The rapidly depleting golden liquid within the Wrist Guard Crystal Stone brought Blake back to clarity instantly.

He swiftly retrieved another spare Sixth Level Mental Protection Witchcraft from his arms—a bone pendant engraved with thorn patterns.

Spiritual Power surged in, and the pendant emitted a pale glow, instantly constructing a second layer of "Thorny Heart Barrier" on his body surface.

Only after adding a layer of insurance did Blake dare to observe his surroundings more carefully.

He noticed that not all the wizards had succumbed.

About twenty to thirty people, like him, remained clear-headed, having evidently employed high-level protection methods.

However, because they didn’t have Blake’s ability to conceal their presence, they were currently suffering a frenzied assault from numerous tentacles.

These clear-headed wizards had already spontaneously gathered together. The brilliance of witchcraft continuously flared, repelling the attacking tentacles and attempting to attack the meat walls in search of a way out.

"Fortunately, the situation hasn’t reached its worst. As long as these main forces can stabilize their positions, break this ’cage’ together, and then rescue those trapped in illusions..."

Blake had just felt a glimmer of hope when a sudden change occurred!

Perhaps the wizards’ counterattacks had enraged the Beast, or caused enough pain, as the entire giant cavity violently trembled, emitting a deep yet penetrating hum.

This hum was not merely sound, but more like a roar acting directly on the soul realm!

Crack!

Another crisp, overwhelmingly clear sound of shattering from soul perception!

Blake’s pupils shrank abruptly, incredulously experiencing the newly risen "Thorny Heart Barrier" shattering inch by inch like fragile glass, dissipating into nothingness.

The glow on that bone pendant dimmed instantly, and the rune on its surface fell silent.

"...This kind of power?!"

Blake’s mind was in turmoil.

Another Sixth Level Protective Witchcraft, just crushed so easily?

The intensity of the Psychic Shock contained in just a roar from this Beast definitely reached the Seventh Level!

He swiftly lowered his head again and looked at his left wrist.

The "Heart Barrier Bracelet" continued to emit a stable, gentle glow, faithfully performing its duty.

The Liquid Refined Gold within the Crystal Stone, though consuming at an alarming rate, wasn’t depleted in an instant; it continued to resist the omnipresent illusionary erosion.

This stark contrast even made Blake briefly doubt himself, "Am I... trapped in some deeper illusion again? Is this scene of the wrist guard still functioning just an illusion?"

However, reality didn’t give him much time to ponder.

The energy ripple generated when the second Protective Magic shattered, though weak, attracted the attention of several nearby tentacles.

They writhed and approached the general vicinity where Blake had been, like sharks smelling blood.

Fortunately, the "Existence Concealment" witchcraft effect remained.

Those tentacles flailed aimlessly in the air, unable to precisely locate Blake, then reluctantly retracted, continuing to join the hunt for other prominent targets.

But the other clear-headed wizards weren’t so lucky.

The Beast’s "Soul Roar" was evidently an indiscriminate area attack, instantly scattering the originally orderly wizard formation!

Many protective auras shattered on impact, their eyes turning dazed and blissful, smiling as tentacles wrapped around and dragged them away.

Even more horrifying, those who barely withstood the shock whose protections weren’t fully breached found their attacks becoming erratic.

Sometimes wildly bombing empty spaces, other times mercilessly attacking their companions beside them!

Blake clearly saw a wizard suddenly scream in horror as if seeing something extremely terrifying.

The Protective Magic on him burst into dazzling light, and right after, a deep gash appeared on his arm seemingly out of nowhere, blood gushing.

It was as if some invisible monster had attacked him.

Another wizard laughed wildly, charging at an empty area, and slammed fiercely against an invisible wall.

Yet the void he charged into seemed to indeed have a solid wall; with every collision, his bones fractured, he spat blood, but he seemed oblivious, even exhilarated!

"Blurred reality... The ’blurred line between reality and illusion’ mentioned in the intel, this is what it means!" Blake instantly understood, a chill rising from his spine to the top of his head.

The illusions here were not merely deceptions on the spiritual level!

If the subject "believed" in the illusion, then their body would reflect corresponding damage in reality based on what they "believed"!

The recent wave of Soul Roar not only destroyed many protections but also dragged the remaining wizards who barely supported into a deeper illusion!

Blake forced himself to calm down quickly.

He first performed several commonly used small techniques of the Soul Element to cross-verify the reliability of his perception, confirming that he was most likely still in a state of real awareness.

Then, his gaze returned once more to the wrist guard, and he began to mentally calculate based on the consumption rate of the Refined Gold.

The result caused his heart to sink.

