Gacha Kingdom Building

Anna: "The news... they are talking about the fire again."

They had not yet mentioned the disappearance of the AOTG members, but...

Miwen: "I think the news should be at least a step behind the investigators. The fire was pretty obvious, and it became headlines almost instantly, but the lack of information on the AOTG is actually more of a problem than a relief."

There is no way they wouldn't have noticed their disappearance too. If it's not being talked about, the police might've forced the press into keeping it a secret until they gather more information.

Either that, or they already know exactly what went down and see me as dangerous, preparing a trap while preventing the news from publicizing my name, that way, they don't risk me fleeing the country or taking a hostage.

Either way, I've already prepared some basics if we need to flee, and in one dungeon raid I can get enough material to trade in any world I go. I can also use my Gift for the same purpose. As long as I have some mana or a ticket, I should be able to get some money.

More importantly, what we had to do today wasn't going to change because of that.

Inside the Kingdom, the plans were to start the next event.

It was another Invasion type, but this one thankfully only had to do with a monster horde.

The difficulty meter was around the middle for this one, but with Elizabeth here, and the ability to call the Merchant if he was needed, I was confident we could tackle it.

Yet, if possible, I would like to win an event all by ourselves.

Not only because the Merchant always has an annoying price, but also as a matter of pride, since all our victories up until this point were debatable.

The MerchanT wasn't really trying to fight in his Invasion, and the First Daughter also didn't seem interested in a conflict.

We only won against Elizabeth thanks to the Merchant, and even if my system thinks the Snow White Wolves were a success, I couldn't disagree more.

As such, I wanted to try to win this one using the current power of the Kingdom, and not anything else.

And so, once the event started, a lot of noise came from the forested areas.

Monsters started flying high, and soon enough, a few were coming out of the forest.

Their numbers were easily in the hundreds, perhaps even thousands.

Among them, 3 types got my attention the most.

First of all, they had four big meaty pillars that appeared to be monsters themselves as I could look at their status.

Those things were infinitely producing monsters, but their mobility seemed a little weak.

Then, they had three wyverns. I couldn't tell their levels, or anything about their status either, which basically meant they were too strong for my skills to work.

Cassandra: "Oh look, your family came to see you."

Angelica: "They are wyverns, not dragons."

Cassandra: "So cousins don't count for family matters?"

That clearly wasn't the problem, but Cassandra likes teasing Angelica the most.

Elizabeth: "They are level 212... 222... and 219..."

Another perk of having Elizabeth around, I guess.

Their levels were too high for any of us to defeat them, except, of course, our Demon Queen.

The only problem...

Elizabeth: "As for that one... 301."

A giant troll stood tall, towering over any other monster. He looked incredibly bulky and menacing, and yet...

Miwen: "They are not coming..."

While they were moving, it was not to rush in our direction.

Not the type of behavior you'd expect from monsters.

Hell, even standing like that, in such large numbers is a mystery, as monsters are known to attack or kill each other to show dominance and superiority, or to acquire leadership of another group.

Elizabeth: "They are preparing a formation. That monster has a title. He's a [King]."

Miwen: "Hm?"

Cassandra: "It's the same as your world's Superior Monsters, just a different nomenclature from our world. It's just that it works better as after Titled Monsters, you get Named Monsters. But your World has yet to realize this concept."

As expected of a world where kings gained the admiration of the Traveling Merchant... even without science, these guys knew a lot.

Still, I was curious about it, so I had to ask.

Elizabeth: "Well... when a boss inside the dungeon becomes too strong, kills too much, and lives for too long, they end up getting a title, or an increase if they already have one, which further boosts their power, as well as their reasoning. Of course, this effect varies from monster to monster. But well... if they get a name... they become able to leave the dungeon or travel through floors.

And when reproducing, inside or outside the dungeon, they produce offspring with higher reasoning."

Cassandra: "For example, dragons are initially monsters. But the offspring of a dragon that came out of the dungeon will have enough reason to act like any other creature. Right?"

Angelica: "Yes..."

But even then, they are still seen as monsters, huh...

Well, humanity has forcefully taken a few monsters out of the dungeon before to study them, and some people make erotic jokes about bringing slime or a female goblin home...

But since interspecies breeding is possible... I'm really glad we have proper surveillance...

Also, I guess this explains why sometimes monsters appear that don't belong to a floor, or why a boss can descend...

Licia: "Miwen, are we not going to help them?"

She was referring to three jailed women with wings, being carried around like trophies.

The event described them as valkyries that were captured in a previous battle.

Their levels were quite high at 122, 133, and 146... but even if we freed them, it wouldn't change too much with the wyverns and the troll.

Miwen: "For now, our priority is our own security. Liz, how long do you think your barriers would last until we are forced inside the Kingdom walls?"

Elizabeth: "With the wyverns and the troll... about 30 minutes at most... I think two or three punches of that thing can break through a barrier of mine."

Miwen: "If we take them out of the equation?"

Elizabeth: "Just the horde then? I'd say about 4 hours."

The problem was that to take down the troll, we would probably need Elizabeth herself. The same for the wyverns, but to task her with doing all of that while still keeping most of her barriers here would be outrageous.

For her to fight them, she'll need some barriers around her own body at least...

Miwen: "Ellie... can you stop him from getting close to the barrier?"

Ellie: "If his build is focused on defense, no. But if it's not, I should at least be able to delay him..."

Miwen: "Great, Angelica, do you know how to buff someone using light magic?"

Angelica: "I only learned a single basic spell."

