By Zephyria 
“How do you feel about our reunion?”
It felt like absolute shit.
Because the Secrety members and White Tiger Unit members all had lost focus in their eyes.
They were staring blankly ahead.
Even though Ban No-ah, the one we were chasing, was standing right in front of us, it was as if they couldn’t see anything.
This was clearly an abnormal reaction.
“Just what kind of trickery are you up to?”
I asked, filled with rage, and Ban No-ah looked at me with pity, as if asking if I still didn’t understand.
His gaze clearly contained a sense of superiority.
“What else could it be? They’ve fallen into Brainwashing with my ability.”
He caressed the red bead earrings dangling near his ears.
This time, both of his ears were adorned with flashy, bright red beads. As if that wasn’t enough, he even wore them as a necklace, showing them off ostentatiously.
“That can’t be. I could understand if you were creating illusions of our comrades, but the White Tiger Unit will never fall for some petty mental ability you stole from someone else.”
Even at this point, I was quite confident.
‘It feels like shit to be toyed with using my comrades… but we still have a chance.’
Jae-ha had told me that Ban No-ah had tried to Brainwashing him and his comrades before, but failed due to his resistance skill. The Brainwashing he used on Jin-irang could never work.
So, I was confident that the White Tiger Unit members would not be Brainwashinged by Ban No-ah and manipulated.
Wasn’t that why they, who had been hiding like shadows with Jae-ha, had boldly joined this Dungeon raid?
It must have been because they were confident that they could mercilessly eliminate their enemy, Ban No-ah, if they encountered him.
“Why don’t you quit with the transparent tricks?”
I scoffed at Ban No-ah, and his lips twitched.
But it wasn’t because he was displeased by my words…
“Pfft. Do you really think this is just an illusion?”
“Puhahaha!”
He tried to suppress the burst of laughter that erupted because my question was unbearably funny, but he failed.
“……?”
While I blinked, not understanding what he meant, Ban No-ah added an unnecessarily kind explanation.
“You were always the type to show rather than tell, An Ga-hyeon.”
“Shut up. What do you know about me to be spouting nonsense?”
“Your language is as rough as ever… Truly, An Ga-hyeon. I commend you for not changing.”
Ban No-ah continued.
“Though that arrogant attitude will end today.”
“What?”
“You’ll soon find out. I’ll just sit back and watch.”
Then, Ban No-ah gestured to the Secrety members and White Tiger Unit members standing behind him.
“Now, go out and fight. Sever the lifelines of the comrades you were so eager to protect.”
Then, those who I thought were just illusions leaped forward like butterflies and swarmed me in an instant.
“Ugh!”
Kang. Kakang. Kakakakang.
Various attacks and debuffs poured down on me.
Fire and light, water and wind, countless other weapons and vile curses rushed to kill me.
‘Jae-ha, I have to use the weapon Jae-ha gave me!’
I drew the sword that Jae-ha had given me before entering the Dungeon, saying it was for self-defense.
I barely managed to deflect the storm of attacks with it, and hurriedly retreated out of the attack range.
While shouting at my comrades to please come to their senses.
“Ra Ho-yeon! Seo Yun-chae! Shin Tae-beom! Cha Si-yoon!”
“……”
“What are you doing with those dead fish eyes! Snap out of it! You’re Brainwashinged by Ban No-ah right now! Open your eyes!”
“……”
“Damn it!”
No matter how loudly I shouted, the Secrety members didn’t budge.
As if Ban No-ah’s Brainwashing had a function to maximize combat potential, they freely used more advanced versions of the basic combat techniques they had learned under Jae-ha, and pressured me.
Kwaaa kwa kwa kwang-.
“Kuh-ugh!”
A blazing pillar of fire, mixed with light, chased after me. A tornado that seemed to freeze anything with water and wind threatened to swallow me whole.
“Hah, hah.”
All I could rely on was my two legs, which were now running vigorously.
‘Damn it. Those guys, are they not illusions?I frowned and focused solely on dodging the pouring attacks.
I had also yelled at the White Tiger Unit members to come to their senses, but it didn’t seem to have any effect on them either.
