When we made it back to the mansion, we saw Yunyun standing pacing around in slight panic. She turned towards us and hurried towards me. "Kazuma! Kazuma! She came back!"
"Who?"
"The Prosecutor lady! She returned and she said that she will definitely arrest you this time."
Something tells me this isn't just because I left her to the frogs the other day.
"Where is she now?"
"She left, but she said she will return shortly!"
The moment Yunyun said that, the door to the mansion slammed open. Sena stepped in, her glasses glinting a little.
"Satou Kazuma! Is Satou Kazuma here–?!"
God fucking dammit! Seriously!? Can't you give me break woman?
"What now?"
"It's the dungeon! What did you do to the dungeon? The Keele dungeon near the town! I heard that many mysterious monsters have flooded out from there!" Sena who was so angry that her ears were red said.
Mysterious monsters? That should be the one I heard about in town recently.
And again, what's with all the suspicion? Do I look like a monster summoner?
"Let's take her to the dungeon and ditch her there, what do you think?" Megumin said through our mind link.
"As much as I agree with your plan, no, I cannot let her die before I can clear out my suspicion."
"If you don't do anything, I will break every bone in her body and let Aqua heal her so I can do it all over again."
"Listen Sena, we have no idea what that's all about. But we were meaning to check out that dungeon, so we'll be going with you," I told her. "However, this is the second time you're barging in uninvited into my mansion."
I glared at her and let her face the full force of my killing intent.
Sena's body froze stiff and her eyes widened in terror. Her mouth gaped open, but no words came out. Her legs trembled underneath my gaze and she tried to look away. But no matter she did, she cannot muster the will to look away or even close her eyes.
I brandished my winter shogun sword and gently held it in front of her neck. I stepped forward, my sword stiff and unmoving while pressing against her throat. I kept going until I am right beside her and slowly whispered to her ear.
"I am running out of patience, Sena chan… So next time, you came barging in," I pulled my sword slowly, grazing her neck and drawing some blood. "I will kill you, very slowly… Then I will ask Aqua to revive you so I can kill you again, and again, and again… And, when I'm finally done with you, you will take your own life the first chance you get, understood?"
Sena mustered the last of her willpower to nod.
"Good, now get out of here, I will meet you at the dungeon," I lowered my sword and turned towards my party members. "Sorry, just a little bit pissed, that's all," I told them, ignoring Sena's who's literally crawling away from the mansion.
Aqua and Darkness just looked at me in silence. Megumin on the other hand just nodded in satisfaction.
"Welp, time to explore the Keele dungeon!"
---
We appeared in a log cabin near the Keele dungeon. There, we saw some adventurers hanging around. There's also a bunch of… beds that wasn't there before. Oh, the beds used to treat the wounded, right, that's a thing that could happen.
"Ne… Kazuma, isn't that bed…"
"Yes and let's not talk about it…"
We entered the log cabin, Megumin and I tried our best to forget the events that just transpired here. A bunch of adventurers came to us, some I recognize as my disciples. The older one of them, a brown haired woman wearing metal plate bowed at me.
"Kazuma sama and the Fantastic Dreamer, my name is Rize, we're so glad to see you here, you see…"
The adventurer began his explanation. From the first sightings of the masked doll to the way those dolls behave. They did the clever thing and made a team of archer take positions and shooting the dolls from afar. Their problem now are that they're running out of arrows.
"You sure you need real arrows to do the work?"
The woman blinked a little after hearing that. "I'm sorry?"
"You said the doll explodes in contact, so why not use, I dunno, slingshots? You can't run out of pebbles now can you?"
Rize face palmed and turned towards the adventurers standing behind her. "You heard the man, notify the archer to start throwing pebbles at those damn dolls. Or heck, use our training arrows, grab some from one of those shooting games."
With that, the adventurers get to work and we can finally discuss the situation in peace.
"Alright, for today's dungeon expedition, I'm going to bring Darkness with me,"
the crusader smiled a little after hearing that.
"Darkness, use your most powerful decoy skills and clear a path for me. I will be around with the hide skill, we'll get in the dungeon, find the source of it, take them out, then leave. This is not going to be some sneaky stuff, we're going in there guns blazing, got it?"
"Got it!"
With that, Darkness and I entered the dungeon's entrance. A bunch of adventurer wanted to accompany us, but I turned around and said.
"Trust me, you will be holding us back. Stand guard at the entrance, we might bring back some company. Got it?"
"Yes, Kazuma sama, take care."
And thus, begin my second run into the Keele dungeon. Just like before, I hide in the shadows and let my teammate traverse through the dungeon alone. Just like before also, the said teammate easily fights through the dungeon.
"Fufufu, hahaha! Kazuma, look! I hit it, I hit it! Even I can hit these dolls accurately!"
Darkness who was walking before me was swinging her sword happily, slashing at the dolls that made no attempts to dodge.
