Chapter 81 - After The Nightmare

The illusion disappeared slowly.

Greene and everything around me turned white as if they lost their color. After which, they melted into particles of light then disappeared.

Not long after that, I saw the mausoleum door and the Nightmare Illusion Peshroom's face. 

I froze with fear but then.

< Acquired a skill! Dark Magic Resistance |Lvl 1 >

< Dark Magic Resistance, level up! 1 to 2 >

< Dark Magic Resistance, level up! 2 to 3 >

[Dark Magic Resistance | Lvl 3] [Passive]

[+ Reduces the damage and duration of negative effect caused by different types of Dark Spells by 25%]

The notification given by the system revived me.

I think back to the days I went through with Cerene. I remember the times when I killed the little girl to get out of the illusion.

My sadness turned into anger.

This ugly monster! How dare it toy with my memories of Cerene! How dare it forced me to kill her!

"[Bullet of Light]"

My attack was so effective! The Bullet of Light I shot at point-blank range tore the monster's face apart and made it take a few steps back.

"SHUU!"

I got out of the mausoleum. And after I closed the door of the place, I pursue the monster.

"[Sword of Light]"

The spell called a meter-long sword made of light to appear in my left hand. With this sword and my anger, I will chop up the monster into pieces and kill it.

But...

"SHUU! SHU!" The monster makes loud howls. And a moment later...

PHUFF!

A blast of white mist appeared once again!

"Damn it!" I screamed in panic.

I was too careless! I approach the monster and forgot about this attack.

I don't have time to run away or do anything. In an instant, the white mist engulfed me.

I was ready to face another illusion but for some reason, I was still here, standing in the middle of the cemetery. The mist enveloped me but I wasn't swallowed up by the illusion!

I don't know why this happened and I'm not going to waste the opportunity.

As soon as possible I ran toward the Nightmare Illusion Peshroom, a moment later I was in front of it.

"SHUU!"

"Shut up you ugly monsters! [Bullet of Light]"

Once again I used Spell to attack the monster's face.

"SHU! SHU!"

And when the monster was in pain and couldn't see clearly, I start to chop off its body using Sword of Light 

I started with the monster's feet, then I aimed for its arm, and lastly, its body. And when the monster could see again, I used the Bullet of Light to beat up its face.

Never did I expect, the monster was so slow and didn't have close-quarter combat ability worth of heeding for. Its incompetence allowed me to move freely to crush the monster as I pleased.

This monster is so different from the Nightmare Illusion Peshroom in Ark Fantasy Online. In that game, these monsters could still put up a fight by launching fist after deadly fist.

Swosh!

Oops! Almost! A fist almost hit my body. So... It wasn't that it didn't have a deadly fist but rather it couldn't launch that fist because its face and eyes were injured!

"Hah! Who told you to have a big face! [Bullet of Light]"

By using the combination of Arte, Spell, and repeating the same tactic for a few dozen minutes, finally, I was able to kill the Nightmare Illusion Peshroom!

"It's an anti-climax, isn't that right?"

Never did I expect, this monster was nothing without its white mist.

< Level up! 13 to 14 >

< Level up! 14 to 15 >

And extremely surprising! I went up two levels at once!

Not to idling around, I proceed to split the monster's body and took its Magic Stone. And without hesitation, I ate the Magic Stone.

I was hoping for a clue about the illusion as I gulped that magic stone.

Yes, I am fully aware, the Skill I got from the Magic Stone will be randomly chosen. But, shouldn't I hope for the skill that can create the nightmare illusion?

< Acquired a skill! Mist of Nightmare Illusion |Lvl 1 >

[Mist of Nightmare Illusion | Lvl 1] [MP -50]

[+ Creates a white mist that can cause illusions.

+ The percentage of the prey being swallowed by an illusion is 100% if the prey does not have Dark Magic Resistance. If the preys have such a skill, -5% for the percentage of the preys being swallowed by the illusion × the level of the preys' Dark Magic Resistance.

+ Area of attack, 5 × 5 square meters.

+ The duration of the preys being affected by the illusion is 2 hours. The duration of the illusion could be extended by attacking the prey using this Skill again. ]

Oh! Look at that! I got it!

And damn it! It was a dreadful skill! I was so lucky I wasn't swallowed by the illusion when I only had 15% resilience to be unaffected.

If I'm being swallowed by the illusion again, I'll have to kill Cerene again! That's something I truly don't want!

I've eaten the Magic Stone of this monster. Now, it's the turn for its meat. However, I will eat the monster's meat after I help Kimi and the others.

So, I went back to the mausoleum. I wish one of them had woken up but didn't! The four of them are still asleep.

I approached Chloe and used Spell.

