Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

After hearing a few more examples, Dante and Ian began to sweat cold… Ethan had gotten over his past, more or less, so he didn't mind sharing that kind of story, even more so when Ian was visibly uncomfortable after hearing just a few other examples. His face turned blue when he heard about the times during the illusion that Ethan was killed thanks to some torture devices. It was even more amazing the fact that Ethan didn't look bothered by the memories or his own words.

"I suppose this illusion made it easier for me to learn this technique," Ethan said. "Still, it shouldn't be impossible for you to learn the technique, even more so considering that you know the Russian girl who made the simulator. She might help you with that even more than just regular image training can do."

"... I see…" Dante said while gulping. "I am sorry for making you recall all that."

"It is fine. After experiencing those lies, nothing will surprise me anymore, and I am thankful for that," Ethan shrugged.

"... What happened to the guy that put that spell on you?" Ian asked with a serious expression on his face.

"When I woke up, I was too weak to fight, but since he didn't imagine that I would free myself, he looked shocked and very fearful," Ethan replied. "In the end, he chose to kill himself instead of fighting me, even though I hadn't eaten anything in a month, and he barely gave me enough water to survive. He just kept me alive for his experiments… I am not sure if he was fearful of fighting me or if he learned something interesting about my power."

"... I see," Ian said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Ian looked like he was thinking about something else, while Dante wondered what he could do with all that information to learn the technique. After thinking for a short while, he could only imagine that the trick behind Ethan's technique made sense and he couldn't be lying since it was a crazy story… he also imagined that Ethan couldn't forget the illusion and those scenarios couldn't be erased from his mind and that was why he could master that technique that much.

In the end, the conversation ended there, and Dante considered what he should do… learning that technique would be useful. Still, it didn't come without some serious risks. Dante knew that he had more or less of an easy time saving another world, and he could be risking his mental health trying to learn that technique.

The enemies didn't attack that side of that city that day, and soon night came, and Hannah gave them the report of the other battles. The same things happened everywhere… some ghost-like monsters underground tried to get rid of the heroes of the country with surprise attacks. Still, they failed by causing too little or either was stopped completely before causing any real damage.

"The other monster's armies also retreated, so you can return to the hotels and rest for the night. The soldiers are taking over the defenses at night," Hannah declared.

"All right… let's regroup with the others," Ethan declared.

Ian and Dante didn't say anything, but they still followed Ethan until they arrived in the center of the city and then met Aline, Emily, Isaac, and Emily's father. It still looked like Emily and Aline were at odds with each other, but Aline forgot about that when she saw Dante so lost in touch. Their hotel was in another part of the city, so they left in silence.

"I thought that you would have fought with Dante at least once, but it looks like my guess was wrong…" Emily furrowed her eyebrows.

"Hannah gave us a brief summary of what happened… what does everyone think will happen from now on?" Ethan asked.

"Although some people don't like that we have to rely on the help from other people, most know that things would have been messy if we didn't receive any help. The higher-ups don't care much since this war isn't being profitable at all," Isaac explained. "Still, everyone also thinks that things won't improve unless we enter the dungeon and solve the core of the problem."

Isaac was probably informed about the being who ambushed Ethan and the fact that the ghost armors were being controlled by someone in the dungeon or on another world… Still, most people didn't know that and that a trap was probably waiting for them on the other side.

"Either way… we aren't exactly incognito anymore, so we can't do whatever we want either…" Emily added.

"This is quite tiring, isn't it?" Ian asked. "What I wouldn't do to hear Miss Lyla's voice right now…"

"Ew… gross," Emily said while showing an impression of disgust, and then she made her father and Isaac laugh a little bit.

Everyone went to their rooms, and then Ethan took a nice bath before heading to his bed. He wanted to sleep like a rock until morning, but it looked like Ian wanted to bother him more than a little bit. He looked serious this time, though.

"Ethan… Do you recall every single scenario that you experienced in that illusion?" Ian asked.

"Why do you ask?" Ethan furrowed his eyebrows.

"I was just considering the possibility that your ability to imagine things and some mental training extremely efficiently are somehow connected to that," Ian added.

"What if that were the case?" Ethan asked.

"I just thought that perhaps those things were also the reason why you can keep your cool at most times despite the fact that you are clearly someone that has been scarred due to wars," Ian explained. "You lost your powers, but you have that kind of trick where you can practically imagine yourself in those scenarios and then buff your own strength… in any case, that doesn't matter all that much. What I really want to ask is how many years' worth of experience that illusion forced you to absorb."

"Who knows… it is impossible to tell," Ethan shrugged.