Lewd Dungeon Master: This Orc Is Too Damn OP!-Chapter 235: He Captured Amy

If hell exists, this must be it.

The Pale Riders heated up fast from the fire pits exploding below them. The corpse horses started going berserk with their legs on fire, and the riders on top of them were losing their minds too as the flames caught their ragged robes.

SCREEEE!!

The Pale Riders screamed and yanked themselves out of the pits. With no way for our side to pin them down beyond ranged fire, the riders pulled their corpse horses out of the pits in a hurry. Then they took off after the fleeing Furcas, bolting toward the far side of the dungeon.

"Master, they’re running again!"

"They’re too fast!"

With their tails and whole bodies on fire like some kind of afterburner, the Pale Riders started moving even faster than their initial charge as they raced to the other side. If we didn’t finish them off here, they’d obviously put the fires out and heal up.

"Tch!"

It was a shame to let them get away half-done, but we still had to make sure we cut their numbers down, at least a little. I grabbed the dagger the adventurer had handed me and pointed at the Pale Riders closest to us.

"The five that fell completely into the pits! Make sure those ones die!"

We pushed through the heat and launched attacks from range. The Pale Riders swung their scythes even as they burned, intercepting arrows, but they couldn’t hold up against the concentrated storm of fire raining down on them.

THUNK!

My dagger punched through a Pale Rider’s ribcage and buried itself in the corpse horse’s skull. A wind arrow from Lune came streaking right along the same path, punching through right around the dagger. As the corpse horse dropped its head and died, the rider fell apart too: joints separating, the whole thing collapsing.

"Nice!"

"Whew..."

Lune steadied her breathing and kept her eyes fixed beyond the 2nd Intercept Room. She had her ears perked up, concentrating hard, so I gave her a pat on the backside to help her ease off the tension.

"The fight’s over. You can stand down."

"But, Master, what if they attack again before the time’s up?"

"Relax. After getting beaten up that bad, there’s no way they’re coming back. Probably like you said: five hours, maybe six, before they show up mixed into the third wave."

Setting aside Furcas and the Pale Riders who bolted with him, we’d taken down nine of them on our own. They’d blown through more than half their forces, so there wouldn’t be another fight until the third attack group showed up.

’Damn, I’m tired.’

It had been one battle after another, no breaks, fighting the whole time. The adventurers were happy about beating the Pale Riders, but what they actually needed right now wasn’t the thrill of victory.

"Rest up!"

"Ohhhh..."

The adventurers dropped to the floor the second I shouted. Some of them just went ahead and sprawled out flat on their backs.

Our fight had barely lasted an hour, but during that short time they’d had to put their lives on the line on a battlefield soaked in the stench of death, walking on ice thin enough to crack at any moment.

"Eila, what are the casualties?"

"No fatalities. However, quite a few were hit by the Pale Riders and need medical attention. About twenty of them will need at least a day of rest."

"The fact that no one died is a miracle in itself. Listen up, everyone! Oh, actually, don’t get up. If your legs are shaking, just stay down and listen."

Since I wasn’t about to send them back into a fight, I wanted to be genuine with my gratitude and treat them easy. No matter that the enemy was monsters, I couldn’t disrespect people who’d fought for our Legion with their lives on the line.

"Head back to Ras Vegas with Eila. Eila, you head back too. Thank you for holding things down here while I was gone."

"...I’ll let them rest, then get everyone ready to cross through the portal at a moment’s notice. Human adventurers, listen up! We rest here for ten minutes, then we move to Ras Vegas! We’ll wash off the sweat in the river there and get some real rest!"

"Yeahhh..."

The humans cheered in dying voices. They weren’t living in the dungeon anymore; they’d be living in a city now. But the deep exhaustion from battle had drained them of even the energy to celebrate properly.

"Master... are you really going to be alright?"

"Oh, Lily. ...Are you hurt?"

Lily came toward me holding her shoulder. Her arms and legs were scratch-free, but her leather armor on the shoulder had a clear gash from a scythe.

"It’s not that deep. I just need to put some herbs on it and let it heal. ...Humans don’t recover as fast as you do, Master, so it’ll take a little time."

Lily’s eyes were still fixed on the 2nd Intercept Room, flames still surging up from the floor, and the space beyond it. Even though the fighting was more or less over, having to pull back to the rear was clearly eating at her.

"Don’t worry. It would’ve been a lot more dangerous without you guys. I owe you all big time. From here on out, it’s the demons’ job."

