The Haewolsumo, Part 5
Illusion.
A terrifying art that invaded the opponent's mental world.
In particular, Doricco Shiro's illusions were notorious for their sheer cruelty.
They pried into the opponent's memories, relentlessly exploiting their trauma to slowly break their mind.
'This is why Sword Masters consider Doricco Shiro their most troublesome opponent.'
Having lived for hundreds of years, each of them harbored terrible traumas.
And these became the perfect "ingredients" for Doricco Shiro.
—So even you can't do anything once you're trapped in an illusion, huh?
There was a reason Doricco Shiro acted so high and mighty.
Well, even surviving it was only possible because they were Sword Masters.
Anyone else would have had their mind shattered and died the moment they were trapped in her illusion.
But...
"W-what?!"
Unlike the others, her shallow tricks didn't work on me.
Mental Strength 'MAX' nullifies mental interference.
"Why...! Why can't I read your mind...?"
The Mythic-tier skill, Soul of the Sword Master.
Thanks to its passive effect, my Mental Strength stat was at its maximum, allowing me to nullify any mental attack.
This meant I could block not only illusions but even the "mental interference" she used to read her opponent's memories.
Yes.
I was Doricco Shiro's natural enemy... in other words, her perfect counter.
Therefore, no matter what she tried, she could never defeat me.
"Grrr...!"
Doricco Shiro gritted her teeth.
Before long, the world began to flip once more.
Whoosh!
The world before my eyes twisted endlessly. Every time Doricco Shiro's fingers moved, the laws of reality broke down.
A surreal sight filled my vision.
The night sky and the lake swapped places once again.
Gravity vanished, sending water droplets floating into the air, and time began to flow backward. Fully bloomed flowers reverted to buds, and the sun rushed backward toward the east.
Space folded and stretched repeatedly.
The distance between us multiplied dozens of times in an instant, pushing Doricco Shiro far away, only for her to appear so close in the next moment that her breath brushed my cheek.
Stars fell from the sky and rolled across the lake. Colossal celestial bodies grazed past overhead, and the orbits of planets were drawn beneath my feet.
Insects crawled beneath my skin. Flesh swelled and burst. Dark red liquid erupted like a fountain. Bone and flesh twisted and deformed in every direction.
Rumble!
It was dizzying.
Hundreds, thousands, millions, billions of pieces of information... were tearing through my nerves every single second.
It wouldn't be strange for a mind to shatter under this pressure.
But.
Resisting high-tier illusion.
Resisting high-tier illusion.
Resisting high-tier illu—
'I feel absolutely nothing.'
Step.
Even amidst the raging waves of hallucinations, I simply walked forward in silence.
One step.
And then another.
As I moved forward, the distance between me and the backpedaling Doricco Shiro shrank.
"T-this is crazy...!"
Doricco Shiro made her final struggle.
"...G-get away!"
Space itself shattered like glass, and I was broken into countless pieces, endlessly destroyed.
My consciousness scattered into thousands of fragments before pulling back together.
However...
"I believe I told you."
"...!"
"These childish parlor tricks don't work on me."
The moment my voice rang out.
Crash!
Along with the sound of layered illusions shattering...
Silence.
All the commotion died down.
"..."
"..."
A cold silence.
The world fell quiet. When I closed and opened my eyes, I was standing on the surface of the lake.
The very place where I had first encountered Doricco Shiro.
The water was calm. There were no waves, no whirlpools.
A full moon hung silently in the sky.
Its silvery glow reflected off the mirror-like surface of the lake, creating another night sky below.
The surrounding trees stood completely still, as if the chaos from moments ago had been nothing but a dream.
"Ah, ahhh..."
Thud.
Doricco Shiro collapsed in despair. The color drained from her face.
Looking down at her hands, she began to tremble violently.
She looked as though she couldn't believe her illusions, which had been flawless for hundreds of years, could be broken so easily.
'It worked.'
I succeeded.
I had been confident that I could block Doricco Shiro's illusions since I had already nullified mental attacks multiple times before, but... actually experiencing it sent a thrilling rush of satisfaction through my body.
'She was so annoying to deal with in the game.'
Back then, I had to react to every single surreal illusion.
Unless your controls were top-tier, it wasn't easy to overcome.
Regardless, I had bypassed her most troublesome pattern once again using Soul of the Sword Master.
'Now, all that's left is to deal with Doricco Shiro's actual body.'
Fortunately, Doricco Shiro's physical combat power wasn't very high.
In terms of raw combat ability, she was weaker than even Peter Pan, whom I had met in the dark city of Dawnguard.
Since she had joined the ranks of the strongest solely through illusions and necromancy...
The moment those techniques failed, Doricco Shiro became so helpless that the title of the Five Nightmares felt like a joke.
"Is this all?"
"Grrr...!"
Of course, I couldn't let my guard down.
No matter what, Doricco Shiro was still chosen by an evil god.
Even excluding her illusions, her raw combat power was far greater than mine, as I was still only level 33.
