Volume 8 Chapter 3 (1/2)
Together with Kuina, Ruhe, and Tindalos, I went to the Transfer arrays hidden in my estate.
The one we were about to use was the one that would bring us to the [Crimson Cavern], the dungeon left behind by the late [Flame] Demon Lord. It was a place I used to level up my monsters. Due to the innumerable [Maelstroms] present in the dungeon, it would never completely run out of monsters for us to defeat.
Speaking of which, because I had gathered just enough DP recently, I bought another one for the Darkness Dragons, increasing the total to two.
If a monster could be bought with DP, a [Maelstrom] could be bought for it for a price equal to 100 times the cost of the said monster. In exchange for that, the [Maelstrom] would forever produce one of that particular monster each day for no additional cost.
That was great and all, but I had discovered that [Maelstroms] had some shortcomings.
First off, the monsters it made could only have static levels.
Secondly, not all monsters could have [Maelstroms]. In my trials, I had found out that I couldn't buy a [Maelstrom] for the Mythological Foxes, Dwarf Smiths, High Elves, or the Ocean Singers. On the other hand, both the Darkness Dragons and Hippogriffs were eligible.
Based on those results, I had conjectured that [Maelstroms] couldn't be bought for humanoid races. By the way, this was another of the reasons I chose not to use [Person] when I made Tindalos.
”Oto-san, let's go call the crow!”
Kuina merrily announced so.
The crow she was referring to was the monster I received from the [Time] Demon Lord. It could use [Transfer], so we had been relying on it whenever we wanted to go to the [Crimson Cavern] or some other place.
”Actually, we don't need to anymore. After all, we can just ask Tiro to help us.”
As I had remarked before, Tiro was wonderful.
On top of being able to go to and from the other dimension and controlling time, she could even use [Transfer].
Thanks to her, we no longer needed to rely on the crow monster whom we knew was a spy for the [Time] Demon Lord.
He might be an ally for the moment, but he's the kind of fellow I can't let my guard down to.
”Tiro, would you please use [Transfer]?”
”Garuu!”
Tiro enthusiastically answered like that.
She was currently in her black hound form. I much preferred it if she stayed in this form, but given her capricious personality, that was unlikely. Worse yet, there was no telling when she would transform.
At any rate, she approached the Transfer array, sat on top of it, concentrated, and then poured some magic power. The rest of us followed suit and entered the array. A moment later, the array shone and the floating sensation peculiar to [Transfer] enveloped my body.
◇
Like that, we arrived at the Transfer array placed in the [Crimson Cavern].
It was pretty much a volcano dungeon, so it was quite hot.
”Everyone, come near Kuina.”
”Gau!”
”Phew. Thanks. It was so hot, I thought I was gonna die.”
”Yeah, thanks, Kuina.”
It got cooler when I went near Kuina. This was made possible through her power over fire which, to put it crudely, allowed her to control the amount of heat of things.
On sultry nights, Rorono and Aura would even sneak into Kuina's room and sleep there. In fact, due to that well-maintained temperature, I too enjoyed sleeping beside her and hugging her like a pillow.
Even now in this volcano dungeon, her ability was proving mighty useful.
”Tiro, you're an S rank monster, but you're still at level 1. I prohibit you from attacking a C rank monster or above, you hear?”
”Gau!”
What a wise kid. Obedient too. It seems like she got what I was trying to say.
”Kuina, if ever a C rank monster or stronger appears, I want you to take care of it.”
”Leave it to Kuina!”
Kuina, taking on her role as the eldest, energetically replied so.
For the most part, the strongest monsters in this dungeon were C rank monsters.
That was due to the fact that most monsters here were born from [Maelstroms], and as stated before, [Maelstroms] could only produce monsters that were eligible for purchase with DP. For a monster to be eligible for purchase, another monster that was at least two ranks above it and of the same lineage must first be made through [Synthesis].
