I meditated.

Properly, for once.

I didn't submerge myself in even more negativity, and instead worked to get better at controlling it and not letting it control me. Getting rid of it completely was a fool's errand at this point. I would need to literally rip out my own heart. At least thrice! And I wasn't willing to part with that much power. Not a single one.

So I continued to sit here, in Pandemonium's courtyard. People sometimes came by, but I only took heart in their presence. They were my friends, my family, and my loved ones. No one else was permitted to even approach me.

I pushed myself off the ground and stood at some point. My limbs moved, from my hands swinging slowly, to my legs taking firm and easy steps. Even my tail swung rhythmically. I flowed through all the poses that came to my mind naturally.

Faster and faster. Freer and freer. I was no longer in chains, and there was nothing to hold me back. So I must not attack lightly. I must not move an inch more than intended. And I must be able to stop instantly, the moment I will it so.

My body came to a halt, a hair away from the wall. I could feel the hard surface against my skin, but I knew we weren't yet touching. I stepped back, and allowed myself to be lost in the same trance. Of me struggling every moment of every day to extend my neck just a little bit further and get a bite out of my many tormentors. Unlike now, where everyone was in reach, and I could so very easily break them with a fraction of the effort.

It could be Moonwash. It could be Mom, or Dad. It could happen to Grandpa, Granuel, Angerly, and Berry.

I pictured them all drowning in a pool of blood. It was of my own making, and my hands were drenched in red. They always were. I instantly stopped, at first forcefully, but then more softly. My awkwardly posed body relaxed as I remembered every time I'd seen them injured. Sometimes because of me. I took another stance as I recalled how they were now, healthy and alive. Grandpa was sitting beside one small building, waving.

I waved back and smiled.

"Again."

~~~

After the serene meditation of earlier came my usual fucked up sessions of making myself more cursed. On today's itinerary was something important, and that was to bring back a weapon I'd lost. The one thing that had protected me in my greatest time of need. The barrier that broke my enemies.

My vengeance. Vengeance magic. It had disappeared along with my wrath mana, when it turned into the general and overpowered curse.

I remembered what it was like, the anger at the world, at anyone who dared to hurt me. Something completely normal, the only natural reaction, to hiss and retaliate upon being attacked yourself. My mana wrathfully escaping my body, and the way that the cursetaceans were able to do it so much more seamlessly.

I found a peculiar bush in the rainforest I roamed, which I knew to be hiding a denser mass within. I recognized the rare creature, and I plunged my hand down to have it be devoured. And I was right! A bulbous sort of plant with a wide thorny mouth extended out of the bush that served as its cover. The chomptrap bit down hard on my unarmored left arm, and blood immediately began to leak from the large wound. The monster's thorny teeth dug so deep they reached bone. I deployed my magic to at least limit the flow of my blood through my severed veins. For a creature who should be only around level 20, it sure packed a powerful fucking punch.

And yet while my curse roiled at the assault, it did nothing. The mana did not leap out of my skin to attack that which had attacked me. It remained inside, like it had been doing for months now. Even the small amount that naturally leaked out of me because I was full did not actually attack the chomptrap.

I got angry. I grew mad. I imparted that same emotion to my curse mana, but it was still not enough to rouse it into action. So I stayed there. I stayed here. With my arm halfway down the throat of a fucking plant. It gnashed and it suckled, and I realized just how dumb this level 20 thing must be. I meditated on the meaning of vengeance, of my imprisonment and who fucking did it. I pictured in vivid detail just what I would do to Eden once I finally found her, and finally there was a response. The plantflesh under me shuddered as it suffered a cut and leaked its yellow sap, but I did not let it pull away. I forced its head and mouth shut with my knee and elbow… but that only made my curse magic dissipate harmlessly before ultimately refusing to flow out of my skin anymore.

Right. Fuck. Forcing the thing to attack me like that disabled most of my vengeance magic.

I blasted the chomptrap with taunt next, and that worked better once the chomptrap started chomping again, though I still felt like my undue influence weakened my vengeance magic somewhat. The effect quickly rose back in intensity, however, as the chomptrap continued to ravage my arm. I healed what damage I needed to, until the monster began to suffer new cuts and rot from my growing vengeance magic. Finally, it noticed and decided to pull back away like before.

I punched the chomptrap. I taunted it, and then fed it my newly rehealed arm. The pain lanced through my more sensitive nerves, and I shoved my arm deeper to feel more. To be in pain was to be alive. It was to experience what I deserved. I had burned so many, they died a worthless and pathetic death. But I did it for a reason, so why must I regret?

I shouldn't! That was what it meant to take revenge! It wasn't empty or cold; those were only the words of cowards who tout the virtue of forgiveness because they were too afraid to take action. Instead, I felt ecstatic! I reveled in the sweet satisfaction of revenge! I took what release I could get from the boundless anger inside of myself.

Stronger and stronger. My vengeance magic kept rising in power as I fed myself the continuous images of how I had been tortured and humiliated, and how I burned their homes in return. Already, it was more powerful than it had ever been before, but that could just be because I was simply generally stronger now. So I kept going. I kept feeding the chomptrap my flesh as its 'head' began to fall apart. Its dark lustrous green had already turned gray and dying at best. Many parts of it suffered even worse, gouged by blackened cuts that leaked of dark fluids. The chomptrap lost its teeth, as thorns withered, and the plantflesh that held it all together fell apart in decay. I gnashed my teeth into a grin as I felt the life finally leave this adversary of mine.

It let go. The chomptrap fell from my arm, and slumped onto the ground. It would not attack me anymore, no matter what I did. It couldn't. That was boring. I wanted more of that vengeful jitter. I tried to heal the damned thing, but my blood magic proved not even a hundrendth as effective as it should be. It turned out to be far more limited in the kinds of organisms it could heal.

The chomptrap was dead, and I took a minute too long to watch its rotting corpse.

Finally, I took the cursed greatsword from my back, and cut off the plant from the ground, roots and all. I sliced it into more pieces, and then shoved the entire thing into my pack. The last thing to do was to reattach my guantlets, before I finally teleported back home.

