Confinement King

「Dohiiii!?」

Hydra, whose face is twitching, strikes me (Cockroach(Saito)) with its raised head.

However, I jump away with a desperate leap.

And after I leap to the side, debris bursts where I had just been, sending up a thick cloud of dust.

「That was close! W-Where's the part where she said I wouldn't be killed?」

Somehow I managed to escape the blow, but the danger is not over.

The Hydra's sickle heads approach me with its red tongue lolling out. And I crawl back with my face twitching.

But a figure ran past me and jumped at the Hydra.

「Oaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!?」

「Earthworm(Inui/Mako)!?」

At the top of the jump, Earthworm flipped herself up in the air like a volleyball player shooting a smash.

And with a two-handed swing of the hammer, she shook out her pink hair and slammed a chunk of iron into one of the Hydra's heads.

The sound of a crunching, watery blow echoed, and one of its heads crushed between the wall and the sturdy iron mass.

Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

With a terrifying cry that threatened to rip out even a soul, the hydra flipped back several heads and flung the goblins under the castle walls with its writhing tail.

「What are you doing, C-Cockroach!? Stop fooling around and move!」

「Eh, uh, y-yeah!」

Even though she’s the one who attacked, Earthworm was in tears.

Well, she's not a fighter to begin with.

And at the same time as I’m getting up, Centipede(Kishijo) also attacking the Hydra.

「Uraaaaaaaaah!」

Centipede rushes towards it and slash her Great Sword. Of course, Hydra would not stand idly by.

Her jaws open wide, and she is intercepted.

However, perhaps its crushed and hanging neck gets in the way. The hydra’s attack lacked sharpness.

「Me too! I can do it when I have to!」

Centipede dodged its fangs with a skillful sidestep, and sliced off one of its heads in a horizontal slash.

The severed head flew through the air, spurting bright red blood, and crushed some kind of monster under the fortress wall.

Then, a beastly scream echoed, and a cloud of dust rose up.

And as if writhing in pain, Hydra begins to smash its head against the wall in a mess.

「Are you angry? Are you mad?」

Still, Centipede doesn't stop moving.

She leaps around Earthworm and me at a tremendous speed, repelling Hydra's fangs as they come at her one after another.

「Uohhh... It's amazing...」

I muttered in amazement.

It's true that from what I can see, Centipede's current movements are far different from anything she's ever done before.

As the Head Maid said, the power of the demon beast(Majuu) that lived inside her must have increased in the miasma of the demon world.

（It seems that the three of us can take care of that one）

Looking around, the battlefield is in complete chaos.

The incubus on the castle walls is running for cover, and the roars of the monsters are echoing from below the walls.

The two remaining Hydra, perhaps sensing the danger to their own kind, are closing in on Centipede and the others.

In turn, the wounded hydra began to retreat weakly.

（Anyway, what's worse than that...）

Almost at the same time as I was thinking this, I heard the ominous sound of something snapping from right below where I was.

「Oh no...」

It's probably the bolt of the fortress. The sound of the bolt breaking.

As evidence of this, relatively large monster, such as minotaurs and ogres, are beginning to rush toward the gate, flanking the wounded Hydra as he retreated.

「This is more interesting, in my opinion!」

With my fellow maids already engaged in battle with the two new Hydra, I leap from the top of the wall to the inner side, to the square in front of the gate.

「Hey! Where are you going? Tapeworm(Eri Hotta)!」

Earthworm shouts behind me.

My skirt flashes, white ruffles fluttering in the wind, and I soar through the air.

As I landed in front of the gate that was about to be breached, in the midst of the incubuses who are twitching helplessly, I raised my voice.

「If you want to stay out of this, stay out of it!」

Looking around at the incubus, who are looking at each other in confusion, I spun my words further.

「If the gates are breached, I will push the monster back outside the walls. You two, close the gate immediately and insert a replacement bolt! Do it!」

The incubuses are stunned, and one of them shakes his voice.

「No, no matter what, it's impossible, we have to leave the fortress and retreat...」

「I understand how you feel, but it's already too late!」

As soon as I interrupted the incubus, the half-broken sidewalk burst open and the castle gate is thrown open.

Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!

That's exactly the momentum of the rage. Like a broken embankment, a swarm of monster rushed forward. At the head of the pack is an ox-headed demon, a Minotaur.

And the sound of gasps and roars of fear can be heard.

As I listen to the incubus' voices behind me, I carry my battle axe and expose myself to the approaching demons.

（Please! The demon beast inside me!）

I had a premonition.

When I heard that my body had been replaced by a demon beast, I became convinced.

Rather, something from my inside said, "Get me out of here!" and kept hurrying me.

The bull-headed monster charged at me, emitting a cloud of dust and swinging its two horns fiercely. It's a stampede. A swarm of monster like a torrent poured in to crush me.

But the next moment...

「Nnnaah!!」

A tremendous amount of heat swirling inside me, and my eyes turn blue. And the next thing I know, my mouth is wide open, and blue flames are swirling inside my mouth.

And then…

「Goooooooooooooooooooooooo!」

With a roar, the flames erupted and engulfed the rushing crowd of monster. The swarm of monster in a straight line instantly disappeared.

「Eh......」

From behind me, I hear the voices of the incubus and the others, sounding somewhat soulless.

Yes, I can understand their surprise.

It's more powerful than I imagined, and I'm a little taken aback myself.

But this is not the time to worry about that. It would be a disaster if I accidentally spat fire and turned around.

（But firebreath, huh... I guess I don't have enough maid power yet. Perhaps, if I become as good a master maid as the Head Maid, I should be able to use a destructive ray from my eyes）

It's probably some kind of dragon that was implanted in me.

I've had a few run-ins with Lesser Dragons in training, and they spit out similar breaths. Though the power was quite different.

With that in mind, I start to move forward step by step, spewing out blue flames.

I stepped over the charred corpses of the monster and stepped out of the gate, and the gate closed behind me with a sound like the bellowing of a cow in a bad mood.

Around the same time, the flames that had been spewing out of my mouth disappeared, and dense black smoke rose from my mouth and nose.

（It's like running out of gas... I don't think I can produce any more）

Fortunately, there are no more monster nearby.

Looking around, I see the ground scorched black. On the other side, monster is looking at me from afar, with frightened eyes, or eyes filled with murderous intent.

「So, I guess I'm going to have to fight with flesh and blood from here on out」

The enemy still numbered ten thousand.

I felt as if I had already defeated many of them, but when I thought about it calmly, it was only a few dozen.

As I stepped out of the castle gate, I could see a horde of monster as far as the eye could see.

If I can hold out long enough for the Head Maid to finish them off, the game will be decided.

I don't know how long it will take, but all I have to do is wield the battle axe as a maid.

I can't help but feel my cheeks slacken as I feel the deadly heat of the battlefield.

「Prepare yourselves, you monster!」

I grabbed my battle axe and ran, kicking at the scorched earth.

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