Deep within the laboratory, a door appeared.
It wasn’t a door in the physical sense, but a screen of snowy white light, suspended at the end of the passageway.
Blue patterns flowed across its surface like a waterfall of data, silent, yet emanating a strange, pulling force.
“What is this…”
Vivian stopped, her hand resting on her sword hilt.
Alicia also stopped.
She raised the Holy Scripture in her hand, and a faint wisp of Holy Light spilled from between its pages, shining toward the light screen.
The moment the Holy Light touched the screen, it was swallowed without a trace.
“An energy barrier,” Alicia’s tone was flat.
“I cannot analyze its composition.”
Lilith stood beside Lynn, curiously reaching out a finger as if to touch that light.
Lynn grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t touch!”
His voice was a bit loud, causing an echo in the empty corridor.
Lilith turned her head, her eyes curving into crescents.
“Brother is worried about me?”
Lynn didn’t answer.
He looked at the light screen, his mind racing.
He had seen this scene before, in the game’s setting documents.
“Phantom Corridor.”
A device used to test the mental stability of experimental subjects.
It wouldn’t cause physical harm, but it would read the deep subconscious of anyone who entered, materializing the scene they most desired.
For a normal person, this might be a pleasant dream.
But for these women whose Blackening Values could easily break ninety, the scenes they most desired were undoubtedly Lynn’s personal hell.
[System Alert: Ahead is a high-risk mental contamination zone. Proceed with caution.]
No penalty, no reward.
The System only gave a cold warning.
Lynn knew he had no choice.
This was the only way.
“Stay close to me, don’t move around.”
Lynn took a deep breath.
He had to take the initiative to control the situation.
“This might be a teleportation gate. Passing through it should lead to the next area.”
He fabricated the most plausible explanation.
Vivian and Alicia didn’t argue.
In this unknown ancient ruin, Lynn, who could “sense” special powers, was their only source of information.
Lynn walked at the front, Lilith pressed tightly against him, Vivian and Alicia flanked them on either side, and Ignis brought up the rear.
He took a step into the light screen.
No dizzying spin, no feeling of weightlessness.
It was like passing through a layer of cool water.
The scene before his eyes suddenly opened up.
They arrived in an even more enormous circular hall.
In the center of the hall stood a colossal white statue, its facial features blurred and indistinct.
Lynn looked back.
Vivian, Alicia, Lilith, and Ignis had all followed him in.
The light screen vanished behind them.
Their expressions… hadn’t changed.
Lynn’s heart gave a lurch.
Had he overthought this?
Was the device malfunctioning?
The moment he thought this.
A sudden change occurred.
The four women beside him all froze in their movements at the same instant.
Vivian remained in her forward-walking posture, but her head lifted slightly, her gaze passing over Lynn to fix upon the statue in the center of the hall.
Her eyes had changed.
The knight’s sharpness and vigilance were gone, replaced by a kind of… almost obsessive tenderness.
Alicia lowered her head.
She released her grip on the Holy Scripture, letting the heavy book fall to the ground.
She clasped her hands over her chest, assuming a posture of devout prayer, her face wearing an expression of fervor and happiness Lynn had never seen before.
The smile vanished from Lilith’s face.
She stared blankly ahead, the shadow of the statue reflected in her pupils.
The corners of her mouth slowly, uncontrollably, began to curl upwards.
It wasn’t a smile a little sister should have, but the smile of a puppeteer gazing upon her most perfect creation.
Ignis was the most direct. She let out a “Ha,” a strand of drool trickling from the corner of her mouth.
She half-crouched, her tail wagging excitedly behind her with a thwip-thwap sound.
Her eyes held the greedy light a dragon only gets when seeing endless treasure.
They were all affected.
Lynn’s back was instantly soaked with cold sweat.
He didn’t know what they were seeing, but he could guess.
It was definitely nothing good.
He tried to move, to reach out and pull Lilith, who was closest to him.
But the moment his hand rose, Vivian moved.
She didn’t walk toward the statue, but turned toward Lynn.
She stepped toward him, one step at a time, her metal greaves making a clack, clack sound on the ground.
Her face wore an expression Lynn couldn’t comprehend, a mixture of pity and ruthless determination.
Her gaze wasn’t on Lynn’s face, but fixed intently on his knees.
That look was like a craftsman examining a piece of material that needed “correction.”
“This way… you’ll never leave me again.”
Vivian’s lips moved, her voice light as a dream whisper.
Lynn’s legs felt weak.
He wanted to back away, but his body wouldn’t obey.
On the other side, Alicia moved too.
She slowly knelt on the ground, not toward the statue, but in Lynn’s direction.
She lifted her head, her face radiant with holy light, but her eyes held the fanatical madness of one offering a Sacrificial Offering to a god.
“You are so perfect, you should not be sullied by worldly dust.”
Her voice echoed in the vast hall.
“Only I, your most devout follower, am worthy of brushing that dust away for you… forever.”
She extended her hand, Holy Light swirling around her fingertips.
That Holy Light was no longer the warm, healing power, but carried a destructive aura of purifying and erasing everything.
Lilith didn’t move.
She just looked at Lynn, the curve of her mouth growing wider and wider.
“Brother, look, this world is a stage built just for you and me.”
She said softly.
“All the strings are in my hands. You can’t run away, you’ll never run away.”
She raised her hand, her fingers making a pulling motion in the air as if tugging on strings.
Lynn suddenly felt a stiff, puppet-like sensation in his limbs, as if manipulated by invisible strings.
‘This is all an illusion!’
Lynn roared at himself in his mind.
But the chill rising from the depths of his body, and the nearly shredding possessiveness emanating from the three women, felt so real.
The most terrifying one was Ignis.
The red dragon girl had completely entered a predatory state.
She crouched low on the ground, muscles tensed, a low growl rumbling in her throat.
“So pretty… golden… all mine…”
She wasn’t talking about the statue.
She was talking about Lynn.
In their hallucinations, what exactly had Lynn become?
A pet that needed its legs broken to be kept?
A private idol to be worshipped by her alone?
A marionette controlled by strings?
Or a golden statue to be forever collected by her?
These were the deepest desires in their hearts.
Each one more twisted than the last, each one more insane.