Shattering the Illusion

Strange cries rang out from the outsiders' mouths.

How many people were on this floor? Around thirty, perhaps. Their classes were all over the map. Besides the ones Caroso commonly saw, there were even classes like warlocks and shamans.

The cultists and the outsiders were locked in a standoff, cards flying everywhere for a time.

Before long, casualties began appearing among the outsiders. Cultists from above and below started pouring in as reinforcements, an endless stream.

No. They could die, but they could not die so worthless a death.

This dungeon required a great many people working together to clear it!

Caroso instinctively reached into his clothes.

Just then, faint red patterns appeared on Caroso's face.

Before those patterns could fully emerge, Caroso suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

Where were the bullet comments?

Caroso pulled out a card and poured the faintest trace of magic into it. In an instant, the scene before his eyes began to shatter.

[Boss Caro, Boss Caro, move!]

[What's going on?]

[Damn, did he get hit?]

[Didn't Boss Caro skip the first checkpoint and even put on their clothes?]

[Fuck, these bastards staring at me is kind of creepy]

[Boss Caro isn't going to bite it, is he?]

[If Boss Caro hadn't snapped out of it and these things came charging over... fuck!]

Once Caroso came to his senses, he was slightly shocked as well.

Every cultist in the corridor was staring at him, their gazes cold and sinister!

Whether dead or alive, every person brought by the cultists had an iron chain fastened to their hands, with the cultists holding the other end.

Caroso silently pulled out a chain from his clothes and bound the unconscious cultist behind him.

Click!

The cultists all turned their heads back at once and continued onward. Caroso let out a breath of relief as well.

I guessed right. The effect of this area magic can affect even me; only the cultists are immune to it.

While walking just now, I forgot something extremely important—the bullet comments!

Whew. Good thing I reacted quickly. Otherwise, I really would have had to fight them here.

Then was the wall absorbing corpses and such something my mind made up to rationalize things, or was it really happening?

Drip, drip, drip...

Soon, everyone reached the end of the corridor. There were four doors there. The cultists entered different doors, seemingly with no pattern at all.

Caroso focused his mind and observed the people they had brought.

Among them, all the outsiders Caroso recognized were taken through the fourth door.

Could it be ordinary people, First-tier, Second-tier, and Third-tier?

Caroso followed several cultists through the door for Third-tier individuals.

It was an enormous room filled with bronze chairs. Other than the chairs, there was nothing at all—a completely blank chamber.

The outsiders all wore blissful expressions as they voluntarily sat down in the chairs.

One thing was certain: every one of them had weaker mental power than Caroso. Even more than ten minutes after Caroso had awakened, they still had not come to.

The cultists used chains to bind them to the chairs. Even the corpses were tied to chairs. Caroso followed their example and placed the cultist he had captured onto one as well.

After tying everyone up, the cultists left the room one by one.

Whew, there are only seven familiar faces. Where's Nimel?

Caroso seized the time. After the last cultist left, he walked over to an outsider he knew.

Caroso slapped him hard across the face. The man was dazed by the blow, then immediately came fully awake.

Seeing himself bound to a chair, he instinctively began to struggle.

Fuck, what's going on? Wasn't I just turning the tide and slaughtering enemies in every direction?

Caroso hurried over to another familiar person.

Another slap, and that person was jolted awake as well.

"Hey, why did you hit me?" the first outsider roared.

Caroso ignored him and quickly left the room. He still had to blend in among that group.

The two looked at each other and realized they were classmates. Number One hurriedly said, "We got hit just now!"

"Yeah!" Number Two nodded quickly. "That mental attack was impossible to guard against. I didn't even see them use a card."

"Could it have been placed here secretly, or is it a Field Magic Card?" Number One frowned.

"A Field Magic Card?" Number Two jumped in fright. "Is that really something we're supposed to be dealing with?"

"In a dungeon with one hundred and twenty people, anything can happen." A card appeared in Number One's hand. He poured magic into it, then pulled hard.

Crack—the iron chain snapped in response!

"Forget it. Save people first. Don't forget our mission: cripple Caroso and clear the dungeon." Number One went over to Number Two and tore the chain from his hands.

"That guy just now was so weird. We were both hit by a mental attack. If he hadn't slapped us around, who knew when we would've woken up?" Number Two grumbled.

"Heh, maybe he was an idiot." Number One said casually.

"Wait, could he be one of us?" Number Two suddenly thought of a possibility.

"What class are you?" Number One asked.

"A priest. You know that, don't you?" Number Two rolled his eyes at Number One.

"Your mental power is A-rank, if I remember right. Even you got hit, and you don't even know when it happened. If he were like us, he'd be third-tier too. How could he not be tied up or killed, then wear cultist clothes and slap us around? No one from our batch could possibly be that much stronger than us." Number One said, "There's no dungeon that can't be cleared. Maybe this is the dungeon's way out!"

"True."

Just then, a faint chill began to fill the room.

Black hands began drilling up from the ground, and black figures crawled out one after another.

Greed was written across their faces as they muttered, "Freedom, freedom..."

"Replacement, freedom..."

"I'll save people. You purify them with Holy Light!" Number One's expression changed.

"You got it!" Number Two threw out a card, and a staff landed in his hand. A holy expression appeared on his face. "Holy Light, purify all!"

Caroso blended into the crowd and entered an elevator. The elevator continued downward until it reached the first floor.

After stepping out of the elevator, Caroso saw a courtyard beyond the windows.

This floor was also filled with single rooms, though the conditions were better and the rooms larger than those upstairs.

The cultists entered the rooms one by one. Seeing an empty room, Caroso walked in on his own.

Inside, there was a bed, a bedside table, a desk, a chair, and a separate washroom.

Caroso walked to the desk and found a diary lying on it.

Caroso sat down and opened the diary. On the first page was written: When the stars return to their proper places, Our Lord shall descend once more and grant us eternal life. The Underworld Flower is the finest gift we can offer Our Lord.

[Underworld Flower?]

[I thought of a Legendary Card...]

[Hehehe, I thought of it too.]

[Damn, the Underworld Flower is in this dungeon? I know how to clear it now!]