Torture the hero, why has the Demon King's castle collapsed again?

Page 122

The demon strategist, Swell, was now participating in the meeting in his true form. The pages of his book turned slightly, and he appeared somewhat troubled.

"If nothing unexpected happens, the Holy Church will definitely take action tonight... to unseal Saint Lena!"

"Apophis, how reliable is the information provided by the Holy Sword this time?" Kletina raised her cherry-pink eyes at the long table, concerned with another question: "If the human camp has the opportunity to set a trap for this again, we can only abandon this operation and let that Iron-Blooded Pope get what he wants."

“No, I believe that this time, Altottai was not lying.” Apophis chuckled from his seat.

"Firstly, it's unnecessary, and secondly, I can vaguely sense that... Altottai is at most still hiding something about how to remove the backlash. In that case, the first two methods he provides are actually incredibly credible."

"Regardless of the method, Saint Lena must be receiving the most blissful and positive emotional nourishment now, in order to offset the backlash she has suffered."

“Even so, it will be difficult for us to interrupt this healing process, which lasts only one night, under the layers of protection of the Holy Church.” The Book Demon Swell sighed. It had originally thought that the Holy Church’s methods would take a considerable amount of time, leaving room for maneuver.

But if there's only one night left, it's a bit of a stretch no matter what you do.

“I think this isn’t a problem.” At that moment, Apophis suddenly smiled easily.

"I have fully understood the key to the Holy Church's ability to mitigate the backlash. In fact, our real battle is not in reality, but in... the dream!"

"This is actually an area that our demon race also has some involvement in."

"Oh? Could it be?" A sudden thought struck him, and Swell had already realized something.

Ripples spread through the void, and ethereal gray-white mist condensed on the seat next to the zombie maid Fim, revealing a smooth, mirror-like surface:

"Lady Kletina, Strategist, the nightmare has struck again—"

During the intermission, Klettina and Migo showed subtle changes in their expressions.

"Nightmare Mirror, how is your injury healing?" Kleinna asked with some concern.

"Nightmare Mirror, you've finally woken up!" Migo's tone was even more joyful.

"Hehe, it's alright, it's alright." The Nightmare Mirror bent its surface a little embarrassedly. It was one thing for Secretary Kletina to care about it so much, but even the Horned Demon Migo, who had only recently joined the Demon Clan, was welcoming it so warmly. For a moment, the Nightmare Mirror was quite touched.

Is this the bond of the Demon King's Castle family? The mirror feels so warm, I love it.

"Apophis, do you mean that the 'dream' authority of the Nightmare Mirror is sufficient to complete this mission?"

On the other hand, Swirl, having grasped the key point, cut to the chase and asked Apophis a question.

“That’s right.” Apophis nodded. “Based on my discussion with the Nightmare Mirror, we are absolutely certain that Saintess Lena and the Ice Heart are in the dimension of dreams, an ocean of dreams where countless subconscious thoughts and memories intersect. And in the dimension of dreams, there is no concept of distance.”

"With the authority of the Nightmare Mirror, it is entirely possible to infiltrate the dream dimension, remotely lock onto the dream of Saintess Lena, with whom I once clashed, and interfere!"

"And Altotai's intelligence provides us with a crucial clue: the power of emotions. If Saint Lena's heart is shaken again at the dream level, the backlash from the Ice Heart will worsen, interfering with humanity's process of awakening Saint Lena!"

“So that’s how it is… This is just the right time.” Svir murmured. Apophis’s explanation wasn’t profound, and most of the demons present understood the core of it.

"The key now lies in how we can shake Saintess Lena," the Nightmare Mirror said, looking at the demons.

“It is impossible to directly harm the Holy Maiden within the dream dimension. Given the strength of her spirit, all I can do is insert a small fragment of memory into her dream, and I cannot even fabricate a false dream out of thin air.”

“Dreams generated from memories are the most realistic and the least likely to be rejected… This is the limit of what I can do.”

“Even if it’s just a short memory, it’s already amazing.” At the long table, Swell didn’t mind, the pages of the book turning continuously. Combining the knowledge provided by the two demons and the information from several interrogations, the demon strategist Swell reached the most crucial conclusion:

"—Without a doubt, we need to fill the dreams of the pilgrim Lena with content that makes her prone to negative emotions."

