Advent of the Three Calamities

Chapter 221 Fog of the thousand illusions [3]

Bang—!

The ground beneath Julien's feet crumbled, and the surroundings shook. All of a sudden, the creatures before him stopped in their tracks, their backs slowly hunching down in a manner that made it seem like they wanted to prostrate before him.

Their movements stopped, and their hollow eyes fell on him.

"Hieek—!"

They screamed, but their bodies remained glued on the spot. Regardless of what they tried, their bodies refused to move.

Rather, with the passing of time, their bodies started to lower and lower.

.....It wasn't long before they were all prostrating before Julien who stared at the scene silently.

"...."

His cold gaze swept the surroundings.

'What sort of monsters are they...?'

They really looked like humans, but something was unsettling about them that made him unsure.

His eyes fell on their white clothes.

More specifically, the golden insignia and he frowned.

A clue...?

Regardless, his gaze once again swept the surroundings before he brought his hand forward. Over a dozen threads manifested across the surroundings, creating a small fence around the area he was in.

Rustle~

Stepping forward, he moved closer to the creatures who were still glaring at him while hissing.

"They really do look like humans."

Bending down to their level, Julien lifted the chin of one of the creatures to get a better look.

"Akh...! AKh!"

The moment he did, the creature tried to bite him, but Julien was unmoved.

He kept his gaze firm on the creature that slowly started to sink deeper and deeper into the ground.

The more he looked, the more he started to realize something.

"....It's not that they look like humans."

He let go of the chin.

Bang!

The creature's head smacked against the ground at incredible speeds.

"They are humans."

Standing up, Julien's gaze paused on Kaelion.

He was still conscious, and staring at him with widened eyes. Julien's eyes flickered slightly as his gaze paused on Kaelion before he flicked his hand, and he was able to breathe.

"Huaaa...!"

Taking a deep breath, Kaelion's chest heaved up and down repeatedly.

It took several seconds for him to calm down, and when he did, his gaze swept over the creatures.

He appeared to be strangely calm.

"....Did you say they were humans?"

"I did."

Julien replied flatly.

Despite their looks, the creatures were indeed human.

To tell if something was human or not was rather easy. Unlike humans, who had their cores around their abdominal area, monsters had their cores near their heads.

With a simple check, Julien was able to determine that the creatures before him were in fact, humans.

"You're right."

Kaelion muttered while taking his hands away from one of the women in white.

"But..."

His expression changed slightly as he looked at Julien.

"....It's weird."

"What is?"

Kaelion furrowed his brows while looking at the women in white.

"They are abnormally strong, and the moment their hands came into contact with me, it felt as though the mana inside of my body was being drained. I could barely channel any spells."

"Is that why you weren't able to retaliate?"

"Yes."

Julien stood still while staring at one of the women who was slowly sinking deeper into the ground.

Lowering his body again to get a better look, he pressed his hand on one of the women and she stopped sinking. He then flipped her body over.

Her breath was weak, but she was still alive.

"Do you recognize that?"

Not that it mattered to Julien who pointed at the golden insignia on her white shirt. The insignia was that of a large eye, that stood at the top of a triangle, seemingly overlooking everything beneath.

It was the first time he had seen something like that, and thus, he could only ask Kaelion who stared at it with a frown.

"...."

Kaelion stood in silence for a short moment before shaking his head.

"No, it looks familiar to the symbol of one of the seven great churches, but it's slightly different."

"Seven great churches?"

Julien curiously asked.

Although he had read about them before, he hadn't really paid much attention to them. But there indeed were seven main religions in the world.

Each of them seemed to worship a different god.

"Do you not know about the seven great churches?"

"I know a little..."

"...."

Kaelion looked at the golden insignia before pointing at it.

"That looks like the insignia of the Church of the Omniscient Seer. They aren't exactly the same, but there are similarities. Especially the eye. It looks exactly the same."

Julien observed the eye for a brief moment.

He wasn't really familiar with the symbol of the 'Omniscient Seer' so he didn't really know about the familiarities or differences.

Nonetheless, he could tell that there was some sort of link with whatever symbol was before him.

"Some sort of cult?"

"Maybe."

Kaelion tensely answered as he glanced at the symbol.

"....But I'm not sure. It could be something else entirely."

"I see."

Julien nodded and looked around. The moment he did, his expression faltered slightly. As if also noticing something amiss, Kaelion raised his head.

"Ah."

His expression also changed slightly.

"That's a lot..."

"Yes."

Julien nodded while scanning the surroundings.

Their bony hands grasped the trees, dozens of hollow eyes boring into him. Men and women with long black hair and sunken features emerged from the shadows, slowly encircling the area, their silent presence suffocating him with a growing sense of dread.

Such feeling was further amplified by the emotions deep within him as Julien felt his breath grow heavier and heavier.

"Haa... Haa..."

He could tell that fear was slowly starting to crawl up from his mind.

.....He didn't have much time before he'd be completely consumed by it.

It was for that reason that he didn't waste time and pressed his foot forward.

Bang—

The area of effect expanded as his face turned pale.

[Step of Supression]

Such was the name of the innate skill that Julien received after merging with the Dragon bone. The skill granted him the ability to suppress everything within a certain radius of him.

The mana expenditure of the skill was rather large, and he could control the affected people within the area.

