When I Was Reincarnated into the World of an Ultra-Difficult Game, I Ended Up As the Sole Subordinate of the Ridiculously Strong yet Incompetent Demon Lord, Tasked with Creating a Dungeon
“As expected, resurrection medicine is truly incredible.”
After reviving Terapheia, Epiclesi spoke with admiration.
Well, it makes sense—bringing someone completely back to life after they’ve died is no small feat.
And there’s no downside whatsoever.
It’s probably an item meant for reviving fallen allies in a game. If using it came with risks, that would be a nightmare.
“But isn’t what you do pretty similar, Epiclesi? I mean, you can summon the undead.”
It’s basically the same thing as reviving the dead.
Sure, their bodies might be skeletal, but they’re still moving corpses.
Oh, but the fact that they lack self-awareness is a big difference.
“Oh no, my undead cannot perfectly restore their former selves.”
“So when you say ‘perfectly,’ does that mean they can be restored to some extent?”
“That’s right. Some of their skills, abilities, and even memories can partially remain. The stronger they were in life, the easier it is to retain them.”
“So, unlike the Skeleton King, some undead can actually talk?”
Now that I think about it, she said that undead without self-awareness were common.
Which means there must be some that do have it.
“Oh, are you interested? You’re interested, aren’t you? Well then, allow me to show you my collection!”
Oh no, I just stepped into dangerous territory.
A collector showing off their collection is bound to take a long time.
But honestly, I am curious. Might as well take a look.
“Lord Rey, Epiclesi’s stories tend to be long, you know?”
“It might be useful for future dungeons and dealing with the Demon King’s army, so I’ll listen.”
“Ugh… I see. Well, you do seem like the type who’d enjoy this kind of thing.”
She’s not wrong. I secretly enjoy expanding the list of dungeon facilities and monsters.
I haven’t reached the point where I want to boast about them, but I might someday.
“Come now, let’s go! I shall show you the magnificence of the undead I’ve spent years collecting!”
Epiclesi seems unusually lively.
She really loves undead, huh…?
◇
“It’s cramped, cramped, cramped!”
“Indeed! That’s just how massive he is!”
“Uh, Epiclesi… should I really be here? Maybe you should just dismiss me?”
Epiclesi had invited me to her room to introduce her various undead.
There were zombie versions of races I recognized—dwarves, beastmen, goblins, griffins, and other monsters.
Their bodies were decayed, yet strangely, there was no rotting stench.
With such a diverse range of undead, I could understand why she wanted to show them off. It was actually kind of fun to see.
But the last one she brought out was something else entirely.
A dragon zombie. And not a humanoid one like Ripianem, but a massive one, big enough to fill the room.
Unlike the others, this one had a clear consciousness and was now apologetically asking Epiclesi to dismiss it.
“Lord Rey! Look at this enormous creature! As an undead dragon, he’s incredibly reliable!”
“Yeah, dragons are naturally tough as it is. Turning one into an undead would make it even harder to defeat.”
“Exactly! It retains its strength from life, but now it fights even more persistently! …Though holy power is still a weakness.”
“That’s a problem for all undead, huh? If only there was a way to counter it…”
“That’s exactly what my recent research has been focusing on!”
If she could find a way to overcome that weakness, the undead could become even more formidable.
Maybe there’s some kind of item or equipment that could help…
“My lords, you’re deep in thought while being crushed against my back…”
“Rey, you sure seem unfazed. Guess that’s just how you are…”
“Sorry, Lord Ipiletis… I’m just too big…”
“It’s fine, Epiclesi’s fault anyway~”
There weren’t just zombies—there were plenty of ghostly undead as well.
Phantoms, will-o’-the-wisps… even something like a legion, which was completely different from living beings. If they lost their weaknesses, it’d be almost impossible to stop them.
Skeletal undead like skeletons and liches, on the other hand, seemed fragile against physically strong foes.
Regardless, countering holy attacks was the key challenge.
“Lord Rey, you summon monsters too, don’t you?”
“Rather than summoning, I create them. But I guess it’s similar?”
“That’s intriguing as well. But are there any undead among them?”
“Now that you mention it, not yet. Though I feel like I’ll be able to make them eventually.”
“In that case, my research might be useful. When you do summon undead, be sure to visit me.”
“Yeah, I’ll be counting on you.”
Having a specialist in this field is a huge advantage.
Maybe she could also help strengthen my other monsters.
Is there someone in the Demon King’s army who acts as a monster tamer?
There probably is. I should ask Lady Fiona about it.
“How much longer are we going to talk like this? It’s getting hard to breathe~”
“S-Sorry.”
