The Penguin's Deluge
Watching the Penguin toss Furcas’s head aside, I had an immediate realization: Yeah, this one is seriously unhinged. I couldn't help but wonder if every high-ranking officer in Halpas’s legion shared this temperament. Calm, cold, and cruel.
"This penguin is no joke."
She possessed the composure to take her time and scout for traps in the enemy dungeon, and the cold-bloodedness to ignore Lyun’s rear-line harassment, choosing instead to smash through the walls and charge forward. But what was truly chilling was the cruelty of ripping off Furcas’s head—which was clearly still capable of combat—and using it as a mere tool to check for traps.
"Hey. Don't you feel even a little bit sorry for your subordinate?"
"Heads are meant to be resurrected once they die and come back to life anyway. Considering how battered he is right now, it’s better to just smash your dungeon to pieces and use the magic stones to revive him fresh."
"You're going to kill him and bring him back? That’s a cruel thing to say."
"Don't you do the same?"
Was she probing me, or had she already figured it out? I cast a sidelong glance at the Orcs standing beside me.
"......."
The Orcs were all wearing black robes woven from Andras feathers, and there was no discernible difference between me and them. I was just trying to play the part of Elite Orc Officer A, but the Penguin was speaking as if she knew I was the dungeon master. I tried to deflect as best I could.
"...If it were me, I wouldn't do that."
"Right. Our Legion Commander had a phase like that once, too. But eventually, you’ll have to compromise. Just like this...."
Thud.
The Penguin kicked Furcas’s headless corpse with her yellow foot. The body fell toward the hell-pit without a chance to resist. As it plunged into the five-meter-deep fire pit, it began to burn, filling the air with the stench of an incinerator.
"If they can no longer be used as effective combat power, it’s far better to let them die and revive them later. That should be basic for a dungeon master, shouldn't it?"
"Who in this world calls that 'basic'?"
It was a philosophy I could never accept as a dungeon master. I stepped forward, standing at the edge of the cliff overlooking the pit.
"Grinding down your troops just because resurrection is possible? That’s absolute nonsense. The reason Affinity Summon exists is like a 'continue' coin, to ensure a subordinate who dies in battle can return. It’s not a reason to treat them like cannon fodder just because you can revive them. You’ve got your cause and effect backward."
"But you have to admit the efficiency, don't you? How convenient is it? You don't need to raise hundreds or thousands of troops; you just need to train ten elite ones. Management and training are easy, and even if they die, you just revive them. How convenient is that?"
"Are you really talking about 'convenience' when it comes to raising subordinates?"
"Well, you should raise them conveniently, shouldn't you?"
I had a hunch. According to Lyun’s testimony, even if she was a woman with a beautiful voice and a delicious appearance, I couldn't just leave her alone if her mental state was this twisted. She needed my 'correction stick' to straighten out her mind.
"In that case, I have no choice but to prove it. That my way is the right one. Taste the wrath of our legion’s finest—the Orcs."
"Oh my, did you have to go through hell to raise your subordinates? But what to do? My kids look stronger. Each of those Cockatrices has died at least three times already, you know?"
"Hmph. What’s the point of having so many chicken-brains if they can't even cross this pit?"
"You have a really annoying way of talking, don't you?"
The Penguin opened her beak wide and fanned herself with her hand. The air in the Second Interception Room was already sweltering, heated by the pillars of fire that erupted from the pit at random intervals.
"Ugh, it's hot."
"If you're hot, why don't you take it off?"
"I don't want to! You guys take yours off. What are you doing, walking around in those drab, pitch-black robes? You're making it stuffy and hot for everyone else."
"We're perfectly cool, actually. Heh heh."
Underneath the robes, we were only wearing a single layer of stockings, so there was no reason to be hot. From the moment I designed the hell-pit, I hadn't considered any defensive gear other than the Starking Armor for the Orcs who might have to fight inside it.
"Hmph, is that so? I'll make you truly cool, then."
The Penguin dropped to all fours. Then, she shoved her beak into the hole below. The moment I wondered what she was planning—
"Ugh."
The Penguin’s beak snapped open. A flash of light erupted from within it. It was difficult for me to perceive, but fortunately, our legion had more than a few beings sensitive to the flow of mana.
"Lyun!"
"Something... is about to happen! There’s a massive surge of mana coming from her beak!"
I knew the Penguin had done something to her beak, but there was no way to verify what it was. The distance was too great, and Lyun’s only long-range attack, the Wind Arrow, was currently unusable.
'Damn it, I didn't think there would be a restriction like this.'
To stabilize the form of a Wind Arrow, one needed the help of a spirit or a stable environment, but because of the fireballs from the Flare Panther erupting from the hell-pit, Lyun couldn't anchor her wind. In most situations, she could have forced it, but the flames raging in the pit had long since exceeded the threshold for that.
"I'm sorry. If I were just a little stronger..."
"Don't be. It’s not your fault the battlefield turned out this way."
I patted Lyun’s shoulder to comfort her. Strictly speaking, the hell-pit was a trap I had planned. I was the one who had made it impossible for Lyun to shine in this trap.
'She could shine if she were pushed to the back line, but not now.'
Lyun didn't even need to step up; the Flare Panther was enough to stop the enemy’s advance. No matter what the Penguin did, the enemy wouldn't be able to cross easily. And at that moment—
"WRAAAAAAAAGH!!"
With a deafening sound, a massive torrent of water erupted from the Penguin’s beak.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!
The stream of water pouring from her wide beak was thick enough that I could barely wrap my arms around it if I tried. And it didn't stop after one or two bursts.
"What... the?"
"It’s a magic that summons river water. Ugh, WRAAAAAAGH!"
