Lewd Dungeon Master: This Orc Is Too Damn OP!

Chapter 374: Insurance Policy

Up until now, the humans in our legion had never been fully exposed.

More precisely, they had never been "exposed to other humans." That was why I had mobilized even the human adventurers who’d joined our dungeon for this war.

We severed Andras heads in the sub-dungeon, hollowed out the insides, stuffed them, and fashioned them into masks. Since Andras were only monstrous from the head up and indistinguishable from humans below the neck, a real Andras and a disguised one were impossible to tell apart with the naked eye as long as the mask stayed on.

[While he’s away capturing Spica Castle, humans wearing Andras masks will defend the fortress.]

Their skilled archery might raise suspicion, but people would simply assume the monsters had learned to shoot rather than suspect humans were behind the masks.

After all, roughly a hundred humans had betrayed their own kind and sided with the Demon King’s Army.

[Master, what do we do if a mask comes off?]

[We’ll take out an insurance policy.]

I had checked the condition of the men the Death Knights had kidnapped. All of them, save five, had refused to the very end to sleep with the monsters, even at the risk of having their members ripped off. The dullahans and unicorns had forced themselves on them regardless, saying they didn’t mind either way, but at least the men hadn’t died from the ordeal.

[If it looks like you’re about to be discovered, put a mask on one of these men.]

Swap the hostage and the hostage-taker.

In a dangerous situation, put a mask on the captive soldier and release his restraints. The soldier would thrash about in a frenzy, gagged and blindfolded. We’d keep their gear since it was too valuable to discard, and a naked body thrashing around would look far more like a monster.

Then the hostage-takers, the adventurers serving as our legion’s underlings, would pose as captives and beg the soldiers for rescue. When the opportunity arose, they’d kill soldiers; those facing opponents too tough to handle would simply ride the rescue all the way into enemy lines, playing the part of hostages.

[The success or failure of this operation hinges on how well the adventurers posing as hostages can act. Designed for urban warfare, this plan will devour at least a hundred soldiers.]

’The problem is time, and that woman.’

The walls were destined to fall. No matter how tough the Stone Golems’ defenses were, I’d assumed the enemy would launch an all-out assault the moment they learned only two hundred were defending Ras Vegas.

While the adventurers bought time, my plan was to take Spica Castle safely and return via portal. But Levis Ann had neutralized the Stone Golem walls, and the enemy breached them before we could make it back.

"Lune. If Eila’s identity were exposed, Levis Ann wouldn’t leave her alone, would she?"

"...No. She definitely wouldn’t."

The missing hero’s daughter, revealed as an officer of the Demon King’s Army. If Eila were exposed, Levis Ann would surely take her prisoner or kill her to bury her existence. Just as the Church burned witches.

"...Thankfully, she still hasn’t appeared on the Bond Summon list."

"That’s a relief. Master, we’re almost there. Just a little further and..."

"Levis Ann."

The fist pounding the ground trembled on its own.

"Her abilities are impressive, I’ll give her that... but she’s one hell of an irritating bitch. How dare she wreck the plan we put together with that cheap trick of hers."

The Stone Golem wall I’d painstakingly crafted, aesthetic sensibility and all, had crumbled in an instant. All it took was a few javelins infused with divine power to erase several meters of wall.

"That bitch, at least, I’ll defile with every ounce of sincerity I’ve got."

Not a calculated affair like with Lily, Eila, or Lime. He intended to genuinely shatter her pride as a human being. And since there were rumors of some scandal with the Saintess, he would capture her without fail and use her as bait to lure the Saintess in.

"Almost there. I’m going on ahead, Lune!"

I kicked into a final sprint and threw myself toward the portal. The instant my mind went hazy, I instinctively swung the seax strapped to my back.

"!!"

"!!"

Speak of the devil; right before my eyes, Levis Ann was swinging her divine-power-imbued spear. And right where the speartip was aimed, my seax stood firm and unbroken, making its presence known.

"Peekaboo!!"

I raised my foot and kicked Levis Ann square on. She gripped the shaft with both hands and blocked my kick.

"Get lost!"

I booted Levis Ann, spear and all. The moment I emerged, I knew. Levis Ann had been targeting the portal, and I’d stepped through at just the right moment.