~~~

"Maybe that was too fucked up," I told Pandemonium, as my surroundings abruptly changed to the floor above my bedroom.

That very floor shuddered questioningly.

"Well, I was just wondering if I'd just done the exact same thing as them. Torture."

Pandemonium didn't respond, and I took that as my cue to continue.

"But here's the thing. It was not a sapient creature. It was barely even sentient! It's a plant, and they don't experience pain in the same way. And I've already experimented on animals before. I've used my abilities on them without remorse. It's fine."

I had gotten up now, and was pacing a little.

"However… those are all excuses. The thing is, that I didn't have to torture the chomptrap. It would have taken little effort to find a new victim. Although... maybe not that easy, because few level 20s can hope to match its bite force, and gold-ranks aren't everywhere. I would've had to find a good target that could actually decently hurt me."

Pandemonium grew a chair out of the floor, and I sat on it. The vaguely tongue-like cushions had really come a long way, and they were now very comfortable, made specifically for my heavy weight.

"Still. Maybe I should've at least cut the chomptrap's suffering short at like... the halfway point. I had just gotten so caught up in my rage and vengeance and… the sheer pleasure of it all, that it never crossed my mind to stop."

I stood back up.

"And that is the problem. I must be in control, but I clearly was not. I have so many destructive desires now vying for my attention. It's different from just wrath. Far different. That singular element, at least, offered no satisfaction. Maybe, if I was lucky, I'll get a temporary reprieve. But certainly no pleasure. For I was always angry. But now I am also malicious enough to find this fun. More fun. Fun like when I only had menace magic. Only even stronger."

The walls shook. Pandemonium was confused again. I had gone in circles.

I chuckled.

"Point is, I really need to work on it. If nothing else, if I torture another soul like this, then I should at least, for even just a split instant, consider if I should."

