00256 Plateau of Delusion ———————————————– ————————–=
“hmm.”
As soon as the man finished speaking, the already cool air around me felt even colder. I exhaled calmly. The man’s words were quite interesting.
I lowered the crystal ball that I had been holding close and held it out in front so that everyone could hear clearly. Then the clan members, especially the kids, moved their gazes along the crystal ball without even making a sound.
(Please listen to me, I hope you’re turning around and heading down right now. But… seeing as the atmosphere has calmed down earlier, I think they’ll find me soon. So I’ll continue the story right away. Let’s go. First, let me reveal my identity. My name is Seongwoong Jeong, a 4-year user of the Yeoulgannyeon Clan.)
The man’s tone seemed to be strained, as if he was getting closer to death.
Eventually, he began to tell one by one what he had experienced.
(It all started after I entered the Canyon of Hallucinations.)
I calmly listened to the man’s words. His subsequent story detailed what happened in the Canyon of Hallucinations. There was nothing special about the first story I told. I just entered the canyon and was able to find the ruins in two days. And the expedition team confidently entered the ruins… .
(The moment we first entered the ruins, the sight we had to face with joy and joy was countless piles of corpses. The moment we saw the half-decomposing corpses scattered here and there, we intuitively felt that something was wrong. I should have turned away then, but I was blinded by the ruins…)
‘huh? ‘Something’s a little strange?’
I was continuing to listen to the man. From his words, I felt a strange sense of discomfort that I still don’t know what it is. First of all, there was nothing wrong with the part about discovering the canyon city. However, the overall development itself was subtly out of focus. The words that seemed logical at first, even after being hurt so badly, felt more and more incoherent as time went by.
(It was enough to say that it was a city. However, one thing that was strange was that even though a long time had passed, it still had the appearance of a fairly normal city. It felt as if time had stopped… . And the moment we entered the city, we couldn’t help but be surprised. There were dozens of people waiting for us inside the city, each with their weapons drawn. Let me tell you right away, those people were vagabonds.)
The man stopped speaking and started coughing again. Every time I coughed, a handful of blood came out of my mouth, but somehow it didn’t get on the crystal ball. When I put a little pressure on my hand and felt the magic power inside the crystal ball, I could feel that there was not much magic power left. In other words, the playing time was almost over.
The man, who had been suffering for a while, could barely open his mouth in a dying voice, as if death was getting closer by the minute.
(I guess I don’t have much time. I’m sorry for rambling. I’m in a hurry. Anyway, you may remember that the Golden Lion Clan led a plan to exterminate vagabonds. Most of them fled to the west. Even though they lost, it looks like some of them ran away another way. If I were to tell you my thoughts, they were hiding in a canyon of illusion that was relatively untouched by users…)
‘A tramp? ‘You found their bodies, but they were still alive?’
I frowned slightly at the man’s words.
(We didn’t even dare to fight. At that time, the only option was to run away. In the process, most of my colleagues were killed. I was at the very end… It’s embarrassing, but I barely ran away because I didn’t even look back. I was able to hit it. No, I thought I ran away. Haha… But I guess I was punished for abandoning my comrade, so I ended up like this.)
The man smiled self-deprecatingly and let out a long sigh. And now he spoke in a strained voice as if it were the last time.
(Even though I only have a short amount of life left… I would rather kill myself than be caught by vagabonds and face a miserable death. But rather than die like this, I wanted to leave as much of a trace as possible. Please, whoever is looking at this crystal ball, quickly move to the city. Please let the head clan know about this. Then, I hope they survive and return home safely. Good Luck.)
As if those words were the last words, soon the screen of the crystal ball went off with a ‘pop’ sound.
I let out a long sigh and turned my head away from the crystal ball that was emitting its natural shiny light. Then, everyone could see the faces of the clan members covered in dark shadows.
“You’re a vagabond… . I don’t think this is normal. Su-hyun. “What are you going to do?”
As I quietly put the crystal ball in my arms and kept my mouth shut, Go Yeon-ju tilted her head and spoke to me.
The clan members said nothing. However, when they heard what I said, everyone looked at each other, and it seemed like they wanted to go back. Go Yeon-ju must have sensed that I wanted to go ahead with it, and opened his mouth in a earnestly persuasive tone.
“Honestly, wouldn’t you be a little uncomfortable if there were a bunch of vagabonds? I think that crystal sphere would be sufficient evidence. So, why don’t we just head back?”
“High user performance. “Let me ask you one thing.”
“Please speak.”
“Can you find any traces of the expedition around here?”
It was a sudden question, but Go Yeon-ju calmly looked around. And then he nodded and answered.
“yes. There are definitely signs of coming in and going out. “It’s a bit mixed, though.”
“Then can you tell if this user has been affected by mental-type magic?”