"Don't...! Don't look down on me...!"
Rip!
Right on cue, Doricco Shiro began her final struggle.
She tore off all the talismans plastered on her forehead.
Hummm.
Dozens of talismans began to float in the air.
The yellow pieces of paper slowly spread out and surrounded me as if they possessed a consciousness of their own, and the spell characters glowing faintly under the moonlight came alive on the paper.
Stop!
Suddenly, the talismans hovering in the air froze.
Like a predator catching its breath right before pouncing on its prey.
Taking a short breath, Doricco Shiro's eyes flashed.
She growled, commanding the talismans.
"Bind him! Right now...!"
Whoosh!
The surrounding talismans shot toward me like arrows.
Chuckle.
At that moment, a dry laugh escaped my lips.
'I can see them.'
Was it because my physical stats had increased, and I had even obtained the Dragon Body trait?
Just a few weeks ago, I couldn't keep up with fast movements, but now I could react to enemy attacks to some extent.
This was an excellent situation.
It meant I could cast the right skill at the exact moment I wanted.
Ritardando Jin
Tick, tock, tick, tock!
The world slowed down.
The flow of time sank slowly, as if submerged in water.
Looking at the sluggishly moving talismans, I cast another skill.
...The 10-star evolved Ultimate Auto-parrying.
Whoosh!
The Feather Sword drew a circular arc.
Unlike the previous Auto-parrying, which deflected attacks automatically regardless of my intent, the skill's correction began to align perfectly with my will.
A cyan sword light cut through the air.
The talismans flying at breakneck speed danced along the flow of my sword.
Like falling leaves drifting in the wind, the trajectories of the talismans were subtly altered by the torrent created by my blade.
Indeed.
The Feather Sword did not cut the talismans.
Instead, it merely created a wind that completely redirected them.
The sword wind became a tempest, sweeping the pieces of paper away.
One by one, the redirected talismans began to curve back.
"...!"
Doricco Shiro's eyes widened.
The multiple talismans she had thrown rushed back toward her like a reversing tide...
Slap! Slap! Slap!
...and began to stick all over her body.
First her wrists and ankles.
Then her limbs, followed by her waist and chest, and finally, her face.
The yellow pieces of paper became a perfect straitjacket, binding Doricco Shiro's entire body.
"Mmph, mmmph...!"
Doricco Shiro tried to struggle, but she soon quieted down, perhaps realizing it was futile.
Whoosh.
Before long, the slowly flowing time returned to normal.
The duration of Ritardando Jin had finally ended.
I approached the immobilized Doricco Shiro.
Then, I roughly ripped off the talisman covering her mouth.
Rip!
It felt like tearing off tape stuck firmly to skin.
Doricco Shiro shrieked in pain.
"Aaargh! That hurts!"
I could see the area around her lips turning red, but ignoring it, I brought up my business in a calm voice.
"Where is the Haewolsumo?"
"T-that's...!"
Doricco Shiro parted her lips.
After hesitating for a long time, she whined pleadingly.
"I'm sorry, but really not Jelly! Please! I worked so hard to tame it!"
"...Jelly?"
"It's the nickname I gave it! It's squishy like jelly!"
"..."
...She really hasn't snapped out of it, has she?
"Choose one. You die, or you summon the Haewolsumo."
"No! You're going to kill me anyway..."
"No, I won't."
"...?"
"If you hand over the Haewolsumo quietly, I have no intention of killing you."
"Wh-what...?"
Hearing my words, Doricco Shiro's lips began to flutter again.
"D-don't lie to me. You think I'd fall for that...?"
"I swear it on the names of the Great Ones."
"...!"
Flinch!
Surprise filled Doricco Shiro's eyes.
Swearing on the names of the Great Ones—meaning, the ancient gods, the Elders.
For a Sword Master, this was an unbreakable oath.
Of course, since I didn't actually worship the Elders, I could break this oath as easily as flipping my hand...
'But this time, I'm actually serious.'
...If I had intended to kill Doricco Shiro in the first place, I would have used Soul of the Sword Master the moment I encountered her.
'I shouldn't kill her yet.'
In the case of Camilo von Taribas, he barely affected the main scenario.
That guy stayed cooped up in the Corpse Exhibition from beginning to end.
In contrast, Doricco Shiro was a key figure in multiple scenarios.
If I killed her now... the future I knew would twist out of control.
Unless I wanted to create variables with my own hands, there was no reason to execute Doricco Shiro.
'Above all...'
Doricco Shiro still had plenty of uses left.
Therefore, she had to stay alive.
At least, until 'that moment' I had in mind.
"I won't say it twice. Summon the Haewolsumo here, now."
"Ugh, uuugh..."
Yielding to my threat, Doricco Shiro pleaded in a tearful voice.
"P-please... you have to send our Jelly away as painlessly as possible. Okay...?"
I stared at the sobbing Doricco Shiro and replied,
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"...?"
"I never said I was going to kill the Haewolsumo."