Chapter 357: Defeat

“Dozens of cuts?”

Ailag stared, dumbfounded, at Muen not far away, leisurely playing with the snow-white short blade in his hand, and couldn’t help but feel an absurd sense in his heart.

Already cut a dozen times?

How is that possible?

He clearly hadn’t felt the slightest—

“Mm?”

The sneer that was about to surface at the corner of Ailag’s mouth suddenly froze.

Because a knife mark really appeared on his face.

Then a second, a third.

More and more knife marks surfaced on his body, but no blood spattered. Instead, this body of his twisted, as if it would collapse at any moment.

The disguise ruptured—this truly was only a phantom he had used to confuse Muen.

Since this figure was false, then those beasts in numbers that defied common sense, the maiden crying in despair, even the arrow poised for a kill-shot—all were fake.

This was illusion.

Yet the tableau remained ghastly and ferocious.

A chill rose in Ailag’s heart. If he had overestimated himself and exposed his true body before this man who, by rumor, wasn’t anything special, did that mean he’d already been hacked to pieces?

But when, exactly?

Even the sword of that Sword King’s disciple, Paul Marvin, wouldn’t be so fast that he had no awareness at all!

Ailag’s expression sank in an instant. This figure flickered and his entire appearance changed; the silver uniform turned red, and the beast-emblem outlined on his chest became a bewitching heart.

This was his real appearance and identity.

Origin Tower, Illusion School—Ailag.

“I underestimated you, Muen Campbell.”

Ailag still floated in the air, looking down on Muen.

Although his true face had been revealed, no one could be sure whether this figure was real or not.

“You’ve said that more than once now.” Muen shrugged indifferently.

“Can’t you change your phrasing?”

“So what!”

Facing Muen’s silent provocation, a vein jumped on Ailag’s forehead, but he quickly regained calm, once more looking like a man holding a sure win:

“So what if you realized it’s illusion? You’re still mired within it!”

“The moment you stepped into this snare, you were already at an absolute disadvantage. Magic’s first-strike advantage isn’t something you can erase with fast enough blade-work!”

“So long as you die in this illusory realm, your real body will die all the same!”

...

“You’ve got a point. I am indeed still inside your illusion right now.”

Muen nodded. Confronted with Ailag’s intimidation, his expression remained calm.

Those beasts still watched like tigers eyeing prey, their stench and viciousness enough to sicken. Even knowing these things were false constructs of illusion, anyone with a normal brain wouldn’t actually let these things take a bite out of them.

“But... as I recall, so-called illusion magic needs to be established on a pivot in reality, doesn’t it.”

Information related to illusion magic kept flooding into Muen’s mind, letting him # Nоvеlight # fully feel that his cram-study in that previous period had not been useless.

“A pivot...”

Muen’s gaze swept once, and soon fell upon what he had noticed earlier... that corpse.

The unidentified corpse still leaned quietly under the wall, eyes scattered and lifeless—but in this moment, Muen almost felt it was watching him.

“Ho~”

Muen chuckled, his figure turning into an afterimage and vanishing in an instant.

“Damn it!”

Ailag’s face changed greatly at once, and he ordered, “Stop him!”

The numerous beasts roared again and pounced on Muen like mad.

But relying on his drifting footwork and razor knife-light, Muen actually forced open a path through this abnormal horde.

Ailag’s expression grew uglier.

The more an illusion seeks to be real, the more it seeks to perfectly trap a person, the more it must accord with common sense.

For example, even within illusion, he couldn’t simply knead out a hundred overlord-class beasts; that would collapse the illusion outright.

But the beasts produced within the illusion could wear this man down alive here—what they could not do was briefly halt his steps.

Thus Ailag could only watch helplessly as he drew closer and closer to that corpse...

Closer and closer...

Closer...

Clo—

At some point, Ailag’s ugly expression vanished; the corner of his mouth slowly hooked up, turning excited... and expectant.

He couldn’t help craning his neck as he watched Muen finally come beside that body—watched him... slowly lift the knife in his hand.

The elation in his heart was hard to restrain.

Chop.

Chop.

Once you chop, it will—

“Mm?”

The blade stopped.

The excitement on Ailag’s face froze as well.

Only Muen turned back, withdrew the short blade that was about to fall but had not chopped the corpse, and showed him a prankish smile:

“This pivot... is a trap, isn’t it.”

“You—”

“As far as I know, how to hide the pivot better is a required course for an excellent illusion mage. Would you really take something that looks suspicious at a glance as the pivot? You don’t look that stupid.”

“Since you know...”

“Why do this anyway?”

Muen thought seriously. “To mess with you?”

“You!”

Just as veins bulged on Ailag’s forehead and his flushed neck thickened a circle, Muen added:

“Of course, there’s also the purpose of buying a little time... for my ultimate to finish channeling.”

“Ultimate?”

“Yes.”

Muen showed a mysterious smile and said:

“Don’t forget, I’m not alone—and my Saintess-Your-Highness is no vase.”

Ding.

No sooner had Muen spoken than

a crisp chime rose from all around.

Then, beside Muen, space suddenly rippled. A few pitch-black metal plates—very familiar to Muen—slowly squeezed out of the air.

Star-points densely flickered upon the plates, brimming with holy light’s mana, then linked to each other to construct a complex matrix.

And the whole world began to waver, as if an invisible fire were burning the painting. In the end all falsehood burned away. Gentle light fell upon Muen’s shoulder, and at his side stood a maiden whose skirt hem swayed lightly—still as beautiful and moving as ever.

“H-how... how is that possible?”

The real Ailag appeared in a completely different direction. Staring at the cute, pretty girl, he wore the look of someone seeing a ghost:

“You should have been trapped in the illusion as well!”

“Mm. I was trapped.”

A fine layer of fragrant sweat beaded Liya’s brow; crystalline mana flowed at her fingertips. She tightened her cute little face and nodded seriously:

“But I once saw your kind of multi-layer-constructed illusion magic in a book, so it can be broken!”

“And... I noticed right away it was an illusion.”

Using the corner of her eye, Liya sneaked a peek at her side and, in a voice so low no one else could hear, whispered:

“That Muen... wasn’t real at all.”

“Hah?”

Ailag didn’t pay attention to Liya’s tiny aside; he only fell into deep doubt over what she’d just said.

Saw it in a book?

Can be broken?

What kind of joke?

He, the Illusion School’s most outstanding genius, with the very top teacher on this path—and the magic he had painstakingly built was frontally broken by a little girl who had merely “seen it in a book,” in the most humiliating way to him?

H-how is that even possible?

“It is possible.”

Liya seemed to see his bafflement and, face straight, said even more seriously:

“As long as you read more, it’s possible!”

“...”

In that moment, Ailag’s mouth opened and closed on nothing, like a fish beached on shore.

First his gaze swept Liya’s earnest and adorable pretty face; then he turned to look at Muen, who was watching him with that half-smile. Clearly in this warm golden kingdom, yet he still felt a shiver of rage-cold.

He couldn’t help the tears from coming out.

Soft persimmon?

Little lamb?

Who fed out intelligence this ridiculously fake—who spread it around so carelessly?

Isn’t this just bullying an honest man!