"Master, I..."

Lily dropped her voice low so the others wouldn’t hear, leaning in close to whisper.

"...Is it alright if I keep leading the adventurers?"

"Hmm."

Lily was a woman with a real appetite for position. If she were just incompetent I’d have to be wary, but she was more than capable enough as a subordinate. And more than anything, thinking about the children she’d given me, I couldn’t just leave her hanging.

"When things settle down, let’s see about getting Lancelot a little sibling."

"Huh? I thought that wasn’t an option anymore for me...?"

"Well, as the orcs grow in number, naturally we’ll need more squad leaders. I’m saying let’s go ahead and build a proper knight order together: you and me. Heh heh."

If the system could make a queen out of an elf, there was no reason it couldn’t evolve Lily too. I’d been intentionally holding back growth for the humans up until now, but humans who’d come under Ras’s banner were a different story.

"Get ready to evolve. ...Well, I figure it’ll probably just be something like getting your youth back, but..."

"I’ll be waiting! I absolutely will!!"

Lily’s eyes lit up and she kissed me on the neck before she left. I stood there a bit stunned by her little display of affection, while Lune watched her go with a warm, satisfied smile.

"Getting younger from receiving Master’s love sounds pretty wonderful, doesn’t it. Heheh."

"...Yeah, I guess. Hey, Lune, come here for a sec."

I grabbed Lune’s ear without warning. Lune glanced around at the other people nearby and smacked her lips.

"I figured after a fight like that you’d be thirsty, Master."

"Yeah, that too, but right now I’m checking on something else."

"Tch."

Lune stuck out her lip in a little pout. I held her ear with one hand and slipped my other hand into her mouth, pressing down on her tongue as punishment. I held my index finger down on it gently, and Lune made a pouty face before softening into a sly, flirtatious look.

"Hahhh... mmph... shlurp."

Lune started working on my finger like she was practicing with my dick. And as she did, I checked the information floating above her head and steeled my resolve.

Lune. Lv. 66.

Four levels left until evolution. At this point it was fair to say "soon." Lune’s growth was in a class of its own. Honestly, I was starting to think she might even catch up to me.

"Lune, let’s finish the construction first, then we’ll take care of each other’s... thirst."

"Yes. Shlurp. Construction?"

"That’s right. ...It’s a last-minute thing, but I want to make somewhere that the Pale Riders who ran off won’t be able to waltz back through so easily."

Looking at the hell pits set up in the 2nd Intercept Room had given me a good idea. But before putting the plan together, I checked in on the other fronts first.

"Shaitan. I’m sure you already know, but we’ve driven the enemy back on our end. How did things go on Gremory’s side? Any problems anywhere else?"

[Flauros’s dungeon and Ras Vegas are both fine. As for Gremory’s dungeon, the one with the portal leading to Amy’s dungeon... I think you should see it for yourself and make the call, my Lord.]

"Why?"

Shaitan’s voice carried more awkwardness than worry. At least I wasn’t panicking thinking Gremory had been defeated, but I was a little concerned Gremory might have done something weird.

"Don’t tell me she held them off with her body or something."

[Nothing like that. ...Master, even for Gremory, there’s no way she’d give herself to Amy while you’re right here, is there?]

"...I was literally just talking about a physical charge attack. Like a suicide bomb using her avatar, you know."

[...Yes. That’s what I meant as well. Ahem.]

I could tell just from the tone. Just like I’d thought it for a split second before pushing it aside, it seemed like Shaitan hadn’t completely not thought it either.

"Ahem. Right. No way even Gremory would go that far. So, what’s the situation in Gremory’s dungeon that I need to see for myself?"

[He captured Amy.]

"What?"

Shaitan’s report hit me like a punch to the gut.

[Amy has been taken prisoner. He hasn’t been killed yet.]

"Holy crap."

While I’d been busy holding back Halphas’s Legion, Gremory had already put down the uprising.

***

"Even so, I’m dealing with something way tougher over here right now, so there’s no way I can head over. You get that, right?"

"Yeah, I know. We’re pretty thrown off over here too, honestly."

Gremory sent her avatar. With Furcas still right in front of me, I had no way to slip away: my forces were still nowhere near full strength.

"Break it down for me simply. What happened?"

"While the orcs were buying time, Galahad caught Amy."

So said Gremory.