“Geum Na-ro! Ha Ri-ra! Can’t you all snap out of it?”
“……”
“Agh! I’m going crazy. Everyone has skills to resist mental abilities like me, so why are you like this? Has your combat skill rusted? That can’t be it!”
You’ve fought way more battles than I have in the 20 years I was dead, so it wouldn’t be strange if I called the White Tiger Unit members Seonbae now!
“What a disgrace! To be affected by Ban No-ah’s mental ability. It’s not too late, so open your eyes and stop this damn attack! Each and every one of these attacks is like you’re going to die if you get hit, like people who only eat and fight have been doing!”
Towards the end, I spat out a tearful cry of resentment in an almost shrill voice.
Hoping that their frozen fish eyes would thaw.
Of course, that was too much to expect.
“……”
No matter how much I shouted until my voice was hoarse, the Secrety members and White Tiger Unit members faithfully followed Ban No-ah’s orders and relentlessly drove me to my death.
“Damn it, damn it…!”
What should I do?
‘Jae-ha, at least Jae-ha isn’t here, so that guy hasn’t fallen for Ban No-ah’s trickery, right?’
Even while pathetically running away, I thought of Jae-ha.
Had Jae-ha also been separated from his comrades and stranded alone somewhere in this red desert?
I thought that Jae-ha would be able to easily win against his manipulated comrades even alone, but at the same time, a sense of relief also welled up that he wasn’t here.
“It’s getting boring. How long are you going to pathetically run away like a rat in the gutter?”
“That son of a bitch….”
I was furious.
‘But if Jae-ha was the target… Ban No-ah wouldn’t be taking his time with such leisure, but would have joined in and aimed for Jae-ha’s back.’
He was the type to do that.
So, I was relieved that I, not Jae-ha, was the target.
I wasn’t the type to just lose, so I decided to at least annoy him with my words.
“How funny. You’re so afraid of losing to me, a Guide, that you’re cowardly Brainwashinging and using my comrades.”
“…What did you say?”
Even in the midst of a battlefield where terrifying attacks were erupting, he was remarkably good at understanding insults?
I was starting to get out of breath and had minor scratches all over my body, but I burst out laughing.
“I wondered why you had been in hiding all this time. Was this all you were doing? Trying to find a Brainwashing that would work even on Ability Users with mental resistance skills?”
As I sneered, Ban No-ah shattered his previously relaxed smile for the first time.
His expression was filled with unbearable inferiority and annoyance.
“Ha! Are you blind or something?”
“What, you bastard?”
“This is the maximum amplification of my existing abilities. It’s like I’m using a buff ability that raises the potential of my abilities to the limit.”
He proudly shook the red bead necklace hanging around his neck.
“In the end, against the sheer volume of abilities poured out, a resistance skill you happened to acquire is no match. That’s what it means.”
“……”
“The mental resistance skills that the White Tiger Unit members acquired were quite a surprising gift that made me quite embarrassed. But, wasn’t their grade only C-grade?”
That was true.
I also had a C-grade mental resistance skill.
I could block most things with this resistance skill, but…
The mental skill that Ban No-ah was using now was originally A-grade, and on top of that, he had stacked a buff ability, so they couldn’t withstand it and were swept away by the Brainwashing.
Potato trembled and sensed the grade of the ability.
[ Kkeueung…. Feels bad…. This is a big problem. The energy emanating from that necklace is probably S-grade. ]
‘…Is that true?’
[ Yeah. It’s bad news for us. Since it’s an ability that an S-grade buffer possesses, it’s believed that the Brainwashing will last a long time. ]
It was terrible news.
The fact that the duration of the buff wouldn’t easily wear off meant that I would have to just watch my comrades being used like puppets.
‘Damn it! Attacks are pouring in on me from all sides, so I’m just barely able to dodge!’
The scratches on my body weren’t major injuries, so they healed again in a few seconds.
But new wounds appeared in their place from the relentless attacks.
As if I were an incompetent Guide with no abilities.
Ban No-ah even set up a camping chair and sipped an iced Americano before casually saying.
“Why don’t you just give up?”