CHAPTER 76: EVERYTHING IS FAKE

After harvesting the Mana Shards from the fallen monsters, the group left the scene since the smell of blood would definitely attract more monsters.

They had fended off one group attack, but who knew if they would be this lucky next time?

Charlotte kept her spell active, making her mana consumption high, but at least that allowed the three of them to move more cautiously.

Stelle continued to grumble about how much of a cheat Max was, making him laugh—which only made her even angrier. Charlotte was also surprised, but as usual, she kept her thoughts to herself.

Surprisingly, they didn’t encounter any more monsters on their way. That didn’t make them happy, though, because it meant something powerful was lurking around.

After all, Whispering Pines wasn’t a place where they could relax. It was a danger zone filled with powerful, strange monsters.

"I’m getting a bad feeling about this," Max muttered. "This set-up seems too familiar."

"You said something?" Charlotte asked, catching on to his voice.

"I was wondering if you have any spells that can break powerful illusions," Max asked, as they moved while sticking closely to each other.

"I don’t have it," Charlotte seemed to sense his unease and asked, "Did you notice something?"

"Yeah, well, we might have walked into our doom," Max stopped, raising his head. "Get ready to kill your loved ones."

"What do you mean?" Stelle frowned and asked.

"Do not trust me or anything. Do not trust what you see, hear, or sense," Max’s voice grew solemn as he continued. "Sorry, I didn’t notice it earlier, so we can only deal with it."

The two ladies didn’t say anything and simply focused on his words.

"It should act any moment now, so I’ll just give one last piece of advice. Everything is fake except your heart and feelings. Be ready to listen to them and destroy everything else."

"Wha—"

Before Charlotte could ask anything, the ground below her shifted as if the reality she was living in had changed completely. All of a sudden, she found herself all alone, without anyone protecting her.

It took a moment for her, but she eventually calmed down and narrowed her eyes at her surroundings. It seemed nothing had changed, but there were some details Charlotte noticed that were different.

’He asked about illusions, and from his words, it’s practically confirmed that we’re trapped in some illusion of some powerful monsters,’ Charlotte calmly analyzed her situation while looking around for anything suspicious.

’Most illusion monsters are very weak physically, so they rely on breaking a person’s mind and slowly overtaking them to make them puppets. That means there could be some puppets attacking me?’

Charlotte began to mumble syllables, trying to get her only offensive spell ready. While she was a healer, she kept at least one spell for other purposes too.

All of a sudden, she sensed a presence behind her and turned around with her wand pushed forward. However, she didn’t fire when she realized who was standing there.

"Hello, Big Sis," Stelle smiled at her and asked, "Why are you pointing your wand at me? Shouldn’t we be looking for the monsters?"

"Ah! Yes, sorry, I just..." Charlotte stopped talking as Max’s words flashed in her mind.

"Everything is fake. Do not trust what you see, hear, or even sense. Only trust your heart and feelings."

"Be ready to kill your loved ones..." Charlotte’s grip on her wand tightened, as fear rose in her heart.

"What happened, Big Sis?" Stelle asked in concern, as she leaned forward. "Do you need any help?"

Charlotte bit her lips and once again raised her wand to complete her spell. Yet, when her gaze landed on that red-headed face, she hesitated.

If it was anyone else, she would have acted quickly, but she just couldn’t bring herself to attack Stelle. Her hand just wouldn’t move.

Charlotte knew everything was fake. The Stelle standing before her was fake—an illusion created by some nasty monsters.

She didn’t need Max’s words to confirm it, because she could see the inhumane gaze of Stelle. The monster had managed to perfectly replicate every detail—including Stelle’s expressions, her way of talking... everything.

Yet, it had not managed to make those eyes seem real.

She knew it all, yet she couldn’t do her part.

"Haah! I’m so pathetic," Charlotte sighed, her wand dropping down once more. Instead of the offensive spell, she cast the defensive one.

’Can I really become the Clan Leader like this? Being this pathetic?’

While Charlotte was going through her mental dilemma, Max was dealing with his problem not far away.

As someone who had written this, he knew perfectly well what he was facing. He wasn’t that worried because killing the monster was pretty easy—as long as you managed to kill the illusion of your loved ones.

Many times, people hesitate to kill because the monster replicates practically everything. Killing the illusion was no different than killing the real one—or at least that was what everyone unconsciously thought.

Max stayed relaxed in his spot, knowing that the illusions were the only thing the monster could do—even if it was more powerful than him.

[Are you really ready for it?]

’Not really. I’ve never tried killing one of my own, after all,’ Max sighed. ’But at least the knowledge of illusion should help a little, right? Still, I wonder whose illusion will I see? Stelle perhaps?’

He was still feeling a little guilty, as he had not told the other two about this monster. It wasn’t intentional, but he had himself forgotten about it because of how rarely it appeared in the novel.

Still, he should have told them about the possibility of encountering it at least.

Just then, he sensed a presence behind him, making him release the pent-up breath as he turned around, ready to kill whatever was before him.

His eyes were closed, as he was going to kill the illusion before it affected him. Sadly, only his eyes were closed—not his ears.

"My god, Max, how did you get all that blood on your clothes? Did you get in a fight again?"

Max’s heart shook as his eyes opened in reflex. He couldn’t believe it, but he knew he had expected it. He just didn’t want to believe it.

"Grandma..."