“A…dungeon battle?” I asked, in confusion.

“You’ve already initiated several. You challenged the Illusory Sword Dungeon, the Twilight Dungeon, and this other one to the west.” Elaya explained. “However, when you did those challenges, you single-handedly sat as a challenger, depending on taming and karmic infections to slowly conquer a dungeon. This is not the way most dungeon battles occur. Rather, our dungeon will create a connection directly with theirs, and then our forces attack. Of course, their forces can also attack.”

“Forces… do we have that many forces?” I frowned.

“The dungeon completely tore itself apart and rebuilt. In short, there is a great deal of excess miasma. Creating a small army of mobs isn’t too difficult.”

“They’re supposed to be pretty old, their dungeon…”

“Of course, I was the queen once. I’m not ignorant of Gram’s Dungeon. I’m aware of their size and age. Since your dungeon’s evolution, it is much stronger. The existence of the miasma and mana fountains has also put our dungeon on a completely different level. Plus, you have a second dungeon to call upon.”

“A second… dungeon…”

“The dungeon you tamed! Since they are an ally, we can use them to go to war.” She grinned as if this was all decided.

I wasn’t so sure about this. I just wanted to get to Dioshin. No, I wanted to find Miki. I didn’t even care about Dioshin. By all accounts, I should just abandon Pait’s plan and do another. However, Pait was still left in that dungeon. I couldn’t just leave those men to Gram’s whims. He might let them go, but he might kill them in retaliation also. I had to make some move, and if I was going to mobilize, why not go big?

“Master, not all wars need to be complete destruction. A simply show of force and a blitzkrieg attack, and he’ll be looking to discuss terms of surrender.” Xin explained. “Don’t think of it so much as a war. It’s more like a military action.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“It would be advantageous for us to do this attack. The dungeon has just finished evolving. If you move now, utilizing the excess mana and fighting, you’ll only strengthen and solidify this dungeon’s path.”

“So, you were looking to do such a war anyway…”

“I was planning to get you to attack the remaining dungeons in the wilderness,” Elaya shrugged. “But this would be just as useful.”

I thought about it for a few moments and then nodded. “Alright, we go to war.”

“Yes!”

“As Master commands!”

“Astria, Celeste, Faeyna come to the dungeon’s boss room.” I gave an order over the Slave Communication before turning to the eager former heroes. “Alright, how do we do this?”

The preparation only took an hour. Faeyna wasn’t going to attack, but I brought her there as backup and to get some experience and comfort. She had her own abilities and lore to pull on, so who knew if she’d be useful. My generals were Xin, Astria, and Elaya. Celeste was my scout. Her job was the most dangerous, but due to her wind-like nature, she was the hardest to hold down.

“Be excited, daughter, a man is going to war for you!” Xin smirked.

“Is that something to be excited about?” Alysia cried out.

Astria had brought along all the fairies who had evolved. Xin had a regiment of men who were created by the dungeon. As for Elaya, she seemed to prefer an army of monsters of various types, also created by the dungeon. We had managed to create a substantial force but drained a lot of the reserves. Waging war on other dungeons was costly.

“Do I have to be here?” Matty cried out tearfully. “You’re going up against Gram! That guy doesn’t care about the council at all!”

“That means attacking them isn’t against the council either, right?”

“Geh… even so…”

“Now, now… Master… you should listen to Husband.” The big-chested witch woman who seemed to be his servant tried to soothe her Master in a motherly way.

“Husband?” Elaya cried out.

“Master is already getting married?” Celeste asked.

“What? I’m no… I have a wife! It’s Eliana… actually, that marriage sort of fell through into slavery…”

“Oh, my…” The big-chested witch only laughed at the commotion she made but didn’t bother to explain her wording either.

It took some time to calm the girls, but as they settled, I pointed out my finger, lining up the army before us. Elaya lifted her hand, and a portal began to form in the air. It was only different from the normal portals in that it was square and filled up the entire doorway, blocking everything beyond.

“Begin the attack,” I ordered.

{You have accepted the control of a dungeon. You have unlocked the job, Dungeon Master.}

{You are a rival dungeon master. You have declared war on this dungeon. Defeat the dungeon master to claim the dungeon as your own.}