Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 210 When Everything is Satisfied

All the satisfaction he had just experienced was nothing but a false illusion, which made Elias's scalp tingle.

At this moment, Elias was extremely grateful that he had invested a great deal of money in the rune sword, even fusing it with his soul. And this soul-bound weapon did not disappoint him, actually saving his life at this critical moment. Otherwise, he might have really become addicted to it, lost in this endless battle.

And then, that was the end of it.

When he was completely immersed in this boundless satisfaction, he no longer remembered what he was supposed to do. Just like before, he had even forgotten how he had ended up in this state—the subspace known as the Underworld, the humanoid phantom with a jackal's head, and the black clouds that swallowed everything and descended from the sky. He finally remembered everything.

"In other words, I am currently trapped in this dark cloud... that dark cloud is eroding my consciousness and even changing my soul!"

We have to find a way to get out of here quickly!

Realizing this, Elias quickly grabbed his rune sword and began to explore.

Breaking through illusions is indeed not easy. After all, everything in front of you looks so real that no one can see the slightest falsehood. In addition, the environment is so insidious that it even keeps satisfying the needs of those trapped in the illusion. This means that even if those trapped in the illusion realize something is wrong, they are more willing to immerse themselves in this false happiness.

After all, even if it's a false happiness, it's still happiness. As for the reality of the material world... is it necessarily real?
On the other hand, breaking illusions isn't as difficult as one might imagine. Just like Elias is now, as long as he has a rune sword to help him distinguish between illusion and reality, he can still differentiate between them.

After Elias gripped the rune sword tightly, everything before him finally returned to darkness—dark clouds collapsing from the sky. But at this moment, this darkness brought Elias immense peace of mind.

This is probably the biggest difference between reality and illusion. The profoundness that the material world possesses, accumulated over a long period of time, cannot be provided by a false environment.

However, this is, after all, the subspace, and its real weight is not as obvious as that of the material world—in a sense, the subspace is the gap between reality and illusion.

"It must be those so-called gods who perished here. Their will was too strong, so even after their annihilation, their consciousness continued to exert its influence, and even coalesced to create this independent kingdom that transcends the material world..."

Recalling his knowledge about the warp, Elias tried to find a way out of the predicament—clearly, compared to the crocodile-headed monster before, the black cloud collapsing from the sky was the true defense mechanism of this warp.

"To start with an illusion that directly targets the soul... The original owner of this place certainly had a grand scheme!"

Such a powerful defense mechanism naturally implies extreme danger, but extreme danger often also means great opportunity—just like now, after realizing this great danger, Elias also realized that this subspace may be hiding a huge gain that even he cannot refuse.

But before he can reap this reward, he still needs to deal with the two competitors who came in with him.

Yes, a competitor.

Although he had no grudge against either the eagle-headed sun god or the ancient serpent, since it involved competition, Elias, as the chosen champion of the god of courage, had to come out on top.

"Blame fate if you must; it's your own fault for coming here with me."

With this in mind, Elias began to explore the location of the ancient serpent and the eagle-headed sun god.

Elias was confident of victory in this competition. Unlike the two local natives who knew nothing, he had a considerable understanding of the warp. He didn't even need to take action himself; he only needed to activate the warp's defense mechanisms to completely disqualify his opponent from the competition.

Just like it is now.

With the help of the runic sword, Elias was no longer misled by the dark clouds, and in just a moment, he had already located the position of the eagle-headed sun god—

Meanwhile, the eagle-headed sun god was constantly pecking at the black mist, its rear end sticking out like that of a real bird.

If the sun god were in the body of an eagle, that would be quite normal, but since the sun god is still in human form, this posture is somewhat incongruous.

However, after temporarily putting away the rune sword, Elias saw what the eagle-headed sun god was doing—it turned out that in the illusion, the eagle-headed sun god had transformed into a bird and was fighting with the ancient serpent, which explained its appearance.

But at that very moment, the eagle-headed sun god suddenly raised his head in confusion, as if he had sensed something.

Elias, who had been observing all along, naturally sensed this sudden anomaly.

"You sensed it was an illusion?" Elias had to admit that the falcon-headed sun god was indeed something special. Even though his needs had been met, he could still sense the anomaly hidden within, which was enough to prove his keen perception.

If this eagle-headed sun god named Ujat were given some time, he might actually be able to escape the predicament using only his consciousness.

"Unfortunately, no matter how talented you are, you still ended up meeting me."

Thinking of this, Elias sighed inwardly.

However regrettable it may be, Elias showed no sign of mercy in his actions—he raised his rune sword and released a bit of the indomitable spirit from the God of Courage.

Then, as if sensing something, the eagle-headed, human-bodied sun god Ujat once again became engrossed in the illusory battle.

Judging from his triumphant expression, it's clear he's unlikely to wake up again.

"Illusory satisfaction is still satisfaction...at least you experienced that so-called power, didn't you?"

After dealing with the sun god Ujat, Elias once again drew his rune sword and searched through the dark clouds until he found the location of the ancient serpent.

Just like before, Elias removed his rune sword, and without this layer of protection, he was naturally pulled into the illusion where the ancient serpent was.

"So they just eat mammoths..."

Elias shook his head.

Although he had initially regarded the ancient serpent as a top expert when he saw it multitasking, it now seemed that the serpent was completely absorbed in its environment—it appeared oblivious to everything, even less capable than the eagle-headed sun god.

"It seems there's nothing else I need to do here."

Seeing that the ancient serpent had completely indulged in false satisfaction, Elias stopped paying attention and prepared to explore this subspace alone.

However, just as Elias was about to draw his rune sword and leave this illusion, he suddenly discovered that his sword seemed to be malfunctioning.

"What...is going on?"

Elias gripped the hilt of the rune sword tightly, but he never felt the deep, bone-chilling pain. Instead, a strange sense of power flowed through his body—clearly, this was the feeling of his needs being met, but this was not what he wanted.

"My consciousness has been confused again... by those black clouds!"

At this moment, Elias could feel that the disturbance to his consciousness was becoming increasingly intense, as if something was blocking his eyes, preventing him from seeing reality.

"How could this be! The defense mechanism is actually increasing the pressure!"

As if he had thought of something, Elias immediately focused his attention on the ancient serpent.

As it turned out, his judgment was indeed correct.

Those dark clouds were not caused by him; he was merely an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire.

The boundless clouds and mist gathered together and surrounded the ancient serpent.

However, the more the dark clouds gathered, the more the ancient serpent frowned.

It's as if some need hasn't been met yet.

(End of this chapter)