Chapter 407: Rank Up
The reason I visited Gremory’s division wasn’t just to have a go with Gremory.
Of course, that was part of it, but the real purpose was to ’inspect’ the division’s fighting strength.
"A full day. You’re sure there won’t be any problems for 24 hours?"
"You worry too much. We held the line for a whole month without any issues. There’s no way the enemy would launch an all-out offensive in just that one day. You really worry way too much."
"Rest easy. I will be their death. I’ll kill every last one that enters the dungeon, so please don’t worry, Master."
"Even if Allocen’s Dungeon gets pushed back, we can hold out for 24 hours."
Gremory, Harphas, and Allocen (Percival) kept reassuring me that my worries were unfounded. Unlike Ras Vegas and Raspica, which were physically connected, the three dungeons linked by portal were about to have their portal connections temporarily severed for a certain reason.
"If I had my way, I’d just leave them connected, but...."
"You can’t stay at D-rank forever. Don’t worry about us."
Dungeon rank upgrade.
My dungeon was still D-rank, and naturally, through the process of occupying the barony, I had laid the groundwork for upgrading it to C-rank. The rank upgrade was so simple that all I had to do was go back to the dungeon and press a button.
[Notice] During the dungeon rank upgrade, the dungeon’s internal structure will be modified, rendering some facilities unavailable. Please exercise caution.
"I’m counting on you to hold the Sagittarius Front during the 24 hours my dungeon is changing. Don’t die, and don’t get hurt. Even if you’re pushed back, hold out for 24 hours. I’ll send reinforcements the moment the portal is back online."
"Even if Allocen’s Dungeon is pushed back, there’s a second line of defense, so it’ll be fine. If worse comes to worst, we can borrow troops from Harphas."
"There won’t be any fools dumb enough to attack my dungeon. If anything, the humans will be the ones caught off guard."
Harphas, wearing her penguin-like overcoat as always, pointed behind her. There, minotaurs heavily armed in dwarf-made armor stood grinning with dwarf-made weapons in hand.
"The count’s forces could never beat us. Not in a million years. Even if the dwarves pile on, they can’t take this division."
"If it comes to it, I’ll mobilize the ones at the ranch too. We’ve sent a fair number of captured humans to the ranch as well, so there’s aaabsolutely nothing to worry about. Don’t you trust us?"
"I trust you. That’s exactly why I’m so concerned. ...I’ll send a messenger through the portal before upgrading the dungeon rank."
The current forces within Gremory’s division:
Allocen’s Dungeon: 30 dragonian orcs, 30 Worwolves.
Harphas’s Dungeon: 6 minotaurs, 30 Harpy Aellos.
Gremory’s Dungeon: 200 supply personnel working at the ranch, plus numerous Scar Theologies.
On top of that, there were Allocen, Harphas, and Gremory themselves. If the monsters handling food production at the ranch were reassigned as frontline soldiers, the force would qualitatively overwhelm what our legion had when we occupied the barony.
Of course, this time the opponent was a count rather than a baron, and dwarf support had to be factored in, but I had to trust them and leave it in their hands.
"When the time comes to upgrade from C to B, and B to A, the downtime will surely stretch from 24 hours to days. If this round proves too risky, I’ll keep my dungeon at C-rank forever if that’s what it takes to guarantee your safety."
"Wouldn’t it be a bit pathetic if the Legion Commander’s dungeon was stuck at C-rank?"
"Who cares. I’ve talked about this with Shaitan before; if it’s for the peace and safety of our legion, I’d gladly drive a clunker."
Master of the 63rd dungeon at D-rank. If losing my honor meant protecting everyone, I could just as easily accept being the 72nd at E-rank.
"May Ras be with you."
After issuing my final reminders, I left Gremory’s Dungeon.
***
[Shortly after, Flauros’s Dungeon.]
"Are you going to visit every place you’re worried about?"
"Ah, this is what they call an inspection."
"Huhu, I know. You actually came here because you’re worried about us."
"No? I came because I was worried about losing eggs and magic stones. You sure talk a lot in that position, Lucifer."
"I can’t feel at ease anymore unless I’m in this position."
Lucifer greeted me while seated in a chair made of tentacle cocks. The artistic chair that Flauros had woven from tentacle branches naturally bound Lucifer’s wrists and ankles with tentacles, immobilizing her.
"You really are something. To think of wearing tentacles as clothing."
"When I think of it as wearing something of yours, Master... hufufufu."
Lucifer lifted the underside of her breasts with her hands, showing off her outfit. Calling it an outfit was generous; tentacles sprouting from her back wrapped around her breasts in five strands resembling stylized ribs, and nothing more. The area covering her crotch below was the same.
If I had to make a comparison, you might call it a tentacle version of bikini armor. Having spent so much time with Flauros, Lucifer had reached the point of total oneness with the tentacles.
"So, what’s today’s magic stone?"
"...I’m sorry. My ability to draw out your love is lacking, Master."
Glug, glug. Flauros raised a tentacle and produced a familiar magic stone before me. Where it came from: Lucifer’s belly. She had been carrying the magic stone she’d already birthed inside her belly until she could present it to me.
"Today’s is a mid-grade magic stone."
"Good work. Next time, try harder so you can produce a high grade one."
"I’ll strive to make my body one that can produce nothing but high grade magic stones forever. Oh, right, about ’that thing’ you and Lady Shaitan mentioned recently."
Lucifer placed an egg before me. An egg marbled with green, silver, and the same gold as Lucifer’s hair; it was unlike anything I had ever seen.
"I managed just one. I’m afraid it’s going to be difficult without the system’s help."
"Is that so? Then I’ll have to resort to the last option. Lucifer, you are now fully a member of this legion."
