About three hours later, the last of the dungeon creatures inside the crumbling ruins of Blackrock Castle had been completely wiped out. Just as the dust was settling, Ethan heard the familiar chime of the system in his ear.
"Congratulations, player Valkarion! Your forces have successfully conquered Blackrock Castle!"
"Please seize control of the Castle Heart to claim ownership of the castle."
"Congratulations, player Valkarion! Your Hero Unit, Ebonite Colossus Kaiin, has leveled up to 43!"
"Congratulations, player Valkarion! You have leveled up. Current level: 67!"
Meanwhile, Balthazar and Isaryne had also seen major gains.
Balthazar’s evolution progress had jumped from 74% to 75%, and Isaryne’s level had shot up from 65 to 67.
It was a massive haul.
"Lord Ethan, it’s an honor. We didn’t let you down—we’ve won!" Balthazar appeared before Ethan, drenched in blood. He still hadn’t fully shaken off the berserker frenzy, but he forced himself to calm down and bowed respectfully.
"Balthazar, you all did great. Really, excellent work." Ethan clapped him on the arm, his voice low and steady.
"What about casualties?" he asked next.
The battle had looked smooth on the surface, but everyone knew—war never comes without a price. And every time they reached this point, Ethan’s emotions were always a little tangled.
If only they could win without losing anyone.
"Casualties weren’t too bad..." Balthazar glanced over at the nearby Behemoth warriors, his eyes flickering. "The 14-Tier Ancient Behemoths—looks like they only took injuries, no deaths. As for the 13-Tier Behemoths... we lost about 50 units, give or take."
"That’s not too bad..." Ethan let out a breath of relief.
The 13-Tier Legendary Behemoths could be revived thanks to their Creature Dwellings, so their deaths weren’t permanent. As long as the 14-Tier Mythic Ancient Behemoths survived, it was all good. If any of them had died, that would’ve been a serious loss.
"Master, our Ebonite Colossus legion lost about 70 units in battle..." Kaiin approached slowly, speaking in a low voice.
Out of 300 Ebonite Colossi, 70 had fallen. Not a small number, but not catastrophic either.
Ethan gave a slight nod, then turned to Isaryne.
"What about your side, Isaryne?"
"Not too bad. Nothing major," she replied casually, not bothering to elaborate.
"Well, either way, you all fought hard..." Ethan began, but just then, a massive Ancient Behemoth lumbered over, its voice deep and rumbling.
"My Lord, we’ve found a huge stash of gold and resources inside the castle!"
"Oh?" Ethan’s eyes lit up. "How much are we talking?"
"There’s several tens of billions in gold, and a few million units of the six core resources, plus some special ones," the Ancient Behemoth reported.
Ethan froze for a second—then his jaw dropped.
"Holy shit, this place was loaded?"
Billions in gold and millions in resources? That was on par with what Seraphina needed for her Divine Colosseum campaign. This wasn’t just a good haul—it was insane.
All that from just one castle?
Still, he managed to rein in his excitement and turned to Isaryne, his eyes sharp.
"Isaryne, how about we split the loot fifty-fifty?"
Out of everyone here, Isaryne was the only one who wasn’t fully under his command—more of a temporary ally. So it wouldn’t be right to hog everything. The spoils had to be shared.
Isaryne blinked, staring at Ethan with a strange expression for a moment before nodding slightly, pretending to be nonchalant.
"Sure. Half and half works for me."
"My Lord, what’s our next move?" Balthazar asked.
"Let’s tear this place down," Ethan said after a moment of thought—dropping a bombshell.
"Smash the Castle Heart too. Then we head to the second level of the dungeon and back up Seraphina."
"Wouldn’t it be better to just take control of it? Why tear it down...?" Isaryne blinked, clearly confused, and couldn’t help but ask.
Ethan turned to her and asked calmly, "Isaryne, tell me—what’s the real purpose of this castle?"
"The purpose?" Isaryne answered without hesitation. "Obviously, it’s to guard the portal to the next level of the dungeon. But... what’s wrong with that?"
"Exactly. That’s the problem," Ethan said, shaking his head. "Don’t you think this castle is more of a liability than an asset? The portal itself is tiny—barely noticeable. But the moment you build a giant castle around it, it’s like putting up a neon sign saying, ’Hey, there’s something important here!’"
That hit her like a slap.
The moment the castle was built...
Anyone with half a brain would know there was a portal here.
"And another thing," Ethan cut her off, his tone calm but firm. "Let me ask you this, Isaryne—if a real fight broke out here, what would this place mean to someone truly powerful? Someone like you, or Seraphina? How many hits could this castle take? One? Two? Maybe three?"
Isaryne opened her mouth to respond, but her mind flashed back to earlier—when Seraphina had blasted through nearly a third of the castle with a single attack.
One hit took out a third.
Three hits, and the whole place would be rubble.
What’s the point of defending something that fragile? Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn N()velFire.net
"There’s more," Ethan continued, his voice steady. "This castle is completely isolated."
"That means if it ever comes under attack, neither we nor Malenthia could respond in time. Just like now..." He turned back to her with a faint smile.
"In my opinion, the only real value this castle has is to buy a little time—just a few moments—for the defenders to stall the enemy. And even that only applies if the attackers are weaker than a Crimson Ultimate-tier hero."
He paused, then looked out over the ruined remains of the castle, shaking his head.
"Unless this place has a Crimson Ultimate hero stationed here full-time, or unless it’s built like one of the Tower faction’s high-tier fortresses—capable of withstanding attacks from Crimson Ultimate-level enemies—then it’s useless."
"Because any enemy with just one Crimson Ultimate hero could steamroll this place. Just like we did."
He turned back to Isaryne again, smiling faintly. "So, Isaryne, do you still think this place is worth keeping?"
Isaryne opened her mouth again...
But in the end, she just nodded silently.
She couldn’t argue with that logic.
Kaiin, on the other hand, still looked puzzled. He stepped forward and asked, "But Master, if we destroy this place, how are we supposed to defend this route? If we don’t even have a basic outpost here, won’t that just make it easy for anyone to waltz in?"
Ethan chuckled softly. "Actually, defending this place is simple."
"Simple?" Kaiin blinked, clearly not following. "How?"
"Deterrence," Ethan said with a smile, his voice calm but full of weight.