Caligurio, commander of the Mechanical Legion, could not hide his frustration at the loss of contact with the dungeon assault team.
The loss of gold and treasures was one thing, but above all else, the high-quality "Magic Stones" they had been extracting were something they would continue to need in vast quantities.
No matter how many they obtained, it was never enough — he had been reveling in the sight of those materials being hauled out of the dungeon.
However, having already committed 350,000 troops, sending any more forces into the dungeon was out of the question. The sudden loss of all communication was entirely unforeseen, even accounting for potential threats.
After all, they had prepared chain-of-command protocols to ensure that if a truly threatening entity — Veldora, for example — were encountered, the advance elements could report back so that all troops would be made aware of the danger.
And yet, the result spoke for itself.
The dungeon entrance remained wide open, but there was no sign of anyone inside.
"What is going on?"
Caligurio's murmur met only silence from his staff officers.
Then—
"The dungeon is meant to be explored.
Not conquered by military force. Is that what you mean?"
A bewitchingly beautiful woman addressed Caligurio.
Clad in the uniform of the Imperial Mechanical Legion—
Miranda, one of the Three Great Heads.
She had received secret orders from Yuuki to monitor Caligurio's movements and inspect the progress of the invasion into the Monster Kingdom.
That said, her position as a staff officer attached to the Imperial Mechanical Legion headquarters was genuine.
She possessed considerable ability and served as one of Caligurio's staff officers in her own right.
"Is that what that brat Yuuki said?"
"Yes.
He said that if the dungeon is to be conquered, only the elite should be sent in."
"Ridiculous! We already sent in the elite!!"
Caligurio responded irritably upon hearing those words.
And rightly so — he had deployed 350,000 elite soldiers from the Imperial Army's most powerful modified units. To expect anything more would be asking far too much.
"And yet, the dungeon has swallowed them all and still stands.
We cannot determine what is happening inside, and sending further reinforcements would be difficult at best.
All we can do now is wait for anyone who makes it out alive?"
"Rest easy. I distributed Resurrection Bracelets to the higher-ranking officers.
Reports indicated that even if they died, they could be revived outside the dungeon.
The fact that no one has come out suggests the assault is proceeding smoothly."
"But... in the end, the resurrection effect of those bracelets was unconfirmed, wasn't it?
According to him, since they were created through a skill,
restoration
would be impossible."
At those words, Caligurio fell silent.
A commander's worth was measured by more than raw strength alone. While strength was indispensable, a fool who could not even assess the current situation was utterly unfit for the role.
Miranda's words were correct — the resurrection effect was an unknown variable.
But with 350,000 elite troops, the notion of an impenetrable structure was absurd.
This was a military force capable of reducing multiple major cities to ashes.
At the very worst, they could simply destroy the dungeon entirely and escape.
The force heading toward the Monster Kingdom's capital numbered 200,000, leaving 150,000 in reserve.
Rather than thinking of it as still having 150,000 troops, he should consider that only 150,000 remained.
It was at this point that Caligurio realized he might have been underestimating the Monster Kingdom.
He should have recalled the entire army, he thought — pouring all their strength into capturing the Monster Kingdom's capital was the best course of action.
Caligurio wavered in his judgment, and then—
"Leave only a small liaison unit here, and the rest of us will reinforce the assault on the Monster Kingdom's capital!
As for contact with the dungeon assault team, we'll assemble an exploration team—"
He never finished the sentence.
The situation had already begun to move, and that momentum was building into a swirling torrent that threatened to sweep Caligurio and his forces away.
A multi-front simultaneous operation — and that was what had done them in.
---
During the period before the Imperial Army's dungeon incursion was completed, there had been no progress in the assault on the capital.
It was only a few kilometers away, practically within arm's reach.
So the Imperial Army had spent a day establishing their base and conducting reconnaissance around the Monster Kingdom's capital — and nothing more.
Geld sneered at the Imperial Army's cautious approach.
No matter how much they reconnoitered, it was meaningless — there were no ambushes to discover.
The capital was too close for traps to be effective, so this battle would primarily be a straightforward, head-on clash.
In terms of numbers, they were overwhelmingly disadvantaged.
But Geld's role was to stall — to hold the front line of the capital's defense.
A tactic favored by the Dwarf King: positioning a wall of troops and unleashing powerful offensive magic from behind them.
That was the simple and straightforward plan directed at Geld and his forces.
The ones unleashing that powerful offensive magic were the Crimson Flame Guard.
As
More could still be gathered, but this time only those with the highest offensive capability had been assembled.