"You! Too late!!"

"Luna? How are you here?"

"Isn’t the whole point of a trump card to play it when it counts?!"

"...Heh heh. Fair enough. Good work!"

Luna’s absence had left basement 1 exposed, but that hardly mattered. Without her, the portal would have been destroyed in no time, and I’d have had to curse myself the whole way as I sprinted from Spica Castle to Ras Vegas all over again.

"They all came...!"

I scanned the square. The Cookie elves had shifted into White Cream form and were holding the alleys leading into the square. With elves standing guard with bows drawn, the soldiers and adventurers couldn’t easily push through.

"Damn it! Find another way!"

"There are people in here! Two men this time!"

"Damn monsters! Doing this to people...!"

Some of the soldiers began extracting hostages and escaping beyond the walls. I couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing.

"Bwahahaha, heh heh, hahaha!! ...You dare help yourselves to what belongs to my legion?!"

I slammed my seax into the ground and bellowed.

"Who said you could steal what’s mine! Then I’ll just steal your heads in return!"

"Ngh!"

Levis Ann pulled her spear back and leaped high. I activated my tattoo, grabbed my seax, and charged straight at her.

"Luna!"

"Finally!"

Luna grinned and grabbed the bow slung across her back. Her swordsmanship was excellent, but Luna’s true power came from archery, the innate art of the elven race.

I’d swing my axe on the front line while Luna provided covering fire. We’d already proven how well we worked together in the dungeon’s narrow corridors.

Fweeee!!

Wind arrows curved in every direction, bearing down on Levis Ann. They grazed past my shoulder, my ribs, my thigh, forcing Levis Ann to react slower. I raised my seax high toward her as the arrows slowed her escape.

"I’ll carve an axe mark right into your forehead!"

"Grrgh!!"

Levis Ann channeled divine power into the shaft and held it level. She must have realized it was too late to dodge; her will to block my blow was plain to see.

"Don’t blame me if your skull cracks!!!"

I brought the seax down with every intention of killing her. Dead was fine by me. Lime would just eat the corpse and that’d be that.

KA-BOOOOM!!!

"Gahk!"

A massive cloud of dust erupted. Levis Ann hacked out a dry cough and stumbled backward. The full weight of my body behind the blow had forced her to give ground.

"Ugh, son of a bitch. Damn divine power."

Landing on the ground, I couldn’t help but feel deflated at the state of my seax where it had struck the shaft. The shaft, reinforced with divine power, was so hard that an imprint of its shape had been carved right into the blade.

"Fine, let’s see if I can turn this edge into something with teeth!"

Wham, wham-wham-wham!!

I hammered the seax down again and again. With every blow against the shaft, Levis Ann stumbled back, and the marks of the shaft accumulated on one edge of my seax, gradually warping it into something vicious.

"Die!!"

Just before my tattoo temporarily deactivated, I leaped from where I stood with every ounce of strength I had. If only for morale, I needed this blow to deal double damage, to be the killing strike that drove Levis Ann to her knees.

"Hraaah!!"

KA-THOOM!

I brought the seax crashing down. Levis Ann’s body lurched violently as she gripped the shaft. The ground shook with a deep rumble, and she slammed one knee into the dirt, her head dropping.

"Ha, haha, hahaha!!"

I’d finally brought Levis Ann down. The soldiers still hadn’t been fully dealt with, but with their leader fallen, the subjugation force would quickly fall apart.

"You... insolent orc bastard...!"

In that instant, a silver aura began erupting from Levis Ann’s eyes. The look in her eyes, twisted like a vengeful spirit, froze my body in place.

"How dare you... do this to me...!"

Levis Ann’s pupils slit vertically.

"Don’t tell me you’re..."

"Hey!"

Someone grabbed me from behind and yanked me back. They pulled so hard I nearly toppled over backward. But Levis Ann had already finished whatever she was doing.

"Goddess’s Spear!!"

Levis Ann mimed gripping a shaft with her empty hand and slammed it downward. And then, from a clear sky, lightning began to fall.

A silver laser. A razor-sharp spear that looked as though the Goddess herself had hurled it was screaming toward me.

