Chapter 143: Selena and Assimilation

"I surrender."

This Selena upheld the excellent tradition of Bahadur, deciding to surrender at light speed.

Come to think of it, the people in this academy indeed prioritize staying alive at all times, making one unable to help but think this is one of their school rules.

"Surrender rejected."

Rod laughed.

Pink-purple resentful fire rose up from his feet.

His right leg had already entered the state of 【Sighing Resentment Shakes the Heavens】.

He then violently crushed the last layer of magical shield and stepped on the opponent's head.

The resentful fire instantly burned the black robe's hood, along with Daphne's delicate face, to a crisp.

Even the bones were exposed.

This fellow is also a ruthless person.

He let out a muffled groan, his brows tightly furrowed.

Apart from that, there was no other reaction.

"Mr., there is no direct grudge between us, so there is no need for this. A magic contract or enslavement spell, dispose of me as you wish."

The pain of the resentful fire made her whole body tremble, and a small puddle of urine with a foul smell leaked out beneath her.

But even so, her tone remained calm.

"Mr. Rod."

Farshad called out softly from behind.

This elf, educated by humans, had a heart too kind, even somewhat saintly.

Rod could see the reluctance in his eyes, even when facing an enemy who struck first.

Fine then.

Anyway, I am quite curious about this demon beast's matter; if I find something wrong after asking, killing it then is no problem.

The resentful fire extinguished on its own.

"Let me handle it, Mr. Rod. I have a magic contract."

"No, I have something more reliable."

【Enslavement Spell Used Successfully】

【Enslaved Target 8: Selena Cobbs】

【Race: Zombie】

【Age: 32】

【Obedience: 38】

【Evaluation: As a human, Selena's magical talent and spirit of research are quite outstanding, but within the Bahadur Magic Academy, they are somewhat insufficient. To graduate smoothly, she used spells to block most of her emotional transmission, allowing her to focus more. To be able to devote herself entirely to research for the next twenty years, she turned herself into a zombie.】

Selena was stunned for a moment.

Half of her face was already disfigured, covered in scarlet rotting flesh and bone.

The other half of her intact face looked at Rod, revealing a flash of astonishment that passed in an instant.

She immediately noticed the extraordinary nature of the Enslavement Spell.

Rod silently praised in his heart; no wonder she is a student of Bahadur.

But a zombie?

She looks completely no different from a human.

"Is this Tier Seven? That seems a bit too weak."

He smiled and sheathed 【Dedicated Body Sword】.

"It is just that Mr. Rod is too strong!"

Cecile said excitedly.

The previous bout made her heart surge with excitement, and her gaze at Rod already contained little hearts.

"I'm afraid she is not a complete Tier Seven."

Farshad said while re-casting the Light Spell, "This Selena has been here for twenty years; I'm afraid she never truly completed the process for mage advancement."

"Advancement process?"

"Yes, whether it is Legend, Domain, or Arcane, there is a corresponding promotion ritual. Even if her mana accumulation is in place, she can only be considered half-Tier Seven. Furthermore, it is indeed that Mr. Rod, you are too strong."

Succubus Tally jumped out from the shadows, hugged her master, and kissed him fiercely.

For some reason, every time she saw her master looking mighty, she inexplicably felt very excited.

"The elf gentleman is right; I am indeed half-Tier Seven."

Selena struggled to get up.

She cast a healing spell on herself and applied a 【Clean Dust Spell】.

Seeing her hood burned to a crisp, she simply took it off, revealing a head of dark red short, messy hair.

But the resentful fire had burned half of her scalp to a crisp; such a scene, with one side normal and the other blatantly exposed, looked quite terrifying to onlookers.

Selena didn't care at all, standing respectfully beside Rod as if nothing had happened.

She looked as if she was entirely at his disposal.

Rod felt her face was too unpleasant to look at, so he applied some 【Green Grass Domain】 healing to her.

"Thank you, Master."

"First, tell us about the situation with you and this demon beast."

"Very well. As you can all see, this is one of my research sites. My topic is 'Research and Discussion on the Assimilation of Continental Cosmic Creatures'."

"We've all heard about that already. Let's get straight to the conclusion."

"Understood, Master."

Selina bowed slightly.

She continued:

"I believe that continental assimilation—that is, spiritual assimilation—does exist. Unlike the spiritual energy and aether found in other planes, the continent we inhabit is saturated with spirituality. This spirituality is one of the essences that creates all things, a sacred spark with the nature of creation."

"And every foreign species that enters this continent will, through the process of spiritual assimilation, be completely transformed into a native one. We mentioned the Dread Beasts before—I described them as stowaways, and that is exactly what they are. They moved in without any permits, meaning the aether and spiritual energy within their bodies came into direct contact with spirituality without any buffer. The result of this is not assimilation, but aberration."

"Aberration only leads to the birth of deformed creatures. This is also why Dread Beasts particularly like to parasitize the wombs of female mages, because they believe that using this artificial gestation method to buffer the aberration of spirituality—alas, nine times out of ten it fails. The brain capacity of Dread Beasts cannot allow them to make any sophisticated calculations."

"Then, what is the correct process of spiritual assimilation? It is—"

"The labyrinth's demon nest," Rod deliberately cut her off.

Selina paused.

She revealed a very stiff smile.

"Master is right. It is indeed the labyrinth's demon nest. In my theory, I believe that after the birth of a labyrinth, its connection with other planes becomes much tighter. Therefore, cosmic beings have the opportunity to open an entrance to a demon nest within the labyrinth, hoping this can serve as an 'official' route to move onto this continent."

"Then, why are they so eager to come to our world?"

At this point she insisted on pausing.

She even looked at her new master with a smile, like a teacher waiting for an answer.

"What is it?"

Rod smiled, not minding at all.

He stopped treating the wounds on her face.

At the very least, there was no longer rotting flesh and exposed bone.

Now it looked like half a reddened, pitted face. Although it was no longer good-looking, at least it wouldn't be the kind that made ordinary people scream about seeing a ghost.

Selina was a thin, small woman; the undamaged half of her face was delicate and pale.

"It is self-rescue."

She said, "It is the self-rescue behavior undertaken by cosmic beings who have detected that a great upheaval is about to occur in other planes and are determined to leave."

"Labyrinths have existed for ages. Could they have detected this since ten thousand years ago?" Falshard raised a question.

"This is a part I haven't figured out."

Selina looked at the demon still standing motionless in place. "Even the demons in the deepest parts of this demon nest have undergone partial spiritual assimilation, their intelligence long since lost by more than half. There is no pattern in their speech, making it difficult to decipher, and the reasons within cannot be figured out."

"Speech?"

Rod smiled and took a step closer to the demon.

His left hand casually rested on 【Soul-Trembling Blade】.

"I won't hide it from everyone. I am the foremost language master on the continent. I can master any region's language or dialect without a teacher."

Selina glanced at him.

She said expressionlessly: "Master is truly impressive."

Then she immediately switched to another topic. "As for the state of this demon, it is a spell I used for mental control. Although they come with decent mental resistance, as long as the method is appropriate, it is still possible to—"

Rod grabbed her head and twisted it toward the demon.

"Go ask."

(End of this chapter)