[The First Wave of the Legion]
Upon my arrival, the sight that greeted me was my sons—serving as squad leaders—leading the Orc warriors in a desperate stand against a swarm of black skeletons. "Wooooo!" Percival, at the vanguard, swung his blade and decapitated a black skeleton clad in full plate armor. Beside him, another skeleton lunged with its sword, piercing an Orc standing right next to Percival. "Gah!" "1Q2W3E4T!!"
Percival shouted a name I didn't even want to remember. A slip of the tongue. It was an existence I didn't want to recall, yet one that shouldn't have been spoken of in such a way. 1Q2W3E4T! was one of Percival’s sons—my own grandson, in a sense. "Eila. How many Orcs have fallen?" "...Seventeen out of fifty, my lord." "Tsk."
My bones ached. It wasn't just the numbers; the fact that my Orcs had been slaughtered so ruthlessly tore at my heart. I even felt a pang of self-loathing, wondering if I had been too obsessed with efficiency, dragging Luna along and causing this entire mess. 'But regret comes later.' Fortunately, since they all had names, resurrection via magic stones was possible. While the Orcs fought on, I surveyed the composition of the enemy forces.
"Eila, did you see any other enemies besides the black skeletons?" "There were Goblins and Minotaurs mixed in. Harsus and Lancelot are currently engaging them in the Second Interception Room. Rastuzard and the Ghoul unit that were guarding the First Interception Room have all been wiped out." "Damn it."
There were three large open spaces on the first basement level meant for full-scale warfare. If the deepest part, where we and the Dark Elf village were located, was the Third Interception Room, there were two open areas right before the path leading here. 'Rastuzard at the front. Harsus retreated from the First Interception Room. Lancelot arrived as reinforcements and charged. Percival and the others are trying to break through.'
I immediately grasped the troop deployment and the flow of battle. These were clearly the subordinates sent as the first wave, but it seemed the 38th rank wasn't earned for nothing. One of the pillars of our legion, the Undead unit, had been decimated, save for Harsus. 'I would have really cried if resurrection wasn't an option.' Thankfully, Rastuzard and the others—Zarsus, Tarsus—had left their names on the list for Affinity Summoning upon their deaths, so resurrection was possible as long as I had the magic stones. Like the Orcs, I had to revive every single one of my fallen subordinates. To save them, and to keep those still fighting from dying, I had to step up.
I clenched my fists and stepped forward. "I'm going." "My lord, please leave it to us and trust in them." Eila blocked my path, shaking her head. She meant for me to trust that my subordinates would overcome this, but I couldn't help but worry. "I lost Rastuzard. Lancelot and Harsus are in danger." "...You don't need to worry about those two at all. Even when the enemy strikes their arms with axes, they aren't getting hurt. And you must conserve your strength for any unforeseen circumstances, my lord."
"Halpas could cross over himself." Eila and Shaitan’s warning snapped me to attention. As long as Luna was currently recovering her stamina, I was the one who had to fight Halpas if he showed up. I didn't know if I could actually win, but I was still the strongest existence in our legion. "But I have to help them." "You can help them in your own way, my lord."
Eila pointed at the back of my hand with her eyes and subtly lifted her skirt. I immediately understood the meaning behind her words. She was asking me to cast an area-of-effect buff. 'I see. Right, I understand.' Given the situation, actually doing it was difficult. Eila was only lifting her skirt to jog my memory; she wasn't doing it because she actually wanted to do the deed. Whoooom. As I swept my fingers across my fingertips, my vision began to glow red. Now, I needed a medium to spread this aura. Last time, I had substituted it with the friction of buttock and pubic flesh, but this wasn't the time to be having sex to spread an aura.
'Is there no good way? A way to spread the aura far and wide?' There was. I took a deep breath and thrust both hands forward. "LAAAAASSSSSSSS!!" BOOOOM!! I struck my own belly, and the red wave scattered in all directions the moment my stomach trembled. Because the resonance chamber was large, the sound and the aura could spread far and wide. "Listen well, my legion!"
A red aura began to envelop my subordinates. The Orcs started to grind their teeth one by one, and the black skeletons seemed flustered, distancing themselves from my men. "Fight with the resolve to die! Don't you all have something to protect? This is not enemy territory, but our home! It is the house where we live! We must crush these bastards who broke into our home without permission! The victory in this battle is in protecting! As long as we protect those behind us, that is our victory!"
My roar, filled with sincerity, echoed far and wide. It felt as if red rage was filling the entire dungeon. "Die! Fight and die! If you die, I will resurrect you as many times as it takes! But don't die easily! If you feel like you're going to die, grab at least three of them by the hair and drag them into the gates of hell with you!"
"""Wooooooo!!"""
The Orcs roared back at me. I clenched and unclenched my fists, suppressing the urge to jump into the enemy lines right now and tear apart the throats of the ruffians who had raided my home. My subordinates, my legion, would be the ones to tear their throats out with the rage I had passed on to them. "I have only one command for you! Legion of Wrath!!" I shouted louder than ever before. "Kill the enemy, and crush them!!"
It didn't matter if they were Goblins, Minotaurs, or Skeletons. If there was one with a high rank, a beautiful woman, or even a virgin among them, it didn't matter. Kill them all without leaving a single one. And those corpses would become the nutrients for my legion's subordinates to be reborn. "Do not hesitate to kill the enemy! The blood the enemy sheds will become the blood and flesh of our brothers and children! The more enemies you kill, the more your brothers will set foot on this land again!!!"
"""Wooooooo!!!"""
"Leave none behind, kill them all!!"
May my rage reach Halpas. Afterward, thanks to the aura buff I had spread, our legion was able to slaughter all the intruders, with only five more Orcs lost in the process. ......And so, we were able to safely overcome the 'first wave' of Halpas's legion.
