Illusion Spell

While Leo was under distress, a woman's voice called out to comfort him, "It's okay, I'm here now. I'm here to guide you..."

Her words radiated with kindness and authority, warming his heart and weakening the effects of the recent nightmare.

Suddenly, a holy light of healing touched the adventurer's forehead, temporarily alleviating the mental trauma Leo was experiencing.

Beside the woman, a nervous male voice stuttered, "Wha-what happened to him? Why did he suddenly scream?"

"Shush!" The same woman's voice interrupted the other man's rambling. "Please remain quiet. Otherwise I won't be able to save him!"

After dealing with the other party, the woman brought her face over to Leo's gaze, revealing herself to be Sarah.

Cradling his head within her lap, she attempted to soothe his mind again, "The danger has receded. Your life is currently in my hands, as well as the gods I serve. Do not be distressed, for there is ultimately nothing for you to fear."

Despite being utterly confused, Leo took in every word she had spoken, not daring to miss a single syllable. His instincts warned him that he was at the precipice of an abyss and that he needed to keep hold of this final thread if he did not want to lose himself.

"No man can live without fear," Sarah's voice continued, "but they also cannot allow themselves to be consumed by it. No matter how cruel it may seem, you must hold on..."

The gentle light that touched Leo's forehead began spreading itself into his mind, caressing his thoughts and restoring the original mental state he once had.

Leo's spine suddenly arched upwards before slowly drifting back down again. His eyes closed shut as his mouth exhaled a long, calming sigh. A few moments later, he slowly reopened his eyes and stared at Sarah who was steadily watching over him.

Words could hardly express the gratitude in his heart.

"Th-thank you. Thank you for--," Leo's voice suddenly turned hoarse and became overwhelmed with emotion. Streaks of tears slid down the sides of his face. "I'm-I..."

"You're alright." Sarah responded with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, this is reality."

"Hmm...."

A moment went by before Leo eventually realized the position of where he was laying. Afterwards, he groaned softly as he attempted to extricate himself from his teammate's lap. Over at the side, he could sense Brian's nervousness from just outside his vision.

Leo quickly tried to stand up, only to soon find that his legs lacked sufficient strength. His clothes were currently stained with a bit of mud, similar to what had happened in his dreams. During this brief period, the horrific memories started to reemerge in his head again, but Leo was able to successfully force them down thanks to his teammates' previous healings.

Upon witnessing his struggles, Sarah tried advising him, "You're still not in any condition to continue fighting. Please take a rest or you might injure yourself even more."

"I-I just want to know about the others' conditions," Leo weakly replied to assure her worries.

Once he realized he was incapable of gathering strength, Leo reluctantly decided to stay put and inquire about the present situation. Despite the state he was in, he knew that there were more urgent matters to attend to.

Glancing up from his position, Leo noticed that his vehicle still remained in its barrier state.

"Alex and Judy are doing fine," Sarah said, giving him a concerning look. "They entered battle not long after you fell down."

In support of her statement, intense fighting could be overheard beyond the obstruction of Leo's carrier. Ringing sounds of metal and fire spread throughout the area, delivering death to all the monsters that had revealed themselves to the adventurers.

Dashing through the battleground, Alex swung his sword aggressively at anything that moved within his line of sight. The radius where his blade could reach became a death zone that the monsters desperately tried to avoid. The warrior's movements exuded both cold efficiency and calm ferocity, enacting vengeance on the monsters that harmed his ally.

Guarding his flank, Judy was continuously summoning fire wherever convenient. Ignoring her depleting mana, she trapped the region with her flames to cut off any exit of escape from Alex's assault.

"They got upset," Sarah stated simply. "When you fell down after that flash of light occurred, all of us were frightened into thinking that you might have died. It would've only been your third quest assignment, too.

"So right now, they are currently killing those monsters as a way to vent their feelings."

"I see..." Leo slowly nodded his head as screams erupted from behind the carrier.

