The Lake of Illusions had a radius of fifty miles.
The first twenty miles were occupied by low-level 7s. From the twenty-first to the thirty-fifth mile, it was the mid-level 7s.
Varian won all the low-level 7s, so he knew that winning mid-level 7s in a normal way was impossible.
That's why—
"The Abyss Prince's mask." Varian took out a bizarre mask from his storage ring. When he killed the abyss prince outside the cluster cities, he also took away his storage device.
"The abyss prince was able to change himself into a human and stay undetected."
Even though great treasures for disguise existed, they couldn't change one into another species. But this abyss prince had such a mind-boggling treasure.
"If it can turn an abyssal into a human, then…" Varian put on the mask and his form changed.
His height changed by two feet and his skin turned ashen. His eyes turned green and his aura changed subtly. He no longer gave a human feeling.
"Wonderful!" Varian exclaimed as he examined himself using his mental sense.
The disguise was perfect.
If he encountered anyone here, they'd think he was an abyssal without a doubt.
"But I don't need to be an abyssal here…" Varian squinted his eyes and carefully moved back.
Rather than entering the twenty-first mile, he moved back to the twentieth.
"No."
He didn't get what he wanted.
Nineteenth mile.
"They aren't here either."
Eighteenth mile.
"Roar!"
"Aha! Gotcha!" Varian punched his palm.
Three mermen were rose from the lake.
The first merman waved its scaly arm and a water pillar at an insane speed shot at Varian.
The second merman froze the space around Varian.
The third merman attacked Varian's mind and tried to pull him into an illusion.
"Hmph!"
Even though all of the mermen were on the stronger side of low-level 7, Varian didn't feel much pressure.
Since he already fought the psychic princess, the mental attack didn't immediately pull him into the illusion.
Then, leveraging his space body, he used his supernatural strength and forcibly broke through the frozen space. Space Body had a huge affinity with space, so, he didn't get injuries that he'd have gotten otherwise.
Finally, the water pillar arrived. It did hit him.
Splash!
It hit him with such pressure that even the toughest steel would've long been broken.
But Varian stood firm.
His defense was reinforced by the three powers he already displayed.
Due to Space Body, his body instinctively formed a special space layer originating from his body itself and formed an armor.
His superhuman body also formed an instinctive defense by aligning the cells and chi as a defensive barrier.
Finally, golden sparks appeared around his shoulders and fingertips before his entire body turned golden.
Whoosh!
The water pillar's strong attack was diluted by the first defense—space, then it was slowed down further by his natural body defense.
By then, the attack of the water pillar dropped a low level. Even then, directly taking it could mean a small injury.
Zap!
Varian's body turned into lightning and the water passed through him.
"Roar!!!"
The mermen were astonished. They could feel neither of his individual paths was stronger than theirs but somehow, the combination of them gave him great leverage. It was a situation where the whole was greater than its parts.
Snap!
Varian snapped his fingers.
Zaap! Kacha!
The space around the psychic merman cracked and lightning reached him in the blink of an eye.
The psychic merman tried his best to control Varian's mind to diver the attack, and due to the difference in their psychic power, he succeeded in normalizing the space.
But he was a bit late in lightning and it burnt him like coke.
"Roar!"
The remaining two mermen were taken aback and wanted to retaliate.
"Hmph!"
Varian froze the space around the space merman, which the latter easily broke. But a lightning snake reached him by then.
The water merman wouldn't let it happen. So, he created an ice dragon and sent it to block off the lightning snake.
The space around the space merman tightened again. He broke it and was about to teleport.
Varian kicked the lake and shot towards the space merman.
Boom!
Breaking the sound barrier, he reached him in the blink of an eye.
"Roar!"
Both the space and water mermen were surprised at his move and they both attacked him simultaneously.
Varian raised his fist and it looked like he was about to try punching the space merman that was about to teleport.
"Kree~"
The space merman and water merman seemed to mock him.
Varian smirked.
Whoosh!
As he swung his fist, he disappeared and appeared right above the water merman.
"Kree?!"
Punch!
His fist was covered by lightning and it punched the water merman.
The water merman converted his body to 'water' at the last moment. Usually, elementalization would've helped, but Varian was prepared.
Kaa! Zap!
The space around the water cracked apart, and lightning wreaked havoc, forcibly breaking the elementalized state.
The water merman was forced to turn back to normal.
Bang!
Then, its head was burst by Varian's fist.
"Tch."
Varian turned to the final merman and smiled.
Bang!
Three seconds later, Varian looked at three mermen corpses.
One had its head blown off, the other was burnt, and the final had a huge cavity in its chest.
Varian picked the mask and tried to imitate the merman form.
It was hard.
The mermen only had a human face. Their shoulders were curved compared to humans, and their backs were always bent.
The blue scales that began from their shoulders stretched all the way to their fingertips. Instead of fingers, they had claws.
Their lower body was covered by darker blue scales.
"Oh shit." Varian checked his form and shook his head.
He was covering himself in a lightning barrier, so he wasn't afraid of people seeing him.
He slowly but steadily worked on the disguise.
The curved shoulders, the shiny blue scales, the claws, and finally, a 'feeling' that mermen only gave.
After nearly thirty minutes, Varian was done.
"Alright, time for round two."
Kicking the lake, he passed the twentieth mile and reached his first mid-level 7 opponent.
"Roar!"
Varian roared.
