'It's close.'

After three days of moving at maximum speed and one more day of moving at half of that speed, I could feel that my target was critically close.

​​

Unlike back then when I was moving randomly, tracking through the help of the Darkness elements in the Darkness Space was much more efficient. In fact, even when comparing it to tracking through limited Darkness elements before I achieved complete purification, my efficiency through the last four days was 4 or 5 times higher!

'I should get prepared.'

As the hoop I had around me almost turned into one 'arrow, I separated it from me before starting to finalize my plan.

"Long!"

Calling out to Long who hadn't come out in a while, I started optimizing my 'mental state', which was one of the main requirements for my plan to work.

Naturally, I didn't plan to simply run into that demon and bash his head even though I was confident enough in my current ability to do so, this would be a very poor decision.

After all, I had to at least probe him about why I was discovered and added to their main target list. Otherwise, without some precautions, the same situation could occur once again. Besides, since they planned to extract information from me, it was only fair that I do the same.

Furthermore…

'Killing him quickly doesn't count as payback.'

{Yeah? What do you want?}

Long came out from my ring nonchalantly as he floated in a sleepy pose with both hands behind his head, it seemed like I got the lazy personality Long this time.

"Nothing much, I just want some 'Illusion' to disguise myself with. It would be great if you can make me look as close as possible to the state of a 'Corruption Puppet'."

Since I even took the pain to lower my speed on the last day so that I wouldn't be discovered by the target, I obviously didn't plan to approach him carelessly in my current form.

{Another undercover operation, huh?}

Just like how I disguised myself before entering my first demon base, I planned to do the same this time, although it wouldn't be as elaborate as last time.

Perhaps it would have been easier to do what I did back then considering I now had control over Darkness and Shadow elements. Unfortunately, that wasn't the focus of this undercover operation.

"You could say so, but you have less work to do this time. Apart from maintaining my 'Illusion', manipulating some corrupted Darkness elements would do the job."

As I had already completely purified my Darkness elements, I couldn't do a perfect role-play as a 'Corrupted Puppet' on my own, which was why I had to rely on Long's 'Elemental Manipulation'.

While I could have simply waited till I dealt with the demon before completing the purification to play a more believable role, it was a decision that I would make. After all, I was basically risking being tainted by 'Corruption' at any point. As such, completely clearing the Tower of Refinement was my first priority target ever since I obtained Darkness elements.

{Alright, I got it, just be quick with it. Yaaawn, I really want to go back to sleep.}

"Don't worry, it shouldn't take 'long'."

{That… isn't funny.}

'It was funny for me.'

As Long lazily complained about my pun, I ignored him while laughing inside, though I quickly stopped and returned to optimizing my 'mental state'.

Although I could use 'Illusion' by myself thanks to 'Share', the reason I got Long to take care of that part clearly wasn't because I was lazy to do it, it was just that I had to put most of my focus into displaying the special 'mental state' of a 'Corrupted Puppet'.

Unlike physical appearance which could easily be optimized with 'Illusion', the mental 'appearance' or state wasn't that easy, especially when you had to portray a Corrupted Puppet that was naturally subordinate to any Corruption user.

In reality, the hard part wasn't to portray a certain 'mental state', it was to maintain it without breaking your guise. Thankfully, with how much mental energy I had, I didn't find that to be a problem as long as I wasn't distracted by something else.

"Alright, let's start."

Having more or less reached my goal, I immediately activated 'Dragon Scales' as I suited up into the look that I used in the Dragon Clan's Stronghold. Since I was just role-playing, I didn't plan to show my usual human form in case something went wrong.

'It's not like I can be sure that they know everything about me.'

Even the Dragon Clan leader had a different version of me in his mind, and while the Great Elder seemed to know more than he let out, I doubted the demons knew as much as him. I already had my suspicions that he was the original target of this trap.

'The 'Demon Sovereign' or whatever big demon Boss might be powerful, but they aren't omniscient.'

The only reason they even know something about me was probably because of what I did to the 'shaman squad' which ended up sabotaging their plan in the Nature Domain.

{There you go.}

'This should do it…'

As I made a mirror out of ice, I checked my current appearance before nodding and walking in moderate but steady steps.

While my appearance didn't change that much, I could notice the fine details that mattered. What appeared of my eyes under the 'Dragon Scales' seemed to have lost a bit of their light and my body appeared to move in a slightly more lethargic way. Moreover, my head and chest were slightly lowered than usual.

Thanks to this 'Illusion', I was walking normally while showing the appearance of a 'Corrupted Puppet' without having to maintain through actual movements.

Furthermore, with the 'Elemental Manipulation' of corrupted Darkness elements that Long controlled, I appeared to be tainted by Corruption even to myself.

"Alright, you wait here, Light'

Stopping before a small cave-like opening, I put Light's bag into it. Naturally, I didn't want Light to suffer in case something went wrong with the initial plan.

"Meow."

Although reluctant to let go, Light didn't complain, simply going back into the bag as if he understood the whole situation.

'Soon…'

As the number of my steps continued climbing higher, I could feel the extreme closeness of my target, the show was soon to start.

"Oh, finally here?"