You promised to wreak havoc on the dungeon, but instead you've got Dragon Slime!

The leader finally uttered a few words, his voice broken, "Bakus... he mobilized more people... not just mercenaries, but also... the acting commander's troops."

Ron narrowed his eyes and pressed his palm against the rune array. The runes lit up, like a snake slithering along his palm.

"How many people?"

The leader trembled and swallowed a mouthful of blood: "Two thousand... more than that, Crimson Rock Territory... Gray Sail Harbor... they want to join forces... to seal off the Dark River."

The air suddenly became heavy. Claudia stared coldly at him, and pushed her spear forward again.

Ron chuckled softly, "Two thousand? Very good."

He turned around and pushed the console to a new page.

Within the rune array, light and shadow flickered, illuminating all the nodes in the underground river tributaries, the depths of the grotto, and the furnace area.

"Then let's wait for them to arrive."

The control panel vibrated, and a deep rumble came from the depths of the cave.

New monster groups are forming, and more stone walls are expanding.

Ron raised his hand, his palm covering the rune chain. The night wind blew in, carrying the stench of blood and mud, and his voice was as cold as iron.

"Since they want to block it, let them see with their own eyes that the grottoes cannot be sealed off."

The firelight flickered, and the mercenary camp could no longer hold out.

The remnants of the Skullcrusher Axe Regiment stumbled and fled, carrying broken flags; the Ironscale Hunters' crossbow formation was completely destroyed, with bows and crossbows scattered all over the ground, and no one dared to turn back to pick them up; the Dark Swamp Poison Shadows scattered and fled, their dark shadows sweeping across the edge of the forest and never showing their faces again.

The sounds of battle gradually faded in the night wind, leaving only the neighing of horses and screams.

Some fled in disarray, their weapons and armor discarded, while others knelt on the ground, burying their heads in their hands and awaiting death.

That so-called "elite third regiment" is now nothing but a pile of broken armor and corpses.

Bacchus stood on the high platform, his face as dark as ink.

He gripped the scepter tightly, his knuckles turning white, and his eyes were bloodshot.

He watched the camp collapse, a breath stuck in his chest, and through gritted teeth squeezed out a few words: "Useless, all of them are useless."

The wind in the North carries a fishy smell at night, as if the blood of the dead has not yet been wiped away and has been blown up.

The battle report from Rift Rock Fortress had just arrived when the entire battle map was already covered with red flags, pressing in from the front lines to the rear, one after another, without giving anyone a chance to catch their breath.

Bacchus stood there, saying nothing.

No one dared to utter a sound. He had just thrown a chair off the platform, the wood shattering into pieces, sharp edges scattered around his feet. He panted as he slowly descended the platform.

The staff officer next to him tried to come up and say something, but before he could even open his mouth, he was slapped across the face: "We've come to your doorstep, and you haven't even reacted. What are you guys for?"

No one answered, and even the candlelight inside the tent was extinguished.

Meanwhile, far away on the front lines of the outer realms, Ron had already led the main force to the "City of Shadows".

He stood on high ground and looked ahead. The terrain was typical of low-lying areas shrouded in mist. The city walls were shrouded in fog and could not be seen to the end, as if the entire city had been enveloped in another world.

The spies returned in three groups during the day, each with a different story.

One person said they saw soldiers patrolling back and forth on the wall, another said they saw the altar glowing, and yet another said they saw nothing at all.

This isn't right.

Ron activated the system directly, expanding his field of vision.

[System notification: The target area is affected by a "phantom barrier," reducing its detectability to 42%.]

He frowned.

Viser, who was behind, came over and whispered, "Is it an illusion-type core?"

“It doesn’t look like it.” Ron stared at the distant city walls. “It doesn’t look like an illusion; it’s a mixture of reality and illusion.”

After he finished speaking, a new notification popped up in the system:

[Side Quest Triggered: The barrier of the Phantom City requires breaking through three real nodes to open the main gate.]

Ron glanced at the map, marked several possible areas, and then said, "We'll lay the cables from three sides, with Blackbone, Poison Spider, and Shadow Sentinel forming three branches. I need the coordinates of the first node."

After saying that, he personally opened the monster assignment module.

