Chapter 500: 498 Broken (Part 2)_1
A familiar voice suddenly rang out.
Colin opened his eyes, only to find that he was no longer in the warehouse he had been in, but in a boundless wilderness instead.
No sign of Anna or the red-robed Mage could be seen, leaving him alone and isolated.
The voice rang out once more.
Colin recognized that it was Vera’s voice, but he also clearly understood it was just a hallucination.
However, although he knew it was an illusion, the sound of this pure yet subtly flirtatious voice still stirred up the desires deep inside him, causing a blush and a wave of heat to wash over him.
He strained to determine the source of the sound, but the voice seemed to be coming from all directions, making it impossible to locate.
Whoosh——
Colin spread his wings and soared into the sky.
However, after flying for quite some time, the scenery he saw didn’t change at all.
A wilderness without end, devoid of people, buildings, or animals; there was only the unreachable horizon.
The sound, strikingly similar to Vera’s voice, rang out once more.
“I am here, hurry up and come to me!”
This time Colin found the source of the sound; it was right beneath him.
Looking down, he could indeed see that Vera was standing there.
She was wearing a red velvet dress, her waist-length golden hair still carried a hint of dampness as if she had just taken a bath, and her pale skin was tinged with an enticing blush, which tempted one to gently nip at it.
Thump!
Colin returned to the ground. He saw Vera sweetly smile, lift her skirt, and then run towards him.
And with every step she took, verdant grass and pristine flowers burst forth beneath her feet. When she finally embraced Colin, the desolate wilderness had become a lush grassland.
You could even see a few butterflies fluttering and dancing in the grass, and hear the faint chirping of birds.
The feel and scent of the girl in his arms were both incredibly pleasant and familiar, enough to render anyone intoxicated.
Colin wrapped an arm around Vera’s waist while gently stroking her hair with the other.
But the very next second, he tightened his grip.
Crack!
He twisted off the girl’s head in his arms.
Whoo——
The wind suddenly picked up, as if the girl’s restless spirit was crying.
Vera’s voice rang out again unexpectedly.
Only this time, the voice didn’t come from his arms, but from behind him.
Slowly turning his head, Colin saw another Vera standing there in stillness.
Her face full of resentment and confusion, she asked, “Don’t you love me anymore?”
Upon saying that, two streams of tears slowly trickled down Vera’s fair cheeks.
Colin gave a slight smile, saying:
“But I don’t know which you I should love.”
“Of course, it’s this me!” said the second Vera crisply.
Colin pointed at the body in his arms, asking, “Then who is this?”
“That’s not me, look closer!”
Colin lowered his head, and to his surprise, he discovered that the decapitated corpse in his arms had transformed into Queen Isa.
Colin chuckled intriguingly to himself, muttering, “Now that’s interesting.”
After finishing his sentence, he casually tossed aside Queen Isa’s corpse, then opened his arms wide, preparing to embrace Vera.
Vera rewarded him with a bright smile, again lifted her skirts, and ran towards Colin.
But just as she was about to throw herself into Colin’s embrace, Colin abruptly drew his arms together.
Splat!
Vera’s head was exploded by Colin’s bare hands.
Blood and shreds of flesh splattered onto him, but he didn’t evade them.
He just stood still, silently experiencing this surreal moment.
The third Vera appeared on the grass, waving her tender arms, smiling at Colin, “Come play with me!”
“Sure.” Colin flapped his wings and lunged towards her.
This time, he actively embraced the girl.
Vera giggled continuously, seeming to thoroughly enjoy her lover’s embrace.
Yet, in the very next second, Colin opened his mouth wide and bit down on Vera’s slender and fair neck.
“Gulping… gulping…”
Unexpectedly, Colin found himself actually able to drink this “Vera’s” blood.
With Colin’s constant sucking, everything around him started to change dramatically.
The azure sky suddenly turned blood red, the verdant grassland became barren again, butterflies and birds all disappeared, and this world slowly returned to its initial dead silence.
Woosh-
Rain suddenly began to fall from the sky.
Colin lifted his head from Vera’s body in his arms, only to realize the raindrops falling from the sky were actually droplets of blood.
The overwhelming smell of blood filled the air, nearly suffocating him.
Hiss-
Colin looked down sharply, only to see that the Vera in his arms had turned into a large red serpent, its mouth wide open, ready to bite him.
Bang!
Colin smashed the serpent’s head with a single punch.
The snake’s corpse slowly fell to the ground, turning into a pool of blood, dissolving into the earth.
Yet in the next moment, the rain of blood falling from the sky somehow formed an enormous serpent’s head, snapping down at Colin.
Bang!
Colin smashed the snake head yet again.
But the next moment, another serpent’s head emerged in the air.
It seemed never-ending, impossible to annihilate completely.
Colin furrowed his brows, realizing that this approach probably wouldn’t help him escape from the Illusion Realm.
He had to change his strategy.
He remembered a conversation with Vera about the secrets of illusion magic. Vera had told him that in illusion magic, nothing was real except oneself, the patient.
Therefore, the only way to escape from the Illusion Realm was to find his one true self.
His true self?
So, when the crimson serpent’s head attacked again, Colin stood still, offering no resistance.
Splat!
The giant serpent bit Colin in half at the waist, blood gushing out like a fountain.
However, Colin felt nothing at all, as if that body wasn’t even his.
Time seemed to stand still.
Everything around him was slowing down, like a slow-motion scene from a movie.
The darkness emerging from the depths of his soul completely engulfed Colin’s consciousness.
…
In a daze, Colin felt as if he were standing above a massive bloody lake.
The lake’s surface mirrored the surroundings.
Looking down, he saw his reflection standing under his feet.
An identical reflection.
The bloody lake water was slowly ruffling under Colin’s feet, seemingly bridging the distance between him and his reflection.
Suddenly, Colin had an epiphany.
“You are me!”
He said to his reflection under his feet.
“This is who I am!”
“I am, Colin Angler!”
…
For a moment, countless streaks of light exploded.
Everything began warping, softening, and dissipating under the searing heat…
Time sped up in an instant and the world returned to normal.
When he opened his eyes, Colin found himself back inside the warehouse in White Dew City.
The massive Magic Array on the ground was still radiating a green light. In the center of the array, Anna was standing blankly, her sword not piercing the red-robed mage but a bloody scarecrow!
Seeing Colin break free from the illusion, disbelief etched across the face of the red-robed mage standing next to the scarecrow.
“You… how did you…?”
A sardonic grin spread across Colin’s face.
His wings flapping, he transformed into a bloody Sharp Arrow and in an instant he was before the red-robed mage.
“Wait…”
Crack!
Colin didn’t heed the red-robed mage’s pleas for mercy and promptly twisted off his head.