“Holy Shit! That was awesome Wolte!” Meomi praised their companion as she slammed a Zurgling on the floor, before using her climbing gear’s anchor head to kill the downed Zurgling as she simultaneously chopped the head of another in mid air. “You shooting from the sea? That has to be one hell of a prediction!”
“Hahaha! The System might have played a role in that but you are wrong in one particular aspect! I’m not in the sea!” Wolte boasted as they suddenly heard a loud wail from the back of the capital which faced the direction of the sea. Up in the air, they saw a whale-looking monster travelling forward with an enormous ship ledged on its top. “Brilliant, isn’t it?! Jin suggested this!”
“Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!” Mr Derpy shouted as he wailed once more and another series of shots got fired off towards the white sand desert.
“It’s the new year, baka derpy!” Ayse corrected him via the System Channel but Mr Derpy did not care. This was the secret plan Jin had promised this unlikely duo. In fact, a similar combination between Wolte and Derpy had been on his mind for quite some time.
Back when Lord Wolte had evolved into a tank, the dungeon supplier had meant to deploy Mr Derpy like an airship transport, carrying tanks and an assortment of warriors into Demopolis as part of the counterassault.
Lord Wolte would have acted as Derpy’s defence during the transport and later as one of the few commanders that would cause havoc in case the Demon Army would close in on Pandapolis’ Dungeon Core. He had hoped that such an attack would have forced the Demon Army to retreat or at least decrease the number of their elites.
Never could he have expected the skulk of foxes under his employment to be as formidable as they had revealed themselves to be, and the scary thing was that they had not even been very serious in their fights so far. (That also made him wonder how absurdly strong they might have been during the resistance back in their days.)
Thanks to Wolte’s ‘ultimate transformation’ (at least he called it that) into a ship, the same idea had been used with a different twist. Because the Southern Capital was nowhere near the ocean nor sea, Jin had decided to bring the ‘ocean’ for Wolte closer to the Southern Capital.
To achieve that, Mr Derpy was to ferry the ship right on his back towards the Southern Capital. However, they were not the only ones in the area. The C130 Artillery Planes were also flying in sync with it, providing necessary cover for the Wolte’s titan battleship ‘Stalingrad’.
This was to ensure the winged monsters were taken out away from Stalingrad’s projectiles, else it would be rather embarrassing and hilarious if one of the Winged Monsters would manage to intercept the attacks, only to explode right in front of Mr Derpy’s face. In addition, this particular combination allowed Stalingrad to take in Mr Derpy’s magical powers, enhancing Wolte’s own firepower and gave him the ability to shoot even further.
When the Nine Oceans’ Phoenix saw such a threat coming towards them, she did not panic and instead utilised her powers to conjure three similar silhouettes of herself. With a simple nod from her head, those Nine Ocean Phoenix silhouettes flew towards the burnt fields scattering its energy amongst the dead corpses. True to its name, the Phoenix not only had miraculous dung but also the power to resurrect the Zurglings.
But its powers were a far cry from what Jin had predicted. Instead of a full resurrection, the Phoenix’s magical energy had merely simulated the remains, which caused them to move forward in their damaged state. Their minds were blank, apart from their base instinct to hunt down anything that was not related to the Zurglings. It felt as if the Phoenix herself was a necromancer kind of monster.
“Are the portrayal of phoenixes skewed in my world?” Jin asked as he watched the Zurglings raise from the dead and begin charging forward. Some even started to bite the remainders who were not fortunate enough to move despite the phoenix’s resurrection ability to combine themselves together into a larger, more terrifying menace to storm the Southern Capital. It was to the point the Southern Soldiers were showing signs of weakness in their defences.
“The phoenixes that User knows of in legends are indeed different. They do not have the capability to resurrect any monsters other than themselves and even so, there should be a limit to the times such a being can resurrect before they truly die.” The System replied.