“yes? What happened suddenly… . “I don’t know anything like that.”
“okay.”
I bent down and looked closely at the flowers scattered around me. Then, I was soon able to find a flower I was familiar with. I picked one of them up and held it up for everyone to see.
“This flower is called the Hyde flower. It has the mysterious effect of eliminating odors if you have it in small quantities, and reducing presence to some extent if you have it in large quantities. “Why is this here?”
“well. Wasn’t this an action to protect the crystal ball from the monsters roaming around? I don’t think there’s anything particularly strange about this since it’s one of the ways missing users leave dying messages. Well, it’s not a method I use often.”
“Yes. But don’t you think it’s strange?”
“What’s strange?”
At first glance, the man’s words were quite varied. However, for a user facing death, he is very calm and composed. Of course, there were some users with that type of personality, but the problem was in the way he told the story.
In a nutshell, his story is “Save me.” Or “Help me.” The nuance of trying to force something to be explained was stronger than the nuance of .
The vagabonds in my memory were found dead in the ruins. But the man says they are still alive.
The man said he barely escaped. But would the tramps have let him go so meekly? And he said he ran away without even looking back, so how could other colleagues know that he was caught or attacked?
He was chased while running away, and eventually suffered serious wounds that put his life in danger. In such a situation, he went looking for Haydn Flower and left a crystal ball to protect his body.
Could it be that the tramps didn’t find this man’s body? Have you ever looked into this man’s arms?
And what exactly was the first communication request?
No, in the first place… .
‘The Plateau of Delusion and the Canyon of Illusion are not places where you can move freely. And it’s hard to believe that he was harmed by just a few dozen vagabonds. I, too, am someone I can’t be confident in without Hwajeong… .’
Questions follow one after another, and various thoughts become intricately intertwined.
“I plan to go ahead with the original plan. The Mercenary enters the Canyon of Hallucination.”
I listened to what parts of the questions I had and explained them to my companions in as much detail as possible. And finally, it was confirmed that there were ruins, and the conversation was directed to go a little further in to resolve these questions.
Fortunately, a few people nodded in agreement with my opinion, but the dark mood did not improve. I sighed at that reaction and decided to take the last resort.
“I think there are a lot of people who are unwilling. So let’s do it like this. My idea is to continue exploring, as I said before. I will hear everyone’s opinions here and if there are many people who want to go back, I will leave. Now, please tell us your opinions. “It starts with the user’s high performance.”
“I wish I could go back. Honestly, even if there are dozens of tramps, I don’t think Suhyeon and I would lose. However, if there is someone similar to us there, the story is different. sorry. But I think a crystal ball is enough to simply secure evidence.”
Go Yeon-ju responded immediately. As I turned my gaze in a different direction, the clan members who had been hesitant up until now began to voice their opinions one by one.
“brother. I wish I could go back too. I agree with what you are saying, but since you have that crystal ball, wouldn’t you say that you have achieved your intended goal? “I’m sorry for opposing you.”
“hmm.”
Ahn Hyeon also expressed opposition. It seemed like there were more people who accepted the story of the crystal ball as truth than expected, and many people seemed to say not to overdo it.
‘There are a lot of really good things here… .’
I was just about to feel bitter and wonder if I really had to go back like this. At that time, Kim Han-byeol, who had a quiet expression on his face as if lost in thought, was seen quietly opening his eyes.
“I agree.”
“huh?”
“I hope the expedition continues like this. I listened to the man quietly… . What can I say? It felt a little strange. “It’s difficult to go into detail, but anyway, as you said, I think it’s worth exploring a little more.”
“good. “So it’s 2 to 2?”
I looked at Kim Han-byeol for a moment with a look of surprise, and then answered with a much relieved look on my face. Lee Yu-jeong, who was next to her, looked at my reaction and seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then she bit her lip. It was then.
“I too will agree with your opinion.”
“Three in favor.”
“You, even you? eww… . I don’t know. I’ll just follow what you say. Honestly, I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t lost anything by listening to you. “It’s not like I’m going all the way in, but I think it would be okay to just look at the traces a little more.”
“Four yeses.”
When Ansol agreed, Lee Yu-ji, who had hesitated until then, quickly seconded the request. With this, it was as if the matter had already been decided with four in favor and two against. However, since there was still one person left, I turned my attention to the clan member who had not yet voiced his opinion.
“The conclusion has already been reached, but we still have to listen. “Hangyeol, what do you want to do?”
“Um, me? “Well, I don’t know.”
“Then abstain?”
“yes. I will abstain. “I still don’t feel like exploring.”
Baek Han-gyeol abstained. not bad. I looked at the two who expressed opposition. Go Yeon-ju seemed to have thought that my words made sense from the beginning, and had an expression that made it seem like it didn’t really matter whether I went or not. However, Ahn Hyun lowered his head and glanced at me. It seemed like he was bothered by the fact that he was opposing my opinion for the first time.
