Chapter 450: The Legion Has Grown Strong

I run.

Ahead of me, plant-based monsters come charging with their maws gaping, and behind them the incubi fire magic bullets from a distance.

Their attacks are aimed at me, and at the subordinates following behind me. A graze doesn't just leave you injured; one wrong move and it can kill you.

So I run even faster. Even loaded down with an iron mace and armor that weigh well over a hundred pounds, I sprint forward with everything I have, trying to stay ahead of Lune, who is glued to my back.

There are no brakes.

The only thing that can stop a charge like this is a body.

"Kiyaak!!"

The plant-type magical beasts threw themselves left and right, slipping out of the path of my charge. The Nightmare right behind them panicked and fled into the ground.

Crunch.

I'd meant to come down on his outer ear. Unfortunately I stepped on the side of his head instead, and the Nightmare disappeared into the floor with his skull and ear both mashed flat.

And I pushed off the Nightmare and shot forward like something flung from a sling.

Thoooom!

I hurl my massive bulk forward. The Incubi in the rear, the ones about to fire magic bullets, scramble backward in terror. One of them leveled a hand at me and threw up a barrier.

"Bingo."

My brake is the incubus straight in front of me: the Cambion with the barrier. Against a creature half Incubus and half human, I brought the mace up level and swung wide.

"Ear slap!!"

The Cambion tried to shift the barrier he'd raised in front of him over to the path of the mace. But I'd already loaded every ounce of momentum into that swing.

Kraaaack!!

It pulps the magic circle. It pulps everything the mace touches. The feel of bone shattering and muscle bursting traveled up through the handle. But the ear still wasn't crushed.

"Safe trip to the wall."

This isn't a mace you can stop by hiding behind a barrier and letting half your body break. I put my hips into it and drove even more force behind the swing.

"Guh, gwaaagh!!"

The Cambion went sailing straight into the wall. His body bent sideways like a shrimp as he flew, and he hit the stone in a huge cloud of dust. Instant death, surely. And the ear would have been pulped against the wall.

Shuuunk!

A chill shot through me at the sensation of something stabbing up into my crotch with perfect accuracy. I looked down and saw another Nightmare that had come up out of the floor, hand held rigid as an awl, going for my weak spot.

"You think this is my first time?"

I planted the mace in the ground, grabbed the Nightmare by the skull, and pulled him out of the floor. I could feel his skull slowly splitting under my hand as he thrashed.

"Three layers of Rastocking panties are harder than iron plate. Buy some when you're reborn. Buy two pairs."

I took hold of the Nightmare's ear and twisted with everything I had. Skull in one hand, ear in the other, and once the ear burst he dissolved into mist and was gone.

"Kiyaaaak!!"

A plant-type magical beast lunged out from the side, jaws wide, and bit down on my shin. The outside looked like a plant, but the teeth were harder than steel. Too late to swing the mace, and if I just stood there my stocking armor would tear and my skin would get scraped raw.

"Why, you little..."

Fwip.

I heard the sound of wind behind me. In that instant I pried open the mouth of the beast as its body went rigid, grabbed it by a petal, and hoisted it off the ground.

Fshoooo.

Blood streamed out of its outer ear. The hole punched through its head was clean enough that you could shove a rod through it and carry the thing around like a kebab.

"Master!!"

"This doesn't even count as an injury. And right now it's Legion Commander."

"Ah, yes...!"

Even flustered, Lune snapped her bow up and clubbed a Nightmare that came diving off the ceiling. It happened to fly my way, so I caught it by the leg and slammed it into the ground.

Crunch!

The Nightmare's temple met the head of the mace where it was planted in the floor. Against the faint traces of divine power clinging to the metal, he faded away like a soul being laid to rest.

"Lune. I am so very proud."

"Of me?"

"...I'm proud of you too, but look. Look at our legion, made one by victory."

I raised the mace again. There were still plenty of enemies left, and down at the far end of the passage the incubi we'd already killed on the first floor were resurrecting like zombies and running back at us, but I was certain of our legion's victory.

"The longer this drags on, the more certain our win becomes."

"You lousy piece of garbage! Do you have any idea how many levels I've lost because of you..."

Whaaack. I swung the mace into his arm. Once he hit the floor in a heap, I laid the mace across his back, then stomped down hard with my right foot and crushed both his shoulders.

"If it bothers you so much, go ask your own Legion Commander to stop resurrecting you. Nyah nyah."

