Chapter 80
Bahamons was getting angrier by the minute. I tilted my head at the small button on the hilt of the sword. With the grip in my hand, something protruded from the end like it was begging to be pressed by my index finger. Curiosity piqued, I pressed it right away—and that's when the unbelievable happened.
A low hum started up. The sword Katrin had made began vibrating like it was alive. I stared at her in shock, but she was already grinning ear to ear, as if she'd seen this coming.
Click. I pressed the button again, and the vibration stopped. I shot Katrin a question.
"What the hell is this?"
"Oh, it's a Vibrating Sword. I made the blade vibrate to boost its cutting power."
I had no idea how much vibration actually helped with cutting, but I figured a slash from this thing would leave a messy wound. The subtle tremor through the hilt felt a bit odd, but not uncomfortable enough to complain about. I nodded, strapped it to my waist, and gave it a try.
"Thanks."
Having received a sword that was perfect for me, I said that to Katrin—and sure enough, she beamed back. Looking at her face up close now, I could see dark circles under her eyes. She probably hadn't slept properly for days. A simple "thanks" felt a little insufficient, almost guilty.
But it turned out the "gift" was all in my head. Katrin looked at me expectantly and asked,
"Uh, about the production costs...?"
"Huh?"
"It took a lot of materials to make."
"...Can't we just bill the Dwarf King?"
I answered Katrin with a bewildered look. I'd come to this dwarf city to help them out because of James's promise of weapons and armor in return. Hell, technically, I still hadn't gotten the armor he'd promised either.
But at my words, Katrin rolled her huge eyes in distress. Her weird reaction made me cock my head, and soon enough, she started slyly revealing her true intentions.
"A-asking the king is kinda... And Hero, it must be tough for you to pay up front suddenly, right? So, could you just grant me one little request?"
I couldn't help but chuckle at Katrin's stammering. Having already been hounded by the female dwarves, I had a pretty good guess what her "request" was.
Whatever. Bahamons didn't show anyway, so no big deal.
Feeling a flicker of curiosity toward Katrin, I nodded readily.
***
"My lord. This place is all cleared out."
"Good."
Bahamons confirmed the burning monster village with his empty sockets at the words of his favored death knight. There was a reason he hadn't reached the dwarf city in record time.
Damn Baal, sending me of all people to deal with those dwarves.
Bahamons cursed Baal, who'd ordered him to the dwarf city—but truthfully, when he'd first taken the mission, he'd been overflowing with confidence. Just as Baal said, the dwarves' city was perched on a rugged mountaintop, and his legion never tired.
But neither Baal nor Bahamons had anticipated one thing: the dwarves' peculiar obsession with weapons.
Humans on the continent favored swords and spears, elves bows. But dwarves—with their stubby bodies—preferred blunt weapons like axes and hammers that didn't suit them at all. Of course, Bahamons, the former Magic Tower Master, knew that much as common knowledge. The problem was he'd never actually faced dwarves before.
He'd boldly sent a single skeleton soldier as a scout to the dwarf city, only for it to shatter under one dwarf's axe. Losing a mere skeleton wasn't a big deal, but the issue was that the soldier, struck by a dwarf weapon, didn't recover easily—hardly befitting the undying legion's reputation.
Bahamons had tried repairing the emissary multiple times, but the one whose skull was smashed wouldn't rise again.
If it had been elves or humans, I wouldn't have this headache.
Elf arrows would struggle to hit bony soldiers, and human swords or spears could be fixed in no time. But dwarves wielded the one thing skeletons were weak to: blunt force. At that point, he even suspected Baal's true intentions in sending him here.
Unsettled, Bahamons had been raiding nearby monster villages to forcibly bolster his forces.
"Argh! If someone else had come, I wouldn't need this hassle!"
Most demon army executives could dominate monsters effortlessly, rallying those near the dwarf city without this tedium. But Bahamons uniquely lacked that control—monsters instinctively shunned the king of the dead.
"...Still, we're almost done now."
Bahamons's first subordinate, the death knight, spoke carefully to his lord, who looked thoroughly pissed. His master had always been grumpy, but since scouting the dwarf city, he'd gotten even pricklier.
"Hah. Finally time to slaughter those sex-addicted runts."
"...Yes."
"This is purification. Purification for the world."
Bahamons declared it to the death knight staring back with hollow eyes. He already cursed all living things, but the dwarves who'd openly asked him about sex ignited an unbearable rage—more like humiliation, really.
Lately, his ears itched for no reason, and unexplained irritation bubbled up. Not that a skull-headed lich like him had ears. It just felt that way.
How dare they... call me impotent. It's not that I couldn't—it's that I didn't.
The loyal death knight quietly withdrew, watching his lord grind his teeth.
***
I-I'm going crazy.
Karen was practicing magic outside the dwarf city. Back when she'd had sex with the Hero, she'd thought losing her magic power was fine—but now that she'd regained it, no reason to let it go.
Even losing one circle, the mana band itself was thicker and sturdier, so long-term, it felt like growth, not loss. Testing spells she'd known before, Karen confirmed they cast faster and hit harder than ever.
The problem was the circle's location.
Mana circles were like circuits channeling mana. Mages twisted nature's mana flows to work miracles, but that required a foundation. More circles meant complex calculations, stronger spells.
The issue: activating them caused vibration.
A heart circle vibrated harmlessly, but Karen's was severe. Third-circle spells were tolerable, but fourth and fifth? Testing them alone, she'd writhed in unbearable pleasure.
Spinning mana squeezed and buzzed her womb—a curse to Karen, now aware of the ecstasy it brought.
"Hnyaaah!"
Casting experimentally again, she climaxed short and sharp from the mana alone. Her stabilized circle didn't cancel without incantations, but the real horror: she might moan like an idiot every time she cast from now on.
If the tower elders saw, they'd excommunicate her on the spot, she thought.
"Hnn... ah... this... haah."
Despairing at the side effect for high-circle magic, Karen was actually growing addicted. She'd activated and canceled spells repeatedly, and after a few tries, her panties were soaked.
And in that moment, the Hero's massive cock naturally floated into her mind.