Two teams of bone snakes, one team of ghost spirits, and ambush troops with tentacles circled around to the foot of the mountain on the east side.

The ground was slippery and the wind was strong, but these monsters moved along the ground without moving an inch.

He pressed the refresh button again, letting the bone dragon hover overhead. The wind was fierce at night, and the bone dragon flew around, pressing against the clouds, but didn't find anything. However, on its return, its tail suddenly veered sharply to one side.

Bang!

A giant phantom was severed in mid-air, half of it falling to the ground, cutting a gap in the hillside as well.

Ron looked up instantly, and the system displayed new text:

[The phantom node has been triggered and is in the process of parsing...]

A gust of wind suddenly rushed into the city, sweeping away a large portion of the mist on the ground like water flowing from a burst dam, revealing a section of the actual city wall.

Ron sneered, "The first skin has been peeled off."

Where is the second one?

He scanned the map and suddenly noticed a circular pedestal rising from the ground behind him.

That's not terrain; it's an illusion called "Original Record Point."

His eyes sharpened: "Tap it."

As the forward team approached, a system warning popped up:

[The node is controlled by consciousness perception and requires the main target to enter; otherwise, it will be reset.]

Ron raised his hand and set off alone.

He had no guards, nor was he accompanied by a commander. He crossed the fog line alone and stepped into the second node area.

As he walked, he grew colder and colder, and began to hear a cacophony of sounds: voices, cries, explosions, and the very order he had given when he was atop the tower to abandon the flanks.

You abandoned us...

You're not human anymore...

[You want to live, but everyone else deserves to die?]

The sounds grew increasingly chaotic, like needles being pierced into his head.

Ron stopped in his tracks.

He knew this wasn't a hallucination, but rather a "backlash from hallucinatory memories."

The City of Illusions doesn't create illusions; it creates the illusions you "remember"—these sounds, these events, he truly experienced.

Ron gritted his teeth; he knew how to break this.

He didn't get where he is today through emotions; he got there through calculation, composure, and ruthlessness.

"After doing all that, you're only now starting to torment me?"

He stepped into the center of the illusion array, took out a piece of energy crystal, and stuck it into the ground.

boom!

The entire node exploded, and the illusion vanished.

The system popped up another notification:

[Second node successfully cracked. Phantom City analysis progress: 66%.]

The fog dissipated further, revealing most of the city gate.

Ron retreated to the camp, and Viser approached him and whispered, "There's another one, possibly underground."

“Transfer the batch from Poison Abyss,” Ron said. “Send two groups of Tentacle Ambush troops to scout the route.”

He had barely finished speaking when the ground suddenly trembled.

It wasn't an earthquake; it was a system response across the entire region.

[Third node - automatically activated, entering the guard activation phase.]

With a loud rumble, a gigantic phantom golem rose from the bottom of the city, its limbs dragging chains, its eyes gleaming with pale red energy fluctuations.

Ron turned and stared at it.

"It seems I'll have to solve this final problem myself."

When the phantom golem rose from the ground, the entire ground shook three times.

It wasn't that it moved, but rather the oppressive feeling, like an old bell being suddenly struck, making one's chest feel tight.

It didn't open its mouth or make a sound, but it was "seeing," or rather, it was a detection-type phantom creature.

As long as you enter its monitored area, it can pull you into its trap.

Ron moved.

Before it could make a move, he pressed the "lock and fight" command in the system, and was immediately pulled into the illusion space.

[System notification: You have entered the consciousness mapping field. Please proceed with caution.]

The whole world was as if it had been splashed with ink, instantly turning into boundless darkness.

There was no light on the ground, and no moon in the sky.

He couldn't see anything around him except the ground beneath his feet, but the ground was soft, like mud or blood. Each step he took made a clattering sound.

"These are my memories," he knew very well.

The illusions weren't random occurrences; they were created based on his deepest "self-loathing."

Act One has begun.

He saw himself standing atop the tower of the former capital, ordering the throwing of fireballs to destroy an entire city.

More than two thousand people died that day, including several of his former veterans.

They watched his retreating figure, each one like a whip lashing at him.

In the second act, during the assault on Rift Fortress, he knew the vanguard would die, but he still ordered them to charge.