NOVEL NEXT Volume 9 8
The [Pig] Demon Lord had accepted my offer of a formal [War].
Soon after that, I was transferred to the white space that connected our dungeons.
Once dungeons have been linked by the white space, outside interference was no longer possible until the fight has reached its conclusion. Now, let’s see which between me and Agares breaks the other’s crystal first.
"You! How know!? How know I behind attack!? I did it perfectly"
Together with me in the white space was my previous uninvited guest.
Upon cursory inspection, he was a bipedal pig. Most of his monsters were orcs and goblins, so I did guess as much, but he was still a surprise to see.
That walking pig’s whole body was covered with bandages. From what little of his body was peeking out, I could tell he was burned horribly. It was likely caused by the Rorono doll’s explosion. From there, I could imagine what he was trying to do when it exploded.
"Please. I’m not an idiot that will expose his own hand."
"You! I kill you! This unforgivable! Absolutely unforgiveable! I kill you, then rape your monsters! My, my thing, now goneeeeee! But my monsters, can still rape for me!!! We fuck your monsters til they deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadddddddddd!!!"
After shouting all that, the pig was panting.
"After looking at you and listening, I can guess what happened. But aren’t you misunderstanding something here? I am the one who cannot and will not forgive. You will get what is due for aiming for my daughter. Prepare yourself."
As soon as I uttered that, I returned to Avalon.
There were things to prepare and we only had an hour to do so this time.
I didn’t have the luxury or the inclination to waste that time talking to him.
◇
When I returned to Avalon, one of the first things I did was to hide the city floor deep within my dungeon via Floor Swap. I then instructed Kuina, Rorono, Aura, Duke, and Ruhe to gather my monsters.
While watching my monsters busily move about, I pondered upon our strategy.
"Master, I’ve finished supplying the Avalon-Ritters."
"Good work. Sorry for the trouble."
Rorono informed me that the preparations for the golem corps were done.
This time, the core of our attacking force would be them.
In terms of attack power, the dragons led by Duke wouldn’t fall behind, but there was the chance that some dungeon rooms would be too tight to fit the dragons’ enormous bodies. For that reason, we chose to make the dragons handle our defense instead.
That said, I was still going to put the most of them I could into my [Storage] and bring those ten along. After all, there might be places where their might and bombarding capability would be vital.
After delivering her report, Rorono didn’t leave and instead just motionlessly stared at me.
"Master... no, Father, I just want to say, I’m happy that you got angry like that at the [Pig] Demon Lord for me. Thank you."
She said that while holding tightly on my cuff. Perhaps it was because she felt shy, but her normally white skin was now burning red.
"But of course. You’re my important daughter."
For emphasis, I brushed her head.
In reaction, she squinted her eyes in delight.
"Oh, I almost forgot something. Even though we haven’t seen the black knight in action yet, I can already say that the three knights are a huge success. I think this deserves a better reward than promised. So, why don’t you think up of something you want to request from me? You can’t say you don’t want anything, because then, I’ll just do the choosing for you. Understood?"
"Mhm. There’s actually something I have in mind. I’ll ask it after the war is over."
It was rather rare for Rorono to smile from ear to ear, but there it was. And it was beautiful.
I looked forward to her request. After all, listening to his daughter’s request was one of a father’s pleasures. To that end, I must see to it that this [War] ends soon.
"Oto-san, the land units are now fully prepared! They’re ready to go anytime!"
"Great work. You’ve gotten used to these kinds of things, haven’t you?"
"Yup!"
Kuina was going to take command of our land army.
The said land army composed of the Mythological Foxes and half of the Abyss Howls.
Put simply, they were extremely mobile and capable of breaking through enemy lines.
"We in the backline have finished our preparations as well"
Aura showed up and reported so.
She and the High Elves composed our backline. Their main duty was to provide support by sniping from afar high priority targets as well as aerial enemies. And if the field was wide enough, then the Darkness Dragons in my [Storage] would be made to help the elves gain complete aerial domination. The backline was a relatively small force, but they were more than enough to accomplish this important task.
"Patron, I have finished assigning which members of the intelligence corps will join the attacking force and which will join the defending force. I’m not going to join the attacking force, but you don’t have to worry, the kid I’ve picked to lead the others is very reliable."
Because they were essential for both offense and defense, the intelligence corps would have to be split in two.
In a similar fashion, Tiro was going to be on the attacking force while Ruhe was on the defending force. After all, if we didn’t have a powerful monster in the other dimension and the enemy had, things would get dire for us right away.
"You being in charge of our other-dimension defense puts me at ease. We are in your care."
"Leave it to me. Ruhe-chan the R’lyeh Diva is the strongest in the other dimension!"
It seemed like Ruhe picked up another weird phrase. Out of all my monsters, the one that was most keen on watching anime was either Rorono or her.
The last to come and report was the middle aged dragonewt.
"Duke, I leave the command of the entire defending force to you."
"Yes, please leave it to me. I will protect Avalon in your absence, my lord."
