Chapter 161: It’s textbook demon manipulation, baby
"You think it’s illusion magic?" Vespertine spoke up, clearing his throat as Cass turned to him, a little confused.
"Yes. Of course. Do you not? It’s classic illusion magic. If they aren’t dead, like you know to be the case, why wouldn’t you move to the next logical conclusion? This is a dungeon made by the demon king. Of course they are going to use underhanded tricks. Illusion magic is practically a demons’ specialty." Cass said and that made most of those involved with the temple nod slowly.
"You...Lord Blackburn is correct. I don’t know why...we didn’t even consider it..." The priest muttered. He looked to be the man who was in charge of this operation. He was a bit more on the aged side of middle aged, with wrinkles at the corner of his eyes, lips, and a rather prominent one in between his brows.
He looked like a priest you could trust. That seemed kind, nice. Cass grew immediately suspicious.
"There is the chance that you have already been mildly affected by the illusion magic while being here, and that could be one of the things that it wants. For you to not consider it at all as a cause. If it is illusion magic, Lord Vespertine and I should be able to dispel it." Cass said and looked towards Vespertine for confirmation. He nodded, a grin on his lips.
"Cassian is correct." Cass jerked. He’d gone out of his way to call him Lord Vespertine out of respect for him in front of people he assumed were important to him, and he had gone ahead and called him by his first name? The jerk. "Shall I focus on that, since I am more inclined towards dispelling and you focus on defense?" Cass nodded. He felt better about working on ways to keep them all safe with flashy magic then the subtle magic that Vespertine was planning to do.
Not that he couldn’t do it. He just...Cass, not Lord Blackburn, hadn’t done it before. He knew he was capable, Draken had helped him build up his confidence in that field, he just...he should just know where he should push himself and where he should let others take over. This was one of those times.
"That’s great. We were worried about hurting the others, but if it’s Eddie, we should be fine." Lady Ava said and Cass wondered if that subtle jab at him was intentional. He almost snorted at her implication that if he had done it, it might not be fine. Lady Fiona gave Lady Ava a look, and she winced.
"Well, that was our biggest issue. With no monsters nearby, we should get some rest. We’ll leave early in the morning. The temple has been nice enough to set up some tents for us, so shall we all rest?" Lady Fiona offered, looking at Cass especially. "You need to eat and take your medication, Cassian." She warned, and Cass chuckled. The priests seemed interested in this, even if they were trying to hide it.