Chapter 20 : I heard your dungeon collapsed? From now on, this place is…

Dungeon, a hot spring with mist rising from the underground aquifer.

The Demon Lord Damon, holding a glass of rosé wine with a subtle fragrance, relaxed as he submerged his body in the water.

His wet hair cascaded down his neck, and the alluring curves of his chest dominated the surface of the water.

“Haah, this feels so good…”

It was then that the dungeon’s alarm broke the atmosphere.

Damon, unshaken, brought the glass to his lips and narrowed his eyes.

“Tch, a bunch of clueless idiot adventurers have invaded again.”

It was a regular disturbance.

As always, he trusted that Lordon would handle it, but just as he was about to sink back into the warm bliss, a succubus girl reported with a troubled expression.

“C-Crisis! Your Majesty Damon! The Imperial Knights have launched a surprise attack! Three entire knight orders at once!”

“…What?”

The meaning was clear: The human empire had sent three knight orders in a surprise assault, despite the risks of war with the demon world.

They were determined to destroy this dungeon at all costs.

Damon’s face turned pale with understanding.

“Rodon, what about General Rodon!?”

“He’s fighting bravely, but the numbers are just overwhelming! The guards at the entrance have already been wiped out!”

Damon bit his lip hard, drawing blood.

He hurriedly rose from the hot spring, draping a robe over himself and commanding,

“Immediately request reinforcements from the other Demon Lords! Quickly!”

The thought that this dungeon might fall today made Damon’s heart pound wildly with anxiety.

Lauro had been assigned to teach Rupia according to Kan’s orders. She forced a smile, hiding her reluctance, and began explaining to Rupia.

“…Look, Rupia’s problem is that she uses way too much mana even for small spells.”

“Hooh…”

This meant that it was like using a large mace to catch a chicken.

No wonder it was too much for her body to handle.

“In such cases, it’s inevitable that you’ll exhaust your mana. But I’ll teach you how to use magic even when your mana is low…”

Lauro started with the basics, explaining the flow and control of mana, step by step.

It was a process where she passed on the elite education she had received as a noble monster to the Demon Lord.

“Is… is this how it’s done…?”

Still, was she really a Demon Lord? Rupia quickly began to handle mana quite skillfully in a short time.

Lauro nodded with a bored expression.

“We’ve covered mana manipulation for now. Let’s move on to practical use.”

Now it was time to use magic.

Lauro fired a lightning bolt with dark magic and said,

“A true ruler of monsters must have this kind of destructive power.”

KABOOM!

The training room vibrated, and the stone target was reduced to dust.

“Hooh…! Amazing… Lauro…!”

For the record, Rupia knew Lauro’s reputation, so she was dazzled by even a trivial spell. Lauro didn’t mind this reaction much.

“Now, Rupia, you’ll try, but before that… Golem over there?”

“Gaaah?”

A golem, practicing with a mace in the distance, pointed at itself with a blunt hand.

“Yeah, you. It’s hard to measure Rupia’s mana levels using a non-living target. So, you’ll be the one to do it.”

Lauro placed a white magic sphere on the golem that would act as both a protection spell and a mana measurement tool.

The closer the color was to red, the higher the mana levels.

“You’re safe with my protection, so go ahead and use magic on the golem.”

“Ah, understood…! Heeup…!”

Rupia strained, puffing up her cheeks like a balloon and scowling like an angry squirrel.

Lauro was at a loss. She had just shown her an easy way to use mana.

“Ugh…!”

Tch-tch.

Lauro was speechless. It wasn’t a joke—the lightning really made that sound when it struck.

The golem stared blankly at the lightning, which was closer to static electricity, and then…

“Craaack! Ka-dooook!”

It grabbed the hit area and staggered slightly.

Its acting was superb.

For the record, the measurement result was, of course, white.

“Hoohhh!? Hooohhh!?”

Excited, Rupia flapped around like a bird that had just learned to fly for the first time.

Then, with a sparkle in her eyes, she stared at Lauro, as if asking if she had just seen that.

Lauro nodded without saying a word.

‘This is a mess.’

A foolish Demon Lord, a pathetic wolf, a golem playing along, and even a goblin doing nothing.

She suddenly realized how great Kan was as a person.

“Indeed, thanks to Lauro, I think I’ve figured out how to use mana!”

“Haha… is that so?”

Lauro gave a hollow laugh.

“I-I think it’s possible now…!”

Rupia rummaged through her pocket, which was under the protection spell, and pulled something out.

Curious, Lauro examined it closely and found that it was an old squashed cream bun.

‘She still hasn’t thrown that away.’

It was a bit ridiculous, but also somewhat pitiable, and Lauro thought that she would definitely buy a fresh cream bun next time.

‘No, wait. Why would I buy a cream bun for this useless Demon Lord? Well, it’s my fault it got squashed, but it was the Demon Lord’s fault for hiding it like that…?’

“Su-succeeded!”

Lauro, who had been conflicted, suddenly turned in surprise to look at Rupia. Then she became even more surprised.

Rupia was holding a completely fresh cream bun in her hand.

As someone well-versed in magic, Lauro immediately sensed the essence of mana flowing through the cream bun.

