After defeating the entire Frost Giant Legion.
"Damn it."
After rummaging through the collapsed palace and grabbing some usable bags and clothes, without a hint of regret, I didn't look back and headed towards the darkness on the other side of the Lake Kingdom, with Salome following me in shock.
"Wait, where are you going?!"
"Where else? Home."
The journey is long, but that means I need to start early. My kids are eagerly waiting for their lord at home.
Then Salome pointed at herself with her index finger.
"What about me?!"
"What do you mean, 'what about you'..."
Now, we each have to live well on our own. I wish you a blissful afterlife.
As I waved my hand, Salome's face turned into a whine.
"You said you'd ally with me!"
"That just ended."
We just finished off a common enemy.
I'm sparing your life out of a brief alliance's sentiment. Be thankful.
After waving my hand again and turning around coolly, Salome grabbed my waist and collapsed to the ground. What the hell is she doing!
"You're just using me and tossing me aside after getting what you want?!"
"Don't make an innocent person out to be a bad guy..."
"Beating me every day! Saying harsh words! Making me cry all night! But still, I love you...!"
"Don't drift into a cheap melodrama! Let go, let go!"
I shrugged off Salome's arm harshly and walked forward.
Seeing her tears and pleading didn't work, Salome just started to follow me quietly.
"You're going to wander around out there alone? In the deepest part of the Lake Kingdom? With all of the monsters around here?"
"I don't like to say it, but I haven't just been sitting around... You don't need to worry about me, I can make it through."
It's indeed a dangerous place, but I've been here so many times in the game.
Now that I've verified that my skills are usable, I have secured means of survival.
'It's easier for me to move alone.'
There are several problems with Salome being around.
First, she is currently being targeted by another monster legion. If they attack her, I could get dragged in too.
Second, she's just too noticeable. Look at that pink shadow bouncing around like a little poodle. She's bound to attract attention in many ways.
It doesn't match my style of quietly escaping the dungeon.
And the biggest problem.
'How can I trust a monster.'
She saved me from Oblivion's Beyond, and is flirting around saying she likes me, but who knows when she'll stab me in the back.
Her nature is to seduce and lead to ruin. She's not trustworthy, not even in empty words.
"Me, me! I'll listen to you!"
Salome quickly gathered a few belongings and, pleading, followed behind me.
"So, can't we stay together just a little longer? Please?"
"..."
"I'll fully cooperate until you get out of the dungeon! I'll move as you say!"
"..."
"We might work well together?! We did pretty well in the battle just now! A mind-controlling couple that can defeat any monster legion we encounter! How about it?"
It's not a couple, but a duo.
I can't be bothered to argue. I sighed and waved my hand.
"Then prove it."
"Prove?"
"Quietly accept my mind control. Then I'll let you come with me."
If I turn Salome into my captured monster with [Become Mine!], then I have the safety mechanism of 'Absolute Command'.
There's no reason not to take her. After all, a Nightmare Legion commander is a powerful asset.
But the proud Nightmare Legion commander would never voluntarily accept to become a slave to a human...
"Okay! Great, great, great, super great! Hurry! Cast it!"
"..."
"Do I just need to remove my mental barriers? Okay, I've done it now! Now, capture me!"
...Is she serious?
In disbelief, I looked at Salome and then used a combo of [Gaze of Command] and [Become Mine!]. Might as well give it a shot.
"Become mine!"
"Yes! I will!"
You don't need to respond to a skill trigger!
And Salome really got caught by both skills quietly.
As a Succubus and a legion commander, her magic stat was quite high, so it's unlikely she'd be caught by normal means.
She voluntarily exposed her weakness... She's thrown the game.
Swoosh!
Clank!
A collar-like shape appeared out of thin air and fastened around Salome's neck. Salome squealed and tapped the collar with her fingertips.
"So this is your taste! Oh my, you should've told me earlier! I would've catered to it!"
"You really are an idiot..."
The system window is still unresponsive, so I can't check her loyalty level.
It's easier to assume it's zero, like the other Nightmare Legion commanders. I have 'Absolute Command,' but let's not let our guard down.
"Hehehe. Can we go together now?"
Salome, grinning like a fool, came and stood next to me.
"..."
Don't look like a kindergarten kid going on a field trip for the first time... I turned my head away and clicked my tongue.
***
Leaving behind the ruined palace of the Succubus Queen, we emerged onto the streets of the Lake Kingdom.
The deepest part of Zone 10 is the very center of the Lake Kingdom.
The tallest and most bustling skyscrapers are gathered here.
'Ugh.'
As soon as we came out onto the street, I saw a towering spire not too far away.
A dark and murky castle continuously spewing black fog.
The Lake Kingdom's King's Castle.
Once, it must have been where the royal family of this country lived and ruled this massive city-state.
Now, it's completely engulfed in darkness, emitting suffocating evil.
Demon King - the supreme ruler among the monsters, my nemesis, must be there.
"..."
I suddenly remembered the first time I saw this castle.
Was it before the start of Stage 3? When Evangeline first joined the party, and Jupiter was still alive.
We surveyed the entire city from the walls of the Lake Kingdom.
It seemed impossibly far away, but somehow, I've made it this close, regardless of the process.
