'So that's it… I guess I do have to thank that demon in this case…'

A go-over through the happenings that took place starting from the time the formations were activated to this point allowed me to reach a quick conclusion about the current situation.

The shamans were a much more important key than I predicted.

Everything has progressed normally for the last two hours without anything special taking place. Yet, it was only now that things took a strange sudden turn…

Although it didn't happen exactly after I was done with the last shaman, it did happen not long after that. Of course, there was no exact confirmation that the perishing of the shamans was the cause behind it, judging from the other factors, I found the probability for that to be high.

'Plans aren't screwed on their own after all…'

If it was just a normal attack plan that was made after days of planning, then the possibility of it getting screwed up on its own by a planning mistake was indeed there, however, the current plan in discussion was one that had years of work and scheming.

With that being said, and knowing that the other top powerhouses didn't play out of the script, I dared to bet that the reason behind what happened was my swift extermination of the shamans!

Although having been implicated by the 'Bloodline Burning Curse' wasn't exactly the greatest experience I had in my life within the 'Lost Realm', it was still the reason that I decided to finish the shamans as soon as possible, leading to the current favorable change on our side!

For that reason exactly, the demon shaman that I encountered in that base definitely deserved my thanks…

'Indeed, I will thank him plenty by sending every single one of your fellow colleagues in his way.'

The main reason for the vital change caused was probably our home ground advantage…

As silly as it may seem to be, such an advantage actually appeared to mean much more in our current situation after thinking thoroughly about it.

Originally, my only encounters of demons outside of bases was restricted to opponents that I could actually easily 'pick-off' that I hadn't realized that fact until now, but taking the observation of veteran master into account, everything seemed to point out what the big picture I was looking at was missing…

Other than meeting those demons that have escaped their base using the possessed player Jean to create a diversion, who I easily took care of using a few barrages of elemental crossbow arrows, the closest thing to a demon I encountered was the assassin who even failed his demonification. Naturally, as I didn't manage to witness their prowess within the base, I didn't assume anything back then, but…

'The 'suppression' that those old 'Hunters' applied is probably more potent than I previously expected…'

I had the presumption that the extent of what those ancient powerhouses had done was nothing more than pushing the demon into their 'jails' which they later turned into bases and placing tests and legacies around, but that seemed to be an underestimation.

It seemed that just like how they weren't able to just exterminate all the demons from the world because of some entity's interference, they were also able to restrict the demons' power to a certain extent once they left the 'jails' designed for them.

However, it seemed that the same entity or some sort of a hidden schemer like the 'lord' had somehow devised a way to bypass that restriction.

My main guess was that they used the shamans to borrow some sort of an 'authority' from the Demonic Sovereign to shield them from the restriction, possibly even allowing them to gain power from it or from another source just like how I was almost killed borrowing that foreign power.

'However, my actions should have sent all of that into oblivion.'

With the death of the shamans, the only ones who could communicate with the demons' higher entities, that shield was no longer there, or so would be what my reasoning pointed at, yet…

'The demons are still fighting with the same ability they had…'

In case that was all, then my whole assumptions until this point would be faulted, but the key to the next point was there, trying to get out of the rubble.

As the only figure that did indeed seem to weaken greatly, following my assumptions and proving them right, he was the main reason his horde was still unaffected.

'They placed two firewalls…'

Other than the first firewall instituted by the shamans to bypass everything with proper preparations and some time, which should have even turned the scales in the demons' favor eventually, there seemed to be a second one that the Commander, or the Overseer, is looking after. This obviously came to be my main guess thanks to the info provided by the Cult Master.

As strange as it appeared to be, it seemed like the Overseers of bases had used some sort of a trick to contain the main substance of the corruption core, its 'corruption', into this ornament she spoke of and temporarily became a 'Corruption Administrator'...

The biggest benefit of becoming one was being capable of consuming the core to perform exaggerated acts, which was actually quite similar to a shaman's abilities when it came to end the result.

The second firewall was instituted using this ability to allow all demons to share a link with the new core in order to resist the 'suppression'...

'This indeed does change everything.'

Though the institution of both firewalls seemed to be quite the ingenious plan considering we knew close to nothing about the demons, now that I managed to crack the 'code', I could no longer consider the situation as tense as I thought it to be anymore.

I have been simply trying to stop any possible case of trump card being pulled out by the demons while hoping we would manage to slightly tilt this balanced battle in our favor, but I seemed to have destroyed their whole plan… by chance?