Ancient Elf stood up and raised her magic power; she was completely in battle mode.
She then checked out her state her surroundings as well as her own. Firstly, her main weapon, an anti-materiel rifle, was currently submerged in the water tank. Her side-arm, an automatic firearm she hid in her clothes, was rendered useless by the mucus that got into it. That meant she had to win her way out of this ordeal unarmed.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! My hand! It"s gone!! You, I won"t forgive you!! Naughty children must be punished! Let me show you I care by correcting your ways!!!!!!!!"
Screamed the [Evil] Demon Lord Morax. He was so enraged that the tentacles between his legs that had been threatening to pop out of his pants finally did.
He had no idea why the mucus had so little effect on her. That being said, he knew there should still be some effect on her and that should be enough to hinder her in battle, enough for his monsters he had to win over her.
I"m going to torment you; make you beg for your life as I violate you.
He then took out the monsters within his [Storage]. Each was born out of a different captured female adventurer—a warrior, a beastwoman, an elf, and a magic user. All of them would rival a B rank monster in battle and were thus his personal guards.
"The enemy"s just a weakened elf. If you close the distance, she won"t be able to do anything!"
She might be a strong elf but unarmed and drugged, she won"t be able to make use of her strong suit which is long-distance fighting.
Thus the four monsters charged in and challenged her in a short-distance battle. Using her weakness against her, they knew they wouldn"t lose. In what Morax perceived as cheekiness, Ancient Elf didn"t seem to fear her predicament. However, in truth, she was just a.n.a.lyzing her enemies. Nonetheless, Morax was irritated further.
"Go, get her!!"
The first ones to charge in were the monster born out of the female warrior and the one born out of the beast woman.
[Evil]"s ability was vile and powerful. With it, he could make a woman pregnant with a demon monster. This demon would inherent the best qualities of the mother and be stronger than her. The stronger the mother, the better the monster was.
Of course, this ability had limitations.
The first of which was that Morax had to l.u.s.t from the bottom of his heart.
Another concerned the burden of the monster"s birth on the mother; unless the mother was an immensely st.u.r.dy individual, she would become broken and of no use after giving birth once.
Due to their mothers being humans and demi-humans—beings that possessed high intelligence—the monsters that Morax took out of his storage were cunning. They approached Ancient Elf from her front and her back resulting in a pincer maneuver.
"You seem to have three misunderstandings here." sneered Ancient Elf.
She moved herself closer to the warrior-type monster that approached her from her front before it could swing down its sword and then launched an attack with the heel of her palm. In her palm though was a lump of wind that had terrifying power as though it was a compressed typhoon.
At the same time her palm hit the monster, the wind was released resulting in the monster"s body to be torn in half and blown away.
The other demon, the one born from a tiger beastwoman, then attacked her from the back with the claws it had inherited from its mother.
"I see you"
Without even turning around, Ancient Elf narrowly avoided the attack and then, still not facing the demon, hit it with back of her hand wrapped in wind, bursting the beast-man demon"s head like a melon.
Meanwhile, the elf demon nocked an arrow into its bow and readied to fire but, in the end, never got to as the sword carried by the warrior demon was thrown and lodged between its brows thus killing it.
The only one that remained was the demon born from a magic user. In the middle of its chanting, it was suddenly in pain. It turned purple and dropped down. The cause for such was Ancient Elf emptying the surrounding area of all oxygen.
It was a ma.s.sacre. In less than a minute, all of [Evil] Demon Lord"s elite guards had fallen.
"Hii!!"
Morax fell down on his bottom and squirmed himself away in an effort to distance himself even if for only a little. Watching that scene convinced him that he completely misread this monster"s might.
I have to get away! I have to use transfer and go to my crystal room.
"If you"re planning to use transfer, I suggest you stop. While your mouth was hanging open, completely like an idiot, I threw a lump of compressed wind into it. The moment you stray from my area of control, the wind would explode in your stomach. There are better ways to die, right?"
Ancient Elf said so to Morax with a smiling face. And with that, Morax halted the transfer.
"N-no way."
"If you want to find out, be my guest. Just know that you"ll die immediately once you do transfer."
It was then that Morax accepted the fact that he couldn"t run away. On the other hand, he couldn"t even wound Ancient Elf. He was checkmated.
No, wait, not yet. I"ll focus on surviving at all cost. No matter how strong she is, she"s still a girl; there will definitely be a chance.