After a couple minutes had gone by, the signs of battle finally stopped. Eventually, the figures of Alex and Judy reappeared from behind the wall. Each of their attires were slightly stained and ruffled, but no signs of injuries could be seen on their bodies.

"Leo, you're awake!" Alex exclaimed in relief upon confirming his friend was conscious again. Crouching down on the muddy floor, he opened the visor of his helmet and worriedly inquired, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine for now." Leo rubbed the back of his head groggily. "I had just been under some kind of illusion."

Judy looked surprised.

"Illusion? You mean that flash of light from earlier?"

"Yeah," Leo confirmed. Taking a moment to refresh his memories, he asked his friends, "Eh, how long was I actually out for?"

"About seven minutes," Sarah replied. She chose this time to divulge the sequence of events that occurred after Leo had fallen. "You weren't unconscious for very long, but during the time you were gone your body was thrashing around uncontrollably like you were under some severe pain. We had all initially wanted to focus on recovering your condition but unfortunately there were still a group of monsters we had to fend off.

"I tried my best to wake you up earlier with my healing magic but there was some mysterious resistance blocking my spells, so it took longer than expected before I could fully release you from that nightmare. By then I had been afraid your mind would've already been beyond recovery."

After Sarah finished sharing her account, Leo remained silent to process what he had heard. To think that all the things he went through in that dream only happened within a short time span. It was frightening to imagine what he would've continued to endure if Sarah had not been there to rescue him with her healing magic.

Leo heaved out a shaky breath.

"I really owe you one, Sarah. Seriously, I can't thank you enough for saving me."

Sarah kindly accepted his words with a gentle smile.

"I was merely doing my job as a responsible priestess. Rather, you should be receiving our gratitude for what you did before the battle."

"What do you mean?" Leo looked baffled.

Due to the illusion's traumatic effects lingering within his subconsciousness, his mind struggled to comprehend all the recent events that occurred on this exploration. Fortunately, there was still a sturdy object nearby to help remind him of what he'd done before he had fallen under that nightmare.

As Leo was contemplating, his attention inevitably shifted towards the transformed carrier, which quickly allowed him to recall how he had previously reacted against the particular monster with the strange white bulb.

"Ah!" Leo smacked his forehead in shock. Fear suddenly spread through his nerves. "That damn creature with the light bulb! Where is it? Did you guys kill it?"

Although his friends had engaged the group of monsters and defeated them, Leo was concerned if that specific creature he identified had managed to evade the previous battle. If it's somehow still continuing to lurk about, then it would impose a further risk to this quest.

In response to Leo's anxiety, Alex, still crouching down, firmly grasped his shield from his arm and lowered it to reveal his hand. Laid within his palm was a familiar-looking tentacle.

"Not to worry," he calmly explained. "When Judy and I had fought against them, we made sure that the monster who cast that illusion was the first one to be killed. That bright light won't be showing up again."

Seeing the severed appendage in front of him, Leo sighed with enormous relief. Since the enemy was now dead, there was one less danger to be on guard for.

"It seems that we underestimated the beings dwelling here," Judy carefully spoke out to her team, presenting her own personal thoughts. "Although it hasn't been completely confirmed, it appears that this new species possesses the ability to weaponize a dangerous branch of magic."

Leo nodded seriously in agreement and, alongside everyone else, started analyzing the specific characteristics associated with this illusion.

"The spell I was under only impaired my sense of perception while leaving the rest of you guys alone. This strongly implies that one has to look directly into that flash of light to be fully under its influence," Leo described the details from memory, remembering how he had witnessed the bright light before jumping off his carrier. "It specifically only targets the mind, but it still requires the need to be visually transmitted in order to actually affect an individual."

"The spell also appears to have a wide range of coverage," Sarah offered her own conjectures, having sharply taken into account the distance from the start of the incident. "And I believe it might even have the potential to affect multiple people at once so long as Leo's aforementioned conditions are met."