Translator: CinderTL
"Exactly."
The fierce battle raging beneath the High Tower seemed to have no effect on the witch's mood.
She nodded gently, then stepped forward, her eyes sparkling with interest as she examined the pulsating magic core before her.
"That... Lich?"
The Purple-Haired Witch spoke slowly, extending her finger toward the core's surface.
With a faint hiss, the swirling magic elements scraped a red mark across her fingertip.
Yet the sting didn't cause her to flinch. Instead, she slowly closed her eyes.
"He isn't the true master of this Demon Capital, merely someone who stumbled upon an artifact capable of controlling the High Tower."
"This means he lacks complete control over the tower, the very core of the Demon Capital. Therefore..."
She withdrew her finger, casually licking the reddened tip, and continued in a slightly slurred voice, "A minor disruption would be enough to sever his connection to the tower. In fact, Mr. Roland, you could claim complete control over it for yourself."
Hearing this, Roland's brow furrowed even tighter.
Though he had traveled with this mysterious witch for some time, unlike his other companions, Roland remained wary of her.
However, given the current situation, there seemed to be no better option.
With this thought, Roland took a deep breath, abandoned his hesitation, and asked directly, "Then, Miss Vanessa, what exactly... should we do?"
"It's simple..."
Though she had long witnessed Roland's decisiveness, the Purple-Haired Witch still felt a flicker of admiration seeing him remain calm even in such a critical moment.
"The Slaad Toad hails from the Chaos Plane, beyond the Material Plane. Their creations, the 'control gems,' naturally carry the essence of Chaos."
"So before using it, you must first... Hmm..."
Vanessa pondered for a moment before finding the right word.
"Tame it, make it serve you. As for the method..."
Noticing Roland's growing anxiety, Vanessa abandoned her deliberate teasing and said directly.
"Use the psionic energy you possess."
"Psionic energy?"
Before Vanessa could finish speaking, Roland's mind stirred.
A chilling energy surged instantly from the depths of his soul.
Only then did Vanessa's warning slowly follow.
"Of course, I must warn you, Mr. Roland, that using psionic energy to touch Chaos might trigger some... unfortunate consequences."
Roland ignored the Purple-Haired Witch's warning.
Though he didn't fully understand Chaos, he knew it was a domain originating from the abyss, filled with unpredictable forces.
Connecting or communicating with it using psionic energy—the essence of the soul—would inevitably carry immense risks.
But he had no other choice.
If he couldn't stop the Lich, today would be his last day, and the future would cease to exist.
Compared to the slim chance of destroying the magic core with Fire Arrow, Vanessa's suggestion offered at least a clearer path forward.
Before Vanessa could finish speaking, Roland had already pulled the control gem from his belt pouch.
Icy psionic energy, like invisible tendrils, surged toward the gem's surface without hesitation.
The moment the psionic tendrils touched the gem,
Chaos erupted.
Not a sound, but a pure, formless shockwave.
Roland felt his soul plunged into a churning primordial soup, billions of chaotic screams, colors, and shapes violently tearing at his consciousness.
He grunted, gritting his teeth.
The barrier of psionic energy vibrated violently.
This was not an attack, but the very essence of Chaos, the fundamental nature of Slaad Toad creations.
The raw, amorphous chaos directly assaulted his ordered mind.
The gem pulsed and twisted in his palm, like a diseased heart, its form flickering between solid, viscous, and gaseous states.
The icy psionic energy struggled to penetrate this mass of chaos, attempting to establish a connection, like trying to anchor a post in quicksand.
Whispers of chaos gnawed at his sanity.
He forced himself to focus, condensing his psionic energy into a sharp cone of will, and thrust it into the depths of Chaos.
It wasn't empty.
It had a core, a constantly shifting node driven by pure, chaotic will.
Found it!
Psionic energy surged, locking onto the seething core.
The connection was forcibly established.
At that moment, Vanessa's red lips moved silently.
"What a... reckless person."
Her violet eyes gleamed with the pure light of a researcher, as if observing a bubbling potion in a crucible. The words she'd left unfinished finally came.
"When a mortal soul directly touches a creation of the Chaos Plane, the usual outcome is... the dissolution of their mind, or transformation into a writhing mass of chaotic flesh."
Her voice carried a lazy amusement, more like she was describing the expected outcome of an interesting experiment than issuing a warning.
But Roland could no longer hear her.
Agony!
Chaotic energy surged upward, flooding his soul through the psionic link.
This wasn't destruction—it was corruption.
It twisted his senses, inverted his logic, and attempted to assimilate his mind into the Chaos itself.
Illusions bloomed.
The writhing mud, screaming geometries, and meaningless explosions of color assaulted his senses.
Roland's body tensed like a drawn bowstring, and he felt countless slimy tendrils squirming beneath his skin.
His knuckles cracked as they seemed to sprout inhuman structures.
The Slaad Toad's creation was trying to reshape him, to make him conform to the laws of the Chaos Plane.
But just then...
A force similar to psionic energy, yet utterly different, surged from the depths of his heart.
Steel Will!
Fear? Chaos? Charm?
Immune!
The wave of corruption, capable of shattering the minds of mortals, crashed against the unyielding Iron Wall of Roland's will.
The whispers of chaos were extinguished.
The twisted illusions shattered.
The writhing, mutated sensation was forcibly suppressed.
The core of Roland's being, the very essence of "Roland," remained unshaken.
Psionic energy was no longer a connection, but a shackle.
Cold energy transformed into countless tenacious threads, binding the seething Chaos core in a death grip, ignoring its frantic struggles and agonized screams.
He was not understanding or communicating.
He was conquering.
Using the brute force of his absolute will, he was pinning down and taming this mass of chaos.
The pulsing of the control gem suddenly intensified, then abruptly froze.
The twisted form solidified for a moment, its chaotic surface collapsing inward.
The overwhelming sense of madly surging pollution receded like a tide.
Sensing the Chaos Gem's abnormality, Vanessa's languid posture faltered slightly.
"This is..."
A barely audible whisper escaped her lips.
Her deep purple eyes fixed on Roland's tightly clenched fist, the unyielding grip on the gem, and the now-subdued creation.
Playful curiosity was instantly replaced by a genuine, sharp astonishment.
But the surprise vanished as quickly as it had come, fleeting like an illusion.
Roland gasped for breath, cold sweat drenching his back.
The control gem in his palm, which had been constantly shifting its form, now displayed an eerie stability.
Its pure black crystalline core was wrapped in countless fine threads of chaotic energy, like living worms, pulsing faintly and exuding an aura of dangerous obedience.
Connection established.
"Impressive, Mr. Roland," the Purple-Haired Witch finally spoke, her voice lighter than before, almost breathy, with a subtle drawl at the end.
Roland ignored her praise. Wiping the sweat mixed with blood from his forehead with the back of his hand, he took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil deep within his soul, and asked directly,
"What should we do now?"
"It's simple," Vanessa replied.
Her eyebrows arched slightly, and an inscrutable smile curved her lips as she elegantly made a tossing motion.
"Mr. Roland, even the calmest lake...
"Can be stirred into irresistible ripples by a single, light pebble..."
The Purple-Haired Witch's gaze shifted to the pulsing magic core, her voice taking on a mysterious cadence.
"...a single, light pebble can stir irresistible ripples."
(End of the Chapter)
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