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The carriage toppled over. Lapis and I were sent flying like loose cargo.
Beyond the carriage walls, the driver screamed. The screams faded fast — he'd probably been hurled a fair distance, unable to withstand the impact.
— Screeeech!
The carriage lay on its side, scraping along the road. My body flipped and slammed against the carriage wall. Was it because Lapis had been holding me? The impact wasn't bad for me. But Lapis's slender back took the full force of it. She let out a short, sharp scream.
"Lapis!"
Damn it! I scrambled to my feet and grabbed her. She wasn't seriously hurt, was she?
"Dantalion… sir."
Lapis's face was twisted in pain. But her eyes were clear and steady. Don't worry about me — there are more pressing matters, those eyes said. An icily calm stare. I felt my hammering heart settle in an instant.
I hauled her to her feet. We needed to get out of the carriage as fast as possible. I didn't know who it was, but the enemy was targeting the carriage. I kicked the floor hatch open with my foot. Leaning against me, Lapis murmured weakly.
"Dantalion sir, you go first…"
"Shut up."
Go first? It was just a roundabout way of telling me to leave her behind and get out. There were limits to nonsense like that. Lapis kept babbling something while I held her up. I tuned it out. Out of the question. I was better off focusing on things that actually mattered rather than wasting my ears on that drivel.
Scrambling out of the carriage, I roared inwardly.
'Earn your keep, you oversized morons!'
I was addressing the Death Knights. Normally they took on ethereal forms and lingered in my shadow. The moment I called out, something like dark, viscous sludge squirmed within the shadow. They burst free almost immediately. Ten black knights materialized in the blink of an eye.
— Looks like you're in a tight spot, temporary master.
One of the Death Knights spoke. His tone was mocking. Ever since my Demon Lord job level had risen from E-rank to D-rank, the Death Knights had stopped growling like beasts. They occasionally spoke to me now. All of them with insolent attitudes, of course.
"We're under attack. Protect me and Lapis."
This was a critical situation. There was no time to critique their tone of voice.
Mocking laughter drifted from beyond the black helmet worn by the Death Knight.
— What Lord Barbatos commanded us was simply to protect the temporary master. I have no desire to guard a lowly Succubus. Don't treat us like mercenaries.
"Listen up, you pig bastards. If there's even a hole in your rotten skulls, use it. If Lapis dies, I'll kill myself right away. You got that, pig bastards? Don't question my orders. Protect me and Lapis."
The Death Knight snorted. He stopped muttering complaints. After a few seconds, fireballs came hurtling from the other side. The attackers had clearly fired them. The knights drew their great swords and cleaved the fireballs in two.
"Death Knights!"
"Keep your distance! Don't let them get close!"
Shouts echoed from far away.
The carriage happened to be passing through a barren wasteland with few people around. They'd probably targeted this spot on purpose. Every attacker wore a black robe, and they kept shouting toward the carriage from roughly a hundred meters away. There had to be at least thirty of them.
The Death Knight spoke in a bored tone.
— Dark Elves, are they. A clan of magic users. Annoying lot.
Death Knights excelled in physical combat. They had no resistance against magical attacks. Damn it. Surely they weren't aiming for that too.
I carefully laid Lapis down. She kept letting out faint moans—something was probably broken. Seeing her in pain only made my fury toward the attackers surge. Those bastards deserved to die.
I pulled a potion from inside my coat. It was a potion made specifically for demons. I popped the cork—it wouldn't budge, which was infuriating—and slowly dripped the wine-colored potion into Lapis's mouth. She opened her eyes slightly and looked up at me.
"......"
Don't worry. Her gaze said as much.
My anger grew rougher still. Some piece of garbage had done this to Lapis. My companion who had shared life and death with me—how dare they.
I didn't care how many casualties the Death Knights took. I was going to wipe out every last one of those attackers. Slice their bellies open and stitch their guts back in, one by one.
"Knights. Can you break through?"
— How foolish. Breaking through isn't the answer. They might have reinforcements waiting. It'd be better to focus on defense rather than offense and leave this area as quickly as possible.
Escape. That's what it meant — run away. Run, with the bastards who hurt Lapis right in front of me. Was there really no other way……
I was about to open my mouth and order a retreat when a group came charging from the direction our carriage had come from. About forty of them! They were closing in fast.
Could it be enemy reinforcements? My heart lurched.
The Death Knight spoke beside me.
— We are not their target.
"What?"
— The temporary master has the goddess of fortune on his side, it seems. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to follow the temporary master for a while yet.
The black knight's words proved true. The newly appeared group raced past the carriage and charged straight toward the attackers' position. The Death Knights joined them too — without any orders being given. I wanted to bellow at them right then and there, but I held back. It was obvious at a glance that our side had the enemy overwhelmed.
But reinforcements — where had they sprung from? I watched the battle in silence, wracked with doubt and unease……
The commotion settled quickly. With the sudden appearance of forty reinforcements and ten more Death Knights joining the fray, the dark elves fell without putting up much of a fight.
— They were assassins trained to be quite elite.
The Death Knight approached, grumbling. In his right hand he held an elf's head — severed cleanly below the jaw. Seeing the face frozen in pain and shock only made my anger burn hotter instead of cooling.
Pain and shock weren't enough. I had to grant them the most gruesome death the world had ever seen.