Most Demon Lords could make only up to A rank monsters, so the most a [Maelstrom] could offer them were C rank monsters. Meanwhile, I could reliably make S rank monsters, so I had easy access to B rank monsters.
As to be expected, the difference between B rank monsters and C rank monsters were huge, thus giving me an overwhelming advantage.
That reminds me, I bet Stolas has already bought a [Maelstrom] for the monster unlocked by her Storm Dragon Knight Bahamut.
In my estimation, my Black Dragon of Death Siegwurm and her Storm Dragon Knight Bahamut were on par with each other. If I was correct, it stood to reason that the monster two ranks below her Storm Dragon Knight Bahamut was also on par with the Darkness Dragon Graphross.
If she had bought a [Maelstrom] right away, then in half a year's time, she could possibly have nearly 200 B rank monsters at her disposal.
If I have Stolas as an ally, we'll be quite powerful, wouldn't we?
I would say about 90% of all Demon Lords had B rank medals, which meant the most powerful monster they could make through [Synthesis] on their own was just a B rank monster.
Given the regular rules of [Synthesis], they weren't even guaranteed that. If two medals of the same rank were used, there was only 2/3 chance the created monster would be of those medals' rank. The other 1/3 chance, however, could make the new monster have one rank lower. And if they somehow obtained an A rank medal, a [Synthesis] using that and their B rank medal would only have 1/3 chance of yielding an A rank monster.
For those reasons, Demon Lords who had B rank medals considered B rank monsters as their elites while D rank monsters made by [Maelstroms] composed the bulk of their forces.
To be blunt, from Stolas and my own perspective, most individual Demon Lords could be considered small fries already. The quality of our forces was just so great, it was more than enough to compensate for the fact that they had years ahead of us in terms of preparations.
In retrospect, giving Stolas that [Creation] medal was truly the correct decision.
Maybe it's wise to also give the next member of our faction a [Creation] medal. That way, we'll all have [Maelstroms] that can mass produce B rank monsters. Alright, I'm going to reserve the next medal I make for that purpose.
For whatever reason, [Viscosity] Demon Lord Ronove's face popped into my head, and it just might not be the worst idea ever.
As a Demon Lord, he could make aquatic monsters and also slimes.
And slimes were the embodiment of potential. Its lower-class species were pretty much synonymous with the term small fry, but the same couldn't be said about high-class slime species. I had even heard of rumors saying there was an [Infinitely Evolving Slime] somewhere out there.
If I gave him a [Creation] medal, he could make an S rank slime and an army of B rank slimes. In my opinion, that was a reliable ally.
Of course, I knew that in terms of war potential, intellect, or whatever else, it was probably better to look for another Demon Lord to add to our faction, but the thing about [Viscosity] Demon Lord Ronove was that he was good people and incapable of treachery.
The worst that could happen was that he would sit on his hand, wasting away the [Creation] medal and all its benefits. If I could prevent that from happening, recruiting him to our faction was a valid option.
”Oto-san, you look serious. What's wrong?”
”Oh, nothing. Sorry, I just got lost in thought. Now then, let's focus on Tiro's hunt.”
It was a bad habit of mine, to go from thought to thought.
Nevertheless, the idea of recruiting him was definitely something worth considering.
”Okay, let's move forward! We'll be counting on you, Kuina.”
”Gaugau!”
Kuina had often come here leading others, so she had somehow grown accustomed to being a leader. In fact, it was fair enough to say that she was the one that trained both Aura and Ruhe.
The person herself felt she was next to useless outside of combat, but these kinds of things proved exactly how useful she was.
◇
Through Kuina's guidance, we reached a dungeon room where we could efficiently take down many monsters.
The dungeon room in question was the inside of a cave filled with many rock formations. These rock formations were as tall as I was and was littered all over the place, creating blind spots.
However, thanks to the lack of lava, thus the better footing among other things, it was quite easy to fight here.