The moment they stepped into the protective space ,Alaric felt like he had stepped into heaven. Or maybe a teaser on how heaven looks like.

He was currently walking on top of a cloud.

" Is this normal?" He asked Hailey.

" Yes it's probably the feature of the dungeon. This is might be an illusion dungeon or probably combat but will see. Beautiful dungeons like this are the most dangerous ."

" Let's just hope it's the former," Ruby said, the others nodded.

Alaric didn't agree with their choice. He prefered combat dungeons, he had person experience with illusion.

"System what type of dungeon is this?" He asked the system inwardly.

DUNGEON NAME : The luminant

CLASSIFICATION: A rank

TYPE: illusion dungeon

ENTRY: voluntary.

STATUS:Frostbound Crimson whip- usable

SURVIVAL: 40%

" An illusion dungeon," Alaric said under his breath. It really wasn't his day.

After the ten minutes grace period the protective shield disappeared.

" Let's go, I don't want to stay here too long dungeons creep me out," John said.

They stepped onto the next cloud that was outside the shield ended.

The moment they stepped through it, the found themselves in front of a huge white and golden gate. It opened as though welcoming them.

Alaric stepped through the gate and onto the white stone that were warm beneath his shoes. The sky above him was impossibly blue with small balls of white clouds scattered around.

Two huge golden towers rose up to the dotted clouds reflecting beautifully against the sun. Water flowed upwards from the ground and disappeared into the clouds at the top of the towers.

There were white wooden buildings that lined up the whole street leading to the tower. People walked the streets.

Men and women dressed in white and golden flowing robes smiling and talking to each other. It felt so real and surreal.

Alaric had to convince himself that it was an illusion ,not a fully functional community.

Everything was beautiful too beautiful to be real.

" This is an illusion be careful," Ruby said cautiously.

They walked between the people looking around. It was all surreal.

They walked for a while down the streets observing their surrounding. Music was playing in the the town but too small to pay attention to for long.

A man stopped in front of Alaric and extended his arm to him. Alaric took it and shook it.

" Welcome home," the man said after releasing Alaric's hand.

Alaric shook his head and smiled gently," I've never been here."

The man stared at him blankly for while before grinning widely," of course."

The man then turned and walked into a shop.

" That was odd," Snowy said. Each of them had been approached by one of the residents and the conversation had been the same.

It felt like in the games when NPCs would give out random quests but this was just a weird random conversation.

They walked down the streets as it guided them until opened to a plaza. It wasn't big but it was filled with colorful flowers that looked magical.

Colorful benches were arranged around the plaza and Alaric sat on one. The moment he sat down he felt warmth spreading into his body. He could feel all the heaviness he has not notice disappearing and his mind becoming clearer.

" Hey guys don't sit on them," Snowy said. She was the only one who had remained standing.

" It's refreshing actually try it," John said leaning further back.

Alaric looked at the bickering pair and smiled. He could feel something inside him was telling him to rest there.

He turned to look at the people walking around the plaza glancing at them occasionally.

" Hey guys do you notice, something is off?" Alaric said breaking the silence.

" Nothing, I'm wondering if we are in a dungeon cause I Know for certain I'm not affected by any illusion. We would be suffering right now maybe starved to death,"John answered and closed his eyes.

" Aah, I don't think so. I think we've already been affected," Ruby said standing up abruptly.

" They don't have shadows," Alaric said quietly. Ruby turned to look at him then at the people walking around even plants or building didn't have them.

" You're right how had I not noticed this."

A woman broke from the moving group of people and walked towards. Alaric noticed she looked older and tired.

She stopped in front of them and bursted into tears. Alaric stood up.

"Are you okay ma'am," Alaric asked the sobbing woman.

" You've worked hard ," she said taking his hand," you don't have to struggle anymore."

He had noticed it before, everything in the town was too organized and synchronized. They all took the same steps with the same foot . They were like soldiers unusually displined despite being a town which was supposed to be a bit disorganized.

They were probably the ones who were out of place in the town.

The woman face twisted into a smile with tears still streaming down her face.

" Please," she said, her voice cracked just a little," don't look too closely."

Alaric stopped looking around, he knew instinctively that the woman was warning them. The others also remained silent trying not to look around.

" The bench is getting colder," John whispered. He was the only one still sitting.

He stood up quietly trying to make as little noise as possible.

" What do we do?" Alaric whispered to Ruby. She had been to A class dungeons and was more experienced in this sector.

" I don't want to be part of the city anymore," the woman said again.

He glanced at the people at the plaza, all of them had their faces frozen in horror as they continued to walk forward. It was as though they had seen something truly horrifying.

The city walls had turned into bones with pieces of rotten meat sticking together. A small scream slipped through the town music ,barely noticeable.

The illusion snapped back into place and the faces when back to their smiling faces . The city went back to it's white pristen perfect condition. Alaric felt like his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Alaric turned towards the tower, a subtle pressure came from it sweeping across the whole town.

Struggling is unnecessary. A small voice more of a will whispered to Alaric.

The instinct to fight that had risen in Alaric stalled as if something had taken a hold over it.

Alaric felt his knees buckled as the pressure passed over them. It wasn't malicious but the owner clearly wanted obedience from them, just like the town folks.

They had all kowtowed as the pressure passed over them. Alaric glanced at others and saw they were also kneeling. Whatever was inside the tower was strong enough to make the two A classes kneel.

The woman was still looking at them ,the tears in her eyes had stopped and she was now smiling at them.

"Try and not fall into the illusion, the thing demands perfection we just have to do the opposite," Ruby said and pushed herself up despite the overwhelming pressure.

The moment she did tried to stand up the plaza and buildings distorted revealing it's gory details.

" Please don't make it angry," the woman whispered to Ruby her eyes widening in fear.

A small child probably a year old crawled forward to them despite the pressure and came to a stop in front of them. Alaric couldn't help but shiver .

The child's eyes were pure black as though the whole pupil had swallowed the whites in his eyes.

Alaric couldn't step back, he could only look on as it moved to Ruby and then stopped.

"Just accept it," he whispered," it doesn't hurt if you stop."

Alaric has never felt so creeped out in his life. The child's speech was perfect without missing a bit unlike a normal one year old.

The pressure increased again and Ruby was pushed back down hard. She groaned as her knees hit the ground painfully.

After her attempt, everyone kept their head down and glanced around. The pressure eventually disappeared and the town's people started to smile again and go about their business as if what had happened was normal.

Alaric and his group stood up cautiously looking around for any consequences but the boss or whatever was controlling the dungeon seemed to be satisfied with the perfect.

It probably had OCD and it had bleed into its power. Alaric was dreading the meeting.

He looked at the beautiful golden tower and sighed.

"That was creepy as fuck, " John whisper. Alaric could see his hands shaking.

" We still have the dungeon master over there waiting for us," Alaric said jokingly to lighten the mood.

" Now you've just made it worse," Snowy said.

The others nodded alongside her. Alaric chuckled awkwardly. Guess they didn't catch the humour, Alaric thought to himself.

The woman who had been begging them had left during that time probably going back to her routine.

" These people are really NPCs," John said in wonder then added while chuckling to himself," maybe the dungeon master likes games."

Alaric agreed with him, he had expected a full combat fight but what he got was purely psychological.

He looked at the tower and summoned his whip.

" What are you planning on doing," snowy was the first one to notice what he was doing.

" I'm just going to try an experiment, I want to see if it can work."

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