Upon his silence, Ancient Elf spoke.
"It seems you"ve understood you couldn"t escape. Let"s chat for a while, shall we? Before the fighting broke out, I said that you misunderstood three things," said Ancient Elf as she held up three fingers. "First, you believe you"ve caught us in a trap but in truth, my master is the one that caught you in his trap. I"ve actually detected the monsters that tried to hide. Considering your inclinations and your ability, it was obvious you would try to isolate and kidnap me. We then decided going along with that was faster than exploring the long and winding maze you made."
Those words were enough to crush Morax"s last few remaining pride. He held on to the notion that he lost to Procell in terms of their subordinate monsters and their Unique Skills but now he learned that even in their strategies, he lost.
Also, Procell"s side conducted some intelligence gathering. [Evil]"s ability left lasting impressions on its victims. On top of that, he rampaged too much. That made gathering information about him quite simple.
Then, during their dungeon exploration, Ancient Elf felt a malicious glare on her and informed Procell about it, leading to the formulation of this plan.
To make Morax think that she could detect only the things that were perceptible to the eyes and ears, she had no choice but to act as though that was the case but if for some reason the hiding monsters didn"t aim for her and instead eyed Procell, she probably would have killed them then and there.
"Second, I certainly do excel in long-distance fighting but that doesn"t necessarily mean I can"t hold my own in short-distance battles; I"m also great in it, you know."
Through the wind, she could sense everything from every direction. She could feel where and when an attack was going to be made and immediately respond to it; there was no front or back for her. Furthermore, by cladding herself with an armor of wind, she could improve her movement and offensive capabilities.
Ancient Elf was a force to be reckoned with even at close range.
In the first place, if her enemy was a creature that needed oxygen to live, she could just suck out all the oxygen in the surroundings as was demonstrated earlier. Alternatively, she could increase the oxygen in the area for the enemy to experience oxygen intoxication, thus rendering it unable to fight.
"Lastly, your poison wasn"t really effective. We had guessed you would use poison to weaken me so I ate an apple beforehand. Though even if I hadn"t, I"ll still be alright since I have a strong resistance to poisons."
Every day, Ancient Elf poured a large amount of her magic power into the [Water of Life] which she then sprinkled into the first apple tree in Avalon. Growing out of the tree that was already comparable to a World Tree, was a fruit called an apple and eating one would increase one"s resistances to everything temporarily among other things.
In summation, from start to finish, [Evil] Demon Lord Morax was dancing to [Creation] Demon Lord Procell and Ancient Elf"s tune. Upon realizing that, Morax was fl.u.s.tered; he made a blunder. Lost in his greed, he laid his hands on something he shouldn"t have. This was no enemy he could ever win against.
"Well, I"ve talked for a while but let"s get to the main topic, shall we? Question: why do you think you"re alive when I could have just killed you whenever I wanted?"
"Is-is it perhaps because [Creation] Demon Lord Procell-sama sees my worth as a negotiation partner? A-actually, I"ve been wanting to talk with Procell-sama; they threatened and forced me into collaborating with them for this [War] when all along, I just wanted to ally myself with Procell-sama. If he and I were to team up, we"d be invincible so I definitely want to do so!!"
Morax was convinced he found the foothold of his survival and for that, he was willing to abandon [Steel] and [Viscosity]; they were just his p.a.w.ns anyway. He would not regret doing so.
Besides, if he convinced Procell to team up, with these ridiculously strong monsters and their unknown yet powerful skill in his back, he could just sit back and relax. And in this way, if he could somehow gain the chance, he could stab Procell in the back and reap all the rewards for himself. However…
"You"re grossly overestimating yourself there. My master has no need to work with someone like you." said Ancient Elf even though for Morax, what her eyes and tone of voice seemed to really want to say was what kind of nonsense is this guy saying?
He clenched his fist and grinded his teeth. Not only did those words made his new plans crumble, it deeply wounded his pride.
What"s a guy like ME supposed to mean? thought Morax, his anger driving him mad. Despite that however, he made sure to not let his anger be noticed as he smiled the widest smile he could.
"Ye-yeah, that"s right. A fine gentleman such as Procell-sama surely would have no need to partner up with a Demon Lord as insignificant as me. But then, just what would he want out of me? Say it, just say it and I"ll do it whatever it is!"