As expected. The dolls counter attacked by suicide bombing, but that just covered the face and armor of Darkness with a bit of dust. She continued charging happily as though nothing had happened. Maybe her attacks landing made her happy because she was useful, as Darkness rampaged through the dungeon like a tank.
The dungeon created by the renowned lich was sturdy, showing no sign of collapsing despite the series of explosions.
Had I known this, I would've brought Megumin along…
It didn't take long for us to get to the deepest part of the dungeon. There, sitting cross legged on the corner is a masked man making a bunch of dolls from dirt. He was wearing a suit that didn't match the dungeon at all, and his hands were covered in white gloves. The mask he was wearing had a similar design with the dolls that attacked us.
It's obvious that this is the mastermind of the entire situation but… Something tells me I shouldn't take this guy lightly.
"Stay alert Darkness," I appeared behind her and tried to detect his presence.
I clicked my tongue after sensing a stupid amount of evil energy coming from the mask. That is either his source of power, his real body, or a very powerful accessory. In other words, I have to be extremely careful about my next move.
"Good afternoon sir! Can I trouble you with some questions?"
The man turned towards us, as if he didn't notice us earlier.
"Ohhh… I didn't expect anyone to be able to reach here. Adventurers, welcome to my dungeon! Moi art the source and the origin of all evil! Moi art a general of the Demon King's army, the duke of hell that commands the devils! The arch devil that can see through anything in the world, Vanir!"
Something tells me he's no pushover like Wiz…
"Hi Vanir, it's a pleasure to meet you," I bowed a little politely. "My name is Satou Kazuma an adventurer from the City of Axel," then I gestured at Darkness. "And this is Darkness, my teammate. We're here to talk about the dolls you keep making, can you do us a favor and stop making those?"
"Oh? These dolls? Have they made their way outside?" the man stood up and he's a head a taller than me. "I simply made these dolls to clear out the dungeon, if that was the case then it is time for moi to stop mass producing these dolls,"
Okay, mission accomplished, kind of…
"Megumin, there's a demon king general here, I'm luring him out, get ready!"
"Got it, I'll go notify Aqua about this, should we evacuate?"
"Hello? Hello? Ah, what a splendid mental connection! I am impressed! Thou have such a powerful feelings for each other!!! Hello girl who wanted to do an exhibition play in the log cabin but too embarrassed to tell the boy! Hello there boy who wanted to reenact the scenes of your first time! I am Vanir, the Arch Devil and a Duke of Hell!"
I cut off the connection in panic and brandished my sword. "Okay Mr. Vanir, first of all, FUCK YOU," my sword lights up with holy light. "Second of all, FUCK YOU and thank you but more FUCK YOU,"
Vanir made a come hither motion with his hand. "Such a wonderful negative emotion! So much embarrassment, so much humiliation," he then took a stance. "Moi will happily challenge thou who art afraid that I will reveal to everyone outside that you've been using the Log Cabin outside for your consensual coupling!"
Darkness turned towards me. "Se-seriously?!"
"IT'S JUST ONCE!!!" I yelled before charging in towards the demon. I didn't waste my time going after his body and went straight for the mask.
"My, my, thou art an observant fellow aren't thou?" Vanir asked with a grin as he nimbly dodged my attack. I almost thought he has no bones to speak of, which is probably the case.
"Please calm down. I didn't come here to pick a fight with thee. It's because that fellow, the Demon King, asked moi to investigate something. Also, I have some business with the useless general in Axel who became more impoverished the harder she worked."
Wiz? So he knows Wiz? Okay, okay, Wiz is a nice Lich, and so far, this guy hasn't really intentionally harm anyone, assuming he didn't lie about the dolls.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about moi lying about the doll's purpose!"
"Okay, you know what, just tell us what you want…" I muttered in defeat.
I sat on the floor of the dungeon and listened as Vanir spoke.
"First, although I'm a general of the Demon King's army, I'm just maintaining the barrier of the castle because of his request, so I'm just a general in name. I'm known to others as a devil. The best delicacy for devils are the negative feelings produced by the hatred of humans. In my eyes, humans are the producer of delicacies, so I won't perform stupid things such as killing or harming thou. Whenever a human's born, I'm so happy that I'll dance in the courtyard."
"And what kind of negative emotion do you prefer? Because, you know, you said you're not harming human."
"For negative feelings, I love transforming into a great beauty to approach men. And after working hard to make them fall for me, I'll then reveal my true form and say, 'Too bad, it's actually moi'. Then I'll taste their feelings as they cry tears of blood."
Ahh… There's no mistaking it, he's an Arch Devil…
"As I was toying with the Demon King's subordinates and feeding off their negative feelings… He pleaded with me, 'Don't sloth in my castle and bully my subordinates. Go work occasionally…' I was thinking about visiting my old friend residing in this town, so I took the job. On my way here, I found this dungeon without a master. I thought that it suited moi and came in on my own."