"[Healing Water Ball]"

I used a healing spell on Chloe. I hope she wakes up for a while so that she can eat Puppet Lemon. And once she wakes up completely, I want her to help me to wake everyone up.

Unfortunately, my plan failed.

I can't get that little girl up.

The first plan failed. So... It's time for a second plan.

I collected few Puppet Lemons and made juice out of them. When I felt the juice was enough, I started feeding Kimi and the others.

Can those who faint be able to drink it?

No... They can't do it alone. I had to force them to drink it.

How?

Well... Let's just say that Ruciel's lips are so soft. That Fallen Elf girl also had an intoxicating body scent!

Ruciel makes my body hot!

I wanted to do something more but I didn't.

The time and place are so wrong. And if I truly did something, I'd be a criminal, I'd be a jerk like the jerk.

So... yes, I didn't do it. I am not a shameless woman.

But, I won't deny that I kissed Ruciel longer than the others. 

Shameless? No, of course, not. I HELP Ruciel.

Alan?

He's a kid. I had no problem helping him to drink his Puppet Lemon juice. And yes, I'm not denying it, I gave him some help for a brief moment.

Now, let's stop thinking about helping and smooching.

With that juice and the effect it has, I hope they wake up quickly. 

I don't know the level of the Mist of Nightmare Illusion that Peshroom has. Therefore, I don't know how long they continued to fall asleep. But, at a minimum, they will wake up after two hours.

And yes, when I wait for them to wake up on their own, I have to be on guard and make sure they stay safe.

"It's going to be a long afternoon," I whispered.

After that, I started cooking Nightmare Illusion Peshroom's meat using Ruciel's cookware and Magic Tools.

< Health and Mana stat up! HP +10 | MP +20 >

Nice! Extremely nice stat bonus points!

After I finished with my meal, I made food for Kimi and the others. I wanted something good waiting for them while they woke up.

Then, time passed...

"Ukhi khi!" roared Headless Ape.

"Shut up!" I shouted as I split the monster's face using my Silver Long Sword.

Headless Ape fell on its knees and I didn't hesitate to pierce the monster's body or maybe forehead using my strongest Spear Arte.

"[Crimson Impale]"

Splat!

The monster eventually died.

< Level up! 15 to 16 >

Another level up? 

As expected, this place had abundant Exp.

And yes, some monsters, especially Headless Ape came to attack us. And this is the sixth? Or maybe the seventh assault?

I'm not sure, I stopped counting after the second assault.

How did they find out where we were when we hid inside the mausoleum?

At first, a Headless Ape approached the mausoleum where we were because it was attracted by the smell of the foods I made.

So… I killed that monster.

Alone?

Yes, thanks to the level-up, I was able to kill that monster.

Now, back to the earlier topic.

I managed to kill the monster, I got the Magic Stone and the Headless Ape's meat. And since Kimi and the others were still fast asleep due to the illusion, I ate the meat and the Magic Stone.

< Strength Stat up! STR +2 >

< Acquired a skill! Fire Breath |Lvl 1 >

[Fire Breath | Lvl 1] [MP -12]

[+ Spurt fire from the mouth to burn the enemy. 

+ The distance of attack is two meters. 

+ The amount of damage given to the enemies influenced by the total amount of skill owner's MP, (10% of MP × Level of the Skill)]

Yes, I got quite an interesting skill. But back to the assault.

After the first Headless Ape, the other Headless Ape approached because they were attracted by the corpses of their kin.

So… I hunt them down.

< Strength Stat up! STR +2 > × 6

< Because a Skill has been obtained from this monster, the absorbed Magic Stone will be converted to Exp for the skill obtained from this monster. > × 6

And yes, not only Headless Ape, but some Decaying Illusion Peshrooms also came to assault us.

And I hunt them down too.

< Mana Stat up! MP +5 > × 5

< Because a Skill has been obtained from this monster, the absorbed Magic Stone will be converted to Exp for the skill obtained from this monster. > × 5

Time passed, I had already defeated some monsters but they hadn't woken up yet.

"[Stat Open]"

『General Information』

[ Name: Eclaite | Gender: Female ]

[ Race: Two Tail Fox Beastkin ]

[ Age: 19 | Level: 16/20 ]

『Jobs』

[ E-Rank Adventurer, Courtesan ]

『Basic Statistics』

| HP: 113/141 [129] 

| MP: 87/202

| SP: 68/144

[ STR: 106  | DEX: 29 ]

[ END: 69  | Luck: 5 ]

[ AGI: 86                    ]

『Skill』

[Heart of Monster] [Doppel?????] ∇

[Dark Magic Resistance |Lvl 1] New

[Mist of Nightmare Illusion |Lvl 1] New

[Fire Breath |Lvl 1] New

This is extremely satisfying when I know I'm getting stronger! And four more levels, I will get my second evolution!