Chapter 312 – Teamwork
One hour after I had started to harass the humans through Saburo and Izayoi.
“They dealt with things faster than anticipated.”
The humans aren’t idiots either. Their command chain got slowly but steadily going over time.
――Saburo, Izayoi, fall back.If we’re going to challenge them seriously, we have a lot more of an advantage to do that inside and not outside the Domain.
If the humans dealt with us normally, we’d have no benefit from invading from our side.
Now then, we pulled back, How’s the other side going to tackle this?
“Yataro, all preparations for welcoming our guests are in order, right?”
“Of course. This time I stuffed the sectors with traps that prioritize slowing the enemy down over killing him, guessing that this was your intention.”
“Well done.”
The invaders will drop in speed much more, if we weaken them or afflict them with status abnormalities than simply killing them off.We’re ready for even heroes to come visit our humble abode.
We waited for the humans to enter our sectors without everything ready, but…
“Hmm? They seem noisy out there, don’t they?”
The humans outside my Domain had started to kick up a racket.
――♪
At the same time, my smartphone played a sound, informing me of a call. The caller was Kaede who was investigating the situation outside.
『Nn, Milord, the southern Demon King departed to the front』
――!
The souther Demon King referred to by Kaede was the Demon King of the Achi Prefecture whose Domain bordered the Gifu Prefecture in the south while we bordered it in the north.
“He finally got going, huh? What’s the scale?”
『Nn, lots. They’re attacking westwards』
The Demon King of the Achi Prefecture――『Storm Hayate』 or Sati――had started to move as promised.
Now then…how are you going to react to this, humans? Ideally they’d retreat, but…
The humans started to move in a hurry.
“Hmm, how would you interpret those movements?”
“An amassing of combat forces, I’d say.”
“It looks like they’re concentrating their forces in three places.”
“Probably because they’ve lost the hope of receiving any further reinforcements.”
The humans had waited in groups of around 10,000 people in front of each sector ranging from the 301st to the 310th sectors, but now they began to gather in front of the 304th, 305th, and 306th sectors.
“At a glance, it looks like their real target is the 305th sector…”
“Yes! 50,000 people, half of their entire force, have assembled in front of the 305th sector.”
“The 305th sector, huh…? I guess I should narrow down the paths in there a bit more then.”
“The real target will likely be the 304th sector.”
“Eh? You think so?”
“There were several tough humans there when Saburo and Izayoi messed with them. All of them have assembled in front of the 304th sector.”
“Ooh…so they’ve come up with an impudent, diversionary tactic, eh?”
“That’s how it is.”
“Hmm, in that case…we’ll focus our forces in the 305th sector. But, I’ll have Saburo’s team defend the 304th.”
“What is Izayoi-san going to do?”
“They might have more plans up their sleeves. He’ll stay on standby in the control room with me.”
“――? And the control room is where?”
“Here.”
“This is just your own room, Shion-san――”
――Kanon, roll up your skirt!
“Waaaaahh! Whyyyyyy!?!”
“A punishment for spoiling the mood?
“Uuh…talking about stuff like mood…like Saburo does――――Whaaaaaaaa! Soooooorry!”
Unable to read the mood, Kanon skilfully adopted a bridge posture in midair.
◆
15 minutes after 『Storm』 made his move, the humans started their invasion into the Aster Empire.
“Hmm?”
“What’s wrong?”
“I thought they might gather at the 304th, 305th, and 306th, but…they invaded sectors 301-303 and 307-310.”
“Did the stop concentrating the forces in a few spots?”
“No, the number of invaders is abnormally low in the sectors other than the previous three sectors. They might be trying to confuse our command.”
“The enemy uses their brain, huh?”
“I doubt you’d find any idiot who would attack this plan without any plan whatsoever.”
For the time being, we’ll focus our defenses on the 305th sector, which has the most invaders at present, and the 304th sector, which seems to be their real target. I think it’ll be fine to deploy subordinates to the remaining sectors as needed and take further measures depending on the loss rate.
“But, they sure got many… you can easily feel sick from just looking at all these humans.”
“Invading a dungeon with such a huge army lacks all sort of elegance, taste or whatsoever.”
It was disgusting to watch the humans pour into the sector like a huge swarm of ants.
“Well, I suppose we’ll use the standard manner of dealing with a big number of enemies.”
The standard manner is to line up living armors on the front-line and have the subordinates behind them attack the intercepted humans with ranged attacks. It’s a simple tactic allowing me to hope for the best effect.
“Move aside! We’re going to break through!”
Heroes, who boasted their own strength, appeared in the 305th sector. But, if they push with individual strength, we’ll answer with individual strength.
――Izayoi! Force back the heroes who appeared on the front-line of the 305th sector together with Kagero and Tsukuyomi!
“Yes! It shall happen as you desire, Shion-sama!”
“Yes, Shion-sama!”
“As you command!”
Inside a dungeon, or to phrase it differently, in a place with no sunlight, Izayoi’s abilities entered the top class of the Aster Empire. Kagero and Tsukuyomi were Vampire Barons like Izayoi. It hurt to sacrifice my Max CP, but I created them half a year ago with the goal of bolstering our defenses. Their strength was on a different level and didn’t reach Izayoi, but they were newcomers with the prospect of a quick growth.
Going by the situation in the 304th sector…Saburo intercepted the invaders together with his Team J after having developed his own abilities…leadership……and twisted fetishes on a daily basis.
“Little sister, burn your big bro’s valiant figure into your memory.”
“Okay! Lily is going to heal bro if you get injured.”
“Ha ha ha! I think I should allow myself to get injured a bit…for the sake of my lovely sister! Hah, your perfect brother――Last Disaster――shall be now heading out!
At a glance Saburo seemed to merely be messing around, but he personally defeated the especially powerful humans himself with excellent movements, and while instructing the living mails at times, he maintained a sturdy defense line while intercepting the humans.
“Saburo’s leadership qualities sure are pointlessly high.”
“His character is a lost case though.”
“It looks like it’ll be okay to leave the 304th sector to Saburo.”
“Aaaahhhhh! Look closely! Shion-san! Please look at that! That pervert arbitrarily brought Liliel-chan with him! How filthy! Liliel-chan is going to be tainted!”
“Ah…if it’s that…”
“I gave my permission and suggested it to Shion.”
“――!? W-Why, Yataro-san!? Aren’t you doting on Liliel-chan as well!?”
“As you can see yourself, Liliel is attached to Saburo.”
“It’s a crime…it totally smells of crime and sin…”
“Don’t fret. He hasn’t crossed that line.”
“Of course he hasn’t! If he does, I’ll call the police!”
“Police…we don’t have such an organization in the Aster Empire, you know…?”
I smiled wryly as I watched Kanon kicking up a fuss.