I parted my robe to either side and drew my Holy Sword. Lucifer knelt on one knee and prostrated herself before me.
"It’s been a little over a month since I saved you from that fool Halphas. That month, no, if you include the time spent in the training room, you’ve spent over a year silently carrying out my orders and proving your loyalty. Can I trust you now?"
"Of course. Before being the Demon King’s daughter, before being a former seal, I am a woman and your cock-sleeve, Master."
"That’s right, you were a magic stone wrapper. Until this very moment, you were nothing more than a living egg-laying machine that produced magic stones."
Tap. I placed my erect cock on top of Lucifer’s head. It was like a medieval king conferring knighthood upon a loyal knight.
"But you have fulfilled every task given to you. You achieved the remarkable feat of producing 8 high grade magic stones all by yourself, and thanks to you, Shax was safely resurrected and could become Harphas. Those who put in the effort deserve their reward. From now on, I will trust you."
Tap, tap, tap.
I alternated placing my cock on Lucifer’s shoulders and the crown of her head.
"In the name of Ras, I decree: you, Lucifer, are hereby appointed as our legion’s new staff officer, effective today."
"As you wish, Master."
I stepped back. Lucifer rose and lifted her top to expose her lower abdomen. Despite getting pregnant with a magic stone and laying it once a day, not an ounce of skin sagged; her abs were beautifully defined.
"Flauros, the mucus."
Gurgle.
A single root rose from the floor. On it was a red mucus that looked like it had been steeped in holy water. I cut my palm, dripped blood into the mucus, and mixed it.
With my cock.
"The Demon King bestowed a seal upon you. But I claimed that seal. Now, a new seal that I personally bestow will be branded upon your emptied womb."
I rubbed the glans, sticky with blood-red mucus, against Lucifer’s lower abdomen. Then, with my full concentration, I painted a tattoo across Lucifer’s belly in a single bold stroke.
Whooom.
The shape of the sticky mucus seemed to trace the form of a uterus and fallopian tubes. I had deliberately drawn the tattoo in that shape, and naturally, the mucus remained in the outline of a womb.
"You are being reborn as my concubine, Lucifer."
Swoosh.
I wiped my hand down Lucifer’s belly. All the mucus was swept away by my hand, and on Lucifer’s pale lower abdomen, a womb tattoo was etched precisely where the glans had touched. It was not the Seal of Pride that Lucifer had originally borne, but a new seal symbolizing our Legion of Wrath.
"Happy birthday! Congratulations on your rebirth, Lucifer."
"...Thank you."
Lucifer smiled softly and placed her hand over her tattoo. Her face flushed from the heat of the fresh ink, she gazed at the heated glans for a long while with half-lidded eyes and smiled.
"In the spirit of celebrating my rebirth, Master, my womb is empty. I need a new seed to produce a magic stone...."
"Then I’ll have to fill it, naturally. But you’re not the only one who wants my seed, are you?"
"...Yes, understood. Flauros, please release the tentacle chair."
When Lucifer gave a light clap, the tentacle chair she had been sitting on disassembled. Beneath it, a half-dragon, Levis, lay on all fours with her belly swollen, greeting me.
"It’s been a while, Levis. Or should I say, the Witch. The elf rapist."
"...."
Levis still refused to speak. I had no intention of engaging in a lengthy war of words with her either.
"If you still refuse to join our legion, I will treat you as a prisoner forever. No last chances, no nothing. Either you spread your legs of your own free will, or you die unable to lay any more eggs. It’s one or the other."
Flinch. Levis trembled slightly at the mention of being unable to lay eggs. And as if the time had come, her vaginal opening began to spread wide.
Glug, glug.
Levis laid a new egg without so much as a moan. Flauros served as midwife, catching the egg as it came, and my curiosity was piqued by its slightly unusual form.
"Did we get a 5-star?!"
"No. That is a Tentacle Dragon egg. A tentacle dragon that Flauros produced from Levis."
Lucifer pointed at the ceiling. Among the tentacle branches stretching across it, thick branches with a subtle green tint were swaying their heads toward me.
Flop.
One tentacle branch dropped to the floor. The creature, about the same size as a slime dragon, squirmed its body, then soon transformed into a small wyvern about six and a half feet long and bowed its head toward me. Unlike the dragon hide Levis possessed, it only looked like a dragon; its surface still had the characteristic squishiness of tentacles.
"What a shame. She’s steadily laying nearly 11 a day and still no 5-star."
"I’m sorry. I’ll try harder."
"No, it’s not your fault. It’d be nice if effort could overcome luck, but some things are realistically beyond our control. Lucifer, keep maintaining the status quo with Flauros. Keep extracting dragonian eggs from Levis. And lastly, Flauros."
Creeak.
The door to the training room opened. Amid the tentacle trees that had parted vertically, a red, amorphous woman sat kneeling demurely, smiling gently toward me.
Perhaps because of their prolonged contact, Flauros’s main body had taken on an appearance that was a half-and-half blend of Lucifer and Levis. As if she were their daughter.
"Going forward, you will be the one leading Flauros ’Division.’ You can’t communicate through tentacles forever, so you absolutely need to develop the ability to speak with us in words. Understood?"
"Y, yesh."
Flauros struggled to open her mouth as she answered me. Lime, who was once an ordinary slime, had grown through repeated evolutions to develop the ability to speak, so Flauros, a Tentacle Drasil, would surely be able to converse fluently someday.
"With that in mind, a question. What did I say this was called? If you don’t say it correctly, I’ll fuck your roots instead of your main body."
"...Hehehe."
Flauros reached her jelly-like hand toward me.
"Co-ck."
"Perfect."
Before the portal went down for 24 hours, I filled Flauros’s insides with my seed.