Before, subduing people with my strength was such a goddamn chore. Now? It was a cakewalk.

Dodging a swing of an axe with a sidestep, I immediately countered with a hook to the face, the orc who attacked me dropping to the ground in a heartbeat. Instead of celebrating my victory against the unconscious orc, I blocked another attack with the handle of my hammer and pushed it off.

The human who was holding the sword, the one who attacked me, was thrown back slightly as he stumbled. Capitalizing on the vulnerability, I kicked the man’s gonads, resulting in him dropping to the ground with foam coming from his mouth.

Behind me, I saw Oshurkova yawning as she knocked three monsters with one swing of her hand unconscious. Of course, the reason wasn’t the swing of her hand, but the water encasing their heads as they felt all the air diminish inside their bodies.

Drake, meanwhile, was having fun bashing heads with his gauntlets, monsters, humans, and demi-humans alike, fearing the man as they ran as far away as possible.

That said, those who were also targeting me seem to have backed away with fear in their eyes. Shrugging, I hefted the Blood Weep War Hammer back onto my shoulder as I eyed Oshurkova, who seemed to have dealt with her fair share of assailants.

“Finally.” Oshurkova sighed before approaching the nearest person in the vicinity, that being a female demi-human who was quaking in her boots. “Tell me, where’s Odette?”

“Y-you mean the Mad One?” She trembled even more as she spoke the title, symbolizing the fear and terror the Dungeon Master had instilled in her residents.

“Yes, the Mad One, my sister, Odette.” She deadpanned as the demi-human paled even further, her shaking intensifying even more.

“S-s-s-she’s at the t-t-t-top f-floor…” Stuttering out the words, the demi-human fainted, and the rest of the people around us refused to move, in fear of suddenly garnering the wrath of the Mad One’s sister.

“… She’s probably a new one.” Oshurkova shrugged and approached Drake and I, who were chilling right beside each other while watching the events unfold. “You heard her. The top floor.”

“Well, that will be quick.” Pointing at metal doors, Oshurkova looked at me with a confused face. “You don’t know what an elevator is? Strange, I thought the people back in Praecatthae would’ve already invented an elevator with their magic.”

“Oh, an elevator. Of course, I know what that is. I just didn’t know elevators here looked like that.” I facepalmed, while Drake laughed at my fuck-up.

“Drake, stop laughing.” Drake, in turn, laughed even harder. Sighing, I looked back at Oshrkova, who was staring at our exchange with a smirk. “Not another word.”

“As you wish.” Oshurkova just stared at me with a knowing look, causing me to shrink back onto myself while Drake’s laughter continued. “Anyway, the elevator should take us to the roof, right?”

“If it does, then yes, but I doubt it would directly take us to the rood. Maybe the floor below it.” Oshurkova nodded, and the three of us headed inside after calling it down. Drake was already done laughing at my mistake, but still nudged me from time to time to remind me of my slip-up.

‘What a friend.’ Because of my size, I sighed as we waited inside the cramped elevator. Luckily, the elevator had a weight limit of four times our total weight.

As we waited inside the cramped box of metal, jazz music blaring out from the speakers, Drake moved closer towards me.

“Hey, after pacifying Oshurkova’s sister, what are we going to do with the JSDF?” I looked at Drake with a pointed glare.

“Talk. Whatever we do, we should just talk. Do not take aggression, and if they ask for compensation, we will give it to them. We owe them this much, at least from Odette’s rampage.”

“I don’t like your idea, but it is the only option when the other is a complete war. From what Drakhan said, we’re here to get stronger, not wipe out an entire world.” Drake and I looked at Oshurkova in shock when she mentioned that. “Did I forget to tell you I have one of Drakhan’s many pieces of equipment on me?”

“Yes, yes you did.” Both Drake and I said it in unison with a deadpan, causing Oshurkova to laugh.

“Here, I’ll show you.” Placing her hand on top of her eye, she reached deep into her eyesocket and pulled out the eyeball. Flinching at the sight, Drake and I looked at the glass eye that was lying on top of her hand. “This is the Eye of Sharok, capable of intimidating those weaker than you with just a single glance.”

“One, don’t do that without warning. Two, that’s hella useful, but only slightly with our current circumstances.” Oshurkova nodded as she placed the artificial eye back in her empty eye socket.

