Volume 9 Chapter 9 (2/2)

There were also [Therapy] rooms which increases one's own healing power as well as magic power recovery just by being in the dungeon room.

These two rooms were astronomically expensive, but I was hoping to have such rooms in my dungeon someday. If I made Kuina stay in a [Therapy] room, the rate at which she was storing magic power to the furs of her tail would surely skyrocket.

And then, there was the dungeon room we happened to come upon.

It was an even more expensive room that had a very amazing magical effect.

Its name was… [Transfer Labyrinth]

Just as its name would imply, the moment one entered this labyrinth room, they would be Transferred at random to one of the six transfer points within the room.

To make matters worse, those transfer points were all placed in the outer edges, while the exit was placed in the center of the maze. Moreover, until one has exited the room, not only would they be unable to reunite with allies who were flung to the other transfer points, they would also be unable to return to the entrance.

”So, this room fails in this regard”

At first glance, the Transfer Labyrinth was a very convenient room to divide the enemy's war potential. However, it would seem it had the defect of transferring members of a party to the same transfer point.

So, for adventurers who worked well enough as a party, the Transfer Labyrinth's effect was not as impactful as it initially seemed to be.

And yet, despite that flaw, the room's cost was that absurd. I was feeling less and less inclined to buy one in the future for my own dungeon. There was still the charm of forcing the dungeon delvers to search for the exit without the option of going back to the entrance, but that just wasn't enough for that kind of asking price.

Anyway…

”I'm so happy to be with master.”

”Gaugau!”

In order to raise my and Tiro's levels, the two of us were in the same party as Rorono, her Avalon-Ritters, and her three knights.

As for the others, they were likely thrown to the other transfer points.

Just then, I realized something I had overlooked.

”I see, it seems my judgment was a little premature. Even though this room doesn't mean much against adventurers, against other Demon Lords and their monsters, the scattering of war potential that it does can indeed turn the tide.”

Like usual, I had made monsters that filled similar roles form parties together. This time though, that backfired on us.

Having similar roles, it would be hard for them to make up for their weak points by themselves.

The ones that could have it the worst would be the snipers. Aura and the High Elves excelled in taking down enemy elites, but against a swarm of enemies, their limited wide-area attacks and spells might not be enough. Moreover, this labyrinth was sure to make gaining distance difficult for them.

Against such enemies, there was a real chance they could lose.

”Master, thanks to the access device that the commanding officers are carrying, I've been able to ascertain their locations. What's more, I'm able to communicate with them so long as they're in the same dungeon room as us.”

”Great job. I want you to tell them this: Head to the exit at the center of the labyrinth as quickly as you can.”

”Mhm. I'll also send them the map data for this place.”

So long as they had Rorono's map data, they should be able to reach the exit without ever getting lost.

After much thought, I came to the conclusion that if the [Pig] Demon Lord was ever going to make a move, it would be here and now while our forces were scattered.

Most likely, the enemies would focus on the other groups first while leaving Rorono's group, which had already proven that large number of enemies wasn't even a bother, alone for the moment.

Agares seemed dumb, but apparently, he's quite the schemer. And I must admit, I underestimated [Transfer Labyrinth] rooms.

Aside from learning that such rooms were effective in Demon Lord to Demon Lord fights, I also learned a valuable lesson on how to form parties.

Rather than to have a party whose members all fulfilled the same role, it was better to form a party with members that could cover one another's weakness, making them able to stand alone if need be.

I had to thank Agares for that lesson.

”Rorono, Tiro, come on, let's hurry. And Rorono, I fear Aura is the one in most danger, so pinpoint her location and formulate a route that would lead us to her. The exit should be where all our paths converge; it's only a matter of finding the route to the exit and then to her.”

”Leave it to me.”

Like that, we sprinted. All while praying that the enemy would come after us instead.

◇

Procell's [Sniper Corps] was composed of Aura and the High Elves.

They had been separated from the rest of the army and was currently making their way toward the exit.

Along the way, Aura was being more cheery than usual in an effort to encourage the anxious High Elves.

After a while, they came upon an open space.

Inside a labyrinth-type room, open spaces were definitely out of place.

Furthermore, occupying that open space was an absurdly large army of orcs, which were beings that were stronger and tougher than goblins. There were even high-ranking orcs among them.

”I'm glad we have a lot of targets today, but I don't think our bullets are enough…”

There was only a limited number of bullets that Aura and the High Elves had for their anti-materiel rifles. Obviously, they prepared and carried bullets with them, but because each bullet was large, there was only so much they could carry in their person.

Normally, this wasn't an in issue since Rorono's Mithril Golems carried with them large containers of ammunition and those golems would routinely give out bullets to the monsters. However, such an option wasn't available for the elves at the moment.

”This doesn't look good for us, does it? But if I lose with just this much, I have no right to call myself master's [Monster of the Covenant]. Besides, Rorono-chan's been hogging the spotlight for a while now; maybe this is my chance to shine”

Aura said so and then readied her prized anti-materiel rifle.

In the next moment, a gunshot and a scream of an orc was heard almost at the same time, signaling the start of the fight.

Despite the circumstances, Aura smiled at the thought that this might be the perfect opportunity to use that.

Much like Kuina, who unlocked the possibility to evolve, and Rorono, who gained the powerful skill called [Materialization], Aura acquired a new trump card by being one of Procell's [Monsters of the Covenant].