Gacha Addict in a Matriarchal World

“Ah.”

Research on immortality.

Hearing Benny’s words, I suddenly recalled the hint I had scattered in the Magic Tower.

If the main keywords of the episode for the elves were the former queen named Eve, and for the Temple, the Pope who joined hands with heretics…

The main keyword for the Magic Tower hint was ‘failed immortality’.

Like other settings, I didn’t outline this in detail, but there was one thing. Just one thing. That I had firmly decided on.

It was the corruption of the Magic Tower.

The Magic Tower had brought Magic down from miracles to technology, allowing more people to benefit from its grace.

What if such a Magic Tower, one day, fell into corruption and started using people as ingredients for its technology?

With that thought, I conceptualized the corruption of the Magic Tower.

The mages, who abandoned ethics and morals while achieving limited immortality. Once the pride of Pangrave, the Magic Tower began to be called the Axis of Evil…

The protagonist challenges and eventually brings down the Magic Tower, which stood tall for nearly a thousand years, for the sake of a loved one.

Isn’t it thrilling just to imagine?

That’s what I thought until I may become the first victim of the Magic Tower’s corruption…

“Benny. You said it would be hard but possible to get out. Is it really going to be okay?”

“Yeah. It would be impossible if I were alone, but with Shadow, escaping is possible.”

“……”

Why did those words feel so unsettling?

Benny’s presence stands out too much. A small and young appearance. A hideous monster. And the master who resembles it.

The nickname “Creepy Witch” and the real name “Vanitas Benibeni” are both too conspicuous, aren’t they?

Nevertheless, I have never set up a character named Benny.

Of course, I’m not saying that the whole world should revolve around my will just because it’s a novel I intended to write.

I’ve experienced enough to know that the world doesn’t work that way.

However, Benny’s traits are exceptionally unique, and of all things, the mad mage targeting Benny is researching immortality.

I can’t stand how much that bothers me.

Is this really a coincidence? Perhaps, even if not here, Benny would eventually fall victim to Morgana and become an experimental subject.

Thus, leading to the imperfect yet successful research on immortality and the corruption of the Magic Tower.

Such ominous imaginations continue, one after another.

Benny, noticing my anxiety, just stretched her flat chest and smiled.

“Don’t worry. If there’s one thing I can do best in the world, it’s escaping… I’ve already done it once.”

Benny’s smile twisted fiercely, revealing sharp teeth between her lips.

Her breathing becomes rough. Following that breath, the magical glow that had momentarily disappeared flickers and circles around Benny.

Seeing that, I realized what Benny meant by being the best at escaping.

To Benny, Magic is a miracle. A lifeline that pulled her out of the despair she thought she could never escape.

And now. Benny is trying to recreate the first miracle that came to her.

With a terrifying expression I had never seen before, Benny let her magical power flow in streams.

At first glance, it seemed as if she couldn’t control her power, but the sense captured by my slightly improved mana sensitivity after learning the 2-star magic refuted this.

It was a wild, rampaging force like an untamed horse, yet it moved in the direction Benny desired.

Primal strength. The will to break and devour everything blocking the way and escape.

Benny, glaring into the void, spoke clearly, encapsulating all this.

“No one can imprison us.”

She said she pursued Magic closer to the original source rather than standardized circle magic. Only now do I understand its meaning.

Benny’s emotions amplified her power, and each word filled with resentment was clad in blue magic, etched into the void.

“No one can hurt us.”

Instinctively, I could tell. This declaration itself was a kind of spell.

I looked at Benny in front of me half with regret, half in awe.

Shadow, who had taken a place beside her before I knew it. Its body was seething violently, swelling in size.

The playful atmosphere up until now had vanished, replaced by an eerie atmosphere.

The glint of hidden fangs flashed before me, tentacles melted more grotesquely, and bloodshot eyes split into hundreds, densely filling the space.

Overwhelmed by an appearance that could be believed to be a monster, I quickly widened the distance.

Unknown characters blazing blue in the air were swiftly sucked into Benny’s hand.

