Blood poured from the corner of Seldan’s mouth. The agony in his abdomen threatened to swallow him whole.
As a mage, caught completely off-guard and stabbed at point-blank range by a ranger stronger than himself, he hadn’t even had time to react.
Yet the physical pain was nothing compared to the soul-rending shock of betrayal by his closest friend.
He clutched Pelagel’s arrow-wielding arm with both hands, bloodshot eyes staring fixedly at him, forcing the question through clenched teeth:
“Why…?”
“All of this… is for the Boss’s great cause…”
But as the words left his mouth, tears slid uncontrollably from Pelagel’s eyes.
“What… what am I doing? No… I have to do this. This is all for… for…”
Pelagel stumbled back two steps, letting go of the arrow and clutching his head, seemingly trapped in violent inner turmoil.
Seldan’s eyes widened in shock. Then, as if realizing something, he ignored his own wound and began casting desperately at Pelagel despite the excruciating pain.
**Clarity!**
**Will Shield!**
**Purify!**
He had no idea if these spells would work—he wasn’t a rare mental-specialization mage—but he tried every possible counter-control spell he could think of.
The Puchi nearby, fully focused on setting up the ritual array, paid no attention.
To Lin Jun, Pelagel’s life or death was a matter of a single thought.
Even full parasitization would reduce combat power, but obedience was still guaranteed. And the gravely wounded Seldan probably couldn’t even handle this one Puchi now.
From the moment he was stabbed, Seldan had ceased to be a threat in Lin Jun’s eyes.
Still…
Watching Pelagel struggle like this, Lin Jun was genuinely speechless.
It really only took a few words and gestures to reawaken his self-will?
Was it because the hypnosis wasn’t professional-grade?
Or was Pelagel’s own willpower simply too strong?
A fully parasitized puppet was far inferior to one that retained partial self-awareness in both combat effectiveness and flexibility.
If possible, Lin Jun didn’t want to lose Pelagel—this high-quality asset who could move freely in elven territory—just yet.
No choice. Faced with this confused “child,” Lin Jun personally intervened to guide him:
“Pelagel, there is no need for doubt! All of this is for that great cause!”
“For… the great cause?” Pelagel unconsciously repeated the voice in his head. “What… great cause?”
???
Why so many questions?
How would Lin Jun know what grand cause he had?
But the answer clearly mattered to Pelagel. Without a clear goal, he might spiral out of control, and then Lin Jun would have no choice but to turn him into a full mushroom.
Half a second to fabricate something sufficiently lofty:
“Everything is to save this world! Ilos and Seldan are walking the wrong path. Only by following my footsteps can we change the doomed future!”
Was there any grander “cause” than saving the world?
And it should perfectly align with the ideals of a former “Ark” member.
“Yes… to save the world…” Sure enough, once he accepted this premise, Pelagel’s emotions gradually calmed, and the confusion in his eyes began to fade.
But Seldan would not sit idly by!
Kneeling on the ground, he used his last strength to grab the corner of Pelagel’s cloak. His blood-soaked hand left a vivid red streak across the fabric.
“I don’t care if you kill me!” he gasped, each word flecked with blood. “Without you, I would have died countless times already! But… Pelagel! Wake up! Don’t act like some idiot who fell for low-tier illusion magic and let yourself be controlled!”
Pelagel stared down at his dying friend, the hand holding the bloodied arrow trembling uncontrollably.
“What are you still hesitating for?” Lin Jun’s voice echoed in his mind. “This is all to save the world! These are just ‘necessary sacrifices’…”
Yet clearly, Pelagel’s resolve was nowhere near that level.
When the sacrifice was the friend he had lived and died alongside, he showed fierce resistance.
Seeing this, Lin Jun had to change tactics.
He told him that Seldan had merely been blinded by Ilos’s mistaken ideology. Subdue him for now; once he personally witnessed the “truth” later, he would naturally awaken—just as Pelagel himself had!
This explanation finally smoothed Pelagel’s ruffled feathers.
Under Seldan’s despairing gaze, Pelagel’s confusion vanished. He struck with a knife-hand, knocking his best friend unconscious.
…
Meanwhile, the other Puchi hadn’t been idle.
It had finished setting up a crude abyssal ritual array.
As the ritual activated, a tear really did appear in the Sacred Tree’s consciousness layer.
An environment somewhat similar to his own crystal core, yet not quite the same!
This rift in consciousness didn’t allow direct physical teleportation; it merely gave Lin Jun an entrance to “search for permission switches” inside the Sacred Tree.
The far more complex abyssal spell Ilos had used earlier was clearly a carefully tuned “official version.”
Lin Jun could only grope his way forward.
Fortunately, the available permissions here weren’t as countless as the stars like in the crystal core.
Perhaps because most were still shielded, the options to try—while numerous—were at least within acceptable limits.
Lin Jun dove his consciousness in and began exploring, and his methods were extremely “brute-force.”
Back in his own dungeon, every button press required long, careful observation of the entire dungeon’s reaction.
If anything seemed wrong, he would immediately revert it, terrified of accidentally hitting a “self-destruct dungeon” button and blowing up years of work.
The Sacred Tree Dungeon wasn’t his. Even now, while sneaking in to find permissions, he was essentially climbing through someone else’s window while the owner slept.
Time was more important than caution. If he broke something, he wouldn’t feel bad.
He tried every controllable option he saw, activating them in batches and observing the results.
And soon, the side effects appeared.
High above the Sacred Tree Dungeon, the massive formation that had been drawing sunlight into the depths suddenly stopped.
In an instant, aside from natural light around the spiral edges, most of the dungeon plunged into darkness.
Only a few mushrooms still glowed faintly…
But the rough searching paid off!
In one moment, the Puchi, Pelagel, and Seldan vanished from their spots and appeared inside the abyssal space.
Lin Jun had found the “switch”!
(End of Chapter)
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