NOVEL WEB Chapter 92 - Mask
Mask of Thousand Faces
Lucien spotted it in the Artifact Section of the Craft feature. It instantly caught his attention.
He didn't know exactly what it did but if the name meant what he suspected… it could be just what they needed.
Without hesitation, he decided to unlock it.
The recipe cost was steep.
A whopping 100 High-Grade Mana Cores.
Well, after their haul from the Apex Dungeon, he still had more than eight hundred left.
This wasn't the time to be stingy.
One tap... and the recipe unlocked.
Another... and the description appeared on the panel.
As he read, a faint smile tugged at his lips.
Just as he guessed, it could be a game-changer.
Perfect for their disguises.
It's far better than relying on Dark Magic illusions which were riddled with flaws. It wasn't foolproof and anyone with sharp enough senses like Elunara could see through them instantly.
While they'd been traveling toward the first dungeon on their list, he'd been looking for exactly this kind of tool.
And now... scrolling through the crafting materials, he let out a breath of relief.
He had every material needed.
***
Mask of Thousand Faces
Description:
An artifact that shifts its features at the wearer's will, allowing them to assume countless appearances. It can mimic the face, the voice and minor mannerisms of others the wearer has seen... though it cannot replicate magical auras or unique powers.
Materials:
• Silver x2
• Moonstone x1
• Night Thread x1
• Beast Hide x2
• Quartz Dust x1
• Resin x1
...
***
Lucien didn't waste a moment.
He pulled the required materials from his Spatial Bags and transferred each directly into his INVENTORY.
His hands moved with precision. The items appeared and vanished in quick motions.
The others watched him curiously. They didn't know what he was doing but his focused expression kept them from interrupting.
Once everything was ready, Lucien tapped the [CRAFT] button.
The materials vanished from his INVENTORY, replaced by a progress bar.
He waited for awhile.
His anticipation was building as the progress bar filled.
Finally...
It was complete.
And the result appeared...
Four Masks of Thousand Faces.
Lucien smiled.
He picked one up to inspect it.
The mask was faceless and silver. Its smooth surface was interrupted only by faint runes etched along the edges.
Unblemished.
Sleek.
It looked like nothing more than a simple and elegant mask.
Lucien picked up the remaining three and handed them to Edric, Maxim and Ellen.
They accepted them with puzzled expressions.
Edric even gave his a few knocks but it sounded perfectly ordinary.
Then Lucien explained.
"This will help with our disguises," he said. "It can change our appearances… even our voices."
He paused, meeting each of their eyes.
"To use it, just wear the mask. Channel mana into it. And imagine the face you want."
Ellen was intrigued.
She stepped forward to try it first.
She placed the mask over her face...
...and blinked in surprise.
Comfortable.
Almost weightless.
It didn't press against her skin or hinder her breathing.
In fact, she couldn't feel it at all.
Her vision was clear.
No obstruction.
Perfect craftsmanship.
She drew in a breath then began channeling mana.
In her mind, she pictured a face.
The mask responded instantly.
Its surface rippled then it shifted.
The color deepened.
The texture morphed.
The contours reshaped.
Lucien watched closely with a faint grin tugging at his lips.
The process reminded him of a character creation screen in a game.
When the transformation stopped, the person sitting before them was no longer Ellen.
Her face had completely changed.
"Can you recognize me?" Ellen asked.
Even her voice had changed.
It perfectly matched the face she now wore.
Lucien chuckled.
"Aunt… haha that's Professor Belinda, right?"
Exactly so.
Ellen had copied the Head of the Magic Department down to the tiniest detail.
Edric and Maxim stared in disbelief.
The resemblance was uncanny.
It was perfect.
The transformation had been seamless without the slightest flicker to give it away.
"Woah! You looked more like Belinda than the real Belinda GAHAHA." Edric jested.
Lucien's lips curled into a satisfied smile. 'It really works.'
One by one, the others began testing their masks.
It didn't take long for them to get the hang of it and soon they were switching faces with practiced ease.
Edric amused himself by pulling exaggerated expressions with Dorian's or Magnus's face.
Maxim tried imagining his younger self before giving Ellen an exaggerated wink.
She promptly elbowed him in the ribs, earning a round of laughter from the group.
