I stayed in the cave till the downpours stopped.
An illusion that directly infiltrates a person's mind can be broken. Judging by the accuracy of things, this illusion should be built and based on what I remember and experience.
...
Let's go back to what I remember. The official name of this kind of illusion is "Soul Imprisonment". It is named that way because the victim will go into a state of coma and cannot be awoken unless they overcome the illusion and break it. The illusion created by the sword is similar but with one downside: The life force of the victims is slowly being taken away.
"Soul Imprisonment" illusions prey on the negative emotions of the victims. For example, mental emotions like trauma or regret can be a great source of the essence for the illusions to function. To break the illusion, one must overcome the trauma or regret.
This battlefield... It is not trauma. I have no comrades I care about when I was sent here. Although I was an F-rank adventurer, I have seen bloody fights so the mutilated corpse and disgusting stench of rotten blood do not bother me.
Was I sad? no.
...
I remember now, it is regret.
I regret becoming an adventurer and leaving my family behind in this war. This battle made me realise a lot of things I took for granted; I left this battle with a bloody appearance and loads of wounds. However, as an adventurer in the guild, I must attend the war. It is a capital crime to refuse and I would be executed on the spot.
As I ponder about my next move, my mind drifts into a nap. The feeling of fur nudging my feet woke me up and I realise this cave belongs to a group of monsters. However, they had their fair share of meals with all the corpses lying around and ignored me.
These monsters...wolves with wings and a snake-like tail, category 6 Wolfen.
I stood up and pat the dirt off my body. Carl's corpse has been ripped apart, only bones and his clothes remain.
For now, I will return to the adventurer's guild in Enchantio.
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The guards supervising the entrance to Enchantio were surprised when they see me appearing before them. They inspect my body as one of them runs off to alert the guild. There are cuts and slashes all over my body and to make things more convincing, I poured buckets of blood on myself days before so I stink and my clothes are blood-stained. After all, it is very suspicious for someone as weak as me to be fine after a war.
The guard who went to inform the guild runs back with several others. They are wearing suits so guild executives?
"You! How are you still alive?!" one of them blurts.
"What?" I ask.
"A-Ahem! Don't mind him, please follow us to the imperial hospital booked by the guild, we will need to ask you many things." another one says. It is a man in his 40s, he has goldenly gelled up hair with long sideburns down to his beard and blue eyes. Oddly, he is the only one wearing a white suit while the others are wearing a brown suit.
!
This guy... Micheal Ken. He is the top director of the adventurer's guild, I don't remember him being in Enchantio...
Is the illusion making things up? ...
I shake the thoughts out of my head, I am wasting energy pondering about variables instead of thinking about countermeasures.
I follow them to the hospital.
Normal citizens in Enchantio have it worse than I do, their only source of food is the small staple food. Everyone is very skinny, all of the resources of food are poured into participants of the war, and citizens were even evicted from their residences for war.
A mother is hugging her crying baby as they lie on the ground. "it's okay, just bear with it for a little longer, the pain will go away."
The pain of hunger...
"Let's pick up the pace," one of the executives commented as he cover his nose. The immense stench from the citizens...
-------------------------
The healers heal the wound on my body before patching them up. I also took a bath before changing into patient clothing. Micheal walks in with a woman in armour, holding a war axe, and a man in casual clothing. There is a long case behind the man, I can sense an aura emitting from it.
Both of them, are SSS rank adventurers. The woman is called Vicious while the man is called Calvin.
"I will cut to the chase, explain what you saw and how you survived the battle. For your information, you are the only survivor from all races in that battle," says Micheal.
I frown.
"What do you mean what I saw? What else other than bodies dropping onto the floor as blood is spewed everywhere? Do you want to know what I hear as well?" I say.
"Brat, watch your tone-"
Micheal stops a nearby knight from speaking any further.
"How did you survive?" He asks.
"Luck," I say.
...
"What?"
"Luck," I repeat myself.
"..."
"I knew this was a waste of time," Calvin says as he scratches his red hair. his red eyes glare at me before he leaves the room.
Vicious stares at me for a few seconds and we exchange glances.
?
She grips her war axe firmly as her eyes widen and left the room.
Micheal sighs. "Alright, your injuries have been healed by the top healers. Report to the guild association once you have been discharged."
Micheal leaves the room and closes the door on the way out.
...
...
"Do you believe him?" says Micheal outside.
!!!
Is it the passive skill I got from Lorraine?! I can hear their conversation even though this room is sound-proof and have a barrier cast.
"You are thinking too much," says Calvin.
"...I have a weird instinct." says Vicious.
"What? Not you too!" Calvin exclaims.
"It's not about his response, it's his eyes," says Micheal.
"I..."
They travel too far for me to hear the rest of the conversation.
-------------------------------------------------
"It's not about his response, it's his eyes."
"I agree, to tell you the truth when I exchange glances with him, I sense something... terrifying. Like a huge terrifying existence is within him, supporting him. His aura is one of a category 9, an existence even stronger than the demon lord." says Vicious.
"... T-That cannot be, he is the weakest adventurer in our guild... But Vicious's instinct has never been wrong..." Calvin mumbles.
Micheal sends a message to the other executives. "keep an eye on Loi" the message says.
---------------------------------------------------
I return to the adventurer guild after changing into my adventurer attire, a brown sleeveless coat with a green t-shirt and some knee guards and elbow guards. 3 days have passed since I was hospitalized and I was released.
I open the door and approach the lady at the counter, she is sweating profusely as her mountains of documents are placed beside her.
"H-Huh, it's you, Loi," she says.
That name attracted everyone's attention. Some gaze at me with envy while some gaze at me with hatred.
...
I place a document in front of the counter. "I'm not participating in any events for a while."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"What?! but our manpower is low, at this point you are asking to be expelled from the guild-"
"Fine by me," I say.
"What?!" an adventurer nearby exclaims.
"You brat! After everything we have done, you decided to run away after taking all the benefits-" An adventurer in his 40s shouts. He is drunk.
"Why? Are you going to stop me?" I glare at him.
Although his cultivation base is higher than mine, I am now sure that the skills I obtained from the system can be used in this illusion. Not to mention my current grown and big body, I can circulate mana easier than in my young body.
"T-This ungrateful fuck..." he mumbles.
"I cannot pretend that I didn't hear that," says Calvin from behind, a red blade is placed against my neck, I did not sense his presence.
I sigh as I touch the blade, the blade explodes and breaks into pieces.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"W-What?! My dagger!?" Calvin's face turns pale.
The dagger is a blood dagger, it becomes stronger as it absorbs the blood. Why? Because the material allows blood to seep into the blade and be converted into mana. However, If I overload a tiny part of the dagger with mana, it easily breaks. I learnt about this when Calvin died to Akira during humanity's confrontation with the demons.
"You cannot be an F rank with that skills! It is illegal to lie about your performance-"
"But it is the truth, I am an F rank."
"What..."
I sigh. "Anyways, I quit." and I walk out of the guild.