I smiled and knocked on the walls on my way out. "Good talk."

~~~

"It's fine," Moonwash said once after I finished telling her about the same thing I talked to Pandemonium about. She stepped away from the forge for a moment, then held out her hand. "Can you give me the chomptrap."

"What's left of it," I mumbled, and then handed her my pack.

She took out the various corpses inside, until she managed to pull out a big chunk of the aforementioned chomptrap. "You're right about plants being less sensitive to pain. They do not experience it in the same way. Thus, their reactions are slower, and they do not learn." She pried open the stem with a knife, as if I could understand all that upon seeing the plant's gooey innards. "And you are right. This thing is not sapient. And we have done similar things before for our experiments. You are not the same as the people who captured and tortured you. We clearly have very different standards for those who are coherent thinking feeling beings. Otherwise, you would have already committed several genocides. You certainly have no hesitation in killing monsters when they are just minding their own business, grazing in a field, taking a shit, or whatever peaceful activity they wish to do. But you do hesitate, sometimes, when it comes to normal regular people."

"I know that." I leaned against the outright hot walls of the smithy. "It's a question of degree. And control. I'm not that freaked out about the chomptrap. But I cannot be doing the same thing to actual people."

"You're right." She handed to me a pair of enchanted horseshoes. "So don't."

I laughed and accepted her gift. "You're right. It's so simple!"

My voice sounded sarcastic, but I actually meant every word.

~~~

I took off the following day. I flew high into the air. Fresh wind blew into my face, and I enjoyed what part of it I could with all this armor in the way. The view was still just as beautiful as always, and I did a few little twirls as I admired the peaceful facade of life from a hundred meters high in the air. I relaxed as I allowed myself to coast and soar. There was no rush. It wouldn't even work at these distances.

A level 40 diverammer suddenly fell from even higher up than I was, so I unsheathed my cursed blade and made rapid slashes that threw my balance off, but absolutely killed my enemy. Blood splattered all over me, coloring my armor the same as my skin, as the monster fell down to the ground in multiple pieces.

I stared at the lone organs spilling from the broken shell of the creature as I considered for a moment if I should fly down there and claim my rightful bounty, but ultimately decided against it. It was ridiculous to pass on gold-ranked loot, but I had a destination in mind today, and my teleportation was too unreliable to bring home any respectable amount of treasure. I just had to take the loss and move on.

