CHAPTER 68: CHAPTER 68: TURNING INTO A FOX IN FRONT OF THEM

Zerra cursed under her breath. Scott was truly a lunatic. She now understood why he didn’t tie Laziel; he wanted her to witness her brother being eaten alive in front of her.

Her heart thumped loudly in her chest, and she gritted her teeth. Watching Laziel, whose breathing had turned ragged but ignorant of the incoming danger, she made a decision.

In a flash, Zerra turned into a snow-white fox forcefully. The ropes fell to the floor.

Her little figure swayed slightly due to dizziness. She steadied herself. As she passed by Cassias’ figure, she couldn’t help but give him a small kick to vent.

Then, she jumped toward Laziel, shielding him with her tiny figure.

’Stop!’ She shouted a command inside her mind. Her hazel eyes stared sharply at the zombie in front of her.

Three meters.

Two meters.

One and a half meters.

The zombie still didn’t stop.

Zerra repeated the command with more force. Only then did the zombie stop its movement. One meter away from them.

Its face, rotting and ugly, calmed down from the previous ferocious expression. Now, her face was blank, like a dazed harmless person if not for her appearance.

Zerra heaved a sigh of relief. It worked at least.

When she first entered the room, she hadn’t noticed the zombie’s presence because of shock. Then, she had exhausted too much of her mental power trying to fight off the illusion. Only when Scott pushed off the haystack did she find out its existence.

She couldn’t help but scrutinize the zombie in front of her. Even this one had leveled up to level two.

Her eyes shifted to the ropes that the zombie had discarded. It had been loose, tying the zombie’s feet together. Now, only the zombie’s hands remained bound, with some ropes hanging from its wrists.

She concluded that Scott had secretly loosened the ropes on the pillars...

Seeing that she was immune to illusion, he was secretly unreconciled in his heart and wanted to play some kind of twisted game.

Suddenly, Zerra sensed the zombie had moved again. Its expression turned twisted, and her mouth let out a beast-like roar.

’Stop. Take a few steps back for a few meters.’ Zerra commanded, slightly exhausted.

The zombie followed her command. Its roar and twisted expression froze, then dragged its body a few meters back.

Zerra narrowed her eyes. She seemed to have thought of something. The zombie disobeyed her command again after certain time passed.

She decided to do an experiment. In her heart, she secretly counted how long her command would last on the zombie before she had to give another one. Then, she worked on the distance.

In a few different positions with various distances, she gave the zombie a few commands. Sometimes, the zombie followed them and sometimes it didn’t.

’Stop there. Don’t go anywhere.’ Zerra commanded again. She could gradually sense the effect of overexerting her spiritual energy.

Her eyesight was deteriorating, and her consciousness was slowly slipping away. But... if she passed out, what would happen to Laziel?

Cassias most likely would be safe, but the fate of a side character like him was uncertain. Just like her, he was easily replaced. They were not the main protagonists after all.

So, she tried to stay awake forcefully.

Every time the duration of her command influence ran out, she would give a new one before the zombie could launch an attack. She also kept a relatively safe distance where she could still order it around.

But things couldn’t go on like this forever. She ordered the zombie to go as far as possible, to the corner of the room. Then, she quickly went to Cassias and gave him a few kicks.

’Wake up!’ She let out a small yip and bit his finger.

There was still no response.

She turned around in despair, and her desperation grew when she saw the zombie a few meters away from Laziel. It had secretly crawled toward Laziel without letting out a roar like before.

Why did the zombie still target Laziel even if it already had some meat on the bowl? Because fresh meat was more attractive to them.

She jumped toward Laziel as if her life depended on it. Can she make it...?

Just as she was almost arriving in the range of her zombie control, she was horrified to find she had lost her eyesight. Everything was black.

Then, her consciousness slipped away. Before it was completely gone, she vaguely felt a warmth and safe embrace, dissipating her panic. She thought that she must have been hallucinating again...

***

"You, how can you break out of the illusion?" Scott stared at the slender, cold-faced man in front of him incredulously.

Cassias gazed expressionlessly at him. Scott found that the usually quiet, gentleman-like Cassias was different. More frightening.

He had just opened the door to the barn, excited to find the result. After his mother was full, he had planned to tie her back, but what happened inside was out of his expectations.

The lightning ability user had woken up. Then, his mother...

Scott tried to enter the barn, desperate to find out what had happened to his mother. If Cassias was standing there intact, he was afraid he might have done something.

"Move aside!" He roared at Cassias who blocked his way.

The man had said nothing since the start, yet his moves drove Scott to the point of craziness. Cassias would push him and knock him until he took a few steps back. He also successfully evaded Scott’s attacks every time.

He was playing him like a cat playing a mouse. Occasionally, a mocking arc formed on Cassias’ lips.

"You are nothing without the mutated fungi." Cassias smiled at him, but his eyes were cold.

He was momentarily stunned that Cassias could find the source of the illusion. Yet, considering that he managed to get out unscathed, he didn’t feel much surprise.

As he stared at him expressionlessly, Scott vaguely sensed a hidden danger in Cassias’ eyes, merciless. What he had done had evoked this lightning ability user’s anger.

Cassias knew that the longer Scott couldn’t see his mother’s condition, the more anxious he became. Thus, he wanted to prolong the psychological torture.

His punch and push didn’t even hurt him, but they made Scott irritable. Scott forced himself to calm down, secretly formulating a plan. When he thought that Cassias had let down his guard, he threw the fireball he had gathered in his palm in his direction.

Just as he guessed, Cassias evaded. Scott took this chance to slide into the barn, rage filling him. If not because he was worried about his mother, he would have engaged him in a fight already.

Scott didn’t immediately find his mother’s figure. He shouted in panic, "Mom, where are you?"

He heard a rustling sound in the haystack and hurriedly went to check. Just as he turned around, a figure lunged toward him.