The Innkeeper
chapter-1250

Lex had trained and strengthened all his abilities, so how could he leave Mindmeld behind? But compared to his other methods, which could be forced, Mindmeld required an element of subtlety - at least for those in a similar realm as himself.

This could change if Lex drastically increased his spirit and mental power, but it was something he had never focused on before, so he was not at an overwhelming advantage for now.

That is why, the moment Lex slapped the wyvern, he had actually already put him under the influence of the Mindmeld. But, since he was concerned that the wyvern might be able to detect signs of infiltration in his mind, within the illusion as well he made himself try to search the wyvern's brain, while allowing the wyvern to secretly resist.

This way, even if the wyvern detected the intrusion, it would feel like it was successfully hiding from Lex.

Lex peeked in on the wyverns plans for a bit, and allowed the situation to progress according to his expectations. Just as he felt some hope, Lex revealed himself. The point was to push Jeffrey to the limits of desperation, so that he would unveil all his hidden cards, and Lex could feel that they were almost there.

"Some kind of explosive crystal inside your body, huh?" Lex said, and dug his hand inside the wyverns body. The pain woke Jeffrey up from the illusion, and he tried to initiate the self-destruction, but now that Lex knew about it, how could he let it activate?

Lex grabbed the crystal and pulled it out of the gaping hole in Jeffrey's body. The wyvern screamed and yelled in anger, but Lex was not paying attention to him. Instead, he observed the crystal with his left eye.

It did not contain energy, but something else. As far as he could tell, once the crystal broke, whatever was inside would act as a catalyst in making laws behave chaotically. He put it away in his spatial ring for later, and then looked at Jeffrey.

"Is that all you have? Was that how you were going to make me regret things?"

Of course it wasn't. But now Jeffrey was afraid. He could not tell if he was in an illusion or not. Was this reality, or just another illusion, within the double illusion? Was Lex baiting him to find out more?

"It seems like you've guessed something?" a voice boomed inside his head, and a massive Lex appeared standing behind the one holding him, looking down on the wyvern like a deity looking down on an ant.

"How many layers of illusions are you under? Can you guess?"

Lex could feel Jeffrey's grasp on reality slipping as panic seeped deep into his bones. Should he make Jeffrey think that even this was another layered illusion? No wait, he had a better idea…

Actually, the truth was that Lex couldn't layer so many illusions with Mindmeld just yet. But who said he even needed to? After ending his previous illusions and digging out the crystal, Lex put the wyvern in yet another illusion, making it seem like everything that had happened was still within an illusion all along.

Lex could feel Jeffrey's grasp on reality slipping as panic seeped deep into his bones. Should he make Jeffrey think that even this was another layered illusion? No wait, he had a better idea…

The entire world began to morph and turn into a mix blur of colors that looked like an abstract painting done by a drunk crow. Nothing made sense and everything was absurd.

There was a loud cracking sound, and visible cracks spread all around Jeffrey, like that in shattering glass.

They approached from all directions, cutting through the blend of colors. The wyvern almost looked with anticipation, hoping for an end to this. The thought was absolutely fleeting, but sent Jeffrey reeling as he realized that he was actually welcoming death!

Before he could have time to react to that thought, the cracks reached him, and everything shattered, revealing a familiar sight.

He was back in his arachnid form, within Lex's grip. Wasn't this how the fight began? Wasn't this before everything? He looked up, and saw that the lightning clouds for the very first tribulation were still gathering.

Had everything been an illusion all along? How strong was Lex's spirit to begin with? He felt time pass! How could everything have only happened inside his illusion?

"What's the matter Jeff?" Lex asked casually. "We've barely just started. Look alive, we have a lot more to go through. You know, I can alter the flow of time in my illusions. A second in reality is equal to a hundred years, and we haven't even passed the first second of our battle yet. I feel like we're going to have a great time getting to know one another."

Of course, everything Lex said was a lie. He could not affect the flow of time in his illusions, though he could mildly affect perception. But did he even need to affect the flow of time? As long as his target believed he could, that was enough.

Wild, desperate panic took hold of Jeffrey's heart, and the immortal wyvern began experiencing a panic attack. For immortals, such a thing was much harder to achieve than for mortals, which is why it was also much more dangerous.

There was another name for not just panic attacks, but all kinds of mental diseases for immortals: heart demon!

A heart demon formed within Jeffrey's mind as his sanity tried to figure out what was real and what wasn't.

Outside the illusion, Lex smiled. That was actually easier than he thought. Getting besieged was actually much harder than triggering a heart demon, which had been one of his objectives all along.

After all, the thing about heart demons was that like all demons, they could be completely controlled by devils. In fact, Lex had once met a heart demon named Pramod in the first Midnight Games, which is how he got the idea to use one.

But the heart demons which infected immortals were much stronger, and more difficult to control. Fortunately, Lex was well connected.

From his spatial ring, Lex summoned a small bead and crushed it. A few moments later, a portal similar to the wormhole opened within the zone, and Lilith Val Kilger stepped into the Trial of Eternity.

"Hey Lilith, glad you could make it," Lex said with a smile. At that very moment, he was struck by lightning.