Currently, our legion was divided into three groups. First, the 'outside-dungeon forces,' which were outside our combat power. This included Meari, the Fairies, the Succubi, and Lime and the Slime Dragon unit deployed to Spica Castle. And the 30 elite Orcs that Eila had left behind as a minimum for the defense of Las Vegas. Then, the second group, the 'main base forces.' This included myself, and the executives: Ryun, Luna, Eila, and Shaitan. The unit composition consisted of the 50 elite Orcs Eila had brought, and the 50 Ghouls of Harsus and Rastuzard. The few slimes that hadn't become Slime Dragons acted as observers, providing vision from the dungeon ceiling.
...After scraping together every magic stone I could find to revive the dead Orcs, the number was 30. Executives like Lancelot and Percival hadn't died, but the casualties among the 3rd-generation Orcs were severe. All remaining forces were in the third group, the 'Gremory Dungeon forces.' Most races, including Harpies, Andras, Dullahan, Unicorns, Werewolves, adventurer prisoners, and Orcs, were concentrated in Gremory Dungeon. The main base was superior in quality, but Gremory was overwhelming in quantity.
Having barely blocked the first wave of Halpas, I wanted to solve the most urgent issues first. "Shaitan, is contact with Gremory possible?" "The interference is too severe. It seems telepathy through magic is being blocked. I can receive messages through the System, but the information is being omitted or delayed." "To what extent?" "It's arriving about 5 minutes late. My lord. What is directly affecting the System is..." "The Legion, huh."
Shaitan and I quickly deduced the reality of the enemy 'force.' It was understandable for simple magical communication to be blocked, but there were few elements capable of interfering with the System's own communication. "Who went as reinforcements to Gremory Dungeon?" "Arthur, Tristan, and Agravain." "Appropriate. Then send Galahad to support Gremory. Guinevere, take good care of Valac so he doesn't cause trouble if he wakes up."
Following my instructions, the priest father and son immediately left their posts. Guinevere to the rear, Galahad to the battlefield. Considering their abilities and roles, it was an appropriate deployment. 'You need at least one cheat character capable of using Holy Power in each location.' If Guinevere had to soothe Valac so he wouldn't rampage when he woke up, it was appropriate for Galahad to go support Gremory.
"Shaitan, what was Gremory's last message?" "She says they pushed back the first wave thanks to the reinforcements. They are currently regrouping their soldiers." "That's a relief. One weight off my mind. ...Then there's the System issue; it seems they used some kind of means. And a vicious one at that, interfering with the dungeon master's use of the System."
There were only two types of power capable of interfering with the System. One was a case like Estu, who could directly interfere with the System. The other was being a daughter of Solomon, who could use the System to assist. The former was absurd, and the latter was the most persuasive. If it was a seal of each legion, and if a daughter of Solomon was on the 'enemy' side, there was a high possibility they had pulled some tricks. "Halpas is a legion? Halpas possesses one of the seven seals?"
"I am ashamed. I should have known about this in advance..." Shaitan hung her head, looking dejected. I grabbed her horns and forced her to lift her head. "It's fine. Let's learn about your seal later. For now, let's focus on the battle situation. Shaitan, report to me immediately if you get any contact from Gremory. Now, Eila, report on how the battle went until I arrived."
"Yes." Eila pointed her sword at the map of the first basement level drawn on the dirt floor and traced the enemy's infiltration route. "The portal was installed exactly where you predicted, my lord. The enemies, having passed through the complex maze, proceeded cautiously and slowly infiltrated through the straight corridor. Shaitan?" "I deployed Harsus and Rastuzard first. While they were stalling for time, I informed Eila and Gremory of the situation, and Eila immediately organized reinforcements. 100 Orcs arrived at the first basement level, but..."
"An attack also came into Gremory Dungeon at exactly that time. So we split the forces. Arthur's unit, and my unit." "Rastuzard's Ghoul unit was all destroyed. But they responded quickly by turning the killed enemy soldiers into Ghouls, and Harsus and the Ghoul unit played a major role. They took most of the enemy's attacks with their own bodies."
I opened the System window and turned my eyes to the First Interception Room, which corresponded to the curved path. The Ghouls were diligently driving wooden spears into the wooden palisades to reinforce the barricades, and the Ghoul moving most actively was Harsus. "Incredible." Harsus's full plate armor was dented in places, but Harsus himself looked fine, as if he hadn't taken any damage. I looked at Harsus's joints and discovered the answer. "With two layers of armor, the defense is bound to be incredible."
I didn't know whose work it was, but Harsus was wearing stockings on his arms and legs. The High Ghouls were also 'wearing' stockings on their arms and legs. "Leaving the legs aside, how did you do the arms?" "...I made a hole in the crotch area and put my head through it."
For a moment, I imagined the image. Ghouls wearing stockings correctly on their legs, then poking a hole in the crotch to stick their heads through, turning the stockings into long-sleeved tank tops. 'The defense for the limbs must be insane.' A Ghoul legion that already had solid defense, now wearing Andras's stockings on their arms and legs? It was as good as saying the only weak point was the torso. The arms were a bit long, so the length was stretched, but stockings were designed to stretch anyway. 'The efficiency is crazier than I thought.' If nothing else, the limbs were definitely protected.
"Just who committed such a brilliant, commendable, and insane act?" "It was Harsus." "......Well, that bastard did have a bit of a battle-brain temperament." Having no prejudice against bottoms and tops was sometimes truly terrifying. "Oh, and all the Orcs are wearing stockings like that too." "Solomon help us!"
When this fight was over, I thought I should order the Guild Master to develop a full-body tights suit first thing.