“It’s fine, Epiclesi and Lord Rey are the ones at fault.”
I see… I’d gotten too caught up in the conversation while being pressed against the dragon zombie.
But, Ipiletis, once you get used to rush-hour trains, something like this doesn’t even bother you.
Still, that was an incredible number of undead.
Epiclesi said that she could summon and command all of them if she wanted, and some were even capable of thinking and giving orders themselves.
No wonder she’s said to be as powerful as an entire army all on her own.
If we ever face a flood of invaders too overwhelming to handle, we might just have to rely on her power and unleash a horde of monsters in retaliation.
…I kind of want to see what that would look like.
◇
“There are.”
“Ah, so there are demon races like that, huh?”
“…I see. So, Rey wants to resurrect that being. In other words, you’re expecting me to provide resurrection medicine.”
“Ah, I’m not expecting it.”
“You should!”
Well, it’s Fiona-sama, after all…
Still, there are demon races who are like monster tamers, huh? If they can command my monsters, it looks like Epiclesi and I will be able to lead a huge army together.
“Well, I’ve already resurrected them though.”
“Eh, really?”
“Yes, with Dikitis, they should be able to lead monsters, even if they are monsters themselves. Especially Rey’s monsters.”
I see, so Dikitis was like that. I might have them check out the monsters next time.
“10,000 is impossible, so I’ll pull 9,000 gacha.”
“By the way, there are demon races that defected from under Fiona-sama, right?”
“…Ugh, I’m sorry. I’m such an incompetent Demon Lord.”
“N-no! I’m not blaming you, but with those demons still alive, doesn’t it affect Fiona-sama’s stats?”
I don’t want Fiona-sama’s gacha to fail either.
But I’ve been thinking about how I can increase Fiona-sama’s magical power by 1, or even 2, and this thought crossed my mind.
Fiona-sama weakens every time she resurrects a demon race.
And, except for Fiona-sama, all the demons from the Underworld Demon Realm are dead.
However, if the demons who defected are different, then if they die… would Fiona-sama’s stats increase?
“Hmmm… strictly speaking, the ones who defected weren’t demons under my command.”
“Does that mean just because they are demons, they weren’t under your control, Fiona-sama?”
“Indeed, they were demons who could have rebelled against the Demon Lord at any moment, and when the situation turned unfavorable, they defected to other races. So, they never died in the battle with the hero, and I didn’t resurrect them.”
“Then, even if they die, Fiona-sama’s power won’t be affected?”
“That’s right. My power is at its peak right now, as the strongest Demon Lord.”
Looks like it’s not going to work. I thought I’d be able to reach 10,000, but it’s not that easy.
◇
“Did you hear? Rigma-san.”
“Yeah, they were chatting so casually, but it almost turned into something dangerous.”
“If those demons who defected had been resurrected by the Demon Lord, Rey would have probably killed them all, right?”
“Yeah, because that would increase the efficiency of resurrection medicine, and he probably thought he could just resurrect them later…”
“Well, whatever. They’re traitors, anyway.”
“Yeah. If it could be put to good use, I’m actually kind of on Rey’s side. It’s a shame it can’t be done…”
◆
“Did you underestimate me for being alone? Do you think that if there’s more of us, we can beat the Demon Lord’s generals? Unfortunately, the numbers are on our side.”
“The game changed! It’s turned into one of those solo warrior games!!”
“What is this? There are undead enemies, hundreds… maybe even a thousand?”
As soon as the battle with Epiclesi, one of the Demon Lord’s generals, started, a massive number of undead was summoned, almost filling the vast battlefield.
Fortunately, due to the high level of the character being controlled, or maybe the low durability of the undead, the majority could be taken down with just a few attacks.
However, there were too many. A massive army of undead that completely obscured Epiclesi’s figure.
They kept attacking one after another, so all I could do was keep attacking back.
“You let your guard down. It’s wide open.”
“I didn’t! I’m not letting my guard down at all!”
“You’re just exposing your weaknesses because you’re desperate…”
“Since it’s a vampire, I guess she’s going to suck my blood…”
“Looks like I can’t control them with just this amount. But you can’t move now, can you?”
As Epiclesi said, after she sucked the hero’s blood, he stopped moving.
Naturally, her army of undead didn’t let that opening go to waste.
“Seriously! I can’t control my character!”
“Oh, this is impossible.”
“Rick!!!”
Thus, the hero was attacked by the massive army of undead and defeated without being able to do anything.
When they realized they had focused too much on firepower and didn’t bring the saint, and that they had equipped swords that weren’t holy-attribute because they were focused on high attack power, they would be able to defeat Epiclesi.