…Fuck I was annoyed.

~~~

I spotted something down below. I flew a little lower to get a closer look. A tree had fallen right on the road, which was an unfortunate accident to happen. If it was an accident at all.

The wagon that had been stopped by the blockage, the adventurers guarding it with their lives, and the many bandits that had them all surrounded, told me that this was definitely not an accident.

"Hmmm…"

I considered for a quick instant what I should do. I was pretty sure I knew what was happening here, but it wasn't like I was a hundred percent certain. Even if I was right, I could acknowledge that I would likely have gone on a similar path to them had I been in their shoes. Hell, I'd certainly done worse than them, no matter what hand I'd been dealt.

I was alone here. I didn't have any other voices pushing me one way or the other. It was my decision. I could just fly away.

No matter. I chose to act over inaction. It would annoy me if I did anything else. Power was meant to be wielded. That was exactly what they were doing down below, so why should I hesitate from doing the same?

"Look ou–"

I was almost impressed by that one ishkawtan bandit who spotted me before anyone else, but it was too late to do anything. Like thunder striking in the middle of their confrontation, I landed with an earthshattering crack in between two axes swinging for each other. One of them I dodged, and the other I parried. Dust and debris blew in all directions, and when I purposely swept it all away with my wings, I saw that half the people were already on their ass, while a fair few bandits had good enough instincts to instantly flee.

"WHAT?"

"W-what happened?"

"Who…?"

"Fall back! Protects the civilians!"

"Shit! Charge them! They're disoriented! NOW!"

The kobold man who shouted that was immediately cut down. His two halves fell away as hot licks of fire spilled from his dying mouth.

The remaining bandits froze, and then found my bloodied blade pointed right at them.

"I am Haell Zharignan. A demon. Freed and freer than ever before. I'm in one of my better moods, so scram, Bandits, or face my wrath."

"S-shit what do we do!?"

"Get her, you dumbass! There's only one of her!"

"Uh, there's still the adventurers behind her…"

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Bah! They were losing! We can take them!"

"No. NO! Fuck this! I'm out!"

"Hey wait for me!"

"Wha–This is our first good catch in weeks! Are you really fucking leaving now!?"

"That's the fucking hero! I'm not dealing with this shit!"

"Throw your lives away yourself!!"

About half of them chose the wiser option, while the other half chose death. It was a good enough result. A crustecar tried to ram me, but my blade was strong enough to shatter her carapace and continue on through the bloody squishy entrails underneath. A belfegor had run as fast as he could behind her, but he only found himself skewered and rotting rapidly from the wound. Several frontline fighters came at me at once, and I swung my cursed greatsword twice to kill the seven men and women. Their terrible gear just broke under the power of my blade, for that was part of how I had guessed they were the bandits anyway, and I dearly hoped I was right. Only one mage was left, a shepherd woman who was somehow more emaciated than the rest, if that were possible, and her move was to unleash what must've been to her a massive fireball. It was too small to even be the fetus of my own.

I showed her just that massive difference between us by creating a true fireball… but then thought better of it at the last moment. I made my mass of hellfire disappear high into the air, and then just crushed the despairing woman's head the old-fashioned way.

"T-thank you…" someone said from behind me, and I glanced back to see a centaur man in heavily damaged full plate armor. As in his entire body was clad in it, horse part and all.

"You're welcome," I simply responded. It wasn't a bad feeling to be thanked. Not as good seeing the light leave from an enemy's eyes, but I did my best to enjoy this. It was what I needed to find a better balance.

"Yeah," A fountan woman let out one long breath as she deflated. She had a rapier on both arms, hand or no hand. "We would've been goners had you not intervened."

"She's just like in the stories!" a human man added. "She took out those bandits without any trouble at all."

"Truly, you have our sincerest gratitude," an well-dressed kobold man stepped out of the carriage. "If there is anything we can do, or any way we can compensate you, then please just say so."

I looked him over, and then his wagons full of crates and product. I wouldn't be able to take those home anyway.

"If you want," I shrugged. "I'll appreciate coin. Otherwise, I'm in a hurry and I can't really carry around anything with me." I pointed at my wings for emphasis. "Oh! And maybe divert some of your business to the Angelslayers next time. I'm… a friend of theirs."

"I see. I will do so, for our savior. How much money would you like?"

"However much you feel this is worth," I gestured at the dead bandits in front of me, and the shorter man gulped.

"Very well," he bowed deeply before turning around to get my price. A different ogre woman then came out of the wagons and started demanding things of me.

"Hey! What about those other bandits?"

"What about them?"

"They're going to escape! Chase after them!"

I paused. Did this bronze-ranked peddler just tell me what do? My temper rose from my depths, and the adventurers who had previously walked closer to thank me took a step back. They would've noticed the ugly expression on my face, had I not been wearing my blood-dyed armored mask. I should really remember to take that off when talking to people. But not for this asshole.

"No," I replied simply.

"What? No? You can't just say that!"

"And yet I just did." I chuckled a little. My anger faded away at her pathetic display. Well, it faded into the background enough that I could ignore it casually anyway.

She gnashed her teeth. "They almost killed us earlier! You need to finish them off!"

"I really don't need to." I shook my head. "It makes no difference at all to me." I moved out of the way, and gestured towards the road and the treeline the bandits had escaped to. "But you seem to care so much about this. So don't let me stop you. Feel free to hunt them down yourself."

"What– No!" she sputtered, indignant. "That's not how this works! Of course I can't do it! That's your job!"

"No it isn't," I denied her again. "I never agreed to anything."

"You took the pay! Gratos is fetching it from our wagons now!"

"He offered to pay me back for the trouble. For saving your lives, and not for the new job of hunting down the stragglers. That's it." I gestured again to the many corpses behind me, and she looked sick in the face. I smiled, and kicked it a little closer to her. "If you want to hire me to kill those bandits, then… my services are very expensive. Plus I don't actually want to, and I'm in a hurry, so that's a further mark up in the price… I need enough to at least buy one lucrative town. Whatever that's worth."

"WHAT!?"

…Okay. I get the reaction. Granuel's not here, so I just made up some bullshit and went as high as I could.

"Or go do it yourself, if you care so much."

"I said I'm not doing that!"

"What a coincidence. I said the same."

"You… some hero you are! You let them escape and won't even take responsibility!? What about when they rape and pillage elsewhere, huh!?"

My evil eyes darkened underneath my helmet. I had remained oddly calm so far, but I was really starting to lose my patience. She really didn't know when to shut up. So I let her know, by letting my evil eyes activate just a little. The ogre woman immediately shook like a leaf. How pathetic. I… really shouldn't kill her, however. It would cause too many problems. And I would be… annoyed later, about what happened.

"You don't know that's happening," I began, just to say my piece. "It likely is, maybe. But I have seen no evidence of that so far, and I have already decided." I ended by shoving a dagger into her hand and forcibly closing the shorter woman's fingers around it. "You know what I said. Quit being a coward, and fucking do it yourself!"

And then a strong gust of wind blew her back. It blew them all back. I flew off into the distance, with a satisfied smile on my hidden face.

No one died. I handled that well.

Well… no one else died. And that's good!

