Redo: Grimoire System in the Apocalypse

Chapter 177 - (177) Illusion?

Geth met the wolf's gaze for a while. It almost seemed lifeless.

The fur, its arrogant grin, and even its breathing were intimidating. But in its eyes... there was nothing.

Geth walked toward the Direwolf and placed his hand on its leg. He could feel the soft but greasy fur under his hand.

He turned around and looked toward the edge of the woodline. A dense fog was covering the trees. 

He could see nothing but the plain around him. His Skeleton stared forward without moving, almost like an inanimate object.

Geth walked over to where his party had just been fighting the first patrol. While the Weary Wolf wasn't moving, he needed to figure out what was happening.

'Not a single scuff mark?' Geth bent down and looked at the ground, 'What is this? Some kind of illusion?'

He tried to manipulate the mud below him, but nothing happened. Shaking his head, he turned to look at the Weary Wolf again.

When he did, he jumped up in shock!

"Shit!"

Bane was standing right behind him with those lifeless eyes. Just standing there, completely unmoving.

Geth walked over and tapped on the Skeleton. When it didn't move, he tried pushing it over.

'It won't budge.'

Geth looked around the plain for any other clues. The Dungeon entrance and the boulders were gone. Only Geth and the two creatures remained.

'Well, it doesn't look like I'll find a way out here,' He turned toward the wall of smoke at the edge of the woodline.

'Maybe I can just... walk out?'

Geth walked toward the smoke at the edge of the plain. The moment he reached it, he stopped and turned his head.

Bane had appeared right behind him once again. Or rather, Bane's corpse? It felt odd looking at his Tame with no life in its eyes.

'Albus... can you hear me?'

There was no answer. Geth couldn't even look into his mind to see his other selves.

A sense of isolation overtook him. He clutched at his head for a moment to shake off the feeling. 

"What the fuck is wrong with me?"

This wasn't the first time lately that he'd felt a stronger sense of emotion than usual. He'd noticed that feelings of anger or excitement would occasionally burst out of him.

Even now, he was feeling angry at himself for having these feelings and not handling the situation at hand. Geth slammed both hands on the ground and pulled himself together.

A dull look washed over him as he took on his usual stoic expression. He turned toward the mist that floated just beside him.

'One hand.'

Geth thrust one of his hands into the smoke. It was cold and dense enough to feel condensation forming on his arm.

There was no pain, and nothing questionable seemed to happen. Steeling his resolve, Geth walked straight into the mist.

After he stepped off of the hard ground and into the dense fog, he found himself floating. It felt like he was drifting inside of an endless ocean.

The waves of this ocean constantly rocked him back and forth, his body being taken away to some unknown place. Geth could see nothing but the white of the mist in front of him.

'What a strange feeling.'

He had absolutely no control over his direction. Even if he did, it wasn't like he knew where to go.

His eyes closed as his body was taken off by the sea.

Geth had no sense of time in this place. He wasn't sure if he'd been floating for minutes or hours.

At some point, he felt a subtle change in the pattern of the waves. His eyes snapped open, and he observed the area around him.

He was still floating, but the mist was slowly fading away. Once the haze finally dissipated, the sight below him caused his brows to crease.

Geth was hovering over an open expanse of land. Below him was a familiar scene.

Hundreds of bodies were spread across a vast expanse of land. Each of the bodies was wearing a burlap sack.

He focused intently and found that this was an exact replica of the area he woke up in. Down to the locations where he had woken up and where his family had lain, everything was the same.

Not too far from his body, maybe five to ten yards, a small black slime was making its way across the greenery.

Before he could further look around, he felt his body being tugged downward. It was as if gravity had suddenly found out he was there.

He fell from the sky, constantly picking up speed and heading towards where his body lay. Before Geth could hit the ground, he passed out from the pressure.

Awaking an unknown amount of time later, he looked around and tried to understand what had just happened.

A slight headache overtook him, and he tried to raise his hand to his head. As he did so, he suddenly realized that he had no hand!

'What?!'

Not only did he not have a hand, but he also didn't have arms or legs. Geth couldn't feel any appendages!

Freaking out momentarily, he began to look around. The world around him was strange.

It was almost black and white, but it still held some dull shades of color. After a moment, Geth realized that he wasn't seeing the world around him but sensing it with a weak version of Mana Sense.

'How strange.'

He could 'see' a few bodies lying in the distance, but he couldn't tell who they belonged to.

The grass was melting below his body. It felt as if the ground itself were slowly and subtly disappearing.

He decided to move and get a better view of what was going on. But... he couldn't feel or see his arms and legs.

'How troublesome.'

Geth urged his body to make a move. Even if it was just a twitch.

'Well, it isn't like my Mana is gone.'

He focused his Mana around him and used it to propel himself forward.

*Squelch* *Squelch*