Chapter 77: An Illusion (2/2)

It then began to piece itself together. When Dimon was grieving, Arthur bought his sadness so easily. Yet when faced with a rational question, Dimon would quickly let go of his sadness and answer as carefully as he can. Even more, how calm he was after losing his family was truly odd.

Of course, these were still suspicion that Arthur harbored. In the end, he confirmed them by using his detection rune. It was negligence on his part all this time that he didn't use it, or only used when Dimon wasn't near.

Dimon's lifeforce was stronger than his. If he was this strong, why would he be willing to let Arthur help him? Why did he fake injury to get into his village? When these questions began to pop out, the whole act started to fall apart.

That's why Arthur used his skill to poison the water. At the same time, modified the Heal-I rune to contain this single poison. It expanded a lot of his mana, but Dimon didn't seem to notice with the chaotic mana all around them. He had used a temporary rune on the water, and when Arthur snapped his fingers, the rune was gone and the poison was no longer contained.

However, in the end, he was still too careless. No, even if he did know that Dimon had an artifact that cast illusions, he wouldn't have been able to do anything. Maybe it was for the best that he escaped, but he still wanted to free any prisoners Dimon held in case they were alive.

In the end, they were dead.

Arthur never took himself to be a saint. Of course, everyone believed they were good people. But Arthur wasn't willing to sacrifice himself for others.

Yet, it wasn't easy to throw away his humanity and act selfishly.

'Ah, how easy it would be if I just shut up and join the common masses. If I can simply turn a blind eye. What is it that I'm looking for in every act I do? Is it to prove that people are good?' Arthur thought to himself as he felt the darkness block his vision after Dimon used the artifact.

Arthur found himself in a maze. He looked around for Dimon, but he was nowhere to be seen. He started walking forward since he had nowhere else to go, but the maze extended endlessly. After some time, he finally met someone else. It was Oren.

”What are you doing here?” Arthur asked, but Oren looked at him with deeply sorrowful eyes.

”How could you do this to us?” Oren's voice was weak and tired, laced with bloodlust. Before Arthur could answer, Oren attacked him.

”Stop! What are you doing?” Arthur shouted, but his voice wasn't there. His voice was muffled as if he was underwater, and shouting was only a futile struggle.

The weapon in his brother's hand struck at him, but Arthur blocked it. He tried to disarm him but his brother was more powerful than he thought. Oren tried to kill him in any way possible, and Arthur wasn't strong enough to restrain him.

In the end, his brother stabbed his heart.

He was in the maze again. After walking for several hours, he met someone else. It was his mother, and she also killed him. Then his father. Then his friends. Every time he dies, he meets someone different. When he realizes this was an illusion and kills the person attacking him, he would be sent back to the beginning and meet the same person again. He either had to let that person kill him or kill that person infinitely.

Arthur felt like he had spent a millennium in this place, but he found no way out. In the end, he got a message from his legacy.

[Rune has been acquired: Dispel-I.]

[Dispel-I: This rune clears the mind of illusions.]

Arthur's mind raced as he instinctively used the new rune and the surrounding scenery disappeared. He was back in the dungeon with Dimon and the goblins. However, one of the goblins had its hand torn off.

”You…” Dimon looked at him as if he had seen a ghost. It seemed he couldn't wrap his head around how this could person break off the illusion even though he still supplied the ring with mana.

Arthur fell to his knees as if he had just woken up from a nightmare. Luckily, it was a nightmare and nothing more. The only thing that kept his sanity that Arthur knew it wasn't real, but that didn't make it any less frightening.

”DIMON!” Arthur roared as he took out his dagger. He then started dashing madly toward the stunned mage. It was the first time he wanted to kill someone so much.