The orc unit Eila had sent had fought ferociously alongside Gremory. With the ranch right at their backs, the orcs had fought like their lives depended on it, because they did. To protect the non-combatants and all the eggs, they went in with the mindset of taking one more enemy down even if it meant getting hurt themselves. The losses the orcs took were brutal.

Only fifteen orcs survived. Among the fallen was Arthur, someone I could call my firstborn.

"Arthur died? How?"

I quickly pulled up the Bond Summon list. Most of the orcs were registered under Gremory’s roster, but my own children who served as squad leaders were registered to my dungeon.

And there, on the Bond Summon list, the casualty list, was Arthur’s name. Galahad smiled, but it was a bitter one.

"He gave his life so Galahad’s divine power could reach Amy. Honestly, it was the only way. I’m sorry."

Gremory explained in detail how Arthur had fallen. Using water magic to clash against the fire whips Amy was using and create a cloud of steam, then using that opening for Galahad to channel divine power and strike at Amy.

Even so, Amy was the master of the 58th-ranked dungeon: he didn’t go down easy. So it came down to someone making a sacrifice, and Arthur had drawn his attention, getting strangled to death by a fire whip.

"Where’s Amy?"

Hearing the details was what set me off. Right now I wanted nothing more than to run over and choke the life out of Amy with my bare hands. Gremory, reading my feelings like a book, pointed upward with an expression of total understanding.

"In my dungeon. Being put to very good use."

"Good use? How?"

"As a hostage."

That cooled my rage down just a little. The fact that he was still alive meant they weren’t going to give him a clean death, and that suited me fine. The idea that he was being used not just as a prisoner but specifically as a hostage suited me even better.

"A hostage against who? Amy himself?"

"Yep. His subordinates turned out to be surprisingly loyal, you know?"

Gremory placed a communication crystal in front of me and drew up mana. Whether it was vision-sharing or something else, I got a clear look at the standoff happening at the portal entrance in Gremory’s dungeon.

[Nobody move! Move so much as a step and this one’s gut gets split open!]

[Grrrgh, GROARRR!!]

Amy was writhing on the ground like a bug, all four limbs bound, groaning in agony. Galahad had a blade pressed to Amy’s throat, throwing his weight around at the monsters pouring through the portal across the way.

"I see. Since he keeps radiating divine power, Amy can’t go on a rampage. But he seems to be in a lot more pain than that should cause...?"

"Because I put that thing in behind him. Heh heh heh."

Gremory twisted the corner of her mouth into a smirk as she mocked Amy. Her finger was pointing toward her own backside, and even though Amy had killed Arthur, I felt just the tiniest bit bad for him.

"I’ve heard that absorption through the rectum is something else."

"Oh yeah? Didn’t know that. Try it on me next time then."

Gremory had enough breathing room to be talking about future experiments.

"So what did you put in there?"

"Stuffed a Scar Theology full of slime mucus, packed it to the brim, and sent it working its way up."

"...Well done, Gremory. He killed Arthur: just beating him to death wouldn’t be enough."

Amy’s youth was being devoured from the inside.

"So, Gremory, what’s the thing you need me to weigh in on?"

"This was Galahad’s idea, actually. It’s pretty solid. You know how things are: just because the Seizure Battle ends doesn’t mean we get a few days to recover, right?"

"True enough."

Just look at me. I’d barely finished clearing out Vapula’s dungeon before Halphas’s Seizure Battle kicked off right on the heels of it.

"Even if we take Amy down, something else from Halphas’s Legion could show up right away, right? So what about this?"

Gremory pointed at Amy in the communication crystal and drew a finger across her throat.

"We keep Amy as a hostage and hold out like this. Then, once the war on your end is wrapped up, we wipe them all out. That way at least the rear won’t get hit again, right?"

"...Pretty smart. Shaitan, any chance the portal could open a second time?"

[Impossible. A portal created through a Seizure Battle is always a one-time thing.]

In other words, as long as the portal connecting to Amy’s dungeon stayed intact, the only enemies that could attack Gremory’s dungeon were Amy’s forces, and that was effectively the whole picture.

"Good. Great plan. But let’s flesh it out a little more."

I pulled one of the slimes currently in the middle of construction on the floor and handed it over to Gremory.

"First let’s pour the concrete. Make it so Amy can’t get out. And then..."

I pointed at Amy’s subordinates screaming at Galahad and drew a finger across my throat.

"Kill everyone except Amy."

"...Perfect."

Gremory grinned at me, a wide, full grin. It was way more alive than even the look she’d get at her fifth consecutive finish.

"Now that’s my Master."