Syl

Chapter 156: Shocking Illusions

Jet and I began looking over the loot chest while the others cut off ant parts into smaller chunks for me to harvest later. Other than a few pieces of chitin and mandibles, it didn't seem like the ants were that valuable when I glanced briefly over them.

"Glad to see you've settled in nicely with [Thunder Step]," Jet commented while he worked. "You definitely remind me of Lisa back when she was active; she also used to zip zap around like that, although without the fiery explosions... And a lot more thunder and lightning."

"It was the most disruptive move I could think of at the time," I replied. "If I had thought about bursting into enemy lines, I probably would have worked a little more on using the built-up energy or perhaps complementing it with a lightning spell."

"Oh? You've already started figuring out how to use the side effects. I'm assuming Lisa showed off her sword?" Jet asked.

"Yeah, and I have some decent resistance to lightning, but not enough to ignore the damage."

"I could siphon the damage off of you!" Eliza interrupted.

"Hmm... Not a bad idea," Jet mumbled. "I had thought you were maybe still very fresh with the skill and didn't want you to kill yourself, but with this party composition, it might be a good idea."

"Yes! I've never siphoned lightning damage before." Eliza said, pumping her fists in celebration. "Ian's also built up so much resistance; it'll be nice to be on a full tank for a bit."

"Cheating on me already..." Ian said, shaking his head. "And to think I gave up all my hair for you."

Pelopi rubbed her nose in irritation. "Burnt hair smell... Bleh..."

The chest clicked and opened up, revealing an amulet amongst a stash of gold coins.

"Oh. Interesting..." Jet said as he eyed it.

Despite never seeing the enchantments before, they must have been low rank enough as [Rune Reading] fully comprehended it almost instantly.

"[Water Resistance] combined with... [Water Breathing]?" I said, a little unsure after puzzling it together.

"Oh, your [Identify] is better than mine." Jet chuckled. "With a name like Oceans, I could only tell it was water-related."

"Being able to breathe underwater would be amazing!" Pelopi said cheerfully.

"We'd need two more, though." Ian pointed out.

"So... Sell and split it?" Eliza said.

"Boo!" Pelopi said, puffing out her cheeks and her ears drooping.

"You can always buy it from the party if you want it that badly," I said, the others nodding in agreement. "Speaking of which... If we come across any slimes, then I want to buy or claim the core."

"Feel free to. Assuming you can kill one without destroying the core." Ian shrugged.

"She's got [Ice Magic], remember." Jet answered. "Most of our intact cores come from them unless you got [Death Magic]. Or you can do it the old-fashioned way and repeatedly remove its slime until you starve it out. I've also heard of some adventurers who can even pluck the core directly out of the slime mass."

It took all my restraint not to visibly shudder at hearing that horrific way of killing a slime. I realized that other slimes did not have [Core Storage] as I'd never seen it in any of the various profiles, so assuming they ran out of slime or their core was removed from their slime mass, that was it.

We finished storing the ant parts and splitting the gold. Ian temporarily wore the amulet just in case the dungeon threw water monsters at us to counter his fire. At this point, we were all a little paranoid that it was out to get us. Eliza was extremely excited about the next room as I agreed to take some damage from [Thunder Step] for her to siphon.

We were also cautious about moving to the next room, as there was now the possibility of traps. I got to witness how Jet handled it, although he kind of got to cheat with his affinity. Whatever his perception failed to catch, he would double-check by almost solidifying his shadow, which elongated in front of him. We did encounter one or two minor traps, the most notorious of which was a pitfall hidden under an illusion.

"I really think the dungeon is out to get us," Jet chuckled. "I know this is the illusion floor, but putting traps under illusions seems a step too far."

