Chapter 43 : Brainwashing

What is a scroll?

It was a tool mainly used by classes unable to use magic, especially front-line classes who couldn’t learn magic skills beyond simple daily-life

spells.

Scrolls required various valuable materials, and not just the materials, but also the technical skills of mage users, making them precious

disposable tools.

Depending on the situation, they could exhibit unbelievable performance, so many users carried a few scrolls to prepare for unforeseen

circumstances.

However, that was now a thing of the past. In reality, unlike in the game, the ‘Mana Ink’ essential for using scrolls could not be obtained.

This was because there was no way to acquire the mana-infused herbs needed as ingredients for Mana Ink.

In other words, it meant that producing scrolls like in the game had become impossible.

Naturally, the existence of the useful tool known as the scroll faded from many people’s memories.

And only after about a year had passed since the users’ bodies were swapped, did one user discover a substitute for ‘Mana Ink’.

The material for the new scrolls was none other than the user’s ‘blood and soul’.

Sia tore the scroll without hesitation.

The material for this scroll was the blood and vengeful souls of about 100 people.

A scroll’s performance increases in proportion to the skill of the mage creator and the materials used.

That man, despite his rotten personality, was highly skilled, and the materials used were also exceedingly high-grade.

‘I don’t know what magic is contained within, but with this one, even if I have to face those three…!’

The torn scroll in her hand began to glow brightly.

The magic circle contained within activated upon impact.

“…Huh?”

The scroll dissolved into light and disappeared, and the black energy that emerged from it seeped into the caster, Sia.

Gyeoul, the mage, couldn’t hide her confusion and even stopped using her magic.

Watching the streams of black light continuously seep into Sia’s body, Gyeoul muttered blankly.

“…My goodness.”

–<High-Level Magic: Marionette> <High-Level Magic: Personality Theft>

The magic contained in the scroll were skills exclusive to dark mages, capable of binding the body’s freedom and controlling it at the caster’s

will.

If it were ordinary high-level magic, Sia could certainly resist it, but this was magic inscribed on a scroll imbued with the blood and vengeful

souls of over 100 people.

However, Sia was still a user boasting Rank 4. To immediately free herself from the agony, she stabbed her thigh with the hidden blade she

had concealed.

Pain was the simplest and most effective method among ways to escape illusions and mind control.

Her eyes, which had momentarily blurred, regained their vitality and clarity.

But the magic inscribed on the scroll didn’t end there.

<High-Level Magic: Ego Usurpation> <Curse Magic: Weak Imp’s Spirit> <Curse Magic: Irresistible Temptation>

Mental magic types, so rare that finding users was difficult, even more scarcely used in the game than <Middle-Level Magic: Chain of Eternal

Atonement>, manifested consecutively.

In a situation without any equipment providing the ‘Magic Resistance’ stat, purely bare-bodied, the chances of even a ranker maintaining

sanity against such a magic combination were low.

As Gyeoul judged, Sia was internally showering curses upon the man who had given her this scroll.

‘This wasn’t a scroll made solely from the blood and souls of 100 people in the first place! He dared to deceive me..! ’

As a Rogue far removed from magic, Sia had used countless scrolls. According to her judgment, the number of blood and souls infused into

this scroll was…

At least a thousand. Possibly more.

‘But, I have no intention of relinquishing control over something like this.’

After taking a few deep breaths, Sia clenched her teeth and roughly twisted the blade embedded in her thigh.

Perhaps the blade nicked an artery; hot blood spurted out like a fountain, staining her face.

The devil’s whispers that lingered in her ears and the oppressive weight of weak souls vanished.

As she broke free from the succubus’s illusions and the spirits’ bindings, pain belatedly set in.

The onset of pain meant she had at least escaped the dangerous mental magic.

Just as Sia was about to feel relieved, the remaining magic inscribed on the scroll manifested right before her eyes.

<Low-Level Magic: Video Transfer> <Low-Level Magic: Voice Transmission> <Low-Level Magic: Stereoscopic Vision>

Compared to the preceding skills, these were extremely low-level, utility-only spells, not offensive magic.

They seemed like insignificant skills hardly worth paying attention to. Just as she was about to dismiss them, the <Video Transfer> magic

activated, displaying a small window before her eyes.

The first scene in the video was— a blond man, standing with a brute holding a giant sword.

The man, who appeared to be the protagonist of the video, was someone she knew very well. The background of the video was also a place she

knew very well.

Instantly captivated by the video, Sia watched as a paper bag was placed over the man’s head.

“…No way.”

The man collapsed weakly under the brute’s touch.

“No, it can’t be… right?”

The brute raised the greatsword he held high.

The man’s sobbing could be faintly heard.

It was a voice she missed dearly, a familiar voice she felt she had heard tens of thousands of times.

And then—

The final low-level magic remaining on the scroll activated, as if mocking her despair.

It was designed as if timed perfectly with the video’s end.

Ultimately, Sia, unable to grasp the fraying thread of her reason, her eyes turned black.

Her blackened eyes faintly reflected the image of their newlywed home, covered in red blood.

[‘Brainwashing and Control of Ranker-Level User’ successful. Assimilation Rate increases.]

“…It worked. She really was a stupid bich.”

In the darkness of an abandoned house, a man who had been smirking, recalling the face of the woman blinded by love, slowly rose from his

seat as he saw the message appear on his status window.

To eliminate the target, it was now time to move.

[Assimilation Rate 99.7% achieved. Special Quest <Your Destiny> is unlocked.]

As an ‘Undead’ ‘Dark Mage’, you killed, tempted, and brainwashed innocent people.

Your Karma value is ‘-172’.

To put a period on the path you have walked thus far, you will strive.

What is your ultimate goal?

The status window asked him directly, almost as if it possessed self-awareness.

The man opened his mouth, his voice calm and unwavering.

“I am…”