Eventually, they all settled on plain, unremarkable appearances that wouldn't draw attention.
The artifact was nothing short of impressive.
No visible mana fluctuations.
No distortions.
No hint of illusion.
It was almost impossible to tell the difference between the mask's disguise and the real person.
With this, they could move forward with their plans in absolute confidence.
•••
Time passed.
By the time morning came, they were already running on borrowed energy.
The group hadn't rested yet.
Lucien had kept them going with his coffee drops.
It was very effective in keeping them awake and running.
Their operation had settled into a precise rhythm.
***
Enter the dungeon.
↓
Head straight for the estimated location of the magic circle.
↓
Lucien would extend his Divine Sense, seeking the traces of miasma.
↓
Once found, destroy the magic circle.
↓
Loot anything worth taking.
↓
Leave immediately after finishing.
↓
Travel to the next dungeon on the list.
↓
Change their faces.
↓
Repeat.
***
It worked every time.
With each new dungeon, they altered the Mask of Thousand Faces, ensuring no one could track them or notice a pattern.
Lucien was even more meticulous.
Before leaving, he would sweep the other floors with Divine Sense, searching for any lingering miasma trails. So far, there had been none.
Lucien couldn't help but be impressed.
Maxim's and Ellen's predictions were sharp. Every location they marked had indeed been hiding a magic circle.
Their accuracy turned what could have been a grueling search into a series of swift, decisive strikes.
...
But Ellen was the most shaken.
The moment she laid eyes on the bleak magic circle, her heart pounded violently.
With her Tier 9 strength, she could feel something deeply wrong about it.
Something dreadful and unnatural.
It was as if an unseen force was calling to her.
The pull was subtle yet formidable... And dangerous.
She forced herself to steady her breathing and clenched her fists.
That feeling only steeled her resolve. These magic circles had to be destroyed.
Whatever the Golddust family was planning, it was dangerous... and they still had no idea what it was.
Determined to uncover the truth, Ellen activated Perfect Loop.
She tried to probe the magic circle to learn what it was and what it did.
But the moment she entered the loop… nothing came back.
No answers.
No insight.
Only the endless churn of possibilities that refused to resolve into truth.
Her loops spun endlessly. Each cycle dragged her deeper.
She nearly slipped into Obsession.
It was a dangerous state where her mind would chase an answer forever.
The runes seemed familiar at first… but the moment she thought she understood them, their meaning shifted.
The connections between each runes. The properties of the magic circle... It was all in chaos.
It's like trying to grasp smoke.
Time blurred.
Her loop hadn't ended and she didn't even realize how long she'd been trapped in it.
Thankfully, Maxim noticed her strange stillness and snapped her out of it.
Ellen exhaled sharply as her breath trembled.
Perfect Loop's greatest flaw was its lure.
If she lost control, she could be locked in endless pursuit of an answer.
And time was a luxury they did not have.
They looked down, disappointed.
The unknown was something none of them liked.
With heavier resolve, they pressed on... clearing the magic circles.
Dungeon after dungeon.
The only small consolation for Lucien was the loot.
Not every site yielded treasures but most contained high-grade mana cores. Others had none at all.
It was likely the reason Golddust had been smuggling them in the first place.
And now, those cores were his.
But there was something else.
Every site with that bleak magic circle also contained goblin figurines.
And then Maxim noticed a disturbing detail.
Some dungeons had incomplete magic circles while others bore fully-formed ones.
Those were worse. Far worse.
The air around them was heavier.
Lucien also saw that the miasma was denser.
The feeling they gave off wasn't just unpleasant. It was dreadful.
It's like something on the other side was pressing against the barrier... ready to break through.
Whatever it was, they didn't wait to find out.
They destroyed them all.
...
Lucien sighed.
At this point, he had more than three thousand high-grade mana cores in his possession.
And if they cleared the remaining dungeons on the list, there would be even more.
Four left.
But then… something changed.
They began encountering Golddust aides more frequently in the dungeons they targeted.
Lucien didn't need to guess.
This had Magnus's fingerprints all over it, acting on his father's orders.
The aides always stationed themselves near the floors with magic circles.
When explorers arrived, they would intercept them.
Sometimes with questions.
Sometimes with outright hostility.
Some groups were turned away.
