The Demons Ahead Aren't Weak...
"The demons ahead aren't weak, are they?"
"I wouldn't say so. They look like mid-grade demons at the very least. That Lich Lord's power is nothing to scoff at."
"What do you intend to do?"
"As you said, we'd do well to measure the Lich Lord's strength precisely through our subordinates."
"It would serve just as well to bleed off a fair share of his mana."
Ortega and Yotan eased a short step back. In that instant the demon expedition appeared behind them, and Yotan gave the First Company the order to charge. The demons under its banner surged forward without hesitation.
"Waaaaah!"
"Eternal rest for the Lich Lord!"
"That achievement reward is mine!"
The Lich Lord watched them come and let a hollow breath slip past his lips, the look of a man sneering at fools. A vast tide of mana poured from him—a low, gathering thrum—and the mere release of it locked the demons' bodies where they stood.
And then blinding lightning filled the dungeon once more. Thunder and detonation crashed together, and Ortega and Yotan swallowed a groan.
"A lich who fights chiefly with lightning magic. Peculiar."
"He doesn't seem to be summoning any undead, though."
"Why not? A lich ought to command a legion of several thousand undead at the least. And this dungeon is hardly as cramped as the entrance."
"We'll know once we see for ourselves."
Dozens of demons were offered up to the Lich Lord.
"At this point, measuring his power has lost all meaning. I think we have to step in ourselves."
"Agreed."
Ortega nodded at Yotan's words. Both were physical-type demons who fought primarily at close range, and a demon of Count rank possessed considerable resistance to magic. Against a being as weak in melee as a lich, they were all but his natural counters. That was why both of them were certain of victory.
In a flash, Ortega and Yotan closed on the Lich Lord. He raised a shield and struck with lightning in the same breath.
"Predictable!"
Ortega's form vanished. Yotan set his blade upright and turned aside the lich's lightning, while Ortega's gauntlet slammed into the back of the Lich Lord's skull. Steel crashed hard against the thinly spread shield—and failed to pierce it. The blow was thrown back. Ortega froze, as if the impact itself had stunned him. He clearly had not expected his own attack to be stopped at all.
"With a basic shield, of all things..."
He had packed the strike full of Dark Demonic Energy. And a single thin membrane had stopped it?
The Lich Lord did not stay still. Mana flooded from his body in a great surge, an overwhelming presence, and the space where Ortega stood began to warp.
"...Surely not."
Seized by a sense of dread, Ortega used Blink. With a sharp pop, the space he had occupied a moment before twisted into a grotesque shape.
"Ortega! Fall back farther!"
Yotan shouted. Before Ortega could even draw a breath of relief, the reach of Space Domination widened. He moved at once, but he was a step too late; he had not gotten his whole body clear. One of his arms crumpled inward.
"Ghh... ugh!"
The Lich Lord gave him no opening. The field of Space Domination expanded all at once, but Yotan shot in, seized Ortega, and hurled them both clear. True to the name of Count, he opened a great distance in the blink of an eye.
"Are you all right?"
"I doused it with a potion. I'm fine."
Potions worked on demons as well. If anything, demons, with their exceptional regeneration, drew even more from them than humans did, and so Ortega was able to restore his arm in short order.
"It seems the two of us will have to break that shield together, in a single strike."
"Is it that strong?"
"Even with Dark Demonic Energy, the shield didn't break. And I hit it with everything I had."
Ortega bit his lip hard, the humiliation plain on his face.
"It wounds the pride."
"It can't be helped. That Lich Lord's power is ahead of ours."
They had lost a simple contest of strength, and the meaning of that was not small. Alone, it could not be done. The two Counts would have to match their timing and face the Lich Lord together.
Ortega and Yotan moved as one. In an instant both Counts were at the shield. This time they steeled themselves and aimed for a single point, and the massive blade and the gauntlet struck together. With a shattering crash, the shield broke. They had no room to rejoice; they drove straight through the gap, judging that to finish the Lich Lord they could not grant him even a moment's opening.
"Now!"
The Lich Lord stood there, seemingly defenseless. Yotan used the reach of his enormous blade, thrusting it straight forward the instant he charged. Up to that moment the Lich Lord still had not cast a single spell.
Got him!
Yotan was certain he would at least reduce the Lich Lord to helplessness. The tip of the blade was a breath from its mark when a sword of dazzling brilliance, appeared from nowhere, struck the middle of the blade with a sharp clang. The weapon did not fly from his grip, but Yotan's arm was forced upward. In close combat with cold steel, that was the most dangerous posture there was. Yotan knew it well, but the Lich Lord was faster. He drove his sword toward Yotan's left chest.
Yotan twisted his upper body in a panic and avoided instant death. The sword sank in beneath his arm. In that same span Ortega smashed the Lich Lord's body, and with a tremendous boom the body of a Death Knight was sent flying.
Wait. That isn't the Lich Lord.
The impact had been heavy. Even the build was on another level entirely. Ortega looked around in open confusion: the Lich Lord still standing unharmed, and a Death Knight buried in the wall. Two undead.
...Right. There were three undead in all.
The Lich Lord had been so strong that he had forgotten for a moment.