‘When I return, the clan will need to quickly settle down. We also made several rules… . ‘I’ve been leading it all by myself for too long.’
I roughly swept the flowers that had fallen over the man’s body with my foot. Eventually, when the body was covered to some extent, he opened his mouth in a confirming tone.
“There are four in favor, two against and one abstention. Based on the voting results, we will proceed with the exploration for now. I know very well what you are worried about. I also have no intention of overdoing it. “If a situation arises that is difficult for us to handle, we will feel free to take action.”
Once I gave them the space to prioritize their lives, I could see their heavy faces becoming a little lighter.
Eventually, I walked in the direction where the traces remained. The clan members quickly formed a square formation behind me again. Even though the monsters had not yet appeared, most of the clan members were preparing for battle. It seems like everyone is getting very nervous after the crystal ball.
After staring at them quietly, I immediately signaled the departure signal.
*
I partly increased the marching speed. First of all, I was planning to alleviate the anxious atmosphere, but in order to do that, I needed to quickly get out of this strange atmosphere.
As we left the area where the corpse was, the dark and sticky energy gradually faded. However, the unpleasant feeling did not disappear. What can I say about the space where the previous energy had escaped, subtle air was flowing in instead.
“Su-hyun. wait a minute.”
While walking at the front, Go Yeon-ju asked from behind to stop the march. This was the first time I had been interrupted by another user since I led Mercantile. When I turned to see what was going on, I could see Ansol’s face with a white complexion.
“Ansol. why are you like this? what’s the matter?”
“ha… . ha… . “I’m sorry.”
“Is it because you’re having a hard time?”
“Oh, no. That’s not it… . Strangely enough, I’ve been feeling frustrated ever since. It’s okay, it’s okay. “I can bear it.”
‘I guess we’re almost there.’
I thought about feeding Jeongsimdan, but Ansol said that it was still okay, so I decided to resume the march for now. Instead, he sent Ahn Hyeon, who was in the lead, next to Ahn Sol so that he could repeat her reactions. So we started riding the mountain path again, leaving the gentle terrain and entering the steep terrain again.
About 30 minutes passed like that. I felt like some strange, metaphysical energy was weighing down my whole body, but then it eased off.
『The potential ability Mind’s Eye (Rank: A Plus) is activated.』
『The potential ability Battlefield Protection (Rank: EX) is activated.』
I quickly raised my hand to signal a halt to the march and quickly looked around. Currently, I was in the lead. This meant that a more powerful field effect was activated based on the line just crossed.
And at the same time, I could feel someone falling down behind me.
“Tongue, bro! Ansol… !”
“okay. Hangyeol. “Give me your bag.”
I couldn’t see her clearly because she had her head down on the floor, but I could definitely get the feeling that she was struggling. Mountain of Delirium, Plateau of Delusion, Canyon of Hallucination. The effects of these three fields were nothing short of rat poison for Ansol, who was suffering from trauma.
Without delay, I took the bag that Baek Han-gyeol was carrying and then took out the box containing the Jeongsimdan that was kept inside. And when I laid down Ansol, who was lying on the floor and shaking all over, and forced him to open his mouth, I heard Anhyeon’s worried voice next to me.
“Tongue, bro. “What happened?”
“hey. Don’t jump to the front. Because we’re almost there. “I think she felt it a little early because Ansol is sensitive.”
“yes? “What is that?”
“therefore. If you just get over here… .”
I put the golden, shining Jeongsimdan in Ansol’s mouth. Then, I saw the round pill that touched her tongue melt into the saliva and disappear.
After confirming that Ansol’s trembling body was gradually subsiding, I calmly stood up and continued speaking.
“… “It means arriving at the plateau of delusion.”
—————————= Review of the work ——————– ——-=
hello. This is Ro Yujin.
I barely made it on time. Some other writers say that once they stop serializing, they want to take a break. To celebrate the end of today’s exam, I had dinner with my friends and started writing late, but my body kept asking for a break. haha. Fortunately, I was able to finish writing because the effects of the Red Bull I drank this morning were still there.
yes The test is over, and the Plateau of Delusion part is over. Some of the subheadings of the next part include the Canyon of Hallucinations. Hahaha. (This entry will begin in the next chapter of the Plateau of Delusion, but as stated in the text, it is only a day away from the Valley of Illusion. Both appear in the next chapter, and if you move a little faster, it seems possible to enter the inside as well.)
There is no one who has completely guessed the following content yet, but there are people who have guessed it similarly. ha ha ha. Well then, I will leave for today. I’m happy that the exam is over, and I’m so glad that I can sleep well for the first time in a while.
P.S. Reripple will be revived from the next episode! Ole!
fantasy,
