After defeating the entire Frost Giant Legion.
"Damn it."
After rummaging through the collapsed palace and grabbing so usable bags and clothes, without a hint of regret, I didn't look back and headed towards the darkness on the other side of the Lake Kingdom, with Salo following in shock.
"Wait, where are you going?!"
"Where else? Ho."
The journey is long, but that ans I need to start early. My kids are eagerly waiting for their lord at ho.
Then Salo pointed at herself with her index finger.
"What about ?!"
"What do you an, 'what about you'..."
Now, we each have to live well on our own. I wish you a blissful afterlife.
As I waved my hand, Salo's face turned into a whine.
"You said you'd ally with !"
"That just ended."
We just finished off a common enemy.
I'm sparing your life out of a brief alliance's sentint. Be thankful.
After waving my hand again and turning around coolly, Salo grabbed my waist and collapsed to the ground. What the hell is she doing!
"You're just using and tossing aside after getting what you want?!"
"Don't make an innocent person out to be a bad guy..."
"Beating every day! Saying harsh words! Making cry all night! But still, I love you...!"
"Don't drift into a cheap lodrama! Let go, let go!"
I shrugged off Salo's arm harshly and walked forward.
Seeing her tears and pleading didn't work, Salo just started to follow quietly.
"You're going to wander around out there alone? In the deepest part of the Lake Kingdom? With all of the monsters around here?"
"I don't like to say it, but I haven't just been sitting around... You don't need to worry about , I can make it through."
It's indeed a dangerous place, but I've been here so many tis in the ga.
Now that I've verified that my skills are usable, I have secured ans of survival.
It's easier for to move alone.
There are several problems with Salo being around.
First, she is currently being targeted by another monster legion. If they attack her, I could get dragged in too.
Second, she's just too noticeable. Look at that pink shadow bouncing around like a little poodle. She's bound to attract attention in many ways.
It doesn't match my style of quietly escaping the dungeon.
And the biggest problem.
How can I trust a monster.
She saved from Oblivion's Beyond, and is flirting around saying she likes , but who knows when she'll stab in the back.
Her nature is to seduce and lead to ruin. She's not trustworthy, not even in empty words.
", ! I'll listen to you!"
Salo quickly gathered a few belongings and, pleading, followed behind .
"So, can't we stay together just a little longer? Please?"
"..."
"I'll fully cooperate until you get out of the dungeon! I'll move as you say!"
"..."
"We might work well together?! We did pretty well in the battle just now! A mind-controlling couple that can defeat any monster legion we encounter! How about it?"
It's not a couple, but a duo.
I can't be bothered to argue. I sighed and waved my hand.
"Then prove it."
"Prove?"
"Quietly accept my mind control. Then I'll let you co with ."
If I turn Salo into my captured monster with [Beco Mine!], then I have the safety chanism of 'Absolute Command'.
There's no reason not to take her. After all, a Nightmare Legion commander is a powerful asset.
But the proud Nightmare Legion commander would never voluntarily accept to beco a slave to a human...
"Okay! Great, great, great, super great! Hurry! Cast it!"
"..."
"Do I just need to remove my ntal barriers? Okay, I've done it now! Now, capture !"
...Is she serious?
In disbelief, I looked at Salo and then used a combo of [Gaze of Command] and [Beco Mine!]. Might as well give it a shot.
"Beco mine!"
"Yes! I will!"
You don't need to respond to a skill trigger!
And Salo really got caught by both skills quietly.
As a Succubus and a legion commander, her magic stat was quite high, so it's unlikely she'd be caught by normal ans.
She voluntarily exposed her weakness... She's thrown the ga.
Swoosh!
Clank!
A collar-like shape appeared out of thin air and fastened around Salo's neck. Salo squealed and tapped the collar with her fingertips.
"So this is your taste! Oh my, you should've told earlier! I would've catered to it!"
"You really are an idiot..."
The system window is still unresponsive, so I can't check her loyalty level.
It's easier to assu it's zero, like the other Nightmare Legion commanders. I have 'Absolute Command,' but let's not let our guard down.
"Hehehe. Can we go together now?"
Salo, grinning like a fool, ca and stood next to .
"..."
Don't look like a kindergarten kid going on a field trip for the first ti... I turned my head away and clicked my tongue.
***
Leaving behind the ruined palace of the Succubus Queen, we erged onto the streets of the Lake Kingdom.
The deepest part of Zone 10 is the very center of the Lake Kingdom.
The tallest and most bustling skyscrapers are gathered here.
Ugh.
As soon as we ca out onto the street, I saw a towering spire not too far away.
A dark and murky castle continuously spewing black fog.
The Lake Kingdom's King's Castle.
Once, it must have been where the royal family of this country lived and ruled this massive city-state.
Now, it's completely engulfed in darkness, emitting suffocating evil.
Demon King - the supre ruler among the monsters, my nesis, must be there.
"..."
I suddenly rembered the first ti I saw this castle.
Was it before the start of Stage 3? When Evangeline first joined the party, and Jupiter was still alive.
We surveyed the entire city from the walls of the Lake Kingdom.
It seed impossibly far away, but sohow, I've made it this close, regardless of the process.
