didn’t he have a way to escape such things? What was it again?

Pain! That’s right, it was pain. But how could it be pain when he was already suffering so much already? That’s not happening in my body, it has to be physical. The moment of clarity brought back Lucas’ drive, and in the next instant, he was poking his left hand with his right-hand blade over and over again.

“Hahaha, don’t you see? There’s no escaping my mind prison once you’ve entered. You had your chance to escape my illusions before coming here, but it’s all gone now.”

The horrifying figure shook its head mockingly. But Lucas didn’t stop; he had gripped that one coherent thought he had and wouldn’t let go. Ignoring the gashes in his “body” that were bleeding all over with the increased intensity from the creature holding the whip, Lucas kept cutting the palm of his hand over and over again, entering a frenzy.

At some point during the whole ordeal, he started to scream because he was still screaming the moment his surroundings changed again, and he was back in the city filled with debris.

With the change of scenery came clarity of mind. It felt like finally rising to the surface after spending way too much time underwater, and it took a couple of seconds for Lucas to get used to it.

His opponent, however, had no intention to let him have it this time, and as Lucas noticed a movement behind him, he only had time to take a step to the side before feeling a cold blade pierce into his body.

Immediately after, Lucas swung his hand backward, striking the man in the face with his arm, sending him tumbling back. Reaching for the weapon still stuck in his back, Lucas pulled the dagger from his body. Afterward, he felt his hands tremble and ended up dropping the weapon on the ground.

He took a few steps back before supporting himself against the wall. By his estimates, the blade had missed his heart by only a few inches. Lucas looked at the man rising from the floor with caution. He realized he had escaped death by a very narrow margin this time around. He couldn’t afford to make any more mistakes.

As he looked at the figure in front of him, he saw blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. The man’s mocking smile was gone, replaced by a scowl of profound hatred, as he noticed the blood and then regarded Lucas.

“My father will punish me for letting an ant such as you draw blood from me. He always says that I’m too careless and play too much,” the man shrugged, his expression somewhat softening as he recomposed himself. “Maybe he’s right. Either way, it was fun playing with you, but it’s time to wrap up. The poison should be reaching your heart at any moment now.”

At his last words, Lucas body froze. Did he say poison?

Right at that moment, Lucas was struck with horror as small black dots started to appear in his vision and his limbs began to stiffen.