Chapter 255: Bruises On The Skin

“God knows what the hell that thing is. All I know is that it’s not something that was formed naturally within this Endless World.” Myna said firmly while staring at the abnormal metal in Grimm’s hands.

‘Groan…’

Grimm turned around to see that his Savage Flame Giant had successfully immobilised the Double-headed Lava Snake. However, immediately thereafter, the snake produced a single groan before melting into a pile of mud, showing no signs of life.

“It’s dead?”

Grimm’s brows furrowed under the Mask of Truth. This piece of metal is definitely out of place.

What Grimm was sure about is that whether they were Amonros or Lava Giants, both do not possess the skills to smelt metals, let alone forge metal weapons for fighting purposes. However, according to Grimm’s observation, this odd metal belonged to ancient times, and it was obvious that it’s some kind of metallic weapon.

Based on the faint, evil aura emanating from this piece of metal Grimm guessed that it was a weapon forged by creatures with an extreme Slaughtering Will.

‘Was it the Shuras who attempted to invade this world during ancient times?’

‘Or was it forged by some other creature at the height of their glory, even further back from the world of the Amonros or the Lava Giants?’

‘Either that or it was from a strong being that came from an unknown world. Did something happen to it while it was passing by this world?’

Multiple mysteries shrouded Grimm’s mind and he couldn’t come up with any plausible conclusions. The Amonros and the Lava Giants all occupy the main parts of the survivable areas only, what more to say of Demon-Hunter Sorcerers in this strange, foreign world.

There were still too many uncharted territories in this world that are too broad to even cover.

“Kaw kaw, we finally have it in our hands. God it stinks, let’s leave this place.” Myna couldn’t wait to leave, urging Grimm on.

And with a sigh, Grimm opened up the Dimensional Gap in which he stored that odd piece of metal.

In regards to the metal’s ability to radiate Mystical Energy, Grimm intended to do further research on it when he had the time later on. As for now, Grimm had made the decision to collect as complete a collection of creature specimens as possible. Also, he wanted to come up with a theory on his observation of geological changes before he moved on to his next destination.

In one of his casual chitchats, Grimm found himself to be very interested in the “Banon Illusion” described by a Lava Giant. Perhaps there would be unexpected gains from this?

And so, Grimm had started hustling on the banks of this lava lake. He had set up a database to store all specimens he collected from this ecosystem.

Three months later, Grimm and Myna, who was being bored to death left the lava lake and started flying in the direction of the “Banon Illusion” which was passed around as a legend among the Lava Giants.

***

Two years later.

Along the way, they had made many stops and countless more detours. However on this day, Grimm was sure that he had arrived at what the Lava Giants had described as the “Banon Illusion.”

This was a rocky landscape, with many granite pillars erecting hundreds of meters from the ground. These pillars spanned the horizon and looked like the natural, magnified version of the Rock Pillar Forest where qualification battles were held when Grimm was still a sorcerer apprentice at the Holy Tower.

Grimm stood at the edge of this granite forest, not planning to rush into it. He quietly observed the situation inside the forest. Howling winds blew about, sounding like hoarse whispers waiting in the dark for ignorant creatures to fall into their trap.

The “Banon Illusion” of the Lava Giants, translated into the Sorcerers’ language roughly meant “The Devil’s Trap”.

After a while, Grimm shook his head, and said unamusingly: “The Devil’s Mockery? It was nothing but sound waves created by the strong winds flowing through these granite pillars. These winds were generated from hot air rising from the low valley below. The perception of binding? Those who use energy manipulation to fly will of course find it impossible due to the chaotic spread of energy in this area. Paired with this unusual landscape, of course the people would easily find it to be extremely ominous. If it were for a Refinery Sorcerer, nothing much was needed to say. The illusion of a nightmare world? Nonsense!”

After his rational deduction, Grimm shook his head and laughed at the ignorance of the lowly native creatures in this world.

Turning his head to face Myna who was standing on his shoulder, Grimm continued: “First, you…”

‘Hmm?!’

Grimm was shocked to find nothing on his shoulder. He couldn’t sense Myna’s presence at all when he tried to summon Myna’s coordinates that were linked to himself directly.

“This is weird…impossible!”

Still in shock, Grimm turned around once again. All that he could see was a forest of granite cones, each with heights of a few hundred meters. There was no end to this forest and the Eternal Sun shone brightly above his head.

At what point did he enter the Banon Illusion?

What further fueled Grimm’s disbelief was that he could not feel the presence of the Force of Nature at all. He couldn’t even use high-force air stepping to maintain flight at this point.

‘Crack, crack, crack’, Grimm fell onto the valley floor of the granite forest.