After staring at the castle for a while, I eventually turned away. It's a place I can't clear right now.
But next ti I co here.
I will definitely bring it down. My grand adversary.
"Do you want to see the supre ruler while we're here?"
"Don't talk nonsense!"
I snapped at Salo, who asked with a clueless, naive face, and hurried my pace.
Going there is worse than death!
"It's a sha. The supre ruler is a good person..."
Salo murmured as she looked back at the castle. At tis like this, I'm painfully reminded that she's a monster...
"Since we're moving together, we need more mbers."
I said as I led the way.
Since I'm not moving alone and have already taken on a party mber, it's better to have more.
"Preferably a sturdy friend who can take the front line."
"Umm... But I prefer just the two of us."
"Our balance is off, the balance."
"No, no way! Our compatibility in love must be perfect!"
"I'm not talking about that... I an in combat."
Our compatibility in love is the worst, but our combat balance is also bad.
Both of us are rear-position mages who impose ntal control status abnormalities on enemies. Our ranges overlap.
For the next mber to join, it's better to consider a more balanced combination.
"If we see any usable front-line character, you charm them right awa"
Squish.
Huh?
Did I just step on sothing?
Interrupting myself, I looked down in confusion and imdiately gasped.
In the center of Zone 10, there was a huge fountain plaza, connected to a long staircase leading to the castle.
At the bottom of that staircase... lay a grotesque beast.
It was a hybrid beast, a form close to a chira, with various animal features intermingled.
The creature, battered and bloodied, was crouched at the bottom of the stairs, breathing feebly. I stepped back in horror.
"What the hell! Why is this thing lying here?!"
Isn't it normal? It's the deepest part of the dungeon, wouldn't it be common to see monster corpses scattered around?
But even Salo tilted her head in confusion.
"This is strange. This area is under the jurisdiction of the castle. It ans it's the Demon King's territory. The demon guards should be keeping this place clean..."
Salo looked around as she spoke, her eyes widening.
"My god, what's this now?"
I looked in the sa direction. And then I saw it.
On the stairs leading to the castle, demon gatekeepers and demonkind soldiers lay gruesoly torn apart.
From the corpses of those demon soldiers to this hybrid beast, there was a trail of blood.
"This beast, it has handcuffs on its hands and feet."
Salo, examining the fallen beast, looked at .
"From the looks of it, it seems to have been captured by the demon guards and was being dragged away... then it must have fought and killed them to escape."
"But it couldn't get far due to the injuries from fighting the guards and collapsed here?"
"Yeah. It seems so."
I crouched next to Salo and peered at the beast.
"...Hmm?"
I blinked.
The face of this beast... it seed familiar.
I'm sure I've seen it sowhere...
"...Mason?"
Suddenly, that na slipped from my mouth.
Mason.
The leader of the Aegis Special Forces Team 1 during Stage 14, who attacked Crossroad and kidnapped .
Lucas's forr household head, who I thought was dead by Lucas's sword, but survived using beastification and sneaked into the dungeon...
- We are the human delegates sent by His Highness Fernandez, the future Emperor of the Empire, to et the 'Demon King', the ruler of monsters.
That guy who went into the darkness alone to et the Demon King.
At first, I thought it was a mistake, but there was no doubt. The face of the grotesque beast still faintly resembled a human, and most importantly.
"Prince Ash... Your Highness...?"
As I called him Mason, he faintly opened his eyes and called my na.
"How did you end up here...?"
"That's my line, you bastard."
This guy, he must have snuck into the dungeon from the base camp.
How did he get here... all the way to the deepest part of Zone 10?
Mason, his face now resembling a bear's, grinned and spoke with a laughter-laced voice.
"It's been quite a while, hasn't it..."
"...?"
A while? Has it?
Well, so ti has passed since the Special Forces attack.
"It's better this way. Better to die by your hand than to be killed by monsters."
Mason slowly closed his eyes.
"I have completed my mission... Now, I have no regrets... Please kill ."
"What are you talking about? You don't get to die comfortably, you bastard."
Grinding my teeth, I signaled Salo with my eyes.
"Salo."
"Yes!"
"Charm this guy. We're taking him with us."
"Got it! Here goes, Sleep!"
As Salo extended her hand forward and emitted a pink current, Mason was easily chard.
With his eyes hazy, Mason slowly rose to his feet. Blood dripped profusely from his broken body.
"Good. We move. This place is too conspicuous."
"Um... Is it okay? This bear guy is seriously injured. He might die soon without first aid."
"He's still breathing. That's enough."
Mason didn't die when he was cut in half by Lucas's sword, and he even managed to make it this far. He'll survive these injuries.
I'll extract whatever he did here, use him as a at shield to the very end, then discard him.
With that thought, the three of us stealthily walked through the darkness-stained streets, searching for a suitable hiding place.
As I led the way and looked back, I involuntarily clicked my tongue.
...What a sight our party is.
A human.
A monster.
And a beast that is neither human nor monster.
Three completely mismatched individuals huddled together, wandering in the darkness.
This is like the path of lost souls...
Suddenly, I longed for Crossroad.
I want to go back soon and see the kids...
Reviews
All reviews (0)