"You, you overgrown brat..."

"Ahh, EXP for days. Easy money."

I grabbed him by the neck and hurled him far back into our own lines. The Incubus flailed his legs through the air like he was swimming, then rolled across the floor.

Shunk! Shunk!

The dullahans who happened to be standing there ran him through, again and again. With his arms wrecked he couldn't put up any real fight, and he died.

"That's how you deal with the executive class. Now those plant dogs..."

Grrrk, grrk.

The plant dogs holding the front line for the incubi had started to read the room and were backing away. Unlike the rest of the incubi, those things moved like they knew what they were doing.

"...Argh, my shin."

The spot where the plant dog had bitten me was throbbing. The skin didn't seem to be broken, but the bite mark alone stung like a bad bruise.

"I don't know what Astaroth was thinking when she picked her people. Those bastards are way stronger than her incubus officers. She'd have given us a much harder time if she'd made them the sector chiefs and stuck the incubi on as their adjutants."

Caim, Focalor, Orias. Not one of the three was stronger than those plant dogs. Which meant that if my officers and I didn't handle them, they were genuinely dangerous, and it also meant every subordinate at level 70 or above was tied up dealing with plant dogs.

That's exactly why I'm proud.

Not a handful of high-level individuals but the rank and file, the ones who have honed themselves ever since we fought our war against the barony and Halphas's dungeon, are taking the upper hand against an enemy legion's soldiers. That made me happier and prouder than anything.

'My path wasn't wrong.'

The whole legion is fighting. Not like before, when I alone, along with a few who could use divine power, dragged us to victory. The entire legion is beating an entire legion.

The Legion of Wrath is overwhelming the Lust Legion. The strength of everyone united by Ras is calling victory down on us.

"Kuh huh huh... Forneus. Are you watching?"

I raised the mace high.

"The 29th ranked dungeon you never even dreamed of reaching for is being smashed to pieces by me!"

Crunch! I hammered the mace down on a plant dog charging in low. It dodged sideways with light, quick footwork and leapt at me.

Squeeeze.

I clamped my hands around its gaping jaws, top and bottom. Acrid smoke curled up off my gauntlets, but the plant dog couldn't break free.

"Kyiiik!!"

An obscenely shaped protrusion shot out from between the petals, straight at me. The thing looked like a stamen, and it was aimed precisely at my eye.

Slice.

A silver blade swept across my field of vision. The protrusion dropped limply away, and I let go of the plant dog and threw it down.

Thud! The plant dog's body hit the ground first, and the jaws I'd flung after it rolled on top. A white handkerchief settled over my hand, which was smarting from the plant dog's venom.

"Is your hand all right?"

"It's fine."

Galahad, his white shirt soaked red and sticky with blood, drove his sword down into the floor. I wiped the venom off with his handkerchief.

"Sorry about this. I'll get you a new one later."

"Could you give me something other than a handkerchief instead?"

Galahad pointed his sword toward the wall. Off in a corner, away from the passage the enemies were pouring out of, there was a cleverly hidden gap.

"The way humans get to keep an elf if they rescue one: if I rescue a dark elf, does that make her exclusively mine?"

"...Well, technically, yes."

"There's a faint chocolate scent coming from over by that wall. May I go take a look?"

"It's dangerous, so take some of the boys with you."

Galahad straightened his collar and ran for the wall. Three or four dullahans and a few unicorns peeled off after him.

"He's already got four dark elves and he's still out collecting."

"You've got a ton of women yourself, Commander, and you're still collecting."

"My point was that being a picky eater is unhealthy. ...Lune, I'm in Pride mode right now. I am a bloodthirsty butcher."

"And the blood is virgin blood, right?"

Halphas landed from the ceiling in a rush of wingbeats. The plant dog she stomped flat under her boot had been reaching a protrusion toward me.

"No getting careless, master."

"I wasn't careless. I felt you coming, so I let you handle it. And what's this virgin blood business? Your master has his whole face hidden behind a helmet to keep up his dignity in front of the humans."

"Save the dignity for when you actually run into the humans. Right now it's fine, isn't it?"

Halphas gestured across the whole battlefield. What I was feeling through my skin, she had seen with her own eyes from the air before coming down.

"We're winning, so taking a second to catch your breath is fine."

"...True enough."

Even while we talked, we kept beating the incubi down. As their comrades died off one by one, the plant dogs tucked their tails and fled. In the end all that was left in our way were the incubi.

