How’d that thing sneak up on me?! Why didn’t I notice it sooner through [Sense Magic]?! Not only that, but the moment it appeared, I had a feeling. I felt… a presence. Like something is standing next to me, but it’s not [Sense Magic] that’s giving a sense of affirmation to that vague feeling… more accurately, it seems the feeling is coming from my Bond.

Bond resonance!

This might be a serious problem. Our Bond resonance can lead it directly to my real body, even over the long distance between us! Is it a coincidence that it attacked my clones? Could it sense my Bond through the clones? Does it recognize that my clones are a Bond skill?

Whatever the case is, I need to be careful. The stronger my Bond becomes, the more likely I will attract unwanted attention. This is just another reason I need to become stronger. I can suppress my Bond presence, but I don’t think I can do that and train my Bond at the same time right now. Also, assuming this situation isn’t a coincidence, it’s possible my clones may still resonate with other beauty Bonds, and I don’t know how that works.

The huge butterfly-like monster elegantly shifts its wings toward one of my clones to show two eye-like patterns, from which beams of beauty mana shoot out, instantly destroying the clone and melting the ground into a glowing puddle.

I retaliate with my liquid state fairies, conjuring dozens at a time which swarm around the butterfly monster, each stabbing into it to deliver their explosive attacks. However, the monster suddenly dissipates like it never existed, and from behind my clones, two beams shoot out, sweeping through four more.

It’s using illusions! I realize what’s going on, but I have no idea how it is doing so! Is its mana signature, vitality, and even soul part of the illusion?

I summon more clones to replenish my lost ones, but suddenly, the earth below my clones explodes, and lava erupts, burning the earth and even my clones.

Kadona and the group retreats from the destruction that is raining down around my clones, and I manage to sneak an invisible clone alongside them. I teleport them with [Immaculate Translocation] further away into a safe, grass-covered building before revealing the clone among them.

Meanwhile, a storm gathers, and lightning strikes my clones, disrupting their forms. Beams shoot out from random directions from an invisible source, and wind blades sweep through the area like tornadoes.

“There’s no way we can fight that thing,” Kadona says, rather calmly, given the situation.

I can definitely fight it off, it’s just under two thousand levels and doesn’t have a third class, but I’ll need to fight it with [Manipulate Magic]. However, it’s also using very advanced illusions, and I want to learn what it is doing.

“Where’d it even come from?” Irela complains with frustration in her tone.

“We need to return to the village; this could be another treant situation on our hands,” Jowaru says, sneaking over to a gap in the wall to watch over the fight between my clones and the invisible foe.

“I don’t think it has the same motivation,” I say. “It might only be here because of me since we both have the same bond. It’s possible it sees me as an intruder in its domain.”

“Why you and not us? We’ve been here for a few days now, and it only comes when you arrive? That doesn’t sound right,” Irela says.

“Bond resonance. It’s when your Bond presence feels another, but this only works if you have the same Bond.” I answer, Directing my fairies to retaliate by attacking random areas in hopes of hitting the butterfly monster.

“That explains a lot.” Jowaru says, looking at Irela before turning back to me. “So that means your real body is here?”

“No, but I am thinking it can feel my clones since they are like a bundle of my Bond.”

If that is the case, then it should also feel my fairies and other Bond skills. I will have to test this out. However, what’s strange is that Bond resonation is only happening now; why not sooner? I can feel its Bond, but maybe it can’t feel mine?

Not wanting to speculate, I focus back on the discussion and fight.

“You should teleport back to the village and tell Esofy, it isn’t interested in you guys now, but that may change.”

With a nod, they huddle together before vanishing, using their dungeon waystone key to go back to the village.

They’re going to need an Entylamo class ship for cases like this.

I can make another Entylamo with a day’s effort now, and with [Manipulate Magic] I can make it gather and transform mana easily, but it probably won’t become a magic item. Hmm, I can upgrade magic items with a ritual, but can I make a magic item with a ritual? It may not be worth the risk. Magic items have their own magic framework, but what will happen if I try to force that without a pre-existing magic framework?

It’s worth investigating, but I shouldn’t risk it on anything important until I know better. However, before I can work on anything like that, I need to kill this monster.

So how can I defeat its illusions? They seem magical in nature since I can’t sense any mana; however, I also can’t see any trace of magic, so it might be pure Bond. But if that’s the case, then how is a level two thousand Bond capable of doing that? It’s on the same stage as me, just further along, so it should still be working on fusing its anima with its Bond. using pure divinity like the dragons seem to do sounds like something that should be far more advanced for this stage of Bond growth.

There’s something that I don’t understand, a piece of the puzzle I am missing. Whatever it is doing is not magic; I highly doubt it can hide that, but what if it’s cloaking its spell mana? But how would it do that?

