The reason was simple.
Himmel 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, Himmel 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 memories.
As long as the target became fully aware that it was all an illusion, it wasn't impossible to break free.
When he was young, Himmel 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, Himmel had spent extensive time 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, Himmel became 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 immediately 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," came 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 Himmel had broken through the wall, Serie, who had felt a twinge of unease, had already set up protective measures 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 Flamme 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 same time, Frieren and Mut, who were still entrapped by the curse, also instantly woke up.
"Teacher..."
Waking up from the illusion, Frieren subconsciously murmured the name Flamme, then saw Himmel slash down two or three times, instantly killing a War Shadow that had tried to ambush Gut.
Seeing the elf she cared about now fully conscious, Himmel wasted no time. 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 immediately 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 seemed so perfectly planned, ended with a laughably anticlimactic conclusion as Himmel 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 moment.
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 + Himmel + Frieren, regular demons—no matter how many came—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 times.
Someday, 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 came to fast power growth, "Deep Blue Enhancement" 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 Memory 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 some 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, Himmel, and Frieren, a glimmer of excitement flashing in his eyes.
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Powerstones?
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