His past experience playing jungle in games taught him a valuable lesson: to ensure success, you must secure your rewards before engaging. If you can't secure a kill, farm instead of gambling on probabilities—otherwise, you'll never reach Gold rank!
"Vade!" Reed shouted.
Reacting instinctively, Vade swung his claw!
This boy possessed an extraordinary intuition that had saved him multiple times in critical moments.
Jehfrit had already retreated beyond attack range.
He shifted positions several times and manipulated Vade's five senses, preventing any pursuit.
Turning to Reed, Jehfrit smiled. "So, you've finally made your move. I see—it's magnetism."
Both Gad and Vade were ensnared by his deception, leaving them completely at his mercy.
The one who had weakened Jehfrit was undoubtedly Reed, who had remained covert until now.
Jehfrit had been pondering this for some time.
Reed was also affected by the Deception Magic, so how could he ignore the illusions and consistently lock onto Jehfrit's position?
The answer was magnetism!
Everything has a magnetic field.
The five senses cannot "perceive" weak magnetic fields.
But this Reed must possess magic related to magnetism, allowing him to directly sense it!
Thus, even while under the influence of Jehfrit's magic, if Reed could detect magnetic fields, Jehfrit would appear to him like a red dot on a radar screen—his position utterly exposed!
And just now, Reed likely manipulated the Earth's magnetic field, disrupting the natural magical energy around Jehfrit and severely hampering his movements.
It was a form of all-encompassing suppression.
Similar to applying a debuff.
"!!!"
Hearing Jehfrit's words, Reed froze, momentarily forgetting even to breathe!
No wonder he was hailed as the world's strongest trickster mage!
This enemy was far too clever!
Reed had only acted once, yet he'd already been seen through!
If given the choice, Reed truly didn't want to fight such a powerful and intelligent foe!
But now, there was no turning back!
"..."
Courage.
Hmm.
Admirable.
But overshadowed by regret, worry, and fear.
Jehfrit savored Reed's emotions.
He was like a chef tasting a dish simmering in a pot, checking if it was ready.
After sampling, he dumped an entire packet of salt, a bottle of vinegar, and finished it off with a scorching flame.
The dish became unappetizing and inedible.
The final outcome was clear—
To discard it.
"..."
Reed clenched his fists tightly, unsure why an overwhelming sense of regret suddenly surged within him.
Why did he provoke such a formidable opponent?
He couldn't be defeated!
Gad was already ruined!
Relying solely on Vade would...
"Huh?" Jehfrit raised an eyebrow slightly, surprised.
Something had placed a lock deep within Reed's psyche.
"Hah-hah-hah—" Reed snapped back to his senses, gasping for air.
What had just happened?
He had been engulfed by a wave of immense regret and despair, nearly succumbing to depression. He even considered suicide to avoid being tortured to death!
Thankfully, thoughts of Vade and the faint possibility of survival pulled him out of that abyss.
Reed couldn't make sense of his emotional state, but now wasn't the time for introspection.
He forcefully suppressed these thoughts!
Using loud declarations to distract himself.
"It's all an illusion created by his magic! The terrain hasn't changed! No actual harm!"
"He only uses deceptive magic!"
"Don't fear any of his attacks!"
"Just follow my instructions, and we'll win!"
Oh?
Just follow your instructions, huh?
A smile spread across Jehfrit's face.
"You damned trickster!" Gad roared, ignoring his body plunging into magma as he charged straight at Jehfrit.
He'd been toyed with mercilessly—never had he suffered such humiliation since stepping onto the battlefield!
Watching the frenzied Gad, Jehfrit furrowed his brow slightly.
Such reckless individuals sure looked terrifying.
By the time Gad approached, Jehfrit had already taken a step to the side, raising his katana, Hani, and speaking calmly.
"This is what I leave you—the conclusion of your life."
Gad had already closed in.
"Jehfrit" still stood in place, seemingly unaware.
"To the right!"
"To the right!"
"Damn it! To the right!"
Reed shouted until his throat felt like it might tear apart!
But this time, Gad paid no heed, throwing a punch straight at "Jehfrit."
'SCHLIK'
The sound of flesh tearing.
Blood sprayed from his upper body downward and from his lower body upward.
Cut in half at the waist.
'THUD'
Gad collapsed, confusion etched on his face.
Why...
How could I lose?
Why...
Did Reed tell me that was the real enemy?
Why...
Did he deceive me?
"He can't hear you," Jehfrit said, looking at Reed.
With that, Jehfrit glanced down at his clothes and pants, now stained crimson with blood.
So...
If a gun could solve the problem, he wouldn't draw his blade.
He had a slight aversion to dirt and hated having an enemy's blood splattered on him.
But Gad's body had resisted both "Bombardment" and "Cero." Bullets couldn't penetrate his muscles.
Only Hani could harm him.
"Why?" Reed asked incredulously. "How did you do it?!"
His common sense failed to grasp the situation.
Gad was dead—died mysteriously.
Despite Reed yelling warnings repeatedly!
Why hadn't he listened?!
Even in his rage, Gad should have known that listening to Reed was the only way to hit the enemy!
Wait...
Where was Vade?!
Reed suddenly panicked, searching for Vade.
Vade was off in another direction, wildly swinging at thin air.
He too was being toyed with, completely oblivious to the truth!
"Suck—Exhale—"
Reed shivered, taking a deep breath. It felt like being stripped naked and thrown into a freezing wilderness. A bone-chilling cold coursed through his limbs, lips, throat, heart, and lungs—all trembling uncontrollably!
"My illusion magic is quite potent," Jehfrit said with a grin.
As for himself...
Reed had guessed two-quarters of the truth.
One part he got wrong was—
He still believed Jehfrit's Deception Magic created illusions.
After all, that was the most common assumption.
This proved Reed wasn't relying on "vision" to track him.
Jehfrit hadn't known the specifics of Reed's detection method.
Nor could he confirm whether Reed, having detected him, had ways to bypass the five senses to communicate with his allies.
A mage's battle was akin to a card game—you didn't lead with four twos unless you knew the opponent had two kings.
Gradual probing was the safer approach.
Thus...
He kept a few trump cards.
One of them was something he'd never revealed about his Deception Magic.
No, he'd been showing it all along, but its other side was always overlooked.
Jehfrit could create "deceptive" scenarios visible and audible to everyone.
They either believed it wholeheartedly, becoming puppets to his whims.
But what about someone like Reed, who thought he'd seen through the essence of the magic?
Would they escape manipulation?
Deception Magic could deceive the five senses and manipulate emotions.
Jehfrit could make people see and hear.
Or not see and not hear!
The magician's performance method—
Misdirect the audience's thoughts, and the more confident they were, the easier they were to guide. When the truth was revealed, the performance reached its peak!
At that moment...
The audience was dumbfounded and shocked.
The magician was exhilarated and proud.
"Saa—"
Jehfrit smiled as he declared, "It's over."