~~~

East-south-east.

That was where I was supposed to head, and it was easy to keep track with the towering barrier range in the far far distance. I scanned the sea of trees from above, until I saw a break in the endless green. It was way too small to be my destination, but it would be good to ask around just to be sure.

I landed in front of the gates, with spears being hastily pointed at me.

Come on. It's in the middle of the day. Don't be drunk already! I shook my head ruefully with a small chuckle.

"Halt!"

"Who?"

"What…?"

"Is that a harpy?"

"Well, she's got the wings."

"Pretty armor…"

"No wait! I think I know what she is!"

"Well don't leave us in suspense! Tell tell!"

"She's–"

"I'm right here," I interjected to the two kobold women. There were two separate slightly elevated platforms right before the walls where they could thrust their spears from, and unleash their fire-breaths. The village beyond, from what I could see, was of the peculiar open construction of stone that kobold favored, leaving lots of flat roof space for them to lounge and sunbathe. I believed I'd been here before actually, and it was called… the Skullburn Village.

"Oh, yes." One of them straightened. "But can I still guess? I think I got it right."

"Lamila!" the other hissed.

I laughed and lowered my mask. "It's okay. Do pray tell. What am I?"

"Uhh… Hell? The doraymom?"

I stared at her. My face scrunched up in many conflicting ways. Until finally, I burst out laughing.

"Close enough! CLOSE ENOUGH!" I wheezed. "Anyway, I'm just here to ask for directions. This is Skalburn Villaged, correct?"

I tossed them both a silver each.

"Oh sweet!"

"Yes it is! Please stay as long as you like!"

"Yeah, yeah! We'll show you around town! We're good for that!"

"Who would guard… And will you just let anyone in if they…" I mumbled, and then shook my head before they could ask. "I'm in a hurry! But maybe some other time!" I pointed down the road so fast that it created a snapping sound. "This is the way to Real Town, right??"

"Uhhh…"

"Yes! Yes it is! Come on, Binzy! Those are the only people that pass through here!"

"I know that! Right that way, please!"

"Are you sure…" I started to narrow my eyes, but it quickly snapped back into a big smile. "Okay! Thanks for the help guys! Happy guarding!"

"YES!"

"We shall protect this place with our lives!!!"

~~~

I left Real Town after coming in for a quick many bites to eat, and confirming that Lost Reflections was just beyond here. My hooves touched the road, and I recalled the horseshoes on my pack, which I slotted in. It was the first prototype for something I had asked Moonwash to make, so I veered a little off the road for a little test run. Literally. I charged through the rainforest, kicking dust behind me as my hooves thudded loudly with every step I took in the terrible terrain. The soil began to truly crack and break as I picked up more speed. I extended my blood magic out of my hooves, and felt around my white horseshoes until I found the small capsules filled with my own blood. That allowed me to move the small mechanism, and the enchantments from both shoes came to life.

The wind slammed into me. I sped up. Without pushing myself any harder, I chewed through the distance even faster. Every step felt more solid, because that's exactly what it was! The ground hardened underneath me, for with every step, earth mana was injected into the soil to make it harder for that one fleeting moment. My shoulder slammed into a tree, and a bird exploded into red gore when it collided into my helmet, but that did not stop me from pushing past the barriers in front of me. The invisible ones. I traveled faster than typical sound, and the wind howled.

