Chapter 18: Illusion

Chapter 18: Illusion

Lila's face was drenched in tears, but what she saw made her very soul shiver.

A menacing beast that had been hiding in the darkness had made itself known. Saliva dropped down from Bozo's mouth as he squeezed Gros' forearm. The pain seemed immense, and Gros wanted to scream… but he couldn't. If he did, he would be dead…

Or so it should have gone, but then all of a sudden, a cracking sound resembling that of breaking glass into numerous shards resonated in the surroundings.

Faint lines appeared in the sky, as if the dimension itself was cracking before it completely transformed into a new scene.

Bozo was the first one to realize that something was wrong. He thought that he had destroyed Gros' forearm, almost turning him into a handicapped goblin as well, but weirdly enough, there was no blood.

This finally crossed Bozo's mind when he lowered his gaze after the cracking sound. What he had in his left hand was nothing but a small piece of the dead trunk of an old tree. The top and the bottom were fine while the middle was completely crushed.

'Wood?' Bozo was a bit flabbergasted at the moment.

He raised his head a bit only to notice all the goblins trembling and sweating profusely, Yoni and Lila included. The sound of glass breaking followed, making them snap out of the moment - it all happened as another voice preceded.

"Hohoho, looks like you youngsters are having fun," a deep but ugly male voice that resembled an old man's voice reached everyone's ears.

Instantly, they turned towards the source of the sound, and there they found an old goblin standing with a smile on his face. He seemed malnourished, but it was normal for an old goblin to be like that. Bones stuck out of his wrinkles and dry skin. Adding to that, his body trembled slightly. He had a long wooden stick for support in his left hand.

"…?" Bozo didn't notice when the old man had appeared. The stranger thing was the sudden appearance of the tree trunk in his hand, but this too was abnormal.

'Did this elder do something?' Bozo thought for a second before confronting him, "Elder, was this perhaps your doing?"

The Elder Goblin stared at Bozo with a smile wider than before. Without answering anything, he looked back towards the other goblins who also stared at the elder goblin at the moment.

All of them were sweating profusely. Especially Gros, he held his right hand tightly. His eyeballs trembled as he pondered, 'What was that? A dream? Illusion? My forearm is alright… so what exactly was that? What did I see?'

Hundreds of thoughts penetrated his mind and clouded his thinking. The same was true for the other goblins who walked forward and took notice of his forearm, which was unscathed. They too questioned the happening.

"Hoho, aren't you being late for dinner?" the elder asked, but instead of replying politely, Gros and the gang raised their voices, "Kuak, what does it matter to you oldie? Don't bother yourself in delivering such news. We were heading to the place anyway."

"…?"

'Are they for real?' Bozo gave another death stare, catching their attention. This killing intent made them flinch.

"Ahem," they turned away and then started to walk with a slow pace, which soon turned into a stride and then into a sprint! They ran away with tails between their legs.

'Tsk, cowards…,' giving the remark, Bozo turned towards the Elder, who was now being hugged by Yoni and Lila.

"Grandpa Kara," Yoni hugged as she said this, finally behaving like a child.

"Gwandpa!" Lila too addressed the same as she rushed towards Kara, hugging him gently.

Bozo simply stared in their direction, looking at how happy they were. Upon careful observation, he noticed something. Yoni was sweating profusely. Momentarily, she would look towards Bozo and then turn her gaze away.

'Is she scared?' Bozo asked himself as he noticed such obvious behavior. Bozo lowered his head and stared at his hands.

'I shouldn't have activated the Berserker Skill in front of the kids,' he couldn't help but sigh again and again for the mistake that he committed.

Lila noticed Bozo and approached him after breaking the hug from Kara. Nearing him, she called out to him, "Bwother…"

Bozo heard it loud and clear. He immediately turned towards her and looked at her tiny body which was now half bent. She was bowing in front of him and thanking him for protecting Yoni.

Bozo gave a smile after hearing this. Lila wanted to approach him even more and say something when Kara interrupted, "Yoni, Lila, go on. It's time for dinner. I have something to talk with your brother over there."

"Alright grandpa…", Yoni and Lila left the place, heading straight to the area where food was being served.

Bozo and Kara were now alone. Bozo, having heard what Kara said to them, waited for him to raise the topic of whatever he wanted to say. But 10 minutes passed and nothing was told.

Finally, Bozo decided to ask, "Um, Elder Kara…"

"Yes son?", Kara immediately looked towards Bozo.

"You had something to say?"

"…"

"You want me to say something?"

"Huh? No, I meant, you sent them away, right, and you said you wanted to talk to me…"

"I never said that."

"…", Bozo's left eyebrow twitched as he heard this. He took a deep breath and then looked at Elder Kara again, "But Elder, you-"

This time, when he looked at Kara's direction after opening his closed eyes, he found nothing. His senses tingled as he turned to his right, only to find Kara's face just an inch away from his face.

"Who are you?", the question hung in the air as silence prevailed with the vanishing of most of the goblins towards the dining area.

"What do you-"

Kara's strong voice questioned Bozo, making him uneasy. "Why do you seem so lifeless? It's like the Breath of Death is around you." Bozo stepped back, feeling nervous and swallowing hard.

Bozo's eyes quivered with fear as he gazed into Kara's lifeless, abyssal eyes. "Did he find out about the system?" he wondered, anxiety creeping over him.

Ding!

[You are affected by the skill: Illusion.]

Ding!

[Ogre401 has recovered from fatigue. You may simulate if you want.]

"…"

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