Free Web NovelHedra, what do you think is the most crucial thing in using illusions?
"Is it making the simulation as real as the genuine article?"
"No. Illusions are false; they are merely tools to achieve a goal, not reality itself. If you pursue realism as the purpose of casting an illusion, you are making a grave mistake."
"An illusion only needs to shake and confuse the target at the exact moment it is cast, and its purpose is fulfilled."
Sylutia was not skilled in very advanced illusions. The image-simulating spells she knew were only ones she picked up casually while studying under Professor Fucalin, and if given a second or two, an opponent could see through them.
Unfortunately, in this kind of split-second duel, there was no spare one or two seconds.
Blood-red razor claws swept and tore, striking three figures; two of them dissolved instantly, while the last person still held a sword and slashed forward. That blade, strengthened by multiple enchantments, cut through the claw marks in the air. During the motion, she rotated her body to avoid brushing past the Blood Clan Viscount. At their closest, the distance between them was merely half a meter.
Sylutia could clearly see the opponent’s slightly surprised expression and the torn corner of his blood-red coat.
After skimming past Sylutia, the opponent spun instantly, trying to finish off the talented young girl with a single claw.
By that time the floating Crack-Electric Evil Eye had already turned its pupil. Thick, white-hot electric rays shot out again, engulfing the Blood Clan Viscount.
Two seconds later, when he staggered out of the blinding current—
X
Already gone
from the original spot, charging into the forest ahead.
Ha, just a few more struggling seconds gained, Viscount Norin.
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While moving forward, the black griffin badge on Sylutia’s collar blossomed with light, and gusts of wind formed at her sides, swirling around her.
Suddenly, black feathers scattered and fluttered, and a large black griffin took shape within the trees. It enveloped the girl beneath it, then shot upward, exiting the woods.
The pursuing Blood Clan Viscount followed closely, like two meteors of black and red spiraling upward.
High above, the griffin’s sharp cry spread. Its gorgeous black wings unfurled; pale-gold filigree patterns appeared and traced across each feather. Then it turned its body and fixed its gaze on the approaching Blood Clan Viscount below.
[Bionic Spell · Black Griffin] (Bird · Sharp Feathers · Wind Wings · Swift Dive · Razor Claws)
This is the avian rune essence construct of the Bionics School. With the support of multiple composite mid-tier runes, the spell-constructed creature nearly rivals a real celestial griffin.
The wings beat, whipping up fierce gusts that slowed the approaching Viscount. Then the griffin folded its wings and plunged along the vortex tunnel carved by those gusts, diving like a charged projectile and driving up successive shockwaves.
They crossed again in midair. Norin clenched his fingers, then released them. Three black-and-red claw slashes tore through the airflow, cutting against the current and slicing the griffin’s wing that had just passed, while he himself bore a streak of blood under the griffin’s own sharp talons.
I actually got injured?
Viscount Norin touched the blood on his face; his pupils contracted. He felt a mixture of disbelief and rage, as if a three-year-old child had successfully played a prank on him. In his view, this Third Tier young girl was little different from an infant.
While Norin’s attention was entirely drawn by Sylutia, Kaelan had already reached Jegas’ side. She took out a rare high-grade healing potion she carried and forced it into the captain, then prepared an on-the-spot antidote.
Blood Clan poisons vary by individual; each member carries their own mix. Common antidotes are of little use.
After ingesting the healing potion, Jegas gradually recovered. His body was still weak and his wounds bled freely.
Looking at the distant crossing figures in the sky, he couldn’t help but lift a hand.
"Is that Hedra?" he felt his lungs contract like a leaking bellows.
"Yes. That child is buying us precious time. You must hang on," Kaelan said as she quickly blended more potions and added powdered ingredients she carried.
"Cough cough." Jegas spat a mouthful of blood, feeling his throat and chest ease slightly.