‘Woo, woo, woo, woo…’

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The hoarse sound of the wind made Grimm feel a sense of unease. The sounds of the wind from just a moment ago were merely spirals of airflow. The sounds of the wind as of now had turned into an indescribable mysterious energy. The source of this energy was unknown, so was the direction in which it was flowing. It was as if the energy was being created out of thin air. Grimm could not sense any Force of Nature at all.

Grimm actively suppressed all traces of doubt in his mind before calming down. He took a step back and made a few footprints on the soft bed of sand below his feet. In the blink of an eye, these footprints were covered up by the blowing heaps of sand.

“Even the Void Fortress’ Principal Will from the Sorcerer’s World got covered up? Just what the hell is this place?”

Leaning against a granite pillar, Grimm was trying to control his own rational thinking, trying to take in the unusual sight before his eyes. Even so, he couldn’t contain his anxiety and consequently, he couldn’t come up with any explanation for what was going on.

Suddenly Grimm turned around and took a few steps back.

The thing he was leaning against was no granite pillar. Rather, it was a fifty or sixty-meter-tall Lava Giant that was deep in slumber like a corpse?

This Lava Giant however, was alive and well. It looked into a faraway distance, its flame energy gone, perhaps exhausted after its death. Or was it sucked away by something else?

Although faint, Grimm could feel an air of despair emanating from this Lava Giant.

Grimm’s face turned pale. This place was no ordinary place and he had to leave at once!

As a Dark Sorcerer, Grimm could sense signs of danger whenever he felt icy throughout his body as well as goosebumps. The place where he stood seems to have experienced an unexplainable great change in its laws, giving off a disorienting vibe.

Although he couldn’t fly, he still had a robust physique. Grimm started making his way at a high speed towards the direction he recalled coming from, darting between the granite pillars.

After an unknown period of time, perhaps a few days’ worth of time, Grimm had started to feel his body give way. Even so, the sight before him was still filled with the same old rocky forest. It was so vast it seemed endless.

Or was it… that Grimm had been walking in circles?

“Wick Maze?”

Some sorcerers focused on delving into knowledge about producing psychological illusions, and walked a different path from the usual sorcerers that manipulated the Elemental Laws. These sorcerers were then able to open up a new dimension of weird and mystical sorcery.

In the spur of the moment, Grimm had come to realise the message of the Wick Maze.

Simply put, the creatures that fall into this maze will be trapped in a psychological world that was relatively small. But, as a result of the creature’s self-doubt, it will inevitably lose its bearings and finally die from self-despair of it’s Psychological Will, leaving an empty shell in the endless world.

As for the method to break through the illusion, it’s quite simple. That is, to close one’s eyes and rely only on oneself’s strong sense of faith and to walk towards a direction without referring to the environment, without stopping and without any traces of doubt.

With ragged breaths, Grimm closed his eyes and the surrounding world plunged into darkness.

At this moment, Grimm could only feel how foreign the surrounding world felt, how vast it was and how eerily quiet it was. It was as if he had entered into an alien world with even stranger laws.

“Hiss, don’t run away…”

A creepy desolate voice jolted Grimm. He became aware of how icy cold his hands and feet felt. It was as if countless pairs of hands were dragging his body into the unknown darkness.

In the next instance, he felt a warm feeling as if being enveloped by the world’s laws, gradually returning into Grimm’s body.

“Young Master! Are we going in or not? Say something! This crappy place is starting to bore me to death!”, Myna’s impatient voice echoed into Grimm’s ears.

Like waking up from a dream, Grimm opened his eyes in the next moment. The seemingly unending, peaceful granite forest drifted into his view as Myna’s noisy voice blared by his ear.

The wind was still whistling like the whispers of the devil. However it seems to be under the law and no longer felt ominous.

“What’s the matter!” Grimm shook his head and said between ragged breaths: “Was it all just an illusion?”

“Ah! Young Master, what happened to your hand?” Myna exclaimed.

Grimm looked down to find that on him palms as well as both his arms had various traces of bruising on them. There were tentacle-shaped bruises, densely packed dotting bruises as well as palm shaped bruises the size of a baby’s palm, all criss-crossing on his skin.

‘Hiss…’

‘Everything that happened just now…’

In the midst of chaotic thoughts, Grimm took two steps back lightly. He then turned around and without looking back at this mysterious land the Lava Giants called the “Banon Illusion”, Grimm flew with all his might towards a faraway direction.

Or you could say, he escaped.

Vaguely, Grimm felt that this place had an incomprehensible space-time that continuously expanded and contracted, moved and contorted in lawlessness.

Perhaps, this was just another naturally-occurring phenomenon in this world. Or maybe perhaps, this was an illusion that low-level sorcerers like Grimm would never come to grasp.

Regardless, this must be reported to the Void Fortress immediately!