The reason was simple.
Himl had already experienced this curse before. When the familiar scene reappeared, he naturally understood what was going on.
Taking one last, nostalgic look at that church, Himl steeled his mind, slowly but surely breaking through the illusion with sheer force of will.
Grausam's Paradise Conduit Magic was classified as a curse because human magicians couldn't grasp its principles of casting, making it impossible to learn or defend against.
But in essence, this curse drew its targets into their deepest regrets, lulling them into a perfect mirage crafted from their own mories.
As long as the target beca fully aware that it was all an illusion, it wasn't impossible to break free.
When he was young, Himl might have found it much harder to achieve this with sheer willpower.
But over the years, driven by his promise to find a way back for Frieren, who had traveled back from the future by accident, Himl had spent extensive ti studying the Spell book with Heiter.
Though he was far from becoming a qualified cleric due to his limited magical power, he was still capable of dispelling illusions from his own mind.
Thus, Himl beca the second person to wake up after Gut.
Next was Serie.
Upon awakening, Gut quickly assessed the situation. He watched the War Shadows rapidly closing the distance and made a snap decision.
Lacking a proper weapon, Gut drew the sword from Mut, who was still trapped in the illusion, and without hesitation, threw him to a safer spot behind them.
Sword in hand, Gut imdiately stood in front of his teacher, Serie. As the War Shadows rushed at them, he began shaking her arm and speaking loudly near her ear, hoping to break her out of the illusion.
"Alright, stop shouting," ca a voice.
Within the illusion, Serie looked at the obedient disciples surrounding her and sighed as she spoke to the empty air.
As a Great Mage who had survived since the Mythical Era, how could she not know this was an illusion?
The only reason she hadn't dispelled it right away was that the illusion was actually quite well-made, and she wanted to enjoy it for a little longer.
Long before Himl had broken through the wall, Serie, who had felt a twinge of unease, had already set up protective asures around everyone.
The fact that those magic barriers hadn't been triggered yet showed that the situation outside wasn't truly dangerous.
But no matter how beautiful the scene, it was still just a mirage.
Serie reached out and patted the head of little Flam beside her, plucking a flower and tucking it into her hair. She gave one last look at the disciples in the illusion and then raised her hand.
"Curse Reversal Magic!"
In an instant, the entire situation reversed!
Grausam, one of the Seven Destructive Sages, was thrown into his own Paradise Conduit Magic. At the sa ti, Frieren and Mut, who were still entrapped by the curse, also instantly woke up.
"Teacher..."
Waking up from the illusion, Frieren subconsciously murmured the na Flam, then saw Himl slash down two or three tis, instantly killing a War Shadow that had tried to ambush Gut.
Seeing the elf she cared about now fully conscious, Himl wasted no ti. He pointed his sword toward the distant Qual, who had been channeling a spell, and shouted:
"Frieren, attack!"
Instinctively, the elven mage summoned her staff. A Normal Attack Magic, rapidly charged, was sent hurtling toward Qual.
In the middle of aiming at Serie, Qual's heart clenched. When he noticed the incoming magic, he imdiately abandoned his half-charged spell, redirecting his mana into a Defensive Magic Shield.
It had to be said, Qual's magic expertise was impressive. Even though he had only recently learned the current version of Defensive Magic, he had already grasped it to a high level.
Not only was its defense power solid, but even the formation of the magic barrier was modified for mana efficiency—relying on focused defenses rather than a full hemisphere.
After all, Qual was considered a Sage among the demons. Back in the day, when he faced the young Hero's Party, he managed to defeat them, only being sealed away through a desperate, high-risk strategy.
But now... it was a different era.
As Qual barely managed to block Frieren's attack and was preparing to counter, he suddenly felt a chilling sensation in his chest.
Looking down, he saw the blade of a sword thrust cleanly through his body. When the sword was withdrawn, his vitality rapidly drained, and his form began to disintegrate into ash.
"No..."
Before he could even let out a complete wail, Qual's body vanished entirely from the world.
With his death, the remaining War Shadows were also effortlessly swept aside by Serie—as casually as shooing away stray dogs.
This demon ambush, which had seed so perfectly planned, ended with a laughably anticlimactic conclusion as Himl finished off Grausam, who was still trapped in his own illusion.
"Click-click-click."
After returning the sword to Mut, Gut looked around at the battlefield and couldn't help but click his tongue.
When he had first regained consciousness and saw the demons' perfect ambush formation, he did feel shaken for a mont.
For an instant, he almost believed that he might truly suffer a terrible defeat at the hands of this ambush, forcing him to live more cautiously and humbly from then on.
But reality proved otherwise.
Against the combination of Serie Himl Frieren, regular demons—no matter how many ca—were nothing more than pests by the roadside. They posed absolutely no threat.
However, this sudden ambush did serve as a wake-up call for Gut.
Even though the powerhouses around him could cut through War Shadows like slicing vegetables, Gut was fully aware of his own strength. He didn't delude himself into thinking the Seven Destructive Sages were just cannon fodder.
The people around him were strong, but even his teacher Serie couldn't be with him at all tis.
Soday, he would have to face ambushes like this alone. He needed to rapidly improve his own strength.
With that in mind, Gut summoned his System Interface and began to scan its contents.
After all, when it ca to fast power growth, "Deep Blue Enhancent" was far more efficient than "hard work and training."
Briefly reviewing the System Interface, Gut focused on the Main Quests.
There were currently two active quests: Maintaining the Examination (Part 2) and The Three-Year Period.
Maintaining the Examination (Part 2) didn't need much attention; once they reached Aureole, it would just be about properly organizing the test.
But The Three-Year Period could be accelerated with the remaining mory Bread he had.
After all, the mission reward for The Three-Year Period included System Detection Module, Trait Extraction Opportunity x1, and Trait Duplication Opportunity x1.
The Trait Extraction depended on luck, and Gut had never been particularly lucky.
But the System Detection Module and Trait Duplication Opportunity appearing together sparked so ideas.
Would the System Detection Module allow him to detect the traits of others?
And if that were true... the Trait Duplication Opportunity...
Gut glanced around at Serie, Himl, and Frieren, a glimr of excitent flashing in his eyes.
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