In the meantime, Nubwort who was in the makeshift Dungeon Maker War Room queried whether Jin was going to send more of his soldiers to reinforce the Southern Capital.
“I’m not sure. Do you think it will make much of a difference? It seems that we’ve clearly underestimated the power of this Nine Oceans Phoenix.” Jin answered as he shrugged his shoulders a little. “It feels like we’re just delaying the inevitable. I wonder if that is how everyone felt when fighting against my forces. We might not know much of the relationship between the Southerners and the monsters residing in this region, but for all the various monsters to band together and unite in a coordinated effort against the humans… These people must have done more awful stuff than we had imagined. After all, they treated those monsters as a means to survive.”
“So what are you proposing to do, Master Jin? Shall we fight a protracted battle until we find the real culprit? Because if your assumptions turn out to be true the citizens of that city might just be as guilty as the ones who made the monsters suffer.” Nubwort argued. “And if you ask me, based on that short conversation our colleagues had with their leader, those Southerners deserve to die. If it was up to me, we should be helping the monster horde instead.”
“That is indeed a very tempting proposition. These monsters would probably fight fiercely against the Demon Rats to ensure that they could keep the land they have. Either way, finding the culprit continues to be one of our main objectives, which will hopefully allow us to learn more about the whole situation. But yes, given the choice, I’d rather make a contract with them then these scheming Southerners.”
“Seems like you can’t fight your nature, Master. You’d rather work with us monsters, who have a kind heart than a seemingly nice human who might betray you.” Nubwort chuckled.
“Hey! But you trust me with your lives!” Jin said in defence.
“Not that we have much of a choice to begin with, do we?” Nubwort mimicked Jin’s very same shrug. “Nevertheless, I am glad that we’ve joined you.” It was then Nubwort had some sort of epiphany unrelated to the current situation.
“If you don’t mind me diverting from the situation a little, I’d like to ask your opinion on another matter. What would you say to employing Orcs from our country as mercenaries or maybe as guards and peacekeepers?”
“Do you fear that eventually, the adventurer’s dungeon cave might not be enough to sate their lust for battle? ” Jin questioned.
“Not exactly. The dungeon cave is a fantastic idea to keep the fighting urges in check for every race in the *cough* Goblin World, all while supplying them, as well as us, with a nice bit of money. No, I’ve been meaning to ask you for the opportunity for us Orcs to take on extra responsibilities since many of us would like something more stable in terms of jobs.”
“Oh, so not only could they earn dough and coin for their family, they could contribute to our fights?” Jin thought it over for a moment.
“Indeed. Remember how you used your world’s Royal Snake Battalion for that ‘training exercise’? I hope you could do the same not just for the Orcs but also the Goblins. That way, they could go all out and at least still keep their relationships in check. With the System, the participants near death could be teleported away and get healed, thus earning you Frost Echo’s and the Goblin King’s coin. And if we ever go into war, we could ask for their assistance, whether they’re bound by the System would be another issue.”
“In essence, Orc General Nubwort is suggesting that since System and User are always in sticky situations, it could prove beneficial to let System act as a middleman and bring in those willing to fight for money and glory and give them a chance to prove their mettle.” The System summed up the Black Orc’s request.
“That way you could pick the talented ones too and those who died would have served their duties valiantly.” Nubwort nodded and even wanted to add more to his proposal, but Pippy interrupted via the System Channel.
“Master! The fights are getting more intense! I cannot let my team spread out too much or they might get overwhelmed!” Pippy reported as he zoomed past a Zurgling and used it as a jumping pad to one of Spiky’s towering legs.
“I understand, focus your defences on those already wounded. The rest could not be that lucky. Most of the Devil Dragons are moving out soon so the Winged Monster Hordes should not pose too much a threat to the ground defences. I will see if -”
“Master. Tinda reporting in.” The dark elf’s voice sounded in the System Channel. The drow was currently holding on to a man’s decapitated head and the organs in the head were slowly sliding down.
