Chapter 376: Illusion Illusion

Luna meandered through the ever shifting, ever changing landscape. A small bubble of calm being exerted around her thanks to the authority of her domain denying any outside illusion to take hold within.

Still as she admired the intricate, beautiful and somewhat terrifying landscape Luna never once allowed her vigilance to waver. She was all too aware that such an environment would present a brilliant opportunity for ambushing others should the ambushes have the correct skill set.

Whilst Luna could technically also follow such logic and wait in ambush for someone, she much preferred to actively hunt down her prey.

Sure she may use stealth to get the jump on whatever it is that she is hunting but she dislikes the idea of a stationary ambush. She much preferred the more active hunt.

Oh course that did in turn open Luna up to being ambushed in return, something that inevitably occoured.

Luna was walking down a cliff that was technically upside down as she approached a hair thin ice bridge that was in actuality almost 100 meters wide, the bridge had simply folded in on itself as it twisted and shifted.

As she approached the bridge however, she noticed a discrepancy with the world around her.

Luna had been paying close attention to the illusions of this zone, taking in and memorising every detail that she possibly could so that she could integrate it into her own domain in the future.

As such she noticed that something was ever so slightly off about one of the features of this place.

Besides the ice bridge several miniature mountains stood, non surpassing 30 meters in height. Some seemed like regular mountains, simply shrunk down in size dramatically, others however, were upside down or inside out.

The upside down mountains were as the name suggested, the mountain was normal in all aspects except for the fact that the peak was at the ground whilst the base was sticking down into the air. She was still walking on the ’floor’ which was in fact upside down as a whole with the sky below her.

It was hard to describe what an inside out mountain looked like, in theory it should be impossible for a mountain to be inside out given that it was made from rock, yet it was indelibly true that at least 2 of the surrounding mini mountains were in fact inside out.

But amidst these strange mini mountains one in particular was just off.

Its surface was a touch too uniform, its slopes a touch too artificial. Whilst at first glance it appeared to be an entirely mundane rock formation, to Luna’s senses it was clear to be something else entirely.

Not one to dismiss her instincts anymore after learning from Violet for so long, Luna decided to act on her hunch and unleashed a flurry of attacks near instantly towards the ’mountain’.

She grinned in delight when said mountain faded away as a strange crab like beast with a shell of solid ice lept to the side as it deftly avoided the ice spears aimed towards it.

The crab was a giant of a beast, 6 thick yet nimble legs held it aloft, each limb covered in a thick carapace of ice that blended seamlessly together at the joints. It stood a good 20 meters tall, similar in length and width, its body gleaming in the light as it gazed at Luna.

The crab then clacked its gleaming blue claws and let out a hiss of apparent annoyance at having its ambush foiled so effectively.

Still the beast was tier 5, as such it still had plenty of tricks up its sleeves.

A wave of shimmering illusions spread out from the beast, the landscape changing in real time to become a forest of trees made entirely of bright blue ice that glimmered in the light.

This wave of illusions was in fact the beast domain, as such it ran headlong into Luna’s own which she too had unleashed the moment her attack had failed to land.

The two domains slammed against one another, the illusory forest halted in its growth as a landscape of bitter cold advanced to meet the forests growth.

Fortifications of ice and snow formed, their positions ever changing and ever shifting as Luna unleashed a hail of magical attacks were unleashed from these defenses.

At the same time Luna took a step and appeared besides the crab whilst 4 other copies of her also appeared to surround the beast.

Above the crab a plethora of weapons forged from ice appeared and descended down atop the crab. A delightfully incongruous clinking rang out as the various weapons found no purchase on its hard shell.

As for Luna and her main illusions they all struck out decisively.

Two went do the claws of the best whilst the second two aimed for one leg each. Luna herself joined the second group in aiming for one of its 6 legs.

Yet as the 5 attacks were about to land the beasts form rippled briefly before each attack harmlessly sailed through the shimmering form of the ice crab.

Less than an instant later that same crab struck out with its claws, each one now wreathed in in a shimmering field of power, they slammed into the two copies that had aimed for the claws.

A subdued boom rang out upon the impact as the two copies shatter into pieces near instantly. At the same time a circular blast of some strange force slammed into Luna and her remaining two copies sending them staggering backwards.

Luna did not rush back in, she and her illusions slowly stalking around the crab as it stared back at them with intelligent eyes as it too studied Luna. She noted that the beast did not seem to pay her copies any mind, its attention focused on Luna’s actual body.

The stand off lasted for several seconds, the crab turning its body to be always facing Luna herself, not seeming to care that her two remaining copies now flanked it.

Then, as if by mutual agreement both sides acted at once as they charged straight for one another as their powers surged and their domains battled for supremacy.