Eldritch Horror Theatre

Facts proved that an invisible enemy was often far more intimidating than a visible one.

Charlotte charging ahead single-handedly, despite being on high alert just moments ago, was proof enough.

This was likely why people loved using the word indescribable to frighten others.

Unfortunately, faced with Charlotte's aggressive move, the target displayed an agility far surpassing its previous counterparts.

Fu Qian, who had followed closely behind with the rest of the team, only had time to catch a brief glimpse of the target's valiant form before it vanished back into the darkness.

"It's our equipment. Even the patterns on it are exactly the same."

Getting serious, Charlotte displayed a remarkably level head, completely unbaited by such a crude trick and refusing to break away from the team.

"But that thing is incredibly fast. If we keep chasing it, it'll probably take quite a bit of effort. What do you think?"

After stating this assessment, Charlotte looked directly at Old Man Sage with an inquiring gaze.

The old man gave a slight nod.

"Not an attack... Are you saying one of our own underwent a mutation?"

Although this was indeed the most likely scenario, it was clear that the group was even more reluctant to accept this possibility.

Mutating without making a single sound—just thinking about such a scene was enough to make anyone's heart skip a beat.

For a moment, even Scrooge forgot to make a sarcastic remark. He stepped forward, his brows furrowed tightly.

"There are many possibilities. Since we haven't caught up to that guy, we can't make a final judgment. But based on our current situation, the threat isn't that great—"

Before Old Man Sage could finish speaking, a flash of dark red darted past.

In the very next second, half of his head was gone. He slumped lifelessly to the ground, the rolling tongue inside his ruined mouth clearly visible.

The cause of this devastating blow was an incredibly scorching beam of light, erupting directly from the covered eye area on Scrooge's face.

"...Are you insane?!"

Amid the deathly silence, Ais's roar echoed through the darkness. She clearly no longer cared about causing a disturbance.

Following her shout, the entire team jumped aside in unison, putting distance between themselves and the crazed Scrooge as they went on full alert.

Had he mutated as well?

Otherwise, it was impossible to comprehend why he would do something so insane as to directly attack Sage.

"Idiots."

Scrooge, however, showed no intention of fleeing. Instead, he gritted his teeth and sneered.

"If it weren't for me, you'd all be dead."

What did he mean by that?

The fully alert group froze on the spot. But since Scrooge seemed capable of communicating, no one rushed to make a move.

"Our plan has to be abandoned. Sage obviously underestimated the target's degree of awakening."

Scrooge pointed a finger at Old Man Sage's corpse, but his eyes were fixed on Ais.

"So not a single one of you saw his transformation just now? If I had been a second later, your head would have been burned to ash!"

Sage's transformation? He fell for the trick too, and tried to kill me just now?

Ais was quick to react. She instantly grasped the meaning behind Scrooge's words and lowered her head to look. This...

There really was a change, but it was completely different from what he had described!

However, the scene that met her eyes left her entirely at a loss for how to react.

His head had returned.

Sage, whose head had just been partially blown off, somehow had a perfectly intact skull once again.

At the same time, the Golden Staff in his hand erupted with blinding light, sweeping in all directions.

...

It felt like a rushing current had washed over her. Ais felt her chaotic thoughts instantly clear up. Her mind became incredibly lucid, as if nothing could ever deceive her again.

"Sage..."

Looking back at Scrooge, the man was already standing there dumbfounded.

"Heal me."

Old Man Sage didn't rush to pay him any mind. Instead, he shouted at Ais beside him.

Heal?

Just as Ais was wondering what needed healing, she saw a tiny, hollow hole appear on Sage's face right where he had been hit. It rapidly began to expand outward.

His earlier recovery seemed to have merely been an illusion. The damage was being released slowly to buy time for treatment.

Understanding dawned on her instantly, and Ais hesitated no longer. A milky-white radiance rose from her body, seeping bit by bit into Sage's head.

The speed of the wound's expansion slowed down at once. After a brief stalemate, it began to slowly shrink.

"What exactly is going on?"

Amidst this rapid flip-flopping situation, Charlotte finally lost patience, stepping forward to grab Scrooge by the collar and harshly demanding an answer.

"I get it, I get it all now, it's different..."

Even though he was being choked so hard he struggled to breathe, Scrooge still gasped out a string of laughter.

"As expected of The Society's greatest treasure! Coming here this time was completely worth it!"

"What nonsense are you spouting? Were you trying to get us all killed just now?"

Charlotte clearly had a hard time understanding Scrooge's riddle-filled tone.

However, Charlotte's reaction was quite straightforward: simply tightening the grip and choking the man until his eyes nearly bugged out.

Judging by such unbridled actions, it seemed Scrooge's beam from earlier couldn't be used continuously.

...

Just as I thought.

Standing off to the side, Fu Qian had just verified his own theory.

Brother Round Shield's words from earlier had seemed nonsensical, but they were actually quite enlightening.

Creating a Sacred Cloth with bare hands might be highly difficult, but what if it was just an illusion?

Was it possible that the fleeing figure from earlier wasn't a living corpse at all, but rather the team member bringing up the rear?

The Holy Grail had distorted the image in everyone's eyes in some incomprehensible way, making that person look like a living corpse.

As for why that brother would run if he wasn't a living corpse, thinking about it in reverse yielded an easy answer.

In his eyes, why couldn't the six of them look like living corpses too?

Imagine an exploration team where you were originally tasked with guarding the rear. Suddenly, as you're walking, everyone in front of you starts crawling through the darkness...

And when you try to escape, they turn around and chase you. Running for your life would be the most normal reaction in the world.

Understanding this made Scrooge's shocking actions from just now extremely simple to parse—in his eyes, Old Man Sage had suddenly undergone a living-corpse transformation, even attempting to one-shot Ais with a flaming fist. Out of desperation, he had struck first to gain the upper hand.

The target was clear, the process was natural, and for the sake of concealment, it had only misled a single killer.

It was hard to imagine that this kind of manipulation was orchestrated by a transcendent item. If he had to do it himself, his choices wouldn't have been much different.

Of course, Sage was still a cut above. Even though he hadn't immediately identified the enemy's methods, he had still managed to turn the tables through the margin of error he had established for himself.

"Let him go!"

Under Ais's healing, Sage now looked fully recovered. He let out a sigh and motioned for Charlotte to release the man.

"Causing different misconceptions in different people through an illusion of Dislocation... What a clever trick. But we can continue moving now."

In the next moment, he smiled faintly.

"Just as it can use Insight on our abilities, there are some things I need it to use once before I can make a targeted countermeasure."

"Now, you will no longer see false images."

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