Otaku Witch

"I think Miss Nibelungen has no problem; she indeed won through her own strength, without any cheating."

In the end, Dorothy still manipulated the Puppet Dragon Marionette, passing judgment in the name of the Witch of the Forest.

That was indeed quite a truthful statement.

After all, regardless of how Nibelungen’s mist-shrouded Dragon Mountain City came to be, the fact that she could summon it and borrow its strength means it’s already her own power, nothing more to say about it.

Although Dorothy always felt that this Miss Nibelungen might be targeting her, she wasn’t going to speak nonsense because of it. Since she didn’t cheat, it’s only right to clear her of any allegations.

And the Witch of the Forest’s reputation was indeed useful; upon hearing her words, not only did the other judges, but also the previously noisy audience quiet down. Still, everyone continued to look at her, seemingly waiting for her to explain further.

The homebody witch looked at Lancelot somewhat helplessly; he should be the one explaining, yet it was now handed over to her.

However, she didn’t refuse. She briefly gathered her thoughts and then began to explain.

"Miss Nibelungen uses a special magic based on Inspiration Attributes, which, apart from her target, can only be observed by those with a special Talent for Inspiration, so that’s why nobody could see her in action. Of course, it’s not that Miss Nibelungen is being mysterious on purpose; it’s just that her power is so unique that just seeing it could cause harm, and even the arena’s array can’t block that power, so not letting everyone see it is actually a form of protection."

Even though Dorothy didn’t know how Dragon Mountain City turned into the Land of the Dead, it undoubtedly possessed certain aspects of the Underworld System.

Firstly, it has the quality of unknowability.

The Underworld is unknowable, and although resurrection is not rare in the witch world, those resurrected witches forget their memories of the Underworld after coming back to life. They only know they’ve been there, but can’t recall what it looked like or retain any memories from it; those memories only resurface if they die again and return to the Underworld.

This rule was established by the God King using the Authority of Fate, which makes it immensely powerful, and not even an average sage might withstand it.

To be exempt from this rule, you need either to obtain the special framework of the Underworld like Dorothy, be a direct child of Fate like Sophia with innate Jade Level Fate Magic Eyes, or have the strength of a High Sage.

Clearly, these conditions are not something ordinary people can achieve, and so even the opponents defeated by Nibelungen won’t remember what they saw. The power of the Underworld will obscure their memories on the level of Fate until their souls return to the Underworld and it is unlocked.

Secondly, Dragon Mountain City can awaken the fear of death in people’s hearts.

The Underworld represents death; gazing at the Underworld is akin to staring directly at death.

There aren’t many living beings truly unafraid of death; even powerful witches fear it, even though they know they can be resurrected, few can truly face death without fear.

Even without mentioning the fear brought by death itself, the unknowability of the Underworld is enough to awaken witches’ fear of the unknown.

When these two fears combine, they give birth to even more fear.

In reality, on the Magic Network, the favorite type of horror films among witches remains those centered on the afterlife in the Underworld, precisely because of the Underworld’s unknowability, sparking all sorts of imaginations about it.

These horror films often describe the Underworld as eerie and terrifying, narrating bizarre and wicked punishments within.

Once upon a time, Dorothy loved watching these horror films, but ever since she knew the true nature of the Underworld, she could no longer face them.

Oh, speaking of which, if Alice saw Dragon Mountain City, she wouldn’t be as frightened to the point of collapse as the other contestants; after all, dying for the little witch is like going home, she lacks a true reverence for death.

And the above two points wouldn’t actually cause any real harm, at most just giving a scare, and afterwards, they’d forget it.

But the last point is different.

That is, the Underworld possesses a certain inducement to death.

According to Dorothy’s observation, although Nibelungen’s summoned shadow of Dragon Mountain City doesn’t instant-death like her Gates of the Underworld, such that any witch could be directly obliterated, as the Land of the Dead, that shadow still holds strong inducement to death.

All who witness the shadow of Dragon Mountain City will be eroded and tempted by its strong death law, driving them to willingly embrace death.

Normally, this inducement to death can be resisted, but combined with the previously mentioned characteristic of awakening fear, it causes a chain reaction. Someone who was already scared to death could easily be tempted to suicide when lured by the idea of death.

Though fearing death and rushing toward it the next moment sounds contradictory and quite absurd, a certain self-destructive drive has always lurked within human nature.

For instance, some people, upon seeing a sharp knife, look at their own hand and feel an urge to touch the blade. Similarly, when standing on a tall building or cliff looking down, though terrified, they inexplicably imagine what it would be like to jump off.