Chapter 27: The Illusionist’s Gambit

The kidnapper looked at Lucy and Perry (who had transformed into Lucy) in turn.

Why are there two princesses?

His face was filled with such questions, but soon he nodded to himself, saying, “I guess I’ll just take them both.”

Lucy watched the man closely.

He was wearing a black robe over his suit.

His body was radiating with magical power for restraint, and he had a long summoned beast wrapped around his body that was hiding its appearance through “transparency.”

Clothing. Equipment. Magic. Summoned beast. Transparency.

His class was clearly a magician.

However, since he didn’t have the Eye of Insight, it was difficult to accurately gauge his level.

Judging from the fact that he had noticed the intrusion, he was definitely stronger than the two men on board.

Normally, Lucy’s rule was to be extremely cautious in cases like this, but now she decided to be aggressive.

Of course. Who made the room a mess?

Who made her train her dog at night?

Who kept her up all night?

It was all the man in front of her.

In fact, Rubia caught her going out without permission because of him.

Now that she had been treated that way, she couldn’t just leave.

Of course, he didn’t seem to have any intention of letting her go.

“Did you take care of all my subordinates on board? It’s amazing that you killed them without a sound.”

The man tried to have a calm conversation.

To be exact, he was just pretending to do so.

He lured her into letting her guard down with his soft words and tried to secretly ensnare her with his summoned beast.

The summoned beast hid its form by turning invisible.

However, he couldn’t fool Lucy, who could see its magical power with her eyes.

She swung the scythe she was holding widely.

The sound of cutting through the air was accompanied by a dull thud.

It felt more like hitting solid steel than cutting down a living thing.

As the damage was inflicted, the invisibility applied to the summon naturally disappeared.

10 meters long.

Arthropod.

Hard exoskeleton.

It was a summon called ‘Artropleura,’ a giant centipede.

Lucy grimaced.

Wiggling. Wiggling.

It was a summon that had been deleted because it was considered disgusting during the game.

To see such a thing again was unsettling.

Regardless of whether it was strong or weak, it was unavoidable to feel a chill.

Seeing that sight, the man stroked his chin with a faint smile on his lips.

“Considering your sensing ability and excellent assassination skills, you are definitely an assassin class.”

He thought to himself, ‘That’s why you were able to kill my subordinates without a sound.’

Furthermore, he must have mistaken Lucy’s grimacing for fear, as he was already certain of his victory.

“The moment the assassins came to the forefront, their power must have been halved, right? If you surrender meekly, I will guarantee your life.”

Although he said that, he seemed to want to avoid combat if possible because he didn’t know which of ‘Lucy and Perry’ was the real princess.

Lucy shook her head at the man who was making a mistake from start to finish.

How come they all have the same repertoire for every enemy they meet?

Have they really never met an opponent stronger than them?

Or do they just look too weak?

Lucy, who was fed up with this situation, spread her hands with a blank expression.

From now on, there was no need for questions.

Magic Skill. Hellfire.

The peach-colored flames swirling from her fingertips blazed out.

Cold sweat ran down the man’s forehead from the intense heat.

At the same time, his expression, which had been steady throughout, began to distort.

“An assassin with this level of magic?”

He faced the magic aimed at him.

An intense magical aura.

The man, who was well-versed in discerning magical power, could tell at a glance.

If he were to get hit directly by that, he would die instantly.

Bam!

The flames that swept toward the man smashed down one side of the ship along with him.

As a result, a large hole was created inside the ship, allowing a clear view of the outside.

Fortunately, the hull was high enough that the water barely filled up, but it looked like it would sink any moment.

Lucy thought, “This is the end of the situation…” for a moment.

The man, who had barely avoided the attack through the smoke, appeared, groaning.

How did he avoid it?

The answer was in his ring.

A ring that shattered like shards of glass.

It was definitely an evasion item that could change life and death.

“What on earth is this power… What kind of guy are you?”

Lucy tilted her head. “Isn’t it a little strange for a kidnapper to ask the kidnapped person for their identity?”

