Ch. 304
I couldn’t take my eyes off that face.
I thought I’d forgotten, that I couldn’t remember anymore…….
Watching her face grow clearer as she approached, I found myself wanting to cry and laugh at the same time, my expression turning strange.
When she finally stood right in front of me and called my name again, I couldn’t hear a thing.
Knowing it was an illusion, I still reached out, trying to touch her. To see if I truly hadn’t forgotten that face…….
“What are you doing?”
But my hand passed through Mom’s face as if parting smoke.
This time, a real laugh escaped me.
‘I guess I haven’t forgotten. I still remember.’
Even as I let out a hollow laugh at the empty sensation in my hand, I was just happy.
The fact that even though my memories had faded, Mom still remained whole deep in my subconscious was a great joy in this moment.
And… I was glad the face I remembered wasn’t an angry or sad one.
– “Honestly, I can never tell what you’re thinking. I gave birth to you, but who do you take after?”
Words Mom used to say often filled my head—ceaselessly, as if to bewitch my mind.
– “Jin-ah, you! Did you skip your lessons again?”
– “What’s going to change if you go tattling to your dad? You have to do your own work!”
– “You only do what I tell you not to. Would it kill you to listen to your mother?”
What had been nagging back then sounded so sweet to me now.
When what I feared most didn’t have much effect, Theatrazen had clearly pulled out a different card.
It was probably what I missed to death.
I had to admit it—for an enemy, it was an excellent choice, and I didn’t want to wake up from this illusion.
What was before my eyes was my only weakness.
‘Mom.’
Even knowing it was an illusion, I was afraid she’d disappear.
– “Jin-ah. You have to look forward. You have to watch where you’re going. You’re going to get hurt.”
‘I… I don’t know. Tell me.’
– “You’re always looking somewhere else when you walk.”
‘Answer me! Is it… okay for me to call someone else Mom……?’
– “It hurts Mom’s heart when you get hurt.”
I needed an answer so badly that I had to ask the illusion created to torment me.
Who else but Mom could teach me that?
But instead of answering, Mom only moved away from me.
She was looking at me, yet she slowly backed away, disappearing into the darkness. The auditory and visual hallucinations—everything—faded farther and farther away.
Why? Why are you moving away from me?
I reached out to grab her, but my feet wouldn’t move. No matter how much I struggled, I was completely stuck in place.
‘Mom… where are you going? Why, why are you leaving me behind?’
Even knowing it was an illusion, confusion drove me mad.
‘Is it because I left you behind?’
So now you hate me?
Are you angry because I forgot you? Because I called someone else Mom… My breath caught in my throat.
Where am I? What am I doing? Am I just talking to myself? Am I floundering, trapped in an illusion? What happens if I can’t get out of here? Will I go crazy like this?
Even as questions flooded me, I was desperate to follow Mom as she disappeared into the dark.
I wanted to hold on, even knowing it was fake.
Nothing else mattered. The moment I thought that, my reason crumbled, and my feet began to move.
I took a step toward the darkness that was swallowing Mom.
– “Don’t, Jin-ah.”
The more I walked, the more the ground sank, and I could feel my body being pulled down. Somewhere deep… to a place unknown.
– “Your friends are calling you.”
What?
[Master!]
[Ma! S! Ter!]
[My friend!]
I was buried up to my chest when it happened. The space I’d thought was only darkness wavered violently, and Mom’s voice vanished—replaced by familiar voices calling for me, pouring down from all directions like rain.
The illusion that had blocked my vision all this time was washed away by the rainwater, and the coppery smell rising in my throat forced my eyes open.
Light was the first thing to greet me.
“Keuk.”
The moment I opened my eyes, the strong taste of blood in my mouth made me gag.
[Get a hold of yourself! Master!]
I spat out blood and wiped my mouth, but strangely, my forehead was throbbing horribly.
The more I thought about it, the more it hurt. This was truly, unbelievably painful.
Only then did I writhe in agony.
“…Agh, it hurpths!”
[Ah, I gave you a little headbutt.]
“You crazy bastard! That wasn’t little!”
So that’s why I saw a flash of light in the middle of the night! It was you!
I clutched my forehead, which ached as if an ember had been embedded in it, and glared daggers at Rai, who was half-snake, half-shield.
[It was absolutely! Not a headbutt with personal feelings! It was an emergency!]
The way he put extra emphasis on one word made it feel deeply intentional.
I had a lot to say, but figuring out the situation came first.
“More importantly, where’s Theatrazen? Owww… it hurts!”
[He ran away as soon as you broke down!]
Contrary to the illusion of being dragged underground, I was kneeling high in the sky on Endairon’s tail.
With Undaine’s help, I got up and looked around.
“That old man is quick on his feet.”
[He’s a Space Spirit and Wind Spirit Mage. He’s probably the best on the continent when it comes to running away, right?]
As expected, Theatrazen—who had been in my grasp—was gone.