Anyone else would have thought it was just a healing or restoration spell, but it wasn’t.

‘This… this is time reversal!’

How could this happen?

Lauro was in shock. Every great Demon Lord has their own unique powers, but she had never heard of a power that could reverse time.

‘It seems the target that mana is attached to is the one affected, but how far does the range of this magic reach?’

Meanwhile, Rupia, who had just used such a magnificent spell, was blissfully jumping around like a child.

“I never expected the magic I used to revive the golem would work like this… It’s all thanks to Lauro, who helped me learn to use magic with less mana!”

“P-Please, it’s nothing…”

Rupia smiled faintly as she fiddled with the cream bun she had restored.

“Hehe, I hope General comes back soon to see this… I wonder when he’ll return…”

At her words, Lauro briefly thought of Kan.

Now that she thought about it, right after receiving the intelligence about the three knight orders marching out on the plains, he had immediately left with his orc soldiers to investigate.

“…What in the world is going on? Why did he march out so urgently?”

Lauro was genuinely curious. She had never seen Kan act with such haste.

Even Rodon, the great beastman and “Iron Wolf,” would find it overwhelming to face three knight orders at once.

Back at the battlefield, Rodon was looking back at his nearly exhausted soldiers before turning to face his adversaries.

He had wiped out half of the knight orders, but there was still half left to fight. His own condition was far from good.

Countless maces wielded by heavy infantry had left cracks in his skin, and the spears and swords that had pierced him seemed to dig deeper, causing continuous bleeding.

‘I’m… I’m done for!’

Rodon, gasping for breath, did not notice Burman, who was hiding in the rear, letting out a small cheer.

He had been nervous at first hearing that Damon’s dungeon had some reputation, but against the overwhelming numbers, that didn’t matter.

Especially the surprise attack—it had been highly effective.

‘Even if it’s not a Death Knight, this will still make for a nice contribution!’

Burman’s face twisted into a lecherous grin as he watched Damon’s growing desperation from a distance.

As Damon’s face grew paler with each passing second, Burman’s eyes wandered, not at the battlefield but at Damon’s noticeable physique.

‘And that Demon Lord , I won’t kill him, but I’ll mark his as mine… Hehehe…’

Rodon’s roar erupted as he charged toward Burman, sensing his disrespectful gaze.

“—Grrr! You worm! How dare you look at me like that!!”

“Eep! Stop him! Keep him away!”

The soldiers screamed as they rushed toward Rodon, raising their shields and charging at him in unison.

Countless weapons struck Lordon’s body, threatening to crush him. Blood splattered in all directions, and at the same time, dozens of human soldiers were thrown violently against the dungeon walls.

Despite his bravery, Rodon’s resistance didn’t last long.

The knee that had never bent before anyone except Damon finally hit the ground.

Damon’s face drained of color.

“Rodon!”

Her desperate cry only went unanswered as Rodon could not rise to his feet.

Damon shouted toward the succubi who were attending him.

“Reinforcements! Where are they!?”

“H-huh… Your Majesty, we’ve sent the request for reinforcements, but no one has responded yet…”

“Aaah…”

Damon’s face was completely overtaken by despair. He had feared it, but he never imagined that no one would come to their aid.

The demon world was a fractured, competitive society full of Demon Lords.

If three knight orders had been sent, it was clear what the empire’s intentions were: No Demon Lord would help Damon, especially one who might risk turning the empire into an enemy.

Damon instinctively realized that it was over and sank to his knees.

Burman, seeing this, raised his hand in triumph.

“Well done! Just finish off that lion bastard, and it’s all over! Finish it!”

As the soldiers raised their weapons to deliver the final blow to Rodon, a soldier shouted in terror.

“D-D-Dungeon Master! Right behind us!”

The soldier pointed toward the entrance of the dungeon, his face pale with fear.

All eyes followed his finger toward the dungeon entrance.

There, standing ominously, was a skeleton wielding a sword.

“D-D-Death Knight! A Death Knight! The Death Knight has brought orc soldiers with him!!”

“Shit, that’s the same Death Knight who fought on par with Captain Kyleen! Oh my god!!”

The Death Knight loomed over the battlefield with an aura of darkness, casting a chilling presence that threatened to swallow the entire dungeon.

The orc soldiers following him, upon hearing the name “Kan” shouted by the human soldiers in fear, roared in maddened enthusiasm as they swelled in size.

The clash of weapons echoed, and in the tense air, the orcs’ faces showed nothing but battle madness.

But the shock wasn’t only felt by Burman and the other commanders.

“Why in the world…”

Still kneeling, Damon muttered in disbelief.

His relationship with the Death Knight had surely been a bitter one.

After all that had happened, he was now coming to his aid.

No one had responded to his reinforcements, but why now?

“Is he… here to save our dungeon…!?”

Damon almost cried out in a mixture of disbelief and relief, as a single tear ran down his cheek.

The Death Knight, Kan, watched Damon with a blank expression before speaking.

“You’re saying I came to save you?”

“…Huh?”

Kan raised his sword and gave a command that sounded like it came from a place of deep emotion.

“Whether human or monster, kill all of them, except those who surrender!!”

And with that command, the next chapter of the battle was set into motion.