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

Those men were wearing tattered armor, and blood was splattered all over the ground.

A system notification sounded: [The illusion simulates your real memories. If your beliefs waver, the node will be forcibly locked.]

This wasn't the first time he'd encountered this illusion mechanism, but even he couldn't remain unaffected by this close-quarters combat.

He paused for a moment, looking at those people—

"I remember how you died more clearly than you do."

"I ordered your lives to be sent out, but not to save yourselves, but to win."

Chapter 159

“If we don’t win today, it won’t just be you; the entire front, the entire outer region, and the entire northern territory will collapse.”

"If you want to blame someone, blame me for still standing here today."

After saying that, he stepped forward and walked directly through the illusions into the center of the formation.

The system vibrated instantly:

[The host has confirmed the integrity of the belief; the node is currently undergoing stable parsing...]

The second illusion's core has been destroyed.

Outside.

The phantom golem suddenly shuddered violently, and a silver-white energy crack burst out from its body, as if some core inside its belly had been shattered.

With a bang, it exploded on the spot, scattering fragments all over the ground.

Thirty percent of the barrier collapsed, revealing most of the illusory city in the distance. The "mist" that had been there seemed to have been swept away by the wind, revealing walls covered with black stones, with rows of strange incantations carved on the top of the walls.

Viser stood not far away, his scalp tingling with surprise.

"He's really broken." The adjutant next to him swallowed hard.

Ron sprang out of the illusion space, his face even colder than before he went in.

He stood there and uttered only two words: "Gather."

The entire camp moved in response.

The monster spawn module was fully activated, and poisonous spiders, bone snakes, and wasteland cavalry began to be deployed. Even the bone dragon took to the air again, preparing to suppress and attack from above.

Ron stopped talking nonsense.

He looked towards the city gate of the Phantom City, where a system notification had already popped up:

[Analysis progress of the City of Shadows is 100%.]

[Permissions granted: Should we choose a direct attack?]

He clicked "yes".

The next second, a transparent passage suddenly rose up 300 meters ahead of the ground, like a real tunnel squeezed out from the illusionary rift, leading directly to the gate of the Phantom City.

"The entire army advances."

As soon as Ron finished speaking, the system issued another command:

[A new enemy is about to appear: the Phantom City Lord—Grayface, has sensed the fluctuations in his dominance and is preparing to intervene.]

His lips twitched, but he didn't speak; instead, he took a step forward.

"Just in time."

He had long wanted to see what the real person in charge of this Phantom City was all about.

This time, Ron led the bone dragons and two thousand phantom units directly to the gates of the Phantom City.

As soon as the illusion rift formed, a chilling wind blew out from within, devoid of any human presence.

The door didn't open.

But the entire wall was moved.

It wasn't just shaking; the entire wall seemed to come alive, surging out a large expanse of gray ripples from left to right. It was as if it wanted to "swallow" their entire formation.

A system prompt pops up:

The Phantom Ruler "Grayface" has activated the defensive barrier.

[Illusion Module interference level increased. Domination authority reduced to 67%.]

Ron immediately understood that this was the prelude to a forced takeover. Grayface wasn't waiting for them to breach the city; instead, he planned to proactively "merge the consciousness domains," pulling the entire army into the illusionary realm.

He immediately invoked the array commands:

"Cavalry advance first, Phantom Force in semi-transparent form positioned in front. Bone Dragon, prepare to sweep the screen, clear a 30-degree fan-shaped area for me."

The order was given, and the entire formation pressed forward.

The Wasteland Cavalry are all speed-oriented, equipped with special evasion modules, allowing them to maintain normal charges even in the illusionary space. Ron specifically configured three versions with "anti-interference nodes" for this battle.

The illusionary realm opened up instantly.

The city, which had been like a still, phantom city, suddenly came to life on the entire wall.

A gray area has appeared.

He had no real body, only a gray cloth bag that resembled a person or a wisp of mist, draped in the air. He wore a bone crown, and a phantom staff dragged on the ground, with a dozen or so soul chains hanging in front of him, each one trembling.

He stood on the wall, not saying a word, just standing there like a spellcasting afterimage.

Ron glanced at it and immediately concluded that this thing was not human, but an appendage of the rules.

The gray surface moved.

With a downward point of its long staff, the entire city wall folded down like a piece of paper.

Yes, it flipped down, like a book falling from the sky, its folded pages hitting their faces.

The cavalry at the front line had only charged in three ranks when half of them were wiped out.

Three system warnings appeared in succession:

[The Illusion Storm has begun.]

[Combat units are in abnormal disarray.]

[Some phantom units are currently experiencing a backlash.]

"Forced cutting".

Before it could pull a second time, Ron used system privileges to sever the connection with that area and wipe out all the "infected" units on the spot.

Although this resulted in some injuries, it saved the back row.

He knew very well that this battle could not be won by sheer numbers; it was a contest of who was more familiar with the illusion and who could first pinpoint the core of the gray face.

He gritted his teeth and pulled out a new template from the system—

[Core Demolition Team]

This is an evolved version of the "Poison Resistance Template" previously obtained in Snake Bone Valley. It can create "Illusion Interference Resistant Armored Monsters," but the cost of creating it is three times the refresh energy consumption.

He didn't care about anything else and directly pulled out fifteen of them, deploying them on both flanks.

"Don't worry about whether the other side is fake or not, just blow up the city wall."

After he finished speaking, he started moving himself.

He darted forward, following the left wing, moving very quickly. He bumped into several illusionary pits along the way; those pits looked like water, but stepping into them meant entering an abyss.

But he didn't even look at it, and directly used his bone spikes to clear a path, sweeping across the area.

He knew the rules of illusion: even if he didn't shatter it, it could only vaguely imitate him, and he could seize control as long as he was "more ferocious" than the illusion.

A few dozen meters ahead, three phantom officers suddenly jumped out in front of him. They were all wearing dark cloaks, and their figures were very similar to his. They were also as fast as him.

This is not an ordinary illusion; it is a "Ron Simulation".

Grayface noticed that he had imitated the fighting style from Grayface's memory.

But Ron didn't back down.

He lunged forward and delivered a sweeping blow to the one on the far left.

The bone blade sliced ​​through, but missed.

That's fake.

The real one was on the right. In that instant, he spun around, kicked off from his feet, and with all his might, plunged the bone blade into the chest of the one on the right.

boom!

The opponent's body exploded into a cloud of mist.

A system prompt pops up:

[The illusion has been broken; the control disturbance has decreased.]

Behind them, the bone dragon also moved.

With a roar, it swooped down from the sky, spewing out a stream of blue-white flames—not ordinary fire, but an illusion solvent.

With one spit, the entire wall melted away.

The gray surface finally moved.

It turned its head and looked down, as if it was getting a little anxious.

Ron smirked, thinking to himself: I've been waiting for you to make a move for ages.

With a flick of his finger, five illusionary demolition soldiers circled around to the flank and began their charge.

At the same time, the system notification appeared:

[The target core is currently fluctuating.]

[The City of Shadows - The second node's defenses have weakened.]

[Should we initiate domination/takeover?]

"open."