Markets and Multiverses (A Serial Transmigration LitRPG) Chapter 272: Smoke and Mirrors

As Worldstriders started to swarm out of their camp, my two illusions started to flee. A few monts later, they dove behind cover. In a mont of inspiration, I then had one of the illusions 'teleport' away.

I knew from Anise's textbook that Zelyrian teleportation existed. It had very limited range, but it was a spell that better mages could use. Since that was the case, one of my illusions was now going to be proficient in the spell. I wanted the worldstriders to feel threatened by my illusions.

My illusions watched the Worldstrider camp as more of them started to swarm the area. My non-teleporting illusion waited a few breaths, for the worldstriders to clump together.

Then, he raised a hand, and tossed a fireball at the densest cluster of worldstriders.

The worldstriders seed shocked as the illusory fireball flew towards them. I heard one of them curse.

“They are Zelyrian! Kill them!” It shrieked, as it started to fly away from the fireball.

All hell broke loose.

Over a hundred worldstriders started firing spells at my illusion. I made the illusion start dodging and weaving around. It was hard for to track so many different attacks and 'dodge' them all. However, it needed to be done to sell the idea of a Zelyrian attack.

At the sa ti, the ‘fireball’ started homing in on the fleeing worldstrider. It tried to flee up, down, and then zigzag around the illusory projectile... but I wasn't having it. With a burst of speed, the fireball zood forward, and hit its target.

The 'fireball' exploded in a flash of light. At the exact sa ti, Anise launched a real fireball, which I teleported right into the worldstrider.

The fireball expanded outwards with a loud bang, and four worldstriders turned into charcoal. I added to the attack by extinguishing a few more worldstriders who touched the edge of the fireball.

However, my teleportation shenanigan wasn't without cost. While I had been distracted, a worldstrider finally hit my illusion. I made the illusion yell in pain, and then duck behind cover as he nursed his now-bleeding arm.

Trying to manage so many different things at once was very difficult. There were too many projectiles to keep track of. So I decided to change things up a bit. I had my illusion use a 'healing spell' to heal up his arm. He popped back out of cover, and smiled at the worldstriders.

Then, he pretended to use a flying spell, before lifting into the air and fleeing.

“He can fly!” Yelled one of the worldstriders. The group started chasing after him as they launched more essence at him.

With my illusion airborne, it was much easier for him to 'dodge' attacks. I spared a bit more of my attention to watch the worldstriders themselves.

Unlike previous fights, this ti the worldstriders weren't thinning themselves out. Since my illusion had used a fireball, they were more worried about compacting their bodies. That would make it easier to avoid a large projectile... but it also made them very vulnerable to extinguishes.

I started throwing my next wave of attacks onto the battlefield. Six worldstriders were extinguished before the worldstriders realized soone else was attacking them.

"The female mage is missing!" yelled one of the Worldstriders.

A group of them broke off from chasing my illusion, and started flying higher. They began scanning the area for my teleporting illusion, and also started thinning out their bodies.

Anise started tearing them apart, and within seconds, another six Worldstriders died. Finally, the Worldstriders spotted my 'teleporting' illusion.

The swarm of worldstriders divided in two. Half of them kept chasing my flier, while the other half focused on my teleporter. My teleporter gave the worldstriders a cheery smile, and then disappeared again. I set her up just behind a few trees, where she continued throwing fake spells at the creatures. anwhile, Anise and I continued to snipe the worldstriders from the distance.

My flying illusion proved to be the more difficult one to manage. There were just too many projectiles to dodge, and my concentration wasn't perfect. Another ball of black essence hit him in the head, and I realized that there was no way he could survive.

The 'flying mage' shrieked and dropped out of the sky.

I debated how my other illusion should react, before I settled on making her smirk. Plenty of allies didn't like each other on the battlefield. Then, she teleported closer to the worldstrider who had struck the finishing blow, and shot a bolt of silver force at it. Before the worldstrider could react, it was hit. I followed the illusory attack up with an extinguish, and the creature died. Before the other worldstriders could react, she blinked away.

However, I made sure that she reappeared near the sa spot. I didn't want the worldstriders to look too closely at their surroundings. If they found Anise and I, the jig would be up.

It only took a few seconds for the other worldstriders to notice her again, and then they started firing at her.

With the excuse of 'teleporting,' it was much easier to keep this second illusion from touching projectiles. Furthermore, I spruced up her movents with constant dodging and weaving. Since the flying mage was dead, Anise and I stopped using fireball spells... but extinguish and mage hand were deadly enough. After two minutes of fighting, almost thirty worldstriders died. But by that ti, I was starting to get worn out. Keeping my illusion from getting hit was difficult. There were just too many enemies to track.