It was the first time he had used the skill, and while it certainly was great, the downside of the skill was the fact that it didn't work very well on people who were specialized in the [Body] path.

"Hiekkk—!"

Indeed, as some of the people dressed in white fell to the ground, some were able to remain standing while taking steps to close down the distance.

"....."

Julien stared at them with a frown and swiped his hand in the air.

Pfttt!

Blood spurted in the air as heads rolled.

While they were able to withstand the gravity, their movements were slowed. By using the threads, he was able to make quick work of them.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

The one who was having the easiest time was Kaelion who killed mercilessly.

Wherever his spell went, a person would die.

The two worked silently together, covering each other's back for the next few minutes. There were a lot of people, and none appeared to regard their lives as they rushed to the two.

"Haa... Haa..."

Before they knew it, Julien and Kaelion's breaths grew heavy.

Ten minutes had passed since the attacks started, and there appeared to be no end in sight.

Just how many were there?

The one who was having it the worst was Julien as sweat trickled down the side of his face.

"Hieek..!"

Thump!

Another person fell, and Julien stepped forward, his foot sinking into the blood-stained ground.

He had tried a couple of times to use Emotive Magic, but it appeared to not affect the people in front of him.

As if they had been brainwashed, they had no other thoughts or emotions other than to kidnap them.

.....It was for that reason that he had no choice but to continue fighting the way that he was.

"Ukh...!"

But even that had its limits.

Holding onto his chest, Julien felt his right eye twitch.

There were still several dozen people moving toward him. Even as the gravity forced blood to drip down from their eyes, they continued forward, trying to reach for him.

Swoosh!

A hand almost did reach for him, but he was just able to dodge it in time.

Cold sweat trickled down the side of his face as he watched the sunken arm ahead of him.

'I can't let that touch me.'

For whatever reason, the arms were capable of severing the connection one had with their mana cores.

....It was due to that that they were able to take care of Kaelion who had been caught off-guard.

Since they now knew that, the two of them tried their best to avoid getting touched.

Swoosh, swoosh—

But it was hard.

Their sheer numbers were making it hard for Julien to dodge their movements, and with the numbers increasing, so was his mana expenditure as the effects of [Step of Supression] diluted in order to affect more people.

"Ukh..!"

Xiu! Xiu!

Julien wasn't the only one struggling.

Kaelion was also struggling. His face was pale, and his hair stuck to his face due to the sweat.

"H-how.. haa... many are there...?"

He looked around incredulously.

Julien clenched his teeth and looked around as well.

His expression distorted upon noticing a further group approaching from the distance.

"We have... to go."

Julien didn't think twice about his decision.

Looking back, Kaelion nodded his head in agreement.

"Do I open up a path?"

"No, let me..."

Scratching the side of his head, Julien's gaze locked onto a certain direction and he turned his body.

Taking a deep breath, he bit his lips and pressed his foot down.

Bang—!

The surroundings shook, and all the monsters ahead of him stopped moving.

"Cough...! Cough!"

Coughing violently, Julien's body started to sway slightly.

Looking at him, Kaelion grabbed his arm and dragged him ahead. At the same time, using his other hand, he cast several spells and a shield around them as he rushed forward.

Julien, despite being tired, did his best to keep up.

As the two ran, the heads of the people twisted in an unnatural manner, as they locked onto the two of them.

Then, as the two of them passed them, they reached out with their hands.

Clank! Clank...!

"....!"

Kaelion's expression changed dramatically the moment the hands reached forward as he realized the shield he cast on the two of them didn't work at all.

The hands reached closer to them.

"Ah, shit...!"

They were only a few meters away.

Kaelion held his breath. He could feel them coming for him. Coming for them...

'No, I can't...'

His eyes started to tremble.

He didn't want to die.

Not like this.

He still had things to do.

No, he couldn't...

He...

Kaelion's gaze lowered to stare at Julien. He was barely keeping up, and his face was entirely pale.

If he were to let go, then...

"Ha...!"

Kaelion felt his breath grow heavy.

All sorts of voices started to whisper in his mind.

'But he helped me.'

'Let him go.'

'It's either him or you.'

'Use him as bait.'

They grew louder in his mind, and before he knew it, his lips had gone dry.

"Hiek!!"

The hands grew closer.

They were now almost close to him.

He felt his heart speed up.

Anxiety crawled up the deepest parts of his body.

And,

"Ah...!"

He let go.

He pushed away Julien.

"Sorry, but one of us has to survive!"

In those last moments, he could recall seeing Julien's gaze. His eyes... his cold and unmoved gaze as the hands shifted away from him, and moved towards Julien.

Kaelion felt his entire body chill.

It was a familiar feeling.

But he couldn't care less.

'Right, he's not coming back. There's no point...'

He turned around and didn't look back.

"Haa... Haaa..."

With heavy breath and a surge of adrenaline, he rushed away from the group.

He ran.

Ran towards his freedom.

Or at least, that was what he thought.

Thump!

Ubeknowst to him, he felt his lower half become light and he fell forward.

"Haa...! W-what?!"

At the same time, he felt a stinging pain in the lower half of his body. Grasping the ground, he tried to stand up but found himself unable to.

"W-what..?! J—!"

His expression froze the moment he turned around and looked at his legs.

"Ah!"

To his horror, he realized...

"M-my legs!"

His legs...

They were gone.