Assimilate All Talents

"Of course not! Now help me convince the others to put them on."

With her help, they managed to get everyone in the room to wear the protective gear, and they soon understood the situation.

"It wasn’t a bikini…" Nataly, who had fiercely resisted until the end out of sheer embarrassment, was now even more mortified for not trusting him sooner.

Duncan, still in shock, was more concerned with the fact that they had all been under a massive illusion the entire time. "So, the reason everything looked so well kept was because of the hallucinations... Luckily, there were no accidents while we were exploring the ruins. A building could have collapsed on someone without them even knowing, or worse."

One of the soldiers mentioned something they’d noticed. "Actually... I remember a few instances where people were suddenly wounded or had bruises, and we just thought they didn’t notice a sharp corner or bumped into something."

A scholar was taken aback by the comment. "How did you even think it was an accident? No one here is weak enough to get hurt like that. Even I have enough points in vitality that I’d need to slam my body into a wall on purpose to get a bruise."

The scholar had a point. It was extremely odd that anyone would chalk it up as an accident.

"Then there must have always been a light distortion of cognition. Not enough to cause drastic influence, but just enough to make us oblivious and not investigate further." Sol theorized. "Regardless, now that you all know what we’ve been seeing is a lie, we need to act fast before anyone else dies."

"In accidents?" Lapis asked.

"No, from the being that’s causing the hallucinations."

Sol gave a quick rundown of what he’d learned and explained the plan to take everyone to the castle and hold off while Torben contacted Orna for help.

Duncan nodded, agreeing with most of the plan. "We need to first get everyone equipped with the headbands and masks. It might be hard to simply convince them, but we can simply put it on them before they realize what we’re doing. Those with speed and stealth talents would also be useful for this so we should get them geared and briefed first so they could equip the others quickly."

Sol agreed. From first hand experience, convincing people to willingly wear the gear was difficult. Only reason it went somewhat well was because he was their leader and they trusted him. But if they could wrap the headbands around their heads before they noticed, it would save a lot of trouble.

Duncan continued, "But there may be a way to contact Orna faster."

"How?"

He pulled out a communication gem and said, "We can contact the outside and ask the orcs to send someone to talk to him."

Sol considered it. He didn’t know if that method would be faster than whatever Torben was planning. He did know that, unless the orcs sent an A-Ranker specializing in speed or space magic, it would take at least 30 minutes for them to arrive, given the vastness of the Orna Mountains.

But regardless of whether Torben’s plan took five minutes or an hour, it was safer not to put all their eggs in one basket, so he gave the go ahead.

"Do it. In the meantime, the rest of you get everyone here to wear the gear and prepare to evacuate to the castle. Also, you three, take one of these." Sol handed each of them a PAL.

He gave a quick explanation on how to use the devices and said, "While you do that, I’ll head over to Rex and Aron. Are they still at the museum?"

Duncan nodded. "Yes, I checked in with them about five minutes ago. But Aron and Lazuli swapped teams, so she went with them instead."

Sol was curious why they’d changed teams but had more pressing matters. "Alright, that’s fine. I’ll go ahead and get them to wear the protective gear."

Without further delay, Sol left the tent and swiftly made his way out of the base camp. On the way, he saw Aron sitting on the cold, hard ground eating something. Deciding he might as well give him the headband, mask, and PAL, Sol approached him to quickly place the headband on his head.

He originally planned to be swift, but when he got close and saw what Aron was doing, he paused in shock. Aron noticed him.

"You’re back, Cap! Someone’s been passing around these candies they found. They’re really good! They just melt in your mouth! I can’t stop eating them!"

Sol, now able to see what Aron was actually eating, was stunned. They weren’t candies but a bunch of rocks. Despite the awful crunching sounds, Aron continued eating them with a blissfully happy expression. It was needless to say very unnerving to watch.

’The hallucinations are getting stronger…’

Clearly, the creature behind the hallucinations was slowly recovering, increasing its potency. If they didn’t hurry, the equipment might soon be unable to block its effects.

"What’s that?" Sol said, pointing into the distance.

"What’s what?"

The moment Aron turned to look at the ruined building in the distance, Sol quickly wrapped the headband around his head. Before Aron could register what had happened, the headband activated, freeing him from the hallucinations.

"Huh? The building just changed… Wait, why am I holding rocks? Where’s the candy?"

"I know you’re confused, but put these on as well and go to Duncan. He’ll fill you in." Sol handed him a mask and PAL.

"Okay... At least there’s still some candy in my mouth I can chew on." Aron seemed a bit disappointed the candy had run out. Since the headband only protected sight, hearing, and mind, his sense of taste was still under the creature’s influence. Aron was about to put on the mask, but Sol stopped him.

"I… suggest you spit that out before you put on the mask. Also, hurry. We need to move soon."

Without waiting for Aron’s reply, Sol sped off toward the museum, hoping none of them were in danger.

Arriving at the museum, he saw a pink yellow mist in the area. It harmlessly past by him but felt his vision become slightly fuzzy. His surroundings grew a tone brighter, but nothing else seemed different. Using [True Sight (Variant)], his vision returned to normal. Together with the headband, it helped him better resist the effects.

Even though his sight was back to normal, he was anything but relieved.

’It’s starting to affect me through the headband. Torben was wrong. It’s recovering way too fast.’

At this rate, Sol estimated they had only 15 minutes before they would fall back into the hallucinations again.

As he reached the museum’s entrance, his frown deepened. At the bottom of the stairs lay the dead body of a soldier, while a female soldier, oblivious, stood watch nearby, oddly licking her fingers with a gleeful look on her face.

But his surprise turned to shock when he looked toward the roof of the museum and finally saw it. A massive insect with six scythe like legs, a spider’s head covered in hundreds of human eyes, and a large, bulbous sac on its rear, riddled with holes like a beehive. It was slowly consuming a heart, savoring every bite.

Seeing its true form, there was only one way to describe it: a horrifying monster.