My Illusion Is Survival - Chapter 69
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 69
“Master.”
Behind Mary’s worried face, Simoer revealed himself.
“There are no intruders.”
Simoer’s expression was also coldly hardened. The situation was that serious.
Azel’s expression reflected in Simoer’s eyes was chilling.
If Mary was worried about the unconscious Elpis, then Simoer was concerned about Azel before his eyes.
“What happened, Mary.”
“No matter how long I waited, she wouldn’t wake up, so I came to rouse her.”
Mary was the first to discover the situation.
“When I arrived, she was already in this state as you can see.”
No matter how much she shook her, there was no response from Elpis, so she immediately reported the situation, but Mary also didn’t know what had happened.
“They didn’t enter through the door. If they had, someone would have known about it.”
However, Azel’s case was different.
He accurately understood what had happened to Elpis.
“Shane MacLauren, this is his doing.”
Azel’s eyes could see the strange flow of mana surrounding Elpis, so this was only natural.
“I went to the trouble of hiding her, only for him to pull this kind of petty trick.”
The muttered words he spat out were more chilling than ever, and soon dark red mana began to surge around him.
“Master?”
However, at Simoer’s belated call, the dark red mana scattered away.
‘This isn’t the time for this.’
It would have been a sight that would have horrified Elpis if she had seen it, but unfortunately she was unconscious.
“I need to wake her up.”
“Do you have a method?”
Without answering, he grasped the sleeping Elpis’s hand, and soon normal red mana began flowing through their joined hands into Elpis.
*
“Cough-!”
When another bloody cough burst from Shane’s lips, I immediately realized what was happening outside.
“Azel.”
“Crazy bastard. He’s completely lost his mind.”
At the same time, curses spilled from Shane’s mouth. His face was savagely contorted as he ground out the profanity, seemingly in considerable pain.
‘He’s pouring mana from outside to wake me up.’
Since there had been a similar scene in the game, it wasn’t difficult to guess the method.
Shane’s artifact was ultimately just a tool that operated using mana.
Therefore, if a certain amount of mana or more was poured in, problems would naturally arise, and in the game, Azel had rescued Yulia who had fallen into Shane’s trap using this method.
However, while it sounded easy, few could actually execute this.
‘Because that certain amount is practically an impossible level.’
As evidence of this, Shane’s expression had also been poor since earlier, as if he was flustered.
“Crazy bastard. Just how much mana does he have?”
He belatedly staggered to his feet.
“This won’t do. Unfortunately, we’ll have to part ways here today.”
It wasn’t a lie – the edges of the scenery visible over his shoulder were gradually becoming blurry. It was a signal that I would wake from the dream.
At this moment, Shane finally pointed to the illusion pendant placed on the table.
“If you have that pendant, can we meet again?”
“You’re curious about that in this situation?”
“I’m curious. I’ve become more interested in learning about you.”
It was a persistent question that didn’t suit the situation.
“It would be disappointing if this were the last time. Can we see each other again?”
Since his serious gaze demanding an answer was looking only at me, I eventually nodded.
“Probably.”
“Well, that’s something to look forward to.”
As if it wasn’t a joke, his blood-soaked lips curved into a long arc again.
‘It seems I’ve attracted unwanted attention.’
Though I shouldn’t, I kept having bad premonitions.
“I’ll be waiting, Elpis.”
Waiting for what. As soon as my quietly muttered words to myself ended, Shane and all the scenery disappeared.
Before I knew it, it was time to wake from the dream.
*
When I first opened my eyes, I was in someone’s arms as I had expected.
“Azel.”
For having barely escaped from crisis, it wasn’t a touching atmosphere. Cold red eyes were looking down at me threateningly.
“Are you alright? You’re not dizzy, are you?”
At the words I unconsciously uttered, Azel’s expression immediately contorted.
“That’s what you’re worried about in this situation?”
“You must have used a lot of mana because of me. I’m sorry.”
I replied trying to act as normal as possible, but Azel’s expression was still poor.
‘It’s just like that time.’
I suddenly remembered facing Azel like this at Boras’ Spring.
The composition was similar, and since I had heard about what happened at Boras’ Spring before falling asleep, it naturally came to mind.
However, Azel’s reaction was different from that time. Unlike when he had cried sorrowfully then, now he was sharp as if he would tear someone apart at any moment.
“How did he sneak into your dream? Did he have something of yours?”
“He had the illusion pendant I lost in the North.”
As expected, Azel seemed to have immediately realized it was Shane’s doing.
“What happened inside?”
“Master. The young lady looks tired, so I think showing her to the priest should come first. It would be better to interrogate her later.”
Around then Mary’s voice interjected, but it was useless.
“I’m asking you. What happened inside?”
Even though he would normally suppress his anger for my sake, this time he seemed to have no intention of stopping.
“Nothing much happened.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“We simply exchanged a few words of conversation.”
“Then tell me. What happened.”
Even though this was natural, since Azel had been treating me gently for the past few days, his coercive appearance after so long felt unfamiliar.
“It seems the Imperial Court is searching for me. Shane tried to control my subconscious through the dream. With the purpose of drawing me outside.”
As soon as I finished speaking, the expression disappeared from Azel’s face.
Eyes whose thoughts I couldn’t read were staring at me with persistent intensity. It was different from Shane’s gaze earlier.
More persistent, and more eerie.
“That can’t be everything. For simply exchanging a few words of conversation, your hands have been trembling since earlier.”
He noticed after all.
Indeed, my weakly hanging hand had been trembling slightly since earlier. Unlike deceiving Shane in the dream, it seemed I couldn’t deceive Azel’s eyes.
This was the aftereffect of using Gaspata’s blessing.
“Actually, I used my power to escape from inside there.”
This was exactly why I had been feeling depressed earlier when thinking about Gaspata’s blessing.
Unlike when the blessing automatically activated against magic, whenever I used the blessing directly like this, my body would lose strength in this way.
Of course, Gaspata had warned me about this beforehand too.
“Manipulating time with a human body is somewhat taxing.”
“When the blessing operates on its own, the backlash is relatively minor, but it might be different when you use it directly, so keep that in mind.”
Even when the blessing had activated on its own, I had collapsed from overload before, so it wasn’t that surprising.
‘It’s just bewildering that I’m experiencing aftereffects from just this much.’
At this level, I wondered if it would really be helpful in truly dangerous situations.
‘No matter how I look at it, it seems like it would only be useful for deceiving people like earlier.’
Of course, the biggest problem would be that I couldn’t reveal this fact to Azel.
“I’ll be fine if I just rest a little.”
Right then, Azel rose from his seat without any hesitation.
“Azel?”
I reached out my hand without realizing it, but Azel had already stepped back quite a distance.
I was shocked by the mere fact that he had avoided me.
“…Azel?”
“If the illusion pendant continues to be in that bastard’s hands, the same thing will repeat over and over again.”
“So you’re going to find Shane right away?”
Still, I couldn’t remain in shock forever. For now, I had to stop Azel.
‘I can’t let him go like this.’
Azel’s attitude was calm, but I could see it. Right now, he was definitely not normal.
“Wait. I’d rather go with you.”
“Even if you came, you’d only get in the way.”
Even though his carelessly spoken words pierced my heart, I had no words to refute them.
“Simoer and Linoa Marigold will guard the door. Don’t come out and recover your strength here.”
“Wait.”
“Don’t let her take even one step outside. If necessary, call the Physician and Priest.”
“I said wait, Azel!”
With that conversation conducted while excluding me, he finally turned away coldly.
Only then did I realize that something was going wrong.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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