Chapter 122: Reverse Corruption? Ever Heard of Effect Resistance?

Following that voice, Nolan finally saw what lay within the shadows at the far end of the cathedral. Someone lounged lazily atop the shattered remains of a statue of the Mother Goddess Sethis.

Calling him a “person,” however, was not entirely accurate. He possessed a flawless human appearance, yet behind him spread four pairs of enormous wings, each utterly different from the others. From top to bottom, they were crimson, white, black, and gold. The first pair resembled burning scarlet bat wings. The second were holy white feathers. The third looked like the dark membranous wings of a dragon, while the lowest pair gleamed with a cold metallic luster. Four pairs of wings. Four completely different styles. Together they formed a bizarre yet strangely harmonious beauty.

“Pleasure to meet you, Demon Overlord, ‘Serpent of Rebellion,’ Qroshu.” As Nolan walked toward him, he spoke casually, as though greeting an old acquaintance. “So you know this is a mental world. Should I be saying hello instead?”

Qroshu rose from the ruined statue and turned toward him. He stretched all four magnificent pairs of wings, their joints crackling softly. It had been a very long time since his real body had moved so freely, and the sensation carried faithfully into his mental realm.

“That’s rather rude of you to say. Even weaklings who’ve only just awakened their Origin can perceive their own mental world, much less a higher existence like me.”

Qroshu watched Nolan approach step by step, a playful smile hanging on his handsome face.

“You know who I am? Well, that makes sense. Without the help of that jailer knight, there’s no way someone like you could enter another being’s mental world on your own. I assume you’ve already uncovered the truth behind the seal.” He glanced around the cathedral. “The fact that even this surprises you tells me you haven’t even touched the source of your own power yet.”

His voice was magnetic, his manners elegant and refined. Nothing about him resembled the bloodthirsty demons of legend. Even after being suppressed for countless years, his mind remained frighteningly sharp. He had already pieced together the situation in an instant.

“Well, however you got here, if you came hoping to sign a demonic contract and gain power from me, you’re doomed to disappointment. I’m still trapped deep beneath the Spine of the Earth unless, of course, you happen to possess the ability to free me.”

It had apparently been a very long time since Qroshu had anyone to talk to. He sounded almost cheerful.

Yet beneath that polished elegance, Nolan could clearly see the naked malice and madness hidden in his eyes.

A refined scumbag, Nolan thought.

“And who might you be?” Qroshu asked lazily.

Their gazes met.

Though they still stood dozens of meters apart, Nolan’s mind suddenly exploded with a deafening roar. An irresistible impulse swept through his consciousness. His heart seemed to race violently as blood pounded against his skull. Poisonous thoughts surged uncontrollably through his mind.

Betray them. Destroy the holy relic. Break the seal. I can grant you the power you crave most.

Betray that useless kingdom. Betray those weak companions. Betray the ideals that exhaust you.

Cast aside those laughable moral restraints. Take. Seize. Possess.

The strong deserve everything. And if you are not strong enough, then steal, plunder, claw your way upward until no one dares look down on you again.

Scene after scene flashed wildly before his eyes. He saw himself plunging a blade through Princess Flina’s heart from behind, sneering at her expression of disbelief. He saw himself strangling a loyal guard to death before climbing over the corpses of royalists to claim the throne. Every vile and twisted thought buried deep within the human heart was amplified countless times, transformed into irresistible desire.

“Get the hell out of my head!” Nolan roared suddenly and slammed his fist into a nearby broken pillar.

Boom!

The massive stone column collapsed instantly, rubble exploding outward and crashing into the floor with a thunderous impact.

With that single outburst, all the impulses and hallucinations vanished like popped bubbles.

Nolan calmed immediately, as though nothing had happened at all.

At the same time, realization dawned on him.

Right now, he was nothing more than a consciousness. He should not have been capable of feeling a racing heartbeat or blood rushing to his head. His mind had simply been forcibly disturbed and driven into a frenzy. Residual memories of physical sensation had caused his consciousness to simulate those bodily reactions instinctively.

He could roughly guess what it was. Some kind of mental attack from Qroshu.

Unfortunately for you, betrayal is the thing I hate most. This little trick means nothing to me.

His will had always been exceptionally strong. Perhaps those visions of betrayal would tempt others, but to him they were simply disgusting.

And besides…

Nolan looked at the only thing still glowing on his grayed-out UI panel.

The golden emblem of 【BOSS Template: Lord’s Authority】 flickered quietly.

【Lord’s Authority: As a lord, your will cannot be defied. You gain 75% resistance to all mental control and movement-restricting magic and skills, reducing both their effectiveness and duration.】

Nolan smiled.

Checkmate.

Even a Demon Overlord specializing in temptation and mental corruption had still fallen one move short before him. Maybe this was what people called a natural enemy.

He continued walking toward Qroshu. The violent frenzy had come quickly and disappeared just as fast.

After ten thousand years of silence, Qroshu had finally gained an amusing visitor. He had fully intended to enjoy watching this human descend into madness or suffer a complete mental collapse before tearing him apart, assimilating him, and perhaps even using the connection between their minds to seize his body.

Yet before the thought had even fully formed, calm had already returned on the other side. The human had barely been affected. He was even smiling. The shattered pillar was not proof of physical strength, but evidence of terrifying willpower.

Qroshu was genuinely shocked. This strangely dressed man… was truly human? Humans, the race famous for greed, jealousy, and fickleness?

Qroshu knew very well that after ten thousand years of suppression, with his connection to the Sulfur Abyss severed, his strength had declined drastically. But this was his mental world. Here, his will was absolute law. In this realm, his power surpassed even what it had been in reality.

That attack, Reverse Corruption, was pure mental devastation. It was the very foundation of his existence, the crystallization of the power he had gained after fully embracing his Origin.

During the great war ten thousand years ago, countless noble warriors famed for unshakable conviction had fallen into despair and betrayal beneath this ability. Entire armies had turned suspicious of one another. Endless conspiracies and chaos had been born from it.

Even holy knights, after suffering this strike, would become trapped in spirals of self-doubt. Some had even killed themselves in shame.

Yet this human before him had endured an even stronger psychic assault than those from the ancient war and merely suffered a brief disturbance before returning to normal as though nothing had happened.

Only two possibilities remained in Qroshu’s mind.

Either this human possessed a demigod-level mental barrier, utterly immune to all corruption—

—or the darkness and madness within his heart surpassed even that of a Demon Overlord.

There could be no third explanation.

Qroshu’s evaluation of Nolan skyrocketed instantly. What he had first dismissed as a reckless fool had suddenly become an equal opponent.

Then he heard Nolan’s relaxed mockery.

“You should save those little tricks.”

Nolan sounded openly disdainful.

“Just standing there glaring at me must be exhausting, right?”

Qroshu’s expression finally turned serious. “Who… are you?” It was the second time he had asked Nolan’s identity. But this time, both his tone and mindset were completely different.

“For someone who’s about to die, does it really matter who I am?”

Ignoring the darkness that settled over Qroshu’s face at the humiliation, Nolan stopped a short distance away.

“But since you asked, it would be rude not to answer.” He lifted his head and looked directly into Qroshu’s madness-filled eyes. “My name is Nolan, Royal Pioneer Knight of the Elfin Kingdom, Lord of Coldsteel City in Demont Province. I am also a loyal twenty-year player of Glory. A loser who poured all his emotions into a virtual world. And also… A fortunate man who was given a chance to return and erase every regret.”