It's Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

* * *

The war that proceeds from the Great Warrior Duel to the final battle. This continued throughout the entire night.

If I were to summarize what happened on this battlefield in one sentence.

'They say the most important thing in war is the will of those participating in it...'

This could be said to be a good example of that saying.

In the small group battle immediately after the Great Warrior Duel, the Dungeon Lord's side was pushed back helplessly.

It was the result of gaining one person's resentment and succeeding in breaking the morale of all others.

"I admit defeat."

Of course, Quirisia's dungeon, which was watching for the right moment to raise the white flag.

-...I surrender.

Perhaps influenced by that atmosphere, even Melzeros somehow surrendered easily.

It wasn't without exceptions, but it was an incredibly easy victory.

"Kill them all-!!!"

"Master! You can't! If you go out first...!"

That exception was, of course, the Greenskin Dungeon Lord, Zarkra.

The problem was that it was only Zarkra.

"I'll kill... I'll kill them!!"

"Master!"

Zarkra, who alone lost two warriors, became the vanguard of the three camps and clashed with fierce momentum, but her subordinates couldn't keep up with that momentum.

Except for orcs and ogres who are innately full of anger, even goblins and trolls, who are her outward kin, were in a situation where they were holding back.

They did engage in the fight, but they weren't very enthusiastic.

"You guys...!! How dare...!!"

As if she only realized their mood after the battle ended, Zarkra's resentful eyes were directed not only at me but also at her subordinates and other Dungeon Lords.

However, no matter how much resentment she turned.

What's late is late.

Her forces, which had continued the reckless group battle, were already halved.

"We will now begin the final battle!"

With the atmosphere firmly set like that, even the last battle, the result was predetermined, but...

That battle continued more fiercely than I had expected.

It was because of a hidden move by the last one who hadn't shown their presence until now.

* * *

If you were to wage a war, and there was a commander or general who defected to your side before the war.

Taking care of their 'face' in advance is more important than you might think.

This is to give the impression to other surrenderers that 'nothing much will happen even if you surrender', while at the same time preventing the surrenderer themselves from taking impulsive actions.

In this case, taking care of Dungeon Lord Quirisia's face was like that.

Bang-!!

"Kugh...!"

-Grrrr...!!

Whoosh-!

The way to maintain her pride and reputation was 'a fierce battle that seems life-threatening'.

For that, Libertas deployed Xue and Ran against Lady Quirisia.

Xue's 「Blood Madness Refinement」 full of explosions and bombardments, and Ran's 「Bewitching Sorcery」 blooming with gorgeous and beautiful purple flames were appropriate for making the battle look more desperate than it actually was.

"Huhuhu. How about surrendering now?"

"Not yet... not yet...!"

In the darkness where they were alone.

The two didn't back down at all against Quirisia and her two close aides, and even against other monsters that occasionally rushed in.

No, rather, they overwhelmed them.

Crack! Crunch!

Swoosh!

Monsters that clumsily rushed in or were blown in by other battles immediately became food for the two.

Their flesh became magic power and vitality for Xue who absorbed blood, and their souls became material for the fox fire wrapped around Ran's body.

"Don't come-!!"

"Die."

Crack!!

Perhaps because of this, from the middle, there were no monsters that dared to interfere, and rather, there were cases where they invaded other battles to procure materials while dealing with Quirisia.

"Don't be so dirty, Xue."

"You're worse, disturbing their rest."

"Want to fight?"

'...What are you doing?'

Fox and wolf. White-red and black-gold. Strong strike and mind-burning fire.

The two, full of contrasting elements, bickered throughout the fight, causing bewilderment to Quirisia who was facing them.

Yet at the same time, they repelled all enemies with better coordination than anyone else.

It was exactly as Libertas had evaluated, 'they don't get along well, but their teamwork matches well'.

"..."

While Ran and Xue continued their spectacular battle against Quirisia on one side, there was also a place that was quieter than all other nearby battlefields.

The battlefield of Monster Lord Melzeros and Evangeline facing him was like that.

'There are no gaps.'

Baron Melzeros was a magic swordsman who used magic and sword simultaneously, mainly using illusions and swordsmanship mediated by light.

However, in this battlefield, his illusions were half blocked.

Swish!

Melzeros tried to bring a sword made of illusion close to Evangeline as a test, but that sword immediately lost its form and crumbled.

The cause was the fog created by water vapor that scattered light in a direction he couldn't predict.

