With Lumine's reminder, everyone understood what was going on.
But understanding the goal was one thing—whether they could break through was another.
"Follow behind me."
At the critical moment, Arataki Itto stepped forward again. They were just rats—he wasn't afraid!
Immediately, he led everyone charging straight toward the swarm.
When he reached the front, he lifted his foot and kicked. Instantly, a large group of rats was sent flying, clearing out a small area ahead.
Then another kick cleared out another patch.
"Squeak… squeak squeak squeak."
Although Arataki Itto was exceptionally fierce, there were simply too many rats. Those kicked away were quickly replaced, and some even began climbing up their pant legs.
In less than a moment, quite a few rats were crawling all over everyone's trousers.
"Hiss—haaa—"
Bronya, after all, was female. Seeing rats was like encountering a natural enemy—goosebumps instantly covered her skin, not to mention the rats climbing up her legs!
"No—!"
Keqing was the first to break. She screamed and completely ignored the formation, sprinting off into the distance.
"Come back! Don't panic!"
Luocha watched anxiously. The team absolutely couldn't fall apart at a time like this. But not only Keqing—now even the other women ignored him, screaming as they fled in different directions.
"It's over…"
Luocha felt his heart sink. With no other choice, he locked onto Arataki Itto—who still had a skill card—and chased after him. Sticking with Itto felt safer.
In the same corridor, Keqing was still shouting as she ran.
"Don't panic! They're just rats!"
"Bronya… come back!"
At the same time—
Bronya: "Miss Jingliu… don't go that way, let's go this way!"
Jingliu: "Clorinde, this way—don't panic."
Arataki Itto: "Are you all sick or something? I'm right here! What are you afraid of? Come back! All of you, come back!"
Livestream.
Watching the group descend into total chaos, the viewers were completely stunned. What was going on? It looked like they were possessed.
[Yanqing: What's happening? Why is everyone saying different things?]
[Seele: I don't get it. Bronya is still calling Jingliu, but isn't Jingliu standing right next to her?]
[Huohuo: Wow~~~ this is impressive, could be worth learning from.]
[Gepard: I don't understand. Weren't they fine just now? Why did it suddenly turn into this?]
[Lynx: They're talking about rats… did they actually see rats?]
[Ranpo: This is an illusion technique. Those affected fall into endless hell.]
[Topaz: That terrifying?]
[Ranpo: Indeed.]
[Serval: What does that even mean?]
[Jing Yuan: They've been hit by an illusion and are seeing false images.]
[Furina: I knew it—so that's why they were talking about rats.]
[Zhongli: They've scattered. I fear they'll be picked off one by one.]
Watching everyone flee in different directions, Zhongli felt the situation was dire. When they stayed together, they could at least cover for each other—but now, they were likely to be taken down individually.
[Kaeya: But… how did they get hit by an illusion? I didn't see anything unusual.]
[Jing Yuan: Look outside the window.]
[Herta: Outside?]
Following the reminder, everyone turned their gaze—and instantly spotted a pair of eyes glowing bright red.
[Sushang: Is that… the crow Valerius summoned earlier?]
[Fu Xuan: It seems the dangers inside this castle go beyond just Valerius.]
Inside the space.
Bronya arrived in a vast, empty room. It was enormous, with wooden crates stacked all around—and inside them were brand-new pieces of equipment.
"This is… the armory!"
With the architectural blueprint in mind, Bronya immediately recognized the place. When the crowd fell into chaos, she had chased after Jingliu into this area.
But after just a few turns, Jingliu vanished without a trace. Bronya hadn't noticed at all when she disappeared.
"I'll rest for a bit."
Bronya's physical condition wasn't great. After running for a while, she felt utterly exhausted.
She leaned against the wall, planning to recover a bit before going to look for Jingliu again.
Meanwhile, inside another room.
Lumine collapsed into a corner, gasping for breath.
"Miss Firefly, let's… let's rest for a bit first. We'll look for the others later."
She truly couldn't run anymore. When the group fell apart earlier, she had instinctively grabbed the Firefly beside her, which was why the two of them hadn't been separated.
She assumed everyone else had scattered, but she was far too exhausted now and could only recover before searching again.
But something felt strange—Firefly didn't respond, and even the sound of breathing had vanished.
"Miss Firefly?"
She lifted her head and scanned the room. Not far away stood a figure, hidden in the shadows, impossible to identify...…
"Firefly?"
Lumine felt uneasy. The silhouette seemed a bit taller than before.
Could it be that the person she'd been holding wasn't Firefly, but Luocha?
The build did look somewhat similar to Luocha's.
"You… what did you call me?"
The figure spoke—but the voice sent chills racing through Lumine's body.
It was Valerius's voice.
"Y-you… you—you… you're Valerius!"
"It's me."
The figure stepped out of the shadows. It was Valerius.
"How are you here?!"
Lumine's eyes went wide. When she fled into this room earlier, there was no one inside. So why was Firefly gone—and Valerius standing here instead?
"Hehe, that's really hurtful." Valerius put on a pitiful expression. "You dragged me along for quite a while, and now you're asking why I'm here?"
"I… I was holding you?"
Lumine was stunned. She had thought she was pulling Firefly the whole time—never imagining it was Valerius!
"Alright, time's about up." Valerius took out his pocket watch and glanced at it. "I'll just take you today."
As he spoke, Valerius moved. The short cane in his hand tapped squarely against Lumine's forehead, and she collapsed limply to the ground.
[Qingque: Oh boy, that's bad.]
[Paimon: Lumine~~~ how did you get caught! 0.5!!]
[Stelle: Heh, dragging Valerius around all that way… the Traveler's awareness isn't great either.]
[March 7th: My god, if they keep getting tricked by illusions like this, won't they all be finished?]
[Jing Yuan: Probably not. As long as they review what happened tomorrow, they'll figure it out quickly.]
[Feixiao: Looking at it this way, he doesn't seem that hard to deal with.]
[Herta: Huh? She's not eliminated? What does Valerius want to do?]
[Paimon: He… he he he… where is he taking Lumine?!]
[Phantylia: Hehehe… I've thought of some very interesting possibilities.]
[Fu Xuan: Don't tell me Valerius intends to…]
[Ruan Mei: Most likely.]
[Jing Yuan: This is troublesome. Tomorrow's situation is almost too dreadful to imagine.]
Having finally captured a player, Valerius hoisted Lumine over his shoulder and slowly headed toward the room covered in strange runes once more.
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