Dungeon Battle Royale ~ Since I became a Demon King, I will aim for World Domination

Chapter 323: Troublemakers

Chapter 323: Troublemakers<p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">“I won’t be too demanding, but if you want me to succeed in the defense under the conditions set by you, Shion, I’d like you to call back half of the invasion team members.”

The conditions set by me were to carry out the defense without losing a sector or leader.

“Are there some troublemakers afoot? Would it be too hard with Izayoi, Saburou and the others?”

If several heroes with strength at Izayoi’s level were to form a party…our side would need to prepare the same number…no, a much bigger number of skilled fighters to avoid casualties.

“Rather than troublemakers…it’s a problematic group, I’d say.”

“Problematic group?”

“Yep. Ever since the 『Cataclysm』, the value of life――the opinion on life and death has greatly changed. Having said that…Law cherishes lives more than Chaos.”

“Unlike created subordinates…or rather, unlike us, Law hasn’t changed from before. They’re still humans.”

Moreover, Japanese people regarded wars and killing each other as unreal. After suffering the 『Cataclysm』, their opinion of life and death might have become closer to that during the Warring States era, but they probably see the value of life as something irreplaceable.

“In addition, you could say we started the battle from our side this time. I thought they’d retreat, if they suffered a certain level of casualties…and we attacked their hometown, but…they’re not pulling back.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not all of them. But, a part of their invasion force is attacking us fanatically. Moreover, they seem to fight in a way that prioritizes killing those related to Demon Kings over their own lives. They’re a truly troublesome group.”

So they put more value into killing a Demon King than keeping their own lives, huh…?”

“Hmm, are they possibly…from Shizuoka?”

“Oh? What? Do you know something, Shion?”

“It’s not really that I know something, but…”

I told Yataro about the heroes we defeated earlier.

“I see. Shizuoka’s heroes and the Sadistic King, eh…? Tusk! TUSK!”

Yataro placed a hand on his chin and brooded for a short while. Then he called Tusk, the one in charge of information in Aster.

“What’s up, Gramps Yata?”

“Tusk, do you know the Demon King called Shizuoka’s Sadistic King?”

“Shizuoka’s Sadistic King? They aren’t part of the Zodiac. Shizuoka is outside our strategic range, so I haven’t researched it overly much.”

“Right now it’s perfectly within our strategic range, isn’t it?”

“You’re right. I’ll look it up.”

Tusk sat down on the spot, booted up the notebook he’d been carrying under his arm, and started to type with experienced hand movements.

“I will research it as well.”

Kanon began to skillfully operate a smartphone, which was around as big as she was, with both her hands.

I guess I’ll do the same…I thought, but it’s all about the right person for the right job. I’ll leave the intelligence gathering to a professional like Tusk and ask Yataro about information that might be beneficial.

“So, what’s your forecast on the damage, Yataro?”

“Let me see…the casualties among the subordinates will likely become tremendous. I wanted to somehow save some spare energy to welcome the day of destiny, but…that might prove to be slightly difficult.

――!

“That bad!?”

Yataro has been cornered to such an extent that he gave up on his day of destiny――gacha.

“Not losing a single zone, keeping all leaders alive, and saving CP to welcome the day of destiny; it’ll be impossible to make all of them come true.”

“Zones, leaders, and gacha…weighing those three and opting to discard gacha means…you’ve grown.”

I felt impressed by Yataro’s growth.

“Ho ho, if you allow me to be blunt, the order of priority is UR characters――in short, leaders and right next, the best items for strengthening the troops――then the day of destiny, and last would be zones.”

“Hey!”

“I think you understand even without me having to tell you, but the process of elimination forces me to give up on the day of destiny.”

“Hooh.”

“Do you want me, who lost to you in the past, to tell you about strategy?”

“I’d love to hear your opinion as the one entrusted with the Aster Empire’s defense.”

“It’s simple. Even if I gave up a zone, it wouldn’t change anything for the better…rather, it’d make matters worse, I think.”

The battle to steal your first territory is the most challenging even in the simulation game using the Warring States era as the basis. Once you manage to get your hands on one territory, you can mostly overwhelm the others with that momentum.

“If we could lower the number of zones under attack until we’re able to narrow it down to one, it’d be a different matter since it’d allow us to focus our troops, but…if we lower the number of zones to such an extent, Aster Empire would be on the verge of death in the first place.”

“Yeah. If even one zone is stolen, it’ll likely boost the humans’ morale. Once that happens, the day of destiny will obviously become even more distant.”

“I understand…So, what’s the forecast on the damage?”

It sounds like the Aster Empire is in a situation more dangerous than expected.

“Hmm…it’d be nice if I could tell, but…it’s unpredictable.”

“A rough estimate will do.”

“Okay…let’s see… If we look at it from the side of quantity and quality, Chaos has numbers while Law has quality.”

“True.”

The main force shouldering the defense are the created subordinates. Although they have individual differences, humans are fundamentally stronger than created subordinates. Chaos has to face the humans with numbers while clearly designating the created subordinates as disposable.

“I can make a prediction on the damage, if we know the enemy numbers, but…this time the enemy’s scale is unknown. To be honest, I expected the humans to retreat once they suffered a certain amount of losses. But, they aren’t relaxing on their invasion at all. Because reinforcements keep coming from the rear, I can’t see an end to this.”

“So you’re saying you can’t make an estimate on the damage…because you don’t see an end to this.”

“That’s correct.”

In contrast to me, humans can’t simply create new subordinates by fiddling around with their smartphones, but…they’re overwhelmingly more than the demon kings, too. Even if we assume only the Shizuoka people are a problem…how much of a population does Shizuoka Prefecture have?

Hmm, certainly, this makes it difficult to make an estimate on the damages.

Now then, what should we do next?

“Shion-san! I have gathered information on the Sadistic King!”

Kanon’s carefree voice reached my ears as I worried about the situation which was graver than expected.