~~~

"AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

I heard a scream once I inevitably came to a stop after breaking through three whole trees in my way, and many more in part. It was definitely a much more comfortable affair now that I was wearing proper armor again, instead of using steel, shitty tunics, and my own skin. The deathmetal beginner, as Moonwash insisted on calling it, was barely scratched by the whole ordeal.

"Now. Who the fuck is screaming?" I looked behind me. Nearby was the road……and I realized that some of the people traveling here probably heard the sonic boom and assumed the worst. Oops.

I was about satisfied with the test anyway, so I healed my many sore muscles before and rejoined the road. My horseshoes were switched off as I settled in for a more leisurely run that had the scenery passing by faster than a racecar with a death wish.

The road of magically packed earth cracked at some point, and I stopped sheepishly for a moment, before resuming my run at a more sedate pace that used only a portion of my blood magic. The wind still swept against me powerfully, and I enjoyed the exhilarating feeling of movement that running brought. I… felt that I might prefer running with my hooves bare a little more, but this was certainly not an advantage I would just disregard now that it was here. It was my idea to begin with.

Something waited in the bush up ahead. It was crouched. The size of maybe an adolescent deer. My eyes could see nothing, then I noticed a distortion. I knew that a creature hid there thanks to my spatial senses, and sure enough it pounced once I was in range. The monster misjudged its leap thanks to just how fast I was, and I was already gone by the time it reached the zenith of its arc through the air. But I had also misjudged, for that was the first native of Lost Reflections I had seen, and I must get my hands on it.

My tail immediately whipped out, and I turned myself around. I took one step before my tail shot sidewards again, completing my full turn on the road. My existing momentum rocked my body and worked against me, but I was still more than fast enough. I charged at the very blurry monster who was running back towards the treeline now, but not nearly fast enough. I reached it in moments, with a few road-shattering strides, and then I grabbed the critter by neck.

It whined.

Oops. I had almost killed it.

I still could not actually see what it was, because it was now leaking so much mana and distorting everything around it as if that would help.

…Okay. It was a little disorienting. The trees and the sky and the road all started to blur into each other, likely because I was at the very center of the effect. But it was nothing I couldn't handle. I felt like this creature was only level 10, though it was harder to tell with most of its form being only visible as an amorphous pinkish white blob. It bit and scratched at me, as if it could ever get through my armor. I waited it out until the animal finally stopped struggling, and then I waited some more for it to run out of mana. It did not take all that long.

The monster that finally appeared properly in my hands was a horned rabbit… No, a horned rabbid. That's what they were called. An allegedly evolved form of the horned rabbit that weirdly only wanted to be in wonderzones, and not all of them at that. But when they did appear, their elements were usually a very good fit for the place they had found themselves in. It was a truly interesting creature, if ultimately weak at only level 10.

I squeezed, and the rabbid's neck finally snapped.

I stabbed the creature in the guts once it was already dead.

Blood was quickly sucked out of the wound, and into a river that flowed directly into my mouth.

It still didn't taste good, but I would just have to make up for that with a proper meal later.

