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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: selkie
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Terra, who was suffering extreme pain from the repeated welding and separation of her soul.
But at this moment…
She suddenly began to feel a chilling sensation that seemed to resonate within her soul.
Something that transcended the horrifying pain she had endured until now.
As this unfolded, Terra’s mind, already in tatters, began to feel as if it were drifting away somewhere.
It felt like a ship that had lost its anchor, being swept away by the waves.
Within that sensation, Terra started to let out a desperate scream, seized by despair, but… no sound reached her ears anymore.
No…
To be precise…
It wasn’t that she couldn’t hear.
It would be more accurate to say that no sound came out.
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‘…Ah…’
Terra, barely regaining her senses amidst the chaotic hell of her mind.
Immediately after, she began to feel that the chains of domination that bound her had vanished.
The restraints that had tightened around her existence were gone, and the sensations that had inflicted pain upon her had also disappeared.
‘Is it over…? But… why…?’
The actions of the hero, who she assumed had freed her.
With that, Terra stood up, looking at the hero before her, trying to understand what had happened…
Clearly, he had said he would use her to accomplish ‘that’… so why had he set her free?
But…
‘…Huh?’
In the midst of her confusion,
at that moment she began to realize something was wrong…
That something was fundamentally amiss.
‘What… what is this? This… this is…?’
Terra tried to look up and gaze directly at the hero.
However, at that moment, her body no longer listened to her words…
The words of Terra, as a single persona and consciousness, did not reach her body.
‘W-Why? The… the chains no longer exist… there’s nothing left to bind me. But… this is…’
Unlike before, she felt no sensation of being bound, preventing her from moving her body.
However… despite this feeling of freedom, she could no longer rise from her place or lift her head.
It was not just about her limbs.
She could neither open her mouth, breathe, nor even squint her eyes; she could do none of these things by her will.
All she could do was
unilaterally accept the sensations coming in from outside.
To see, hear, and feel with her skin. Though she could recognize all of that, she had no control over it.
And…
As she recognized what this meant, at that moment, Terra’s mind began to feel a sense of fear.
“Are you awake?”
“Woof?”
‘..!’
The next moment, the voice of the hero reached her ears.
At the same time, Terra’s body stood up in a way that completely disregarded the interference of her reason and original consciousness, as if it were entirely natural.
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Her body let out sounds resembling a dog’s barking.
Completely detached from the end named reason and consciousness. Only the instinct of a dog, blindly obeying the ‘master’ before her, remained.
About this…
Now, having become a being that was literally no different from a beast rather than a beastwoman, Terra’s reason was buried in deep despair.
Yet, despite these feelings, she could take no action at this moment.
Crying tears
Screaming in pain…
None of it was permitted for her now.
All that the existence of her could do was to observe and accept the sensations coming from outside.
Only these two things.
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“Pant… pant…”
Before my eyes, Terra was wagging her tail, displaying a truly dog-like appearance.
Watching that scene, I could clearly recognize that what I aimed for…
The ‘failure’ that was supposed to activate with a 3% chance had successfully triggered.
‘It took a bit longer than expected… but well, since it worked out, I guess this is fine.’
The collar of domination.
Sealing the target’s reason for a time, turning them into a puppet that obeys orders.
In the original work, Torare, who failed to conquer all four heroines, had a final means of deviation he could use to satisfy the ending conditions.
By using this, he could forcibly subjugate one heroine who had not been captured yet and trigger the ending branch.
However… within this powerful item that could reverse the flow of the game, there existed a type of penalty: a failure probability.
The phrase stating that the power of the chains would go berserk with a 3% chance.
The moment that appeared,
the heroine who had been bound by the chains completely severed the ties of reason and body, resulting in her intelligence stat degrading to that of a beast.
In such a case, Aileen and Amelda would see their combat power halved, while the witch Shude would nearly turn into trash.
Fortunately, due to Terra’s inherent traits as a beastwoman, her combat power did not change significantly…
What was important was not the change in combat power but that a more serious problem would arise.
The heroine in this state would no longer be classified as a normal heroine but as a ‘pet’ that could be systematically trained.
This change was permanent, unable to be undone even with the elixir known as the divine potion,
and while it did not result in a game over, all means of achieving an ending would effectively be blocked, creating a situation akin to a forced game over.
And.
As a result of this ‘failure,’
Terra, reduced to a state no different from a pet, panted in front of me.
However, even as I looked at her seemingly dazed appearance, I could tell from the original description.
She would never come out again,
but even now, the ‘reason’ of Terra remained within that animal before me.
‘It reminds me of a movie I saw before. It was about implanting a Black man’s brain into a White man’s body. The state of the original White man felt just like that… no, was it the other way around?’
With such thoughts, I gently patted Terra’s head as she looked up at me with shining eyes, and in response, she began to display a happy expression, as if she felt good, letting out soft whimpers.
At this moment, despite her reason being perfectly imprisoned within her, she displayed pure joy to me, her master.
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“Indeed… So the hero…”
“Yes, that’s right, Demon King.”
Kneeling in front of the Demon King seated at his desk,
Elisia began to report on the success of the operation with a voice filled with admiration.
Not only had they blocked the supply line departing from the logistics base in Rob,
but they had also burned all the supplies stored there for several months,
and on top of that, the hero had defeated the general in charge of the defenses and captured the beastwoman warrior who had been part of the original hero party.
Reporting these facts without filters, Elisia spoke with an unusually flushed expression and an excited tone.
“It was truly impressive. Starting from cutting down humans without the slightest hesitation, to using cunning to deceive the foolish humans and infiltrate… and rescuing my endangered self in that gallant manner…”
“Elisia, if you say that much, can I take it to mean that you no longer harbor doubts about the hero?”
Cutting off Elisia’s slightly heated words, the Demon King spoke in a calm voice.
Realizing she had gotten a bit too excited, she settled her emotions and replied in a much calmer tone.
“Ah… um… yes! If Your Majesty believes in the hero’s outstanding abilities and hatred for humans, it seems I can trust him with future missions.”
“Good… It’s fortunate if you think so.”
“…?
The Demon King responded to her words with a somewhat dark expression.
Elisia, setting aside her previously elated feelings, asked her master in a voice tinged with a bit of concern and doubt.
“Um… Your Majesty? Is there somewhere you feel unwell? You don’t look well.”
“…No, it’s nothing. I was just a bit surprised. The fact that the hero performed so well for our demon race was something even I didn’t expect.”
The Demon King smiled to reassure Elisia in response to her question.
She then straightened his expression and asked Elisia, maintaining a calm voice imbued with the majesty of a ruler.
“Then, where is the hero now?”
“Yes, as far as I know, he has returned to his room. With the beastwoman warrior, no less.”
“I see.”
Immediately after finishing that statement, the Demon King stood up.
Feeling a bit puzzled, Elisia cautiously asked her master,
“Where are you going, Your Majesty?”
“I plan to see the hero. Since he has excellently fulfilled my orders, I should appropriately reward him, shouldn’t I?”
The Demon King spoke in a quiet yet somewhat subdued voice.
In response, Elisia bowed her head and saw off her master, who quietly walked out of the office.
With emotions too complicated to easily express to others.
damn he really hates that beastwoman LMAO