Volume 5 Chapter 10 (1/2)

With the Darkness Dragons carrying the containers that were full of monsters, weapons, ammunitions, and potions, we left Avalon.

In the case of a [War] that was treated more like a game, the entrances between participating dungeons were linked by the Creator. Due to this, a Demon Lord didn't have to worry on how to get their monsters to another dungeon. However, for wars that didn't apply to this, a mode of travel for the monsters and their weapons was necessary.

The number of ways to transport a large amount of fighting force was surprisingly limited.

The first one was through [Transfer].

In terms of speed and potential for ambushes, it was unquestionably strong.

However, there were difficulties with it.

Transfer could be freely used within one's own dungeon but when at least one end was located outside of the dungeon, it could only be used if Transfer arrays had been set up beforehand on both ends.

Additionally, even a B rank monster could only Transfer, at most, three monsters at once for probably a total of only ten times. An S rank monster could perform better but given the circumstances, I could not afford to make one at the moment.

The second mode of travel was through a Demon Lord's [Storage].

This one involved placing up to ten monsters into a Demon Lord's Storage, thus enabling the said Demon Lord to transport those monsters.

Doing this meant the Demon Lord had to expose himself to the dangers of the battlefield but in return, by using it in conjunction with Transfer, the efficiency goes way up.

That being said, only monsters could be placed into the Storage. This meant that golems, weapons, and other such things could not be transported.

The last mode of transport was simply for the monsters themselves to go to the target location.

Of course, this was full of problems too like the travel speed of the monsters being too different; some were going too fast while some were going too slow.

It was also too conspicuous. If a large amount of monsters were marching on a land route, it would surely alarm the humans and then cause too much unnecessary problems that one would rather avoid.

Considering all that, I had decided that the best way for me was the last one but via the air. Like so, worries such as travel speed, volume to be transported, and privacy were all minor.

”Oto-san, are our enemies this time strong?”

Kuina who was in the same container as me asked so while shaking her fox tail.

By the way, also present in the same container was Fel and Rozelitte.

”Yeah, they are. This is going to be the toughest fight we've had so far.”

After all, these Demon Lords have already lived for several years and have accumulated so much over those years.

Challenging them directly was a sure way to fail.

Only after making full use of the advantages that I had could I see a glimmer of hope.

As for what these advantages were, it included:

The weapons that were made by my [Creation] and were further improved by Rorono.

Being the only one out of all Demon Lords who could naturally make S rank monsters.

The wind angel Rozelitte who could strengthen all of my army and also build an ultra-wide communication network.

Each of the Avalon-Ritters which were stronger than the average A rank monster.

How I would make use of these advantages would determine the outcome of this campaign. Fortunately, we were on attacking side and could therefore choose which weapons and methods we were going to employ.

”Okay. Then, Kuina will work harder than usual. If Kuina is Oto-san's best monster and if Oto-san is the strongest Demon Lord, then it means that Kuina is the strongest monster ever. And because of that, Kuina won't lose to anyone.”

After hearing so, I beckoned to Kuina. In response, she got close, sat on my lap, and leaned on me. Like so, I brushed her head.

I started this war due to my own selfishness and that was all the more reason why I didn't want to lose any of these children. I will not allow it.

Despite planning as much as I could in order to prevent my monsters from dying, I was uncharacteristically tensed. In an effort to calm myself down, I tried hugging Kuina and brushing her fluffy tail.

And yet, while doing that, I still wracked by brain for ideas.

◇

Several hours later, we were almost at [Beast] Demon Lord Marchosias's dungeon. By using high-performance binoculars, I surveyed the surrounding from up in the sky.

”As I thought, it's surrounded.”

Her dungeon was an orthodox castle dungeon. But even more relevant for the moment, it was surrounded by several monsters. More than hundreds of them.

By doing so, they were able to prevent enemy reinforcements going into the dungeon as well as provide reinforcements of their own to those already sieging within.

What a bother. Just going inside Marcho's dungeon is this bothersome already.

Her dungeon wasn't surrounded only on the ground, on the sky too.

As we neared the dungeon, the closer we got to the flying dragons and gigantic bird monsters circling in the sky.

Humans couldn't reach us in the sky but the same couldn't be said about Demon Lords and monsters. Just because we were flying, it didn't mean we were safe.

”Aura, it's as we assumed. Are you ready?”

Aura wasn't in the same container that I was in. Normally, my voice wouldn't be able to reach her ears but since it was her, she could, through the wind, pick up the sound in my vicinity.

Aura sent her reply to me via the wind. She sounded more excited than usual. Full of joy even.

”I grant you permission to fire as you see fit. Take your prized sniping corps and work together with the Darkness Dragons to take control of the sky. Let the High Elves focus on the small fries while you focus on the ones with great amounts of magic power.”

Like that, the sound of gunfire began.

Even though the Darkness Dragons were superior among B rank monsters, carrying a heavy load would cause their unarmed fighting prowess to fall down. So, to compensate for that was the sniping corps.

The sniping corps was composed of the elves including Aura. Each member wasn't inside any of the containers but on the back of the Darkness Dragons. Each one also carried their own anti-materiel rifle which could pierce even tanks.

With the elves' special eyes and with wind on their side—instead of the enemies'—even fast flying monsters were dealt with in one shot.

That wasn't all. Since they had leveled up a lot, they could now use wind magic aggressively.

For example, as a group, they could control the weather. For the flying enemy monsters, this was the worst obstruction. Due to this, the enemy's flying dragons and gigantic bird monsters' movement got worse.

As expected of Aura, she's very skillful in using her powers.

”Rozelitte, contact Wight. Tell him to immediately strengthen the Darkness Dragons. Also tell him that as soon as we have complete control of the sky, quickly commence the eradication of the monsters on the ground.”

”Certainly, Procell-sama.”

The reason I placed Rozelitte in the same container as me was so that she could relay my orders to everyone via telepathy. Her Wide-range Empathy skill was truly amazing.