"At this rate... the Refined Gold in the wrist guard can only last five days at most!"

Combining the information provided by Jeming and the instant destruction of the two Sixth Level Protective Witchcraft artifacts just now, Blake could basically conclude: Inside this Giant Beast, there is a continuous Illusionary and Thought Disruption Force Field equivalent to the high intensity of a Sixth Level!

And when stimulated, it can instantly unleash a terrifying Seventh Level impact!

The good news is, this Giant Beast seemingly has no intent to immediately kill all its prey, but rather appears to be "herding" them, as a food reserve or energy source.

But the bad news is, being trapped here is a dead end, and a solution must be found quickly.

Luckily, finding the core is precisely the expertise of a Soul System Wizard!

Blake suppressed all his auras, pushing "Existence Concealment" to the extreme.

Like an invisible ghost, he began to reverse track along the colossal and intricate Energy Veins within the Giant Beast.

Things went surprisingly smoothly, with hardly any battles encountered along the way, Blake effortlessly traced the Energy Veins to the core’s location.

Eventually, he pried open a concealed barrier resembling two black shells closing together and entered a relatively small cavity.

In the center of the cavity, a strange creature was floating.

It wasn’t large, roughly the height of a person, resembling a semi-transparent purple jellyfish, yet extending dozens of tentacles filled with suckers like those of an octopus.

It exuded intense Spiritual waves that twisted reality, the source of the entire Giant Beast’s Illusionary Force Field!

This purple creature clearly didn’t expect anyone to directly intrude into its core nest without any warning, its dozens of eyes encircling its body seemed stunned, unable to comprehend why the layers of Illusion Technique defenses and Thought Diversions outside failed completely.

But the creature’s instincts made it instantly react, with dozens of tentacles flailing wildly, the cavity filled with rich Spiritual Energy was instantly drawn and gathered!

Seeing this, Blake was startled, instinctively preparing to stimulate his backup Protective measures once more.

However, the earth-shattering Psychic Shock he anticipated did not arrive.

In his view, the purple creature was only futilely waving its tentacles, the surrounding energy intensely fluctuating, yet no substantial attack landed on him.

Their eyes, along with the dozens of other eyes, met, and for a moment both were somewhat bewildered as they stood off.

Blake immediately realized something was wrong, not hesitating any longer, his Soul Power stretched out like an invisible giant hand, effortlessly grasping the Soul core of this merely Fourth Level purple creature.

For a Fourth Level Soul System Wizard, controlling a creature of this level’s Soul was as easy as reaching into a bag.

He expertly flipped through and searched the creature’s Soul memory.

A moment later, he released his grip, his face filled with lingering fear and extreme shock.

From the creature’s memories, he learned just how perilous his journey had been!

Unlike his experience, in the creature’s memory, these veins themselves were obscured by layers of Illusions, paths distorted, accompanied by invisible Thought Guidance causing one to subconsciously overlook the correct direction.

The Energy Vein nodes he "ignored," each was set with realistic Illusions capable of ensnaring a Sixth Level Wizard.

The entrances to the cavity pathways he traversed were guarded by nearly real Illusions.

And countless subtle Thought Guidance acted like subliminal suggestions, leading intruders to unconsciously divert their attention from the correct path...

And earlier, the last tentacle-waving gesture of this purple creature was by no means mere posturing.

It was actually mobilizing all the energy obtained from its symbiotic Giant Beast, constructing and releasing a nearly Seventh Level potent Illusion technique attack in an instant—capable of utterly tearing apart or eternally trapping any Sixth Level Wizard’s Mind!

However, in Blake’s eyes, the creature’s final resistance seemed like a silent pantomime.

Blake suddenly lowered his head again, looking at his left wrist.

Sure enough, within the Wrist Guard Crystal Stone, the Liquid Refined Gold had silently reduced by more than half in those seemingly "uneventful" few seconds!

The terrifying Illusion technique emitted by that purple creature, which could kill a Sixth Level Wizard in an instant, was forcibly "consumed" by the wrist guard the moment it touched Blake!

So much so that Blake himself felt almost nothing unusual besides the consumption of Refined Gold!

This... is this right?

This isn’t right, is it?!

Blake screamed inwardly.

He’s not an idiot, he completely understood at this moment.

The reason he and that purple creature experienced such a huge cognitive dissonance, the reason he could see those deadly traps as nothing, was entirely because this seemingly inconspicuous wrist guard on his wrist bore all the attacks from the Illusion level for him!

But... is this really something that a Second Level Wizard could create?!

This effect, this performance, this unfathomable protective potential... it completely overturned his understanding of Alchemy Witchcraft!

(An extra update today, another Chapter is coming!)