Mission briefing, when suddenly--

And so, in the dark, we made our way outside the village.

What we're using is the corpse of the Yamata-no-Orochi that I had in my possession.

It hadn't fit into Wataru's [Storage] due to its size, so I'd taken full custody of it.

As for my [Storage Dungeon]—Haku-san already knew about it, so as long as I kept the "dungeon" part under wraps, it was fine to talk about it. I'd already explained to Wataru—with the understanding that it was a secret—that it had a huge capacity.

I had also casually told him, "My [Storage] has a large capacity. Maybe it's because I have a lot of mana?" and he seemed to accept that explanation. It was just a guess, though—nobody said it was the truth.

"Ugh, my Orochi…! You better compensate me!!"

"Yeah, no thanks… Anyway, let's get to it—Necromance!"

Even as I said that, the spell I activated was actually [Create Golem].

Using the freshly stored corpse as material, it rose as a flesh golem.

"So, I turned the Yamata-no-Orochi's corpse into a zombie. Make it your underling and have it attack the village."

"You're incredible! Necromancy is supposed to be some insanely high-level skill, right!? You can endlessly replenish your forces!"

Number 650 thrashed her tail against the ground excitedly, shouting that I must be behind Number 695's rapid rise.

"It's really convenient being able to create combat units with a skill. Especially since it doesn't cost any DP."

"Exactly. Even weaklings, when defeated in large numbers, become a major expense."

We started getting excited talking about dungeon life quirks. As we chatted, I plugged the holes in the Orochi's corpse with compacted dirt from the area, packing and shaping it like armor.

[Create Golem] also comes in handy for this kind of bodywork. No incantations needed—I just adjusted everything like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Whoa, so with necromancy, you can patch holes and even make armor? It's perfect aside from those dead-looking eyes!"

"Well, it is actually dead, so the eyes are a lost cause."

Technically, as a golem, I could make its eyes move, but since golems perceive the world differently through magic, there's no real need to move them.

…

Wait a second—how is this even different from a zombie?

Maybe the performance differs? Or maybe it's about the soul or spirit? If this were true necromancy, maybe I'd be dealing with souls or wraiths or something.

"Still, it'd be pretty terrifying if this thing suddenly popped out of nowhere, huh?"

"Ah, good point. That would be bad."

"Huh? It would?"

"Probably not for the reason you're thinking of though."

See, if a corpse that's supposed to be in my [Storage] suddenly showed up outside without a good reason, that'd be very suspicious.

It would totally give away that I gave her the corpse willingly, meaning I'm helping her.

"… I need to make a device to act as a trigger. Hmm."

"A trigger, huh…"

"Hey, this village—you set it up, right? Can you get the villagers to cooperate?"

"No problem. Half of them are real humans, but the village chief and elders are all mine."

Apparently, they're lizardmen made to look human. The only thing lizard-like about them is a bit of scale hidden beneath their clothes. So… their lizard-ness level is pretty low. "Lizard-ness"? Is that a thing? Eh. Whatever. Lizard-ness.

"Okay then, let's say there was a shrine at the edge of the village. How about right here? I'll make one using DP, so just watch the Yamata-no-Orochi zombie for a bit."

"Hmm? Sure, go ahead."

As Number 650 turned around, I used a nearby rock as material and created a shrine with [Create Golem]. Since it's just a full-scale model, it took no time at all.

"Alright, done. This'll be the activation switch. When I destroy the shrine, have the villagers say something like, 'Y-you destroyed that shrine!? A calamity will befall us!' You can improvise. Then, unleash the Orochi zombie."

"… Why?"

"The idea is, destroying the shrine caused a calamity—which means the Orochi that should've been sealed in my [Storage] got transferred out and resurrected as a zombie. Got it?"

"Oooh! So that's the plan! Sounds fun, I'm in."

"If you refused, Wataru's success would just be credited to dungeon conquest, so you didn't really have a choice anyway."

"Urgh… you're right…"

Number 650 growled in frustration.

Your weakness is the problem here. Though really, if the Orochi had survived my attack and gone after Wataru, none of this would've been necessary.

Now I even get to take the blame for destroying the shrine! This plan's a win-win.

Watch closely, Wataru! I'll hand you the fame for slaying the Yamata-no-Orochi!!

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

We brought Wataru to the shrine the next morning, but—

"I'm so sorry! I tripped and accidentally broke something!"

"Y-you fool! You broke that shrine!? A great calamity will befall us!"

WHAAAAAAT!? Why is Wataru the one breaking the shrine!?

"Damn it! If it's come to this, then I'll destroy it even more—UOOOOH! [Elemental Burst]!!"

"GSHAAAA—… splut"

"Ah."

At the worst possible timing, the Yamata-no-Orochi zombie appeared—and I blew off four of its heads.

"A second Yamata-no-Orochi!?"

"N-no! The one I had in my [Storage] disappeared. That means when the shrine was broken, it was transferred from my storage and resurrected as a zombie!"

"O-ohhh, I see!?"

"Now go, Wataru! Finish it off!"

"… Um, but it's already not moving?"

Right. The Yamata-no-Orochi zombie was, in fact, not a zombie—but a golem.

Golems are magical beings, and they're extremely vulnerable to magic damage.

And [Elemental Burst] is an overloaded multi-element spell—plus, it was cast using my mana.

Which means it penetrated deeply into the golem, overloaded it, and disabled it in one shot.

"N-no way… this wasn't supposed to happen…!?"

"You did it, Kehma-san! You covered for my mistake—how thoughtful of you!"

From the corner of my eye, I could see Number 650 hiding and whispering, "Wait, I'm not the one at fault here, right?"

…

"Wataru, at this rate you're not going to get any credit for anything, are you? Want to check out that cave again? There might still be something left."

"Oh no, brave hero-sama! That cave was just an empty one until the Yamata-no-Orochi came out of it! We'll check it out ourselves, so don't worry! I mean, you guys are amazing!"

Hey, villager! Whose side are you on!? … Oh right, Number 650's. Of course.

"Well, if that's the case… then the only thing left for me to do is—report that Kehma-san deserves the highest credit!!"

"NOOO, STOP!!"

Wataru cheerfully began prepping for his triumphant return.

It must've been the doing of his [Super Luck]—just as he wished.

And thus, my grand plan—[Resurrected Yamata-no-Orochi ~You… you broke that shrine!?~ Edition]—ended in failure. I wound up killing the Orochi twice, and even cleaned up after Wataru's mess, getting all the credit dumped on me in the process.

I'm gonna tell Rokuko to slap Number 650 at the next Dungeon Core meeting…