Death Poker was a long-range weapon, and it exhausted the player’s Mana. Even though Feng Bujue held them in his hand and used the cards as a close-ranged weapon, after hitting the target, the four cards in his hand disappeared. The energy that formed the cards transmuted into actual damage, so the system disintegrated the item’s physical form.
As the black smoke leaked out from the monster’s wound, its body desiccated and shrank. It felt as if it was nothing other than the layer of skin outside, there were no internal organs. Once the black smoke leaked out, it deflated like a balloon and fluttered to the ground.
Feng Bujue let go of the arm that he was holding earlier because the arm had turned into flabby skin. He did not put the Death Poker away instantly but controlled another card and shot it at the muddy pool of black smoke.
And the result was… there was no visible effect. Death Poker cut into the ground. The black smoke was shapeless, so it was not damaged. By then, Feng Bujue’s teammates had recovered from their immobility. However, since the monster had already been dealt with, there was nothing that they could do.
“Brother Feng, were you not immobilized by the monsters earlier?” Invincible Champion asked.
Feng Bujue had his head lowered, studying the black smoke on the ground, and he answered absent-mindedly, “No. Did something stop all of you from moving earlier?”
“It’s hard to explain,” Zen Dream answered. “It was not a complete immobilization, but the more you wish to help, the more uncontrollable the body becomes.”
“In terms of system setting, it should have been a very powerful psychological attack,” Ye Zhi mumbled before turning to Feng Bujue. “Perhaps you’re not affect because you have the plot armor?”
“I don’t think so,” Feng Bujue replied. “When the system was introducing the main character’s plot armor, the effect was that the plot armor will forcibly ’stop’ any death-inducing event. It could be an instant death when Life Points are still one hundred percent, or it could be slight damage when Life Points are at one percent.”
As he spoke, he walked through the door. If one looked closer, one would notice that the pool of black smoke was slowly moving back into the manor. “The plot armor will prevent my death, but it won’t nullify all negative influences on me. If it immunizes me against damage to Life Points and illusory influence, this buff should have been called the invincible armor.”
Feng Bujue followed the black smoke and came to stand before the wall. “To put it simpler, I will lose Life Points and am not immune to skill effects, just like the rest of you, but I simply won’t die. The monster’s first attack was not fatal. Its attack or speed proved that it was only a mob. If I didn’t stop it and chose to be hit, then I would have lost Life Points like normal. Of course, I did block it, and the monster’s second attack was meant to kill me on the spot In fact, the attack was so fast I barely had the chance to glance at it. I didn’t have the confidence I was able to avoid it, and if I was hit, I would have died. Therefore, when facing this kind of attack that would have blown my head off, the plot armor came into use and made the monster miss.”
The black smoke crawled to the wall before rising and leaking into the magic circle on the wall like a liquid.
“Then why weren’t you affected by the monster’s psychological attack and even managed to kill it?” Ye Zhi asked.
“Before you asked that question…” Feng Bujue studied the magic circle and spoke without turning his head around. “Why don’t you think for yourself? At that moment, other than the plot armor, what condition differentiated me from the rest of you.”
Ye Zhi thought about it for a few seconds. “Where you stood? The level of Sorcery?”
After she gave these two stipulations, her expression shifted, and she gasped in understanding. “You were holding the monster’s arm.”
“Specifically,” Feng Bujue replied, “it’s having constant and direct physical contact.”
“Oh, that’s why. If you touch the monster’s body, you won’t be affected by the psychological attack?” Invincible Champion asked.
“That is both correct and incorrect,” Feng Bujue answered.
“Can you please stop speaking in riddles?” Invincible Champion groused.
“I believe, the immobility that you mentioned was a kind of area of effect skill that can crowd control a large group of people,” Feng Bujue explained. “And the most likely reason that I was spared was because I was holding the arm of a monster.”
He scratched his nose out of habit. “But I don’t think it was the monster that I held that used that skill.”
Feng Bujue had already put Death Poker away. He took out Robots-Must-Die from his inventory. He ground the blade against the wall and said, “When the monster showed up for the first time, all of you subconsciously staggered backward, and that proved that you still had mobility.”
