The towering anti-magic steel pillars stretched towards the ceiling, their intricate runes appearing and disappearing in the dim light. Beneath the steel, the Great Poet knelt before Prahn, his expression focused.

Within this sealed cell, their conversation felt like a quiet, profound ritual, the surrounding cold and silence listening to their words.

"So please give up, New King. The Protos Empire is beyond saving, unless you can wholeheartedly convince Loki McCarthy..."

Prahn lowered his voice, saying,

"But that's clearly impossible. Even if he's willing to sell his soul to us, we can't really entrust our lives to him and gamble on this dead end with less than a ten percent chance of winning."

His innate magic evolved in the direction of clairvoyance. Although it's still in its nascent stage and not fully under his control, he's been able to intermittently and unstably see real-time situations on the surface during his years in the depths of Herloom Prison, sometimes near, sometimes far.

"..."

Antanas and Sinora, standing on either side, exchanged glances, but showed no sign of speaking.

As Prahn's old friends, they were willing to believe in the accuracy of his judgment to some extent, because the two of them combined, even multiplied by Talia, weren't as smart as Prahn.

But then, Antanas and Sinora both looked at the figure with black hair and green eyes, waiting for the king to make a decision.

Having already sworn their allegiance, they would follow the king no matter what he chose.

"So why, Prahn, do you think the odds are so low?"

The Great Poet paused for a moment before asking again.

He thought about it and decided not to waste his breath telling these three high-ranking demons who Loki McCarthy really was.

Earlier, on the fourth basement level, he repeatedly emphasized to Antanas that he was a man, but she still didn't believe it.

Without seeing his true form, the three high-ranking demons probably wouldn't believe that the Great Poet with black hair and green eyes in front of them was just a persona.

As long as they left Herloom Prison later and invited the three of them to the Redmond Hall Principal's Office at the Protos Royal Magic Academy to see his true self, it would be better than any explanation.

"Once we choose Loki McCarthy, we'll also fall into new dangers with him."

Prahn believed that the New King already understood his words. The odds the New King asked about were based on the premise that they could persuade Loki McCarthy to sell his soul to them demons.

"Given the various factions in the Protos Empire each harboring their own agendas, and I'm trapped underground, unable to distinguish the cause and effect of the undercurrents, and how many powerhouses are hidden behind the turmoil in the Protos Empire, even if we demons have the advantage of intelligence, we may not be able to achieve final victory."

Prahn looked into the New King's eyes. He believed that there was no need to continue speaking, as the New King understood his meaning.

Unless the New King could reach the ninth tier and possess the ability to independently fight two or three cardinals of the Rebirth Church, then their combat power would likely be guaranteed to be sufficient.

As far as Prahn could see, even if all the military force of the demon world was added together, they might not be able to contend with any one of the enemy factions, even if they identified them accurately.

"New King, can you defeat the Great Sage Isis of the Empire alone?"

Prahn asked instead.

He had heard his sister, Sinora, say that the New King was very strong. If the New King could be stronger than the strongest generals below the ninth tier in the demon world back then, perhaps there was still a glimmer of hope.

"I can't win."

The Great Poet shook his head.

That was too much of a stretch for a fourth-tier individual.

Although Prahn wasn't surprised to hear that, he shifted his gaze, his eyes seeming to say—

Then the hope is very small. It's difficult for us to become the ultimate winners.

"Can you tell me about your views, Prahn?"

The Great Poet picked up the wine bottle and poured another half cup for Prahn, signaling Prahn to slowly tell him.

Prahn looked at the New King pouring him wine and suddenly felt a little nervous. This was clearly not in accordance with demon world etiquette, but he couldn't do anything about it and could only wait for the New King to finish pouring before toasting the New King.

Prahn blankly picked up his wine glass and sipped the Snowfield Liquor. As a rational demon, what Prahn really wanted was a demon king who could listen to his ideas, rather than a tyrant who would coerce him into acting recklessly.

But he had never dared to imagine such a thing.

It wasn't until Prahn silently put down his empty wine glass that he spoke again.

"The entry ticket to winning this Protos Empire battle is at least two general-level combatants. The rest is a competition of intelligence. We're not sure if the enemy will have three or four general-level powerhouses. What's more, Herloom has its own rules. Sometimes, what determines victory isn't necessarily combat power. Military protection is just our last resort."

His voice had a bit more intonation, and his expression was also a bit more serious.

The three of them, former civil officials of the demon world, could only fight one demon world army's general together, and they had a disadvantage against physical generals and an advantage against magic generals.

"General-level?"

The Great Poet felt like the units were increasing.

"Roughly equivalent to the current cardinals of the Rebirth Church. They are all the strongest in the eighth tier."

Prahn explained.

For example, one known country-destroying force had at least two cardinal-level powerhouses, so at least two general-level individuals were needed to confront them.

According to what he saw that day in the battle on the northern border snowfield, the gray-robed eighth-tier seal master was most likely Bishop Askesan of Annihilation.

As for the mysterious black-robed man, even Prahn couldn't analyze where he came from.

Even worse, if handled improperly, even the neutral Great Sage Isis and Duke Berenhard of Herloom would temporarily help the opposing camp.

But this was just the currently known information. There were clearly more unknowns behind the Protos Empire.

In Prahn's view, the current Protos Empire was a round table of great power-holders, with factions with different intentions each occupying a piece of the pie chart. Before the day it truly reached a critical point, no one knew how much of the pie chart they occupied and could only estimate it.

The more of the pie chart they occupied, the greater their chances of winning.

Ideally, Prahn naturally hoped that their demon world faction could occupy more than half of the pie chart, so that they could not only win steadily but also have the power to flip the table even if accidents occurred.

But if they wanted to flip the table, probably one ninth-tier individual plus the three of them wouldn't be enough.

Because once they chose to flip the table, they would have to challenge all the other forces.

So Prahn could only take a step back and hope that their demon world faction would have as large a piece of the pie chart as possible.

The reality was that even if the demon world faction entered the game now, the pie chart they occupied was too small, and they might not even be able to guarantee preventing the potential real enemy from flipping the table.

"..."

The Great Poet understood that the generals of the demon world back then were roughly equivalent to the existence of bishops.

Now that Sigrid was sealed, the three high-ranking demons working together could only supplement their side's only general-level combat power. At best, they could only have one general-level combat power in three days. Prahn might still be mistakenly regarding the Great Poet as a general-level combat power, but in reality, this guy was really a first-tier individual with unsuppressed magic.

However, Lanchi felt that the situation wasn't as bad as Prahn thought.

Because Askesan and the black-robed man weren't at full strength...

As long as he could first unseal his old friend Askesan, Sigrid would not only be able to break the seal but also become stronger. With the ebb and flow of power, the gap between the two general-levels would immediately widen.

(End of Chapter)