He’d escaped while I was distracted by the illusion.
“Tsk, he was a fish I’d all but caught…”
[Old ones don’t taste good.]
“Where did he go? I don’t see him.”
[He hasn’t appeared yet. I think he’s still in transit.]
‘Then maybe over there.’
I stared past the transparent Shield at the spot where the knights were gathered. Then, rubbing my forehead, I asked Rai.
“Ah, what do you mean I broke down? Was I frozen? For how long?”
[About ten seconds? You were stiff, not even breathing.]
“It felt like a minute, though…”
Is time different in an illusion than in reality?
As my mind cleared, I also recalled just how powerful the Illusion Spirit I’d experienced firsthand was.
Still, it occurred to me that it wasn’t certain it would work on Rovenin.
Does that guy even have anything he’s afraid of? Anything he misses, or something he loved enough to cry over?
Having fallen under the control of the subconscious, I’d also learned its weakness. If there’s nothing to fear, the illusion is meaningless.
The kind of person who can be trapped by an illusion is predetermined.
It’s someone with a weakness in their heart.
[Master, a heal on your forehead…]
[Are you all right? My friend.]
Even now, the Water Spirits were busy worrying about me.
My body had been soaked while I was unconscious; what I’d thought was rain in the illusion was Endairon and Undaine desperately trying to wake me.
Since I was in a state where I couldn’t give commands, that was probably all they could do.
Though Rai’s headbutt clearly had the most effect.
[Master, if you’d stayed like that, you would have plummeted, you know? Endairon was on the verge of being unsummoned.]
“I suppose so.”
[That ice bastard saw Master’s consciousness fading and thought, ‘This is my chance!’ and just left! Let’s expel him!]
“You’re the one who thinks, ‘This is my chance.’”
When a master loses control, it’s like loosening your grip on the hand you’re holding with a Spirit.
If the Spirit also lets go at that moment, the link to the Middle realm is severed and they return to the Spirit realm. What choice the Spirit makes then is purely a matter of loyalty.
Endairon and Undaine held on and endured even when I let go, while Grufain promptly let go. It wasn’t something to blame Grufain for.
[Master! Over there!]
“He’s appeared.”
[Huh, what’s with that bloody mess.]
I’d thought the teleportation was taking an unusually long time, but Theatrazen couldn’t even set his destination properly and fell from mid-air, crashing down as if he’d been thrown.
The knights caught him in a flurry, but his condition didn’t look good at all.
“Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or are Theatrazen’s arms and legs twisted?”
[They’re twisted. Looks like he got caught between spaces while teleporting.]
“His neck isn’t twisted, though.”
[He’s lucky. I was actually thinking he might show up with his lower half missing.]
‘Is it like drunk driving?’
It seemed something went wrong because he attempted to teleport while unable to judge properly due to severe internal injuries.
Seeing the enemy in a state where he looked like he’d breathe his last even if I didn’t kill him, my will to fight cooled.
In fact, from the moment I escaped the illusion, my fighting spirit had already been half gone.
[The fact that Master broke out of the illusion must’ve been a shock to that old man, too. A greater shock than breaking the Shield. The mental shock must have been immense—not to mention the internal injuries.]
“Is that so?”
[An illusion is a type of mental Shield. Since he lost the battle of mental strength, his own mind would have problems.]
“Ah, I see what you mean.”
And I also see how difficult the Space Spirit and the Illusion Spirit are to handle.
With the Space Spirit, if you’re not careful, your limbs can easily get twisted during teleportation, and with the Illusion Spirit, if you fail to trap your opponent, the summoner’s mind breaks, too.
[Master, are you not going to fight?]
“Hmm…”
[Why have you suddenly lost your will to fight? Now’s your chance!]
Theatrazen seemed to scream while flailing his mangled limbs on the bare ground, but then he passed out—either from extreme pain or from his internal injuries.
I just rubbed my throbbing forehead and watched the knights gathered far away, and Theatrazen—half a corpse—who was the object of their concern.
“You’re right. Since there’s no one to protect them… I could kill them all right now.”
[Right? I’ll do it! Me!]
“Let’s go, Endairon.”
[Why!]
The knights gathered now were on a different level from before.
I could tell just from their aura that many among them were the kind who used sword energy.
They weren’t at Rovenin’s or Ash’s level, but sword energy could still cut a Spirit. Ador and Grufain wouldn’t be able to subdue the knights as easily as before, either.
Though the fact that they wouldn’t even be able to touch me remained unchanged.
“We’ve dragged this on for too long. I don’t want you guys to get hurt, so let’s just get out of here.”
[Tsk!]
“It’s not like I’m going to kill every knight in the castle. And…”
[And?]
It’s strange to say I’m grateful, but thanks to the illusion Theatrazen showed me, I saw my mother’s face, so I decided to let him off.
I remembered something I thought I’d forgotten.
“I’m not in the mood to break things.”
With my small whisper, Endairon soared high into the sky with me on his head.