Chapter 156

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Chapter 156: Opening of the Half-Plane Channel

As Isabella had predicted, after her speech, Tina indeed felt deeply shaken.

Nevertheless, Tina could not accept this reality.

After departing from the torture tower and posting the notice about forming the safety team in Hillenbrand Town, Tina remained unsettled as she prepared to negotiate with the former Superoperators of the Holy Alliance.

In her mind emerged a thought that had recently plagued Isabella’s mind countless times.

“If everything is true… then what have I become?”

However, since Tina had fostered misunderstandings about Lolth for longer than Isabella, certain beliefs were naturally more deeply ingrained.

“No… that knight is merely trying to mislead me!”

Shaking her head vigorously, as though attempting to expel those thoughts from her mind, she proceeded toward the Superoperators who were resting on the third floor of the farmers’ market and began selecting members for the safety team, organizing them into twelve small units to rotate duties in the southern and western areas.

Tina chose to immerse herself in work as a means of distraction.

However, due to Tina’s impressive track record of careful and dedicated work, coupled with her excellent results among both commoners and the Holy Alliance’s Superoperators, and her thorough familiarity with these Superoperators’ capabilities, she swiftly completed the task assignments with Maider’s assistance.

Then…

Tina discovered she had no more work left to distract herself!

The approaching magic tide had halted all construction in the west; everything in the south was proceeding smoothly, and there remained nothing else in Hillenbrand Town requiring her attention.

This small town was functioning so efficiently that even with the impending chaos of the magic tide, there was nothing for her, the acting lord, to manage.

The thoughts in her mind grew increasingly chaotic.

“Isabella… Master Lolth…”

As she wandered aimlessly through the town, memories of her past actions intermingled with joyful scenes of Isabella and Lolth, leaving Tina’s emotions in turmoil.

Upon reaching the north side of the town, as an Epic High Level spellcaster mere steps away from legendary status, she suddenly detected an anomaly.

“There is an unusual magical disturbance.”

Tina murmured this, temporarily suppressing her inner chaos, and moved toward the source of the disturbance.

Soon, she discovered an ancient stone altar partially concealed by weeds slightly down the slope from the torture tower.

Its style was archaic and weathered; though somewhat damaged, it remained largely intact. It bore ancient runes and spells that even Tina couldn’t decipher.

The peculiar magical disturbance emanated from this location.

Surrounding the altar were numerous magic circles, primarily Space Magic Arrays, though most had become inactive.

Tina recognized these magic circles’ similarity to those within the torture tower and concluded they were likely Lolth’s creation.

Thus, she approached the matter with appropriate gravity.

She began softly chanting the defensive spell “Starry Melody.” After enveloping herself in a protective magical barrier capable of deflecting most magical attacks, she cautiously approached the altar while employing Magic Perception to understand why the magic circles were failing.

Before long, Tina comprehended the reason.

“Pre-existing powerful magic circles are affecting these arrays… And they’re drawing power from Mistress Lolth’s magic circles!”

“Wait, there’s more. This existing magic circle appears to be a Space Magic Array as well.”

“The magic circles are conflicting in their spatial structure, causing Mistress Lolth’s circles to be absorbed and fail.”

“No… This structure transcends an ordinary Space Magic Array… It’s not even a magic circle!”

“This is a plane channel!”

Despite her limited knowledge of spatial magic, Tina, born into the elven royal family and having achieved epic-level spellcasting, possessed some understanding of magic circles.

She quickly discerned the situation surrounding the altar.

As the magic tide approaches, the boundaries between the main plane and half-planes or alternate planes become more permeable.

This altar had concealed an ancient passage to a certain half-plane, whether permanent or semi-permanent, which had now reactivated.

Lolth had established numerous Space Magic Arrays around it, typically used for containing anomalies, but the pre-existing plane channel had rendered this special space structure highly unstable.

It resembled constructing a stone wall on shifting sand after the tide’s retreat – the area was inherently unstable, and the incoming tide could cause everything to collapse!

This represented a unique phenomenon in the main plane that even Lolth hadn’t anticipated!

Even specialized magical techniques designed to influence spatial structure were readily absorbed by the long-dormant plane channel!

The magical concentration in this area was nothing short of terrifying.

A single Space Magic Array could withstand the full might of a Legend Upper Level, and the combination of roughly twenty different magical arrays contained enough power to exhaust any normal Sage not specialized in magic!

Typically, even during the magic tide’s peak, the channels would show only modest activity, yet now, even before the tide’s arrival, they were nearly half-open.

Once the magic tide arrived, even minimal stimulation would certainly cause this plane channel to open fully.

Tina’s expression grew grave.

“We must alert Lolth’s master immediately!”

To most, it might seem merely a curious legend of a half-plane, but Tina had firsthand experience with such matters.

The royal families of the three great elf tribes jointly maintained a half-plane, which she had visited several times in her youth.

This experience, however, made Tina all too aware of the implications of half-planes and alternate planes.

Their spatial expanse was vast, operating under completely different rules from the main plane.

Even an incomplete realm – a half-plane – could harbor terrifying entities.

As for alternate plane channels… the abyss realm that had transformed the entire continent’s situation and the demon race that emerged from it provided ample evidence of the potential dangers!

Thus, Tina knew she needed to inform Lolth without delay.

However, just as she prepared to leave, her withdrawing Magic Perception and the magic from “Starry Melody” appeared to trigger something.

“Hiss—”

The altar emitted a subtle glow, and a surge of energy erupted, pulling Tina inside!

At that precise moment, Lolth in the torture tower’s kitchen also experienced a sudden sensation.

“Something has happened!”

She exclaimed with surprise.

“What’s wrong, Master Lolth?”

Kanor looked at Lolth and asked, puzzled.

Lolth glanced at Kanor, sighed, and gestured toward the dough before her.

“The proportions of egg whites, butter, and flour are incorrect.”