Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted-Chapter 88: The Judgment Scale

Under Loren's guidance, this journey felt like a leisurely outing. All the traps were avoided, and any monsters encountered were instantly killed.
At first, Laila found it somewhat thrilling, but when even the third floor was easily cleared by them, she couldn't quite hold back her disbelief anymore.
"Did you build this tower? Otherwise, how do you know everything so clearly? Even the Hall of Truth earlier didn't broadcast your inner thoughts?"
"Perhaps it's because I'm honest. I have no secrets."
Loren brushed off the question with a casual remark and continued forward. He sidestepped a spike thrusting up from the ground and kept walking as if nothing had happened.
On this floor, "Ignorance" appeared. Its body was covered in weapons like a human pincushion. These weapons were extremely sharp, to the point that even a fully enchanted blade couldn't inflict effective damage.
But these weapons had a directionality, much like a dog's fur. Petting it in the right direction feels smooth. Facing this monster was the same;
if the angle of the slash was correct, it could be killed very easily.
After finding a few treasure chests, Loren and the others cleared the fourth floor with ease.
From one chest, Anna pulled out a blade. Since Anna was accustomed to using a blade, Loren simply gave it to her.
Loren remembered that in the original story, Anna had a demonic blade. That demonic blade also became a trophy from defeating a BOSS. Loren just didn't know where that blade was now.
Demonic blades were a kind of specialty in Finale. Demonic blades possessed intuition and would backlash against masters who couldn't control them. At the same time, demonic blades were very powerful, each with its own unique effect.
Moreover, Loren also knew some methods for forging demonic blades. This blade would serve as a temporary replacement for Anna for now. He would find her a better one when the opportunity arose.
The other chests yielded some jewelry and ordinary magic items. There wasn't much worth mentioning. The good stuff was in the chest at the end of each floor. Finding these items already made Loren quite pleasantly surprised.
"The final floor. The traps and monsters here will be more numerous."
Loren ejected a magazine that still had over a dozen bullets and loaded a fresh one.
In reality, reloading was much more troublesome. Once you changed magazines, the bullets in the original magazine were wasted. Loading them one by one was too slow. Finale had already cured Loren of his 'reload addiction' quite a bit.
On this floor, the last type of monster also appeared: "Sloth".
Sloth's limbs had mutated, and it had lost the ability to retreat. In exchange, its charge became unstoppable. While charging, any attack would be ineffective. Sloth even became the only type of monster that could damage the terrain.
The walls here looked like just stone and bone, but they were incredibly tough and couldn't be destroyed by ordinary means.
But this also became the method to deal with Sloth. After making it crash into the wall several times, it would become dizzy, making it easy to kill.
It wasn't until the third dead end that Loren and the others found the real path.
However, it wasn't a complete waste. In a side chamber, Loren found a somewhat useful accessory.
【Lurking Fangs】
Effect: If you do not enter combat for ten seconds, your next attack will deal 150% damage.
Its appearance was just a ring decorated with fangs. The effect was simple, but it was the noble percentage-based bonus, which remained useful even into the late game. Or perhaps it was most useful precisely in the late game.
Imagine the scene: under the circumstances of a sneak attack, unleashing a major skill directly towards the enemy's base. What kind of spectacle would that be?
Even now, it could produce a fantastic effect during a sneak attack. This ring could be considered a bit numerically broken.
"Your luck is really good."
Loren put away the ring and pinched Anna's cheek.
All those rings were strung together by Loren and hung around his neck. Wearing rings on fingers could affect force exertion. Loren wouldn't let any factor interfere with his combat.
Even if they left now, Loren's harvest could be considered perfect.
Each floor had a hidden exit. The vast majority of people left through those hidden exits. Only the fifth floor had a formal exit, and it also had a hidden entrance leading to the next floor.
"Almost there."
To prevent being suddenly teleported away by some mechanism, Loren and the others held hands the entire time. With Loren's intelligence, they didn't encounter any danger.
When Loren took another step forward, a sudden light enveloped them. By the time Loren could see again, he was already standing on a tray. Loren reached out his hand;
before him was an invisible air wall.
Below the tray was scorching magma.
"Master Mentor!"
Suddenly separated from Loren, Anna in another tray began pounding on the air wall. Loren could hear Anna's voice but could do nothing.
"Oh no..."
Loren's expression suddenly turned grave. This time, he had encountered the most troublesome mechanism here.
It wasn't just Loren's group of four who appeared here;
there were four other strangers as well.
Their appearance here was completely random, with no prerequisites. However, appearing here wasn't necessarily a bad thing;
surviving successfully would yield rewards.
But Loren didn't want any variables in his plan. This place was quite troublesome.
"This is the Scales of Sin Severance. The magma beneath your feet will gradually rise. Only by confessing your sins will the scales beneath your feet ascend.
"All the crimes you confess will be inscribed on the stone tablets beside the spire for everyone to see.
"When four people die, the game ends."
A voice rang in everyone's ears, announcing the rules of the Scales of Sin Severance.
But Loren knew the rules were false. How could the Prison of Sin Spire, which suppressed sinners, spare the guilty and kill the innocent?
This game merely used various methods to force sinners to confess their crimes, to filter out the true sinners. When the magma reached their feet, the game would end, and the mechanism on the scales would activate, executing the four with the deepest sins.
Loren was confident that the four of them wouldn't be among the four with the deepest sins. But this game also had other variables. What if someone among the others was sinless like them, or simply refused to say anything? Then the number at the bottom would exceed four, and one would be randomly executed.
"I once killed my companion to seize treasure!"
Under the fear of death, someone quickly confessed their crime, and the scales beneath their feet rose accordingly.
The deeper the confessed sin, the higher the scales would rise at once.
Loren knew Anna and Naclis inside out. Even if they racked their brains, they couldn't come up with any sins of their own. But Loren was worried about Laila.
The judgment method here was different from the Sin-Burning Flames. Merits and faults could not offset each other. Once a sin was confessed, the scales could not descend. So, Loren planned to remind them.
"This morning, I saw an old lady fall and didn't go to help her. My sin is so deep..."
Loren suddenly shouted this line. It clearly didn't seem like a sin. Coupled with Loren's earlier reminder that the Prison of Sin Spire's function was to judge and suppress sinners, he figured they should be able to catch on.