The Penguin spoke nonchalantly even while vomiting water. It seemed like there was a person inside, but why on earth was the water being discharged by vomiting?
'If it were a water cannon, it would have been game over.'
Ssssss!!
As the massive amount of water hit the flames, a huge cloud of steam rose up. In an instant, the dungeon became like a sauna, and the robes our legion wore began to grow damp.
"Damn it."
The Starking Armor wasn't destroyed or weakened simply by getting wet. However, as the humidity increased, it was inevitable that our bodies would grow heavier as the fabric soaked up the water. And the problem wasn't just the Starking Armor.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!!
"Why are you vomiting so much?!"
"Because it’s a magic that summons river water! GURAAAAAGH!"
The Penguin vomited up even more river water. Seeing the sight, which looked like a dam releasing its contents, and the floor visible through the steam, I felt a chill.
"The water... is rising?"
"GURAAAAAGH!"
Water was steadily filling the floor. I couldn't understand why it wasn't draining, given that I had made countless holes for the Flare Panther to shoot fire through.
"Master, look over there!"
"...Ice?"
I confirmed the transparent, shimmering objects where Lyun was pointing. The Flare Panther were frantically breathing fire from beyond the holes, but the flames couldn't pass through the walls at all, as if a barrier had been erected.
"She plugged the holes with ice!"
"You're quick on the uptake! Ugh, WRAAAAGH!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Water was already beginning to pool on the floor. It wasn't spreading out; the water level was steadily rising. The pit was seven meters deep. Filling the holes with river water. An enemy capable of using ice magic. If I left her alone, she would fill the entire pit with water and then freeze the surface into a sheet of ice to cross over. I couldn't just stand by.
"Damn it, start long-range fire!"
The Orcs, holding rocks, launched a concentrated barrage of stones at the Penguin. The gargoyle fragments inside the stockings drew arcs through the air, targeting the Penguin’s body.
"Kreeeee!"
But the stones fell helplessly to the ground, thwarted by the Cockatrices' counterattack. They had intercepted them. The Cockatrices spread their wings, batting away every stone falling toward the Penguin.
"Kree, Kree!"
Thwack. A stray stone embedded itself in the eye of the Cockatrice guarding the Penguin most closely. The Cockatrice staggered as if it had lost consciousness, then fell limply toward the floor.
"Got her! Now it’ll be easier to—"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
An even greater volume of river water poured from the Penguin’s mouth. As if everything until now had just been the beginning, the Penguin opened her beak wider and began to vomit several times more water than before.
"Your subordinate is drowning right now, what are you doing not saving her?!"
"It’s fine! I can just revive her with magic stones!"
"Are you insane?!"
The body of the Cockatrice that had crashed and was lying on its side began to float slowly to the surface. The water level began to rise much faster than before, and there was no real way to target the Penguin, who was hidden between the Cockatrice’s wings.
"Just keep firing! Keep it up!"
Following my orders, the Orcs threw the stones they had prepared. Lyun also began to struggle to create Wind Arrows one by one to snipe at the Cockatrices.
Kree!
They couldn't deal much damage, but one by one, the Cockatrices began to sink into the pool. As the number of Cockatrices floating on the water increased, I had the strange feeling that the water level was rising even faster.
"Damn it!"
Perhaps because the dead or injured Cockatrices were taking up volume in the water, the water was rising at an unnaturally fast pace. If it kept going like this, it really felt like the pit would fill to the brim.
'She’s going to cross, isn't she?'
The injured Cockatrices were floating like pedal boats on a lake, flapping their wings. Bubbles rising around them suggested they were frantically moving their feet underwater.
"Lancelot, your unit, snipe the ones drowning below!"
As soon as my order fell, Lancelot’s subordinates launched stones toward the rising water. Red blood splattered from the heads and bodies of the Cockatrices, and the river water the Penguin had vomited quickly began to stain a bloody crimson.
"...Shit, it’s like boiling a chicken in a pot."
The Flare Panther were still breathing fire incessantly at the ice walls the Penguin had created. If the river water hadn't been continuously pumped in, it might have evaporated like water boiling in a pot.
"I’m going to fry these Cockatrices and eat them as chicken."
It would be dangerous if the water level rose any further. I took a deep breath and shouted toward the front.
"Hey! Cliff-diver!"
"GURAAAAAGH, Ugh, ugh!"
The pouring of the river water stopped. The Penguin coughed and snapped her head up. Her dull eyes were slowly filling with rage.
"Tell the truth! You’re wearing that mascot suit because you’re not confident in your figure, aren't you?!"
"I am not!"
The Penguin stomped her feet, expressing her fury. But a strong denial is a strong affirmation. I laughed even more triumphantly and pulled Lyun closer.
"Hahaha! So that’s why you were so jealous of Lyun!"
I kneaded Lyun’s plump breasts to provoke the Penguin. The Penguin’s arms trembled, and she began to clatter her beak.
"You treat your subordinates that way because you lack kindness!"
"What does the efficiency of troop management have to do with breasts?!"
"I was just talking about kindness, though?"
"......WRAAAAAAAAGH!!"
The Penguin bowed her head again and began to vomit river water violently. Even so, the way she glared up at me suggested that rather than arguing, she’d rather cross over to our side as quickly as possible and attack us.
Whoosh—————!
The water level rose even faster than before. The Penguin lay flat on the floor, leaving only her beak on the ground as she vomited the river water. Before long, the water level was roughly five meters high. The sight of a charred skull floating on the surface sent a shiver down my spine.
"Goo, ugh, Cockatrice—!!"
The Penguin screamed as if she were shrieking.
"Cross—!!"
Kreeeeeeeeeeee!!
The two-meter-tall roosters all began to leap toward the lukewarm pool, spreading their wings.