[Chapter 262. The Spoils of Knowledge]

Searanox stood in the less opulent hall of the tower's second floor, where the violet energy conduits pulsed with dimmer intensity, creating long shadows that danced across the stone floor. He stepped toward the first door assigned to the six demons, his armored boots making soft, rhythmic sounds that echoed unnaturally in the corridor. The door was locked, but he used his authority over the tower's space to push it open anyway. The mechanisms clicked in protest against his will.

Inside, he saw one of them curled up uncomfortably on the small bed. All he could see was long dark hair and red skin, partially concealed by a blanket that did its best to cover her body. Her form was tense even in sleep, her muscles coiled as if expecting an attack at any moment.

He walked closer to the bed, his steps deliberate and measured, the soft sound of his approach disguised by the ambient hum of the tower. The air in the room was warm, thick with the scent of fear and sweat.

In a fraction of a second, the woman in the bed jumped up, her movements fluid and deadly despite her recent rest. Steel gleamed in the soft light pouring through the slit window as a blade was pointed at him, its tip trembling slightly. Her eyes, dark and intense like smoldering coals, held a mixture of fury and desperation that spoke of recent trauma and lingering defiance.

"You better lower your weapon, Anax," Searanox said softly, his voice carrying no threat yet holding an undeniable authority that seemed to press down on the very air in the room.

Her eyes widened slightly before she hastily lowered her sword, the blade scraping against the stone floor with a sound that grated on the nerves. "How did you... the door was locked." Her voice was husky and unused, bearing an accent that marked her as someone not from this world.

"There are no locked doors for me in my home," he said, looking at her bare skin, his gaze clinical and assessing as if examining merchandise rather than a person. "You have quite the pleasing figure." The words landed like blows despite their seemingly neutral tone.

Her weapon dropped to the stone floor with a clatter, the sound echoing in the silence. "You came to claim me—" Her shoulders sank as she lowered herself back onto the bed, which groaned softly beneath her weight. She didn't even try to cover her body, knowing it was pointless against someone who had already demonstrated absolute control over their fates. Her red skin seemed darker in the light, scattered with faint scars that told stories of battles fought and lost.

"No, dear. I came to talk to you for a bit. Has Kandora told you something weird?" He remained standing, his imposing figure casting a shadow that engulfed most of the small room.

Anax shook her head, her long dark hair whipping around her shoulders like a dark cascade. "She hasn't said a word since she returned to us. She only cried." Her voice cracked slightly on the last word, revealing the emotional toll of their situation despite her attempts to maintain composure.

"Get comfortable. This will not take long depending on how well you answer my questions." He pulled a simple wooden chair from the corner of the room, setting it down with deliberate slowness. He seated himself in a position of casual authority that belied the tension between them.

She pulled the blanket over her chest and held it tightly, covering herself as if the fabric could somehow restore a shred of dignity. Her knuckles were white where she gripped the edges of the blanket. Her eyes fixed on him with a mixture of fear and resentment she made no attempt to hide.

"Let's start simple. What level are you currently?"

Anax flinched, her fingers knotting tighter into the coarse fabric that barely covered her crimson skin. The material bit into her palms. "My current level is eighteen, but when we are inside the dungeons, I'm level twenty-six." Her voice was barely above a whisper, colored with the resignation of someone who had learned that resistance was futile. Her eyes darted around the room, avoiding his gaze.

He leaned forward slightly, the leather of his armor creaking softly with the movement, the violet light from the corridor catching the sharp angles of his face. "What do you mean by when you are inside a dungeon? Anax, the more you explain and the more information you give, the faster I will be out of this room." His voice remained deceptively calm, but there was an undercurrent of impatience that made the air feel heavier.

The blanket around her shoulders seemed to shrink as she pulled it tighter. "The dungeons are not considered part of this world. That means the restrictions the System set upon us upon entering this world do not apply. As far as I know, every world has limitations if they are newly integrated, to prevent already established worlds from conquering it without resistance from the native inhabitants."