"It must be a dream generated from real memories, preferably one that is related to the Holy Maiden herself, capable of evoking strong emotional fluctuations in her, lasting only a short time but deeply connected to the Holy Maiden..."

As the conditions were listed one by one, the demons present were suddenly taken aback.

Almost unanimously.

A seemingly naive yet wise and resolute face comes to mind...

Chapter 165 Should we just beat him up?

"The Brave Mino? Are we going to torture him again?" Swell suddenly felt a toothache.

To be honest, it's already developing mild PTSD from interrogating Mino: although it has only interrogated Mino once so far, it was the one who analyzed and formulated the plans for every piece of information that other demons extracted from Mino—and the result was that the plans were very elaborate, but the reality was that it was beaten down.

One or two failed attempts could be attributed to coincidence, but their actions were as if they were foreseen by the sacred Round Table. No demon would believe it if it weren't for human intervention in the shadows!

“Memory and dreams are highly interconnected and closely related. If we use the authority of the Nightmare Mirror, we can indeed extract real memories from Mino.”

Apophis tentatively analyzed the feasibility of interrogation.

"But we don't necessarily have to use the memories of that lowly hero, do we? Can't we use other memories?"

Beside her, the twin-tailed girl with swirling demonic horns on her head suddenly spoke up, seemingly a little nervous. Migo's eyes darted around guiltily, afraid that something she knew might be exposed:

"I remember Lena hated roses the most, didn't she? Why don't we do what we did last time and stuff a memory of Kletina creating countless roses into Lena's dream, wouldn't that work?"

Across the long table, Swell agreed with Migo's idea for the first time, but unfortunately, after some rational analysis, it quickly turned its pages slightly: "I'm afraid that won't work."

"Having learned from the first mistake, I think Saint Lena will develop a certain 'immunity' to roses, whether in reality or in dreams. The same method won't work on that Ice Rose from the Kingdom of Kur a second time. The content of the memory itself is not important. If we can't make Lena feel enough negative emotions, then the plan will be wasted... You know, we only have one chance tonight."

Migo was speechless for a moment, and a troubled look appeared on her face.

She had only intended it as a temporary measure to distract herself, without thinking too much about it, but unless absolutely necessary, she still didn't want anyone else to access Mino's memories.

"Speaking of which, Lord Migo, your Horned Demon clan seems to possess certain methods for extracting memories?"

Suddenly, as Swell turned the pages of his book, he seemed to remember something. Looking at Migo, Swell said with a hint of hope:

"Understanding the hero Mino's most secret memories shouldn't be too difficult for Lord Migo, right?"

"Who, who said that?!" As if her tail had been stepped on, Migo suddenly bristled, her face turning bright red as she said, "This young lady has no idea what shameful, idiotic, perverted dark history that weakling hero has!"

“Uh, I wasn’t asking if you knew, Lord Migo. I just wanted you to test your memories of the hero Mino…” Swell was a little confused and was about to say something when Migo, feeling guilty, interrupted him abruptly:

"No! Absolutely not!!!"

"Although the Horned Demon race's spiritual power is indeed formidable, I'm still a child! Yes, my injuries from fighting that weakling hero haven't healed yet! I can't possibly use such profound abilities."

With a snap, a flash of light appeared on Migo's body, and she transformed back into her original form, a small canine-shaped magical beast with demonic horns. She winked earnestly at Svir and Kletina.

“In that case… there really isn’t much we can do.” Swell grunted, having no choice but to abandon his suggestion to send Migo.

But is it really impossible to find suitable memories without interrogating Mino?

While Svir was still deep in thought, Migo, sitting in the seat of the Third Demon, cautiously glanced at Kletina, then at Fim beside her, and tentatively suggested again:

"How about... we just beat Mino up and show her the memories to Lena?"

The hall fell silent immediately.

The demons looked at Migo with astonishment. What deep-seated hatred did Migo and Mino have?

Especially Apophis and Swell, they had never even considered such a method, but it was indeed simple and brutal! Swell's racking his brains was no match for Migo's flash of inspiration?!

"Who's being called simplistic and crude?!" Migo protested in embarrassment and indignation.

"Still no good." After thinking for a while, Swell shook his head:

"Treating prisoners can easily incite a sense of shared hatred among humans. If this is not handled properly, it could spread to the human camp and backfire, further boosting the morale of the human army."