During this time, I also glanced at the three ant profiles. Nothing was too eye-catching unless I suddenly wanted to get into pheromones. I already had a hallucinogen poison, so it seemed a little moot, and my [Acid Slime] was far superior to their formic acid. The chitin held some promise, but then again, I had lesser dragon scales... At least the mandibles were a decent part to potentially mimic. The weirdest trait, however, was [Ant Haul], something they all had from birth. It significantly boosted strength, but only when carrying or lifting things. I could probably find a use for that.

We spotted the next room and cautiously approached to take a peek inside. We saw a multitude of goblins and orcs. The room appeared normal, but we were extremely hesitant. I could immediately tell that something was wrong with everything in it.

"I can't break the illusion entirely, but I feel a great sense of wrongness," I whispered.

"Their shadows are all extremely weird. None of them match up." Jet also agreed.

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"They don't smell like goblins or orcs." Pelopi pointed out. "In fact, I almost don't smell anything..."

"Wonderful. Guess we just go in blazing?" Ian asked.

"Let me try to spread my debuffs?" I asked. "Don't enter the room until the cloud disperses unless you want to be weak to everything."

"Noted," Jet replied.

"Yeah... I can't say being afflicted with debuffs is on my bucket list." Ian joked.

I targeted one of the monsters; there was something there, but not the actual monster before my eyes. [Thermal Vision] didn't show anything, so the monster must be perfectly matching the room temperature, and [Electro-Magnetic Sense] didn't either, so they had to be neutral in conductivity. [Life Sight] was the only thing that told me something was there, but not enough to pierce the illusory veil.

I cast my full cycle of debuffs before casting [Contagion], and a cloud of Corrosion Mana burst throughout the room. The monsters began yelling battle cries as they drew their weapons and looked ready to fight. It was startling how real they looked, even though we knew that wasn't true.

As soon as the cloud dispersed, Ian ran into the room ablaze. Pelopi ran after him, claws out and eager for battle. Despite their fake appearances, they were hitting something as purple blood splattered with their blows. Ian would intercept a blow from a monster and physically feel it but then take an unexplained blow from elsewhere. Whatever the monsters were, they were coordinated well with their illusions to give a false sense of realism.

I joined them with a double [Thunder Step], one into the room and another up into the air. I had taken the single jump well when I tested it, so I figured I could handle a double surge, and it would give me plenty of energy to work with. I let the precious seconds of the combo chain expire, and the backlash began. It was not a pleasant feeling having lightning surge inside me, but the damage was quickly siphoned off thanks to Eliza as a black mist radiated off me. Meanwhile, I wrestled the surge into [Voltaic Slime], which I collected in my right arm while gracefully landing on the floor.

Spreading all my debuffs had given me a much clearer vision of the room, as now the enemies were all glowing in my [Electro-Magnetic Sense] thanks to [Conductive] and [Lightning Rod]. I wasn't sure what they were, but they looked vaguely cone-shaped and connected to the floor or ceiling. I wasted no time firing a blast of stored energy from my arm. At the same time, I cast a [Lightning Bolt] spell, hoping to disguise the controlled burst as me using the surging energy to fuel my spell. A giant double burst of lightning and thunder struck whatever was on the roof. The sound was almost deafening, and the light nearly blinding.

"Holy shit!" Ian shouted in surprise.

Pelopi actually dropped into a huddle and clutched her head. I may have gone overboard. Luckily, Jet covered for her lapse in judgment with a few well-timed crossbow bolts. It was hilarious that even though some of his shots were misses, the shadow still struck the enemies and dealt damage. Meanwhile, whatever I had hit flailing wildly as the energy coursed through it; it seemed [Lightning Rod] was especially deadly with such a large amount of directed energy.

"A warning next time!" Jet scolded. "I swear it's Lisa all over again. Bloody thunder and lightning."

"Lurkers!?" Ian shouted in confusion.

"A giant maw with tentacles!" Jet shouted. "Try not to be grabbed."

"It's hiding its tentacles in place of the monsters!" I shouted, having finally realized what I was actually seeing.

