The Heat of the Dungeon
A moment later, at the entrance of the Gremory Dungeon portal.
"Save me! Aaaargh!!" Amy screamed, wailing in agony. "Please, help me! I feel like I'm dying! Aaaargh!!"
On the outside, he felt as if his skin were being scorched by exposure to the stinging holy power, while on the inside, a relentless, gnawing pain tore through his flesh. Furthermore, his body, heated by the aphrodisiac injected directly into his bowels, showed no signs of cooling down.
"You bastards! You call yourselves my subordinates after letting this happen?!" Amy shouted, his eyes bloodshot. His subordinates, whom he had worked so hard to cultivate, hesitated to step forward. Dozens of monsters huddled together, shrinking away from the faint, glowing aura radiating from above Amy.
"How are we supposed to fight that!"
"An Orc using holy power? This is cheating!!"
Amy's subordinates erupted in frustration. Galahad, the one holding a blade to Amy's throat, ignored their noisy clamor and simply trampled on Amy's spine with a cold expression.
"Kuh-huk, keuh-huk!!" Amy felt his eyes rolling back. The squirming sensation in his gut felt like insects crawling inside him. Because he had been momentarily blinded by the holy power, he had no idea what the enemy had done to him.
"Gremoryyy!!"
"Why are you calling me again? You're noisy."
Thwack!
Gremory kicked Amy right in the testicles with the toe of her shoe. Amy slammed his head into the ground without a sound. Galahad maintained his stance, sword still pointed at Amy's throat, regardless of the man's suffering.
"Has the Legion Commander not arrived yet?"
"Nope. It seems things are quite dangerous over there. But I got the message, so it's fine." Gremory set down the slime she had been carrying in her arms.
"So, can you start?"
Kkeureureuk.
The slime formed a cylindrical shape of appropriate size and began to dig into the ground. In an instant, a space large enough for a grown man to fit inside was created, and the slime dug exactly deep enough for Amy to be buried up to his neck.
"Galahad, put him in."
"Yes."
Galahad grabbed Amy by the scruff of his neck and forced him to stand. Amy, barely regaining his senses, twisted his body to resist, but it was useless.
Thwack, thwack!
"Keuh-uh-uhk...."
"That's for our Legion Commander."
Gremory kicked Amy's crotch once from the left and once from the right. The sharpness of her kicks was enough to make a cracking sound, and Amy slumped over, foaming at the mouth.
Thud.
Amy was stuck in the pit, only his head poking out. His limbs were still bound, so he couldn't push himself out, and there was no time to untie the ropes.
"Should I bury him with dirt now?"
"No. With this."
Thump!
Two Orcs wearing black arm warmers and stockings dropped a massive Slime Dragon onto the floor. Gremory stood in front of Amy and trampled his forehead with her heel.
"Keuh-uhk...!"
"If you're going to invade someone else's dungeon, you have to take responsibility. Don't you think?"
"Why did you betray... Gremory!"
Even with his forehead being crushed, Amy glared and vented his fury at Gremory. Since Galahad had turned his sword toward the subordinates near the portal, Amy had a brief moment of respite to talk.
"Why did you betray Lord Halpas!"
"I don't think I have any reason to tell you that." Gremory moved her feet left and right, pointing at Amy's pit with her finger.
"Want to know something good? The body fluids of a Slime Dragon, you see, they harden completely if you leave them for a loooong time."
"What?"
"Pour it."
No sooner had Gremory finished speaking than Amy felt a cold, ominous sensation behind his back, making his skin crawl. But he couldn't turn his head even if he wanted to.
"I was just going to provide rear support quietly, but because of you, I've become the relatively incompetent one. The human did a flashy job, and look at me, what am I?"
Glug, glug!
The Orcs pushed the Slime Dragon's body fluids into the pit. Amy was terrified by the sticky sensation slowly rising from beneath his feet.
"W-what is this?!"
"Yeah, they call this 'concrete.' If you were just burning in a pit of fire, or frozen from the bottom up by ice magic, it wouldn't be this scary."
