The LV.99 Middle Boss, Starts His Second Life with Subordinates!

~3rd Person Perspective~

　The Middle Boss room again.

“—What the!? Sakura!? Why is Sakura with the Heroes!?” (Senri)

　Senri, who had been taking advantage of the magic of Far Sight to watch from a distance, was astonished, forgetting her usual pretentious way of speaking.

　She probably is.

　One day, without warning, the (employee) monster suddenly disappeared and somehow she came back standing with the enemy side.

“What’s going on? No way… rebellion? Why? My dungeon management was supposed to be perfect…!” (Senri)

　Senri held her head and groaned.

　She is quite vulnerable to unforeseen circumstances, showing off whatever she’s hiding

　After groaning for a while, she realized the existence of Sakura’s sister.

“Yes, that’s right, Momiji! Don’t be too hasty—” (Senri)

　But it’s too late.

　Momiji disappeared from her sight.

　…She’s gone.

“Argh! Why are people this damn unreasonable!” (Senri)

　This situation was easily beyond Senri’s limited capabilities, and she scratched her chestnut-colored-haired head furiously.

　She took out a leaf from her pocket, enchanted with some magic to it, and then she shouted.

“–Ponpokorin! This is Senri, it’s an emergency! The Four Heavenly Kings should immediately head to the first torii gate and stop Momiji!” (Senri)

　Her voice reverberated through the enchanted leaves of the trees throughout the Inanaki Sacred Mountain.

~Narugoa’s Perspective~

“Sakura-sama! Why!” (A)

“Why art thou standing amongst the heroes!?” (Um)

“Your sister is very worried…” (A)

“Please answer! Sakura-sama!” (Um)

“I-I’m not, you see…” (Sakura)

　The two Komainu chastised Sakura in turns.

　Speaking of Sakura, She couldn’t speak properly, and she was just confounded…

“No way Sakura-sama, a rebel–!” (A)

　— I’m not sure how much more I can take of this.

“Come!”

　I summoned my [Thousand Hands] and grasped Sakura in my huge palm.

　Of course, after adjusting the force to some extent.

“Ah, gu…!?” (Sakura)

“Sakura-sama!” (A)

“Lad! What art thee doing!” (Um)

“–As you can see, this is a hostage, isn’t it regrettable to lose someone even a dingy monster like this?”

　The moment I uttered the word “Dingy Monster”, my heart ached, but I endured it.

　I’m not going to let them find out that we’re demons, no matter what.

　Also, we can not let anyone find out that she requested us to attack the dungeon.

　Then there is only one option.

　There is no choice but to play “A party of despicable heroes who took a captured demon hostage unknowingly and tried to use her as a foothold to capture the dungeon”.

“What an outrage!” (A)

“Truly the work of a faithless one!” (Um)

“You should be careful about what you say because my hands are hard to control.”

“Uugh…!” (Sakura)

　Sakura moaned painfully, and the Komainu closed their mouths all at once.

　Again, the power I used had to be adjusted.

“(…Everyone, we’re going to have to get in on this, even though it’s a little outside the plan.)”

“(We’re the bad guys, aren’t we.)” (Alraune)

“(Komainu-san, they’re really glaring at you.)” (Kyuuketsu)

“(We have no choice! Oh, I should’ve tied their mouths shut!)” (Alraune)

“(There’s no point in complaining about the past, and it might make me look bad, so I’ll just go through the gate and go inside…)”

　At that time, a mysterious chill runs on my back.

　This is—killing an intent.

“—Someone is coming from the torii!”

　Kyuu-chan, who has the keenest intuition of all of us, looked up at the first torii gate and shouted.

　We looked up overhead, including Angata and Ungata, and there we saw her, dyed in the color of the sunset.

“Oh!” (A)

“Momiji-sama hast cometh!” (Um)

　— Standing on top of the torii gate was a girl with dark hair tied up at her back.

　She has smooth, white skin and a slender body.

　She carried a long sword in her hand and wore armor.

　Her eyes are sharp like a knife as she looks down at me with cold eyes.

“Older sister…?” (Sakura)

　Sakura said in a whisper after suddenly freezing within my [Thousand Hands], and immediately after that, she was called “Momiji-sama” as she jumped from the torii gate.

　The impact from her landing causes dust to fly and her black hair to flutter.

