Chapter 168
Chapter 168
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 168
Chapter Title: Mental Labyrinth -1
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This world is full of filthy illusion magic.
Spells that turn love into resentment, ones that flood the target with uncontrollable dopamine once a specific trigger is met, memory blurs, making lovers see each other as enemies, violently inciting personality changes, hypnosis for brainwashing, all sorts of lascivious tags...
Some even use tricky maneuvers to bypass the target's mental barriers. A prime example is Scar-Face Senior's Marionette. This spell sneaks in like, "I'm not a virus, just harmless data—mind if I come in?"
While studying these vicious illusion magics out of necessity for implementing TRPGs, I suddenly felt a chill at the realization that one wrong spell could turn my brain into mush inside my skull.
Who knows if some lunatic mage might kidnap me and trap me in eternal illusion magic, or if a red-eyed ninja could blanket the whole world in it?
I might get well-done by a fireball, but I sure as hell wasn't losing myself to illusion magic. With that resolve, I put a ton of effort into my mental barriers.
At first, I went with adding modules one by one.
A module to periodically load backup minds stored in a black box against hypnosis and perception alterations. Another artificial brain module to judge sensations via processes against audio-visual tampering, and so on.
But as I kept piling them on, my mental barrier ended up like Howl's Moving Castle—a ragged patchwork that looked sloppy and glitched out now and then.
"Ah, back then, when I brought grilled lamb and it went nuts like the cat in front of the cucumber...?"
"It slapped a flying spaghetti monster filter on the lamb, recognized as illusion magic to alert the owner—y'know, to raise vigilance."
Took forever to hunt down which mental barrier module crapped out like that.
I needed a way to make all these illusion magic cops in my head play nice together. The breakthrough came from TRPG.
If science couldn't solve it, go humanities. Build one world and let the modules roam free.
I used the modern map I knew best as the skeleton and constructed a virtual world inside my head.
Not what I expected, but this setup worked wonders against spirits that crossed between mind and reality.
-Get me... out of here... I was wrong...!!
And this was the result.
There exists a cozy nest woven from the minds of those who surrendered to pleasure. A palace of revelry built on the fringes of the psyche—this is the succubi's paradise.
Just wish for it, and you can drain essence without lifting a finger. Entwine bodies all day without tiring. And that's not all? Simply strolling the palace halls naturally builds your strength and sharpens your skills.
Because immersing yourself in the pinnacle of mental magic brings enlightenment on its own.
Who else but the Queen could weave human minds into a single world? What mage could achieve such a feat? Only our Queen, the sovereign of dreams who toys with the masses' spirits.
Grown bored of such abundance and craving a more special stimulation? Just bow to the Queen.
The innocent Queen in purest white would grant you dizzying ecstasy, like cramming and incinerating decades into a single second.
"Ah... Aaaah...!!"
It was... the indescribable peak of pleasure.
Succubus Isabella had felt the Queen's grace with her whole body, and from that day, her entire life revolved around chasing that ecstasy once more.
Love, laughter, fullness, orgasms—all worthless. Having tasted pleasure beyond the mortal realm, every happiness in reality looked like drab ash.
Isabella was an exemplary slave to pleasure.
One day, the Queen summoned her. Isabella crawled naked, forehead to the ground, heart pounding like it might burst—subservience worse than a dog's, but she didn't care.
"You can lift your head."
Even her voice was perfection itself.
Overwhelmed with emotion, she looked up. Radiant white. The Queen had skin like fine jade, her nude form draped in silken white hair.
Just gazing made her brain throb, nosebleed flowing. It flooded her with pleasure chemicals like her brain was broken. Blissful. Bliss so intense it could kill.
Nearly rolling back her eyes, trembling violently as she kowtowed, Succubus Isabella greeted the Queen.
"I-Isabella... greets her Master...!"
"I'd like you to go to the Academy. You want that too, right?"
"Of course, absolutely...! I was just thinking the same...!"
Without hearing the details, Isabella nodded eagerly. The Queen slowly explained her task.
Seduce Third Prince Sledo and dose the Academy.
The Fear-Eating Corpse Flower handled the Academy side, but she excelled in brute force over schemes—so backup was needed.
The Pleasure-Drinking Celibate Maiden issued the command to her minion.
And so, Isabella was exiled from paradise and dispatched to the Academy.
Those with cracks in their hearts fall under control so easily. Driven by desire to fill their voids, they swallow even sweet poison without hesitation.
Succubus Isabella seduced Third Prince Sledo Crown and claimed his heart.
After that, it was simple. Lurk in his shadow, set traps, and wait patiently.