Duke had always been strong, but by acquiring the perfected [Dragon Emperor], he had grown stronger still. Not only did the [Dragon Emperor]’s aspect of army-wide strengthening to dragon-type monsters improved, it now nullified the disadvantages of [Berserk] for himself and other allied dragons. In other words, he no longer had to worry about a time limit when unleashing his full power.
In truth, I wanted Duke to be on the attacking force, but just like with the case with Ruhe, taking too much for attack meant not having much for defense.
The enemy Demon Lord had been around for quite a while and was bound to have a few fully trained and leveled A rank monsters. For him to have an S rank monster was not impossible either.
And so, the plan was for Ruhe to take care of the other dimension while Duke worried about the main one.
"Attacking force, follow me to the entrance so that we can begin our attack as soon as possible"
"Understood, Oto-san!"
"Mhm, let’s do our best"
"Fufufu, I can finally shoot the heads of those orcs."
When I heard a rather disturbing reply, I couldn’t help but smile wryly. Well, let’s give her a larger role so that she can shoot more of them then.
◇
<<The preparation phase is over. The battle phase of the [War] between [Creation] and [Pig] shall hereby begin. Children of the Planet, shine brightly>>
The Creator’s voice in my head declared so.
As such, I immediately lead the attacking force toward the enemy’s dungeon.
Duke was gravely against me joining the attacking force and requested that I stayed in Avalon instead, but I had a reason for doing so: I wanted to level up.
After all, the stronger I was, the safer I was as well.
Moreover, if I leveled up, my MP would increase. And the more MP I could spend without worry, the more things I could make with my [Creation].
Also, apparently for some Demon Lords, by leveling up enough, they could use the next stage of their Unique Skill even without using [Awakening].
Whenever I activate my [Awakening], my [Creation] becomes [Create].
Whereas [Creation] materialized objects of the past, [Create] made things advance to their future versions.
To be able to use [Create] without the risks of [Awakening] certainly was good enough, but what if, by leveling up, another ability also manifests?
At any rate, because the Avalon-Ritters were treated as Rorono’s equipment, she would undoubtedly have the most kills, which had the high chance of translating into the most experience points gained. For that reason and more, I joined up with her party.
Like that, my monsters and I walked forward.
"Come to think of it, you’re not changing out of your energy-conservation form, Kuina?"
"If a strong enemy appears, Kuina will! There might not be any enemy strong enough to force Kuina to change though."
"Alright, I’ll leave it to your judgment. But if you lose because you didn’t transform soon enough, expect punishment, ok?"
"’Kay!"
Kuina looked like a thirteen-year-old girl at the moment, but her true form ever since she had earned enough levels was that of a girl in the latter half of her teens.
She was assuming this form in order to conserve as much energy as possible. Once she had filled up 9999 tail furs with magic power, she could evolve from a Celestial Fox into the being one rank higher than that.
"How many more tail furs do you have to fill up before you can evolve, anyway?"
Before answering, Kuina tilted her head a little.
"Hmm, let’s see. If I can continue to consume Aura-chan’s golden apples daily, it’ll be done maybe in three months."
"Oh? That’s great."
If that was the case, her evolution should come sooner than the expiration of the rule that protected us new Demon Lords from other Demon Lords.
This might be hoping for too much, but there was a chance that an evolved Kuina’s power might exceed even a reborn Marcho or a true [Dragon Emperor] Duke.
Half of the way to the [Pig] Demon Lord’s dungeon, we passed by a large group of goblins and orcs.
In this white space we currently were in, harming as well interfering in anyway with the others involved were strictly prohibited.
As such, simply passing by the enemy’s starting offensive force had been rather customary.
Some more walking and we were finally at the entrance of the enemy’s dungeon.
Before we entered though, there was something I wanted to ask Rorono.
"Rorono, in case we are outnumbered, I intend to use the power of [Awakening]. Do you mind if I use [Create] on your three knights?"
During the Marcho rescue campaign, I used [Create] on the weapon of mass destruction known as MOAB and made it evolve. The MOAB back then was already improved technologically and magically by Rorono, but [Create] pushed it further.
The same would likely apply to the three knights. If so, the question I just had to know the answer to was how ridiculous more powerful can the three knights get?
"I don’t really mind. However, I will do my best to avoid a situation wherein that is necessary. [Awakening] is a dangerous power, master, and I would like to lessen the times you have to use it."
"Yeah, I’d prefer not to use it too. I’m asking this just in case."
If we could win easily, there was no need to use that power.
Still, I had this foreboding feeling that that power would somehow become necessary.
At any rate, my monsters have begun entering the dungeon.
From our first wave of attack, we had learned that the first dungeon room was an [Entrance]. This time though, there wasn’t any enemy monsters deployed there.
Rorono even placed her hand on the ground and used earth magic to make sure, but she didn’t find anything, not even traps.
Well, aren’t they generous, letting us pass through without a hitch.
I jokingly thought so, but I knew numerous traps and strong monsters were waiting for us after this place. That said, whatever they had prepared, it wouldn’t be enough to stop my monsters.
TL note: I have no clue what anime reference Ruhe is making.