Round 18: Illusion

“Damn it!” Bloodaxe retracted his axe, gritting his teeth. A ferocious werewolf weighing 800 pounds could vanish silently? And right within 30 feet of them!
Moriel whispered incantations. Strange, complex, and incomprehensible syllables and words spilled from his lips, as magical energy spread outward in waves centered around him. Moments later, Moriel raised his head, horrified.
“We can’t find any trace of it at all… And… the temple is gone too!”
After stepping up the long stairs into the temple, 47 found its interior completely different from what he had imagined. From the outside, the stairs seemed to wind upward toward the entrance, but inside, the ground was much lower… There was already several feet of water accumulated, with giant pillars standing haphazardly in the vast, dark hall. Some faint light seeped in from somewhere, floating weakly on the water’s surface.
What a strange place. 47 waded through the water in the hall, thinking that even any scrolls there would have long since rotted away. Right… the Magic Banishing Ball. Moriel said the treasure in the temple was the Magic Banishing Ball. Should he look for it? Or go back and report first? Suddenly, 47 stopped in his tracks. More red dots appeared above his head—just like when he was in spider form.
The entrance to the temple was no longer visible. But 47 was sure he hadn’t gone very far, just circling around the entrance. Moreover, those pillars seemed to shift position every moment. If it were a human, they might think it was an illusion caused by dizziness, but 47 knew better. He observed the pillars, believing they were creating illusions under some mysterious and powerful magical effect. Though he couldn’t see through this effect, he was certain.
The faint light in the temple had disappeared. In the dark depths, something lurked silently underwater, slowly swimming toward them.
“Mage! You’d better come up with a plan quickly!” Bloodaxe shouted.
The mist around them had become as thick as a pot of milk. Everyone huddled together, tense, even somewhat eager, waiting for something to emerge from the thick fog to relieve the suffocating atmosphere.
Suddenly, Moriel pointed at a spot not far in front of Quick and shouted, “Quick, be careful! Over there! Attack!”
Jason quickly pulled Quick back. At the same time, he swung his long sword at the seemingly empty fog ahead. As the blade cut through, a faint red line became sharply visible in the white mist.
A distorted, blurred face, almost split in two, appeared in the fog. It had a slight red tint, as if crying or laughing, but in reality, aside from two points of white light, all its facial features were meaningless patterns formed by layers of mist.
“A Fog Demon!” Quick’s voice was almost unrecognizable.
“Get out of the way! Useless thing!” Bloodaxe roared, his massive axe flying from his hand like a spinning death god.
The wind pressure from the axe blade cut through the mist, causing the Fog Demon’s face to instantly disperse and dissolve. A scream seemed to come from the thick fog.
“Is it dead?” Copperhammer asked in a hoarse voice.

“No…” Moriel seemed weak. “But the injuries are severe… We’d better leave this place. I’m sure the temple is still nearby, just hidden by stronger illusions… We can only keep searching now.”
Siqi Shi still played with water in the dim hall. Some extremely faint whispers came from somewhere, seemingly some kind of call, but also like meaningless noise. Aside from the ripples caused by Siqi Shi, there were also other undetectable waves spreading across the water…
Suddenly, the entire surface of the water seemed to boil. A white wave rushed forward from behind a pillar in an instant, hitting Siqi Shi in the back.
“I’ll have to learn this sooner or later.” Siqi Shi was knocked over several times by the powerful waves, enduring the splashing water droplets hitting him like darts. The attacker in the darkness then lunged at him, emitting a strong stench of decay with a hissing sound. A stream of venom fell from above and splashed onto Siqi Shi. Without even trying to dodge, he punched the guy’s barrel-like body, creating a dent, and at the same time, a long, sharp blade emerged from the gap between his middle and ring fingers, piercing through the enemy’s body. The enemy screamed, writhing as it created large waves of water. Before Siqi Shi could cut it apart thoroughly, its snake-like tail slammed into him, sending him flying like a ball and into the water.
As soon as Siqi Shi stood up from the water, another wave of magical energy covered him. Although he was an artificial being, he could clearly feel the gears in his body starting to slow down.
The opponent circled around a pillar twice, slid up onto the roof, contracted its body, and then shot out quickly. At the moment it bit down fiercely, Siqi Shi was surprised to find that this stinking water python actually had a large head similar to that of a human woman, with eyes burning with eerie light.
Siqi Shi tried to protect his head with his hands, but the slow reaction made his movements as sluggish as if they had been rusted for a long time. The snake-headed monster grabbed Siqi Shi’s head and shook it back and forth, trying to separate his head from his body since this guy wasn’t afraid of its venom or gaze.
Suddenly, it threw Siqi Shi away—along with a large amount of flesh—and then rolled around in pain.
Siqi Shi stood up. His ribs, which had originally been in his chest, now stretched across his head and shoulders, forming a terrifying maw, just like when he turned into a spider.
“I’m sorry, I’m not used to kissing on the first date.” Siqi Shi’s sternum rose and fell as he spoke to the snake-headed monster, whose lower half of the head had been almost bitten off.
The next moment, the two monsters collided violently.
Quick didn’t know where he was. In a daze, he seemed to see a shiny box ahead… He vaguely felt something was wrong, but couldn’t put his finger on it… The box was huge, with thick wooden panels covered in iron sheets, and its tightly locked lid even emitted a glow of silver. It was obvious it was filled with valuable items.
Quick reached out tremblingly. He was already famous in Rain City for opening boxes and picking locks… Wait!

A thread as thin as a hair was subtly hanging between the lock and the box. If the lock were forced open recklessly, it would surely trigger some mechanism… Quick carefully explored and finally found it behind the box—it was actually a fireball spell scroll… If handled carelessly, the scroll would surely be pulled open, resulting in an explosion…
Quick cautiously opened the box lid. Good heavens, what was this… Quick was almost blinded; he instinctively leaned in closer and closer…
The box snapped shut around him.
“Quick!”
Bloodaxe knocked him down with the handle of his axe, while Jason and Copperhammer held him down tightly. Morriel clutched her arm, her expression dark—Quick had suddenly pulled out a dagger and started slashing wildly, still struggling like a madman.
“Damn! What’s wrong with him! Give him a few punches to wake him up!”
But it was unnecessary. Quick’s eyes rolled back, and blood gushed from his neck. He thrashed uncontrollably until his head fell off his shoulders.
Everyone stared at each other in shock.
“What the hell is going on! My intelligence reports never mentioned this!”
“Your intelligence reports?” Morriel said in a low voice. “I’m afraid we’re in big trouble…”
“What?” Bloodaxe stared at her with blood-red eyes.