Allen broke the silence in a casual voice. “The monster will probably attack as soon as it realizes its illusion has been compromised,” he began.

The others glanced at him but didn’t appear entirely convinced. It seemed like Camila wanted to attack the door and Christopher was still searching their surroundings with Mana Sense. Both efforts were pointless since the door was just a door and magical senses couldn’t be trusted when a suggestive illusion was already in effect. Intuition and perception were the only tools that weren’t affected by the spell.

“So, with that in mind,” Allen continued, “The shadows are hallucinations and the monster is probably just standing right in front of the door.” He was sure of the shadows, but the monster being right in front of them was more of a guess based on what Christopher said he was seeing before.

Ty, Christopher, and Amelia tensed up at his words. They instinctively glanced around the cave for anything out of the ordinary, but only found rocks and cave formations.

However, Christopher eventually did catch on. “He’s right,” the professor began, “The shadows are too dense and contrasting.”

Once the inconsistencies in the shadows became clear, it only took a few moments of focused and intentional scrutiny on everyone’s part to unravel the spell. Breaking just a single part of a suggestive illusion would have a cascading effect that would cause the whole spell to collapse.

Evidently, exactly that happened because whatever creature had been using the illusion completely discarded it just a moment later. The cavern brightened up noticeably as the actual effect of Christopher’s arcane light was revealed. Then the shadows that had covered the room swirled together into a cloud that coalesced in the middle of the open space in front of the iron door.

A sound halfway between the screeches of the ghouls and a howl of despair followed, then the monster revealed itself as the darkness fell away in wisps. It had the same disfigured body wrapped in pale, dry skin that the ghouls had, only it was nearly three meters tall, wiry, and thin. Its eyes were pitch black and sunken into their sockets above two slits for a nose, giving its face a skull-like appearance. Its long arms hung limply at its sides and came close enough for its knife-like claws to scratch against the stone floor.

With another hiss, its jaw separated at the middle of its chin and its mouth split apart sideways, showing rows of finger-length teeth going down the entire length of its neck.

It shrieked again, readying itself to lung at the group.

“Well what do you know, I was right.” Allen congratulated himself as he pulled up the monster’s nametag and prepared to doge behind Ty.

Name: Gloom Caster

Lesser Undead – Monster – Level 41

“That’s barely a challenge,” he mused. “I wonder if it has any more illusions…”

The Gloom Caster darted towards the group, claws raised and vicious mouth agape. It was faster than the ghouls, but not disproportionately so. Allen was able to dive behind Ty just before the Caster slashed at the Shield Bearer.

“Stay behind me!” Ty shouted.

Allen quickly circled around to the outside of the group to get a better angle.

Ty was forced back a few steps by the monster as it bore down on him. Its claws scratched deeply into his shield. The sound of bone on metal blended into a painful cacophony with the monster’s own wails.

It was loud enough that Camila’s roar was drowned out as she darted around Ty with her greatsword raised for a thrust. Her War Cry skill still had the same effect on the monster, drawing its attention to her.

It shrieked and swung a gangly arm down at her. Camila caught the claws with her greatsword in an overhead block. Ty charged forward and slammed into the Caster. It stumbled back with him, flailing its long arms with an enraged hiss. The hiss turned to a full screech as the monster closed its arms around Ty’s back. Its knife-like claws ripped at his armor but couldn’t get through.

Allen dashed out from his spot at the edge of the group as he noticed the opening. Christopher’s magical light suddenly flared to ten times its former brightness. The magic lit the inside of the cave no less than the outside during the day.

The monster hissed in anger and covered its face, allowing Ty to back off. Allen kept his eyes to the ground as he approached, only looking up at his target when the light died down again. What he saw was the Caster standing over him. Its neck was folded over backwards at a grotesque angle, allowing it to glare back at him with its head upside down.

“Hey, that’s pretty cool,” Allen thought.

It shrieked again. Both Its arms popped at the shoulders and came down at the Assassin. He barely managed to dodge the first swing but the second was wreathed in a distortion effect. It was almost as if his eyes were crossed, except only the clawed arm was affected.

“Afterimages too?”

Allen dodged to the side, but the afterimages diverged further, and he was unable to avoid the attack. He lifted his knee to his elbow to block the swing with his armor. The claws harmlessly bit into the vambrace on his forearm but still managed to cut apart his shoulder.

Allen tumbled into a stalagmite after being flung a few meters through the cave. On instinct, he ducked under a follow-up strike, narrowly avoiding the Caster’s claws as they scored through the rock behind him.

The next swing never came. Camila deflected the monster’s arm with her greatsword. Her blade bit into its lanky arm but didn’t get past the bone. The monster screeched at her and Camila screamed back, pressing her attack. She lunged at the monster slashing at it with her sword but making sure to stay out of its range.

