Chapter 348: Four Steps Ahead

Ryan silently evaluated Ophelia’s genuine concerns. He understood perfectly well why she was questioning him with such disbelief.

From the demon queen’s perspective, and considering the traditional magic standards of her race, what he was asking for was a ridiculously complex and demanding whim.

Creating a single relic that could store the runic matrix for spatial teleportation and also replicate that same function hundreds of times per second was unheard of.

It was probably a concept that demons, always reliant on their overwhelming destructive power, had never considered creating in their entire martial history.

But from the experience Ryan had gained dealing with those forced teleportations in the past, he had noticed a loophole in the system. While those spatial ambushes were extremely annoying situations, they were also pathetically easy to repel if one had the right equipment.

Of course, that was a conclusion he had reached ever since he obtained his own relic to disrupt those transportation spells.

So, mentally preparing himself to clear up any technical doubts the proud white-haired woman might have, Ryan let out a soft sigh that formed a small cloud of vapor in the air. Slowly, he raised his hand and touched the small, earring-shaped relic hanging from his left ear.

"I think you’re completely misunderstanding me, Ophelia," Ryan said in a calm yet authoritative voice, immediately catching her attention. "I explicitly asked you for a single relic that uses the teleportation function twelve hundred consecutive times, but not to bring twelve hundred individual people here."

Ophelia frowned, tilting her head in obvious confusion, failing to grasp the human’s point.

"It seems you’ve already forgotten, but when we first met on the hundredth floor of the sky dungeon, you tried to use stones to teleport us somewhere else against my will. Don’t you remember?" Ryan asked, staring directly into her red eyes.

Ophelia blinked, searching through her memories of that chaotic encounter.

"Yes... I remember it perfectly, I think. But I still don’t understand exactly what you’re trying to say with that in this situation," she replied, crossing her arms defensively.

’That means she doesn’t actually remember anything. Whatever,’ Ryan sighed inwardly, losing his patience a little.

"Anyway, it doesn’t matter if you don’t remember it clearly. Either way, I’ll have to explain it from scratch so the plan is clear."

Ryan took a few steps across the green grass, turning his back to the girls for a moment as he removed the relic from his ear. He held the small earring between his thumb and index finger, holding it up to the light of the artificial sky.

"That time in the sky dungeon, you repeatedly used several of your expensive teleportation stones to try to move me from my position, and none of your stones worked. But the failure wasn’t due to a lack of power on your part; it was exclusively because of this," Ryan explained, moving the earring. "The ironic thing is that when you finally gave up, realizing you wouldn’t manage to transport me and changing tactics, you were actually only one attempt away from breaking my relic’s barrier and achieving your goal."

Ophelia’s eyes widened, and her mouth formed a small ’o’ of surprise. The revelation dealt a direct blow to her pride.

"Ah!" Ophelia exclaimed, uncrossing her arms abruptly. "Now I remember! Several of my teleportation stones shattered in useless attempts!"

"Exactly. Well, the main reason I’m asking you to create a relic that works twelve hundred times in a microsecond is because now we are facing the church’s elites directly." Ryan turned back toward her, adopting a rigid posture. "And by now, you should know very well what those religious fanatics are capable of, shouldn’t you?"

Ryan shot her a sharp look and continued without giving her time to answer.

"I assume, being conservative with the numbers, that at this famous tournament to choose Udriela’s guardians, there will be at least two hundred high-ranking adventurers gathered. On top of that, there will be entire platoons of holy knights guarding the event. Most of them, if not absolutely all of them, will surely have equipped multiple high-level relics that interfere with enemy teleportation. There is no point in executing our elaborate plan if it turns out we can’t pierce their magical defenses to kidnap Priscilla."

Alicia, who had been listening in silence with her ears perked up, nodded vigorously, fully agreeing with Ryan’s deduction.

"Actually, my lord is completely right about that," Chloe suddenly intervened, taking a step forward timidly but confident in her information.

"Holy knights are usually required to carry those anti-transportation relics as part of their standard gear to prevent a cornered demon from escaping using teleportation stones. Even I had one equipped on my uniform, but Helen accidentally broke it with her brute strength when she captured me... though I’m sure she didn’t even realize she had destroyed such a valuable artifact," Chloe explained, revealing a bit of human military logistics.

"See?" Ryan added immediately, pointing at Chloe to validate his point to the demon queen. "This isn’t paranoia; it’s just a precaution. When we faced the demon king Rigal a while ago, that bastard was at least two steps ahead of all our plans. We can’t afford to make those same mistakes again."

Ryan lowered his voice, making it sound much darker and more threatening as he took a step closer to Ophelia.

"Or did you also forget that because of that carelessness and naivety, you ended up defeated and sealed inside a jar as a miniature version of yourself?"

Those harsh words fell with the weight of a mountain onto the proud demon queen’s shoulders. The atmosphere instantly tensed. That crushing defeat was probably a dark matter she had been wanting to bury deep in her mind, treating it as a bad episode that had never truly happened in her long reign.

Ophelia’s pale face quickly flushed a deep crimson from profound embarrassment, and her entire provocative, haughty attitude crumbled in a single second.

"H-hey, you didn’t have to say that in front of everyone..." Ophelia stammered, losing her usual fluency. "I truly regret being so careless back then."

The powerful demon queen, who moments earlier had paraded naked across his bed without a drop of shame, was now looking away toward the grass, appearing genuinely ashamed and hunching her shoulders as if wanting to disappear.

"Alright, I understand your point perfectly, and I won’t oppose your request at all. I just wanted to know what logical reasons you had for asking for something so complex," she said, clearing her throat to regain a shred of dignity. "Yes, that was all. I’ll do it. I will create that relic, so don’t worry about the humans’ barrier."

’Wow... was she really that embarrassed just being reminded that she was sealed?’ Ryan thought, raising an eyebrow at her unusually docile reaction.

Satisfied with having broken his ally’s ego and secured the key piece for his invasion, Ryan crossed his arms and looked up at the sky.

"I am completely certain that the church must have prepared deadly traps in Geizan, and they must fervently believe they have the absolute advantage in this situation by being two steps ahead of any conventional demon king," Ryan stated, and a cold, calculating smile split his face.

"But I’m also sure that if they are expecting an attack, they definitely aren’t expecting it to come from us. We will take them entirely by surprise. And this time, we will be the ones who are not two steps, but four steps ahead of that damned deity."