Since she already knew that she was being deliberately sent away, there was nothing more for Kaxiya to say.
At worst, she could just leave.
So, having come to that realization, the young girl said very straightforwardly, “As you command.”
After that, without looking back, she turned and left the inner hall of the palace.
Once she entered the empty courtyard, she transformed into a half-dragon form and flew toward the Black Prison Dungeon located in the central area of the Old Demon City.
Even though the clouds of war were spreading widely across the demon realm, looking down from above, this ancient city with several hundred years of history seemed not to have been greatly affected.
Unlike human cities, the Old Demon City did not have such bustling industries.
Aside from a few trade markets that provided daily necessities for the citizens, taverns, restaurants, hospitals, and other such places, what it had the most of were actually factories that refined magic crystals and manufactured weapons.
So, looking from the sky, one could see many tall chimneys standing erect, continuously releasing large amounts of gray-white mist day and night.
This was harmful waste gas derived from magic crystals.
For the demon race, the waste gas problem was not too serious, because no matter which branch of demons, they all had a certain degree of resistance.
As for magic crystals, they were a type of ore that came with both risks and rewards.
Not only did they contain high concentrations of magical power, but they also had a wide range of uses.
They provided energy for the city, processed weapons with magical components, served as mediums for casting certain spells—there were simply too many uses.
However, the dangers of magic crystals were also deadly.
Once a small amount of dust was accidentally inhaled through breathing, or if a wound came into direct contact with them, infection was very likely.
For humans, the consequence of infection was that the body would undergo varying degrees of demonic mutation.
Even if physical strength was enhanced, as the condition continued to worsen, life would irreversibly wither.
Moreover, the infected themselves were highly contagious, so if quarantine was improper, it could cause a terrible chain reaction.
Although humans had found methods to alleviate and control the disease in their struggle against it, due to the high cost of treatment and various complex reasons, it was never widely promoted.
Instead, to this day, humans had adopted a more extreme strategy—under the tacit approval of the empire, they turned infection itself into a public discrimination.
The reason for infection was not the magic crystals, but that the person’s soul was not pure enough and had been targeted by a demon.
In the beginning, because the pathogenesis of the infection was not understood, people in fear would blindly turn to superstition.
Now, even though the true nature of the infection had been clarified, the imperial church still chose to hide the truth.
Nowadays, only two kinds of people engaged in this dangerous work: the lowest class of commoners, and criminals convicted of crimes.
The former had no other way out, or were already infected, so they could only work in mines or factories.
As for the latter, it was a means for the church to exile and punish criminals.
If they were unfortunately infected before the end of their sentence, even when the release date came, they would be permanently deprived of freedom and kept there.
Of course, Kaxiya did not care about human affairs, and compared to them, the situation of the demon race was not that bad.
Most infected demons only had crystal-like proliferations on the surface of their bodies, unlike humans who suffered fatal crystallization reactions starting from their internal organs.
Speaking of which, a close friend of Kaxiya, after retiring from the allied forces, came to the Old Demon City and opened a weapon manufacturing factory with a unique style.
It was said that she was researching some kind of devastating bomb of immense power?
Although Kaxiya didn’t know what she was up to, since both of them were in the same city, if they had time, they would definitely get together.
But right now, Kaxiya had to carry out the Demon King’s orders and punish those foolish humans who had lost their minds and dared to cause trouble here.
Don’t think that the Old Demon City was quite far from the front lines; the relatively loose internal management of the demon race meant that it was easily infiltrated.
But sneaky small-scale infiltration was one thing; directly coming out to commit crimes was a bit too arrogant, especially at a tightly guarded place like the Black Prison Dungeon.
So if it hadn’t been for Yilisi telling her personally, Kaxiya would have found it hard to believe.
Of course, soon she would realize something was wrong.
The Black Prison Dungeon was a closed-off giant prison built entirely underground, both like a maze and a tower.
The above-ground part of the dungeon was stone chambers built against the cliffs.
Before even reaching the above-ground entrance of the dungeon, as she was about to fly to her destination, Kaxiya had already keenly sensed from the air that there was a battle with violent magical fluctuations happening underground.
And based on the attributes of the magic and the rhythm of its release, she also analyzed that the enemy leader was a formidable archmage, and the battle had just started not long ago.
It was about the time she had just left the palace that things happened here simultaneously.
‘Was it a coincidence?’
‘Or was this also within the Demon King’s calculations?’
But no matter what, since she was here, she naturally wouldn’t let the humans who had broken into her home run rampant.
As for why she said they were running rampant, it was because Kaxiya noticed that today’s dungeon defenses were much worse than usual.
Even if the human who came to break in was an expert on par with her, how come there was only one of the three demon dragons that should have been stationed in the dungeon?
And it seemed like the enemy had forced their way in, because Kaxiya found dozens of guards knocked unconscious at the above-ground entrance.
This indicated that the enemies had first disguised themselves to infiltrate the Old Demon City, then bypassed several patrol lines, and finally, after reaching the above-ground entrance of the dungeon, they suddenly acted and took down the unsuspecting guards.
Moreover, because the enemies had acted very covertly when attacking the underground, not making much noise, if not for Kaxiya arriving under orders, it would have taken at least several more minutes before the next patrol of guards discovered them.
Furthermore, the enemies were not ordinary small fry; they were at least elite-level church knights.
So it was obvious that this was definitely a prison break operation with thorough preparation.
But Kaxiya’s sudden appearance became an unexpected variable in this perfect plan.
As for the guards who had been knocked out, our combative princess would not bother with them.
So after entering the dungeon entrance, Kaxiya directly tracked the enemies by their scent, and at the same time, used the reserved exclusive flight passage to charge straight in.