“Here we are,” Albedo muttered, standing on the edge of a jagged cliff. It was late into the second day already, and him an Ember had spent all day battling various monsters, dodging chaotic mana storms and moving forward.

The wind around them moved in a strange rhythm, like it was alive and breathing, it howled in and out of the ravine ahead of them.

Ember stood beside him, not moving, her eyes were locked forward, ears twitching as she was wary of any potential attacks.

Before the two of them stretched a vast chasm, not carved by nature, but by something older.

The cliff fell into a spiraling descent of floating boulders and splintered walkways, half-real, half-illusion.

Below them were clouds that churned in colors that defied reason, violet, storm-silver, black, and pulses of neon. Lightning crackled through the mist at the same time.

Finally, they had arrived at the boundary, the entrance to the Mirage of Thunderstorms. Albedo had only heard of this place from stories, as it had never been explored in the Novel.

Albedo reached out and ran a hand down Ember’s neck. She leaned into the touch for just a moment, then pawed the ground with quiet anticipation.

Then together, they stepped toward the first floating stone, and descended into the storm.

The descent was crazy, as the deeper Albedo and Ember went, the more the world’s rules would be warped. Gravity would be inverted at random intervals, storms would exist for but a couple seconds and then disappear.

The deeper they went and closer they reached to crossing the threshold, the more intense the pressure around them was.

All of this continued until finally, they took a step through the threshold, moving to the Mirage of Thunderstorms.

Immediately, the world… fractured.

There was no ground beneath their feet, only a sea of clouds, suspended in a space that didn’t follow rules.

Thunder rumbled beneath their step, yet the lightning crackled upward, The horizon twisted sideways, and distant flashes of lightning danced in loops, reversing time before discharging again.

“Stay close, Ember.” Albedo warned as they moved, looking around at the unique environment they found themselves in.

The air continuously shifted around them, and then,

~CRACK-KRAAAAA!~

A spiraling tornado suddenly appeared directly in front of them. Not conjured. Just there. It birthed from silence, shrieking as if the sky was being torn in half. The winds howled, ripping chunks of cloud and sky downward as the cyclone grew rapidly.

“Move!” Albedo shouted, grabbing the satchel tightly and bolting to the left.

Ember galloped beside him, her hooves sparking trails of fire in the air. The twister curved, impossibly changing direction mid-spin and chasing them with unnatural intelligence.

The tornado unleashed a barrage of wind slashes that exploded many of the clouds beneath Albedo and Ember’s feet, causing them to constantly leap and jump, finding new platforms to hold them up as they continued forward.

Albedo didn’t know exactly what would happen if he fell, and he damn sure was not gonna find out if he had anything to say about it.

He continued bobbing and weaving through the wind slashes, and then, just when he thought it might be over as the slashes stopped, a creature emerged from the eye of the storm.

It resembled a Wyvern, but ethereal, made of rotating pressure, talons shaped from compressed wind, and eyes that pulsed with storm-light.

A Gale Mirage Wyrm.

[ Low Gold-Rank Mirage Construct – Wind Aspect ]

It dove at them with a piercing shriek, windblades trailing from its wings. Albedo turned mid-run, Havoc and Ruin both snapping into his hand, both of then turned to Infernal Mode.

~BOOM~BOOM!~

Twin Infernal shots lanced through the air, exploding into the Wyrm’s wings and throwing it off balance. Ember rose behind him, launching a burst of white-blue fire into its flank as it spun mid-air.

The creature screeched, releasing a burst of concentrated wind that clashed with the flames, a massive explosion occurred that caused another gust of wind.

The Wyvern didn’t stop at all, it drew one of the clouds into its mouth, swallowing it, and then unleashed blasts of ferocious lightning towards Albedo and Ember.

~BANG~BANG~BANG~BANG!~

Albedo continued, unleashing blasts of Infernal bullets. Two of them crashed into the Wyvern’s wings, destabilizing it more and allowing Ember to finally land her corrosive flames.

The flames quickly covered the entire Wyvern, causing it to twist in an impossible motion before eventually vanishing back into the storm.

And the tornado? Gone. As if it had never existed. The area around them returning to relative peace.

“Guess that’s the Mirage feeling us out,” Albedo muttered as he walked forward, and then, just as he finished his sentence, the temperature dropped.

Then, in an instant, the air temperature dropped.

A veil of snowflakes fell around them, and the sky dimmed to a cold indigo. The clouds were gone, replaced by looming glaciers and jagged icicles protruding from a sheet of frost.

The floor crunched beneath Albedo’s boots.

“Winter terrain,” he muttered. His breath steamed in the air.

~CRUNCH~CRACKLE!~

The ice split open—and from it crawled warped things. Thin, elongated humanoid forms with ice-covered bodies and glowing blue veins beneath cracked skin.

“Frost Echoes, of course,” Albedo muttered, as he appraised them.

[ Low-Gold Rank Mirage Constructs – Cold Aspect ]

Dozens of them. They moved in slow, eerie unison, with every step, the very air around them froze, turning into solid ice that slowly shaped into weapons, aimed towards Albedo.

“Ember,” Albedo called out and Ember immediately neighed and ran, running circles around the area and kicking up her vicious corrosive flames, a ring of fire surrounding Albedo and the Frost Echoes, bringing the temperature up.

Albedo meanwhile already activated Mirage Body, illusions of himself flickering outward in multiple directions, each one baiting and confusing the Frost Echoes, and even taking some of the solid ice attacks.

Ember meanwhile charged at the Frost Echoes, unleashing her corrosive flames at them while she planning to shatter them like a battering ram.

