Hearing the word “hit,” Klos slowly opened her eyes and looked at Samimi.
“What are you staring at? Are you afraid of being hit?” Even when Samimi was deep in thought, she couldn’t ignore this irritating feeling.
But she knew that after some intense training from herself and Qi Qi, Klos’s mental instability had dropped significantly, and her rationality had risen by a large margin.
Still, her skin was as thick as armor. If it were any other adolescent girl, after being hit like that, would she still be shameless enough to sneak around here, trying to secretly learn magic? But Klos could!
Unknowingly, she and Qi Qi had already broken Klos’s inner demons.
(Does every sentence have to end with a taunt? What does it have to do with you anyway? It was all thanks to Qi Qi’s effort!)
And now, even though Samimi had brought the entire group over, she was no longer afraid of Klos suddenly losing it, and Niubao would side with her.
“I’ve been wanting to ask this for a while: was this demi-beast brought back from the slave market? Why can she resist the Queen of the Blood-Sucking Ghosts’ illusion?” Klos asked.
She turned her head toward the three small beds in the infirmary. Niubao was lying there snoring away, showing no sign of being disturbed, completely worry-free, as if she had no idea why she was even here.
Niubao only needed to stay by Sister’s side, and that was enough. Before, when Samimi wasn’t around, Niubao was like a zombie at the Sweet Melon Chapel—her days were filled with relentless, exhausting training, from morning till night, waking up only to continue the drills.
That day, when Niubao received a secret letter from Sister, she finally seemed to come alive, and in the dead of night rushed off to the Royal City to assist Samimi.
“You’ve known her for quite some time, haven’t you? Don’t you know what kind of person she is?” Samimi countered.
“I don’t know her, I don’t understand her, I don’t pay attention to her.” Klos replied indifferently.
“Fair point. Back at the Scarlet Academy, you were always busy staring at my back. The reason she can break through the illusion is simple: because she is naturally carefree and without worries or desires. With nothing weighing on her mind, she simply can’t be tricked,” Samimi laughed.
“You’re wrong.” Klos interrupted coldly.
“So, is your brain made of beef or is mine?!” Samimi retorted.
“I may not understand Niubao, but I’ve seen illusions before. It’s not that she can just resist the Ancient Blood Ghost Queen’s mental infiltration because she’s thoughtless. When I was at the Adventurer’s Hospital, I studied the Queen of the Blood-Sucking Ghosts’ illusions deeply. Logically, she could only use my memories to build the illusion, but within the illusion I saw memories that weren’t mine.” Klos suddenly became serious.
“And what’s your theory?” Samimi’s tone calmed, asking earnestly.
“In the illusion I saw, there were your memories, too. The Queen of the Blood-Sucking Ghosts used your memories to construct an illusion to attack me, so I witnessed your past. I saw the residents of the Royal City protecting you from rotten eggs,” Klos said.
“Hold on, I was never pelted with rotten eggs! When did that happen?” Samimi rubbed her chin, struggling to recall.
“It was when you left the team and departed from the tea house,” Klos explained matter-of-factly.
“After I left, I just went for a bowl of noodles, got pointed at and gossiped about twice, but I was never hit by rotten eggs or anything. Are you sure you didn’t mix things up? Why would they even help you by throwing eggs? Don’t flatter yourself,” Samimi commented.
“After that, you got beaten up by your own family, and when you went to save the city you got slammed to the ground by the Sanctuary Knights,” Klos added.
Samimi didn’t even know where to start with her complaints. It was just too far-fetched.
“Your expression says it’s too fake. Deep down, you’re definitely mocking me for believing this stuff,” Klos threw out teasingly.
“I don’t mean anything by it, don’t hold a grudge against me,” Samimi said.
“My point is, the Queen of the Blood-Sucking Ghosts read your memories. She can use your memories to attack me, so of course she could use them to target Niubao too,” Klos continued her analysis. “So, the key to resisting illusions isn’t about your state of mind, but whether you have something important inside. My most important thing is the Hero Party. That cunning little elf is a natural-born schemer, but she truly cares about her kin. And as for Niubao’s stubbornness, even I can see right through it.”
Samimi nearly blurted out what Klos was implying.
The core of illusions is to destroy the most important people and things in your heart, regardless of whether you’re actually careless or not. Niubao isn’t truly carefree—only a fool could be truly carefree. She’s just a bit lacking in emotional intelligence, that’s all.
And lately, she’s been speaking up more and more, developing more personality, even acting separately from herself and Niubao—it’s no longer like the old days when she was just an accessory.
But honestly, if you think about it, maybe the only thing Niubao cares about is herself?
If you follow that logic, then the illusion Niubao saw must have been herself being beaten to death.
So does that mean that even if she was killed, Niubao would be unmoved? Samimi felt a little sad at that thought.
But that’s not right. Niubao didn’t look like someone who had been attacked by an illusion at all. When asked what she saw, she just said she couldn’t remember.
Wait a minute! Niubao said she couldn’t remember, not that she didn’t know.
That means the illusion did happen. Niubao really was hit by the illusion; she just doesn’t remember the content.
That was a bit subtle, and worth pondering.
“She said she couldn’t remember. Niubao would never lie to me, so she really doesn’t remember,” Samimi said.
“Sometimes people forcibly forget traumatic memories. It’s a self-protection mechanism. Maybe she just forced herself to forget that particular memory. This little demi-beast’s origins aren’t simple. Was she really brought back from the slave market? I’m very curious,” Klos asked.
“Slave market, my ass! Niubao was brought here by me from the Sweet Melon Chapel, you’re really a slaver at heart. Let me make this clear to you: once I clean up the mess left by the corrupted blood, the next thing I’ll do is abolish slavery. I want to liberate all demi-beasts,” Samimi declared coldly.
“And what’s your reason for that?” Klos asked, doubtful.
“Does executing justice require a reason? Hero, what about you?” Samimi retorted.
Klos looked at the righteously indignant bug before her, and recalled the scene in the illusion where a fake Samimi chased after her to beg her to return to the team. Suddenly, she realized just how ridiculous her previous actions were.
Actually, Klos was still hiding something. She wanted to kill Samimi not just to destroy the Hero Party; in the illusion, it had been prophesied that Samimi would become the legendary [Mage King].
She had chosen to oppose Samimi for the future of humanity—not for personal grudges, absolutely not.
But after some time spent together, Klos realized that Samimi could never possibly become the Mage King.
Anyone else might, but never her—it was just that contrary to logic.
Klos knew that Samimi was astonishingly resilient. Even if she was expelled from the Hero Party, cast out by her family, and banished from her master’s school, she could still climb back up, step by step.
Though she refused to admit it, that meant with her abilities she could survive anywhere, whereas after they threw her out, they themselves were stuck, unable to move forward.
And then there was Samimi’s character. Even in the Scarlet Academy, she’d go to any lengths to protect everyone, and in the end managed to make sure all twenty-five party members survived—a feat never achieved before.
Finally, during the great battle with the Royal City’s coalition forces, she still held back at every turn.
With her terrifying magic, she could have incinerated half the Royal City’s knights, but in the end, not a single enemy died, and barely any were even injured.
Ironically, the most seriously injured among the Sanctuary Knights, Sir Aki, was also the first to get up and help Samimi to her feet—such is the fickleness of the world.
In the end, Klos came to a conclusion…
Now, Samimi had already become the greatest saint in the world, someone who truly loved life.
Even Klos herself had been swayed by Samimi, and now she found herself dissatisfied with those two hypocritical Red-clad Archbishops from the allied forces.
After all, the White-haired Witch Bemore was also a member of the Hero Party—yet she was just a scoundrel.
So in Ofika’s grand plan, Klos’s name had been added to the list as well.
Her current identity was [Witness] of the Judgment Assembly.
When the Demon-Hunting Nun’s Judgment Assembly began, she would have to go up and make her statement.
“Why are you so talkative today? Did you take the wrong medicine? I’ve never heard you ramble this much,” Samimi asked suspiciously.
“Never? Have we known each other that long?” Klos caught the key word.
“It’s just a metaphor. Haven’t you ever studied literature?” Samimi complained.
“I think I have a talent for learning illusions, so I wanted to ask if you have any insights,” Klos said.
“What?” Samimi doubted her own ears.
“Seems like not. Fair enough, you’re not an illusionist anyway,” Klos shook her head helplessly, and resumed meditating.
Her meditation posture was exactly the same as Samimi’s—all learned by stealing.
“Don’t just keep meditating, tell me what’s going on?” Samimi pressed on.
“I think the biggest reason for my magic talent is the Queen of the Blood-Sucking Ghosts’ illusion attack, plus my hatred for you. What you see on my face is just an illusion. What else could it be?” Klos explained with a straight face.
“Do you even know the definition of illusion?” Samimi asked seriously.
But truth be told, even she herself didn’t know—she was just asking.
The depth of illusion spells is no less than domains; they’re all god-tier magics that can’t be simply defined.
“I don’t know, but I feel the technique the Queen of the Mountains used is the same,” Klos replied.
“So, this kind of passed-down spell is an illusion? Then is the body-hiding spell used by the Demon-Hunting Nun also a type of illusion?” Samimi wondered aloud.
“So you don’t understand it either?” Klos questioned.
“Yeah, I don’t get it, just do your best,” Samimi dismissed her, annoyed, and went back to meditating.
Among all the Heroes and their allies she had met, Klos was definitely the one who changed the most.
No matter how formidable the White-haired Witch Bemore was, she was still a mage after all.
But Klos had already broken free of the limitations of being just an archer, becoming a dual-class oddball like that fat knight Qi Qi.
Her strength was already on par with the true protagonists, like the Hero of the Storm, Hegaya.
But while her teammates kept changing, could the Hero Party really keep moving forward?