Allen rapidly glanced over the situation. Ty was standing between Christopher and the monster, which would be occupied by Camila for a few seconds at least. Amelia was missing from her spot next to Christopher though.

Frantic, Allen looked around for the healer. “Amelia!” he called out.

“I’m here,” she said from Allen’s side, reaching out to touch his injured shoulder.

Allen nodded and looked down at himself. He could clearly see the black ooze forming in his sliced-up shoulder. He clamped his jaw shut and held out his arm for the Healer.

Camila roared and ducked behind Ty. The monster shrieked as it tried in vain to cut through the Defender to get at her. Every second she dashed around her teammate and slashed at the Caster’s legs.

Furious at the Berserker that kept jumping out of its grasp, the Gloom Caster screeched again. Only that time the screech was accompanied by an agonizing high-pitched ringing.

“More mind magic,” Allen thought. He winced as the sound tore into his ears, but he didn’t bother covering them like Amelia or Ty since the sound wasn’t real in the first place.

“Another illusion! Focus on a real sound!” Allen shouted over the screams of the Caster. Then he groaned in exhaustion as Amelia finished cutting out the last bit of corrupted flesh from his shoulder. The pain died down immediately after, replaced by a warm feeling.

Camila roared back at the Gloom Caster, seemingly unaffected by its mind attack. She rushed at it again, sword ready for a wild horizontal slash. The monster met her with a glare and a hiss, then a shadow exploded outward from its form. Camila and the monster itself were both soon enveloped by the spell and hidden from view.

Ty reacted instantly, charging into the shadows to help the Berserker. A moment later, the shadow was shoved backwards as Ty likely barreled into the monster. It was impossible for Allen to see anything through the cloud.

Still he noticed how the shadows whirled around unnaturally, even for shadow magic. “It’s the same spell as before,” he thought, “Dark aspect illusions.”

Camila was flung out of the mass of shadows a second later. She hit a rock formation hard before falling to a knee and coughing up blood. She was covered in scratches and cuts of varying severity, some corrupted and others not.

“That’s all I can do for now! I have to get to Camila!” Amelia shouted before turning away and slipping out of sight.

Allen stood up and rolled his shoulder, squinting as the soreness sunk in.

The Gloom Caster’s shadow surged outward and raced toward Camila. An explosion of light appeared in front of the shrouded monster, stopping it suddenly. The Caster hissed and its illusion faltered.

Both Ty and the monster were revealed for just a moment and Ty took the opportunity to charge at it with his shield again. The monster had already shifted targets though. It twisted around Ty and lunged at Christopher, leaving its shadow behind.

Another burst of light stalled it for a moment, but that moment was all Allen needed to close the distance. He dove at the Caster with his knife aimed at its upper back, wreathing it in miasma so that Strike would channel through it. Killer Instinct informed him that the attack would be devastating enough even without the full effect of Assassinate. As a result, he didn’t bother to aim higher for its neck, which was a much smaller target.

Dead Calm was also active, helping him keep his focus as he flew towards the monster. He felt his instincts take over and guide the knife into the Caster’s back. He slammed into it a moment later. Strike fully discharged, blowing the monster’s chest apart in an instant.

They both crashed into a stalagmite. The monster howled with rage, but its body was too mangled to do much more than thrash around on the ground.

Allen rolled back and jumped to his feet just in time to see the monster push itself up. It shrieked again, then its body surged upwards, leaving an afterimage behind.

“Fuck,” Allen cursed, barely managing to bring his knife to bear.

It was unnecessary though. The Caster’s illusion was smashed against the rocks by a massive morning star and the body coming at Allen vanished in the same instant. Black blood spread across the floor as Camila tore her weapon out from all the rock and gore.

Allen let out a breath when it became clear that the monster was dead. Then he chuckled to himself. “Image Reversal… or the monster equivalent,” he thought. “I definitely wasn’t expecting that from something below level fifty.” He looked around and grinned at the others as the messages finally came through.

Your group has defeated 30x Shade Ghoul – Level 21 - 27

Your contribution: 94% Damage

For fighting 31 enemies in a team of 5, you receive a 6% XP bonus!

Awarded: 1,838 XP

Your group has defeated Gloom Caster – Level 41

Your contribution: 77% Damage

For fighting 31 enemies in a team of 5, you receive a 6% XP bonus!

For defeating a Dungeon Floor Boss, you receive a 100% XP bonus!

Awarded: 1264 XP

Congratulations, you are now level 16.

Requirements met: 4169 XP

Awarded: 5 Stat points – 1 Skill point.