Chapter 334 This isn't right, is it?!

The rapidly depleting golden liquid within the wrist guard crystal instantly brought Blake back to his senses.

He swiftly pulled out another spare level-six mind protection artifact from his pocket—a bone pendant engraved with thorn patterns.

As his spiritual energy surged in, the pendant emitted a pale white halo, instantly forming a second "thorny mental barrier" on his body.

Only after adding this extra layer of protection did Blake dare to observe his surroundings more carefully.

He noticed that not all wizards had succumbed.

There were still about twenty or thirty people like him who remained conscious, and they had obviously all taken high-level protective measures.

However, because they lack the ability to conceal themselves like Blake, they are currently under a frenzied attack from a large number of tentacles.

These lucid wizards have spontaneously gathered together, their magic gleaming as they repel the attacking tentacles and attempt to attack the fleshy walls in search of a way to escape.

"Fortunately, the situation isn't at its worst yet. As long as these main forces can hold their ground, work together to break this 'cage,' and rescue those trapped in the hallucinations..."

Just as Blake's hope began to rise, a sudden change occurred!

It seemed that the wizards' retaliation had enraged the beast, or perhaps it had caused enough pain, because the entire massive cavity suddenly began to vibrate violently, emitting a deep yet extremely penetrating hum.

This buzzing is not just a sound, but more like a roar that directly affects the soul!

Click!

Another incredibly clear sound, originating from the soul's perception, shattered!

Blake's pupils contracted sharply as he incredulously watched the newly formed "thorny heart barrier" shatter like fragile glass, dissipating into nothingness.

The light on the bone pendant dimmed instantly, and the runes on its surface fell silent.

"...This kind of power?!"

A storm raged within Blake's heart.

Another level-six protective magical artifact was crushed so easily?

The mental impact contained in that casual roar of the behemoth definitely reached the level of level seven!

He suddenly looked down again at his left wrist.

The "Heart Barrier Wristband" still radiated a stable, soft glow, faithfully fulfilling its duty.

Although the flowing refined gold within the crystal was being consumed at an alarming rate, it did not run out instantly and continued to resist the omnipresent illusionary erosion.

This stark contrast even caused Blake to doubt himself for a moment: "Am I... falling into some deeper illusion again? Is the sight of this wristband still working an illusion?"

However, reality didn't give him much time to think.

The energy ripples generated when the second protective spell shattered, though weak, still attracted the attention of several nearby tentacles.

Like sharks that have smelled blood, they wriggled and probed toward the approximate location where Blake had been.

Fortunately, the "fading presence" spell's effect still remains.

The tentacles merely scratched aimlessly in the air a few times, failing to pinpoint Blake, before reluctantly retracting and rejoining their "fishing" of other conspicuous targets.

But the other sober wizards were not so lucky.

The behemoth's "Soul Roar" was clearly an indiscriminate area-of-effect attack, instantly throwing the previously orderly wizard formation into chaos!

Many people's protective light shields shattered instantly, their eyes immediately becoming confused yet happy, smiling as they allowed the tentacles to entangle and drag them away.

Even more terrifying was that those wizards who barely withstood the impact and whose defenses were not completely breached also began to attack in a chaotic manner.

Sometimes he would bombard empty spaces with his own, and other times he would ruthlessly attack his comrades!

Blake clearly saw a wizard suddenly let out a terrified scream, as if he had seen something extremely horrifying.

The protective magic surrounding him erupted with a blinding light, and then a deep, bone-revealing laceration appeared out of nowhere on his arm, gushing blood.

It looked as if some invisible monster had attacked him.

Meanwhile, another wizard, laughing wildly, charged toward an open space and slammed his body against an invisible wall.

However, the empty area seemed to have a solid wall. Every time he bumped into it, his bones broke and he spat out blood, but he seemed unaware of it and instead looked excited!

"The line between reality and illusion is blurred... So that's what the intelligence meant by 'the line between reality and illusion is blurred'!" Blake suddenly realized, a chill running down his spine to the top of his head.

The illusions here are not merely psychological deceptions!

If the patient "believes" the illusion, then his body will exhibit corresponding harm in reality based on what he "believes"!

That wave of soul roars not only destroyed the defenses of many people, but also dragged the remaining wizards, who were barely holding on, into a deeper illusion!

Blake forced himself to calm down quickly.

He first used a few common techniques used by soul-based beings to cross-verify the reliability of his own perception, confirming that he was most likely still in a state of true cognition.