"I don't think any of us would want to face a human kingdom that has been provoked into a lion-like state, would we?"

Swell looked to Kleidina, who sat at the head of the long table, for advice.

"Haven't you noticed something yet?" Kletina's rose-colored dress swayed slightly as she looked at the demons, a helpless expression on her face.

"No matter what method they seek, in the end they can't escape Mino, Saint Lena's childhood sweetheart..."

Thinking of that resolute-faced interrogator, even she, a Shadow Demon skilled at manipulating minds, felt somewhat helpless. It was as if two conflicting wills were lurking within him, always managing to do things she couldn't predict, which was truly... infuriating.

"Let's give the Nightmare Mirror a try. If it interrogates Mino in a dream, it might yield some good results."

Kleidina looked at Swell with her cherry-pink eyes and pointed out the crux of the problem:

"Besides roses, if Saint Lena has any fatal weakness, it's only Mino."

"You know, the reason they attacked our Demon King's army's defenses so recklessly was to retaliate for our capture of Mino, wasn't it?"

"Failing to protect Mino must be her greatest regret and sorrow. What we need to think about next is how to find Mino's memories in this regard so that Saint Lena can trigger strong negative emotions again."

“Indeed—” Svir nodded to himself. Kletina’s understanding of people’s hearts was truly profound. It was clear that she had put a lot of thought into Mino the Warrior and Saintess Lena, which helped him get out of his misunderstanding.

Opportunistic tactics are useless; he must fully trust the great demon beside him, find the most crucial entry point, and deliver a fatal blow to Saint Lena!

"Now that you mention it, I vaguely remember something."

The books by Swell suddenly

It emits a deep, obsidian-like light, as if it has traversed all the "knowledge" acquired during the time of capturing Mino, connecting and categorizing everything, and the most suitable scenes immediately leap onto the page.

It suddenly remembered... a crucial memory that could very well involve Saint Lena, allowing her to see Mino's feelings for her!

Chapter 166 Mino's "Last Words"

A line of large, bold text appeared on the page of Swell:

"On the eve of our all-out war to capture Mino, on the night of the border crossing, Mino wrote a message in cipher and sent it back to the capital of the human kingdom! That was the last time he conveyed a message to someone in the human camp."

"The last words on the eve of the decisive battle..." Kleinna frowned slightly.

At such a sensitive time, what was Mino trying to convey?

The plan to capture Mino alive was the most meticulously planned and largest-scale operation by the Demon Clan in nearly a thousand years.

But it's actually quite simple: create the impression of a total war to put immense pressure on the human faction, but the total war itself is the biggest misleading tactic—

The moment the war broke out, the demons reached out their true target: Mino, the strongest hero in human history and the hero of light.

They enveloped their most formidable enemy with a time magic array infused with some of the power of Demon King Mia, and then, with the terrifying flow of time separating the battlefield from the outside world, the nine great demons emerged! It took them seven days and seven nights to completely drain Mino's power, completing their most successful operation to date without losing a single great demon.

The only saving grace was the immense power of Lady Tomia's authority over time; the compression of the time magic array prevented the kingdom's morning star, the powerful holy archmage Lak, from appearing on the battlefield. Otherwise, the outcome of the battle would have been entirely different.

This was arguably the most satisfying operation Svir had ever undertaken, and it could even be included in the knowledge base of the Book of Demons. As the organizer of the plan, Svir naturally deserved the greatest credit.

It's important to know that after capturing Mino, the human camp's strength actually surged several times in a short period of time... If they hadn't captured Mino, they wouldn't just be facing a critical first line of defense now; they might even have seen the Demon King's Castle breached by the human camp!

"In short, our plan was executed flawlessly on the eve of the decisive battle."

Swell said, "At that time, all the human soldiers on the border and the hero Mino probably thought that the next day would be a decisive battle with heavy casualties!"

“I think the Mino Warrior might even be mentally prepared to die on the battlefield... Then his words at that time would be worth paying attention to.”

Swell felt a little regretful. Even as a book demon, it couldn't easily break through human encryption to obtain the message left by the hero Mino and its recipient. Otherwise, this evenly matched war should have ended long ago.

Therefore, it did not say everything at this moment, but the demons present basically understood its unspoken meaning: for Mino, the last words he left behind must have contained the most sincere emotions in the heart of the strongest hero in human history.