　Her hair ornaments are designed to look like a “leaf”. In addition to the red horns atop her head shining a deep crimson red like the sunset.

　So, she is the sister of the former middle boss that Sakura mentioned–

“…Westerners really don’t know how to show courtesy.” (Momiji)

　Momiji stared down at me with her dark eyes.

　Thick dark circles frame those very eyes.

“ I am Over 280, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Inanaki Sacred Mountains, that I am Momiji of the Evening, and now that I have come forward—” (Momiji)

　Momiji points the tip of her naginata at me.

“—you will have to die.” (Momiji)

　The words she spat out were filled with quiet anger.

　A terrible murderous gaze that can be felt on my skin… It is no mystery why, since her sister has been taken, hostage.

　The only way to get rid of this is to capture the dungeon and free Sakura as soon as possible…

　I was wondering how to get through this place—then, new people came.

“–Nya! There she is, Momiji-sama, I found you!” (Voice 1)

“Momiji, I found you. It’s not good to leave your post…”

　Two figures came rushing through the torii gate.

　One is a woman with cat ears growing from the top of her head and a forked tail.

　The other is a morbidly pale woman in pure white attire.

“E-everyone…” (Sakura)

“Nyanya!? Sakura-sama !? What is happening here!?” (Two-tailed Catgirl)

“Sakura was taken hostage, I can’t help it, I need to punish these rude people.” (Momiji)

“That’s terrible. I’ll join you…” (Pale Lady)

　The two who came after she took up a fighting stance and confronted us.

“I’m over 300! One of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Merciless Nekomata! Return Sakura-sama to us!” (Two-tailed Catgirl => Nekomata)

“I am… Over 260… One of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Frozen Yukime…” (Pale Lady => Yukime)

　It’s an all-star cast here.

　No way, there’s a large gathering of the executives at the entrance of the dungeon. We strayed quite far from the original plan.

　But…

“–The capture is still in progress, let us defeat the Four Heavenly Kings of the Inanaki Sacred Mountain, and go straight to the middle boss.”

“Hmm, Well, that’s all very straightforward and hassle-free, and I can still make Dorotsukami bloom.” (Alraune)

“I also want to give my body a warm-up soon!” (Kyuuketsu)

“(Just in case… Don’t forget that I’m here too.)” (Sergeant)

　And with this, we are also ready for battle.

　The air is so thick with tension, you can touch it.

　Meanwhile, I ask Momiji a question.

“…I have one thing to ask before fighting.”

“Something?” (Momiji)

“What do you mean by “over”, you always say it.”

　In response to this, Momiji had an expression that seemed baffled for a moment, but soon she regained the murderous glare in her eyes.

“I’m not sure what you’re asking, but you’ve been saying a lot of nonsense—well, “over” is a numerical representation of our loyalty to our Lord, through free service.” (Momiji)

“Free service…?”

　The tone of Momiji sounds like she’s mocking me, it makes me feel a weak buzz through my brain.

“Well, you see, it is free overtime…” (Momiji)

　It was almost at the same time when Alraune was about to talk and Momiji stepped in.

　She made an explosive leap and swung her naginata with a light step-and that moment.

“Wha!?” (Alraune)

　The [Thousand Hands] formed a fist, and at a speed that nobody could even see, Narugoa swung it down like an iron mallet and smashed the stone pavement.

“Nya!?” (Nekomata)

“Waaa…!?” (Yukime)

　The impact was so strong the earth shook.

　Momiji and the other Heavenly Kings are very much out of shape.

　Then there’s just deafening silence.

“Well, Narugoa-san…?” (Kyuuketsu)

　Kyuu-chan calls my name in a fearful way.

　Everyone was now paying attention to me.

　It’s as if she’s looking at something terrifying, something she doesn’t understand.

“…I changed my mind, we’re going home, let’s go everyone.”

　I turned on my heel along with my [Thousand Hands].

“Y-you, how could you run away…” (Momiji)

　I’m not sure what Momiji was about to say, but perhaps she saw the anger emanating from within me and stopped talking.

　I slowly turn around and declare in a low voice, stifling my anger.

“—There’s a change of plan, I decided to seriously crush this dungeon.”

　Oh, I can’t remember, when was the last time my blood boiled like this.