"Oh."

Divine power several times stronger than the Luna Cannon. If I dodged, Luna would die too. No; everyone here would die.

"This crazy bitch!"

She was taking us both down. The moment that lance of light struck, all of Ras Vegas would be turned inside out. Levis Ann smirked at me and pulled something from her coat.

"They say the few must be sacrificed for the many."

"Wh-what is that?!"

"...A teleport scroll."

Levis Ann waved and tore the scroll. Her body scattered into mist, and the lance of light was still plummeting from the sky toward me, leaving no room to buy time.

"N-no, noooo!!"

I couldn’t die here. I staked my life on one final gamble.

"Can you hear me?! I swear I’ll make you that aphrodisiac, so please save me!!!"

In that instant, I felt a searing heat against my back. Before I could do a thing, Luna leaped out from behind me.

"Hey, that’s..."

"...!"

There was no time to ask what it was. I grabbed Luna by the waist as radiance began spilling from her lower abdomen.

"Luna Cannon, fire!!"

Against the lance of light descending from the heavens, a bombardment of radiance several times thicker surged skyward.

***

"Oh? Tremendous power. The divine nature of it is a bit bothersome, but... at that rate, I don’t think I need to step in."

The black-haired woman who had been hiding among the clouds shuddered at the lance of light that fell toward the city and the blast of radiance that fired back from within it.

"I came in case they needed help, but... it doesn’t seem necessary."

The woman ground her teeth as she watched a figure begin to take shape atop the wall. As a demon, she could have devoured the Goddess Church’s Holy Knight Commander and still not been satisfied.

"Maybe I’ll settle for watching that damned woman get knocked down a peg today... Hehe. Oh, right. The report."

The woman cleared her throat and traced a finger through the air. A simple magic circle formed, and from within a purple mist, another woman appeared.

"Reporting to the Legion Commander. Yes. It seems the Legion of Wrath will successfully defend the city you mentioned, Ras Vegas. Using tremendous divine power, just as you said... Hm? You already knew? As expected of you, my master. Truly magnificent."

The woman marveled at the foresight of her master, the Legion Commander.

"I will go personally to propose an alliance as soon as the war is over. Yes. ...But there is one thing."

The woman smiled awkwardly and asked.

"Are you truly sure someone like me can pretend to be a Legion Commander?"

[Of course.]

Click.

The connection was cut. The woman smiled awkwardly and scratched her cheek.

"...I have no idea anymore."

The black-haired woman lay back on the clouds and, with an elegant hand, picked up something beside her. There lay a heap of severed ears, presumably cut from elves.

"I’ll just watch the show."

The woman chewed on an elven ear and watched the war unfold.

***

"Master!! Luna!!"

Lune rushed over and propped us up. Luna and I had collapsed flat on our backs on the ground.

"Wow, I almost died."

"...What is she? How does a human use power like that?"

I couldn’t identify what technique Levis Ann had used, but it was overwhelming power that exceeded human limits at the very least. Fortunately, it seemed she couldn’t use it consecutively; she’d used the scroll to flee the scene.

"She didn’t go far!"

"What?!"

"That son of a bitch didn’t actually run?"

I propped Luna up and got to my feet immediately. A silver seal blazed on Luna’s lower abdomen, but right now, finding Levis Ann, who had caused this disaster, was the top priority.

"Retreat! Fall back!!"

Levis Ann stood atop a plank set on the wooden fence, shouting at her soldiers. The soldiers of the subjugation force were all pulling out of Ras Vegas, every one of them dragging hostages along.

"Wow... I thought she’d bolted."

"She called it a teleport scroll, but wasn’t it just a blink?"

Levis Ann was looking down at me from atop the wall. Even though her decisive strike had been rendered useless, her expression was perfectly unfazed as she leveled her spear at me.

"You. Stay right there and don’t move. I’ll bring the Holy Knights back and mount every last one of your heads on spikes."

"...Heh heh. Sure. I don’t know exactly who you are, but don’t hold your breath."

I leveled my battered, vicious-looking seax at Levis Ann.

"I will capture you, and I’ll have you popping out my eggs one after another."

Tonight.