Volume 8 Chapter 6: Illusion

This is... What kind of joke is this?

I looked at my HP with eyes of disbelief, and then, looked at the wound in my chest. That fresh blood that's trickling down from my chest, and the pain that I was feeling from the blade penetrating into my chest definitely did not feel unreal. However, something like this HP bar which was independent of this world should not be something would provide false information.

And I even searched my surroundings, and there wasn't a single person at all. And I didn't feel nor see anything coming from the direction where the dagger flew from.

Could it be an illusion?

However, looking at the position where the statuses should be, it was indeed completely blank. In other words, right now, I really shouldn't have any statuses in effect... Unless...

Unless the illusion I'm experiencing now isn't a type of status.

I hurriedly opened my messaging system, and sent messages to everyone in the vicinity.

"Hurry to my location, I found a clue about the assassin."

And then, I spread open my wing to recover my HP if necessary. At the same time, I summoned a piece of ice, and slowly pressed the blade out of my chest. After all, if I were to stretch out my hand to the back to pull the blade out, I might cause the wound to grow bigger, which will increase the speed of my HP loss... Wait a minute, I'm not even losing any HP right now, I really don't know if it's a good or bad thing.

With a hard knock, a 'pata' sound was heard, as the dagger fell onto the ground.

"Oh my god..."

I put the block of ice away and inspected the wound on my chest. The wound had already closed, which meant that the wound on my back should have a similar effect.

However, when I turned around, I saw something unbelievable.

There was absolutely nothing on the ground in my vicinity.

No blood, no dagger.

As though there was nothing there at all in the first place.

Damn it, just what the hell is this?

Could it be that the opponent's speed was so quick, he retrieved his dagger in an instant?

Impossible, even if the opponent did something like that, there would be no point in it. It would have been a simple feat for him to kill me in an instant with such speed, and how would it be possible for him to wipe all the bloodstains dry?

Then, there's only one possible answer.

And, everyone has confirmed my thoughts as well.

'We have reached your position, but you're standing here staring blankly into the air, completely ignoring us.'

The person who sent the message was Bai Yueguang. After that, was Tai Shixi, and Ms. Mari.

The messages they sent over had confirmed that I was staring dazed at the place I was assaulted.

What kind of joke is this? I have indeed been struck by an illusion-type skill!

But why am I here, and at a time like this...

'All of you, watch out. There might be someone who possesses high-level illusion techniques in the vicinity. If you guys were to be struck by this technique, you will end up like me.'

'What? Illusion?'

Everyone expressed their disbeliefs.

'If those who get struck by the illusion will end up the way you are now, then this opponent is too frightening. We will be completely at his mercy.'

'Not just that. The opponent will most probably make you believe that you're injured. If I have not seen my HP bar, I would have believed that as well."

'Is that so... Then have you tried using magic to dispel it?'

'I used a spell earlier, but there isn't any trace of magic in your vicinity, right?'

'Indeed, there isn't.'

'Then it's a little troublesome... In any case, I will try something out for now.'

With this thought in mind, I used an Water Magic spell on myself.

[Arcane - Art of the Saint Spirit]!

Although I'm unable to see anyone else, after I used this spell, other than seeing the blue-colored halo descending upon me, I couldn't feel anything else.

In other words... Magic was ineffective.

But that's understandable, earlier, I was already unable to see my statuses, in other words, this thing isn't considered as a type of status.

Damn it, then what should I do?

'We might have made a wrong turn.'

Ms. Mari suddenly said.

'What do you mean?'

'In other words, it's incorrect for you to try dispelling the illusion on your own. It might not be wrong if we change into another train of thought.'

'For example?'

Just when I asked this, suddenly, my vision blackened, and the next moment it lighted up, I saw the blue sky in front of me.

Eh?

What happened?

And then, I smashed entirely into a wall, and my HP fell by a small amount.

"Oh my god."

I crawled up from the ground, and drank a HP potion while I'm at it.

Raising my head, I looked towards Ms. Mari and the rest, only to see Ms. Mari holding onto a hammer-looking staff in her hands. It seems like she was the one who sent me flying?

Oh my god, where's the most basic level of trust between us? You used a weapon and sent me flying just like that?

This is so saddening.

And I'm even more concerned about which part of my body did you hit. Was it my face, or my chest? It couldn't have been my lower half, right? Healing spells are ineffective over there, hey!

But when I went over, I still asked another question instead.

"Seems like the illusion has to be dispelled by someone else. In that case, just how can we dispel on our own? Design a ring that stabs ourselves every minute or something similar to that?"

"That... I will consider developing it!"

Ms. Mari looked as though she was enjoying herself.

"Then that's great. Let's deal with the next problem."

I looked at my surroundings.

"How are we going to find that bastard who cast that illusion on me?"

"Could it be that there wasn't an attacking warning or something similar?"

"Before receiving the attack, I totally did not see any attack warnings at all. Or maybe..."

"Or maybe, someone might have cast an illusion on you much early on, and you simply did not sense it."

Ms. Mari said thoughtfully.

"That might be possible, but the problem is..."

I looked at them worriedly.

"Just when did that happen? And... are the present us, being controlled by an illusion?"

"......"

Fear suddenly surged within our hearts!