第５３掘：暴虐の魔王とスライム (Part2)
"So, you're saying it didn't wash out, and it's permanently stained black?"
"Yes."
Come on, at least make it a red dress for the aesthetic.
"Yuki-san, everyone's evacuation is complete!! You need to evacuate too, quickly!!"
Milly rushes in toward me.
"No, the Demon Lord is specifically targeting me. If I try to flee with you all, it’ll only cause trouble. Everyone, wait with the evacuees. If I die, abandon this dungeon. You all have dungeon cores, right? Use those to create a new one."
"Wait, what!? Big brother!? Are you planning to fight!?"
Ratz approaches me, looking as if she’s heard something absolutely insane.
"Calm down, calm down. I’ll hole up in the deepest part of the dungeon and escape if things get hairy. If I judge that interception isn't possible, I'll have you all run first and focus on stalling. I’m not planning on dying."
"…Mm, you aren't lying."
Labyris takes my hand to confirm my true intentions.
"……Very well. But you must absolutely run if it gets dangerous, okay? I don't want to be a widow this soon."
"Don't worry. Leave this to me and go on ahead."
With that, everyone reluctantly walks toward the evacuation site.
…Wait? Did I just trigger a death flag?
Whoa, hold on a second. I can't believe I actually said that line. Since I have no choice, I’m officially declaring that flag null and void.
I have to break that death flag somehow!!
Thinking that, I teleport to the deepest part of the dungeon.
Just then, an alarm blares, signaling that the Fresh Blood Princess has breached the dungeon.
She’s currently on the first floor. A map designed to buy distance.
While I have the chance, I finish positioning the Goblin Army and Slime Army on the second floor, the interception line.
I check the Fresh Blood Princess's status.
Name: Deryu Le Cossel
Race: Human
Status: Solitary Demon Lord
Gender: Female
Occupation: Demon Lord, Fresh Blood Princess
Age: 235
Lv. 412
HP: 12020
MP: 9200
STR: 5740
DEF: 4400 + 3000 (Fresh Blood Dress)
INT: 2920
AGI: 6032
LUK: 20 + 100 (Memento Earrings)
Skills:
Unique Skills:
Demon Lord’s Coercion (Generally lowers the abilities of opponents at or below one's own level)
Demon Lord’s Magic (Stops personal aging, automatic recovery, deploys magic as a protective barrier, improves physical ability)
Demon Lord’s Fist (When unarmed, attack power is doubled and agility increases)
Demon Lord’s Intuition (Search, sense hostility, improved judgment, accelerated thought process)
Flower of Growth (Gains a high percentage of experience points even without dealing the finishing blow)
Normal Skills:
Royal Etiquette (Well, generally speaking, it’s the kind of thing that makes people think, "Oh, this person was raised in a good home," right?)
Fire Magic LV3
Water Magic LV3
Wind Magic LV3
Cossel Swordsmanship LV4
Cossel Shield Technique LV2
Cossel Martial Arts LV5
Arithmetic LV3
I really don't think just slapping "Demon Lord" in front of everything makes it a skill.
Also, that description for Royal Etiquette is way too casual, Luna, you jerk.
I received an email saying my status screen is updated daily to be easier to read, but can't you do something about the detailed descriptions?
No, I suppose the explanations are accurate, but the wording is just too common.
Still, as expected of a Demon Lord.
She’s roughly double Kiyu’s level—wow, that’s a cheat.
Oh, so "Demon Lord" really is a job class. Elju seemed like she’d never heard of it before, so is this the first time in history?
As I’m thinking this, she clears the 5km first floor in a mere two minutes.
Let’s see, calculating that by speed… 150 km/h. Wow, she’s a monster.
Well, I’m looking forward to seeing how much my second-floor interception line can do.
For now, I’ll just try to talk to her through a doppelganger on the scene.
***
Side: Deryu Le Cossel
I know not how many years I have lived.
I have not looked at my own status since that day.
My country was easily swallowed up by human greed and war one day.
Sadly, thanks to my unique skill, "Flower of Growth," the experience points of the soldiers who died in battle, the civilians caught in the crossfire, the royal guards, infants, women, men… all of it flowed into me.
Ironically, by slaughtering my people, the enemy nation made it impossible for me to be killed.
By the time I realized it, I had crushed every invading soldier with my own fists.
I stained the pure white dress my father had given me with blood.
I couldn't wash the color of the blood out. I realized too late that I didn't know the proper way to clean it.
The maids who had cared for me so diligently were no longer there.
Ah, perhaps this is what I am meant to carry.
In the end, I couldn't wash it away completely, so I decided to wear the dress as it was.
Even though it was soaked in blood, it felt no different to wear than it had before.
The streets and villages of my country were all slaughtered, and the scent of decay hung in the air.
If left as is, it would only lead to undead or plague.
So, I used my strengthened magic to burn it all to ash.
I stained the enemy nation that did this to my country with blood, and burned them to ash as well.
Having lost the place I could call home, I left the country just as I was, with nothing but the clothes on my back.
For some reason, I no longer had any issues even if I didn't consume food or drink.
Since then, I have helped those unjustly oppressed, hunted down bandits, crushed dungeons where the natural disaster known as a Dungeon Master appeared, and destroyed foolish kingdoms.