Chapter 159: Jinxed

Chapter 159: Jinxed

Despite my reassurances, everyone was extremely careful as we retraced our steps. I even joined the vanguard with [Glacial Aura] active, just in case. Interestingly enough, the dungeon had already cleaned up all the mess, and any damage from exploding slime was gone.

We reached the room again without incident and peeked inside. It was mostly empty except for a small fountain and a large ornate door, which indicated that it was the boss's room.

"Look! The boss room is just ahead," Ian exclaimed, his voice filled with excitement and anticipation.

"And a fountain; I'm surprised we're getting a safe zone," Eliza said curiously. "Unless I'm mistaking the layout?"

"No. This does look like a rest area." Jet confirmed as he glared at the water.

"Are you worried it's poisoned?" I asked, pulling out one of my flasks and placing it inside the fountain while absorbing some of the mystery liquid through my arm. From what I could tell, no notifications or anything significant happened.

"Yeah. As stupid as that sounds." Jet said with a sigh. "Dungeon fountains are supposed to be rejuvenating waters. But this dungeon has been anything but ordinary since we reached the second floor."

"Oh! I read about those. They're like weak healing potions, right?" Eliza asked.

Ian gestured for my canteen, so I handed it over to him. He poured some of the contents on some of his wounds and massaged it in with his free hand. As he continued the work, the damaged skin slowly started looking better.

"Amazing!" Ian said happily.

"Too bad this one didn't come with a pink slime, or we could pretty much regrow some limbs with that fountain." Jet pointed out.

"Is this dungeon big enough for that?" I asked curiously.

Jet shook his head. "Regrettably, no. I was just joking. Otherwise, we could have been set for life."

We took some time to collect some of the healing water and rest up while Ian rejuvenated himself.

"So, do you think we should take the boss on now?" Jet asked.

"Kill the boss! Get the loot! Sleep!" Pelopi declared.

"I'm ready and willing," I responded but turned to Eliza. "But your Holy pool is tapped out, isn't it?"

"Yeah... But unless we backtrack to the other passageway and find some monsters to fight, that will not change." Eliza responded. "I can always generate some on the fly, especially if you do your zip-zap step and I siphon your damage. I'm more concerned about Ian."

Ian let out a smirk as he gestured at his now healthy-looking skin. "Oh, I'm good to go. This water has me as smooth as a baby's bottom."

"Okay," Jet said with a nod. "Sounds like we will be attempting the boss then. We know it'll be illusions and whatever the next floor is, so be careful."

"And probably a Fey, or you'll eat your hat," Pelopi added.

"Yes..." Jet frowned before giving a light chuckle. "I might need to buy a hat..."

We made our preparations and were in generally high spirits as we snacked on some of Pelopi's apples and ironed out our opening strategy. No matter what enemy was thrown at us, my job was to harm myself with [Thunder Step] so Eliza could rapidly refill her reserve.

We entered the room and waited... Weapons were drawn, and you could almost sense the held breath as we all anticipated what this menacing floor would finally throw at us.

A black cat appeared in a poof of rainbow smoke and glitter. Then, as the smoke began to disperse, we saw that it was no ordinary black cat. Its fur was black like midnight, and on its chest was a white patch of fur in a starburst pattern. On its back, it had tiny dragonfly wings that glimmered like an iridescent rainbow. On top of its head was an adorably small crown tilted to its side as if worn with a casual demeanor.

Nearly right after that, one of my [Lightning Bolt] spells became extremely unruly and burst within my grasp; I felt a backlash of mental anguish straight to my core while the violent lightning was stored within [Voltaic Slime]. I had never seen my magic behave like this except when I was attempting to brute-force my spell creations, so it was utterly baffling.

"Is this the [Jinx Aura]?" Eliza questioned.

"Oh bloody hells. That's ridiculous!" Ian shouted, right as his axe seemed to slip out of his hands almost comically.

"I don't suppose you have [Dispel]?" Eliza asked me with concern. "Anything stronger than a poison or disease is beyond my current Holy magic level."

"No? Should I have it?" I questioned before blasting another [Lightning Bolt] at the cat. Successfully this time and juicing it with some of the discharge stored within [Voltaic Slime].

"It's one of the spells from [Arcane Magic]!" Jet answered while pulling out a different crossbow from his magic storage.

"Mine's only level three!" I replied.

"Balls." Jet muttered.

A hammer struck against my [Arcane Armor], finally shattering the barrier, and at the same time, a sword sliced along my arm. Blood leaked from my arm, and I clenched it in pain with my other hand.

"Bloody hell, that hurt..." I grunted as I recast [Arcane Armor].

"These weapons seem to hurt a lot more than normal. Even I'm taking some pain." Ian said angrily.

I then stared at my arm in shock. It hurt. Why? My arm wasn't real; it was slime and anything not striking my core was meaningless.

'So why the hell did that hurt me?' I asked in utter confusion.

Even when I told Alpha to fix the wound, it still was there... Bleeding as if my arm was real, and only when Eliza's Holy magic embraced me, did the wound finally close up. It made no sense; it didn't seem real.

I told my [Sub-Cores] to continue the battle in my place while keeping up my facade, which they seemed to have no problem understanding. Their new level of intelligence, after my latest evolution, still needed to be fully explored, but it appeared they easily understood my intent. Once I confirmed their performance was believable, keeping in line with my usual displayed adventurer power level, I could focus internally on trying to puzzle out this conundrum.

The cat was a Fey, so it was something like Trixie. This was the second floor, so illusions were the theme, and the third floor seemed to be ghosts... The more I puzzled together, the more wrong the situation was. Was this entirely an illusion? But then, why did it feel so real? Illusions surely couldn't actually deal damage?

'Or... Can they?' I questioned and recalled a similar discussion with Trixie about a certain trait I had acquired from the prince. I pulled it up.

Raises spell power by 5% per trait rank.

Spells focused through the horn become more real.>

'More real!' I exclaimed excitedly to myself. 'They are illusions, but the cat must have a trait to make them more real. That's terrifying, I'm glad it didn't just make an illusion dragon to eat us or something.'

As if to confirm my new understanding, the wrongness of the room seemed to become rapidly apparent. The glowing magical weapons started to turn more shadowy and ethereal, proving their falsehood, and if that wasn't enough, I received a sudden prompt.

"It's all fake!" I shouted aloud with glee and noticed that even the bloodstain on my arm vanished with my proclamation.

The cat glared at me with utter abhorrence and loathing.