Dungeon Defense (WN)

Chapter 231 – Battle of Demon Lords(2)

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60% of everything!?

Her brain probably has a bunch of holes in it like swiss cheese.
If we do that, then the land would get split between the Plains Faction, Agares, and Gamigin by 4:3:3 respectively.
It wasn’t a deal that could be accepted.
The other party was acting rather arrogant simply because they won the first battle!

“…….”

 

I touched my left hand.

I would sometimes touch the stubs where my fingers once were after I had gifted my index and middle fingers to Barbatos.
I could utilize a Demon Lord’s regenerative ability to heal it, but I deliberately left it alone.

I could die at the snap of a finger if I were to lower my guard.
This wound acted as a reminder.
I recalled the confusion and fear I felt when I was suddenly ambushed in the demon world.
Compared to that, there were no assassins here nor were their blades and spells flying around.

Let’s proceed calmly.

“……Currently, a portion of the Demon Lords who are a part of Miss Agares’ army are unaffiliated.
The unaffiliated Demon Lords with no pivot or cause who had joined because of the Crescent Alliance were simply roped in because of Miss Agares’ natural charisma.”

“Hmm?”

Gamigin tilted her head.

“What are you saying all of a sudden?”

“They are incredibly weak as a group.”

Even a group of vagrants would be able to come out strong in the beginning.

A group’s stability is only put under question when they are threatened.
There have been many cases where rebel forces had collapsed due to traitors appearing among their ranks after receiving only one counterattack.
It didn’t matter if they had been advancing with great force.

“I dare to say that Miss Agares’ strength is capable of making almost every Demon Lord tremble in fear, but, in other words, this means that the army itself is only relying on the strength of one person.
It must be nice since they have won once.
They will most likely be excited about the spoils they are going to share.
However, what do you think will happen if they are defeated even once?’

In this regard, the Plains Faction was peerless.

They may have lost their first battle, but Barbatos retreated and immediately reorganized her army.
There wasn’t a single person among the Plains Faction’s 19 Demon Lords who had either surrendered to the enemy or run away.

If anything, Brother Beleth explained to me that, “Next time, I’ll crush Agares’ right arm!”.
It was already surprising that a defeated army could reorganize themself without any issue, but their morale hadn’t decreased at all either.

“Miss Gamigin, what do you think is the most terrifying army in the world?”

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Gamigin responded while twirling her blonde hair with her finger.

“Obviously, an army that keeps attacking even after getting stepped on over and over again like a cockroach.”

“That is correct.”

Anyone who has been a commander and led an army before would give this response.
An army that attacks again as if nothing had happened even after having been defeated.
I guarantee that there’s nothing more terrifying than this.

The Plains Faction was that kind of army.

Barbatos was an ideological leader and a militaristic commander.
In other words, out of all leader types, Barbatos was a part of the most wicked group.
Only fanatics gathered around her.
These people were completely dyed in this ideology and came together to form a single slaughtering machine.

“The Plains Faction will probably persistently get up over and over again after being defeated.
In order to ultimately defeat the Plains Faction, you will have to quite literally wipe them out completely.”

“Hm.
Do you think that’s impossible for Agares?”

“I am honestly not sure.”

I showed my palms as I smiled wryly.

“But can you guarantee it? That the Demon Lords with no affiliation will not lose even once?”

Gamigin didn’t answer as she continued to stare at me silently.
There was a smile on her lips, but the purpose of it was to be silent.

“Different from the Plains Faction, the unaffiliated Demon Lords will most likely become uneasy the moment they are defeated once.
There is no way Barbatos will miss that opportunity.”

Barbatos was probably the greatest tactician within the Demon Lord army.
She will bite down on a weak point like a wolf and refuse to let go.

“Miss Gamigin, in essence, Miss Agares is the one who is at a disadvantage in this internal struggle, not the Plains Faction.”

“Agares is at a disadvantage?”

“Yes.
Miss Agares cannot allow even a single defeat.
This is an absolutely dangerous gamble.”

Gamigin crossed her legs.
She had a white piece of cloth draped over her like someone from ancient Greece, so her thigh was completely revealed as the cloth was pushed to the side.

“So? It is only natural that there would be a lot of risks the higher the stakes are.”

“What I am trying to say is that right now is the only time Miss Gamigin will have this much value.”

I pretended to be nonchalant as I smiled.

“If the Plains Faction wins, then you would forever lose this opportunity to sell yourself this high.
Miss Gamigin, I will promise to give you 20% of the north region of Habsburg after this battle is over.
Please cooperate with our Plains Faction.”

“Sorry, but no can do.”

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Gamigin let out a loud laugh.

“You’re saying some nice words, but they aren’t that persuasive.
Agares is maintaining her army with her charisma alone? Fine.
But if you turn that around, that means the Plains Faction had lost to a person like that~.”

“…….”

Gamigin didn’t seem like she would accept this proposal.

I thought that she might cooperate if I offered her a decent amount of land, but it seems there was a stronger alliance between her and Agares than I thought.
They might’ve used magic to prevent either of them from betraying the other.

I spoke.

“I definitely warned you, Miss Gamigin.”

“I’m the one who definitely gave you an offer first, Dantalian.”

The two of us glared at each other while smiling.

The second negotiation ended without any sort of gain.

I decided to utilize the trick I had been hiding up my sleeve.

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The negotiation has broken down!