But where did that one come from?
Until just now, the only undead present had been the Lich Lord.
To be hindered by a mere Death Knight...
Ortega leapt well back. The space he had occupied began to warp. He had very nearly been in serious trouble.
In that moment the Lich Lord opened his mouth for the first time.
"Counts... you're rather less than I expected."
The voice was grotesque and gloomy. One might well have called it a voice befitting a lich. Yotan knit his brow.
"Less than you expected? Us?"
"Yes. Having faced you, I'm quite certain."
The words dripped with contempt, but the two Counts could find no proper retort.
"..."
"..."
In the brief fight they had just fought, it was painfully clear which side had been driven back.
"Let us finish this quickly. There are plenty of others I still have to kill besides you."
Those were the last words the two Counts ever heard from the Lich Lord. He released a quantity of mana on an entirely different scale from everything that had come before.
Space Domination
Crack. Crack. Yotan and Ortega met their deaths without even perceiving the spell.
A brief silence.
"..."
"What? The Counts are dead?"
"That... that's impossible."
The Lich Lord had casually disposed of two demons of Count rank—beings with scarcely any equals in the Demon Realm. At that unbelievable sight, the demons who had been watching could not close their mouths.
"W-we have to run. There's no hope."
"The Counts, brought down..."
"What in the world is this place? Even two Counts stepping in isn't enough?"
Demons were generally warlike, but when a situation became outright impossible to overcome, they sometimes chose to retreat. This was exactly that moment. Those who grasped it turned their backs and began to flee.
The Lich Lord—Yujun—had no intention of letting them go.
Flame roared up. This time it was fire magic, and scorching heat filled the dungeon.
"Graaaah!"
The agony of flesh seared by fire. The demons pouring toward the exit burst into flame. Each one's resistance to magic differed, but not a single one of them could escape the brink of death.
For the moment, every intruder in the dungeon had been eliminated.
Paranet, who had been slammed into a corner of the wall, approached.
"Master. These were rather formidable foes this time, I must say. For I, the mightiest of Death Knights, to have been pressed so far..."
"I don't believe anyone has ever acknowledged you as the strongest."
"They shall, before long, shall they not? Heh heh..."
Paranet said it with a face sunk in conceit. Even so, it was not a claim one could wholly dismiss. Horidan's ring, which Paranet wore, boasted options broken enough to justify the boast. So long as he wore that ring, there would be no Death Knight stronger than Paranet.
"Counts have come, at least. Will anything higher come as well?"
At Paranet's words, Yujun nodded.
"Marquises, at the most."
"And Dukes?"
"Dukes are beings nearly comparable to a Demon King. They won't show themselves in person over a mere dungeon."
"Pardon? A Duke is that far...?"
"Aside from the Demon King, they are the strongest there is."
Yujun did not know the exact number of Dukes. He had never surveyed the Demon Realm with any precision; all he knew was that there were at least two. If his opponent were a Duke, even he, as he was now, could not guarantee victory. A Duke of the Demon Realm was that strong.
"Still, it cut off rather neatly."
The past few days had been extremely busy. Most of his time had gone to dealing with demons. At first, low-grade and mid-grade demons had swarmed in, and as time passed, stronger ones appeared only here and there. Today had been the peak: two demons bearing the title of Count had led an expedition to the dungeon. Yet Yujun's power far exceeded their level.
In this Lich Lord state, even a Duke might be within reach.
That was the thought that came to him after killing the two Counts.
Paranet stripped the demons' items off one by one. Collecting spoils of this sort, he had been told, was a great help in managing a dungeon. And right on cue, the witch Manuela appeared. Whatever had put her in such a good mood, she came bouncing over on her short legs.
"What are all these?"
"The ones I just killed."
"Horns that size—those are Counts, aren't they? Two of them, even?"
"Looks like they didn't take the rumors lightly. They came properly prepared."
"In their own way, they must have come certain they'd succeed no matter what. Poor things."
The witch Manuela smiled, pleased with herself.
"Did something good happen?"
Yujun asked.
"A little while ago I got a message that the dungeon's grade went up."
"This one?"
"Mm-hmm."
"How is that possible? There are hardly any members affiliated with the dungeon."
In truth, Yujun, Paranet, and Do Jiyun were not affiliated with the witch Manuela's dungeon at all. They were simply staying there.
"Right. You went and killed every monster, so the roster's thin. I've only just brought in some new ones."
"But you said the grade went up?"
"A dungeon's grade is tied to the number of demons killed and to how famous the dungeon is. You've killed several thousand demons recently, haven't you? So of course the rumors would have spread all through the Demon Realm."
"Ah. So there are several factors involved in raising the grade."
"Yep! And I sold the demons' corpses and items to the black-market merchants, so I've piled up quite a bit of money too. With this, I should be able to make dozens more monsters."
"Dozens? That's all?"
Yujun said it with his head tilted.
"The monsters I make are the very highest grade, you know. I don't deal in anything less."
"...Got it."
True to a pure-blooded witch, her confidence overflowed—and she had the ability to match it. Manuela wore a delighted smile. Yujun thought this was his chance: a chance to ask the witch about Transcendence Grade items.