Her distraction, combined with his mirages, gave Albedo the perfect amount of freedom to maximize his damage.

He fired off shot after shot of Infernal bullets, melting through two of the Frost Echoes before they could react, the flames devouring them fully.

Ember crashed through two more, shattering them, her hooves stomping their heads and causing her corrosive flames to connect to their bodies, swarming to the others.

Albedo swapped Ruin to Graviton, shooting a slug that pulled more of the Echoes together, which allowed Ember’s flames to reach maximum damage.

All the while Havoc continued to barrage away, the snow hissing and vaporizing due to the intense heat of their attacks.

The remaining Frost Echoes all tried to strike in unison, their frozen claws slashing, but only able to catch Albedo’s mirages, leaving them exposed to Ember’s fierce attacks and Albedo’s shots.

One of the Frost Echoes began to fracture, ice splintering like glass. Ember reared and stomped, hooves cracking skulls before sending out another burst of corrosive fire.

The Frost Echoes fell one by one, melted, shattered, destroyed until only silence remained.

And then,

SAND!

Albedo rapidly blinked as he adapted to his environment. A second ago, he stood in snow. Now? A desert.

A scorching red sun hovered above. His armor baked under the sudden heat, and sweat broke instantly across his skin. It was like a sandstorm, the sand kicking up when combined with the rampaging wind, trying to blind him.

Ember pawed at the glass-like ground, visibly disoriented.

“Desert phase?”

He barely had time to speak when the earth moved. From beneath the sand, an enormous segmented body rose. Gleaming chitin. Mandibles like obsidian scythes.

Mirage Dune Ravager.

[ High Gold-Rank Mirage Construct – Earth/Fire Aspect]

“You’re joking,” Albedo muttered as he was already on the move, staring at the monster’s huge body.

Its body was easily fifty meters long, and it burst from the ground like a mountain erupting. Ember moved first, dodging a sweep of its tail that sent a dune flying sky-high.

The creature burrowed into the floor and them erupted from underneath Albedo, eager to bring him into its jaws. The creature then chowed down, but only found it was a Mirage.

“ROARR!” Albedo was actually on the creatures back, firing off as many Infernal Rounds as he could, and finally dealing some decent damage.

The creature, realizing this, shook its body, sending Albedo tumbling off where he was caught by Ember, riding her away from the incoming attacks.

The sand caved and rose depending on what the Dune Ravager wanted, causing them to be quick with their steps. Even standing still for a second, the sand could turn into quicksand, and sink them to death.

At this point, it was a cat and mouse chase, Albedo and Ember continuously moving around and dodging attacks, only getting their own hits at certain points.

A High Gold creature in its natural domain wasn’t something to be trifled with easily, he continuously kept a certain range between them, and peppered in attacks at weak spots, such as the eyes or limbs.

~BOOM!~

The creature created sand volcanos that erupted from the floor, once again squeezing the space Albedo and Ember had to operate

Albedo leapt back and immediately turned Havoc & Ruin to Execution Mode. He didn’t have time to charge a full barrage, but a single tracking shot could destabilize the creature.

~KRAK!~

The first Execution round exploded against the Ravager’s central spine. The creature roared, thrashing madly, burrowing into and out of the sand, trying to shake the targeting lock.

Ember galloped after it, weaving in and out of its strikes. She flared her flames wide, her corrosive aura peeling back its outer armor.

Albedo followed up with rapid-fire Graviton rounds, while a single or two Graviton round wouldn’t be able to affect the Ravager much, 20 or 30? That would do the trick.

He laid on a vicious barrage of Graviton slugs, continuously warping the space until the Ravager was pinned in one place.

“Now!”

Ember released a stream of her flame, concentrated like a dragon’s breath, straight into its maw. The Ravager screamed, roaring as its eyes turned red.

“It’s going Beserk,” Albedo realized, immediately putting some distance between himself and the Ravager, and just when the monster was about to attack.

~SHATTER!~

It shattered into sand like glass, ending this Mirage and saving Albedo just in time.

Albedo exhaled. Not even a second passed before the desert blinked out.

Now? It was Night.

The terrain transformed into a wide lake under a starlit sky, except the water reflected no stars. Instead, it showed memories.

Albedo paused, seeing his younger self interacting with Gwen, helping her with homework and cooking for her. Playing her favorite games, her smiling face, all of it flashed in the water.

Mirage of Mind.

A powerful illusion terrain. Designed to break focus.

From the water rose glowing spirits, wraithlike beings made of fractured emotion. They wore the faces of those Albedo knew. His parents, his father, the other villagers, all of them.

Guilt Sprites.

[ Psychic Mirage Beasts – Mental Assault Type ]

Dozens swirled around him, whispering his regrets.

“You could’ve saved her.”

“You let them die.”

“You weren’t strong enough,”

Albedo shut his eyes, “I’ve heard it all before.”

~BOOM!~

He fired a full charge of Mana-Drain into the center of the lake. The water rippled, and the guilt-wraiths screamed, dispersing like smoke and the illusion collapsed.

The illusion collapsed.

He stood once more on stone and storm.

The Mirage was collapsing around him, unable to sustain its hold.

A final trial.

The sky ruptured, lightning and fire, snow and sand, illusions and screams, all colliding at once into a singular form.

A Mirage Chimera.

[ Peak Gold Rank – Composite Mirage Construct ]

Its body was a twisted fusion of elements, horns made of wind, body scaled in shifting terrain, each limb drawing from a different phase of the Mirage: frost, fire, thunder, shadow, and illusion.

It dropped from the sky like judgment incarnate, and it’s eyes were on Albedo.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep