Chapter 454: Inferno Difficulty

There had never been a single raid against a large-scale monster until now.

At most, multiple units had worked together to take down Halphas, but this was the first time every soldier in the legion had gathered in one place to fight a single enemy.

A large-scale war would have been simpler; I could just issue orders to the executive-class officers. But this kind of raid was still unfamiliar to our legion.

So I kept it as simple as possible and created an environment where our legion could fight effectively. The order I gave my subordinates regarding Lustrilis was just one thing.

"DPS, DPS!! DEEE-PEE-ESSSSS!!"

The orcs swung their axes. The elves fired their bows. The Andras slashed with their claws. Every soldier poured every attack they could muster at Lustrilis within their range.

SHRIIIEEEEK!!

Lustrilis let out a monstrous shriek and roared. The cry, loud enough to shake the entire dungeon, momentarily struck fear into the legion's soldiers.

Its appearance was grotesque enough that nobody wanted to go near it, and it was genuinely powerful, befitting its level 92. I drew a deep breath and shouted.

"What are you DPS doing?!"

The sound boomed outward as if the tattoo's power had detonated through my entire body. The soldiers closest to me snapped to attention first. I understood being scared of a powerful enemy, but if we didn't attack, we'd lose.

"I've got aggro! No, wait, I'm keeping that thing's attention on me! Look!"

SMACK!

I slapped Asmodine's ass one more time. Her rear, already as red as it could get, was so flushed I half wondered if it might actually bruise.

Grrr!

Lustrilis's petals glared at me and growled. Every single one of its eyes was fixed squarely on me and Asmodine.

"That thing's only targeting me!"

To be precise, it was targeting Asmodine to reclaim her. And I was holding Asmodine fitted onto me, refusing to let go. Naturally, all of its attacks were concentrated on me.

SCREEECH!!

Lustrilis, its entire body clad in thorny armor made from branches sprouting out of its flesh, leaped toward me. It spread its stamen tentacles out like a net, trying to devour me whole, and I poured every ounce of strength into my legs and ran.

Forward. Beneath Lustrilis.

"Parry!!"

I slid under it as if doing a slide tackle while holding Asmodine. At the same time, Lustrilis's tentacles grazed the top of my helmet. The decorative succubus horns melted away in the venom. But Asmodine was safe, and I wasn't seriously wounded either.

"Tch!"

My gauntlets scraped against the floor as I braced Asmodine's back and rear. I spun my body 180 degrees in a hurry. Simply dodging wasn't enough to hold aggro.

"Ah, yes. This is what they call teabagging."

Thwap, thwap thwap. I grabbed Asmodine's hips and thrust upward from below. To keep aggro going, I had to hold Lustrilis's attention on me at all times.

"Ohhhhh! Lustrilis's pistil feels amaaaaazing!"

The incubus faces on the undersides of the petals twisted in unison at my taunting. Lustrilis hurriedly swung its forward-pitched body toward me.

"Come and get me if you're so mad!"

I arched my back and sprang to my feet. Then I held Asmodine and ran backward.

"Arrows! Magic bullets! Slings!!!"

I ran toward the wall. The soldiers ahead of me parted left and right, raising their weapons, while those farther back launched ranged attacks at Lustrilis from a distance.

Crackle!

The branches sprouting between the bark shattered. When the bark fell away, dark red chunks of flesh writhed underneath. Its skin might have been bark thanks to Asmodine and the plant hound's influence, but the flesh inside was essentially what you'd get if you threw a bunch of incubi into a blender.

That flesh was being exposed, bit by bit. I dodged its attacks, and our legion's soldiers chipped away at its skin, over and over again.

As long as aggro didn't shift, as long as my legs didn't stop, and as long as I didn't pull out the cock I had lodged inside Asmodine, this grueling raid would continue.

"Lune! How many minutes has it been?!"

"Fifteen minutes now!"

"...Shit, I feel like I'm gonna die."

I still had stamina left, but my mind was wearing thin. Even though Asmodine's insides felt like a lifeless sex sleeve, I was essentially fucking her while sprinting nonstop, and as the Demon King's daughter, she felt just as incredible as Shaitan and Lucifer.

The problem was maintaining that sensation while handling Lustrilis's aggro all by myself.

Holding Lustrilis's attention for fifteen minutes was definitely solid, but to fully strip its bark or destroy its flesh, we still had a long fight ahead.

"Master, I can lure it with this, right?! Take a break!"

Halphas flew in and grabbed Asmodine under the arms. She lifted Asmodine's body, pulling my cock free.

"I'll buy you some time, Master!"

"Just get me three minutes! Harpies, fall in behind Halphas!"

Halphas and the harpies clung to the ceiling like aerial acrobats and began circling in tight loops. Lustrilis glared at me for a moment, then immediately chased after Halphas, spinning around and around in one spot.

"Hoo, hoo."

"Dad, it's ready."

"Meri...? Hnngh, alright, go ahead."

Meri deployed the Virginium Shield in front of me. We stepped aside, moving away from the Virginium Shield, and Halphas, narrowly dodging the stamen tentacles, charged straight toward it. From the ground just beneath the shield, a woman of red slime revealed herself.

"Lime!!"

"Secured."

Halphas dropped Asmodine to the ground and shot straight upward. Lime caught Asmodine and burrowed underground. Lustrilis, chasing after Asmodine, slammed its head straight into the Virginium Shield.

BZZZT!!

The stamen tentacles forming its maw sizzled and caught fire as if seared by lightning. At the same time, one of its petals began to rot and crumble, giving off a foul stench. Having headbutted the divine power shield head-on, Lustrilis's body was momentarily paralyzed.

"Now! Nuke it!!"

"""RAAAAAS!!"""

The orcs and minotaurs, who had barely had a chance to shine, gripped their weapons tight and charged at Lustrilis. The Andras dug in their claws to peel off the bark, and the dullahans plunged their swords into the exposed flesh beneath.

The moment it stopped moving was the moment to pour in every attack.

And the moment the enemy regained its senses was when the tank had to step forward and pull aggro again. Having recovered some stamina during the brief respite, I reactivated my extinguished tattoo and shouted.

"Lime!"

"Equipped."

Lime burst out of the ground, grabbed Asmodine by the hips, and slotted her beneath me. Asmodine still showed no reaction, limp as a doll, but perhaps because I'd pulled out and reinserted, the sensitivity felt even higher.

"Kimaris!! Baton pass!"

Kimaris, the dullahan riding the unicorn Amdusias, leaped from the saddle. I set Asmodine in the empty saddle in front of me and leaned forward.

"I'm counting on you, Amdusias!"

NEIGHHHHH!!

True to her unicorn nature, Amdusias let out a crisp whinny and galloped at full speed toward Lustrilis.

Lustrilis, having ripped away the scorched wounds left by the Virginium Shield with its tree trunks, was scanning its surroundings and about to swing its arms when it spotted the white unicorn. It saw the orc mounted on top, raping Asmodine as she lay across the saddle.

"Ngghhh...! I'm gonna lose it!"

SHRIEEEEK!!

Lustrilis swung its hand at me. The grasping reach of its tree trunk limbs tried to snatch up Amdusias and all, closing in right on top of us in an instant. There was no way to dodge. So I took drastic measures.

"Amdusias, transform!"

The body of the unicorn running beneath me changed. The white horse galloping on four legs became a small girl crawling on all fours, and my body momentarily hung in the air before slowly descending.

WHOOSH!

A trunk struck my helmet. The decorative succubus bones were smashed by the blow. The impact felt like it might crush my cervical vertebrae, and my helmet went flying off my head.

"Ugh, son of a bitch!!"

Next time I'd go with a helmet style that only covered the head. I gritted my teeth against the throbbing impact at the back of my neck. There were still more attacks coming.

SWIIISH!!

Another tree trunk swung at me. The timing was too late to dodge. So I had to block it. Not me; my subordinates had to protect me.

"In the name of the Goddess!"

A shield bearing a sacred emblem, different from the Virginium Shield, materialized in front of me. Inferior to the Virginium Shield, the silver divine power-imbued shield still managed to make the trunk hesitate for a moment.

"Good job! Everyone, just hold on a little longer!!"

One piece of the puzzle was still missing for this raid to succeed. It would still be a while before they made it here.

"We're almost there..."

SCREEEEECH!!

Lustrilis spread its petals wide open. As it hunched down, seemingly preparing something, my fists clenched tight.

"Damn it, just keep fighting like you were!"