The rest were being held in reserve for the final decisive battle, in the event that Geld's forces were defeated.
At that moment, they should have been in the process of organizing mixed units alongside human volunteers.
The 5,000-strong Sorcery Battalion was led by
"For the sake of my lord, we shall achieve victory!!"
She rallied the gathered troops with those words — a scene that was almost endearing.
She was filling in the moats from the surrounding area, and before anyone realized it, a fait accompli was taking shape.
In terms of strategy, Geld felt that Benimaru had already lost to Momiji, though Benimaru himself probably didn't mind all that much.
If he truly objected, he would have put a stop to it long ago.
Otherwise, the title of "Grand Marshal" would be meaningless.
Their rear support system was flawless, and there were no problems with their offensive capabilities.
In the end, the battle would be decided by which side's magic barrier proved superior — the Imperial Army's or their own — and which could withstand the other's offensive magic.
But that was assuming a normal engagement.
In this particular battle,
Acting on their own — ordinarily, this would have been completely unacceptable.
However, given their overwhelming numerical disadvantage, someone as chaotic and unpredictable as Shion might prove quite effective.
Benimaru's instructions had been:
"Let her do as she pleases. Shion will inevitably cause some kind of upheaval eventually.
When that happens, it will create confusion among the enemy — aim for that moment!"
Geld's job was to be an absolute wall, to let none of the enemy forces through.
If he held fast to that role, eventually Shion would throw the enemy army into chaos. All he had to do then was pour everything into that opening.
Truly
simple.
Geld believed in Benimaru, and without a moment's doubt, he carried out his duty.
And after a day-long standoff, the battle began.
Geld's defense was an impenetrable iron wall.
The Imperial Army could not break through the 17,000 Boarman warriors of the Yellow Legion and Orange Legion combined.
Even when they fired portable magical cannons, the effect of Geld's Unique Skill "Guardian" meant that the entire force possessed ironclad defensive capabilities, rendering the weapons useless.
Moreover, Geld's Unique Skill "Gourmet" allowed the entire corps to share access to his Stomach.
Minor wounds could be healed by support magic from the rear units, and even serious injuries could be treated immediately with Recovery Potions.
More than for this particular battle, the Stomach was always stocked with large quantities of Recovery Potions as a precaution against emergencies.
There was no degradation in quality, and Geld's subordinates were at all times granted permission to use the Stomach for storage and retrieval.
From a logistics standpoint, a unit capable of being healed on the spot without any need to relocate had become a second wall of dependable, ironclad monsters.
Hovering in the sky above this Second Corps led by Geld was a single observer.
As an Arch-Demon, she had been assigned to the Second Corps as an intelligence officer alongside two subordinates.
Geld, a warrior at heart, had welcomed them cordially and told them to do as they pleased.
In truth, with Geld playing the role of wall, there was nothing for Carrera and her companions to do.
Carrera had also received secret orders from Rimuru — to protect Geld.
But now was different.
Because the one thing she had always wished for — the order to go all out — had come from her most beloved master.
That said, she understood that going too far could earn her the same anger that Testa and Ultima had faced.
So: don't go too far, but give it everything.
And so, from high above, Carrera prepared to unleash her nuclear strike magic.
"Hold on one moment! Lady Carrera, what exactly were you about to do?"
Her adjutant, the high-ranking Magic General
He had sensed the shift in atmosphere and read Carrera's intentions with the razor-sharp instincts honed over years as a veteran campaigner.
"Oh? Agera, is something the matter?
I was thinking of causing a nuclear explosion up in the sky and using the residual heat to nicely roast the ground below!
What do you think? Pretty clever, isn't it?
Not hitting them directly — now that's perfect restraint!"
"Brilliant, truly perfect! As expected of Lady Carrera!!"
"Brilliant, my foot — shut up!
...Listen, Lady Carrera. That is not what anyone would call restraint."
"Wh... at did you say?"
The hardworking Agera silenced his colleague
His superior, Carrera, had the temperament of a runaway vehicle with no brakes.
Stopping her was an immense hassle.
She was so overwhelmingly powerful that she was impossible to manage.
His colleague Esprit, who should have been sharing this burden, was no help at all — he merely followed Carrera's lead and praised everything she did.
As a result, all the hardship fell squarely on Agera — an unpleasant working environment to say the least.
Testarossa, who wielded rationality and malice in equal measure, and Ultima, who at least attempted restraint but still went too far, were bad enough.
But Carrera, who always went all out with zero self-restraint, was the worst.
He could deal with someone who tried their best and occasionally went overboard — they could at least laugh about it together.