Others who refused to comply were attacked on the spot.
In a dungeon, you lived or died by your own strength. But these aides acted as though they owned the place.
Ironically, it worked in Lucien's favor.
The aides' presence told them exactly where to go and it kept other explorers away.
When Lucien's group arrived on those guarded floors, the Golddust response varied.
Some attempted to block their path.
Others skipped the pleasantries and went straight for blood.
Either way, it made no difference.
Lucien's group showed no mercy.
Not one Golddust aide walked away alive.
To erase all trace, Lucien burned their bodies until nothing remained.
And then they moved on.
•••
It was in the afternoon when they finally crossed the last dungeon off their list.
Twelve dungeons.
Done.
Finally, they stepped out of the final dungeon.
The disguised group chatted and laughed in triumph.
But—
Lucien froze.
A chill seeped into his bones... followed by a creeping sense of dread.
That familiar, stomach-turning feeling he wished he'd never feel again.
His eyes flicked to Edric, Maxim and Ellen.
Nothing.
They didn't notice a thing.
The feeling only grew heavier like an invisible hand pressing down on his chest.
Slowly… cautiously… he turned his head.
An old man was walking toward them.
Lucien's throat went dry.
The man's presence was suffocating.
His aura was every bit as terrifying as Lucien's Sovereign Aura.
And yet, the old man was elusive.
His figure blended into the scenery as if the world itself wanted to hide him. Each step landed with a weight that made the air feel thick.
Reality seemed to bend, masking his existence until he was nearly upon them.
Lucien didn't breathe.
The old man drew closer… closer…
And then...
...he walked past them.
Lucien let out the breath he'd been holding.
The old man… wasn't here for them.
The old man kept walking.
Straight toward the dungeon entrance.
Lucien's gaze followed him.
He was about to use INSPECT...
...but every instinct in his body screamed danger.
If he used a skill, the old man would notice.
Every pore on his skin prickled.
His muscles locked in place as he forced himself to resist the urge.
He froze.
This… this was the first time he had ever felt like this.
A suffocating pressure that made it hard to think, let alone breathe.
The old man was dangerous.
And… Lucien knew he had made the right call.
The old man's steps halted.
Slowly, his head turned.
His eyes locked onto Lucien, pinning him in place.
Lucien didn't meet his gaze.
He looked away feigning ignorance as if he hadn't noticed the man at all.
A moment passed.
Another.
Then the old man resumed walking.
Lucien finally let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.
"Uncle Ed… who is that old man? He's… dangerous."
Lucien's eyes tracked the figure heading toward the dungeon. He gestured subtly in that direction.
But Edric just looked at him strangely.
"Nephew? Are you seeing things? There's no one out there. GAHAHA! You must be tired. We haven't slept at all."
Lucien jolted.
No.
He could see him clearly.
Lucien's expression darkened as unease curled in his chest.
'There's no way…'
Maxim noticed the change in his face.
He glanced toward the dungeon entrance.
Nothing.
But still, he asked.
"Nephew… what did you see?"
Lucien described everything.
The old man. The suffocating pressure. The elusiveness.
Lucien didn't mention about the miasma that coat the old man. The others can't see them.
As his words sank in, Edric's smile faded.
Maxim's brows furrowed.
Even Ellen's expression stiffened.
"Let's get out of here," Edric said. His voice was low and serious. "If he's who I think he was, this might be trouble we can't afford right now."
They moved quickly.
Within minutes, they were in the carriage.
The wheels rattled against the road as they put as much distance as possible between themselves and the dungeon.
On the way, Ellen cast a Dark Magic barrier to seal their conversation from prying ears.
"I can't believe we didn't notice him at all," she said. She was Tier 9 yet she didn''t notice that old man.
"That old man… he's grown stronger again. This is dangerous," Maxim muttered. "Good thing we finished everything before he appeared."
Ellen's frown deepened. "His skill… I still can't figure out what it is."
Edric's gaze hardened.
"Nephew... If I am right, that old man is... Malrik Golddust," Edric said at last. "The former patriarch of the Golddust family."
Lucien stilled at the name.
That man was cloaked in miasma.
Lucien guessed that the only reason he had been able to notice him… was because his divine energy cut through the miasma's veil.
And divine energy was one of the few things that could counter it.