— I captured one alive, but he killed himself. Used Shadowless magic to do it. I cut open his chest and found his heart completely destroyed. A spell embedded directly in the heart — heh. There aren't many assassin groups vicious enough to employ methods like that.
"Can you guess who they are?"
An ice-cold voice slipped from my lips.
The black knight shrugged.
— I can guess the assassin group, at least. But there's no way to know who the client is. Isn't the client what the temporary master truly wants to know? Well, whether it's the assassin group or the client, it'll be beyond the temporary master's reach. You don't even have the strength to take revenge.
"It doesn't matter."
I dropped to my knees on the ground. I pressed my left hand against the dirt. With my right hand I groped at my waist. A self-defense dagger was tucked there. I drew it out. I heard the black knight's startled voice.
─ Temporary master? What on earth are you—
I drove the dagger into my left hand. Specifically, into my index finger.
A tortured scream tore out of my throat. Agonizing pain scorched every nerve in my body. I clenched my teeth. Ignoring the pain, I drove the dagger down once more. This time the bone of my middle finger shattered and fell away. And then another scream.
"Hoo, hhuup…! Hhuuu…"
Tears streamed down my face. It felt as though lava had burst from the corners of my eyes. Barely, through the distant haze of agony, I managed to keep my breath going. It was a forced, ragged gasp crammed full of pain.
I lifted my head. I roughly wiped the tears away with my sleeve.
─ …….
The excitement of battle had long since faded. The Death Knights, and a handful of reinforcements I couldn't identify, were staring at me in blank shock.
I ground my teeth with a crack.
"You arrogant bastards. Teleport to Barbatos right now and relay this. Tell him Dantalion was attacked by an assassin group. That in the process, he sustained serious injuries and lost two fingers."
─ S-Surely… you didn't intentionally harm yourself for that—
"Shut up. Listen to what I have to say from start to finish."
The black knight fell silent. I spoke through the pain radiating from my left hand.
"Tell him the client hasn't been identified with certainty yet, but is suspected to be one of the Grand Dukes of Hell. Barbatos will lend you troops. Tell him to make the assassin group fall into a real hell. Take that army and come to me. As fast as humanly possible. Understood?"
I thrust my right hand into my coat. My hand was shaking so badly I could barely grasp what I wanted. Finally, my fingers closed around the teleportation scroll. I hurled it at the black knight.
Then, still trembling, I picked up the fingers lying on the ground—my left index and middle fingers—and threw them at him too.
"Make sure you show those to Barbatos."
─ …….
The black knight bent down and picked up the scroll and the fingers. He stared at me with a dazed expression. I widened my eyes.
"Son of a bitch. Do I need to drill another hole in your skull before you can understand what I'm saying?"
─ ……As ordered.
The Death Knight bowed. He unfurled the scroll and whispered the incantation. A black magic circle materialized and enveloped the Death Knight. Soon, the bastard vanished.
Now it was time to move on to the next matter. I looked at the reinforcements and spoke.
"Who are you?"
"It is our first time seeing your face, Lord Dantalion."
One person stepped forward from the group. It was a woman's voice. She wore a gray hood that concealed her face. She knelt on one knee and bowed to me with utmost deference.
"We are an assassin guild based in Niflheim. Acting on our client's orders, we have been secretly protecting Lord Dantalion for the past seven months."
"Seven months?"
Damn it, what the hell was this now?
Seven months ago — that was still when I had been part of the Crescent Alliance Army. Who could have commissioned them to guard me all the way back then? My head was spinning.
Thanks to the Demon Lord's inhuman vitality, the bleeding had stopped quickly. A little conversation here wasn't going to kill me from blood loss.
"Who's the client? Barbatos?"
"Normally, revealing the client's identity is forbidden, but in this case I can make an exception. The client specifically requested that if a situation like this arose, I should reveal their name to Lord Dantalion."
The woman pulled off her hood. Sky-blue hair cascaded down. Her features were beautiful, but half her face was badly scarred by burns — grotesquely so. But with the pain in my left hand overwhelming me, I couldn't care less whether her face had been roasted in fire or deep-fried in oil.
I waited calmly for her next words.
The woman's eyes widened slightly.
"You don't seem surprised by my face."
"I don't care. Just tell me who the client is."
"…It isn't Lord Barbatos. Rather, someone you might call his sworn enemy is the one who placed the commission with our guild."
The assassin woman bowed her head deeply as she spoke.
"Barbatos's sworn enemy?" I was even more confused.
"Is it Sitri?"
"Not His Grace Sitri, either. His Grace Dantalion. We received the commission from none other than His Grace Paimon."
"Paimon!"
I was stunned.
Paimon. Why was that whore's name coming up here!
============================ Author's Notes ============================
<Dungeon Defense> has been published as a paper book. Currently, volumes 1 and 2 have been distributed. This is all thanks to the support of you readers ^^
The paper book edition of <Dungeon Defense> is no different from the online serial. I've only polished the sentences a bit more, and a supporting character who didn't appear in the serial has been added. Going forward, in volumes 3 and 4 that will be published, I plan to tighten up the parts that were somewhat loose in the online serial.
<Dungeon Defense> is also available at rental shops and online bookstores. If my work ends up in your hands not just in the digital space but in the real world, there could be no greater joy for me.
Regardless of the paper book publication, the online serial will continue!
If you have any questions, feel free to message me anytime. Have a wonderful weekend ^^