No, up until now, that arrangement had been fine.
They were supreme beings among the demons — high-ranking existences to whom no one could give orders.
But Agera believed that in the era to come, to earn the favor of Demon Lord Rimuru, he needed to learn to use his head.
He was already doing so.
What he wanted was for his superior Carrera to develop a bit of thinking ability as well — and that was Agera's earnest wish.
While the hardworking Agera was in the middle of earnestly explaining to Carrera — trying to be concise and easy to understand for a woman with the attention span of a goldfish, which was no easy task—
Suddenly, an anomaly erupted on the Imperial Army's front line.
The Violet Guard, led by their captain, had launched into action.
Their number: approximately 10,000.
The Violet Guard, trained by Shion, was a unit composed entirely of her devoted fans.
Not only in numbers but in sheer combat power, they were dramatically superior — even Agera, observing from the sky, could see that clearly.
They all bore Shion's ability, "Terror Aura," channeled through the Violet Guard.
Ten thousand soldiers had become Terror Knights and crashed into the Imperial Army.
They inflamed the enemy's fear and stripped them of their will to fight.
They suppressed the enemy's true strength, allowing their side to run roughshod with impunity — the effect was devastating.
Armed in matching indigo armor forged by Garum, the eldest of the three Dwarven brothers, Shion's personal guard began their rampage across the battlefield.
Three giants emanating grotesque auras of demon power were wreaking havoc — the three sons of Demon Lord
Those three, too, were wrapped in "Terror Aura," becoming avatars of brute force and going on a rampage.
Three vortices formed on the battlefield, sweeping Imperial soldiers aside.
Even excluding the three giants, comparing individual combat power, the Violet Guard was overwhelmingly superior in both training level and magicule reserves.
Agera could not tell what kind of training they had undergone, but even from a demon's perspective, their finish was mildly threatening.
"Hey, Agera.
While I was listening to your boring lecture, it looks like Shion got ahead of us, doesn't it?"
Tension seized Agera.
Carrera normally never thought about controlling her power, but when she got angry, she didn't just go berserk — she exploded.
And if the target of that anger happened to be him, he might as well give up on surviving.
"Lady Carrera! There's a pristine, untouched unit waiting in reserve behind the front!
Wouldn't that be a suitable target?"
Esprit pointed in one direction while giving Agera a look that said, You owe me for this, you idiot!
There, half of the 200,000-strong army that had marched toward the capital had set up an encampment and was waiting.
Carrera nodded with a bright smile.
"Oh, there they are! Nice, let's take them!"
She nodded with a satisfied expression.
Agera no longer tried to stop her.
Whether his superior went berserk and got scolded later was a problem for future Agera.
What mattered right now was that her anger wasn't aimed at him.
The hardworking Agera's hardships were only just beginning.
In the end, the Imperial Army — which had been assembling its second wave for the capital assault at the encampment — was obliterated by the aerial attack.
Their permanent barrier was nullified by the Magicule Disruption Emission they themselves had developed, and then massive annihilation magic was rained down upon them.
Agera and Esprit each disabled different types of defensive barriers.
In that instant, seizing the perfect moment, Carrera activated her magic.
A type of nuclear strike magic: "Gravity Collapse."
Suddenly, gravity surged with erratic, crushing force, and Imperial soldiers crumbled under their own weight.
The open terrain of the encampment had become their undoing — the demons' eyes left no room for escape, and the target area was pinpointed with precision.
If the power had been pushed to its absolute limit, the extreme pressure would have triggered a massive explosion, but this time Carrera had held back.
She had heeded Agera's warning, to a degree.
As a result, no explosion occurred — the weaker soldiers who failed to resist simply perished, and the magic's effect dissipated.
Still, the damage was severe enough to prevent any further military action.
Carrera was satisfied with that single blow and ordered a withdrawal.
She returned to support Geld's position.
All that remained behind was the Imperial Army, bearing catastrophic losses.
For them, the mercy was that it had happened so quickly that they died without even having time to feel fear or regret.
Conversely, those who survived that strike found themselves consumed by soul-deep terror and a bitter distrust of the Empire, lamenting their own foolishness.
Thus, the battle in the outskirts of the capital devolved into a one-sided rout by Shion, and the reinforcements dispatched to counter her had been annihilated by Carrera.
And Geld's wall had not crumbled — not one step of ground had been ceded, and the Imperial Army had been driven back.
It was a complete victory for the Monster Kingdom's capital defense force.
The capital defense battle came to an end, and the war would now shift to a campaign of complete annihilation against the invading Imperial forces.