"Why do you want this dungeon?"
"For moi who had existed for near eternity… I've been harboring the urge to go out with a bang for quite some time now–and that's to pass on elegantly after dining on the finest negative emotions. I've been thinking for a long time, that I don't even remember when I first had this thought. I had been thinking, what do I need to do to dine on the negative emotion I'm most fond of. And I've finally found the best idea…"
Going out with a bang? Seriously?
"First, I'll obtain a dungeon. Next, I'll dispatch my evil minions to standby in each room, setting grueling traps in them! Powerful veteran adventurers will then come forth to challenge themselves! After experiencing numerous challenges, someone will finally make it to my residence in the depths of the dungeon!"
Vanir got more and more excited during his monologue, his hand gestures were larger and his tone more agitated.
"And waiting in the depths of the dungeon will of course, be moi! I'll then say, 'It was impressive for you to make your way here, adventurers! Come, great fortune awaits if you can defeat moi…!' After my opening speech comes the final battle! After a fierce fight, the adventurers will finally defeat moi. In the end, a treasure chest with heavy seals will appear behind my tattered body. As I start to lose consciousness, the adventurers who overcame immense hardships will open the treasure chest before my eyes…!"
Stop, I get it, I can already imagine what's inside that box.
"… Inside the box will be a piece of paper saying, 'Thank you for your patronage!' The adventurers will then look at this paper with a blank face. That's the scene I want to see as I head towards my demise."
Okay, so… He's not… He's not bad per se… and he's like Wiz, Demon General in just the name. Heck, he's friends with Wiz. Is it okay to just leave him alone?
"However, there's this irritating magic circle deep within the depth of this dungeon," Vanir said in slight annoyance. "It has troubled moi for so long! Thou have no idea how frustrating it is to get this far without getting into that room!"
Fuck, I can't think of a plan, this guy is my bane.
"Yosh, Darkness, what should we do?" I turned to our Crusader.
"The enemy of humanity is right before us, we should destroy him immediately of course," she replied without hesitation.
"Ohoho!! Thou wishes to defeat moi!? The Duke of Hell Vanir, who some say is stronger than the Demon King himself!?" he made a come hither motion with his hand.
Acting on instinct and zero strategy, I charged in towards the demon. He nimbly dodged almost all my attacks and it took me a lot to scratch his mask even a little.
"Not bad! Not bad at all, thou art truly a powerful human!" the demon dodged another one of my attack.
"Nature's Beauty!"
A bunch of vines sprouted out of the ground and caught the demon. I was about to move in and finish it off when it suddenly took off the mask and his form crumbled.
"Darkness!!!"
The mask was thrown and plastered itself on Darkness's face. The Crusader wailed a little as the demon took control of her body.
"… Darkness? Hey… Darkness! Say something!"
"Fuhahaha! Fuhahaha! Listen up kid! This special power of moi, (what should I do Kazuma, my body's been taken over!) How about it boy, if thou dare attack this girl, (I don't mind! Don't hold back, attack as you wish! Quickly come! This is the most wonderful situation!)"
"Megumin, prepare a kill zone. The demon just possessed Darkness. "
Welp, now that it come to this. "Okay Darkness or Vanir, stand still for a bit okay," I took out a seal and plastered it right on Vanir's true body. "There, keep him in there while I teleport us to the kill zone okay? See if you can traumatize a demon like you traumatized Eris sama."
"W-wait! What art thou talking about!? AAAAH What is this disgusting travesty!? Stop thinking about that you depraved crusader! Stop! Stop shoving that sick pleasure into moi!"
Welp, it seems that Vanir isn't as twisted as I am. "Okay Darkness, let's uhh," I walked behind the wailing Vanir and took off the straps around Darkness's armor. "This is very expensive you know? Don't want it to get harmed while I kill you,"
"Possessing this body is a mistake!" Vanir tried to take himself off, but the seal held strong. "No! Let me go!"
"Teleport!"
Vanir and I found ourselves standing in the middle of a clearing. I waved at Megumin and Aqua before quickly teleporting beside them.
"Sacred High Exorcism!"
"EXPLOSION!!!"
I whistled a little as I watched Megumin's full power explosion hitting Vanir head on right after Aqua's spell hit the demon. The explosion it created was so powerful that I have to use some of my control over air to stop the shock wave from destroying the cabin.
When it all ends, all that left is Darkness lying unconscious in the middle of the crater. Vanir's mask is nowhere to be seen.
"Did I get him?" Megumin's muffled voice came from the ground beside me.
"Yes, yes you did…" I helped her up and gave her some of my mana so she could stand.
"Good… I hate that guy…" Megumin muttered to herself. "Telling my secret like that…"
"Yeah…"
"So, should we go with your plan or mine?"
"Let's not talk about it…"