Han Dong's Plan

We must not allow middlemen to profit from the price difference.

If there is a mole within the upper echelons of the Holy City.

The safest way would be for Abel to report directly to Commander Kaimon, to prevent the information from being intercepted halfway through its transmission.

but...

The fact that the knights could be transferred from a certain area so quickly made Han Dong even suspect that the mastermind behind this was probably as powerful as the captain.

"Once the incident is exposed, I think the high-ranking person who secretly made contact will probably abandon this alien demon decisively."

Or perhaps he had already abandoned the alien demons, and was merely using this Secret Stone invasion as an experiment to assess the Holy City's security level... so that he could more smoothly execute his real invasion plan next time.

Although human nature contains inherent evil.

However, in such an apocalyptic world, internal strife is rare... but now, a 'major traitor' has emerged.

Perhaps this high-ranking official hidden in the Holy City didn't want to become a mole... but was forced to become one because he had spied on something.

Just like Cas's father, Viscount Alex.

Due to the writer's unique circumstances, during a moment of mental disorientation, he was targeted by a mysterious figure dressed in yellow...

After all, nearly two hundred years have passed since the Holy City was established, and the life outside the city could not possibly allow us, beings lower than them, to maintain sovereignty and continue living simply because of the "city walls".

It is certain that covert intrusion methods will be used.

Hopefully, Mr. Black and White can bring this major traitor to trial as soon as possible.

Based on the incident, Han Dong made a simple deduction about the high-level situation involved.

Although Han Dong cannot touch the things at the top, Han Dong can still do the things at the bottom.

"Such a powerful figure who can control the Knight Order would certainly not place all his bets on a single [Otherworldly Demon]... This invasion is more likely an experiment."

Once Abel relays the message back to the Behemoth Knight Order, the "Secret Stone Incident" will be completely exposed.

This powerful figure behind the scenes will inevitably abandon this pawn.

Then... our opportunity came.

... (The above are all Han Dong's thoughts)

When Abel set out.

The Stone Box containing the coins was handed over to Han Dong for safekeeping.

This puts us completely into Han Dong's planned rhythm.

"Before removing all the 'stone walls,' we must ensure that the array's core is not activated."

Based on the diagram, a simple inference can be made.

There are four array eyes in different areas of the Slums.

Which way should we go?

"Any path will do... The matter has already been exposed, so we don't need to actively search for it; the [Otherworldly Demon] will inevitably come looking for us."

Wait a moment. Once you receive the message from the Knight Order Sister Wino announcing a full-scale operation, it means that Abel has already sent the intelligence back.

"We'll act then; that will minimize the risk."

"Cas, come here for a second."

During the brief interval, Han Dong grabbed Cas's hand and pulled him into a private room in the bar... as if they had something private to discuss.

"Nicholas, you!!"

Upon hearing Han Dong's plan, Cas was so shocked that his body trembled.

Cas still held the intelligence that Han Dong had just written down, information about [Adelaide. Shattered Stone (Otherworldly Demon)]... It was related attributes that Han Dong had deduced through actual combat, as well as a relatively detailed analysis of its weaknesses.

"How about it... can you do it?"

I believe you have the ability, Cas. If you can seize this opportunity, your "Knight's Path" will become much smoother.

We will have opportunities to cooperate in the future.

It's obvious.

Han Dong's idea was to let Cas challenge the alien demons alone and complete the breakthrough.

"How can I possibly fight against a [Demon] that requires an entire squad of knights to defeat?"

It's not that Cas lacks confidence, but rather that this is simply unrealistic.

Even among the several peerless geniuses in Han Dong's generation, it was extremely difficult to break through their Seed Breaking Stage by killing alien demons.

If it were really that easy to defeat the Otherworldly Demons, humanity wouldn't have had to eke out a living in the Holy City for two hundred years.

"Knight Veno, with the cooperation of our team, we will deplete a large amount of the [Otherworldly Demon's] energy in advance, severely injuring it."

I will then divide the arena so that you can fight the injured demon alone.

"But... the rule for breaking a seed is one-on-one throughout. This seems..."

"It seems impossible to break the seed? Not necessarily."

Although the book does explicitly state that "breaking the seed" requires killing the life outside the city in a 'complete one-on-one' manner, without any assistance from anyone else.

There are even quite a few cases where the seed breaking process failed because others assisted in the process.

Han Dong continued, "The failed cases do not correspond to [Otherworldly Demons]... they are just ordinary life forms outside the city."

In my opinion, the seed-breaking energy that an 'injured demon' can provide is definitely higher than that of a 'healthy demon'... After all, demons are rare and it's uncommon for them to be alone like this.

Rarely do Knight-Errant have the opportunity to face otherworldly demons alone.

This stone-attribute demon is a good match for your attributes, Cas.

If you can successfully break through the spawning of the "Overlord Tree", you will surely become a major pillar of the Holy City.

"Now that a demon has delivered itself to our doorstep, we should naturally seize this opportunity."

"All right!"

Cas clenched his fists.

Cas has an exceptionally firm belief in the ' Knight's Path '.

Han Dong did this simply because he had once glimpsed the pure "justice" emanating from Cas... Han Dong wanted to amplify this "justice" as much as possible and infect more knights in the Holy City.

In this way, humanity will have a greater chance of survival.

"Please don't die..."

Han Dong spread his arms and embraced Cas, patting Cas's firm back forcefully.

There is no shortcut to breaking the seed.

Even Though a demon is severely injured, its level of corruption will not decrease, and its overall strength will definitely be stronger than that of ordinary beings outside the city.

If Cas is Deep Corruption during battle and fails to completely kill the target within the limited time, he will inevitably fall.

Even Though after a year of intensive training and a significant improvement, Cas's win rate was estimated by Han Dong to be only 30%... or even less.

Once Han Dong senses that Cas is unable to win, he will take the initiative to intervene.

that's all.

As soon as Knight Veno received the information, the team immediately headed to the nearest array point.

A large market located in Slums.

Like other locations, the market is surrounded by walls that have been rebuilt with stone.

But there are also differences...

When Han Dong's team entered the market in a truly meaningful way, all the civilians who were buying and selling there stopped their transactions and turned to look at this group of people.

Every civilian has a rapidly splitting gallstone inside their body.

At the same time, several polluted auras emanating from pure Wild Monster wafted from all around.

Han Dong chuckled inwardly, "The discarded pawn is so angry and embarrassed that it's come knocking on my door so quickly?"