"...!! Master, we've got a problem!"

"What?!"

"I can hear human voices from the opposite passageway!!"

"...They made it down already."

We were running out of time. Even if navigating the maze took a while, it didn't seem like we could deal with Lustrilis within that window.

"We need a big hit..."

"Did someone call for hellfire?"

A gentle voice came from behind, and I involuntarily squeezed Asmodine's ass. Behind me stood Gray, dragon wings spread wide, grinning.

"Gray Cancer, reporting with reinforcements."

Crackle, crackle. Behind Gray, crimson flames began blazing fiercely. The final piece of the puzzle I'd been desperately hoping for; the subordinates who were the ultimate counter against Lustrilis.

Flare Pantera. At the appearance of the beastfolk with blazing red manes, Lustrilis began to visibly falter.

"If you can't mow the weeds, burning's the way to go. Alright, get to it."

Everything was already in place. The moment I stomped the ground three times, the Slamia burst out from around Lustrilis.

"Everyone, to your positions!!"

The Flare Pantera dove underground as if swapping out with the Slamia. I held Asmodine and ran inside the dodecagonal perimeter the Slamia had formed.

Lustrilis stopped in its tracks as it was about to cross the line, eyes locked on me, but began scanning its surroundings with heightened caution.

"You know, the Goddess Church says that those who commit taboos are punished by burning at the stake. Your legion has committed taboos. The crime of severing elven ears. The crime of recklessly synthesizing seals. The crime of reducing the dark elf population."

Click.

The ground slowly began to heat up. Lustrilis realized what we were about to do and tried to run, but I made sure it couldn't escape.

"Oh, you're gonna run, even after seeing this?"

I rotated Asmodine's body 180 degrees. I pulled my cock from her vagina and fixed it into her ass, then stroked the seal while draping my arm over Asmodine's shoulder. My elbow brushed her armpit.

"You call yourselves a legion, and you're going to abandon the seal, the very symbol of your legion, and run?"

SCREEEEECH!!

Lustrilis roared at me. It planted the legs it had raised to flee and spread its petals wide open.

"That's right. At least you've got that much backbone. That way..."

Clap.

I clapped my hands together in front of Asmodine's chest. At that same instant, pillars of fire erupted on all sides.

"...our legion can at least have one night of playing with fire, right? I've been burned before, so I know from experience. That shit hurts like hell."

I brushed a spark from Asmodine's hair. It could singe my own hair for all I cared, but I couldn't let the hair of the woman who would be mine go up in flames.

"As the Lust Legion, proxy of the Goddess and the Demon King, I hereby pass judgment upon you."

A rain of arrows flew in. The arrows that soared just above me carried the flames spewed by the Flare Pantera and rained down onto Lustrilis's body.

"Such false lust shall be purified by fire."

Thud, thunk. Burning stones fell at my feet as well. I spread my legs slightly, gathered Asmodine's arms to the center, and embraced her from behind.

"I shall show you what true lust is."

SHRIEK!!

A trunk shot up from below, trying to coil around my ankle. I jumped high and stomped down on it with both feet. With a heavy boom, Asmodine's chest bounced violently.

"To truly crave carnal desire in the face of any hardship and adversity. To keep thrusting even as everything around you is engulfed in flames."

Thwap, thwap thwap. I drove my cock into Asmodine's ass. It hurt as if my cock were being crushed, but the surrounding heat had my body so fired up that the pain barely felt like pain.

"That is flame sex."

I'd felt it when I was with Gremory, but having sex while on fire hurt me too. So this time, I'd just do it in the fire.

"Welcome to Inferno difficulty."

Mission: catch the orc fucking the seal inside the blazing pillars of fire.

"Think you can catch me before you burn to death?"

I pulled out my final weapon.

It was originally prepared to kill Astaroth, but I was overjoyed that I could put it to even better use now. I took out a dagger and poked a tiny hole in the sphere.

"Ah, yes. This is what they call a Molotov cocktail."

A savory smell of oil wafted from the hole. I hurled it forward without hesitation.

The slime sphere, ignited by sparks drifting through the air, landed on Lustrilis's body. I grabbed Asmodine's wrists and made V signs with both her hands as I stepped backward.

"Fire and Peace!"

From beyond the pillars of fire, dozens of slime spheres came flying in.