Her words came out in a rush, her fingers twisting the fabric so tightly her knuckles turned white. The explanation was delivered with the practiced rhythm of someone reciting information they had been taught, her eyes fixed on a spot on the wall just beyond his shoulder.

`I already knew that, but not to this extent. That's good information to have. That means I have to be even more careful in dungeons from now on. If I had run into them inside the dungeon, the fight with them would have played out much differently.`

The thought flashed through his mind as he processed her words, the implications settling like lead in his stomach. He had been operating under the assumption that his advantage was universal, but this revelation changed everything. The System's protective measures were not the same across all environments.

He tapped his fingers against his armored knee, the metal making soft clicking sounds that filled the silence. He thought for a second, weighing his next question, before nodding slowly. "I see. One of you spoke of a base camp near the mountains earlier. Tell me a bit more about that."

Anax shifted uncomfortably on the bed, the mattress groaning. "We set up camp—a small fortified position for now. But it will soon be a fort, not as imposing as your city." She swallowed hard, her throat working nervously. "We entered this world not long before you ran into us in front of that dungeon... I don't know what you would like to hear." Her voice dropped even lower, becoming stuttery at times as she struggled to maintain composure. She finally looked up at him, her dark eyes meeting his with fear.

Searanox leaned back against the chair, his armor shifting with the movement. The sound was loud in the quiet room, emphasizing the power imbalance. "You don't have to be afraid. I won't do anything to you as long as you tell me what I want to know." He made a fluid gesture with his hand that seemed both dismissive and encouraging. "Tell me everything. Explain this operation to me. I'm a native of this young world; I do not know much of the System. The more interesting stuff you tell me, the better it will be for your future."

The promise was delivered with the casual assurance of someone who held all the cards, leaving no doubt that her fate hung entirely on her cooperation.

Anax inhaled deeply, the air catching in her throat as if trying to escape rather than fill her lungs. Her crimson skin seemed to pale slightly in the dim light. She was lost in thought for a moment, her gaze fixed on some distant point beyond the stone walls.

"There are about a thousand soldiers consisting of purebloods and half-breeds stationed in the camp. Most of them aren't above level fifteen, while there are some that are even higher than me. Sir Argun, our leader, has sent out scouting squads through the lands in search of resources that might be useful. While they were looking, three teams were dispatched toward the dungeons." The words tumbled out with urgency, as if reciting a memorized briefing drilled into her by superiors who demanded compliance above all else.

Searanox lifted his hand and stopped her—a small gesture commanding enough to cut through her words like a blade. "Does that mean there are more of you clearing the dungeons? And how did you know where to find them? That compass thing doesn't have an infinite range. I tested it out earlier and saw no indicator for any dungeon." His voice was steady, betraying none of the sudden adrenaline coursing through him at the thought of more potential threats operating within his territory.

"Sir Argun pointed out the locations of the nodes on a map. Dungeons always appear around these nodes; the further out you go from them, the stronger the dungeons become," Anax explained. Her fingers knotted tighter into the fabric of the blanket, her eyes darting nervously around the room as if expecting the walls themselves to betray her.

"See, that isn't that difficult. I'm learning a lot from you. You should be proud of yourself," he said softly, while his mind processed the information with cold efficiency, filing away each detail for later use. "Now, you spoke of resources. Do you mean minerals or something specific?" The question was delivered casually, but his eyes remained sharp and calculating as he watched her reaction.

Anax curled her fingers deeper into the blanket, pulling it up over her chin until only her eyes and forehead were visible, the fabric molding to her features like a second skin. "I don't know. I wasn't briefed about what they were looking for. I can only guess they look for something like spirit stones or mining sites for elemental crystals..." Her voice trailed off into uncertainty, the words hanging in the air like unspoken accusations.