“That means you are the real princess.”

The man seemed convinced. Regardless, Lucy opened her hand toward him again.

“…”

The ring was a one-time item. Therefore, the man was certain that he would die in the next attack.

Here, he began to rack his brain. The real princess was in front of him. If so, what he had kidnapped was the fake princess, and if so, why did the real princess appear in front of him? Could it be to save the fake princess?

The man who had answered that question moved his summoned beast subtly. It was not Lucy, but the fake princess.

“Look over there.”

“??”

The man pointed to a corner with his finger. There…

“Lucy… please save me!”

Perry was in agony, his body wrapped around a giant civet.

“Stop the magic, or else.”

As he clenched his fist, the civet squeezed Perry harder. Perry’s face distorted in pain as he cried out as the force increased.

“I don’t know what the cause and effect is, but you came here to save the fake princess, and if you want her back safely, you have to accept my demands. First… “Kill her.”

Before the man could finish his demands, Lucy calmly urged Perry to kill him.

“What… you said?”

“Kill me.”

“Did I think I was joking?”

He squeezed Perry even harder as if warning her. At that moment, Lucy’s face turned bright red.

“With this, one or two ribs…”

But why were his ribs hurting? The man was wondering that at that moment.

Lucy snapped her fingers. Then, the background surrounding the ship changed in an instant.

Perry disappeared, and the raccoon that had been wrapped around her was wrapped around the man.

Only then did the man realize that he had been squeezing himself.

“How did this happen… Huh…”

Unable to bear the pain, he first used ‘unsummoning’ to free himself from his bonds.

“Why did my summoned beast… More importantly, where did the fake princess go…”

He looked like he had no idea what was going on.

Lucy kindly explained the situation to him to incite his despair.

“Perry… If it was the fake princess, I would have already teleported her to a safe zone.”

“There’s no way, it was right in front of me just a moment ago.”

“I created it with an illusion.”

“An illusion..? Are you saying that I was under an illusion!?”

His calm face gradually crumpled in bewilderment, perhaps because he was shocked by the fact that he was under an illusion.

“There’s no way.. I was under an illusion.. This can’t happen..”

The man’s face became blank for a moment in shock.

“In life, there are things that you just can’t believe. In that case, I’ll take your life since it’s my victory.”

Lucy approached him, dragging her scythe. She was about to cut off the man’s neck when he shouted confidently.

“Wait!”

“??”

“Aren’t you curious… who ordered me to kidnap you?”

“Are you asking me to spare your life in exchange for information?”

The man nodded calmly.

It certainly wasn’t a bad story. If someone was after him, she needed to figure out the identity of the mastermind in preparation for the future.

After hearing the story, it wouldn’t be too late to kill him.

‘Since I could brainwash him and end up destroying himself like those people, it wouldn’t be bad to make him confess himself.’

Lucy, whose conscience was pricked, smiled refreshingly and said something she didn’t mean.

“Okay, if you tell me the truth, I’ll spare you in a special way.”

“Thank you. First, take a look at the order I was given.”

He took the scroll out of his pocket and spread it on the floor.

Inside the scroll… there was a magic circle drawn on it.

Lucy, who felt something was wrong, immediately distanced herself from the scroll.

Soon, a dark purple magic power began to pulsate from inside the scroll, and a strong magic wind began to blow.

“You’re lying to me; don’t you have any conscience or anything?”

The man raised his hand over the scroll, leaving Lucy, whose feet were trembling, behind him.

“I didn’t know that the scroll I received in preparation for the battle with the Great Demon would be used against the princess.”

The magic circle engraved on the scroll was a summoning magic. It was also a type of necromancy that summoned by offering up a large number of lives as sacrifices.

Lucy ran her hand through her fluttering hair and identified the summoned beast.

A crimson gate.

Something human-shaped walked out of it.

An undead with rotten, stained skin and wearing a crown.

Its two eyes were glowing red, and whenever it opened its mouth, it would spit out a chill that froze the space.

Desmond Lv.??

It was a summoned beast commonly known as the king of the undead.