If it were simply a matter of pursuing strength, Hel could have just turned all of the Snow Elf corpses into skeleton soldiers.
But that would've been a terrible waste.
And if she wanted to transform them into caster-type undead, the problem was that she didn't have enough spell-related traits in her possession.
Without those, it would take a long time before they became of any real use.
So, with no better option for now, Hel tossed the Snow Elf corpses into her Necromantic Space to "marinate."
Once she advanced to Archmage, she could then duplicate the traits she needed and mass-produce spellcaster traits for them.
For now, doing it would simply be too costly.
By the time Hel finished dealing with all these matters, it was already morning.
But instead of sleeping, she immediately began directing her newly acquired army, planning to sweep through the rest of the ruins in one decisive push.
From the previous battle, it had become clear that both the Flame Adjudicator and the Snow Elf Assassin Queen were merely killing machines created by the goblins.
Given their mechanical nature, there was no way they were the true masterminds.
And judging by the sheer scale of the previous conflict and the speed with which reinforcements had been deployed—
Hel would never believe there wasn't someone commanding things behind the scenes.
So she reasoned that, somewhere deep within these ruins, there must be a true controller—
and whoever it was, their power likely wasn't weak.
Which meant she needed to find them as soon as possible.
If the enemy turned out to be overwhelmingly strong, she could retreat early.
But if they weren't, she could seize control of the entire ruin before they had a chance to react.
After all, who knew what trump cards they might still have?
What if, upon realizing their army was destroyed, the enemy decided to blow up the entire complex?
Or what if they could summon reinforcements from elsewhere?
That's why it was necessary—
to pull the weeds up by the roots.
But before doing that, Hel needed to know her enemy.
Returning to the Necromantic Space, she found the only living being here besides herself—
the Snow Elf Assassin Queen, who had been knocked unconscious when the Skeletal Berserker Captain smashed her head into the ground.
Hel replaced the [Soul Enslavement] trait on her body with her own [Blood Thrall] trait,
then attempted to wake her up.
Before long, the Assassin Queen slowly opened her eyes.
Those pure, sapphire-blue eyes shimmered faintly beneath her short, pale-golden hair,
her delicate, porcelain-like face utterly bloodless—
so much so that it was difficult for Hel to connect her with the ruthless killer who had once sliced off her head with a single blow.
When the assassin awoke, she didn't attack.
Instead, her confused eyes flickered with… obedience.
Hel let out a small breath of relief—
but she didn't lower her guard.
Her defensive spells remained active,
and the golden restraints and gag binding the elf were left untouched.
The immobilized Assassin Queen shifted slightly, trying to speak—
but no matter how she struggled, no words came out.
Only muffled sounds escaped her lips,
and a thin trail of saliva trickled down past the metal bit at her mouth.
[Intermediate Death Magic: Mental Communication]
Shaking her head, Hel didn't approach.
Instead, she quietly cast a spell to establish a telepathic link.
After all, this elf came from a goblin ruin of unknown age—she almost certainly didn't speak any modern human tongue.
So mental communication was necessary.
With it, Hel could simply form a thought,
and even if the elf didn't know the language, she would understand the meaning—
and vice versa.
Hel focused her mind and asked:
"What is your name?"
At the sound of Hel's voice echoing in her head, the assassin stopped struggling.
Her wide, gemlike eyes blinked once before she responded in a soft, childlike voice:
"Assassination Unit AE-B5-01 reporting for duty, my master."
"...Assassin unit, huh. Alright, we'll skip that for now. What can you tell me about the place you came from?"
The elf tilted her head, confusion flickering across her face—
apparently not understanding the question.
"Fine, then what did you usually do there?"
"Eat, sleep, train.
If I failed to train properly… I would be taken away for recycling."
"...Recycling. Lovely. Did you ever meet anyone stronger than you—or about the same level?"
"02 and 03 were very strong.
Then there were 04, 05, 06…"
Hel's eyes narrowed.
"Wait. Are you saying there are more Tier 5 units inside the ruin?"
"Ruin? Tier 5?"
The Assassin Queen tilted her head again, thinking for a long while before replying slowly:
"According to protocol, B5 Research Facility should maintain a standing force of three Tier-5 units, thirty Tier-4 units, and three hundred Tier-3 units.
There is no limit on lower-tier cannon fodder."
"Three Tier-5s… huh. That's not too bad."
Hel exhaled in relief.
If only one Tier-5 enemy remained, she could handle it.
If there were more, she might have had to seal the passage entirely and come back when she was stronger.
"So these 02 and 03 you mentioned—who are they?"
"They were assassins born in B5 as well,
but long ago, they were deployed to other cities."
Hel spent the next half a day patiently questioning her,
and finally managed to piece together the information she wanted.
As it turned out, the Snow Elf Assassin Queen didn't know much at all.
Since the day of her creation, her existence had been nothing but endless cycles of training, eating, and sleeping.
In her memories, the city had once been bright—the flames of the Soul Furnace above had burned vividly,
and goblins had still walked its streets.
But gradually, the city had grown desolate.
She stopped eating, sleeping, and training.
To the goblins, she was nothing more than a disposable tool—
her life consisted of nothing but battle.
She fought, eliminated targets, and returned to the freezing research facility.
There, she would climb into a nutrient-filled pod and sleep until the next battle began.
So, although the Snow Elf Assassin Queen was technically over ten thousand years old,
in truth, she had only been awake for a few centuries.
And among elves—who were a long-lived race—a few hundred years was merely adolescence.
Honestly, Hel found the time perception of these long-lived species quite depressing.
If a few hundred years made one a "young girl,"
then what did that make her—at barely over ten years old?
A newborn baby?
Shaking her head, Hel decided not to think too hard about it.
After removing the restraints from the Assassin Queen,
she began preparing to take her entire force and fully occupy the ruins.
Because, just moments ago, she had learned something very interesting from the elf's lips:
The underground transportation network connecting this city to others was still operational.
And one of the connected cities was ranked Class A—
a city where a Tier-6 being was stationed.