I tossed the drained sample into my pack in three separate chunks.

~~~

I resumed my travels. I passed by a wagon, and barely heard their shouts of alarm as I continued past. A small caravan traveled ahead and towards me, and a few were actually able to bark a warning and take a defensive stance before I arrived. I was soon past them as well.

It shouldn't take me long to reach Mirage City now. The ambient mana rose and changed as I went. I came across a pinkish and violet tree, and it was only the first of many. They slowly became ever more prominent in the scenery. I saw in the distance a section of completely normal trees, with straight and smooth brown trunks, and a picturesque vibrant green canopy. It revealed itself to instead be weird plants made… entirely out of spikes once I got in proper range of my spatial awareness.

I naturally stopped to harvest some. I smelled something weirdly sweet in the area. I touched one of the perfect trees, and found that my hand did pass right through them. I kept going, and felt something sharp slide through the surface of my armor. I took my greatsword out, and chopped down several of them at once. Instantly, the illusion of this one tree became easier to see through. I saw the small birds and squirrels dead and decomposing in the soil. They bled from every orifice in their body, which made it clear that they died from poison. The other plants still stood tall, like dark purple cacti with a body made of spikes… covered in more spikes. And then those smaller spikes were covered by even smaller spikes as well…

I shrugged, took my price, chopped it up some more, covered it in a bunch of leaves and hide I just grabbed from somewhere nearby, and then I stuffed all the samples I wanted into my pack.

I got back on the road, only to suddenly hear thunder when the skies were so clear. I waited for a moment, but nothing else came. Next, a woman made entirely out of white hair came out of the pink treeline and charged me. I punched her, but found my hand passing completely through. I belatedly realized that she who had appeared out of thin air did not register to my spatial senses at all. Another weird creature who was only a floating eyeball tried to attack me in the same way. I still took a defensive posture as I continued to run, but sure enough, it was not real. What was real, howeve,r was the pile of rocks on the side of the road that suddenly lunged at me. I had felt it in my dimensional scanner, and thought it a weirdly dense and lopsided boulder, but it was actually a whole ass monster!

My body blurred, I took out my sword, and skewered the creature from its massive mouth. Its claws raked against me, but my armor held, and I sacrificed more of my blood to bury the entire length of herokane inside. The monster died choking on my blade, its insides ravaged by the curse.

I took apart the camelion to bring parts for Moonwash later. Sadly, I could not take the entire thing, because it was just way too big. The camelion was a level 40 creature with the humps of a camel, the mane of a lion, and the flat body of a lizard. And every part of its now graying body was able to freely change colors at will in life.

The camelion had suddenly begun to feel denser earlier, unevenly so, through my spatial senses, the moment it decided to actually pounce. This creature was able to fool even my dimensional scanner somehow, and for that, it deserved to be the most well-known danger to look out for in the Lost Reflections Wonderzone.

Not that it was enough to save its ass from my blade.

~~~

I reached a dead end. The road stopped here, but I could feel through my dimensional scanner that the trees in front of me weren't really there. I trusted my spatial organ and rammed through the trees. I knew that I could fucking bulldoze through them if I wanted to anyway. And what greeted me on the other side was the road continuing on.

I looked behind me, and saw the same line of illusory trees that would make people think this was a dead end.

That was funny. Just think of all the people this must have fooled and confused! The foold.

I resumed my travels, and then came across a stretch that was unnaturally bright. I took a turn and suddenly it was night. Fog rolled in, and from the drop in temperature I knew it was not fake. But I don't know about the ghosts of dead people within!

They did dissipate with a ghastly scream when ran over, but I still wasn't convinced they were real. Ghosts were… a concept that existed outside of the Angelore Empire, but they were also regarded mostly as a work of fantasy or fiction even in this reality. Souls did not linger. They reentered the next cycle of reincarnation.

Now, I knew some echo was left behind, and they didn't instantly disappear, based on what I experienced during my last evolution. But these ghosts just felt so empty… and so similar to every other trick this place had pulled. I really didn't see them being 'real'.

It didn't even take a full minute until I was free of the fog. Once I had run a good distance away from it, I decided to fly up and take a quick look around. I wanted to see this place for myself. I rose into the air, higher and higher, until I could see the predominantly purple canopy of the forest. But it only remained that color for a relatively short distance. The trees very quickly returned to being the same normal dark green of the rainforest. But that wasn't right. I was deep into the wonderzone by now. The weirdly colored canopy should stretch into the horizon. And yet, as I rose ever higher into the air, even the trees below me slowly returned to normal.

This was the mystery of Lost Reflections. It was why I couldn't just directly fly to my destination. The place looked for all the world like a normal rainforest, when viewed from a distance.

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