Then, his gaze returned to the wristband, and he began to mentally calculate based on the rate at which the adamantium was being consumed.

The result made his heart sink.

"At this rate... the refined gold in the bracers can only last for five days at most!"

Based on the information provided by Jemin and the fact that the two level-six protective magical artifacts were destroyed instantly, Blake can basically conclude that there is a continuous field of hallucinations and mental interference with an intensity equivalent to a high level-six within the body of this behemoth!

And when stimulated, it can instantly unleash a terrifying level seven impact!

The good news is that this behemoth doesn't seem to intend to kill all its prey immediately; rather, it appears to be "keeping" them as food reserves or energy sources.

The bad news is that being trapped here is a certain death sentence, and a solution must be found as soon as possible.

Fortunately, finding the core is precisely the specialty of soul wizards!

Blake suppressed all his presence, pushing his "presence to the extreme."

Like an invisible ghost, he began to trace the vast and complex energy pathways within the giant beast's body in reverse.

Things went surprisingly smoothly, and there wasn't even any fighting along the way. Blake easily found the location of the core by following the energy channels.

Finally, he pried open a hidden barrier that resembled two closed black shells and entered a relatively small cavity.

In the center of the cavity, a strange creature floated.

It is not large, about the height of a person, and its main body is like a semi-transparent purple jellyfish, but it extends dozens of octopus-like tentacles covered with suckers.

It emanates a powerful, distorting mental energy, which is the source of the entire behemoth illusion field!

The purple creature was clearly not expecting anyone to break into its core lair without warning. Its dozens of eyes, which circled its body, seemed stunned, unable to understand why the outer layers of illusionary defenses and mind-altering techniques had completely failed.

But its biological instincts made it react immediately, with dozens of tentacles waving wildly, instantly drawing in and gathering the dense spiritual energy within the cavity!

Upon seeing this, Blake felt a chill and instinctively reached out to activate the backup protective measures again.

However, the earth-shattering spiritual impact he had anticipated did not materialize.

In his vision, the purple creature was merely waving its tentacles in vain, the surrounding energy fluctuating violently, yet no real attack landed on him.

Two eyes met dozens of other eyes, and for a moment both sides were somewhat bewildered as they stared at each other.

Blake immediately realized something was wrong. Without hesitation, his soul power reached out like an invisible hand and easily grasped the soul core of the purple creature, which was only at the fourth level.

For a level four soul wizard, controlling the soul of a creature of this level is as easy as taking candy from a baby.

He skillfully browsed and searched through the creature's soul memories.

A moment later, he let go, his face filled with lingering fear and extreme shock.

From the creature's memories, he learned just how perilous his journey had been!

Unlike his experience, in this creature's memory, these pathways were obscured by layers of illusions, the paths were distorted, and invisible thought processes led people to subconsciously ignore the correct direction.

Those energy network nodes that he "ignored" were each set up with a realistic illusion that could make a level six wizard fall into despair.

The entrances to the cavity passages he passed through were guarded by almost realistic illusions.

Furthermore, countless subtle thought processes can act like subconscious suggestions, causing intruders to unconsciously shift their gaze away from the correct path...

And the purple creature's final gesture of waving its tentacles was not a bluff at all.

Instead, it mobilized all the energy it had gained from the symbiotic behemoth, instantly constructing and releasing a powerful illusion attack approaching the high level of level seven—enough to completely tear apart or permanently trap the mind of any level six wizard who intruded into this place!

But in Blake's eyes, the creature's final act of resistance seemed like a silent performance.

Blake suddenly looked down again at his left wrist.

Sure enough, the liquid refined gold inside the wristband crystal had silently decreased by more than half in those seemingly "nothing happened" few seconds!

The terrifying illusion cast by the purple creature, powerful enough to instantly kill a level six wizard, was completely "consumed" by the bracer the moment it touched Blake!

So much so that Blake himself felt almost nothing unusual except for the consumption of adamantite!

Is this...right?

This isn't right!

Blake screamed wildly in his heart.

He wasn't stupid; he understood completely at that moment.

The reason why he and that purple creature had such a huge cognitive difference, and why he could ignore those deadly traps, was entirely because of the seemingly inconspicuous wristband on his wrist, which shielded him from all the attacks from the illusionary realm!

But... is this really something a level two wizard could create?!

The effect, the performance, the unfathomable protective potential... it completely overturned his understanding of alchemical artifacts!

(Bonus chapter today, one more chapter!)

(End of this chapter)