Whatever the case, there are two ways to test this: I can try to ‘grab’ the mana the illusion is made of with [Manipulate Magic], or I can amp up my perceptive pressure.

I crank my perceptive pressure to the maximum I can muster, and like breaking through the surface tension of water, I see past the illusion. The fake mana and soul I saw fades, revealing the real beauty essence.

Everything, from the storm to the erupting lava, is an illusion, although one that can damage things as the illusion would suggest, as evident by the surroundings.

There’s no way this monster knows I can see mana and souls, so unless it accounted for literally every type of sense, there is something more going on.

The butterfly monster flinches from my perceptive pressure, looking around with fear.

I wonder…

I use my [Fear Gaze] for the first time, keeping my pressure up alongside it. The monster flinches back again, looking around with more paranoid fervor as several tings ring off in my mind.

Ting! Fear Gaze has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 10!

1st breakthrough: You’ve instilled paranoia in those under your gaze; this will help you confuse and terrify your enemies.

In addition to several levels, I suddenly gain a new idea; if this creature wants to play with illusions, then two can play that game.

With [Figment of Reality], I conjure wispy and dark figures at where the monster’s peripheral vision should be, all while keeping up my heavy pressure and gaze. I intentionally keep the shapes vague and out of direct sight as the monster whirls around to try and get a full look at the shadowy figures, but they blink out before it can get a clear sight of them.

The imagination can conjure a monster infinitely more terrifying than anything I can show it.

Ting! Fear Gaze has met the requirements for a breakthrough and will continue leveling past level 20!

2nd Breakthrough: You’ve instilled panic in those under your gaze; this will help you scare your enemies into fleeing.

As if to prove me right, several more chimes signal the growth of my gaze skill.

The Prismatic Butterfly vanishes as it teleports to get away, leaving behind a sudden stillness. However, this sudden peace only lasts a dozen sweet seconds as the monster reappears in a flash, a whirlwind of flames and lightning incinerating everything within a hundred meters, and even melting the stone structures and vaporizing the tall grass!

How can it do that with an illusion?! Can it even be considered an illusion at this point?!

The butterfly buzzes with unbridled rage and annihilates everything it sees with beams and fire, a stark contrast to its previous cautious and perhaps curious attacks.

All the clones in the area, save for the one that followed Kadona and the others, are immediately destroyed by the monster’s explosive return, but before I can conjure more, the butterfly suddenly appears next to it, quickly destroying it with the raging inferno.

It must have realized I used a fear attack on it and is understandably furious. I doubt many enjoy mind-affecting abilities being used on them.

However, what happens next has me scared, as the monster disappears from my perceptive field, and I feel the Bond resonation grow stronger. I instantly snap my perceptive field to its maximum area, lowering my pressure not to scare everybody in the village, and see the butterfly monster teleporting in quick succession directly toward me!

I immediately suppress my Bond presence and use the Dungeon Waystone Key to teleport to a different location while informing Kayafe of the situation with my clone near her.

“Relax, you moved yourself to a different location just like you planned, so you have time to think things through.” Kayafe says, noticing a hint of fear in my voice. “The vast majority of people would have to fight it face to face. You can obviously utilize distance in this case, but you may not always have that luxury. To survive in future encounters where you might not have this option, there are measures you can take. Resistance skills, armor, and healing aren’t the only methods; there are also defensive spells you can cast.”

Kayafe showcases several spells, from physical barriers to energy-draining fields that sap the intensity of spells. “You may have very high skill levels, but you are far from battle experienced. You will have to practice close-range combat in the eventuality that something may sneak by or lull you into a false sense of security. You don’t need to fear close-range battle as much as you think you do with your level of [Manipulate Magic]. You can pretty much suppress your enemy’s ability to use spells, and even if they are strong enough that they can still conjure spells, it will be vastly weakened.”

Kayafe does have a good point that I am not immune to surprise attacks. I can’t read the minds of others, and someone may come to me with a false offer intending to assassinate me at some point down the road, so I really should practice ‘normal’ combat. However, I’m not going to get an introduction to first-hand combat with a foe higher level than me; perhaps I should ask Esofy for some lessons before moving on to monster combat.

“I can work on my combative prowess later, when there isn’t an angry monster out to kill me, but thank you for your advice.”

This encounter has been a wake-up call, that there will always be something out there that can pull the rug out from under me no matter what I do. It happened with that perception-poisoning spider, it happened with the Mind Eater and Mind Slime, and it’s happening again now. The only thing I can do to help in situations like this is to practice, prepare, and get strong enough to survive.

The Prismatic Butterfly finally reaches my old location, and upon seeing my clones, a flash of light erupts from the monster, which instantly kills my clones, leaving the infuriated monster alone. However, the mana stills around it, and its torrent of flame and lightning all but vanishes as if smothered. Let's see what I can learn from it, how its illusions work, and how it implements its Bond.