"Sneaky buggers aren't they!" Ian chuckled as he instinctively dodged an orc axe coming to his face, only for him to suddenly trip and start behind, lifted by his foot towards the ceiling. "Shit! I've been grabbed!"

Suddenly, a bolt of black lightning forked out of nowhere towards the ceiling. It arced and crackled menacingly. Whatever was holding Ian let go, and he tumbled gracefully to the floor, rolling to his feet in a fluid motion.

"Was that dark lightning!?" He shouted excitedly.

"Hell, yes!" Eliza shouted; dark energy was coursing through her arms and staff. She fired another crackle of dark black lightning toward something else. "This is the coolest thing ever!"

Pelopi had recovered and was now tearing into one of the cone monsters on the ground, having already brutally ripped off its tendrils. "You better step up your game, Ian, or Eliza will run off with Syl."

"That's not fair!" He chuckled, stepping up his fiery blaze to a higher grade that also coated his axe in flames. "I'm just an ordinary human; you can't expect me to compete against an elf."

Not wanting to be left out, I kept throwing around [Lightning Bolt] spells and occasionally doing a single hop [Thunder Step] into [Voltaic Slime] discharge. The single jumps were much more manageable and didn't leave the entire party quaking.

Eliza looked like she was having the time of her life, laughing maniacally while firing the black lightning surges toward wherever there was a hint of life. I figured she had to be using [Life Sight] to make sure she was hitting something real.

Thankfully, there were no more surprises, and we cleaned up the rest of the room without too much trouble. We could all see the clearly horrific monsters, with the illusions now broken. They were like fleshy stalagmites or stalactites with endless rows of jagged teeth. Their tendrils were either smooth or tipped with barbs.

"You going to try to eat those?" I asked Pelopi, pointing to a particularly nasty-looking tentacle.

"No way," Pelopi immediately rejected the idea. "That's far too gross, and even if it wasn't, it's a magical monster, so it doesn't work with my class."

"They're also poisonous, so definitely not a good idea." Jet quickly added. "I think it was called [Spitebite]? While not at all deadly, it sends your sense of pain into overdrive."

"Oh... That explains why I actually felt something." Ian said almost casually. "I was a little surprised. Reminded me before I got my pain resistance skill."

I threw some barbed tendril tips into storage while sneakily withdrawing one inside myself.

'Weird that there was a poison that just caused hurt, but oh well. Another for the collection.'

We also gathered some of their teeth; apparently, they made really good arrowheads or sawblades. While we worked, Jet explained that the monsters usually live in caves, naturally camouflage among the rocks, and are predominantly ambush predators. Combining an ambush monster with illusions was nasty, but at least it was more in line with what the dungeon should have been throwing at us.

When we were done collecting our spoils, I had even eaten enough loose parts to finally satisfy my [Consuming Osmosis].

Looking at their profile, I immediately noticed [Thermal Vision], which might have explained why they mostly ignored me and went primarily for Ian, even without his taunt. Having barbed tendrils in my collection and their razor-sharp maw were pretty interesting for mimicking. Trait-wise, they had [Natural Camouflage], which helped them blend in with the environment, and they also had [Illusion Magic].

'Of course...' I grumbled mentally.

We also discussed my [Thunder Step] usage and concluded that I should stick to only single jumps if I wasn't going to discharge safely on the ground. While I could handle it, and Eliza had enough to drain the damage, it was putting her at the near max of her dark pool instantly, and she was actually a little worried she wouldn't be able to drain it fast enough. She was clearly very reluctant about limiting it, as she found the black lightning it generated both fun and extremely effective. I didn't mind either way; happy for a way to train my skills and traits.

"So... Left or right?" Ian asked, pointing towards our two options.

"Flip a coin?" Eliza suggested.

"Might as well. With our luck, it'll be a dead end anyway, and we will end up backtracking." Jet said with an exaggerated sigh.

"Bad luck, but plenty of loot!" Pelopi said positively.

"Guess that's the silver lining." I chuckled.

We flipped a coin and headed down the left passageway.

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