One by one, they succumbed to desire and took the drug. Once the connections formed between minds, the succubus slipped in, subtly coaxing them.
She'd stocked the Academy with black mages aplenty.
But then...
"How the hell did that lunatic pull it off against the students...!!"
The 'Nightmare of the Mad Mage' incident swept most of them away. Things had been going perfectly—then lightning from a clear sky.
If it went this off-track, the Queen wouldn't reward her.
Biting her nails in fury and anxiety, Isabella vowed bitter revenge on that Violet Magic Tower mage someday.
Mental illusion mage from the Violet Tower or not, he was still male.
Isabella stood before the mirror.
Over her balanced, beautiful nude form, pale pink hair swayed at the base of her wingbones. Not violently curvaceous, but plenty voluptuous.
How many males had she ensnared and corrupted with this haughty gaze?
Plus, succubi naturally straddled illusion and reality. No mage, no matter how skilled, could match her in the mental realm.
So the surest way to repel a dream demon? Use holy power over illusion magic. Which meant she just needed one chance.
Just worm into that mage's head...
"I can hear heartbeats from thirty meters away. No point struggling—tell me straight. Where's my backup player?"
It was here. The opportunity.
The Violet Tower mage had entered the underground facility to save his disciple. Isabella had stealthily dusted his clothes with the drug.
A potion to inflame lust and rage, widening mental cracks for easy dream demon entry. Made from the Queen's nectar, given for a crucial moment.
Unless impotent... no, even then it'd work. The mad mage would slowly turn lecherous.
It prepped for intrusion while also tarnishing his social standing.
She waited for the effects to fully kick in. And then...
Today... Isabella quietly slipped into the mad mage's dream.
Human dreams are nebulous. A slight prod summons unrelated memories, tangling randomly without logic. A cloud of chaos.
Who perfectly controls their own head? Natural enough.
Usually, invading a human mind lands you in a dark space thick with hazy fog. Varies slightly by mental barriers, but generally.
Succubi called this the Mental Realm.
Consciousness floats above, unconsciousness sinks below.
Surgery begins here. Drag up hidden secrets, weave bad memories to buoy them, sink the happy ones.
Implant suggestions in the unconscious or appear in dreams to seduce and drain essence.
Most mental barriers take inorganic forms—walls, locks blocking or hiding forbidden spaces.
Aggressive ones are traps, launching threats if touched by dream demons.
But... it should be like that, right...?
Honk honk—!!
"Damn it, mister, move it! Can't you see the light's red?"
"Who're you calling mister, kid?! How old's your model?!"
"It's red, so floor it and go! What kinda driving module you got?!"
"...?"
Why was an unfamiliar city sprawling before her eyes?
And bizarre. People lugging strange devices, riding odd vehicles, skyscrapers stabbing the sky everywhere.
And... at the city's heart. A massive black dome.
A pitch-black hemisphere sucking in all color, towering to the heavens. Just looking made Isabella shrink back.
The succubus blinked, pinched her cheek and stretched it like mochi. It elongated—definitely a dream.
Isabella clenched her fist, pulling surface memories. A bit of force, and she grasped the mad mage receiving a lap pillow from the Violet Magic Tower Master.
Authority worked. This was the Mental Realm. But... no.
"...No way."
How could a mere human build a whole world in their head?
Even the Queen barely wove hundreds together—how?
Even if they could build it, their brain would explode first!
"...No, no. It's fine."
Didn't matter. Just startled for a sec. Isabella's goal: shatter and dominate the mad mage's mind. As long as manipulation stuck, internals didn't matter.
She reached out to yank painful memories first. Something snagged in her grasp. Smooth sailing.
"...?"
Suddenly, a chill up her spine—she scanned around.
The city's clamor had stopped. Engines, voices, ad screens, footsteps—all frozen like time itself.
And every person, mid-motion, twisted their heads to stare at Isabella.
"...W-what? What is this?"
"────."
"D-don't stare at me like that. G-get lost?!"
Eerie. Like the heart of a nightmare. Hundreds, thousands gawking like wax dolls.
Then one spoke.
"Dream demon."
It spread.
"Dream demon."
"Dream demon."
"Dream demon's inside."
Like wildfire. Confirming as they eyed her, "dream demon" echoed, noise deafening the city, ears ringing.
Squirm.
Frozen Isabella glanced down at the sensation in her hand. The mad mage's memory she'd just pulled.
Now its surface sprouted a mouth, mumbling, "Dream demon."
"Eek... Eeek...!"
She flung it off like a bug. The memory bundle rolled across asphalt, still muttering "dream demon."
Run. Instinct screamed. Had to run now!
The pitiful succubus fled in terror.