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Chapter: 41
“M-Monsters?!”
Marien screamed in shock.
At the same time, other shadows began to appear in the thick smoke.
“No way…”
Gale gripped his sword handle tightly, sweat pooling in his palm.
From the smoke, black shadows slowly emerged.
Huge bodies with grotesque forms.
Countless monsters appeared, parting the smoke as they came.
Marien, standing next to Gale, turned pale, her face as blue as her hair.
“W-What is happening? Why are there monsters in the arena?!”
Each one seemed at least mid-level in strength.
No matter how strong Gale and Marien were, even elite trainees, they had never faced mid-level monsters.
At full strength, they might handle one mid-level monster at a time.
But dozens of them?
One monster stretched a huge, grotesque hand toward Marien.
“Aah! Get away! Get away!”
Marien screamed and shot water at it.
But the water only passed harmlessly through the monster’s body.
The creature’s face twisted into a bizarre smile, completely unaffected.
“I-It’s not working…”
Marien trembled in fear.
Gale gritted his teeth as instinctive terror surged.
The Bartius family, called the descendants of demons, were said to protect the north with monsters, and other nobles whispered that they might even control them.
So they really had such powerful monsters hidden in the manor.
A giant monster lunged at Gale.
“Hiiik!”
Gale stepped back and swung his sword.
Clang! Clang!
As expected, his attacks didn’t even scratch it.
Despair filled him.
“Snap out of it!”
Ellen from Ludovico’s stands shouted.
“You’re seeing illusions! Snap out of it, Gale, Marien!”
Gale stared at her in disbelief.
Illusions?
No way… it was too clear.
Distracted, Gale didn’t notice a monster’s claw dig into his shoulder. He screamed and fell.
“Aaaah! My shoulder!”
Nearby, Marien rolled frantically to avoid attacks.
“Aaaah! Save me! Help! Monsters! Monsters!”
Watching them, Karina’s lips curved into a cold smile.
It was amusing to see them swinging swords at nothing and screaming on the ground.
Thanks to the magical amplification artifacts Alvin had installed.
This was the illusion technique of Hwan-Eum Magong Hwan-Yun, normally beyond Isabella’s ability.
But amplified by Alvin’s artifacts, it became fully possible.
Karina watched Isabella, who was pushing herself to release the fragrance, and asked:
“How long can you hold out?”
“About 15 minutes. Any longer is impossible.”
Isabella’s face was twisted in strain as she spoke.
Fifteen minutes was enough.
Karina, standing in the smoke, closed her eyes.
She began Cheonma Simgong.
The first technique she had learned in this world to generate internal energy.
A technique passed only to the head of the sect.
Its advantage: explosive recovery of inner strength and the ability to circulate it while standing or sleeping.
Karina’s inner strength was nearly empty. She needed to recover as Isabella’s hallucinatory fragrance disoriented the enemies.
As Karina closed her eyes, energy began swirling around her through the smoke.
The air quaked from her immense recovery.
Meanwhile, Gale and Marien were still in chaos.
“Can’t you see the monsters?! We have to kill them!”
Marien scrambled like a worm, avoiding invisible attacks, while Gale swung at the air with a pale face.
Even the illusory pain from the monsters felt real to them.
Gale held his intact shoulder, unable to use one arm.
Ellen’s expression hardened as she watched.
“Idiot fools.”
Gale, terrified by the illusions, stumbled backward, showing no will to fight.
Eventually, he tried to crawl out of the arena.
Outside would mean immediate disqualification.
Ellen drew her sword, pointing it at him.
“E-Ellen-sama…”
“If you crawl out there, you die by my hand.”
“W-What? How are we supposed to handle those monsters? We have to report to the royal family! Bartius hid monsters!”
Ellen’s icy expression twisted strangely.
“Snap out of it, Gale. If you disgrace Ludovico further, I won’t stay silent.”
Gale froze under her deadly gaze.
Ellen’s eyes were sincere. One false move, and she could strike him down.
He had a choice: die fighting monsters honorably, or die at Ellen’s hand as a coward.
Gale gritted his teeth and stood up.
He approached Marien, who was crouched on the floor, trembling and covering her head.
The fact that the monsters were illusions was hard to believe.
The artifacts had amplified Isabella’s hallucinatory fragrance to a lethal degree.
Even knowing it was an illusion, it felt real.
But if it were an illusion, striking the source would end it.
Even if real, attacking the controller of the monsters could end this hell.
Gale tightened his grip on his sword.
“Marien, snap out of it!”
“Save me! Save me!”
“To survive, we must strike the one controlling the monsters!”
Finally, Marien lifted her head, fear still in her eyes.
“The one controlling the monsters…?”
“Yes! Focus now!”
Gale narrowly avoided a monster’s hand, adjusted his trembling sword, and shouted.
Marien forced herself to stand on shaky legs.
That crushed tomato… I thought she was powerless, but she’s the cause of all this.
At that moment, Gale, avoiding a monster, finally spoke:
“These monsters might be illusions.”
“Illusions? But it feels real, and it hurts!”
Both were bleeding from the attacks, yet it was still an illusion?
“I can’t believe it either, but Bartius’ children surely used a wicked trick. Maybe the floor artifacts aren’t just explosives.”
Marien clenched her teeth and readied herself.
“We won’t let this slide.”
“Destroy the smoke-emitting artifacts first.”
“Understood.”
Marien squeezed out her remaining strength, destroying the artifacts.
Gradually, the smoke thinned and clarity returned.
How dare they mock us with such tricks?
As she destroyed the last artifacts, a monster lunged through the clearing smoke.
“It’s just an illusion! Only an illusion!”
Marien braced herself, but a massive hand approached.
The monster spoke in a calm voice.
“Do you really think it’s an illusion?”
It was Karina’s voice.
“Uh…?”
By the time they realized, it was too late.
The black shadow that seemed like a giant monster blurred, revealing Karina’s violet-eyed figure.
She struck Marien’s abdomen with her sword.
“Kuhk-!”
Marien flew through the air, out of the arena.
KRA-KA-KA-KANG!
She hit the ground outside, rolling with a loud crash.
Karina calmly retrieved her sword, energy still radiating from her body after completing her inner strength exercise.