After staring at the castle for a while, I eventually turned away. It's a place I can't clear right now.
But next time I come here.
I will definitely bring it down. My grand adversary.
"Do you want to see the supreme ruler while we're here?"
"Don't talk nonsense!"
I snapped at Salome, who asked with a clueless, naive face, and hurried my pace.
Going there is worse than death!
"It's a shame. The supreme ruler is a good person..."
Salome murmured as she looked back at the castle. At times like this, I'm painfully reminded that she's a monster...
"Since we're moving together, we need more members."
I said as I led the way.
Since I'm not moving alone and have already taken on a party member, it's better to have more.
"Preferably a sturdy friend who can take the front line."
"Umm... But I prefer just the two of us."
"Our balance is off, the balance."
"No, no way! Our compatibility in love must be perfect!"
"I'm not talking about that... I mean in combat."
Our compatibility in love is the worst, but our combat balance is also bad.
Both of us are rear-position mages who impose mental control status abnormalities on enemies. Our ranges overlap.
For the next member to join, it's better to consider a more balanced combination.
"If we see any usable front-line character, you charm them right awa—"
Squish.
Huh?
Did I just step on something?
Interrupting myself, I looked down in confusion and immediately gasped.
In the center of Zone 10, there was a huge fountain plaza, connected to a long staircase leading to the castle.
At the bottom of that staircase... lay a grotesque beast.
It was a hybrid beast, a form close to a chimera, with various animal features intermingled.
The creature, battered and bloodied, was crouched at the bottom of the stairs, breathing feebly. I stepped back in horror.
"What the hell! Why is this thing lying here?!"
Isn't it normal? It's the deepest part of the dungeon, wouldn't it be common to see monster corpses scattered around?
But even Salome tilted her head in confusion.
"This is strange. This area is under the jurisdiction of the castle. It means it's the Demon King's territory. The demon guards should be keeping this place clean..."
Salome looked around as she spoke, her eyes widening.
"My god, what's this now?"
I looked in the same direction. And then I saw it.
On the stairs leading to the castle, demon gatekeepers and demonkind soldiers lay gruesomely torn apart.
From the corpses of those demon soldiers to this hybrid beast, there was a trail of blood.
"This beast, it has handcuffs on its hands and feet."
Salome, examining the fallen beast, looked at me.
"From the looks of it, it seems to have been captured by the demon guards and was being dragged away... then it must have fought and killed them to escape."
"But it couldn't get far due to the injuries from fighting the guards and collapsed here?"
"Yeah. It seems so."
I crouched next to Salome and peered at the beast.
"...Hmm?"
I blinked.
The face of this beast... it seemed familiar.
I'm sure I've seen it somewhere...
"...Mason?"
Suddenly, that name slipped from my mouth.
Mason.
The leader of the Aegis Special Forces Team 1 during Stage 14, who attacked Crossroad and kidnapped me.
Lucas's former household head, who I thought was dead by Lucas's sword, but survived using beastification and sneaked into the dungeon...
- We are the human delegates sent by His Highness Fernandez, the future Emperor of the Empire, to meet the 'Demon King', the ruler of monsters.
That guy who went into the darkness alone to meet the Demon King.
At first, I thought it was a mistake, but there was no doubt. The face of the grotesque beast still faintly resembled a human, and most importantly.
"Prince Ash... Your Highness...?"
As I called him Mason, he faintly opened his eyes and called my name.
"How did you end up here...?"
"That's my line, you bastard."
This guy, he must have snuck into the dungeon from the base camp.
How did he get here... all the way to the deepest part of Zone 10?
Mason, his face now resembling a bear's, grinned and spoke with a laughter-laced voice.
"It's been quite a while, hasn't it..."
"...?"
A while? Has it?
Well, some time has passed since the Special Forces attack.
"It's better this way. Better to die by your hand than to be killed by monsters."
Mason slowly closed his eyes.
"I have completed my mission... Now, I have no regrets... Please kill me."
"What are you talking about? You don't get to die comfortably, you bastard."
Grinding my teeth, I signaled Salome with my eyes.
"Salome."
"Yes!"
"Charm this guy. We're taking him with us."
"Got it! Here goes, 'Sleep'!"
As Salome extended her hand forward and emitted a pink current, Mason was easily charmed.
With his eyes hazy, Mason slowly rose to his feet. Blood dripped profusely from his broken body.
"Good. We move. This place is too conspicuous."
"Um... Is it okay? This bear guy is seriously injured. He might die soon without first aid."
"He's still breathing. That's enough."
Mason didn't die when he was cut in half by Lucas's sword, and he even managed to make it this far. He'll survive these injuries.
'I'll extract whatever he did here, use him as a meat shield to the very end, then discard him.'
With that thought, the three of us stealthily walked through the darkness-stained streets, searching for a suitable hiding place.
As I led the way and looked back, I involuntarily clicked my tongue.
'...What a sight our party is.'
A human.
A monster.
And a beast that is neither human nor monster.
Three completely mismatched individuals huddled together, wandering in the darkness.
'This is like the path of lost souls...'
Suddenly, I longed for Crossroad.
I want to go back soon and see the kids...