"I don't know what it is, but save meeee!!"
"Yeah, I'm doing this to save you. The Orc father you killed is itching to beat you to death himself. So please endure it, because you have to stay alive and watch this place until then."
Gremory flicked her finger, throwing mana-crafted ice shards toward the pit. The ice shards that touched the slime quickly caused the surrounding fluid to harden, and Amy's body became immobilized from the waist down, as if trapped in stone.
"T-this, uaaaargh!!"
"My, he's noisy. Galahad, do you have anything to plug that with?"
"Could you wait a moment? You there, come here."
Galahad pointed to the leg of an Orc who had been scraping slime from the Slime Dragon. The Orc stood before Galahad, looking hesitant.
"Which unit are you from?"
"Yes! I am Arthur, belonging to Lord Arthur's squad!"
"I see. I shall give you the opportunity to avenge Lord Arthur. Take off your stockings."
"......Pardon?"
Arthur was flustered. He was momentarily stunned, wondering what the correlation between avenging his father—Lord Arthur—and taking off his stockings could possibly be.
"Hey, you're in the Las Legion, don't you know what that means? It means let's take them off and plug this bastard's mouth with them."
"...Ah!"
Arthur hurriedly took off the stockings he was wearing as lower-body armor. The rolled-up black stockings were steaming with heat from the sweat Arthur had shed.
"Bundle it up and shove it in his mouth."
"Understood!"
Arthur rolled up the stockings he had removed into a ball. Amy began to shake his head violently.
"No! Please! Anything but that!"
"Good grief. Are you crazy? You commit treason, you kill our Legion Commander's son, and you expect mercy? Pfft, be grateful you're even alive."
"Mmmph!!"
Amy gritted his teeth and clamped his lips shut. Gremory wrinkled her nose and flicked mana downward.
Zzzzt!
An electric shock flew toward Amy's penis. Amy's mouth flew wide open from the stinging impact.
Shove.
"Uuuuuuuuph!!!"
"Looks like he'll spit one out... Hey, you, swap with him. You take yours off too."
One pair of stockings was shoved into his mouth, and another was wrapped tightly around it like a gag. Ever since the sweaty black stockings covered his eyes, Amy simply lost his mind.
- If I had known it was a place like this, I would have volunteered to attack Andras's dungeon.
Amy's consciousness blurred. Perhaps losing consciousness was a blessing for him.
Slice, slice! Whoosh!
"It's our Legion Commander's order. Everyone except your captain can die."
"Don't be afraid. I'll kill you all cleanly in one blow."
At least he couldn't see or hear his subordinates being slaughtered by the witch and the Orc Paladin.
* * *
Cement is unavailable. However, there was a material that could serve as a substitute. I caught a Slime Dragon from the Slime Sub-Dungeon and gave orders to pour it into the pit where Amy was buried.
'If he's buried in the ground while erect, it'll be a disaster.'
Since everything below his neck would be hardened in slime fluid—which is essentially an aphrodisiac—wouldn't he keep hitting the walls every time he got an erection?
If the surroundings harden while he is flaccid, his member might be crushed against his body and the walls every time he gets an erection, leading to necrosis.
'Necrosis or not, I don't care.'
I was debating whether to spare him even considering he attacked our forces, but he killed Arthur? He can never be spared. He had to be killed, but since I don't have the luxury of a struggle for supremacy right now, I'll just keep him alive in a state on the verge of death.
'So, is the situation on Gremory's side over?'
Unless a new enemy comes through Amy's dungeon, the rear is no longer a major threat. However, since a strange enemy might appear through Amy's portal, I couldn't bring myself to pull the troops currently in Gremory's dungeon to our side.
'I have to win with the troops I have.'
While flexible response is important, a minimum number of personnel for defense is essential. Without that minimum, you never know where or what might happen. For instance, if the residents of Las Vegas tried to escape.
"Master, it's a message from Eila. She says about ten craftsmen in Las Vegas tried to escape overnight. They caught six, but four got away."
