"No!... Get lost!" Serene panicked, quickly backing away. She absolutely did not want to get slapped.

"I can just undo it myself!"

[In the name of Heaven: I request the gods to grant me a temporary sense of reality in exchange for a massive amount of mana...]

[The Heaven’s Grace: Equal Exchange - Illusion Bending!]

Serene sacrificed a massive portion of her remaining mana to temporarily shatter the illusion affecting her mind. As a warm, radiant light emitted from her silver eyes, the false reality washed away.

She could now clearly see the truth of the cavern. There were only monster corpses lying on the ground.

The battlefield was completely empty of human bodies. Just a second ago, she had seen thousands of humans lying dead in pools of blood, but now she understood that it had all been a cruel trick played on their minds.

She realized that the entire second wave was just a psychological test designed to judge human behavior and morality when faced with fighting their own kind.

She looked at Alen with a confused and highly curious gaze.

"How and when did you realize that this was an illusion?" she asked.

Alen stood calmly, resting his hand on his sword.

"When I was fighting those bastards... When I got close to them, I couldn’t hear their heartbeats. In fact, it was strangely difficult to even sense their physical movements. Besides, my intuition was screaming that it was a fake because it felt exactly like the mental attacks I suffered during my first trial."

It was true that Alen had already guessed it was an illusion. It wasn’t that he possessed some inherently overpowered intuition; he had simply survived so many illusions in his previous trial that his senses had adapted to comprehend them. Having gained the title ’Illusion Walker’, the chances of him falling under someone else’s illusion were lower than ever. If the illusion had been cast by a weaker entity, he wouldn’t have been affected in the slightest.

"But the illusion was made by a high-tier magician... It could even affect physical objects and mimic magical power. For most people, it would be impossible to see through..."

She let out a long breath.

"Sigh... It seems we were uselessly worrying about this wave."

Serene sighed in relief, thinking that her overwhelming guilt and fear had been completely meaningless since it was all just a trick of the mind.

"Yep! You two were completely, utterly, unfathomably useless," Alen said coldly.

"Stupid fools. You shouldn’t have even attempted to fight."

Serene blinked, taken aback by his sudden harshness.

"From my perspective, you both should have gotten yourselves killed by a mere illusion. And because of what? Because you felt ’guilty’ about killing a fellow human?" Alen scoffed.

"Didn’t you already see how they didn’t hesitate to kill each other the moment it benefited their own survival? Didn’t they act arrogantly, slaughtering others without hesitation, completely ignoring the fact that those victims also had families they wanted to return to?"

"Even though it was an illusion, it wasn’t entirely fake. It was a reflection of reality—a scenario that has probably happened dozens of times across the Ascension Realm."

"People betray each other to save their own lives. Killing people is not unusual for them. What truly matters is saving your own life, because that is the only thing that should matter to you!"

"You hesitated to kill them, but other people will not wait for you to comprehend what is right or wrong. They will just kill you before you even realize it. In this world, the only person who truly matters is yourself, and the goals you care about. Everything else is a useless distraction."

"Guilt is a temporary emotion. It will slowly vanish when you choose to protect your own people rather than saving unknown strangers who don’t matter to your life."

"I’m not telling you to become a cruel person who betrays your companions to save your own skin. That is entirely your decision to make. Everyone has their own ’Path’ to walk. But no path is free of hurdles. And to pass through those hurdles, sometimes you have to choose the path you hate the most."

Serene stared at him, carefully comprehending every single word. She knew he wasn’t entirely wrong. Humans were selfish creatures. If given the choice between saving themselves or strangers, most people would choose themselves.

"You’re right... I agree that sometimes we have to walk our paths with boundless difficulties," Serene said, looking up at him. Her silver eyes shone with a newfound confidence.

"But you are wrong about one thing...."

"You said that what truly matters in the world is only ourselves..."

"Tell me, if we act exactly like the people who mercilessly butcher their own kind, then what is the difference between them and us?"

"You’re indirectly saying that people are so inherently selfish that they only think about themselves... No, you’re wrong."

She stepped forward, her voice growing stronger.

"Every time someone dares to attempt these trials, they carry the hope in their minds that they will return home safely to greet their family. The people you are calling monsters—most of them don’t actually find pleasure in killing their own kin."

"Life forced them into a desperate situation where they had to complete a task they never wanted to attempt. You’re wrong to think that every single person out there is purely selfish. There are people who just want to escape this cruel place to support the families they love."

Serene looked at him with absolute conviction.

"And if I were in their place, I would also fight! Not just to escape this place and reach my own family, but to become strong enough to bend the ’Ascension Realm’ to my own will! I will become so strong that no one will ever have to suffer from these cruel trials again!"

Alen looked at her determined face for a long moment. Then, he slowly clapped his hands.

"You’re absolutely right..."

Serene stared at him, completely bewildered. Slowly, it began to sink in—everything Alen had said wasn’t just advice, it was meant to make her understand her own path. The path she had chosen to walk.

He had made her realize that she wasn’t on an easy path. If she truly wanted to reach the end of it, she would have to face obstacles far more dangerous and difficult than anything she had encountered so far.

"That is exactly what I was trying to say. You shouldn’t feel guilty about killing enemies, because you aren’t doing it just for yourself. You have people you care about. You don’t have to carry the burden of survival alone. You can share your burden with the companions who want you to grow... Isn’t that right, Zane?"

Zane, who had been completely mesmerized by Serene’s new, confident look—which was vastly different from her usual bubbly persona—suddenly snapped out of his daze and turned toward Alen.

"What? What did you say?" Zane asked, blinking.

Alen smiled sweetly and repeated himself.

"I said, Serene should share her difficulties and burdens with someone who truly loves and cares for her... Isn’t that right, ’Mr. Dark Prince’?"

Zane nodded without hesitation.

"Of course. You should depend on and share your burden with someone you—Wait, what?!"

Zane’s face suddenly flushed bright red as he realized exactly why Alen had asked him that question. He quickly looked away, wanting nothing more than to bury himself completely underground out of sheer embarrassment.

’That bastard! He just tricked me! He almost made me confess that she should rely on me... Ughh! That scumbag!’ Zane cursed internally.

Serene stared at the two boys in complete confusion. She was utterly clueless about the silent war happening between them. She was entirely unaware of the fact that Alen had just indirectly nudged her to rely on Zane.

She simply nodded to herself in her heart, resolving to share her burdens with her family when she got back—well, not the terrifying parts that would make them depressed, but the safe parts.

As the trio bickered and chatted in the cavern... 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

...The short break finally passed, and the Final Wave of the dungeon was about to begin.