Chapter 452: Chapter 453: Brain Scan
The vine wrapped around Wilt's neck, nearly suffocating him as he struggled desperately.
But Murphy remained unmoved, watching the approaching man with deep interest.
"Merlin. Godchild."
The man's magical power far surpassed that of a typical wizard, reaching nearly divine levels. However, unlike ordinary gods whose power stemmed from faith, his magic seemed borrowed.
This was somewhat similar to Murphy's situation.
Merlin, in turn, was observing Murphy's reaction. Torturing Wilt was merely to give this mysterious wizard a demonstration of his power, but seeing Murphy's indifference, Merlin's determination to kill intensified. The vine suddenly tightened, about to snap Wilt's neck.
At that moment, a breeze swept over the vine, slicing it into countless pieces like a sharp knife.
Wilt collapsed weakly to the ground, while Murphy continued to ignore him, looking at Merlin. "I just arrived and don't want any trouble. But you seem hostile. Can you explain why?"
Merlin glanced at the severed vine. He could have done the same by converting magic into a sharp wind blade, but the ease with which Murphy had accomplished it, without any ritual, tools, or incantations, and seemingly without any movement, was beyond what an ordinary wizard could achieve.
This heightened Merlin's wariness of Murphy, making him even more cautious. "This is my camp. As you can see, we're preparing for war. You are an intruder. State your identity and allegiance or leave immediately."
"War? With whom?" Murphy asked.
"That's none of your business. If you're not here to join us, leave now!" Merlin had no interest in explaining further and turned to leave.
"There are many wizards here. Are they all your people?" Murphy pressed.
"That's a lie," Wilt croaked from the ground. "Merlin and the other godchildren recruited wizards from across the country, claiming to offer protection, but they've enslaved us. We exist only to forge weapons for their army to fight the Christian believers!"
Wilt had realized that Merlin seemed afraid of the newcomer. If the stranger were weaker, Merlin would either deceive him into joining or kill him on the spot. Asking him to leave was merely a way to hide.
Merlin halted and suddenly struck his staff into the ground, causing several mounds of earth to rise rapidly towards Wilt.
Seeing this, Wilt couldn't react in time.
As a wizard, Wilt could use magic, but in an era without the Weave, casting any spell required him to concentrate and accurately envision the desired effect before guiding the magic through gestures and incantations.
In that instant of terror, his mind was too seized with fear to even think of casting a spell.
However, Murphy merely smiled, tapping the ground with his toe. Instantly, a force spread out, turning the earth into hard rock. The mounds collided with the rock and halted, bursting apart to reveal writhing vine-like tendrils.
Merlin glared at Murphy. "You're not a wizard! What are you? An angel of Christ?!"
He didn't wait for Murphy's answer; it was merely a prelude to an attack.
Waving his staff again, the vines extended, spiraling around Murphy. In moments, they wove into a spherical cage, with spikes extending from the vines, forming a prickly orb as the cage contracted.
Merlin relaxed, thinking that no matter how powerful, flesh and blood would be pierced by the spikes.
But a voice emerged from the spiked ball, "Everyone saw, you struck first."
Before the words finished, a figure wreathed in flames stepped out of the ball. With a single step, the figure reached Merlin and pressed a fiery hand onto his head, forcing him to kneel.
"Let's see what's going on," Murphy said, as his fiery hand burned through Merlin's skull, carbonizing the top while leaving the brain intact.
The flames dissipated, revealing a young man in black robes. His hand hovered an inch above Merlin's exposed brain, emitting ten beams of light that divided the brain into ten sections, which began scanning at a nanoscopic level.
"Legilimens!" the young man finally intoned.
The smell of burning flesh arose from Merlin's brain. To capture the neural state, the scanning beams needed extreme precision and intensity, burning the scanned areas completely.
Merlin convulsed, his eyes rolling back in terror. He instinctively wanted to flee but found himself immobilized by Murphy's power, unable to even send a distress signal through his magic.
As his consciousness was devoured and memories were seized, he faced his death powerlessly.
"Demon…" he muttered with his last breath, using the term Christians often used to vilify their enemies.
"Demon?" Murphy chuckled, withdrawing his hand and letting the half-headed corpse fall.
Demon, devil, it didn't matter.
Murphy had chosen this gruesome method to extract memories not just for experimentation but because Merlin's immense magical power exceeded that of an ordinary wizard. Murphy couldn't guarantee a complete mental probe would succeed without magical assistance.
The physical scan proved to be the safer choice.
Murphy now had Merlin's memories, revealing that the "godchild" was a creation of British indigenous deities, modeled after Christ.
Like Christ, he was a direct creation of a god, with a mortal mother and a divine father, making him a true godchild.
His magic came directly from a deity, making a purely magical extraction of his memories unreliable.
In their struggle against Christianity, the British deities had learned from their past failures and created these godchildren to rally human faith and build an army.
Unfortunately for them, their plans had met an abrupt end with Murphy's intervention.
But it wasn't over. Murphy's scan revealed that Merlin wasn't the only godchild; others were also in this camp.
Soon, several powerful magical presences began converging on him.
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