It was the fog that Evangeline was controlling through water flow magic.

"The being called a Dungeon Lord is too cowardly."

-Well. If one can't control a monster like you, it's natural to be more cautious.

Melzeros, who had only been moving passively until now.

When Evangeline simply mocked him, he instead created a smile on his previously expressionless face and retorted slyly.

Clang!

"You're also quite underhanded."

-Why don't you call me clever instead?

Evangeline was just as frustrated.

This Dungeon Lord, who mainly deals with illusion magic, has another ability, namely 'body separation and transformation'.

Bang! Clang!

Unable to use illusions now, he actively used this to repeatedly avoid her whenever she approached.

Transforming into several flying swords and shields, blocking with some and avoiding with others.

"Why don't you come out directly? How long are you going to keep running away?"

-Honor is only achieved if you survive.

Clang!

But if she tried to concentrate her power to blow him away at once, he would somehow sense it and bring part of himself close to interfere, so that wasn't easy either.

'He's just running away.'

Her 'judgment advantage' and 'defense reduction' only activate when directly clashing with an opponent using magic power.

They weren't properly effective against someone devoted to evasion.

Nevertheless, Evangeline didn't get impatient.

'Still, just this is enough to complete the mission given by the master.'

The mission Libertas gave her was simply to tie down this unknown Dungeon Lord to her.

It was difficult for Evangeline to finish him off, but conversely, it was also difficult for Melzeros to shake her off.

If he wasn't blocking her with swords and mirrors transformed from parts of his body, he would see the battlefield rapidly tilting towards Libertas.

'Just by me holding her down, I'm doing my part in this battlefield. So...'

The one who should be impatient was Melzeros. Not Evangeline.

While these two Dungeon Lords were caught up, another one was dying.

'Hurry.'

And in fact, that was what he was waiting for as well.

"Heeack...! Heeeeack...!!"

Zarkra, moving her exhausted body forcibly without cooling her eyes and heart burning with resentment at all.

She, whom Libertas was directly facing, was self-destructing not by the enemy's power, but by herself.

"How about stopping there?"

"Never...! That will never happen...!!"

Despite being so exhausted that her body swayed with the rough movement of waving her arms to express refusal.

Zarkra squeezed out her main power and shot it at Libertas over and over again.

"「Fal'tharion Drath」!"

"「Zygra'then」...!"

"「Mai'gorith Tepla」!!"

The three most frequently heard incantations among them were the incantations for 'killing', 'weakening', and 'bio-curse' that explodes a part of the body separated from oneself.

What was drying up her body now was not just a matter of stamina, but largely due to the last spell.

Bang!!

It was the result of cutting off her arm like a lizard's tail and throwing it to explode several times.

No matter how excellent a troll's regeneration ability is, as long as it's the regeneration of a living body, not magic power, nutrients are needed.

The reason her body was dried up now was that all excess fat and protein had been drained for the regeneration of her arms.

"How pitiful."

Would you believe that her once plump and sensual body had completely dried up like severe famine in just over 10 minutes?

Her dark green skin was making that bizarre impression even more painful to look at.

"Don't, kheuk! pity me!!"

Nevertheless, Libertas didn't hesitate to look at her with compassionate eyes.

With contempt for the enemy and.

With her own sincerity.

"How can I not pity you? You who have lost your subordinates and lover due to your foolishness, and are driving yourself to ruin."

"Grrrr..."

Zarkra chanting incantations with her bloodshot eyes, dried up and turned bright red from burst capillaries.

Although only gurgling sounds of boiling phlegm came out of her mouth instead of incantations, the spells faithfully read their master's will and activated.

Bang!!!

Once again.

Her withered left arm flew and shook Libertas's barrier.

'The power is still strong.'

That magic was indeed sufficiently powerful.

To the extent that among the magicians in her camp, except for her, no one could withstand it.

'Because curses are more influenced by the sacrifice than magic. However.'

Certainly, her attack spells using her Dungeon Lord body as a sacrifice while disregarding self-destruction were unprecedentedly powerful.

But that was all.

As long as she couldn't overwhelm Libertas with greater magic power, no matter how much the amplification rate of the curse increased, it could only tie her down.

"It's the end."

"Ah, kruk, not... Not yet...!"

And now, her arms were no longer regenerating.

Finally, the nutrients in that body had been depleted.

Nevertheless, Zarkra had no intention of stopping.