"It"s something simpler. You see, it"s troublesome to go through these mazes to break your crystal so we thought we"d get you to remove it."
If a Demon Lord died, it would be considered as them dropping out of the war but unless the said Demon Lord"s crystal was broken, his dungeon and monsters would remain. Since some of Morax"s monsters were probably already within Procell"s dungeon in an effort to conquer it, Procell"s side"s had to break the crystal without fail.
To that end, the time-consuming maze Morax made was a hindrance.
Morax desperately wracked his brain out, not for how to refuse the demand of course; he knew from the start that wasn"t an option. He knew becoming unable to buy more time would inconvenience [Steel] but his own survival was his top priority. What he thought about though was how he could increase the chances of his precious survival even if only a little.
"Alright but I have a condition. I will remove all of the mazes but I want you to spare my life; that"s all I ask."
I"ve properly taken the initiative, he thought, like this, I won"t be killed. But then he realized he was doing the same exact thing that Ronove—who he looked down on—had done.
"I see. Then, the terms of our deal is that in exchange for removing the lump of air out of your stomach so that it won"t kill you, all you have to do is to empty your entire dungeon. Deal?"
"Deal."
As Morax accepted his utter defeat and gnawed on the humiliation done to him by this girl, he accessed his Demon Lord book and used it to empty all of his dungeon"s floors. He didn"t do any sort of trick for how could he afford to when upon the discovery of even a small trick, he would surely be killed regardless of him resisting.
Deep inside though, he was seething with anger. And yet, despite him being looked down on and be ordered around by a woman—a creature meant to be violated and dominated—there was nothing he could do but endure. He remained determined to rape, impregnate, ruin, and kill her. But for now, it was the time to endure. No matter how long it took, what price he has to pay, or what kind of tricks he has to use, sooner or later, he promised himself he would have his way with her until she herself begs him to kill her.
"It"s done."
The moment he said so, the surrounding landscape became nothing but an empty plot of land.
"Thank you. We can now easily break your crystal. I"ll trust you and not bother on checking on the other floors. Next then is for me to do my part of the deal."
When she said so, a violent gush of wind started to flow out of his mouth. This lasted for about a minute.
If that wind was perhaps released inside his belly, he would most probably had expanded like a balloon and then died.
"May I return to my crystal room now?"
He had to report—via the goat demons—everything that happened in his dungeon thus far to his trusted ally before it was too late, before his crystal and therefore his monsters were gone.
He so wanted to attack her exposed back but decided against it for he knew that despite seeming vulnerable, she was always on the lookout for any attack from any direction. So instead, he began the transfer process. Began but never completed for his head was separated from his body by a blade of wind.
Our deal, Morax tried to say but was not able to voice out. Still, Ancient Elf seemed to know just what he was trying to say.
"I have properly done my end of our deal which is to take out the lump of wind within your belly."
Those were the last words [Evil] Lord Morax ever heard in his life.
From the start, Ancient Elf only said she would take the lump of wind out and never anything about sparing his life; she was faithful to their agreement. That said, she was not as kind as Kuina or Rorono.
In a sense, her coming to conquer his dungeon was Morax"s greatest misfortune.
"I never had any intention in letting you live. You"re a Demon Lord that harbored ill will toward my master, after all. Also, you disgust me. The only ones that could touch me are cute girls and my master."
Ancient Elf said so and placed a hand between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. In there was the crow monster. As per Procell"s instruction, she brought along the crow monster that could use transfer as an insurance.
They had laid down a transfer array on each floor so that in case something dire happened, they could escape by means of the crow monster. However…
"Ah, I forgot to make this guy eat an apple."
The crow monster was also submerged in the tank and thus became intoxicated by the aphrodisiac.
Giving up on using the monster to transfer, she tucked it back between her chests.
She then unintentionally looked at the tank they transferred in. The mucus within was a very powerful medicine. So much so that in spite of her resistances and the apple"s effects, it still managed to affect her a little. It wasn"t so much that she was not able to endure it but she did feel a weak sensation in her abdomen. Piquing her interest, she emptied her water canteen and filled it with the pink colored mucus instead.
"Now then, here I go."
Soon, she would be reunited with her beloved master and have him shower her in praises. Also, upon their reunion, she was to receive her name. Thinking about it, she couldn"t help but smile.
Containing her happiness, she began to sprint back toward Procell.