Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Don't Move a Muscle
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Han Sang-ah responded to my words.
"Stay perfectly still in one spot without moving."
"Right."
It's not warping space or lifting the terrain to whisk it somewhere else. In other words, just stay rooted in one spot without budging, and you're done.
"I know exactly where you two are right now. If you don't move a single step from here, I'll dismantle the magic circle and come back."
Han Sang-ah and Jeong Oh-hun nodded at my words.
"Just so you know, this isn't easy."
It might sound simple, but resisting fake sensations without falling for them is no joke.
"You might see me dead, or visions of something precious to you in dire straits."
You could hear screams begging for help, or a fake operator voice saying the situation's over and to follow instructions.
And... all the while, the ghosts will keep trying to possess you.
"Hell, you might even see illusions of me attacking you."
And you have to ignore it all. People think hallucinations are like street hustler tricks, but illusion magic is one of the most vicious out there.
"Don't move no matter what. If something seems to attack you, block it right there without budging."
"Won't you know if it's an attack?"
Hallucinations are fake senses. They fool all five: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste.
"If weapons clash, you'll feel the impact like they did."
Get slashed by a sword, and you'll see the wound, smell the blood, feel the pain. That's what a proper hallucination does. Humans perceive and analyze the world through their senses, after all.
Fool those senses, and you can't perceive or analyze reality anymore.
"Cheap illusions from amateurs are one thing, but..."
I was starting to grasp the true power of Jaun Valley. This wide-area illusion magic circle was delicate, refined, efficient, and clean.
"Think of it as cultivation training and endure as long as you can. Oh, and once I smash one of the 24 convergence points maintaining this circle, I won't bother hiding anymore."
Right now, they probably don't think we can dismantle it. Hell, they might not even know we're trying. But destroy one point, and it'll change.
They'll go all out, no holds barred, tormenting us with every illusion they've got.
"See you safe. We've hung out long enough; I don't want heart holes ruining the vibe."
Of course, if they fall to illusions or ghosts, I'll have to kill them. No recovery possible.
That's all I can say. I'm gonna blitz around smashing this circle. With that, I left the two behind and charged into the thick purple mist.
After Yoo Chan-seok left, Han Sang-ah, who had been standing still, plopped down on the ground without a word.
"..."
"Hey, Sang-ah. Come here a sec."
Han Sang-ah didn't respond to Jeong Oh-hun's voice. If you can't trust anything, trust nothing. The order to stay put was simple enough. Just stay put.
"Ignoring me? Hey!"
Jeong Oh-hun's voice rang out, along with cries for help. A dying hunter appeared before her, begging to be saved.
Han Sang-ah, sitting still, twitched her eyebrow at the pain of dozens of needles stabbing her butt.
Far off, a wave of flames surged toward her.
Scorching heat and sizzling skin. Flames engulfed her in an instant, flesh charring to coal, crumbling away to reveal white bones beneath.
"Ow."
Han Sang-ah muttered that and stared calmly at the blaze.
"Looks like he smashed one."
She murmured amid the vision of burning alive. The voices and injured people vanished abruptly.
Looking at her forearm amid stabbing pains, something writhed beneath her skin. It burst through her flesh—leech-like things with teeth.
Not just her arm. The toothed worms squirmed under skin everywhere, turning her body into a bloody mess.
"Ew, gross."
Han Sang-ah muttered, examining her body curiously. It hurt, but not unbearably. The pain mimicked the visuals but was faint.
The earlier flame wave's agony was nothing like real fire. More like a hot shower, thankfully.
Exactly that level. Still, feeling that while watching your body burn whole? Most would swear it was real.
Rummaging in her pocket, Han Sang-ah pulled out a chocolate bar.
"Ah."
Peeling it open revealed maggots the width of a pinky wriggling inside. Appetite killer. Even the stench of rotting food garbage tickled her nose.
Her hunger fled; she chucked the bar. Probably the same with water.
Then, something in her mouth. She spat instinctively—half a giant cockroach tumbled out onto the ground.
"..."
Unpleasant as Yoo Chan-seok warned. But illusions create sensations; they don't erase real ones.
'Otherwise, he couldn't hear the real operator over the fakes.'
Real voices mix with illusory ones. Han Sang-ah picked up the fallen chocolate bar—maggots dangling—and took a bite.
Crunch of bursting bugs, foul smell, revolting taste. But also... dirt?
"Bleh."
She spat it out again. She'd grabbed a fake; her real discarded bars lay scattered nearby.
One real, the rest illusions. All but one fake.
"Makes me wanna kill 'em."
Once Yoo Chan-seok dismantles the circle and finds the Erosion Core, conquering it remains. Even unflappable Han Sang-ah felt a twinge of annoyance.
Back in Harbin, she'd ask to handle the finale, assuming success. She clenched her fist slightly.
"..."
Meanwhile, ghosts repeatedly tried possessing her—entering, then fleeing with incredulous groans.
"Wonder how Jeong Oh-hun's holding up."
Frivolous personality, but a teammate hunter growing steadily, as Yoo Chan-seok said. If he keeps it up, he'll be useful for the next Rank-1 Erosion Core raid.
Dying here unused would waste talent.
Unlike her worries, Jeong Oh-hun endured in his own way.
"Uwaaaaaagh!"
He'd shackled his own ankles. Unbreakable restraints meant for binding hunters—perfectly effective.
He carried them for other purposes, never imagined this use.
"I was wrong! Uwaaaah!"
He figured Yoo Chan-seok could melt them later with that black flame.
It worked, but the price was brutal. Burned, frozen, sliced by blades.
"...What kinda bullshit is this."
His parents, killed in an accident, appeared.
Then his ex-wife, paralyzed from the waist down. Jeong Oh-hun, screaming moments ago, froze solid.
Emotions are delicate things. Hit right, they shatter composure instantly. Hit wrong, they forge an unbreakable fortress.
Ghosts probing his soul failed faster and faster, fleeing his body.
"Money."
Disabled folks split two ways: rich or poor. Capitalism divides everyone that way, sure.
But for the disabled, the gap's worlds apart.
So he needed money. Not just medical bills.
Treatment wasn't everything. Disability's price could buy comfort, even without cure.
A grinding sound came from Jeong Oh-hun's teeth. He endured the illusions that way.
"Whoever's behind this, I'll land the killing blow."
After Yoo Chan-seok handles the circle and locates the Erosion Core, Han Sang-ah and Jeong Oh-hun would need to coordinate next steps.
I'm sprinting like mad. Smashing one convergence point flipped the magic circle's mood—no more subtlety.
As it pumps out intense mana, the illusions ramp up.
"Hurry or they'll all croak."
Power into my legs; earth craters with booms as I rocket forward. A cliff looms ahead.
"Fake."
I charge straight at it. My body plummets—floating weightlessness, wind rushing past, eyes seeing the drop.
All bullshit. I feel the circle's mana messing with my senses. My job: keep kicking through empty air.
Walls appear, slamming impacts. Spiked metal stakes below. Running over them snaps legs, sprays blood. Sulfur fires pour, venomous snakes and beasts tear limbs, clamp necks.
"Pathetic punks."
No expression change, I bulldoze targets. About an hour in, half the points are dust.
Real hell didn't faze me—years amid actual sulfur searing flesh.
This? Even if real, I'd shrug. But illusions? Pointless.
They intensified. I sped up more.