No, rather, she smiled.

She was waiting for that moment when her emotions would be at their peak before she completely faced death.

"Melzeros...!"

-I've been waiting.

Puhwak-!!

Dull white blades rising through various parts of Zarkra's body.

Libertas turned her head to look at a part of the battlefield where Evangeline and Melzeros had been together.

The numerous dull white mirror barriers that had been confining Evangeline were now gone.

-Ny'thulaak... Ny'thraxen... Ny'thulaak... Ny'thraxen... Ny'thulaak... Ny'thraxen...

Zarkra's body, becoming flesh, was accepting unknown materials and increasing its size.

The flesh that had been completely dried up swelled and took on a round shape, and countless fleshy protrusions rose on its surface.

To make an analogy, it resembled the udders of numerous beasts, but its appearance was unlike life, powerless, and utterly blasphemous.

-Kak kak kak kak!

-Krrruk!

The tips of those ugly things split open and teeth emerged, and tentacles formed by connecting distorted troll fingers and internal organs emerging from various places made it even more so.

"Yes. Your anger and hatred, your resentment was that deep."

Deep enough to call upon the 'outer realm' and implant it in your body. Enough to desire power even by burning your own end and rest.

Libertas, muttering like that, directly faced that shape turning black.

A massive terror that would distort and warp the mind of an ordinary human just by looking at it.

That form was descending on the green body and.

Melzeros's body and power, which had pierced through various parts of Zarkra's body that was distorting and repeatedly expanding, were weaving with her body and spells to create some sort of form.

'Black beast.'

A giant black goat, or mountain goat.

It was a blasphemous beast with a body made of breasts and square-pupiled eyeballs.

She saw the bundle of eyeballs draped like a huge shadow behind it observing her.

"I don't feel malice matching its reputation."

"It's not a god but merely its apostle, and our minds are not that fragile, Master."

"How foolish..."

And she realized that even when facing a being that ordinary demons couldn't directly look at, her feelings weren't shaken at all.

Even her close aides seemed to be the same.

They didn't seem to be at the level of feeling just displeasure like her, but it was a situation where even a mere 'apostle', not their own avatar, couldn't have much influence.

'Dantalion. It must be his knowledge.'

Dantalion, the one who bears the name of 'Secret' among the six great Demon Realm Archdukes of the ground.

He, who has secrets and deception as his name, is known to impart forbidden knowledge of this world to his followers and make it their strength.

That forbidden knowledge is none other than the 'outer realm'. Knowledge about worlds and beings woven by different rules that are unimaginable by the common sense and laws of this world.

The result of accepting that knowledge is now manifesting through Zarkra and Melzeros.

"Anyway, since they failed to attack one with three, they might have thought they couldn't live any longer..."

As Xue said, there is such a thing as honor even in the world of demons and Dungeon Lords.

Honor created by power and cruelty instead of etiquette and tradition.

The despair of not being able to establish such honor, and the resentment and hatred from losing a lover.

It must have led to the decision to summon beings from the outer realm using Zarkra's body and soul as a sacrifice.

"Since it's been tainted by the power of the outer realm, I can't even eat that."

"...Indeed."

As Ran said, beings contaminated by the laws of the outer realm could no longer be used even as materials for the dungeon.

That was what saddened Libertas.

From the practical aspect that their cores could only be used in an incomplete form.

And while overlapping the possible future loss in Zarkra's appearance.

As someone who would be more concerned about the sacrifice of one of her summons than the enemy's elite, she would have taken the same action even if she could turn back time, but what was sad was sad.

"Let's go."

"Yes, my lord."

Libertas turned away from that spot.

As they had already incompletely fused with the outer realm like that, the matter was over.

If she stayed close, the prepared one wouldn't be able to use their power properly.

-「 」-!!!

As if saying not to ignore it, an indescribable sound of desperate hatred.

Along with it, a charge that would collapse the incomplete body began, but.

"「It shall return to equilibrium」."

A wedge had already been prepared for this black beast.

The attributes of the outer realm that resist this world.

And the divinity that rules that world.

A giant sword that targets both.

Kwadududududuk-!!!

-「 」-!!!!

It was the light of judgment poured out by a hero.

『The dungeon's level has increased. Lv. 4 ▶ 5』

『Demon King Candidate, The One Who Taints, Libertas's Dungeon Lv. 5』

What the 'Judge of Absolute Good' once used to pour out towards beings of the outer realm.