The Price of Delusion

Meanwhile, in a dark room barely lit by glowing purple stones, a figure in a white robe sat cross-legged on the floor, choking hard. She vomited dark blood onto the fine black floor while clutching her chest, her breath barely catching air as panic surged through her entire system. The worst realization had just struck her mind.

She had been too ambitious. She had refused to listen and insisted on her own way of touching the so-called Tyrant, thinking her method would give her control over him. The idea that her long cultivation made her strong enough had been utterly foolish. If not for those past failures, she would never have tried to handle it herself.

Coughing out more blood caused her vision to fail. Her mind was in complete disarray, overflowing with regret. She knew this was definitely her end. Now that she had learned the curse was real, it was too late, even if her death served as the ultimate proof.

The only thing she had no idea about was the kind of curse that man bore—a curse that brought ruin to others while protecting its bearer. Was it truly a curse, or a blessing from a higher divine power?

One last bitter smile touched her lips before she collapsed into her own blood on the cold floor, completely lifeless.

Even with her life gone, the consequences of her selfish actions triggered an immediate disaster. Three dragon crawlers wreaked havoc inside their territory, no longer bound by anyone controlling their minds. The beasts tore apart everything in sight—structures, children, and adults alike.

No one present was capable of handling such higher beasts. Even for an elite squad of hunters, dealing with a single dragon crawler was pure chaos. Facing three was suicide. Only someone with high-level mind manipulation could keep them subdued, but the only person possessing that talent lay cold in the basement, and her people still had no idea she was dead.

Terrified screams echoed as one of the beasts broke past the manor grounds to hunt anything moving outside. The bloody carnage was too horrific to witness.

There were hunters who arrived to do a rescue mission. Instead of dealing with the beasts first, they had the citizens evacuated to the safest areas. Though the casualty count was too big already.

"How come these beasts are out here, and three of them? They live in that forbidden mountain that no one dared to enter," Akiro stated as his brows furrowed at the sight of those beasts. Together with the Grand Abyss party, they were on top of another building watching and carefully calculating their next move.

"Someone is courageous enough to test her power, I think," Kyla said with a displeased expression.

They knew that only one person in that ruined manor was capable of letting higher beasts out of that mountain, and the skill was through mind manipulation.

"Do you think elder Rosita has something to do with this? But I don't see her around despite her manor being ruined," Verna said, scanning the place in full confusion.

Why would the elder let her manor be ruined like this? Unless it was not her doing and she was not really here.

"I'll help evacuate the survivors," Verna added before leaping off the roof, casting a holy shield to cushion her fall.

"What absolute chaos! Aid Verna. I'll help the hunters in hunting those beasts," Kyla commanded Akiro.

"What? You want to split and deal with those beasts? You know how tough those are, and Captain is not here," Akiro tried to object, but just one look from his sister and he shut up.

"Always relying on Captain. He didn't train us to be just his freeloaders. Act like a top hunter, Aki!"

Akiro nodded solemnly. "Just stay safe." He leaped from the ledge, summoning a stream of water beneath his feet to ride through the air.

Kyla sighed as she watched the back of her younger brother. She knew what Akiro meant. Erus was more capable of handling these higher beasts because he loved hunting such levels, but they could not just rely on him every time—especially now that he was taking time off.

Then, her hand slid over the sheath of the holy sword that until now had still not unleashed its true power. Thinking that using it to help those poor immortals might awaken it—

"Get a hold of yourself! Only a fool would think like that," she countered before she could cause her own unplanned death. She tightly gripped the sword's handle. "They're just beasts. Why dawdle like a coward, Kyla!"

Her arms started to glimmer green as tiny vines crawled like worms onto her palms. This ability of hers always reacted whenever she was at the peak of her emotion, and given it was already above mid-tier level, her plant ability was nothing to joke around with in combat.

Kyla let go of her sword and focused her entire energy into her hands. Fearless, she jumped off the building and landed perfectly on the ground. She sensed the surroundings through vibrations in the earth and detected the next direction of the loose dragon crawler. She cast a vine that moved like a snake, fast enough to carry her across the ground for rapid movement.

It didn't take her long to find the group trying their luck at taking down a dragon crawler. But all their efforts were in vain. They were attacking as a group, yet repeating the same stunts that had already failed to leave so much as a scratch on the beast.

"Save your strength! Physical weapons won't penetrate its hard scales," she shouted at them.

"Good heavens! It's Kyla!" someone from the group yelled, catching the beast's attention in the process.

The dragon crawler lunged toward the hunter, but Kyla was quick enough to snatch him to safety with her vines. Focusing on the beast's path, she forced thick vines to sprout from the earth, using them to bind the creature and pin its entire body to the ground. The vines constricted tighter with every desperate thrash to break free. Yet even with the beast pinned, none of them knew what weapon could kill it if nothing could breach its scales.

"Vice, can you flip it? Its chest is the vital point," Ryden said, catching his breath.

He could have flown here, but he needed to conserve his energy to avoid blacking out before they dealt with all three dragon crawlers. These beasts were beyond their level for solo combat. Although the elders could manage, their party Captain was the only one who could truly match this rank on his own. Ryden had seen him do it before.

Though confused about how Ryden knew the beast's weakness, Kyla trusted her comrade without question. Ryden was the closest to their Captain among the five of them, so the Captain had likely taught him a few things.

"Wait! I can't just loosen the grip. This beast is too agile—it'll escape the moment I try to move it," she checked herself, realizing the risk just in time. She had almost made a critical mistake.

Ryden fell silent, observing the trapped monster.

