Linka’s current situation was basically the same as Fei’ouna’s back then, both strongly resisting falling to demonic corruption.
But this irreversible physical transformation was not influenced by personal will.
Unless she died, once her body fully recovered, she would bid farewell to her original identity and become a corpse-born hybrid between human and demon.
Because the essence of the infection was that when a human was on the verge of death, demonic energy invaded their body, causing a mutation.
It was just like a corpse reanimating.
Therefore, these beings with characteristics different from other demons were collectively called corpse-born.
Meanwhile, humans infected by magic crystals were actually very similar to corpse-born, only their demonic traits were even weaker.
Some infected individuals wouldn’t even appear problematic without a thorough examination.
But in essence, they were no longer human, and there were no recorded cases of a cure, neither in the past nor present.
Linka naturally knew this, so after being mocked by Kaxiya, she had considered ending her own life.
After all, Aiweier had already escaped, so Linka had fulfilled her final mission.
‘Rather than living on, neither human nor demon, like an ant, it was better to end this meaningless future quickly and painlessly.’
‘Speaking of which…’
‘Heh…’
Even now, Linka still couldn’t figure out why she had caught the demon’s attention.
‘Tsk tsk~’
‘Giving her a cell comparable to a hotel room—it was really getting more and more puzzling.’
‘She had neither powerful strength nor a deep background. At most, the title of “Shield Hero’s Apprentice” carried some weight.’
‘But even her mentor’s name wasn’t well-known in the empire, let alone herself, an obscure shield warrior.’
‘Was it to use her to threaten Aiweier? Other than that, Linka couldn’t think of any other possibility.’
But neither of Linka’s guesses was completely correct, because Yilisi had planned everything out from the very first day they infiltrated the old demon city.
It was just that some unexpected incidents occurred along the way, which made the Demon Lord have other ideas.
Fortunately, Fei’ouna, who cared deeply for her disciple, corrected things in time, and the whole plan returned to the right track.
So here’s the interesting part: what exactly was the truth behind Yilisi wanting to keep them alive?
Torture?
There was nothing left to interrogate.
As the one setting up the game, she naturally knew why these humans had infiltrated the old demon clan.
And it was Yilisi’s deliberate cooperation that allowed the group of four to break into the Black Prison Dungeon and cause a ruckus.
Since the other side wanted to probe the real status of the “Shield Hero,” she wouldn’t give up this rare opportunity to find out the truth of why Fei’ouna was targeted.
So this time it was a game of luring them in, and Linka and Isabella were the two most crucial pieces.
It probably wouldn’t take long before these two humans would, by chance, encounter their mission target.
As for Kaxiya, who had left this level of the prison, although she had already completed what her mother arranged, she was in no hurry to return and report.
Because her sixth sense told her that the importance of these two humans might be higher than she imagined.
Furthermore, the dungeon had been reduced to a mess.
From the ground, it might not look like much—just some collapsed and sunken areas—but inside, there was a tragic scene of shattered walls and ruins.
Moreover, the barrier had been severely damaged.
Although the prisoners only suffered heavy casualties with no escapes, as the person directly involved, Kaxiya had to handle it personally, even without orders from her two blood relatives.
First was information lockdown, to prevent the leak of intelligence that would cause panic in the city.
This was standard procedure for dealing with most crises, but unfortunately, the commotion was too big, and the effect might be poor.
Of course, even if the effect was poor, it still had to be done, at least to minimize adverse impacts.
However, for Yilisi and Fei’ouna, what they actually wanted was the effect of information leakage.
And their daughter’s cautious behavior would make their plan appear more genuine.
The first thing Kaxiya did after flying back to the surface was to find her childhood friend Beileisi—the tall demon dragon who had been tricked by Aiweier at the start, sealed into an ice sculpture, and was clad in heavy armor.
Actually, seeing the princess fly back and forth twice—first taking people away, then immediately bringing them back to personally complete the imprisonment of the two human prisoners….
Beileisi had been wanting to find a chance to help with whatever she could.
Unfortunately, the princess kept ignoring her, presumably still holding a grudge over her poor performance.
But Beileisi was actually wronged.
Normally, she wouldn’t be so passive.
But today was eerily like being possessed.
Her partner happened to be away, patrol shift changes were delayed, the barriers outside the dungeon were successively broken, and then those four humans appeared right in front of her, making it seem like she was the unprepared challenger.
Moreover, the enemies coordinated very well.
At first glance, Beileisi was defeated by that powerful ice mage, but without the distraction and containment from the other humans, with her strength, she definitely wouldn’t have “crashed” so quickly.
But since things had already happened, Beileisi wouldn’t make excuses for her failure.
Besides, instead of thinking about useless things, it was better to ponder what the princess planned to do next and what orders she would give.
And Kaxiya, upon finding Beileisi, wasn’t going to keep picking on her childhood friend’s issues.
Because this time, it wasn’t just the other party’s poor performance; she herself had also made a serious mistake.
Thus, Beileisi was flattered to receive a sincere apology from her “boss.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you earlier.”
“I was too agitated at that time. I lost control of my emotions a bit.”
Usually, Kaxiya was just a bit overbearing, but it was rare for her to curse at her companions or friends.
Because Fei’ouna’s education on her daughter’s manners was very thorough, Kaxiya apologized as soon as they met for her inappropriate behavior earlier.
But Beileisi was really too dense.
Since she couldn’t think of how to respond in that moment, she just scratched her head blankly.
Because in her world, the princess’s scolding and hitting were completely reasonable and not at all improper.
The ones who should bear her wrath were those cunning humans.
But the boss’s apology still stirred a warm current in Beileisi’s heart; she just wasn’t good at expressing it.
Seeing this, Kaxiya knew she was casting pearls before swine, so she simply got straight to business.
“Forget it…”
“You’d better go carry out this princess’s orders.”
“From today onward, you’re temporarily relieved from guarding the upper levels.”
“Your new task is to go below and repair the damaged barriers, and also keep an eye on those two humans. Don’t let anything happen to them.”