It seems the residents of Las Vegas realized that Eila had led a large army through the portal. If they were looking for an opportunity to escape, even I would have thought the perfect timing was the moment the Orcs left for the dungeon.
"Tried to escape during the battle... Why did the ones they caught run away?"
"They're all using 'Las' as an excuse, but they were trying to escape wearing three layers of stockings or carrying bags full of them. I think they're trying to make a fortune by selling the stockings."
"Tsk. It's fortunate that I lowered the price to a reasonable level, at least."
As the saying goes, seeing is wanting; to their eyes, the stockings must have looked like gold bars.
"Forget it. If they have any sense, they won't be able to say they brought them directly from Las Vegas when they sell their loot somewhere else. Tell them to record the personal information of those who escaped. Someday, when the Legion unifies the continent, I'll issue a wanted poster."
The charge is theft. It was far more infuriating that they stole stockings and ran away than the fact that they escaped.
"Then what should we do with the ones who were caught?"
"Ryun. Have you heard of probation? If someone commits a crime once, you don't give them a prison sentence immediately, but give them a probationary period."
"Ah. Then if they commit another crime during that period...?"
"Let's impose an aggravated punishment. What would be a good method? If the crime is serious, make them into Ghouls? Or should I make them lay eggs depending on the severity of the crime? 24 a day. How about that?"
"Wouldn't a normal human die of exhaustion?"
"At least they'll die with pleasure before they die. Isn't that a humane death? Tell Eila for now. Those who just tried to take their own belongings and run away because they couldn't live there are to be released with a warning, but those who touched the Legion's property are headed to the farm."
The Las Vegas problem ended there. But as if it were adding insult to injury, the noise caused by the lack of minimum troops didn't end with Las Vegas.
"It's a message from Lady Flauros. ...The location of the dungeon has been discovered by adventurers."
Flare Panther, Agni (formerly Flauros), who died once and was resurrected with his balls intact, relayed the report on behalf of Tentacle Drasil (currently Flauros).
"How did it get discovered?"
"There was a recent earthquake on our side. In the aftermath, the entrance to the hidden dungeon opened, and adventurers discovered it. There are only small fries left, so Lady Flauros has them tied to the ceiling."
"Well done. Make sure there are no setbacks in the 'Las-ification' work. And... I will send Vivian's Dullahan unit to your side. All Flare Panthers, assemble here."
I changed the deployment of some units for ease of defense. In particular, the demons needed on the first basement floor of our dungeon right now were the Flare Panthers.
"Agni. It's finally your turn to shine."
I pointed to the hole currently under construction on the floor.
"You are to make this entire floor warm."
As the saying goes, you can't welcome guests in a cold room. That's not polite as a host.
"Make it feel like hell the moment they enter. Hehehe."
I'll give them a very hot welcome.
* * *
"Huff, huff!"
Furcas, the captain of the Pale Rider unit, collapsed from exhaustion as soon as he arrived at the outpost set up right in front of the portal. Furcas, who was based on a Skeleton Warrior, didn't get tired, but the corpse horse he had been riding until it died and even injured its leg had run out of stamina. Since they were one body and one soul, it was a shared fate where if one died, the lifespan of the other would end. The enemy had realized this like a ghost and focused their attacks on the corpse horse, which felt pain more acutely.
"These crazy bastards."
Furcas gasped for air and checked the condition of the survivors following behind him. Everyone was in a state no better than his own. Their robes were all burned away, revealing the appearance of the black Skeleton Warriors, and his own robe was half-burned, exposing his gaunt leg bones.
"...It's a defeat. Damn it, we wait until the next ones come. Do you understand?"
"Yes...."
The expressions of the unit members looking at him were not good. Furcas shouted in anger.
"Lord Halpas will resurrect us anyway!"
"Yes...."
Morale was at rock bottom. Just as he was wondering if there was a good way, Furcas sensed that the atmosphere of the dungeon had become strange.
"...What is this?"
The dungeon was beginning to heat up, little by little.
* * *
"Master, what is this?"
"Ah, this is what is called an Ondol."