"You grew those vines from the earth, right? Can you sprout more directly underneath to pierce it?"

"I suppose so."

It was a good idea, but—

"Just be careful not to shatter the core inside its body. Its blood will turn into poison and corrupt anyone who inhales it," Ryden added.

"What? Couldn't you give the warning before the instruction? I almost did it!" Kyla snapped, shaken by how close she had come to bringing total disaster upon everyone. Still, blaming Ryden was pointless. Who could fault him for prioritizing information during the panic?

"I forgot, but that's what Solari told me before."

"Did he tell you which side of its body the core is on?"

"I forgot to ask. It was just idle talk while we were training. I didn't pay much attention."

Kyla sighed and shook her head. That was Solari for you. He loved telling stories while pushing them through brutal training to distract them from the pain, but he never actually finished a single one.

She needed to figure something out fast before this drain on her energy exhausted her completely.

"I can pacify it for now, but I don't know how long it'll hold a beast of this level," she called out.

"That works. It'll buy us time to deal with the other two," Ryden agreed.

While Ryden and Kyla were occupied with the beasts, Verna and Akiro made their way inside the manor. The interior was brutally ruined, with the bloody corpses of the residents strewn across the space.

"Oh gosh! How did it end up like this?" Verna gasped at the horrific sight. "Where is Elder Rosita? She can't be dead, right?" She darted deeper into the manor before Akiro could stop her.

Akiro followed closely, eyes sharp and scanning their surroundings. There was no telling if the beasts outside were the only threat.

"Hey! Verna, be careful!" he called out as she leaped over the shattered staircase.

"Shut up! I'm not some fragile princess."

Akiro rolled his eyes with a sigh. Aside from his sister, why did every other woman have to be this stubborn?

Verna had checked every room from the upper floors to the ground floor, but found no sign of Elder Rosita.

"She's not here?" Verna muttered under her breath, unable to feel any relief until she found the elder. Rosita might be the only one who could explain what had actually happened to her manor.

She was the only person here capable of summoning beasts of that level. But why bring ruin to her own home?

"Does this manor have a basement? I can feel water flowing beneath us—and it's definitely not a natural underground stream," Akiro noted. With his water affinity, he could sense moisture anywhere within his perimeter.

"R-really?" Verna stared at him, amazed he could pick up on it through the manor's thick flooring.

It wasn't impossible for Elder Rosita to be hiding in a basement, but why cower down there while her entire family was slaughtered by beasts?

"Can you pinpoint it? We need to find the entrance—wait! What if we check the backyard first?"

"Yeah, the water's coming from over there," Akiro agreed, stepping back to let her lead the way.

Verna's instincts were top-notch whenever she didn't second-guess herself, and right now, she looked absolute in her direction.

And true to her words, they found an entrance laying flat on the ground, hidden in plain sight. Above it were planted flowers, though they were far from naturally grown. Magic had been used to disguise them as real flora, but the illusion was imperfect—their colors were far too vivid compared to normal plants.

When they opened the secret door to the basement, a foul odor surged from within, catching them completely off-guard. It reeked of both copper iron and rotten flesh. Akiro and Verna were forced to retreat and gasp for air outside, with Verna even throwing up from the stench.

"What the hell is in there? It smells awful," Verna complained, looking disheveled.

What on earth could Elder Rosita be hiding down there? Was she experimenting on beasts? The thought was far from impossible. Rosita, obsessed with pushing her magic to its absolute peak, would certainly stoop to such grotesque lengths.

Once they recovered from the initial shock of the stench, they put on the magical masks they reserved for missions involving heavy miasma. They descended the narrow steps carefully, on high alert for an ambush.

Below, they found purple-lit stones scattered across the floor. There were no extra rooms, only a single circular basement. At the far edge lay a white shape, flat against the ground. It didn't quite look human, nor did it look like a beast.

Verna rushed over to inspect it.

"Oh my gosh! What is this? Akiro!" Verna screamed in panic, prompting Akiro to sprint to her side.

"What the fuck! Why—why is there a damned corpse here?"

On the ground lay a human skeleton, draped in a white robe.

"Akiro, this is the robe worn only by elders of the Castle of Lion!" Verna gasped, her voice trembling.

Despite the terrifying realization taking shape in her mind, she tried to doubt it. It couldn't be. Elder Rosita was far too powerful to die like this. It had to be someone else's corpse!

​"Isn't that Elder Rosita's necklace?" Akiro pointed at the glistening pendant, despite it being soaked in blood.

"No! Elder Rosita!" Verna shouted in pure panic. "How could this be? It couldn't be because of those beasts!"

"I don't sense any trace of a physical attack here," Akiro noted grimly. "Someone with a mind control level higher than hers must have done this. And... Verna, it hasn't been that long since she died."

"What? Impossible! Are you saying she was sucked dry like this in a matter of hours? Just what kind of monster has the power to do this?"

To add to their horror, a sudden gust of wind blew in from outside, and the skeleton instantly crumbled into fine dust—scattering so fast they couldn't even track where it went. Nothing was left behind except the empty white robe and the bloody necklace.

Both Akiro and Verna stepped back in sheer horror. They couldn't fathom what they had just witnessed.

Which high power had the elder offended to suffer such a fate? Was this some kind of forbidden dark spell?

Verna's chest heaved as panic gripped her. How were they supposed to explain this horrific sight to the higher elders and the council?

Meanwhile, Akiro stood silent off to the side. The heavy, lingering atmosphere—or rather, the intense, stifling heat in the basement—felt unnervingly familiar. He had felt this exact aura before, but he couldn't quite place whose it was, or where he had encountered it.