Dungeon Battle Preparations (3)

"Ha-ha-ha-ha! Behold the sharpness of My Glorious Self's magic scythe!!"

Core Number 564 swung the newly made scythe wildly, effortlessly slicing through the straw dummies.

"Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful, Kehma! This is the ideal ultimate magic scythe, the Ultra Death Scythe!"

"I'm glad you like it."

"Of course! Your dungeon catalog is enviable, having such a variety of magic swords. And some of these designs are exactly as envisioned."

"I repurposed curved swords to make them. Turned out well, right?"

"A curved sword, huh! But Kehma, you must have some skilled blacksmiths in your territory. The ones in My Glorious Self's town broke his magic swords."

Though I could name the sword golems whatever I want, remember that these are mass-produced models. I could have given him just the one black steel sword type for the ten I'd promised, but then it would be harder to claim I made them myself.

Our village blacksmiths are more accustomed to working with iron.

"Try not to break them, okay? I can replace them if necessary, but I'll charge you."

"Understood! A warrior's skill is also in preserving their weapon. Ha-ha-ha!"

That settled Number 564's preparations. I needed to hand over the DP to Mikan…

Just then—

"Nkyuaaaa…"

"Ahahaha! So fluffy!"

"S-save me nkyuu…"

Soto, who had accompanied me, was busy fluffing Mikan.

Soto tended to overdo it, making even pets dislike her excessive attention.

"Soto, let Mikan go for now."

"Aww, but I want to fluff him more."

"Fluff the horned rabbits then, the ones in the resting area—nkyuu!"

"Their horns hurt, so no. You can't disobey Papa, meaning you can't defy me, his daughter, so I can fluff you as much as I want!"

Soto proudly fluffed Mikan's armpits even more, definitely tickling him.

"Stop it! I'll bring out the white rabbits we offer at the resting place—nkyuu!"

"I don't understand rabbit language. If they can't speak and tell me they dislike it, how am I supposed to know? It's not nice to take advantage of those who can't express themselves."

So doing things to someone who can speak and express their discomfort is okay? Soto's logic is twisted… who did she get that from?

"Being able to do it even though they dislike it is the best!"

"Kehma, save me nkyuu!"

Guess it's time to rescue Mikan.

"Have you finished handing over the DP? Let him go."

"Just a bit more!"

"I've already received the full amount nkyuu!"

Right, Soto was in charge of handing over the DP today.

I'd considered involving Mikan's team in the battle, so I sent an inquiry to Haku-san about covering their DP. Her response was: [Oh, I forgot about them]… along with approval for 100,000 DP each.

So, while fluffing Mikan, Soto handed over the DP.

Oh, and Number 564's share would come from my revenue. I wasn't skimming off the top or anything—ten magic swords for 10,000 DP each is a pretty good deal and he seemed pretty hyped about the whole thing.

"Soto-jou, you can fluff me if you want. How about my chest hair? It's pretty fluffy."

"Uh, Number 564, you smell sweaty, so please keep your distance."

"What!? Does My Glorious Self smell that bad!?"

He actually wanted to be fluffed… with his appearance and being a bad influence in Dungeon Battles, I prefer to keep him away from Soto.

"Stay away from Soto unless it's an emergency where you need to protect her or I'll castrate you."

"Castration!? That harsh!?"

"If you don't like it, I can behead you. Demonlands style."

"Soto-jou! I won't approach you, so you also stay away from me!"

And that's settled. By the way, Mikan was eventually released in exchange for a pair of Warabbit socks and Strawberry socks.

 

Rei's Point of View

 

"Still, what exactly should we prepare…"

While Kehma and others played at the rabbit dungeon—on business, rather, Rei was working on the Dungeon Battle preparations as she was instructed by Kehma.

She had been considering strengthening herself and taking a frontline position, but that idea was directly forbidden by Rokuko. Disappointing.

Therefore, Rei was looking through records of past Dungeon Battles stored by Rokuko, thinking about what to prepare with the DP entrusted to her.

In Dungeon Battles, Kehma typically employed a human wave tactic with numerous small, cheap monsters. There were also mass golem suppressions—again, a type of human wave tactic.

But this was basic Dungeon Battle strategy.

It was like a warrior swinging a weapon without using any skills. Other Dungeon Cores had also lined up monsters for battle. It was equivalent to a normal attack.

In Kehma's case, it was skewed towards exploration. Whether a warrior or a scout, the difference was only in approach.

"So, preparing human wave tactic monsters now is pointless…"

10,000 DP was more than enough to arrange them on the day of the battle. This was another feature of Kehma's [Basic Attack]. There must be another intention behind being told to prepare using 50,000 DP.

Thus, she focused on strategies other than human wave tactics.

Traps that exploit the enemy's abilities, preemptive strikes by sending golems ahead, flooding and iron ball gimmicks using terrain, fire attacks…

"There's no need to worry much about defense. Considering this case, what's required is an offensive approach."

If it were a defensive battle, enhancing dungeon gimmicks would be viable. But this was more of a raid battle against a single enemy, Core Number 10, in cooperation with other cores.

"… Hm…? Other cores are participating too…"

Rei pondered the what the actual battle would look like.

Other dungeon cores would likely charge with their own monsters, which was basically the same as a human wave tactic.

… Without an extra twist, it wouldn't count as an achievement.

To earn distinction, one must stand out.

The conclusion drawn from this was—