Although his self-healing wasn’t as strong as a Blood Clan’s, as a Fifth Tier Transcendent he was no ordinary creature.
After taking more restorative and antidote potions, the numbness the toxin had caused receded and his body regained some responsiveness.
"Never mind." Seeing the black griffin being torn apart and Sylutia forced to flee again, Jegas pushed himself up.
He gripped the blade beside him and charged toward the direction where the two figures were crossing paths.
A white-hot crack-electric beam pierced the forest sky again, striking the pursuing Viscount Norin, numbing his body and slowing him enough for Sylutia to escape the attack.
Repeated interruptions by the Evil Eye had accumulated much of his anger. But abandoning the girl in front of him to eliminate the Evil Eye two kilometers away was impossible. He only hesitated a moment, adjusted his trajectory to avoid the Evil Eye’s second strike, and continued pursuing the black figure.
Quicksilver wings flapped behind the girl; three birds formed at her side and then danced in intersecting patterns. Their trailing threads wove into a spiral mesh, making it difficult for the tearing-through Viscount Norin to accelerate.
By using these techniques, Sylutia fought desperately to stay alive against the Blood Clan Viscount. She thought that if she ultimately could not hold out, she would have to expose her strength, switch her life force tier, and reveal her true power.
Fortunately, Jegas had finally recovered and arrived to block Norin’s pursuit.
An icy blade twirled through the air and severed the Viscount’s blood wing, forcing him to stop and recover.
At that moment his gaze shifted away from Sylutia, eyebrows knitting.
Someone who was once on the brink of death now had combat ability restored to nearly full—that widened his view—
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—pulled back, and in the end he saw the female mage in the forest.
"So there really was another teammate..." Norin said, annoyed that the baron who accompanied him had failed to deal with Kaelan and caused so much trouble.
Facing Jegas, he could not be as careless as he had been with Sylutia. He no longer had the energy to pay attention to both, so he concentrated wholly on dealing with this cold, icy man.
They clashed again. In the distance, Sylutia finally exhaled and slowly descended.
She landed beside Kaelan. The older mage sister checked Sylutia’s condition with concern and, once certain she wasn’t seriously wounded, relaxed.
"If something happened to you, I wouldn’t know how to account for it when I go back," Kaelan said, then handed Sylutia a healing potion and began preparing other measures.
She opened a special spatial pouch and took out an iron box, inserted a key and opened it. A special scroll hidden inside floated up.
"You must be curious what kind of spell this scroll contains," Kaelan said, holding the scroll. A glow spread as she unsealed it.
"Since your practice is within the Secret Word Aspect, sooner or later you will come into contact with this path’s true applications."
She slowly unrolled the scroll. Cobalt-blue characters shimmered across it, each stroke imbued with an ancient, lingering aura.
[Scroll Spell · Historical Severance (Inferior)] (Fifth Tier · Secret Word)
The scroll ignited in midair. Invisible flames licked along its edges and consumed it until nothing remained, yet the text continued to etch itself into the air, shining and shifting.
A gust of wind blew, and those characters one by one dispersed, vanishing completely.
Jegas, fighting in the distance, sensed something. His eyes locked onto the Blood Clan Viscount before him. He raised his blade slowly; an invisible aura locked on, then a single stunning arc of cold light cut through and severed the Viscount’s arm.
Norin only laughed at the sight.
"Don’t you understand this is pointless?" He raised his empty arm; the severed limb floating in the air turned into blood and surged back toward the stump, twisting and reforming.
In the past, it would have taken only a second or two for him to regenerate. But the man before him had expended too much energy on that swing and was weakened again.
Yet this time something strange occurred. The blood at the stump kept writhing and twisting and could not reform into the shape of an arm.
"What is—" Viscount Norin warned, turning his head to look at the severed limb.
It should have instantly recovered. He tried again to force the twisting flesh to remold, but suddenly he could not recall what his arm was supposed to look like, as if that memory had never existed.
