[No title provided]
The dwarves slammed the gates shut. "Hero, it's my turn."
I couldn't hide my bewilderment watching Karen stumble into Katrin's workshop. I'd noticed her peeking our way for a while, but I never imagined she'd barge in right after sex.
'Ah... yeah, I get it.' But I quickly understood her behavior. The crotch of her pants was soaked, like she'd wet herself. I knew her condition well enough—she'd consulted me about the changes in her body. She'd asked if it was possible to form a mana circle in her womb, but as a non-mage, I had no advice to give.
Anyway, I was aware that Karen, already hypersensitive to pleasure, got aroused every time she cast magic. Whether she'd be useful in the upcoming battle was questionable, but the sight of her walking with fluids leaking like a broken machine was pretty stimulating, just as I'd planned.
"Eh...?"
Katrin, who'd just been entwined with me moments ago, finally snapped back to reality and let out a short gasp at the sight of Karen. She seemed clueless about the situation, her big eyes filled with confusion.
"Hurry... I can't hold back anymore."
Karen fumbled desperately with her pants as she said that to me. If I left her alone, she looked ready to force herself on me, so I just stared at her in stunned silence.
"There you are!"
"Kyaa!!"
At that moment, James poked his head through the door Karen had busted open. Katrin screamed and fled behind the forge, while Karen glared daggers at him but still clung to my body.
"Mm."
James let out a short exclamation at the crazy scene. His bearded mouth gaped open, and his big eyes fixed straight on my face.
"Hero, you've got some strong guts."
Well, in the eyes of a dwarf with inverted aesthetics, both Katrin and Karen might look like total stunners. Anyway, I asked James, who seemed impressed with me.
"What is it?"
"Ah, this isn't the time for that. The enemy's here."
I pushed Karen aside lightly while eyeing James, who had finally gotten serious. It seemed Bahamons, who'd been hiding until now, had finally shown up with whatever scheme he was plotting.
"Let's go."
I grabbed the sword Katrin handed me and said that to James. He nodded, but the problem was Karen.
"...What? You're not gonna?"
Karen asked me with a crestfallen look, and I whispered softly into her ear.
"Once I take down Bahamons, I'll fuck you as much as you want."
"A-as much as you want?"
I grinned at Karen, whose face flushed bright red, and started walking after James. I could see her hurrying to catch up with quick, tottering steps.
We arrived at the dwarves' gates. I stared at the endless corpses of skeletons climbing the mountain. There were so many that even the dwarves, who'd boasted they'd smash any invaders, gawked at the interminable procession in awe.
"What's the plan?"
"Hm. They're numerous, but the terrain's narrow, so it's manageable. We'll defend the gates for now and sortie if the situation calls for it."
The dwarf king answered my question like that. Ever since he'd seen what I could do against the Demon King's army, he'd been using casual speech with me, but no one called him out—probably just dwarf nature.
"Defend the gates, huh."
I scratched my chin looking at the firmly sealed dwarf gates. I wondered if a siege would mean much against Bahamons' legion, but following the dwarves' lead didn't seem like a bad idea. After all, they'd remade their city to hold him off.
"Where? Where is he? Bahamons?"
The problem was Karen's state. Maybe because of what I'd whispered on the way, she was yelling like she was ready to charge out of the gates any second.
**
"It looks like they've locked the gates."
Bahamons' chief subordinate, the skeleton knight, said that while eyeing the dwarves' firmly shut city gates.
"I can see that."
"...Ah. Sorry."
The skeleton knight bowed immediately at Bahamons' irritated tone, but truth be told, neither had eyes. "The little runts are holing up like turtles. Interesting."
Bahamons clattered his white jaw as he spoke, and the skeleton knight nodded at his master's words.
The reason Bahamons and the knight weren't worried about the dwarf city was simple. They'd cleared the surrounding monster villages for troops, and time was on the side of the dead. If he wanted, smashing the gates would be child's play.
"Advance."
At Bahamons' command, the skeleton knight nodded and began directing the forces. Most skeletons were under Bahamons' ritual control anyway, so it was mostly for show.
The bone monsters leisurely marched toward the dwarf city, and soon a massive iron lump flew from the city.
Thud-.
The huge iron mass rolled like a bowling ball, smashing several skeletons, but others quickly filled the gaps.
"Hm. Such brutish fools."
Bahamons watched the shattered skeletons as he muttered. They clearly had a bad matchup with dwarves—the ones crushed by the massive iron weren't getting back up easily.
Bahamons' empty sockets turned skyward, and soon bone flying monsters headed for the dwarf city.
"Let's see if they can handle this."
Bahamons muttered with considerable leisure.
Spotting the flying monsters from the high mountain city wasn't hard. The issue was ground skeleton soldiers couldn't touch them, so Bahamons and the knight had to hunt them personally. It took some effort, but the results were excellent.
The dwarves, caught off guard by the unexpected flyers, floundered without proper response. They hadn't anticipated bone monsters flying.
A few axes spun through the air trying to hit the flying bones, but most plummeted uselessly to the ground.
"Block them, block them!"
Bahamons grinned inwardly at the dwarves' panicked shouts from afar. His skinless face showed nothing, of course.
As dwarves rushed with shields to repel the intruders, his white jaw clattered.
"Detonate."
Boom-.
These were harpies and griffins he'd painstakingly gathered, but Bahamons detonated them without hesitation. The bones exploded midair, raining shards into the dwarves' hidey-holes.
"Gaaahhh!"
Bahamons' jaw rattled with laughter at the delightful screams. Hearing that cursed race die made all his efforts worthwhile.
He kept detonating flying monsters, each blast drawing more horrific dwarf cries.
While the dwarves were distracted by the exploding monster bombs from the sky, the orc- and goblin-bone legions reached the gates and started climbing over each other to cling on.
"Checkmate, you rotten shitbags."
Confirming the pile of bones at the massive gates, Bahamons channeled mana and detonated them.
Kaboom.
The explosion dwarfed the flyers', but the dwarf-forged gates somehow still stood.
Bahamons eyed them indifferently. He had plenty more troops, and losses could be replaced with dwarf bones.
"Go. Show them who the Lord of Death is!"
Troops fearing no death marched silently at their lord's command.