"Shh~ I won't hurt you just because you don't know something. Anax, you are doing great. Just keep talking." His voice took on a soft tone, as if soothing a child. The contrast between his gentle words and the menace radiating from his armored form created a dizzying dissonance.

`What the fuck are spirit stones and since when... The Mana Infusion.`

The thought exploded in his mind like a flash of lightning, illuminating connections he hadn't previously considered.

She nodded softly and thought for a while, her brow furrowed in concentration as she searched her memory for any scraps of information that might satisfy her captor, her entire being focused on survival through compliance. Then, she continued talking.

The moment he thought about it, one line of the System notification came back to him—words that had seemed insignificant at the time now taking on terrifying new significance: 'Aether infused in non-biological matter'.

`That fucking System. It should come with a handbook or a tutorial... How the fuck should we know about that? That's crucial information we need to know.`

The realization hit him with the force of a physical blow, leaving him momentarily breathless as the full implications settled in his mind like toxic sludge.

She saw the change in his face—the subtle shift from calm to something darker, more volatile—and flinched back. The blanket slipped slightly to reveal more of her crimson skin, scattered with faint scars. "D-did I s-say something w-wrong?" The question trembled with the weight of her fear, her dark eyes wide with uncertainty as she braced herself for whatever reaction her unintended revelation might provoke.

"Oh no, I was just thinking about something. Please continue." Searanox forced his features into a mask of calm reassurance, his voice dropping to a soothing cadence that contrasted sharply with the tension coiling in his gut. He watched as Anax's shoulders relaxed incrementally, the muscles in her neck losing some of their rigid tension.

"Okay." She shifted on the bed, the blanket rustling against her crimson skin as she adjusted her position, pulling her knees closer to her chest in a gesture of self-protection. "Before we were to scout out the node... We planned on meeting up when we finished our tour of the left side of the node—" Her voice faltered slightly, her gaze fixed on the stone floor as if the patterns there held answers to unspoken questions.

Searanox's hand shot up, cutting through the air with razor-sharp precision. "What do you mean by meeting up? With whom?" The question hung in the air like a physical presence, his voice losing its earlier warmth as something cold and dangerous surfaced.

"T-the other part of our squad. I-I told you that we split up... Or didn't I? I apologize if I have—" Anax became frantic, her words tumbling over each other in a cascade of panic. She pulled the blanket higher until it nearly covered her eyes, the fabric pressing against her trembling lips as if it could absorb her fear. Her eyes darted wildly around the room, looking for an escape where none existed.

"It's alright, it appears that I missed that. As I was lost in thought." Searanox held up his other hand in a gesture of placation, deliberately softening his expression as he leaned back in the chair, the wood creaking softly. "Could you start over again?" His voice was patient now, almost gentle, but his eyes remained sharp, missing none of her reactions.

"Yes. So. We split up. Half of us went to the left side and the other part of our squad took the right," Anax said, taking a deep breath. Her chest rose and fell beneath the blanket as she struggled to regain composure. "We are supposed to clear the outer dungeons first; they are more likely to still be uncleared. Then, on the way back, we would switch sides and clear the other side to gain the bonus for clearing them." Her explanation was delivered with newfound clarity, her fingers relaxing their death grip on the blanket as she saw he was not angry with her.

"I see, so there was a second squad." Searanox tapped his fingers against his armored knee, the rhythmic clicking filling the silence as his mind raced. "What would happen if you don't meet up with them? Do you have a way of communication?" A knot of anxiety tightened in his chest as he imagined another team systematically clearing dungeons in the east, potentially gathering resources and experience while he remained unaware of their presence.

"Yes, Kandora has... had an item to talk to them." Anax's voice dropped at the mention of the noblewoman, her gaze flickering toward the door. "It's protocol to inform the other team if something unexpected happened." The explanation was delivered with the resigned tone of someone reciting military doctrine that had been drilled into them until it became second nature.