“Yes, I agree with you on that front.” Oshurkova wiggled her head around to check if the eye was placed inside properly. “If this has the power to place subtle suggestions inside the minds of those seen, then it could make negotiations with the… What did you call it… JSDF?”

Drake nodded, and Oshurkova continued.

“Yes, JSDF. It could make negotiations with the JSDF run smoothly.” The elevator stopped its ascent, and the metal doors in front of us opened. “You were right, we are probably at the floor below the roof.”

“Yep.” The three of us got out of the elevator and saw that the floor was barren of life. Looking for the nearby stairs, we scaled the stairway and finally reached a closed door. Opening it, Osrhukova was the first to exit, followed by Drake, and me.

“Finally, you’re here, Oshurkova.” Odette turned towards us with a neutral face before turning joyous when her eyes landed on my figure. “Undt you bought me test subchect number 3071!”

My flat stare was probably the flattest thing I had ever had the fortune of doing in the entirety of my life. Drake, once again, was beginning to laugh up a storm at the mention of me being a test subject.

“Odette.” Oshurkova tried approaching the loli, only to be stopped with a low growl.

“Do nicht kome kloser, you bitch.” Odette spoke with such toxicity, I would’ve believed she was from the deepest pits of a nuclear power plant that had gone boom.

“Odette.” Oshurkova looked desperate, really desperate, but Odette wouldn’t give her the hope she needed.

“Nein. Go back to your Dungeon, I haf nein business vizz you.” She then walked past her before arriving before me with a gleeful smile. “But you, you I haf business vizz.”

I looked at Oshurkova, who was looking a little lost at the moment, and Drake, who was beginning to look like he was about to jump this crazy loli. Looking at the horizon, I saw the helicopters circling around us, guns trained on our figures for any kind of hostile movement.

Looking back into those eyes… those eyes that held glee over my presence, as well as something more hidden beneath… I decided my course of action.

“Tell me.” Odette looked like her birthday had come early, and both Oshurkova and Drake were looking at me with shock.

“I vant you to kome into mein Dungeon. For experiments.” From the look of Oshurkova, accepting Odette’s request was next to suicide. Looking at the roaming helicopters, which seemed to be running out of patience, my decision was once again made for me.

‘Motherfucking hell… If I didn’t want more people inside my Dungeon for DP, I would’ve said fuck all and happily go to war with Earth, as long as I had support from my fellow Dungeon Masters, of course.’ Sighing, I stared at Odette in the eyes before nodding. “Very well. But first, can we talk with those guys in the flying machines?”

Odette looked like she was on cloud nine, while Oshurkova was looking at me with a horrified expression.

‘I fucking hope I didn’t choose the dead-end option…’

“Promise?” Odette stared at me with those gleeful eyes, something that was incredibly wrong to put on the loli’s face.

“Yes, promise.” In just a span of a second, Odette instantly stopped the helicopters with a wave of her hand and landed them on the top of the roof, their rotors refusing to move as their landing skid lay flatly on the rooftop.

This had the effect of confusing the people inside at the sudden disposition from the air and onto solid ground, before battle instincts kicked in and they started shooting towards us.

Needless to say, Oshurkova was faster in placing a barrier in front of us, blocking the incoming gunfire. Meanwhile, Odette approached the soldiers with irregular strides, a happy grin on her face all the while.

Their bullets did no damage to Odette, the projectiles bouncing off of her skin like paper balls. This shocked the soldiers, whose gunfire abruptly stopped at the surreal sight.

“Hey! Experiment number 3071 said zat he vanted to talk to you!” Odette yelled out, further confusing the soldiers, before her words were processed inside their brains.

Hesitating to pull the triggers, since they observed firsthand how useless it was, their main leader, probably their company leader, approached Odette with a scrutinizing glare.

His guard was raised, and flanking him were two more soldiers, guns trained on the clearly dangerous individual who had landed their helicopters in a second with just a flick of her hand.

“You’re ze leader? Great! Experiment number 3071! Kome here, zey vant to talk now!”

Contemplating my life choices up till now, I left the safety of the barrier made by Oshurkova and approached the deadly soldiers. At least, towards those who can be killed by bullets.

“Greetings. Can you understand me?” The soldier nodded.

“Yes, I can.” Even though I knew he was speaking a different language, one that I was not well-versed in, I was able to completely understand his words.

“Good.”

Well then, I hope I don’t fuck this up…