Chapter 993: Soul Interrogation (Part Ⅰ)
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
The magic core which was shaped like a giant spindle suddenly expanded while giving out a purple light. Its luminescence lit up the entire hall. It floated two meters above the ground and began to spin, looking like a fabulous merry-go-round.
Seeing this, Roland had to admit that the magic power, to a certain extent, could not be explained by physical concepts. After this skeleton structure automatically expanded, all its parts could somehow stay in the air without falling to the ground under the influence of gravity. It looked as if there was an invisible hand holding them together.
"How did the underground civilization create these things?" He looked at Pasha. "Can you make copies of them if I give you the same materials?"
"I'm afraid we cannot do so for now, Your Majesty." Pasha shook her head. "Although I'm reluctant to admit it, the underground civilization did have a deeper understanding of the magic power than the Union. Celine is already one of the best researchers of the Quest Society, but even she only learned to operate them in the past hundreds of years."
"We are short-handed. It's a major problem." Celine turned around. "We can't activate the magic core simply by injecting our magic power into it. We have to connect ourselves to the thousands of sensors in it. Common people can never do this."
"In other words, if I want to learn to use this magic core, I have to transfer my soul into an original carrier in the same way as you did?" Tilly asked.
"That's right. A summer insect never knows how cold the winter is. A deaf man never hears anything in the world." Celine sighed with profound resignation. "A human being can hardly imagine what I feel when I'm operating the magic core. I can't find an appropriate word in the human language to describe this particular feeling to you either. Given that, now only Pasha and I can control a magic core."
"Wait... Do you mean that the main tentacle on you, which looks rough, is actually very sensitive?" Roland was surprised.
"Yes. Not only the main tentacles but also the other tentacles on us are highly sensitive," Celine confirmed. "They are able to smell and to feel cold and hot, wet and dry. They can sense even the slightest touch, and the main tentacles can even capture the flow of the magic power. So once you transfer your soul into a carrier, you won't be able to adapt to a human body anymore. Are you interested in it?"
"No, I was merely curious..." Roland turned his head away to stop the conversation. He had to clear his mind at such a crucial moment. He remembered that an original carrier's main tentacle was also her weapon and according to Phyllis, the carriers were as powerful as God's Punishment Witches regarding physical strength.
Based on what Celine had said just now, he realized that an ordinary man who was unable to sense the magic power could never study it in depth. Without a reliable observation and measurement method, this study could only be conducted by a few original carriers for now.
"No. 3 core has been activated in the Soul Instrument mode. The soul transfer is about to begin." Celine's voice interrupted his thoughts. Hearing this, Pasha and Alethea also inserted their main tentacles into the giant spindle apparatus.
Roland widened his eyes in fear of missing a single detail of the process.
However, this transfer process did not look as extraordinary as he imagined. Two beams of light shone out of the core and covered the two stone beds below. The magic power inside the skeleton structure began to surge. After 15 minutes, Celine sighed of relief. "Well, we are lucky. The instrument has caught the demon's soul. Now, all we need to do is wait for it to enter the God's Punishment Warrior's body."
"That's it?" Roland blinked.
"Yes, in fact, the Soul Transfer is a process of exchanging Keys," Pasha explained. "If you had observed the process through a Five-Colored Stone, you would have been able to see the demon's beam of light move to the God's Punishment Warrior."
Before the ancient witch finished her sentence, the God's Punishment Warrior who had lied on the bed motionlessly suddenly opened his eyes!
His face was contorted and thus looked exceptionally ferocious. He could not stop shaking and his fingers, which looked like dead wood, twisted violently. Some weird sounds came out of his throat. Seeing this, all the witches around subconsciously took a step back.
"Don't worry. That's the normal reaction shortly after the soul enters into an unfamiliar body," Zooey said. "We didn't look any better when we transferred our souls into the God's Punishment Warriors for the first time. We can hardly eat or drink without someone else's help."
Roland pictured the scene: a group of exiled ancient witches kept fumbling around in a cold underground cave for a dozen years. He was deeply impressed by the willpower of the Taquila survivors.
"Now that the demon is panicking and in a confused state, it's time for us to get started, lady Camilla." Zooey glanced at everyone and continued. "No matter what you want to know, you can ask me directly. I'll repeat what I've heard from the demon." She paused. "And I have a request."
"Go ahead." Roland nodded.
"As long as I don't gesture a 'stop', please don't halt the Mind Resonance no matter what happens," Zooey stressed each word with due strength. "The interrogation is the most important thing."
"This..." Camilla Dary looked hesitant, which was a rare thing.
"I promise." Without any hesitation, Roland approved Zooey's request. Seeing her determination, he believed he did not need to worry too much, and he really wanted to respect her wish.
"If so, I'll start to use my ability now." Chief Butler of Sleeping Island looked at Roland profoundly and then put one hand on the shoulder of Zooey and the other on the shoulder of the God's Punishment Warrior.
The next moment, Zooey looked miserable.
It seemed that she could not stop herself from growling out. However, Roland immediately knew that this roar must have come from the demon and it might somehow be able to roar through the witch's mouth in the Mind Resonance.
"What have you done to me?" Zooey's voice sounded totally different now. "Stupid crawlers, low-grade species, let me go! Otherwise, I'll make this woman suffer!"
The witches could not help gasping. "Is Zooey..."
"Don't worry. The demon is just bluffing," said Anna, calmly. "Look at her finger."
At this moment, the others noticed that the God's Punishment Witch raised one finger and shook it with ease. Apparently, she was not controlled by the demon.
Roland quickly understood why she acted this way. In comparison to a question-and-answer method, letting the demon speak through her own mouth was a better approach since it would give the demon less time to think and prepare.
"You were defeated by us." Roland sneered. "If we are stupid crawlers, what about you?"
"I was... defeated?" Zooey's voice sounded much deeper all of a sudden. She seemed to be stunned and caught in agony. Roland could not tell whether the painful expression came from Zooey herself or the confused demon.
He did not want to give the enemy any chance to take a breath, so he continued to put pressure on the demon. "Yes, you got riddled with bullets, and your army was annihilated. Half of your soldiers were killed on the battlefield, and the other half failed to flee back to Taquila in the end. We burnt down thousands of them and destroyed your underground camp, so tell me who's the low-grade species!?"
Roland shouted out the last question to the demon.
"No, this is impossible, unless, unless..." Zooey shook her head violently. After a moment, she looked up and muttered in astonishment, "Did you get a legacy shard and upgrade your species? Did you create those weapons... based on the contents of the shard?"
Roland captured the keywords instantly. "What's a legacy shard? What do you mean by 'upgrade'?"