"Where is everyone?"
When Roy came to his senses, Renien and the others had inexplicably vanished.
Looking ahead, he noticed that Sophia and Celine had also disappeared like smoke.
In just a moment, they were gone without a trace.
A chill ran down Roy's spine, and he felt goosebumps rise, as if he had encountered a ghost in broad daylight.
"Where are you?"
He tried to call out softly, but received no response.
The silent and desolate garden carried an eerie atmosphere; he hadn't felt anything unusual when the others were present, but being alone made it suddenly seem terrifying.
Gradually, he felt himself surrounded by a coldness akin to a sinister chill, and the goosebumps on his skin multiplied.
"Calm down, I must stay calm! Ordinary people can't just disappear without a reason.
Moreover, even Sophia is missing; it shouldn't be due to some monster attack.
It could be a mental illusion!"
Roy forced himself to calm down, pondering in his mind.
The Serpent Fruit was a special product with hallucinogenic effects; normally, one had to consume it to induce hallucinations.
However, there were special methods, such as brewing it into wine or mixing it with alcohol, which could extract its essence and release its scent.
In the past, when there were living formal wizards in the tower, they liked to use such things to brew fine wine.
But now, after the accident with the Forbidden Experiment in the Small World, the radiation of Wizardry Energy had contaminated the outside.
The ley lines here might have been affected, creating a widespread hallucinatory realm.
What he was experiencing could very well be such a situation.
Hee hee hee hee...
At that moment, Roy suddenly heard an inexplicable laughter near his ear.
The sound seemed like someone was playing around, getting closer and closer.
Gradually, he even caught a whiff of a strange, sweet, and rotten scent.
It was reminiscent of fermented wine, tinged with the smell of rotting apples.
Roy couldn't help but feel dizzy, his mind growing hazy.
It was a peculiar sensation, like being half-asleep; he was aware that something was wrong but felt utterly powerless to resist.
He noticed that the ground beneath his feet felt soft and sticky. Looking down, he was horrified to find that he had unknowingly stepped into a quagmire.
What he was standing on was a mass of blood and flesh, a nauseating crimson mixed with blood and gore, accompanied by a strong metallic scent.
Not far away, several grotesque human-headed serpents appeared, slithering closer.
Their bodies were an eerie red, seemingly made of the same blood and flesh mixture, sprawled on the ground, with only their heads retaining a human appearance.
These serpents had hollow, vacant eyes, seemingly staring at him, yet lacking any focus.
"Oh no, I'm surrounded by monsters!"
Roy instinctively stepped back.
But the human-headed serpents closed in, five of them, completely blocking his escape route.
Seeing this, Roy decisively activated the mechanism on his arm armor.
A jet pipe extended, and a high-pressure tank was triggered, spraying acid.
Ah! A wretched scream pierced through his mind, like a banshee's wail stabbing into his brain.
The serpents in front of him began to writhe in agony and dissolve rapidly upon contact with the acid.
Roy didn't have time to think; he seized the opportunity to break free from the encirclement and ran several kilometers away in one breath.
Only when the mist began to dissipate did he stop, still shaken and panting heavily.
"Wait, what were those just now? We didn't learn about that in the general studies class; they seemed like unknown entities born from a mental illusion, likely distorted spiritual beings..."
It was only then that he suddenly realized he had truly fallen into a hypnotic illusion.
"I had clearly planned to stay put and respond to changes with constancy, but I never expected I couldn't maintain my clarity!"
There was no time for regret or remorse; the remaining clarity in Roy's mind told him that he had not escaped this illusion.
He was still trapped within it, still in danger! As the scent of fermented apples wafted closer, his consciousness began to blur again...
The fresh and natural scent of Puwu Water Fragrance suddenly appeared!
That special calming effect bestowed a mysterious magic, clearing his mind and gradually sharpening his vision.
Roy suddenly realized that the perfume he had concocted actually had a waking effect!
He had been relying on this perfume to make money recently, so he had naturally made a lot of it.
Even when going out, he carried some with him and had sprayed a bit on himself.
He never expected it to actually work.
"Could it be that my lingering clarity was also due to its effects?"
Roy quickly pulled out the perfume, sprayed it on his hands, and covered his mouth and nose to fend off the rotten apple smell.
Indeed, the feeling of lethargy melted away like thin snow meeting the blazing sun.
He finally saw the truth around him.
His three companions were sprawled around him, lying in disarray.
Among them, Niya was covered in blood, having been injured by Renien.
Andov had been sprayed with corrosive liquid, unconscious and struggling in pain, with large patches of his face and neck rotting away.
Roy approached with a hint of surprise, checking Andov's facial condition.
It was clearly the result of his own mechanism's attack.
This originally ordinary-looking young man, with a few freckles on his face, had completely turned into a pockmarked mess.
Even one of his eyes was blinded, the left one rotting like a bad lychee.
"Not a good start, injuring my teammates..."
His mind was in chaos.
The acid in the arm armor was originally prepared to deal with enemies; he never expected it would first be used on his teammates.
"Forget it, I can't think about that now; I need to get them out first! Staying here is dangerous; if we linger too long, we might die in our sleep from intoxication!"
He quickly gathered his spirits, moved everyone to the entrance of the orchard, and began to bandage and treat their injuries.
...
He didn't know how long had passed when Sophia returned, looking somewhat surprised.
"How did you get out?"
"Senior, we just fell into an illusion," Roy explained what had happened earlier.
After hearing this, Sophia pondered, "Just the scent of those contaminated Serpent Fruits, rotting and fermenting, was enough to create such a large-scale mental illusion.
It is no longer a zero-level resource point; it has become a first-level resource point at the wizard level.
The Serpent Fruits produced here may also have some special mutations."
It was at this moment that Roy noticed Sophia was holding a bag of fruits in her left hand and carrying the unconscious Celine in her right, as if she were carrying a chick.
With great interest, she asked, "How did you resist this illusion? I underestimated this place before; otherwise, I wouldn't have let you all enter the orchard."
"I used the Mind-Calming Calamus Water Perfume I made; it seems to have some effect!"
Roy boasted a bit, having brought a bottle with him when he came out, and immediately showed it to her.
Sophia carefully sniffed it, then without hesitation, tucked the bottle into her pocket.
(End of Chapter)