Chapter 163

Chapter 163

I looked at the high-powered crystal people ahead and turned toward the old servant:

"These crystal people seem just as strong as the third defensive line. Why don't we see them at the front?"

"You're wondering why the front line uses weak purifiers as the first layer, right?"

"Exactly."

"That's because..." The old servant hesitated, glancing at the Youngest Princess as if she didn't want to say it.

"Say it!" The Youngest Princess turned and fixed her eyes on the old servant.

The old servant let out a sigh, then said, "Because they're being used up too slowly."

The Youngest Princess and I were both taken aback.

"Too slowly. Even with the weakest purifiers filling the front line first, the rate is still far too slow."

"We originally planned to gradually replace all the purifiers with puppets. But... after all these years, the number of purifiers in the storage area is still enormous. In fact, as the weaker ones get used up little by little, the rate keeps getting slower and slower."

The old servant glanced at the Youngest Princess, who was frowning, and said hesitantly:

"Actually, the storage area had far more purifiers at the start than it does now."

I still remember that place. When we visited just now, the storage area held two million four hundred thousand crystal people.

So that means...

"How many were there at the beginning?" The Youngest Princess asked with a frown.

The old servant avoided the Youngest Princess's eyes and said nothing.

"Say it!" The Youngest Princess spun around and glared at her.

"Twelve million..." The old servant looked away and answered with a sigh.

"So ten million crystal people have already been..." I could barely believe it.

"Yes..."

"You bastards!"

"Ten million..." I muttered, at a loss for words.

Was this what the Eldest Princess called a moment of ruthlessness on impulse?

I sighed and didn't stop the Youngest Princess.

The old servant was now pinned to the ground, getting beaten by the Youngest Princess.

After a good while, the Youngest Princess finally let up.

The old servant lay on the ground without moving. If not for the rise and fall of her chest, I would have almost thought the Youngest Princess had beaten her to death.

Throughout the whole thing, she neither fought back nor cried out in pain.

The Youngest Princess's punches weren't light, but she took every one of them in silence.

After a while, the Youngest Princess seemed to lose interest and stopped.

"Hey..." I stepped forward and helped the old servant up, without saying anything.

I had said I wouldn't pass judgment on these things, but when the truth was right in front of me, I couldn't help the scales in my heart tipping to one side.

No one can be completely rational.

Whatever the case, the Eldest Princess had clearly made a mistake here.

After all these years, she had probably known it deep down for a long time. She just wasn't willing to admit it out loud.

We moved on in silence.

I refocused my attention, walking while estimating the height of the floors.

"Heads up, we're almost there. The Ugly Knight should be on the floor above."

The old servant and the Youngest Princess snapped back to attention. Their expressions grew slightly tense as they each tightened their grip on their weapons.

When we reached the stairway, I said, "Hold on. Let them go up first."

The three of us stopped partway up the stairs and waited as the crystal people gathered behind us.

Soon, the assault squad filled the hall.

I gave the order. "First assault squad, get ready. Move up and take out the enemy!"

The moment I finished speaking, hundreds of crystal people surged past us and charged up the stairs.

The sounds of fierce fighting broke out above almost immediately.

The three of us waited patiently where we stood. Nobody thought a few hundred crystal people would be enough to take down a raging Ugly Knight.

After a while, the sounds of fighting above died down.

"Second assault squad, go!" I gave the next order without changing my expression.

The sounds of fighting started up again above.

I led the two of them a bit further back. The fighting was intense, loud enough to fill the whole hall, so there was no need to stand so close.

It also kept us from running straight into the Ugly Knight if he came charging down.

As squad after squad went up, the sounds of fighting gradually grew weaker.

Once I figured the time was right, I sent the remaining squads, nearly half the hall, up all at once.

The three of us followed behind the last squad.

The last squad was made up of crystal mage types. They weren't strong in direct combat, but they knew quite a few support spells.

I had kept them back on purpose.

We made our way up to the upper hall and looked out across the room.

"This is... brutal."

I had expected it to be bad, but seeing it for real still left me stunned by the Ugly Knight's ferocity.

Crystal people's bodies were scattered all across the hall. The pile of corpses at the Ugly Knight's feet had grown into a small mountain.

The Ugly Knight stood in the center of the hall, covered in wounds from head to toe, black filth slowly seeping out from each one.

Where his face should have been, there was nothing left but solid darkness.

"The Ugly Knight..." The old servant's voice trembled. She turned her head away, unable to look.

I gave a small nod. As expected, this could be wrapped up here without a problem.

Much easier than I had anticipated. I thought five thousand wouldn't be nearly enough to bring him down and that we'd need to come back several more times.

But looking at his wounds and how far the Shadow had eaten into him, this time should be enough to finish it.

The squad that had just arrived was greater in both numbers and strength than all the previous crystal people combined.

I gave the order, and the crystal people launched into a relentless assault.

The Ugly Knight was visibly losing ground, struggling to keep up with attacks coming from every direction.

The mages were lending support from a distance. I stood back and watched calmly, with no intention of stepping in myself.

The Youngest Princess, on the other hand, seemed unable to hold herself back. She had already drawn her sword and charged in, joining the crystal people in excitedly swarming the knight in the center.

I turned to look at the old servant. She was staring at the Ugly Knight in the middle of the battle, her expression filled with a grief I couldn't quite name.

It was a shame I hadn't lived through her era. I had no way to truly understand what she was feeling.

Perhaps the old servant's feelings for the Eldest Princess and the Ugly Knight were something else entirely.

But to me, he was just a stronger-than-usual enemy standing in the way.

At most, I could count the time I had saved him by chance at the front line, but it was hard to feel much for a puppet with no awareness.

Then, surrounded by countless crystal people, the Ugly Knight fell without any suspense.

"Ha, how about that? Aren't I amazing!" The Youngest Princess came bouncing over.

"Amazing, amazing, so amazing," I replied with a blank face, humoring the lively girl while thinking through our next move.

"Let's head out first. Send the demolition squad up ahead to clear the traps above."

I then ordered the remaining crystal people to follow the three of us outside.

The crowd filed out one by one. As I left, I glanced back one last time.

The whole hall was riddled with the marks of battle.

The knight, covered in black corruption, knelt in the center of the hall, surrounded by fallen crystal people lying all around him.