Agares immediately moved her army.
She disagreed with something like negotiations, so she was greatly pleased when Gamigin told her the news.
Agares was confident that she could win.

“The Plains Faction is all bark and no bite.”

In the first place, she disliked the fact that Barbatos was seen as the representative warmonger within the Demon Lord army.
In Agares’ opinion, tactics were nothing more than a game for humans.
For demonkind, overwhelming your enemy with pure strength was the only thing that mattered.

On the other hand, Barbatos was trying to obtain a terrain advantage even now.

She set up her position on high ground and made it easy for the enemy to grow tired whenever they charged.

Barbatos learned from her previous battle and flat out prepared a separate unit to face Agares.
It was none other than a unit that contained Barbatos, Beleth, 9 other Demon Lords, and 400 death knights.
An elite unit that could make the entire continent tremble in terror.

Zepar pointed something out worriedly.

“If Your Excellency takes charge of Agares, then who will command the rest of the army?”

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“You can command, Zepar.”

Thus, an unprecedented battle unfolded where the supreme commanders of both armies discarded their commanding duties and fought each other head-on.

The Plains Faction managed to engage in battle again even though the shock from the previous defeat had yet to settle.
The army led by the Plains Faction was a gathering of units that had gone into battle for hundreds of years without rest.
They surpassed Agares’ army in terms of quality.

“Brats! Let’s go another round!”

However, to Demon Lord Agares, the quality of her army meant nothing as her strength was just that overwhelming.

Agares mounted her red wolf and charged throughout the battlefield without rest.
Barbatos did her utmost to face Agares, but Agares fought against the 9 Demon Lords and 400 death knights as if she wanted to show that her Rank 2 position wasn’t just for show.

“Does that ignorant bitch……not get tired!?”

Barbatos swore between her panting.

The battle had been going on for 6 hours now.
During this time, Barbatos had already used up more than half of her magic power.
When a large amount of magic power leaves the body all of a sudden, it induces nausea, vomiting, and, before long, intense stomach pain.

Barbatos wasn’t the only one in a bad state.

Beleth had retrieved his lost arm from the last battle, but his left arm got cut off twice in today’s battle alone.
He healed his injuries with his immense regenerative ability, but that only increased his exhaustion.
Once Barbatos and Beleth gradually got tired, Agares started to rampage even more.

“Are you already done!? You would always boast about carrying out the wishes of demonkind, but is this enough to tire you out!? How pathetic, you Plains Faction bastards!”

Agares laughed in the middle of the battlefield.

“Life is relative! As there are stronger people above the strong, there are weaker people below the weak! For people who are unaware of this simple and clear truth, how dare you pretend to be a part of the strong simply because you believe you’re a little strong!”

Agares swung her halberd.

“Anyone could pretend to be strong! They can talk like the strong, think like the strong, and move like the strong.
But the actual strong are on a whole different level!”

Three death knights died due to getting swept up by Agares’ violent gale.
The death knights were blocking the areas that Barbatos and Beleth couldn’t handle themselves, but they were losing manpower at a significantly fast rate.

Agares let out a burst of aura as she laughed loudly.

“I feel alive whenever I snuff out insects like you who act like you’re strong! Barbatos! Despair at your powerlessness.”

“I see your top hole is as ragged as your bottom hole, you fucking bitch.”

Barbatos gnashed her teeth as she tightened her grip on her battle scythe once more.

It was at that moment.

“━━?”

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Agares repositioned her halberd as she glanced to the side.
Barbatos thought that she was intentionally dropping her guard to lure in an attack, but Agares didn’t like that kind of ‘trick’.

In reality, Agares’ face gradually contorted.
Barbatos decided to put a safe distance between her and Agares before turning to follow Agares’ gaze.

There were hundreds of flags fluttering on a hill in the distance.

Thanks to the superior physical ability of a high-ranking Demon Lord, she was able to recognize the symbol on the flags despite the distance.
They weren’t Agares’ flags.
They weren’t the symbol of an unaffiliated Demon Lord either.
Barbatos’ face contorted just like Agares’ once she recognized the symbol.

“……Sitri?”

A goat with three horns.

It was a symbol that represented the Rank 12, the person who was now in charge of the Mountain Faction after Paimon’s fall.

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Sitri was with 6 other Mountain Faction Demon Lords.

She was riding a mountain goat and looking down at the battle that was unfolding further down the hill.
She looked like she was trying to distinguish who her allies and enemies were.

“Hmm.
Agares is putting her butt on full display.”

Sitri had made a promise to Dantalian a while ago.
She promised to fulfill two of his wishes as compensation for sparing Paimon.

The first wish was for funding, and, a few days ago, Dantalian secretly told Sitri his second wish.

His wish was for her to participate in the internal strife within Habsburg and help Barbatos.

In other words, he was telling her to help Barbatos who had been her archnemesis all her life.
Normal people would’ve probably contemplated this.
However, Sitri agreed with no hesitation whatsoever.
The Mountain Faction Demon Lords opposed, but Sitri rallied her troops alone.
She had a really simple reason.

She had made a promise, after all.

This reason was more than enough for Demon Lord Sitri.

Sitri raised her right hand.

“All forces, let us courteously and gently rape Agares.”

She was smiling happily as if she were pleased to be able to fulfill Dantalian’s wish.

“My specialty is violating people’s asses, after all.”