It was more than enough. Defeating the troll wasn't a priority as long as we could keep him away from Elizabeth's barriers.

So, I sent Angelica and Ellie to delay him as much as possible.

Miwen: "Liz, can you take the wyverns while keeping some barriers for us?"

Elizabeth: "Consider it done, Your Majesty."

While she says that, their level difference is not that high... with the other flying monsters around, it should be tough even for her.

Still, with the amount of citizens in the kingdom now, I could have two special roles. One of them was with Maya, who went back with my family, and the other I decided to leave with Elizabeth for now.

I knew that coordination with her would be the most important, as not only was she tasked with two important jobs, but also... We could use her to refill mana when needed, allowing us to fight, at least magically, indefinitely.

And as for the rest of the monsters... there was something we could do about them.

Miwen: "Bea, Claire, Licia. I want you on magic support from the walls. Do not join the battlefield unless I tell you so, alright?"

Claire was a bit dissatisfied with this, but she chose to follow. The other two had no problems with it whatsoever.

Miwen: "Cassandra, you come with me. Mia, you stay by my side, as for you Anna, stay right in front of us."

Cassandra: "Coming~ Aun!"

Mia: "Take this seriously, will you?"

Surprisingly, I do think she was being as serious as possible. If anything, she seems excited to be in a war again.

Well... it's only against monsters, so I don't expect their strategy and reasoning to be on par with mine, even if I'm not the brightest either.

The most they managed to do was arrange a basic formation, keeping the archers and mages on the back, and the physical attackers on the front.

And so, Mia, Anna, and I landed on the plains in front of the river and the walls, all the while I had Cassandra equipped as a sword.

With a roar, the troll signaled that the battle began, and they finally came rushing in our direction.

It was basically a 3 vs many, but... there was one thing I could do to increase our odds.

They are in my kingdom, and in here, even a being like the First Daughter shall abide by my rules.

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that inside this place, I'm basically a God.

As the monsters came rushing in, I started modifying the plains, elevating the terrain to make two hills that tunneled the monsters that were approaching.

With the girls on the walls taking care of the flying ones, this made it possible for each of us to fight against a single, or two opponents at a time as the rest of the monsters went to attack Elizabeth's barrier.

Using this method, we could remain somewhat safe in this battle while diminishing their numbers. The only problem was that we couldn't keep up with the breeders this way, so... I told Anna to cause a landslide when enough monsters were in the tunnel, and we came back to the wall.

With a bunch of them dead at once due to being buried, their lines became that much thinner.

Miwen: "Let's go again."

We moved to a slightly different location, and I started the same process.

Again, the monsters came with no regard for their own safety, only to find themselves killed by the girls and I, until the tunnel was filled enough and I could bury them again.

Mia: "That's good, we can take a bunch of them down like this."

Miwen: "No... we won't win like this."

The breeding pillars weren't going anywhere, and as long as they stood, my kingdom points would end before the monsters of this horde had all died.

Still, we had managed to acquire a temporary advantage, and I wasn't going to let be in vain.

Miwen: "We'll do a charge. Mia, you and I will go together. We need to kill the closest breeder. Anna, I'll do the tunnel again, but inverse this time, hold the small opening as best as you can."

With a swing of her sword, Anna took down a bunch of the monsters right in front of us, and Mia and I could rush to the breeder while killing the easy prey.

Diminishing their numbers right now wasn't the priority though, so we didn't try to pick any fights, using our magic to keep enemies away.

Eventually, Mia went for the kill on the first breeder, and since she seemed to have it covered, I took the opportunity to secure one of the valkyries as well.

???: "Thank you, warrior. My name is Eir, and I-"

Miwen: "Come with me and obey. If everything goes well, I can rescue your friends."

I didn't have time to make friends, any second wasted would increase the chances of us getting completely surrounded.

In this operation, speed was the deciding factor.

As such, I had lent Cassandra to Mia.

Those two couldn't be further apart in personality, but... they make an incredible combo.

Cassandra can correct Mia's mistakes on her end since our wolf girl is not as experienced with weapons as the other girls, and all the while, her status gets boosted, together with her Gift and her beastification, she gets insanely strong for her level.

Thus, she managed to destroy that breeder monster quite rapidly.

Coming back to Anna was the only problem though.

The Valkyrie was faster than me, and so was Mia. I couldn't keep up with their speed, and it was a matter of time before I got surrounded.

Seeing this, Mia threw Cassandra my way, but while I managed to deflect the opponent right in front of me, I was surrounded, and there was no way for me to react in time to a stab in the back coming from a monster equipping a lance.

But then...

A small dagger came out of my shadow, together with a hand, and a full body.

Lana: "Don't misinterpret, it's just because the food was nice."

The cute little cat came in to save my ass.

She had gained a few levels thanks to the massive amount of monsters we were killing, but she still didn't overstretch and simply aimed at the enemy hand, stabbing it and deflecting what would otherwise be a sure hit.

Due to her height, she had to jump out of the shadow and ended up just diving back into it as soon as her job was finished.

With Cassandra in my hands though, I managed to reach Mia and the Valkyrie we rescued, and we went back to the safety of the wall.

This was mostly due to the monsters instinctively avoiding going through the tunnel, even if the shape was different now.

It's obvious that if you use the same strategy every time, anyone, either with reasoning or instinct, will start to be cautious about it.

But that was also part of the plan. I didn't use the battle of the Thermopylae just to thin their lines, but also to condition the enemies.

By creating a "no-go" zone between us, even in small numbers, we could move way better through the battlefield.