Bizarre Realm-Chapter 193 - 13: Second Form! Combat Mage! (Part 2)

Either ’kill with one strike, retreat immediately,’ or ’kill one every ten steps, and travel a thousand miles without leaving a trace.’

Shawn finds it difficult to achieve the latter.

He must avoid being besieged by numerous Crow people, as he currently lacks the strength to face a Crow settlement head-on. As long as he can succeed in beheading the enemy, he must immediately find a way to escape.

The time ticks away by the second.

The Reconnaissance Demon Eye has fully grasped the general environment of the Crow settlement, though the internal situation is still unclear. From the sky, Shawn observes the traces of approximately three casters, with the settlement center being an odd Raven Altar, surrounded by a layer of dried blackened bloodstains.

——Blood Sacrifice Ceremony.

The intelligent creatures living in Bizarre Realm perform blood sacrifices to appease unnameable evil objects or even powerful ancients. Through such ceremonies, when night falls, bizarre creatures from other planes won’t disturb them.

"The enemy leader is a caster of similar strength to me, probably through the Priest path, a twisted kind of priest profession within the Bizarre Realm."

"Priests are among the more frail Extraordinary paths, at most slightly stronger than me."

Priests in the Forgotten Realm are all tough characters clad in plate armor, wielding scythe nail head warhammers and other weapons. Theoretically, priests in the Bizarre Realm can be like this too. However, Crowman priests are obviously unarmored, with at most only innate armor (feathers) for defense.

"Fragile enemies should be easier to kill instantly!"

"But what kind of firepower is needed to kill them in one strike? That’s something I need to calculate carefully."

In the Bizarre Realm, night raids are clearly unsuitable because nighttime is more dangerous.

The best time to strike is before it gets dark.

Before taking action, Shawn mentally simulated the upcoming tactical plan, including how to retreat from the battlefield, how to respond to unexpected situations, what to do if the beheading fails, and other scenarios he could think of. He pre-simulated them all.

With a plan in mind, he can adapt to unexpected changes.

One Fireball Technique is definitely not enough.

Shawn now lacks Fifth Ring spells and higher. If he had the ’Death Cloud Technique,’ his upcoming battle would undoubtedly be much easier.

"Next time I return to Abyss City, I must find relics with high ring spells."

"Or, I’ll go to the Spirit Realm myself."

The Bizarre Realm has no Netherworld, nor Necromancy Plane. The Spirit Realm is essentially the base for all activities of bizarre creatures inclined towards the undead aspect.

Ten minutes later, the tactical plan was finalized, and Shawn began to act.

——Strong Illusion (3 Ring spell)!

This is a common Illusion Series spell that can create an illusion while simulating sound, smell, and body temperature. Essentially, as long as it isn’t attacked, these illusions can deceive most people. A 1 Ring Silent Illusion definitely won’t fool the Crow people, who have keen hearing. Shawn cannot afford to save magic power here.

The Illusion Series can create a visual illusion of an object, creature, or scene based on imagination. When Shawn first mastered this spell, he thought about whether he could use it to ’play movies.’

Just like now, the illusion Shawn wants to create isn’t of himself but of a ’monster’ from a movie.

——Ring Spirit’s Flying Dragon!

Actually, Shawn wanted to simulate a real Giant Dragon, but without ’Dragon Mighty,’ it’s too easy to see through, so he chose an illusion of a sub-dragon species.

Since completing the enlightenment, Shawn’s mind feels like it’s been oiled; many memories from his past life have become extraordinarily clear. If he upgrades his mind’s ’hardware’ further, he might be able to use illusions to materialize the movies he saw in his previous life.

Roar!

A hoarse dragon roar roused the entire Crow settlement.

At about two hundred meters in the sky, a sub-dragon measuring over ten meters long skimmed above the forest. Its appearance closely resembles the Ring Spirit’s steed, and the illusion-simulated sound is very realistic, even carrying a faintly decayed scent reminiscent of the undead.

It’s almost like projecting the imagined picture from memory into reality.

"Does the Illusion Series’ capability rely on [imagination]?"

"Well, I’m very good at that."

Shawn found that movies he’d watched in his past life are very suitable for the Illusion Series. If he had a Mirage, he could even simulate Star Wars illusions. The more straightforward the image, the more realistic the illusion becomes. What Shawn saw in movies, when projected, is almost like 3D modeling.

"In this world, many illusionists rely on their imagination to construct illusions, as they haven’t personally experienced many monster scenes."

"But I have seen numerous in movies, and it’s really easy to materialize an illusion of a dragon."

Moreover, Shawn can do even more, like a fantasy world war illusion, with orcs, elves, dwarves, and so on. There are so many movie scenes to draw from and materialize into illusions.

These movie scenes will surely astonish the natives of Bizarre Realm!

"The second stage of modern warfare needs to be supplemented."

"I underestimated the role of illusions."

"If I can utilize the knowledge from Earth in my past life, I can do better, create more realistic and grand illusions that are more intimidating."

Sound, smell, temperature, and even True Illusions—Shawn realizes there are many things he hasn’t yet utilized.