Dungeon Defense (WN)

“―Guh!?”

I urgently raised my knees. It was an instinctive action.

My knee slammed right into Daisy’s stomach as I brought it up. The girl let out a groan as she rolled off the bed. Clank, a metallic sound rang out as the dagger was dropped somewhere.

She wasn’t on top of me anymore, but I could still feel the coldness left behind by the blade on my neck. The blade was genuinely brought to my neck with the intention of stabbing it. There was clear bloodlust there. My nape felt cold. I rubbed my neck as if there was something smeared on it.

This damned brat.

I clenched my jaw. Once the fear faded away, it was replaced with anger. I looked down and saw Daisy on the ground. It seems that my knee had luckily struck her solar plexus.

I stood up and got above her. The girl’s small body was easy to subdue.

Daisy looked up at me impassively. It was hard to think of this as the expression of the child who had just tried to kill me a couple of seconds ago. Her impassiveness poured oil on my anger.

– Slap!

I struck Daisy’s cheek with my palm. Her head turned easily like a stalk of corn snapping. However, Daisy slowly turned her head back to look up at me again. This rotten brat.

“It seems you have a death wish.”

“No. I swore to kill you.”

Her gaze didn’t change at all. It remained rebellious and annoying. Her efforts, however, were trifling. I laughed at her.

“So? Were you able to kill me? Ha, this is unfortunate. I will not let things turn out the way you want it to. You will have to receive permission from me to even breathe from now on.”

“It seems that is the case. It is unfortunate.”

Daisy spoke with a face that didn’t even remotely look as if she found this to be unfortunate.

I didn’t like this so I struck her cheek once more. Stronger this time. The sound of flesh smacking flesh resonated throughout the narrow carriage.

“Confess. When did you wake up?”

“When the sun rose today.”

This meant that she had been waiting for an opportunity like this since the afternoon. Her throat should be absolutely parched and her hunger should be unbearable since she had been asleep for four days, but she managed to endure all of that. All for the sake of testing whether she could kill me or not.

A venomous brat.

My chest felt so hot that I thought it was going to burst. I could literally feel the anger welling in my eyes. Daisy seemed to not notice this, no, she most likely did, but she was intentionally ignoring it as she opened her mouth.

“Who is Jack?”

“What?”

“Do you always have nightmares? You mutter people’s names endlessly. There are names that you repeat. Jack, Hawk, Aland, Riff……and mother.”

The ends of Daisy’s mouth lifted up. Her eyes weren’t smiling, though.

“It is surprising to know that existences like you also have mothers.”

“…….”

Snap.

I felt my rationality snap apart.

I could no longer hold back my anger as I proceeded to slap Daisy over and over again. I continued on and on. Daisy’s head would snap to the side each time I did, but it would slowly return to its original position to look at me with emotionless eyes. I gladly inflicted harm on her. I wanted to do so greatly.

Naturally, nothing much could be said about the stamina of a girl who had been passed out for several days. There was a limit to how long she could endure this.

Once her lips were torn and blood started to flow out, Daisy seemed to no longer have the strength to move her head as her head remained turned to the side limply. Like a doll that had its strings cut. However, she was still breathing heavily.

I grabbed her chin with my right hand and pulled her head close to me. I brought her so close that I could practically count her eyelashes.

I growled at her.

“I will burn your mother and father alive. Do you understand? If you cut off my finger, then I will cut off your mother’s arm, and if you cut off my toe, then I will tear your mother’s insides out and slaughter her. I will carve your father’s eyes out and shove them down your throat. You should heed my warning while you still can. I am the type of person who returns any humiliation by tenfold.”

“…….”

Half-closed, bleary eyes turned to look at me.

The girl spoke as if she were squeezing out the last bit of air from her lungs.

“You cannot do that.”

“What?”

“You are incapable of doing that.”

Daisy closed her eyes. Her breathing became weak. She had said whatever she wanted and passed out however she wanted as well. The hand that I was using to hold her face started to tremble severely as if I had essential tremor.

It may have been the end of it for her since she had lost consciousness, but it wasn’t the case for me. My anger was spewing up like a volcano. The lava that had yet to burst out had completely filled out my throat and intestines.

“Fine.”

I muttered.

“I will show you what an eye for an eye means, you brat.”

I pushed Daisy aside and got up. I felt like the upper part of my abdomen would burst if I didn’t manage to vent some of this heat out, so I exited the carriage while letting out deep breaths.

It was the middle of the night, so it was completely dark outside. Red campfires were burning here and there. The campfire that Jeremi was residing at was the one closest to the carriage. I approached that fire.

She must have noticed my approach as Jeremi got up. She had once told me that assassins could sense the presence of people around them at all times, so I could sleep without any worries.

“What is the matter, Your Highness?”

“The kid woke up.”

“Ah.”

Jeremi nodded her head.

“Her body must be very weak, then. I will get some honey water for her immediately.”

“She truly is weak. She tried to assassinate me.”

“Pardon me?”

I let out a snort.