“So, destroy everything.”

Snap!

With a short word, Benny snapped her fingers.

A blue wave spread from her hand, soon converging into a single point, turning into a lightning bolt that filled the entire space with blinding brilliance.

“Crazy…”

I don’t know what kind of Magic that is. But one thing is certain. The power contained within it is enough to forcibly rend space asunder.

Crack!

The air actually split open, revealing a rift filled with deep darkness.

Pale lightning surged in to completely destroy the rift. I tensed my body against the massive torrent of power that I couldn’t even fathom, but only for a moment.

The rift, which I thought would soon tear open and swallow us, was still holding up well.

Spewing gray mist from within.

“Ah.”

I realized with an instinctive repulsion felt from the gray mist. That is not a power permitted to humans.

Benny’s magic, and the Magic felt from the rift, both evoke a sense of awe. However, from that mist, only thick fear and rejection could be felt.

Death.

That mist was death itself, well-refined.

The power of annihilation that brings the end to everything. The alien divine resonance made my eyes widen.

It is a relic of the God of Death. Without the same density of power, anything that touches it will crumble.

Fortunately, since Magic is a branch of Power, Benny’s lightning was fiercely contending with the mist of death.

I understood why Benny said it was ‘fixed’ with the power of the relic.

That Power probably annihilated even the Magic that severed this space.

A space where the beginning and the end are dead, leaving only the result. Breaking through this would not be an easy task, even for Benny.

It was the moment when I was fiddling with the seed in my pocket, wondering if I should help with something.

-Kyaaaah!

With a sound resembling a sharp scream, Shadow lunged toward the crack.

“Shadow?! Stop!”

Startled, I called out to Shadow, but he ignored me and bit into the crack with his mouth, dripping acidic fluid.

The moment I braced myself to forcefully pull him away, Benny stopped me.

“It’s okay. Shadow won’t die… To be precise, it can’t die.”

“…!”

That’s right. Shadow is something constructed by mixing the corpses of those already dead and forcibly injecting it with life force to make it move.

It is not a new life born over someone’s death. It is merely a deformity that moves while remaining dead.

Shadow faces the mist head-on. Upon closer inspection, there are no wounds on its body. No, it seemed to be even more powerful.

Its countless eyes were beyond bloodshot, glistening with a crimson hue, and the tentacles split and merged at a speed of dozens of times per second, grabbing at the air as if biting at invisible objects.

And this was very similar to a phenomenon I knew.

“Rampage…?”

A phenomenon seen only in Floor Guardians or some powerful monsters of the deep.

A type of monster-exclusive ultimate move where madness consuming the body draws out power beyond its limits.

I suddenly realized. Even though Shadow looked like that, it was an essence-like existence made by condensing the madness of all kinds of monsters.

The blessing of madness it harbored would not fall short even when compared to the Floor Guardians of the deep.

Seeing them fight together, I could understand why Morgana was so obsessed with Benny.

Benny became an ageless being after the experiment, but she is still mortal, capable of dying if her heart stops or her neck is cut.

On the other hand, Shadow is unstable and cannot exist without Benny…but as long as it has a host, it becomes an immortal monster growing stronger with madness instead of dying.

Each may be incomplete on their own, but together they could be considered immortal, which is probably why Morgana was so obsessed.

I unconsciously clenched my fist and focused on the crack.

Clang!

With the sound of something breaking, a transparent something surrounded the area like flames and then disappeared.

What emerged from the haze was the same scenery as before.

There was an unfamiliar figure at the other end of the passage this time.

A middle-aged woman in a traditional but flamboyant mage robe.

Benny staggered towards her a step, who wore a surprised expression. Still baring her sharp shark teeth.

“You bitch! Aren’t you ashamed to be setting traps on the second floor, you woman with milk jugs on your chest? Thanks to you, a poor boy almost died… What? Jo-Jonah? Where did you go?!”

Benny, flustered, looked around after trying to appear cool.

I whispered softly into Benny’s ear.

“Shh! I’m in stealth mode.”