"Bishop Milton, are you still not making a move?"
Inside the war camp of the Kingdom of Sacrifice's First Knight Order, Prince Igor Selevius, the kingdom's second prince and current commander of the order, stood before the sand table in the center of the command tent.
Surrounding him were some of the kingdom's most powerful figures—the Vice Bishop of the national church, the President of the Mage Guild, the Head of the Knight Association,
and even an envoy from the Empire.
The one Igor addressed, however, was Bishop Milton, the senior representative sent by the Church.
As the strongest among the clergy dispatched for this campaign, his every word carried the weight of the Church's authority.
And since this operation involved devils and demons, it was only natural for the Church to take the lead.
"Please, Your Highness, don't be impatient,"
Milton said grimly as he walked to the tent's entrance, his gaze fixed on the blackened land stretching out in the distance.
"The Corrupted Wasteland is not like ordinary heretical ground.
Even if we destroy these devils, they will simply resurrect upon that soil after a period of time.
For now, all we can do is seal off the entire Snowmelt Principality, to ensure the corruption doesn't spread beyond it.
But to truly eliminate them… we are still lacking the proper preparations."
"What, you're saying we're just going to leave like this?"
The Second Prince's tone was laced with frustration.
He could hardly stomach the idea of retreating without a fight.
After all, the entire purpose of this army—a massive force that had cost the kingdom enormous manpower and resources to assemble—was to purge the devils of the Snowmelt Principality.
Yet now, before they had even clashed with the enemy, they were to withdraw?
It was unthinkable.
"At the very least," Igor muttered,
"we should test their strength first."
Bishop Milton glared at him, his tone sharp.
"Our Holy Tribunal doesn't have the numbers to throw lives away in vain, Your Highness.
If you wish to rush to your death, do so without us."
"You—!"
The prince was momentarily speechless.
He wasn't some reckless fool—of course he wouldn't throw away his men for nothing.
But waiting idly also wasn't in his nature.
"Fine," he said at last. "I'll go see for myself what these devils are capable of."
Milton frowned, his voice lowering.
"Don't say I didn't warn you.
If you merely wish to capture a few devils for study, I won't object.
But do not—under any circumstances—set foot on the Corrupted Wasteland itself.
If you're tainted by that soil, not even Holy Water will save you."
"I see…"
The prince paused briefly at the tent flap, then nodded resolutely and strode outside.
"I understand."
Meanwhile—
the combined army of the Kingdom of Sacrifice had pitched camp a full ten kilometers away from the Corrupted Land, not daring to move any closer.
On the other side, Hel's Little Magus avatar had no such reservations.
Thanks to her Tag System, she could safely approach what no mortal dared to touch.
"So this is the Corrupted Wasteland…"
Hel crouched near the edge, studying it closely.
The black soil seemed to breathe faintly, and even from here, she could sense the malice seeping out of it.
From the distance, several devils noticed her—a small, skeletal figure wandering near their territory.
They merely glanced at her once, then looked away, apparently losing interest.
The kingdom's army beyond the border was the same—none seemed to care what happened outside the Wasteland.
That suited Hel just fine.
She flipped her hand, retrieving a small trowel and a glass vial from her storage ring.
Carefully, she scooped a bit of the blackened earth into the bottle.
Immediately, a glowing text box appeared before her eyes:
[Item]: Corrupted Wasteland Soil (2.25kg)
[Grade]: Gold · Legendary
[Tags]: Corruption Erosion (Gold), Corruption Domain (Gold)
[Description]:
Soil tainted by traces of Corrupted Blood.
Any living creature that touches it will begin to transform into a devil.
Devils slain upon this soil will resurrect after a period of time.
"Corrupted Wasteland Soil…"
Hel's eyes flickered thoughtfully.
Her undead flies had already overheard the same term in the kingdom's war camp earlier, and Bishop Milton's words matched perfectly with what she was seeing.
It seemed the Church did, indeed, possess a fair amount of knowledge about these devils.
If they knew this soil's properties yet still claimed to be "unprepared," that could only mean one thing—they did have a method to deal with it…
but required time to enact it.
Which meant her own time was limited.
"Looks like I need to move quickly."
With that thought, Hel invoked her Witch of Beasts and Insects authority.
In the unaffected zone nearby, she summoned several ants—tiny, harmless creatures.
Then she dropped them into the vial of Corrupted Soil.
At once, the ants began to thrash violently, their movements growing erratic.
Moments later, their bodies started to swell.
What had been the size of sesame seeds quickly expanded to the size of bees—and they grew increasingly aggressive.
Even with her divine authority over all lesser creatures, Hel could feel them slipping from her control.
"The corruption spreads this fast?
Still… it's within tolerance."
Under the influence of the Corrupted Soil, these ants were mutating far faster than the animals she had previously observed under corruption mists.
Every few minutes, their forms changed again.
Since the royal army wouldn't act for a while, Hel wasn't in a rush either.
She dumped the contents of the vial—both the ants and the soil—onto a flat slab of stone and continued her observation.
"Ten minutes after contact—significant increase in size.
One hour—growth ceases, body structure begins shifting toward imp-like anatomy.
Twelve hours—complete transformation.
Original ants fully corrupted into Lesser Imps.
One kilogram of soil consumed in the process."
Hel then turned her attention to a separate group of ants she had pulled from the soil midway through the process.
These still resembled enlarged ants—they hadn't yet begun their full metamorphosis.
"So, to cultivate devils efficiently…
this soil is the key."
Hel gazed at her final notes, deep in thought.
If that was true, then the risk she would have to take next was going to be considerably higher.