Chapter 239: Forging a New Advantage
In the cold stone basement, Mirian and Helen remained in unusual silence.
Both warriors crossed their arms, letting their leader take charge of extracting the necessary information from the prisoner.
They knew perfectly well that Ryan’s method of interrogation was far more effective than any physical torture they could apply.
For her part, Ivis remained very calm in her spot, observing the scene from the back of the room.
The dragon woman seemed much more interested in the fact that they were interrogating a human hostage than in the information she was providing.
The specific things that chained woman might say didn’t really matter too much to Ivis.
In fact, she showed much more interest when she realized the strange skill Ryan had displayed.
Ivis analyzed the way he exerted almost absolute mental control over the holy knight girl without even trying.
It was a subjugation talent that Ivis didn’t completely understand, but found immensely fascinating.
Although Alicia had so far shown much more hostility than usual toward the enemy prisoner.
After hearing Ryan’s latest questioning, the wolf assistant also fell silent.
Alicia frowned slightly, as if thinking about the logic behind the church’s dangerous capabilities.
But if the loyal assistant had doubts about that sealing power, it was something completely understandable to anyone.
While Ryan waited for a confirming answer from his prisoner, he tied up certain loose ends in his mind.
His analytical brain began to review past events to make sense of the church’s actions.
Why, up until now, had none of the holy knights come to attack them using those security measures against heroes?
Even though, during the time Ryan was chosen as leader and king of the elves and beastmen. And from the moment he gained total control of the villa and its non-human inhabitants.
Certainly, they had received many direct attacks from the holy knight forces in this territory. But Ryan quickly deduced the true reason behind that tactical oversight from the enemy.
When the holy knights deployed toward the villa the first time, they came with a clear objective. They came solely to hunt down and exterminate the exiled elves hiding in the forest.
And at that time, no one in the church knew that Ryan’s strong group was present in that very place.
And if the holy knights continued sending high-level troops sometime later.
It was solely to confront the violent demons controlled by the dark king, Rigal. If the holy knights had known the truth about the events in this forest from the beginning.
If they had known that Ryan was primarily responsible for all the massive casualties the church had suffered in this territory.
Things probably would have been very different and much more difficult for the group from the start. Most likely, at that moment, they would have used all their special means to fight directly against heroes.
And they wouldn’t have focused on fighting against elves, beastmen, and demons, which was exactly what they did. It was a severe miscalculation of information that ended up costing the church’s higher-ups dearly.
The chained girl in front of him lifted her dirty face, pulling Ryan out of his deep thoughts.
And after controlling her fear-driven, ragged breathing, she finally answered her master’s question.
"The holy knights can nullify the power of weapons that were created through the deity. That’s because they also created the specific materials used for their magical functions," Chloe confessed with a trembling voice.
"Ha, ha, ha," Ivis intervened suddenly with a clear, loud laugh that echoed in the dark basement, and after calming her laughter, she added.
"But of course... that annoying sealing effect doesn’t apply to weapons created directly by demons. I’m sorry, I was getting a bit bored with all this mystery. So, you guys just have to forge your own weapons with other materials, I don’t see what the big deal is."
"Huh, what you’re saying makes a lot of sense," the chained woman replied, looking at Ivis with evident fear in her eyes.
"But it’s not as easy as it sounds. What you’re saying implies going directly into dangerous demonic territory. And getting materials from their lands is practically suicide for any human," Chloe said so fast that she choked.
Cough, cough, cough.
The prisoner coughed briefly, feeling her throat go dry from the panic of imagining a trip to those cursed lands.
"Besides, it’s not like a human needs to face the church that way..." she said.
Chloe quickly averted her gaze from Ivis’s figure to Ryan’s dark, serious face.
"Ha, ha, ha. That doesn’t matter at all," Ivis laughed again with genuine amusement at the girl’s ignorance.
The dragon woman turned toward Ryan to look directly at him, showing an expression of total confidence in her words.
"My lady Ophelia will have no problem letting you freely explore her lands in search of those materials."
Ivis said with a slight, proud smile drawn on her face. "After all, you are her ally."
"Ally...? Of a true demon king?" The chained girl swallowed hard with great difficulty.
Her eyes widened, as if unable to believe the immense heresy she had just heard in that dungeon.
"Yes, you are absolutely right about that, Ivis," Ryan said, confirming the alliance without caring about the hostage’s reaction.
"We just have to forge new weapons with those materials to protect ourselves from the church’s control," the group’s leader stated.
"It’s a real shame. I will assume that even rare weapons like the Chimera aren’t safe from the deity’s control."
Ryan said, letting out a long sigh of annoyance upon seeing that his current weaponry was rendered almost obsolete.
"Chimera...?" The chained woman murmured from the floor, recognizing the name of that special weaponry.
"I know there are very few of those weapons in the world, but... I am sure those materials were also created by the deity."
Chloe replied from her spot, crushing Ryan’s last hopes of using the equipment they already possessed.
Ryan understood his real odds very well after assimilating all this new and crucial information.
Even though he could fight head-to-head with an SS-rank holy knight, even without using magical weapons.
That wouldn’t give him the same favorable outcome if he directly fought an SSS-rank pillar of the church in the future.
But obtaining this information right now, before seriously facing the knights or the church, was a massive advantage.
It was invaluable information that would allow them to properly prepare themselves to survive. After getting everything he needed to know, Ryan concluded the tense interrogation in the basement.
Mirian, who had been listening in silence, immediately asked if they should kill the prisoner now that she was no longer of use.
Then, Ryan looked at her and firmly said no.
For now, keeping her alive might be very helpful regarding internal details they still didn’t know about.
And keeping a source of church information bound to his will would be very useful for the future.
"After assassinating the demon king Rigal, we will see exactly what to do with this girl."
Ryan ordered with a deep voice, and without further delay, he turned around and walked out of the damp place.
Time continued running against him, marking the steps toward his next grand objective.
With only four days left until his imminent attack on the demon king’s cold lands.
[Debt collection applied]
[Debt bonus: +50 Points]
[Luck Bonus +50 Points]