Invincible Champion cut in. “I was about to ask you about that… A demon-looking thing suddenly charged out from the dark. It was one thing for you to not move, but you did not even appear to have shivered. Are you even human?”
“I have a strong heart,” Feng Bujue answered casually before finishing his earlier sentence. “When I caught the monster’s first attack, with your fighting capability, you would have realized what was happening then. However, none of you were able to do anything to help. In other words, almost at the same time as I caught the monster’s arm, all of you were affected by the crowd control skill.”
“Yes, I believe it did occur in that same moment,” Zen Dream confirmed.
“Then, if we see this from another perspective,” Feng Bujue said, “if the skill was activated by the monster itself, why didn’t it use the skill the moment it showed up? Wouldn’t it be easier to attack after the enemies were all immobilized?”
“You mean there are some other things here,” Invincible Champion said as his expression turned severe. He aimed his flashlight toward the two darkened corridors.
“The answer is right before you,” Feng Bujue answered, and by then, he had scratched the magic circle until it turned blurry.
The whole manor and the garden outside disappeared, and they stood instead in a blackened field. The only thing remaining was the wall that stood before Feng Bujue.
The bag of skin also revealed its true identity. It appeared to be the carcass of some kind of farm animal, but its previous form was impossible to tell because its skin was forcibly stretched to mimic that of a human being. It looked like dough pressed into a mold.
“First, this magic circle used a summoning skill,” Feng Bujue said. “Only after the skill was completed could it use the crowd control skill.” He put the blade away. “That sequence couldn’t be changed; it had to unleash the monster that could kill us first before using the skill to lock us down. Based on my overall observation, the crowd control skill needed channeling and couldn’t be maintained for a long time.”
“You mean to say this magic circle is a conscious creature?” Invincible Champion asked.
“I believe that the Well of Resentment in this scenario should have the same quality as this magic circle,” Feng Bujue said. “Of course, its power will be stronger than this magic circle.”
He turned around and walked back to the street. “Not counting those in the city, there is no one other building around here other than those decrepit looking farming huts. It is strange for a manor like this, one that comes with a garden, to show up in a place that should be nothing but farming fields.”
Feng Bujue brushed past the other five, and the five looked at each other before moving to follow.
“The appearance of a wall after opening the door made me suspect that everything was an illusion,” Feng Bujue explained. “Even if this scenario counts as a haunted scenario, it is so illogical to have an entrance that looks like that. When I saw the magic circle clearly and remembered its function, I understood everything. It could only manifest its illusion to such a state because there is nothing around here but an open field.”
He raised his finger to point behind him. “If the magic circle was not painted on a ruined wall but an actual manor…”
“Then the illusion it formed might be as huge as a maze…” Invincible Champion finished Feng Bujue’s words as the memory from the House of Usher returned to his mind.
“The complications and wealth of the actual surroundings it was provided to work with decided the level of the illusion,” Feng Bujue explained. “For a slate of wall, it was already its maximum limit to come up with this kind of disguise. If it needed to come complete with rooms, furniture, multiple floors, and other details, that was not going to be completed on a piece of farmland.”
Since the beginning, Galileo and Copernicus had not said a word. They had been observing the others while sharing wordless gazes with each other. They only sneaked in a few words.
But then, Galileo asked a question, which was less of a question but more of a lure. “Er… Brother Feng, do you think… this kind of magic circle will be replicated in the mountains where the main mission will be?”
Wouldn’t it be easier if you just tell me there is? Feng Bujue grumbled internally but did not let it show on his face. “Ha… And I thought you would first ask me… why haven’t we heard anything about triggering a side quest or the reward from killing the monster and undoing the magic circle?”
“Now that you mention it, why hasn’t there been a notification like that?” Zen Dream lit another cigarette.
“Assuming that this kind of magic circle that knew how to use different annoying skills was our main enemy in this scenario, in the mountains described by the main quest, there should be many similar magic circles, and the most powerful one will be painted at the bottom of the well,” Feng Bujue said. “Then… the magic circle that we just took down should be counted as an ’extra’, one that we shouldn’t have come across if we followed the plot normally.”
“So?” Invincible Champion asked.
Before Feng Bujue answered, Ye Zhi said,” So… destroying the magic circle itself should count as its own reward.”