"Little bastards catch on fast. Everyone, clear the firing line!!"

I stepped aside, and everyone standing in the line toward the corridor got out of the way. Over by the mouth of the portal, the pink Virginium Shield began to glow again.

Vwoooooom!!

The holy sword Virgo poured out light. The incubi scattered out of the firing line in a panic too, but our legion's soldiers grabbed them and shoved them back into it.

Fssshk.

Once again the incubi burned to death in the divine power. The beam crossed the cavity and flew off down the corridor, but all it managed was to scorch the hind leg of the very last plant dog. The straight passage ended in a corner that turned to the right.

"Tch. Shame."

"Um... that was the maze, wasn't it?"

"It was. Go in without knowing the way and you die in a trap."

The road to the core was a hideously complicated maze, and one wrong turn could cost us an enormous amount of time. There was no reason to walk straight into their home ground with plant dogs hiding in every corner. It was too narrow for a large force to move through, too.

I'd have preferred to just push through if I could, but the plant dogs were stronger than expected. It would eat up time, and while we were stuck in there the humans on the first floor might rescue every last elf.

"...For now, let's finish cleaning up the incubi that are left here."

There were still incubi in the cavity who hadn't managed to run. Astaroth must have ordered them to fight to the death, because they couldn't even surrender; they just stood there shaking and glaring at our legion.

"Congratulations, incubi. You are the chosen ones."

I spread both arms wide and offered the survivors a warm welcome. There were still more of them than us, but every high-level one had died or run, so all that remained was the small fry.

"Asmodeus surrendered by spreading her pussy. I'll extend you the exact same terms. Now then, who wants to surrender?"

Not one hand went up. I was sincerely disappointed.

"Well now. That's a pity. If you won't surrender and insist on fighting to the end, there's nothing I can do."

"What the hell are you talking about?! We're men!!"

"And?"

I hefted the mace again. With Meri's Virginium Shield spread across the mouth of the maze, this place had become a sealed room the incubi couldn't escape.

"I'll say it exactly one more time. Ah, is 'pussy' too crude for you? Fine. Anyone who spreads their privates open will be treated as having surrendered."

Nightmares, Cambions, Incubi.

"Otherwise I'll assume you intend to fight to the death."

Every last one of them was a male-type incubus.

***

"Guaaagh!!"

Orias came back to consciousness along with the sensation of his entire body bursting apart.

"That pig of an orc... killed me seven times...?!"

The thing was covered head to toe in black armor, but there was no mistaking that mace-swinging monstrosity for anyone but the pervert orc. Orias tore at his hair, choking down his fury.

"Damn it, damn it...!"

"My, Orias. Back from the dead and not even a hello for your master."

"My apolo...?"

The voice was different, and Orias broke out in goosebumps. He turned his head, and there stood a dark elf with silver hair shot through with teal, smiling brightly at him.

"Commander...?"

"Yeah. It's me."

The voice was different, but he could feel it on instinct. The dark elf in front of him was Astaroth.

"How...?"

"I ate them all."

Astaroth perked up her somewhat blunt ears and gave him a nasty little smile.

"We're counterattacking, starting now."

"Ohh...!"

"You are."

Crunch. Astaroth seized Orias by the head. The moment mana began to glitter in her hand, his body went numb.

"You want to be stronger, don't you? You want revenge, don't you?"

Grrrr.

Plant dogs, Flower Dogs, began gathering around Astaroth. With an elf's delicate touch, she stroked Orias's cheek.

"I'll make it so you can have your revenge. Twenty Flower Dogs and three beings who used to be dungeon masters: do you know what you get when you mix all that together?"

"D, don't tell me...?!"

"I've brought you back more than seven times and all you do is die. You're useless. So shouldn't you at least be worth something as material for monster synthesis?"

"...Very well."

Orias clenched his teeth.

"Synthesize me! Even if it kills me, I'll have my revenge on that pig!"

"That's the spirit! Good, good."

Astaroth pointed a finger at the summoning circle. Bound there by plant stems was a single dryad.

"Oh, but you're not the main ingredient. She's going to be the main one."

"...What?"

"When it comes to surviving, what wouldn't I do? Besides, she belongs to me anyway."

Astaroth's smile widened as she went on.

"The Seal of Lust. She's my subordinate either way, so there's nothing wrong with synthesizing her however I please, right?"

Astaroth's teal eyes were stained with madness.