“She hid the fact that she had awoken during the afternoon and lied in wait until I fell asleep in the carriage. She took out my dagger and tried to stab me here. That damned brat.”

I pointed to my neck as I spoke. Talking about it only fanned the flames of my anger further.

“Ha, I even told her that she cannot escape the control of the slave seal.”

Jeremi let out a forced laugh.

“She is a lot more vicious than I expected. What do you intend to do, Your Highness?”

“I will torture her thoroughly. I will not inflict upon her physical pain. However, my anger will only be alleviated if I torment her mind thoroughly.”

“So?”

Jeremi asked in an interested tone.

I smiled as I muttered a line in my head.

‘Monster Employment Tab.’

A holographic window quietly appeared before me. It was a selection window to choose from F Rank, E Rank, or D Rank monsters. I chose the D Rank option. A list of hirable monsters unfolded before me.

***

Monster Name(D)	Stamina	Attack	Defense	Price
Torture Slime	20	1	2	500 Gold
Gnome(Low class fairy)	7	2	5	500 Gold
Goblin cavalry	10	10	8	800 Gold
Goblin mage	5	20	5	1000 Gold
Zombie(*)	2	5	5	100 Gold

*Due to reaching 50 affection points with Demon Lord Barbatos(Darkness), you are able to perform a special hire (Zombie)!

A notice telling me that I possessed about 9 million gold also appeared. This was because I had to pay a down payment of 5 million gold in order to build my Demon Lord Castle. Lapis and Laura were probably in the middle of directing a bunch of carpenters right now. 

If I consider the 5 million gold that the archdukes were going to send me, I could hire whatever I want right now. However, what I needed right now wasn’t a large unit of monsters. I focused my gaze on only a single monster that was on the list.

‘Torture Slime. One.’

A window appeared asking me to confirm my purchase.

I selected ‘yes’ without any hesitation. Once I did, a purple magic circle was drawn on the ground in front of me and a transparent, phlegmatic monster was summoned on top of it. Slimes were known as the most common monster in the world, but they were practically strangers to me.

Jeremi let out a gasp next to me.

“Alchemy? No, summoning magic……? Without a chant as well……?”

“This is my one and only talent. Do not reveal this to anyone.”

“Of course. But to think you hid a trump card like this all this time…….”

Jeremi looked at me with newfound respect.

“It is hard to guess how many claws Your Highness is hiding. The Demon Lord of Many Faces title was truly made for Your Highness’ sake.”

Not only was I far from being able to use summoning magic, but I couldn’t cast a fireball as well. Nonetheless, this was something others would never be able to guess. It was better for me if the other party misunderstood on their own. I wouldn’t be able to explain my ability anyway.

“This is a fellow I made while I was lazing around in my dungeon.”

I picked up the slime with my hand. The transparent slime was capable of manipulating its body freely. Once I gave it a command in my mind, the slime immediately shrunk down to fit perfectly on top of my palm.

“A special slime developed strictly for torture. I will use this child.”

“Aha. I see.”

Jeremi looked as if she understood what I was going to do.

“If I dare say so myself, I am a pro in this field. Slimes are a fundamental and mental torture device. Your Highness is planning to toy with the girl named Daisy in a sensual way, correct?”

I nodded. Jeremi raised the corners of her mouth wickedly as she smiled.

“I also prefer this sort of method over lacerating flesh and grinding bones. But, Your Highness, are you sure this will be effective? The demeanor that girl displayed during the surgery made it obvious that she is unlike your average person.”

“Indeed. She is not like your average person.”

I smiled mischievously.

“That is why I will go about it in a different way.”

“A different way?”

“Give me your ear.”

I gave her a detailed explanation about how I intended to torture Daisy. Jeremi’s face went through multiple emotions as my explanation continued. It went from confused to bewildered before ending at surprised. 

“I see. I am genuinely moved. That is an absolutely magnificent and boundlessly Demon Lord-like idea. I was able to witness Your Highness’ various faces tonight.”

“This will not bring her down in one blow, but it should cut away at her mind thoroughly.”

I remarked as I pulled my face away from Jeremi’s ear.

“We have to leave to meet Leraje tomorrow. We have to select someone to take care of this task. I can only hope that this task will be finished by the time we are back.”

“Did you not say that the girl is passed out right now?”

Jeremi chuckled. It was the typical laughter of a villainess.

“Would it not be better to finish it now?”

“No. I wish to let her witness it from beginning to end.”

“Your Highness has quite the foul taste……. Then I will go wake the child up.”

Jeremi rubbed her hands together.

“It has been quite a while since I last felt this excited. O Magnificent and Noble Demon Lord, I will finish this by tonight, so please leave it to me. I hope that you can watch from the best seats in the house.”

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. My God, I felt like I had something I wanted to say here, but the heat has made me forget everything. It’s been really hard to concentrate on translating lately because of this heat. It still rains every now and then, but there’s no wind. Everything just feels humid. Maybe I’ll remember what I wanted to say later. Can someone turn off the sun? kthx.

I’ll see you guys when the sun is gone.

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